Back in the Saddle Again

Blech, Mondays…

Breakfast was a green monster. Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups of spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 1+ cup soy milk
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1/2 cup plain frozen yogurt

I went to work for half a day, then went to the produce stand and got more bananas, apples, and citrus fruit. The store I went to had an ugli fruit, which  I have never seen before! I was tempted, but passed.

On the way home I stopped and got a Sonic coke. Sometimes I just want a coke. Especially when it’s boiling hot outside. For those reading from a state that doesn’t have Sonic – they are overrated.

When I got home I had 2 pieces of peanut butter toast with banana and chia seeds.

Why my interest in chia seeds? I’ve read they are a good source of fiber, and omega 3 fatty acids, among other things. Anything that will improve my hair, skin, and nails I am keen on trying.

We’ll see if I notice any good effects from eating them.

 

On Sunday my parents gave us four tomatoes from their garden, which are delicious!

The boyfriend and I ate BLTs on Sunday night, and I didn’t take a picture - I was too busy eating. Tonight I decided to take advantage of the fresh tomatoes again. Dinner was whole wheat pasta, pesto, spinach, and tomatoes.

The pesto is from Whole Foods, and it is okay. I want to make my own!

Side note: This afternoon I went running. I don’t know how many other people try and fail, try and fail many times, but I definitely have a hard time getting back on the horse. Commitment to exercise or really most things in my life are more mentally hard for me than physically. Once I have failed at something, I often don’t want to try again, and get depressed about my lack of success. Maybe I am just stubborn. Or a sloppy perfectionist? Whatever it is, it’s a terrible mental block. The more time that passes the worse it gets too. I definitely need to work on the time that it takes me to Deal With It.

Did anyone else watch Better Off Ted? That show had it’s moments. Namely, Portia deRossi and the two scientists. “That’s what we do now…we deal with things. DEAL WITH IT!”

Now I’m going to watch a movie (“Closer” with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen) and deal with drink some cabernet sauvignon.

Shopping Saturday

Today I woke up and had a green smoothie. Oh man, those are good. I’ve been making them “classic” style, with soy milk, spinach, flax seed, and frozen banana. Oh, also adding a little frozen plain yogurt. Hits the spot every time.

This afternoon I went to Whole Foods, but on the way there (not at all on the way from my house) I went to World Market for the fun of it. Turned out to be a retail therapy trip I guess, because I got a lot of loot.

The olive oil and peppercorns were needed, the rest not so much.

They had a good price on PB&Co Peanut Butter, so I snagged some Smooth Operator, and I got a jar of Marmite for fun. I also got some Columbian Supremo coffee and a lentil soup packet that I saw last Christmas but passed up.

After that bounty, I went to Whole Foods which was insanely crowded. Ugh. I got some random stuff, namely chia seeds (wow, they are expensive), falafel mix, a large container of spinach, Shiner 102 beer, almond milk, and salmon sashimi for tomorrow’s lunch.

Then I tried some marmite on toast. The bread was made by my boyfriend (a wheat) and I slathered it with butter, and tried to thinly scrape the marmite on top, like I’ve read to do. It didn’t want to cooperate. However, the Marmite was excellent. I knew I would like it though, because I love salty and umami foods. Mmmm….

I also dipped into the Peanut Butter. Oh man. World Market also had the chocolate PB, which I’m glad I didn’t buy, because that would’ve been GONE.

Time to meet Anne for coffee!

All’s Well That Ends Well

On Wednesday I ended up going to the hospital for a pain in my side that wasn’t going away. Long story short nothing was really wrong with me (like gallbladder, kidney stones, or cysts) so I went home. It is never fun to go to the emergency room, and so the next day I treated myself to some of my favorite comfort foods. Like shorbat adass, the lentil soup that I cannot for the life of me duplicate. It is creamy, smooth and so tasty. I have looked up recipes that only list lentils, broth, garlic, and onions as ingredients, but this has a flavor that I cannot put my finger on.

I also had some Food Should Taste Good Olive chips.

And of course chocolate. I love salty and sweet together, like chocolate covered pretzels, so this Sea Salt and almond dark chocolate was perfect.

Earlier this week I had made the perfect salad for lunch. Hopefully I can make more great salad lunches. Unfortunately I left a bunch of fixings at work and now it is the weekend. Maybe they will still be fresh?

The salad was comprised of spinach, tomatoes, walnuts, avocado, romano cheese, and sea salt and pepper croutons. The cheese could actually go (I can’t believe I am saying that). I bought the romano in anticipation of making caesar salad but it hasn’t happened yet. The creaminess of the avocado didn’t mix well with the sharp cheese.  

I am resting this weekend. Hopefully by Monday I will be a-ok and ready to do all the things I’ve planned to do.

Mom’s Enchiladas:Redux

 

My mother was famous for her creamy chicken enchiladas when I was growing up. Reading around a bit (like chowhound) a lot of people had a similar dish in the 70’s and 80’s- loaded with cheese, sour cream, and Campbell’s cream of chicken soup- and it doesn’t surprise me that many people remember this fondly.  These days I like to make them a little bit healthier than the original, and they taste fabulous.

Mom’s Enchiladas (Redux):

Ingredients:

• 1-2 chicken breasts
• 1 large bell pepper, diced
• half an onion, or small onion, diced
• small container of sour cream
• can cream of chicken/whatever soup
• can black beans
• can of chilies
• jalapenos
• mushrooms, or whatever veggies you want to add
• 20 corn tortillas

Cook the chicken however you prefer, I like to boil chicken. I also like to fork-shred the chicken while it’s hot and scald my fingers.

