Into overdrive...

Thursday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast- Yep, another Spinach Cherry Smoothie

VERY excited to try this mix today with the CHOCOLATE protein powder Scott brought home yesterday!  I have never, ever had chocolate protein powder = giddy excited about a spinach smoothie this morningJ

12:30pm:  Lunch- Leftover Chicken Parm soup 

I was soooo thankful for soup since I was 3-layers-of-clothes-freezing nearly ALL day yesterday.  That can only mean one thing:  The return of the POLAR VORTEX, East CoastJ  (already planning what I'm going to make for this snow storm Monday and it's gonna be gooooooooooooooooood!)

2:30pm:  Snack- I just can't help myself...

5:30pm:  Dinner- Buffalo Chicken Nachos with Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

Mmmmmmmmmm...so this is a great one for you today!!!!  We had been floating around 'buffalo chicken' ideas for the last few days of the chicken tender, chili, meatloaf & lettuce wrap variety.  But when I peeped in the freezer and found some corn tortillas, my brain went into overdrive creating these babiesJ

First up, I poached some chicken before shredding it and tossing it with a little buffalo sauce... 

...oh, and I also diced up 1/4 of a sweet white onions because...well, I love them soJ

While the chicken was poaching, I got to working on the chips.  I took the (defrosted) tortillas and used a pizza cutter to split them into fours (if using 'burrito sized' flour or wheat tortillas, cut them into 6 pieces) and laid em on a single layer on a non-stick sprayed cookie sheets.  Give em a quick mist of olive oil and pop em in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until they are JUST about to brown.

Once they are out of the oven, I gave em a quick brush of Greek yogurt blue cheese dressing (or any blue cheese)...

...topped em each with a few shreds of buffalo chicken and a sprinkle of onion... 

...and finally, a generous amount of shredded cheese (I used an Italian 6 cheese blend) and a few crumbles of blue cheese. 

Pop em back in the oven to melt the cheese and BAM! 

Buffalo Chicken Nachos! 

And we can't serve ANYTHING buffalo in our house without the beloved blue cheese coleslaw!  Which is a simple mix of:

• Cole slaw mix
• 2 parts non-fat plain yogurt
• 1 part olive oil mayo
• a few diced scallions
• as much blue cheese as you'd like
• salt & pepper to taste

The corn chips were baked, but SUPER crunchy without being fried, the chicken is lean with a kiss of spice from the sauce and just enough fun & decadence from the melty cheese makes this dinner a not-so-guilty way to have nachosJ  

And sure it's great on it's own, but don't even get me started on how much we loved topping the nachos WITH the blue cheese slaw! 

You may be seeing this dinner quite often since Scott COULD NOT get enough!  Hope you try it out soon since it's a super fun one!

8:00pm:  Dessert- Ding Dong Cake

"Half-a-cake" worked out perfect.  We served 4 pieces for dessert on Wednesday night, sent 2 pieces home with my sister-in-law & niece and we had just enough leftover for 1 slice each for me & Scott.  I love not having a gazillion leftovers...cause then I can make MORE stuff!J

Well, I plan on making a lighter dinner tonight (thinking stuffed sweet potatoes) since we have some celebrating to do this weekendJ  I'm not naming names, but SOMEONE around here is turning the big 2J  (tear!)  Hope you guys have some fun plans!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Emphasis on Frosting...

Thursday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

10:00am:  Breakfast- Life cereal

Which I SLAMMED down before running out the door for...

10:30-11:45am:  Power Yoga

And by the time class was over, the NJ snow skies parted and the sun came outJ  I guess all those sun salutations workedJ

12:30pm:  Lunch- Spinach Cherry Smoothie

This one was sooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!

• 1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 cup water
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 handful of frozen dark SWEET cherries
• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 1 handful spinach (as much as I could fit in the little bullet cupsJ)

This was so sweet and creamy.  Already can't wait to have another one todayJ

2:30pm:  Snack- TOAST

I. HEART. TOAST!

5:30pm:  Balsamic Brown Sugar pulled pork, mashed potatoes & peas 

I can't take credit for this DELICIOUS dinner.  My sister-in-law whipped it up and it was PHENOMENAL!

