Crazy & calm...

Monday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with cinnamon & creamer

9:30am:  Breakfast- Banana Chocolate Chip Vitatop

12:30pm:  Lunch- Coconut Blended Yogurt 

I have no idea what is "blended" about this yogurt except that it's a little thinner & a little sweeter, but HOT DAMN, I don't care!  These things are gooooooooooooooooooooood!  150 calories, 1 gram of fat and 100% delicious.  This doesn't even need any 'blend ins' since it's dotted with little bits of coconut to give it just enough texture.  Going to the store to CLEAN THESE UP since they're on sale this week!

Katie, ummmmmm, subtly enjoyed her own yogurt for lunch yesterday as well... 

Along with a bath shortly thereafterJ

4:00pm:  Snack- Cherries 

5:30pm:  Dinner- Fried Ricotta with Roasted Tomatoes

As soon as I saw this recipe on Pinterest last week, I KNEW it was going on the menu ASAP.  It just seemed so classic Italian with it's simple, fuss-free ingredients.  And umm...it also helped that I *ahem* didn't make it to the grocery store yesterday and I just happened to have everything I would need to make these on handJ

First, about a half hour before you're about to cook, toss some grape tomatoes (and a few diced cloves of garlic) onto a foil lined baking sheet & drizzle with a little olive oil, salt & pepper.  Toss in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to shrivel & burst.

Once the tomatoes are just about ready, you can start your ricotta mix: 

• 2 cups part-skim ricotta
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour 
• Salt & pepper
• Any other seasoning you'd like....I used garlic powder & thyme since I had them on hand.

Give it a quick mix to combine all of the ingredients and toss in the fridge until you're ready to cook.

Once you're ready, spray a skillet with nonstick spray (I use an olive oil based one from Trader Joe's) and drop ricotta mix in rounds over medium heat.... 

Let them cook until you see the edges turned slightly brown (about 3-4 minutes) and QUICKLY flip to cook of the reverse side.

Some flipped well...and others?  Well....maybe not so well.

But it's OK cause once they hit the plate, you can just patch em up to make them look presentableJ  See??

ANYWAYS...once they are off the skillet, sprinkle em with salt & little nutmeg and set aside.

While the ricotta is cooking, I quickly diced up 1/2 an onion and drizzled it with some white balsamic and a sprinkle of salt to cut the strong onion taste just a bit.   

A few minutes before serving, toss the whole pan of roasted tomatoes in with the onions and give it all a quick mix...

Then it's time to plate the ricotta...

And top with those glorious tomatoes... 

The ricotta 'fritters' were awesome because they had so few 'extra' ingredients that it really had a clean & crisp (NOT HEAVY) taste...but those tomatoes, folks, just put it over the top!  Not sure if it was the summer season or the roasting, but they were SUPER SWEET punctuated with a little tang from the balsamic onions and sweet roasted garlic.  DO NOT SKIP THEM!  They REALLY made the dish.  And what also made the dish was that aside from the extra few minutes it took to roast the tomatoes...this meal came together in about 20 minutes.  AKA-try this tonight!

6:30-9:15pm:  Beginners Power & Gentle Yoga

Yep, another 2 for 1 yoga night for meJ (it also gives Scott extra motivation to squeeze in his own work out since I'm not home...so it's a triple bonusJ) The power class was REALLY active & tough last night while the gentle flew by in a blink.  Perfect combo of crazy & calmJ

Well, the ole mercury is on the rise in Jersey today.  Farewell chili on the sun porch nights...even if HOPEFULLY you'll be back fairly sooooooooooooooonJ  Until then, I guess I should whip up another popsicle recipe to 'embrace the summer' while it lasts (that's an excuse.  I mean, right??)

Have a great Tuesday!!

Good for the soul...

Hey everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  Ours whipped by so fast that I think my head is still spinning!  Did you guys do anything fun??

I have to rewind a bit and show you the dinner I promised that was accompanied by a PORTIONED amount of those magical Austin corn chips:  Corn Chip ChiliJ

I took a page from my "Frito Pie" (hmmmm...I may have to break out that very recipe out for the upcoming football season!) and just swapped the Fritos for the yummy chipsJ

First up, I chopped the remainder of our sweet peppers from the farmer's market...

Not gonna lie, they were kind of a pain to slice and deseed all of these.  I felt like I had seeds EVERYWHERE because they were so small & skinny.  (think if we keep eating them though, that we'll all be 'small & skinny' too???!! J)

6 days & 8 hours later (or at least it felt that way), I finally had all of the peppers chopped and tossed in a pan along with a little olive oil, a diced onion and a few diced cloves of garlic... 

