Ramblings

Early b-day dinner with the moms

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The older I get, the cooler and cooler my mom becomes.

Let me clarify – my mom has always been cool, and I’ve always known that fact, but I feel the older I get the more and more I appreciate what a cool lady she actually is.  Why is it some things can only be appreciated with age?  Fine wine, gourmet cheeses, black coffee… 

My birthday is coming up, so in honor of that momentous occasion I thought it would be fun to have dinner with my mom and my friend Tracy tonight.  Mom suggested she make her paella — which is one of the dishes she used to make when I lived at home and that I always really really liked. 

Paella is a Spanish rice dish that includes sausage, chicken, and shrimp.  Reminds me of the jambalaya I made a few weeks back.  You just know any dish that includes three types of meat is going to be amazing.

One GIANT paella:

One birthday cannoli  😀 

Ninni’s Bakery makes THE best cannolis, Italian cookies, and lemon ice.  Hands down.

Super excited to have the leftover cannoli with my morning coffee tomorrow 🙂

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Recipes, What I ate

A Truly Green Monster

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Maybe it was all the green grass around me, but all I could think about while mowing the lawn this afternoon was making a giant green monster!

Into the blender: 

  • 10 small fresh strawberries
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond breeze vanilla almond milk
  • 2 packets Truvia
  • 2 cups spinach
  • ICE
  • 1 tbsp oikos plain yogurt (would have used more, but that’s all that was left in the container)

 Gave it a thorough immulsification:

 That is a seriously green monster smoothie: 

 Stats on the GM:  64 calories, 15g carbs, 2g fat, 4g protein, 3g fiber

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Recipes

Healthified Buffalo Chicken Wrap

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I had a serious craving for some buffalo chicken this afternoon, so I thought I’d take a shot at a healthified buffalo chicken wrap.

I mixed up the following in a little bowl:

  • 2 tbsp oikos plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp franks red hot
  • sprinkling of Black pepper, garlic salt, red pepper flakes, onion powder

Then I mixed in 2.5 ounces grilled chicken shredded (all that was left from last sunday’s big grill up):

I put this mixture on top of a Joseph’s Low-Carb pita, and topped with a thinly sliced mini babybell cheese round and some banana peppers.  Then cooked in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes and topped with some tomato:

Up close and personal:

This was delicious!  I tried a few bites of the buffalo chicken when it was cold, and I think I actually liked it better cold than heated up because I could taste the buffalo sauce better.  So two thumbs up, and next time I’ll keep it in a cold wrap rather than baking.

I love when random concoctions turn out tasty 😀

Stats on the BCW:  213 calories, 12g carbs, 6g fat, 32g protein, 5g fiber

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What I ate

A friendly dinner

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So last night, I hit up a local farmer’s market with two of my friends/coworkers, Jessie and Tim.

We were in search of inspiration for something to make for our friend’s dinner we scheduled what seems like 5 months ago….  All because you have to be VIP to get on Jessie’s calendar  …  Not pointing fingers or anything…

We did a loop around the market, to check out the goods:

After a mini-powwow on our findings, we decided to go with fajitas for our friends dinner. 

We ended up going with:

  • 2 green peppers
  • 1 lb of mixed lettuce greens
  • 1 green zucchini
  • 1 yellow zucchini
  • 2 ears of corn
  • 1 candy onion (basically a mild onion, but we were all super intrigued by the name)

We divided the remaining necessities for our fajitas amongst us, and each of us left to grocery shop/scavenge for food in our fridges/pantries.  Us accountants are so dang efficient sometimes 😉

First thing I did when I arrived at Tim and Jaci’s house was spread all the ingredients out on the counter. 

I guess I’m not capable of cooking unless I’m surrounded by a big fat mess 🙂

Jessie got to guac makin’ while Tim supervised:

I tended to the veggies:

Tim got his grill on:

Jaci got her shred on:

Then we feasted:

Here’s one with the flash for easy viewing:

Yeah, I ate that. 🙂  And it was goooooooooood!

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Recipes, What I ate

Healthified Chicken Parmesan Sub

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What’s better than a dinner that only takes 15 minutes to get into your belly?  A dinner that only takes 15 minutes AND is healthy AND tastes delicious!

Lately, I’ve been craving bread.  Buns, muffins, bagels, pizzas, you know the deal.  So tonight, I thought I’d make a healthified chicken parmesan sub.

I topped a Joseph’s Low-Carb Pita with a 1/4 cup of Classico Fire Roasted Tomato Garlic Pasta sauce (leftover from yesterday’s pizza), and 3 ounces of grilled chicken (leftovers from the weekend).  I added some red pepper flakes, dried oregano, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Then I thinly sliced a light mini babybel cheese round into four thin discs and tossed that on top along with some banana pepper rings:

In another pan, I added 2 cups broccoli and a ¼ cup of garbanzo beans (leftovers from the couscous garbanzo bean salad).

Everything into a 415 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Beautiful.

So friggin’ tasty:

 

I love roasted veggies

 

Melty and amazing

So is it still considered a chicken parmesan sub if I didn’t use any parmesan?  Chicken Babybelesan sub perhaps 😉

Stats on the sub:  228 calories, 13g carbs, 7g fat, 33g protein, 5g fiber

Stats on the broccoli/beans:  110 calories, 22g carbs, 2g fat, 8g protein, 9g fiber

Altogether:  338 calories, 35g carbs, 9g fat, 41g protein, 14g fiber

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