Although I can take credit for THIS:  HALF-A-CAKE ALERT!J

I split this recipe exactly in half, made ONE round cake and cut it in half and lengthwise to make four FROSTED (emphasis on frosted!) layers!

It was reallllllly good!  VERY SWEET, but really good.  The cream cheese/powdered sugar/butter/cool whip layer really tasted like the famous Hostess filling...yum!  

Alright, well let me get off this site and start looking for spinach rather than starring at this cakeJ

Have a great THURSDAY, everyone...come on, Friday!! 

Proceed with caution...

Tuesday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast-Mango...ice cream??J

It seems like everytime I whip up a smoothie with mango, it comes out with the consistency of ice cream.  Is that ever a bad thing??  (although sort of an 'awkward thing' in late FebruaryJ)

• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup frozen mango cubes
• 1 drop coconut extract

There's some tropic dreams to beat your winter bluesJ

12:30pm:  Lunch- Chicken Parm soup

2:30pm:  Snack- Soy Crisp + Laughing Cow 

I used to eat these things for lunch ALL. THE. TIME.  They are great for a 'crunch craving' and for a savory cheese craving, too.

But what goes better with cheesy snacks than MORE cheese??  I just can't help myself dipping these babies in a little Laughing Cow wedgeJ 

6:00pm:  Dinner- Almond Garlic Chicken & Brown Sugar Acorn Squash

I can't say this chicken portion of the dinner turned out EXACTLY as planned, but it still worked out pretty well.  It started with these almonds...

...along with some dried parsley, salt & pepper and 4 garlic cloves that I pulsed in a mini food processor.

Problem was my 'almond bread crumbs' turned into more of a paste from the garlic cloves.  I probably could have added breadcrumbs to the mix, but instead I patted the coating into the chicken... 

...tossed it on an olive oil-coated griddle, covered it with a piece of aluminum foil (coated with nonstick spray) and topped it with a cast iron skillet (or anything heavy) to help sear in the coating and crisp it up. 

About 4-5 minutes on each side allowed the chicken to cook through and the exterior to crisp up...but I think I was borderline in danger of burning the crushed garlic in the coating, which would have made them bitter.  Proceed with cautionJ

And as much as the chicken was an experiment, the acorn squash was old hat and a 'Scott specialty.'  Baked cut side down for about 40 minutes at 350, before flipping a filling with a little butter, brown sugar, maple & a dash of nutmeg and then popping it back in the oven for another 15 minutes.... 

At least this dinner hit all the 'sweet & salty' targets.

Although not sweet enoughJ

7:00pm:  Dessert- 1 scoop Sea Salt Fudge Truffle ice cream

NEEDED. THIS!

8:00-9:30pm:  Gentle Yoga

And it was right before I was about to head out to this class when I started to feel my muscles tighten up from the night before.  No clue what we did, but my ads and obliques were killing me like I did 9000 crunches.  Hmmmm....

Well, if you're in NJ...ummmm...enjoy the snow???

Have a great Wednesday!J

Not to be ignored...

Hey, ya'll!  Sorry for the looooooooooong delay!  Less than 24 hours after I had posted about our divine Valentines dinner and promised a 'Valentines lunch road trip' recap, Katie's 'Valentines morning' sickness latched onto meJ  I felt pretty normal by Monday/Tuesday, just not really too interested in thinking or writing about food (travesty, I knowJ)  And then after a planned weekend of 'Valentines: Round 2,' Scott ended up feeling none too well, so we were sidelined againJ  

We'll get it together one of these daysJ  

In the meantime, here's my Monday recap to get back on scheduleJ

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast- Banana & flax smoothie

• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 tablespoon ground flax (just for kicksJ)