After the peppers cooked about 10 minutes, I tossed in some ground turkey breast to brown... 

Once everything was cooked through, I added them to my slow cooker along with a 1/2 a bottle of BBQ sauce...THIS ONE to be specific: 

Sweet with just a HINT of spice, this sauce was MUCH thinner than the usual BBQ sauce I'm used to.  I'm wondering if that's a regional thing or a specialty of that brand.  

#ponderments

Anyway, because I said my day had been SEVERELY lacking in the veggie department on Wednesday, I decided to toss in 2 diced zucchini to bump up the nutrient department... 

The great thing about chili is that, as long as the seasonings are correct, you can pretty much add ANYTHING to it and it's STILL going to taste like chili.  If you want to 'trick' your family into eating vegetarian one night, chili is the way to go because with or without meat, it still pretty much all tastes the same.

Also into the slow cooker went:

• 28 oz. can of crushed tomato
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 can drained & rinsed kidney beans

I let that simmer on low for about 5-6 hours....or pretty much until the aromas wafting from the slow cooker were too overpowering to handle, so we had to rip off the lid and just DIG IN!

First, I added a handful of chips to the bowl, topped for a scoop of chili and finally a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese & some diced scallions...

And I really did stick to just ONE handful of chips rather than snacking mindlessly.  It was MUCH easier to do when you had a bunch of other goodies to devour as well.

Well, that and keeping an eye on Katie as she devoured her own little bowl of chili. 

Yeah...no more baby utensils or bowls for Miss Independent.  She's movin up in the culinary world.

She even enjoyed herself a few (messy!) bites of corn chips too..hahahahahahahhaJ 

That night, Scott also noted that he can't remembers an August where we've eaten so many dinners out on the back porch thanks to the BEAUTIFUL weather lately.  Not only were we cool & comfortable, but we were eating bowls of hot CHILI.  That's an August FIRST, I'm pretty sure of it.    

But it IS still summer after all and in order to 'embrace' these last 2 weeks, I also made the classic summer dessert:  Popsicles!

Which I decided to make WHILE making the chili....which led to THIS:

I'm a very orderly cook.

Anyway, I halved this recipe and made a yummy chocolate pudding popsicle layered with SALTED CARAMEL!

They LOOK difficult, but they actually were really easy.  I made one pudding base and then just separated it and added chocolate chips to one half and then salted caramel (yes, you have to make that too...but it's not that hard either) to the other half.  Not too shabby for something that sounds 'so fanc'!

Saturday night turned out to be equally as deliciousJ  While Katie hung out with Nona for the night...

Scott & I snuck away to the Jersey Shore for our traditional 'picnic on the beach' in Point Pleasant...

 And in 'tradition fashion,' we made a stop at Jersey Mike's for a chiptole cheesesteaks for him...

...and a classic tuna for her.

Delicious as always.  Or maybe they were so good because it was just such a PEACEFUL & GORGEOUS night out!  We hung out way past sunset and just listening to the waves crashing on the beach.  

I'm tellin ya, the beach during the day is awesome & fun, but the shore at night is just good for the soulJ

And of course we had to make a stop at Hoffman's for some of the best ice cream on the planetJ  I went with just a scoop of chocolate chip...which literally had GOLD MINES of the good stuff hidden throughout the cup...delicious!

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting some friends, an awesome Boxing class & going to see "The Conjuring" on Saturday afternoon with one of my bestiesJ  She's gonna kill me for posting these, but they're JUST TOO FUNNY!!!!  

Here's the "Before" picture when she was nervous, but EXCITED, to see the movie:

...and here she was DURING, in one of the few moments her sweater wasn't covering her eyesJ

I thought it was really scary too....although not as much as my friend who said she wanted to throw up, crawl out of her skin and CRYJ  (Sorry Mare!!! hahahahahahahhaa)  But regardless, I LOVE me a greatttt scary movie...especially with the HALLOWEEN season on the horizon...MWAHAHA!

Anyway, that's about all I got for you today.  Hope you guys were ready to face Monday morning feeling ready for the week (although, does that ever REALLY happen??)

Have a great Monday!J

Happens...

Wednesday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer & cinnamon

10:00am:  Breakfast- 170 cal Sweet & Salty granola bar

Aka- The fastest thing I could shove in my mouth while running out the door for...

10:30-11:45am:  Power Yoga

Which, I'd like to add, was done in yet another hot & humid room...until the air kicked in RIGHT before savasana.  Oh well, it was certainly a good class for loosening the musclesJ

12:30pm:  Cherry Cake Batter Smoothie 

Should this be a shock??  I was having dreams about waking up & having this one againJ

Made only better by enjoying it on a ridiculously GORGEOUS day! 