Chop the veggies. I chopped half a green bell pepper, half a red pepper, half a large onion, and let them sit in a warm skillet for a few minutes so they wouldn’t be too crunchy.

I also diced some jalapenos and mild chilies.Mix together the cream of mushroom or chicken soup, the beans, the sour cream, cheese, chilies, and the veggies.

When it is all ready, heat the tortillas by microwave method or stovetop. Microwave is a little faster (30 seconds with a damp paper towel covering the lot.)

Spoon the mixture into the tortillas, and place them into a pan. The pan should have a little bit of the filling or salsa on the bottom so that the tortillas don’t stick while cooking.

Roll each tortilla with a little bit of the filling and chicken inside, and place in the pan. Repeat until you are out of tortillas or running low on mix. Optional: top the enchiladas with the creamy sauce. This time I topped with a little bit of sauce, and a little bit of salsa. Salsa is a great way to reduce the calories.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, covered in tin foil. If desired you can also top with a cup of shredded cheese.

The lower calorie version is just as rich and good. My next mission might be to replace the Cream of Chicken soup with something healthier, so I’ll be on the lookout.

Enjoy!

Lunch: Tabouli and Spinach Salad

Breakfast was a hastily eaten fage and coffee. The cherry fage is like eating cheesecake. Yum!

Lunch was a slowly eaten treat! I begged my mother to make tabouli on Sunday so that I could bring some home (I brought her some homemade hummus as a trade). Her tabouli is very tasty and fresh, as she grows her own parsley (among other herbs), and the tomatoes were homegrown too.

On the side I had a spinach salad with grape tomatoes, walnuts, romano cheese, and chicken salad (shredded chicken, celery, and mayo). I had made an Italian style dressing, but ended up not using it because of the creaminess of the chicken salad.

Later in the day I had part of an apple and a little PB for a snack. The apple was disappointing though. I like the really crispy ones, like honeycrisp and pink lady. This was rather mushy.

The boyfriend was preparing dinner when I got home. It was a delicious meal of jambalaya, stewed okra, and navy beans. The navy beans were Blue Runner Creole Cream Style, every thing else was made by him. He makes very good from scratch jambalaya.

Tomorrow I will probably be having more of the spinach salad. It was delicious!

Dinner: Butter Beans and Sardines with Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Breakfast was thought up the night before. Two eggs, black beans, and cheddar cheese. Admittedly it was a failed omelet, reincarnated as a sloppy scramble. Also, I was going to have salsa, but passed. Very unlike me. Salsa is probably my favorite condiment.

The eggs and beans quieted my stomach until lunch, and that hardly ever happens to me. The only other breakfast that keeps me full is greek yogurt.

Lunch was chicken salad made with chopped celery, walnuts, mayo, and coarse mustard. This was rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla along with some shredded cabbage, and eaten with pretzels and green peppers. I need to remember this one!

The outer wrap was kind of odd tasting, so I discarded it after eating about half of the first one. The rest was eaten like a cabbage slaw which was good with the chicken and walnuts!

I didn’t snack at all today, probably because I ate filling meals.

Dinner was supposed to be roasted brussels sprouts and seafood stuffed potatoes, but we didn’t have shrimp like I expected.

Plan B: The boyfriend had something else while the brussels roasted steadily, and I made a nice mash of butter beans and sardines. Good to remember for hurricane season, because of the cans, and also just tasty and pretty healthy. I love the Season brand skinless, boneless sardines, and recommend them highly to the uninitiated sardine eater. A few months ago I thought I had spotted a great deal on amazon for a flat of the lovelies, but once the delivery arrived I saw that they were still all bones and skin. The skin isn’t bad, but I take the bones out. Crunchy.

 My roasted Brussels sprouts:

• preheat oven to 400
• rinse brussels sprouts and cut in half
• massage lightly in olive oil
• place in glass pan with minced garlic (one or two cloves)
• bake at 400 for 20 min
• flip at 20 minutes (optional: add 1/2 tbsp pine nuts at halfway point)
• cook another 20 minutes or until desired color

We prefer them almost burnt, and very garlicky. I usually roughly chop 2-3 cloves of garlic. Tonight I didn’t add pine nuts, it depends on what we are eating them with. I have heard that bacon is good, and lemon zest.

Now I am having an adult beverage.

 

We Love Fish Tacos

Last night I actually got some sleep! It was hard to wake up this morning in fact, because I was so deeply asleep. Nice.

For breakfast I had the usual yogurt, coffee, and apple.

 

Lunch was eaten a little early. I had the chili I made the other day from allrecipes., and a serving of Kashi crackers.

Behind the crackers is a picture of my father! I like having a picture of him at his desk (circa 1970?) on my desk at work. Sometimes I am sentimental.

On my lunch break I went to the library and checked out a bunch of cookbooks and a few nutrition books. One so far looks awesome! The Healthiest Diet in the World is the title, and I might have to buy it. Cookbooks and healthy living books are fun, but I try to check them out of the library first and give them a test run. Interestingly enough, when I googled this book in order to get a picture or a link, The World's Healthiest Foods came up first, both on google image search, and in Amazon. Of course this could be because I own the book already, but I would like to say I heartily recommend it as well!

Snacks this afternoon were sweet. I ate a pudding cup, and then an hour later a granola thin.

Dinner was fish tacos! Fish tacos are simple, light and tasty, thus perfect for summer in the south.

Today we had a perfectly ripe avocado to eat. This along with shredded cabbage and salsa, is really all you need. We used swai as the fish (any firm white fish, or even salmon will do). On the side was some largely ignored yellow rice and black beans. The rice was from a packet and was kind of gross, but the black beans will be reincarnated (hopefully) for breakfast.

All this was eaten outside on the slightly rained on front porch with a tall beer.