We had a RARE 60 degree weather weekend here in Jersey and even my Winter-loving self basked in all the sunshineJ  The sunlight streaming through the window even after it dropped back to the 30's yesterday put me in a 'smoothie' moodJ

12:30pm:  Lunch-  Apple with peanut butter

2:00pm:  PUMPKIN spice coffee with creamer

I know...I'm just torturing myself with all those "Fall" scentsJ

3:00pm:  Snack- Sweet Potato Popchips & a wedge of Laughing Cow 

AKA- a mini ramekin full of crumbs from the bottom of a bag that had been in my cabinet for God knows how long, but they were EXACTLY what I was wishing for yesterdayJ

5:30pm:  Dinner- "Chicken Parm" soup 

Based on this recipe, but kicked up a little bit with the addition of  2 diced carrots (added in with the onion & garlic), 1 can of drained white beans and 1/2 cup of ditalini pasta (which cooked along with the soup for about 10 minutes)

Oh yeah...and I added the 1 cup of Parmesan cheese RIGHT into the soup.  What's Parm without the cheese, ya know?? 

Savory tomato broth, lean chicken, filing white beans and just enough chew from the pasta made this bowl of soup justtttttttt right for these last few days of winter we're back to havingJ 

Not to mention soup is always an easy sell with Katie.  Girl loves herself some soupJ

6:30-9:30pm:  Beginners power & yin yoga

I was soooooooooo ready to get back to a power class after cooling it off for most of last week.  And I'm finding that yin is one of the most difficult & intense varieties of yoga for me.  You wouldn't think RELAXATION would be that difficult, but the intense stretch REALLY makes you live "in the moment."  Yeesh!

10:00pm:  Dessert-

Yes, it was 10 o'clock.  Yes, I tried to distract myself with a shower.  But yes, there was no denying my sweet tooth was NOT going to be ignored last night... 

I had bought this chocolate bar for such occasions.  I'm not the BIGGEST fan of dark chocolate (despite all those heart healthy benefits), so is it only takes a LITTLE bit to feed the sweet tooth and feel satisfied. 

Make that 2 small squares (and 90 calories) worthJ

Alright, time to get started on the day....Have a great Tuesday, everyone!J

Match made in heaven...

Morning, ya'll!  Comin to ya live from a rare Saturday morning cause A.- I'm so excited to show you this dinner & B.- If I don't, this blog will be "War & Peace" come Monday if you know what I mean since, yes, there WILL be MORE food coming this weekend.

Not that that's needed.  Let me explain...

VALENTINES RECAP:

8:00am:  Coffee, Meta-D & Breakfast- French Toast Muffins

I didn't get my "breakfast baked by Scott," but we still got to have these 'fancy/not the usual Friday fair' picked by Scott, fresh baked muffinsJ  Nutmeg flavored, cinnamon-sugar coated cake muffins are not a bad way to start the holiday!

10:30-11:45am:  Power Yoga

And no joke, since it was nearly 40 degrees yesterday, I noticed an ABUNDANCE of people walking out of the gym IN SHORTS yesterday.  It was like "it stopped snowin for 2 minutes, TIME TO GET MY SHORTS OUT OF THE DRAWER" day.  For REALJ

12:30pm:  Lunch- Chocolate Strawberry smoothie

So I neeeeeded some sort Valentines-esq treat to celebrateJ  This one fit the 'healthier' bill:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 2-3 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mmmmmmm....just sweet enough with a faint tinge of chocolateJ  Although if you had chocolate protein powder, that would probably work best here!

2:00pm:  Snack- Pretzels with Laughing Cow

...and maybe a few bites of the dessert that I was makingJ

And now let's get to that dinner, shall we??

