Wednesday Recap
8:00am: Hot Lemon Water
9:15: Breakfast- Yep, another Multigrain waffle with butter & flax (I added Katie to the picture to at least shake it up a bitJ)
10:30: Coffee with creamer
12:15pm: Lunch- Spaghetti squash casserole
Leftovers are just so good when all you want is something quick and warrrrmmmmmmm...which I've wanted nearly EVERY DAY this winter!
3:30pm: Snack- Strawberries & Cheddar Pop Chips
Sweet AND salty were both screaming out for me by the time I figured out what I wanted for snack. Those Pop Chips just hit the salty spot...and I don't even think that cup held the 22 you are allowed for a 120 calorie serving. SO GOOD!
6:00pm: Dinner- "Blackened" Chicken over lime quinoa & roasted cauliflower
Oh...and did I mention it's topped with avocado cream? Yeah...that happened FO SHO!
I butterflied the chicken (well, SCOTT butterflied the chickenJ) and seasoned it with:
- Montreal steak seasoning
- Cumin
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- salt
- olive oil
Meanwhile, mixing 1 avocado with 2 tablespoons of nonfat yogurt to make the creamy sauce to coooooooool down all of the seasonings...
While the chicken was cooking, I tossed a cup of quinoa into 2 cups of chicken broth & let simmer until the water evaporated.
I had tried this 'noa that Scott had gotten me for Christmas (yes, you just read that correctly) and I thought it was really mild & tasty. The absolute KEY WITH QUINOA is to RINSE, RINSE, RINSE before you cook it. The outer coating of the seed is very bitter and caused me to dislike quinoa for a LONG time before learning this little trick. Take my advice and RINSE!
Once the quinoa was cooked, I tossed in the flavors for the evening: Lime zest, juice of 1 lime and a handful of diced cilantro...
Now if you like MILD flavors...DO NOT use all of the zest & juice of 1 lime. It PACKED A PUNCH! Mixed with the chicken, it was phenomenal...but alone?? Holy heaven, you won't have any sinus problems after that one!
But the tangy quinoa + spiced chicken + coooool avocado cream = Fantastic together! The flavors & textures really complimented one another. We couldn't get enough of this dish.
And on the side: our beloved roasted cauliflower. Just dice, toss with olive oil, salt & garlic powder and bake at 395 for 30-40 minutes until toasty. Scott is NOT a cauliflower fan, but he GOBBLES this down. It's a HIT!
And in Katie's Corner, I had scooped her up a bit of the quiona & cooled cauliflower to try (this bowl was bigger than it appears in this pic)
After I tasted how tangy the quinoa was, I thought there was NO WAY she was actually going to eat it. And, just like ALL things with babies & kids, she shocked me by DEVOURING it! She had quinoa all over her because I couldn't shovel it in fast enoughJ
It wasn't a TOTAL happy plate, but I think she did pretty darn good considering there was CILANTRO involved. I don't think I even liked cilantro until about 2 years agoJ
8:00pm: Dessert- MORE vanilla ice cream with melted cookie butter
9:00pm: 25 minute Body Slimming Yoga
I've been having trouble getting up early this week for workouts, so I just have to sneak em in at night when I can. I MUCH prefer working out first thing in the morning because you do it before you have time to THINK about it, aka-psych yourself out. I'm MUCH more likely to skip a workout if I spend alllllllllll day saying "after I make dinner, play with the baby, solve world peace....THEN I'll work out!" It makes it WAY too easy for me to make excuses. But if first thing in the morning doesn't work out, I just have to crank up that motivation and get movin whenever I can.
ANYWAY...from working out talk to THIS: I just may have a special dessert involving cookie butter UP MY SLEEVE for tonight. Between that and planning my annual Valentines Day dinner, I have lots of visions of sugar swirling in my head! Stay tuned, I think you'll like this one!
Happy Thursday, everyone. (I got it together, finallyJ)