And what made my day even MORE gorgeous??  Well...coming home from the gym and finding a HUGE 'mystery' box addressed to me on the porch! 

My buddy Cheri, who lives in Austin, sent me an "All Things Austin" specialty box!! 

BBQ sauce, roasted garlic olive oil, ketchup, sweet tea, mineral water, gingerbread pancake mix, tortillas (which I think she knew us East Coaster were in desperate need for after seeing our SAD contribution to the tortilla societyJ) and lime corn salt all made & grown right in Austin, TX!  It was like Christmas in my house as I SQUEALED opening EVERY item!!!!!  Cheri is THE. BEST!

Oh yeah...and there was one more item.  Namely THE BEST corn tortilla chips I've EVER tasted.... 

Light, crispy, airy & just KISSED with lime, salt & chili flavorings...they are so good, in fact, that Scott's response to them is not printable on this blogJ

And they were so good that one handful turned to two...which turned into WAY too many chips!  (a rookie 'non portioning' mistake!!)  So much so that I just chalked em up as my snack, dinner AND dessert and called it a 'no more eating day' after that!  So yesterday pretty much registered a big, fat ZERO on the nutrition scale...but how often do you get specialty packages from Texas????  I'll try to sneak in some extra veggies today to balance it all out....mixed with a recipe tonight that is going to include a PORTION of those chips and one other item from Austin!  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

5:30-6:30:  Body Jam Class

And yes...excess amounts of corn chips DEFINITELY means some BODY JAM!  I felt MUCH better after gettin my sweat on last nightJ

Alright...well, Katie's already climbin up to the table to see what I'm doing (and to read her 'papers'J)  I better get out of here!

Have a great Thursday, everyone!J

Just go make this...

Tuesday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with creamer

10:00am:  Breakfast- Chocolate Almonds

My soul just couldn't bare another morning of celeryJ  But portioned sea salt & chocolate (oh yeah...and almonds!)?  That I can doJ

12:30pm:  CHERRY CAKE BATTER PROTEIN SHAKE! 

I'm not even joking that I must declare this the BEST PROTEIN SHAKE EVER, EVER, EVER!  Cake batter protein shakes are exceptional....but the added cherries???  Oh man, after one sip all I could say was "Oh my God."

• 1/2 cup part skim ricotta
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder  
• Drops of almond & butter extract
• 1 tablespoon sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 5 ice cubes
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or until reached desired consistency)
• 7-8 cherries (pitted)

Blend that all up, pour into a glass and DEVOUR!  This thing tasted like a THICK, LUSCIOUS milkshake with an extra boost of sweetness from the cherries...and all for under 200 calories.  I mean...just go make this.  That's all I can say!

It was so good that it ALMOST pained me to share...but how can I deny that face?? 

Girl didn't spill a DROP!J 

5:00pm:  Snack- Nacho Kale Chips

Hahahahaha...who has a snack at 5PM???  Yep, I didJ  I had a busy afternoon and I didn't even realized I was FAMISHED until I was about to start making dinner.  Which I knew was going to take a few minutes, so I thought I'd take the edge off before I found myself knawling my arm somewhere around 5:15J  It would happen folks.  It would happen!

6:00:  Dinner-Chicken enchiladas smothered in avocado cream 

And to follow up the BEST SMOOTHIE EVER, EVER is now one of my new favorite dinners EVER, EVER!  Chicken, pepper and cheese filled enchiladas smothered in a cool & creamy avocado sauce and sprinkled with MORE cheese...these things were hearty, filling and oh-so-comforting! 

And thankfully, not THAT difficult to make.  OH, except when your 'surviving' on a few kale chips, have all of your ingredients ready to roll and it is THAT moment you realize you are OUT OF TORTILLAS and have to run to the store in the MIDDLE of making dinner.  Yeah, that happened last night (hence, my lack of pictures...it was honestly the last thing I was thinking about vs. getting dinner together ASAP!).  I literally walked in the door and Scott nearly yanked em out of my hands to start a rollin!  Thankfully, they only needed to bake for about 20 minutes....but there was no time for fancy photos when avocado laced enchiladas were staring at us!  hahahahhaa   

(they were so good that it's becoming REALLY difficult at this moment to not reheat a leftover one for breakfastJ)

8:00pm:  Dessert- Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Well, the gloom and rain of yesterday has broken into an absolutely GORGEOUS day here already!  I can hear the leaves rustling as I type this...which may indeed be one of my all-time favorite sounds.  I'm foreseeing another warm & cozy dinner on the horizon...although maybe this one will be made with some summer goodiesJ  Stay tuned and have a good Wednesday!