6:00pm:  Dinner- Garlic Butter steak with homemade french fries

Swwwwwwwoooooooonnnnnnnnnn...I may have started a new tradition since THIS MEAL was one of our very favorites of ALLLLLLL TIME!!!!!!!  I usually go with a 'travel theme' for Valentines dinner, but this year I just wanted to go SUPER classic & old school.  And short of a little surf to go with the turf, I think I nailed the menu pretty wellJ

First up was a good ole NY strip steak....which, after thinking about it, we hadn't made steaks in our house in at least 3 years!  So it was definitely celebratoryJ

 

Not that we need much magic to our 'steak cooking.'  I'm not gonna even pretend I have ANY good ideas on how to cook steaks since Scott and I are lame and like them well doneJ  So 'cooked until shoe leather' is pretty much our only steak requirement...(I know, I know! I ADMIT we're lame!J)

But just to kick our steaks up a WEE bit, we topped em with a little ROASTED GARLIC BUTTER!

Cause what says love more than ROASTED GARLIC, AMIRIGHT???J I mixed 1 head of roasted garlic along with 2 tablespoons of butter and some salt, pepper and a little thyme for extra FLAVA!

Can ya ever go wrong???

Meanwhile, on the side, is something I make even MORE rarely than steak:  HOMEMADE FRENCH FRIES!!! 

It just felt so rightJ

I followed Pioneer Woman's recipe and after soaking the potato sticks in cold water for 2 hours and then draining them, I cranked up the vegetable oil in a large pan to 300 degrees... 

...and then sizzled the fries for about 4-5 minutes to cook the INSIDES... 

...then I took em out and let them drain while I worked on the next 2 batches.

Then it was time to cook the OUTSIDE of the fries, by cranking up the heat and getting the oil to 400...

...and letting them sizzle for about 2-3 minutes or until they are GOLDEN BEAUTIES!  Drain them on ANOTHER paper towel and sprinkle with sea salt as they come out of the hot oil.

OH, but I did manage to fit ONE "travel" memory into the meal!  Since our side of fries, was sided up even MORE with a dollop of ROASTED GARLIC MAYO!  We ended of bachelor/bachellorette party at Pomme Frites in NYC (which serves their fries with a variety of flavored mayos)...so there, score one for the win of a 'memory' stamped to this dinnerJ

Oh yeah...and all I did was mix about 1/4 cup mayo with 1 head of mashed roasted garlic and some salt & pepper.  Easy and SO PERFECT!  If you've never had fries with mayo:  TRY THIS NOW!

And even though I had set the table in all it's VALENTINES GLORY... 

...it just felt WAYYYYYYYYYY more "US" appropriate to enjoy dinner while watching our favorite show of late, "Impractical Jokers" (shout out to our Cokes for giving us the tip...like 2 years agoJ)

Enjoyed to the LAST DROP!

And even though Katie didn't enjoy too much of this dinner (or eat much of anything yesterday, really)... 

...she WAS in good spirits to celebrate the dayJ  She especially enjoyed her 'new favorite game' of 'bring stuff to the kitchen to give to Daddy' after dinnerJ  She'll make multiple trips carrying whatevers layin around, cracking up as she goesJ 

Whatever burns energy, kidJ

And YES...there was MORE.

8:00pm:  DESSERT- Extra dark chocolate cake!

Valentines day just NEEDSSSSSSS rich & chocolate-y desserts and this one was HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLA AWESOME!  I looked like a sorta MASTERED my 'half recipe/half cake' approachJ

Although I will admit, I DID make the whole recipe of FROSTING...AND made the cake into 4 layers and slathered each one with all that chocolate goodness!  I COULDN'T RESIST! 

And what goes better with chocolate/chocolate cake??? 

I have NO IDEA what "double vanilla" means...but I LOVE IT!

Match made in heaven: 

Now the problem is....how do I NOT have a slice of cake for breakfast???

Oh I know how...from getting my garlic-butter steak butt to a double yoga class this morning and remembering that we still have SCOTT'S Valentines day plan coming up...which I know involves more meat & friesJ  We were going to go today, but MORE snow is forecast for today, so we figured we might as well bump it to tomorrow.  There's ALWAYS tomorrow to eat MORE meat & friesJ hahahahahhaha

Alrighty...now off to the gym and to figure out a LEANER snow day dinnerJ  Have a great Saturday, everyone!!!