Tag Archives: cooking

Weekend Recipe: Baked Apple Steel Cut Oats

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Every time I get sick, I get this weird burst of energy right before it takes me down.  It’s almost like my body knows that its hours are numbered and I better get all my chores in before it’s too late.  Weird, right?

Go figure I got a flu shot for the first time in, oh, a decade, and I think I still got the flu.  What gives??  But fortunately, in the window of time before I became the completely useless, sniveling, fever-ridden mess that I am right now, I had the foresight to cook up some really yummy comfort food.

I think this would be a great recipe to make on the weekend, and then you’d have plenty of leftovers to reheat during your work week.  It’s a warm, yummy, healthy, stick-to-your ribs kind of breakfast – enjoy!

Baked Apple Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked steel cut oats
2 tablespoons of butter, divided
2 cups of boiling hot water
1 large apple, cubed (I used a Pink Lady)
1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or regular milk would be fine)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus some for sprinkling
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
Optional:  brown sugar, nuts, granola, raisins, etc.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place your steel cut oats in a heatproof bowl along with 1 tablespoon of the butter:

Oatmeal1Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the oats, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes:

Oatmeal3

Meanwhile, melt the other tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, add the apple pieces, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Let this cook down on medium heat until the apples are softened (this smells heavenly!!):

Oatmeal4

Mix together the almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup, and salt:

Oatmeal5

Now mix the almond milk mixture, apples, and oatmeal together and spoon into either a 8×8″ baking dish, or 4 smaller crocks.  Bake for 40 minutes (please excuse my dirty oven):

Oatmeal6

Et voila!  I sprinkled 1/4 cup of granola cereal over the top of the crocks in the last 5 minutes just to add some crunch:Oatmeal7Please let me know if you try this recipe!  And stay healthy, friends.  xo

This week’s meal prep

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Good morning!

My hubby was out of town over the weekend, so I thought I’d take advantage of a quiet Sunday by prepping some food to have throughout the week.  Here’s what I came up with.

Hard boiled eggs:

Turkey zucchini muffins (EDIT:  scroll down to the bottom of the post for the recipe!):

A batch of steel cut oats (one container will go in the fridge, and the other in the freezer):

Some cucumber and tomato salad:

Some asparagus dip, courtesy of Peas & Crayons:

And the shrimp and crab ceviche that I talked about in this post:

Click here to see this week’s meal plan and how I plan to incorporate these foods into my week!

Turkey Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 of an onion, diced into small pieces
  • 1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced into small pieces
  • 1 medium zucchini, shredded (I shredded mine with a box grater)
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 lb. package of ground turkey (I used 93% lean because it was on sale, but 99% lean would be even better!)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup of ketchup, divided
  • 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce (optional – if you like spicy!)
  • 1 teaspoon of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
  • 1 teaspoon of chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes (optional – if you like spicy!)
  • salt and pepper (approximately 1/4 teaspoon of each)

Directions:

  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
  • In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat
  • Add the onion, red pepper, and garlic, and until the onion starts to become translucent.  Add the shredded zucchini and cook for about 2 minutes more (enough for some of the moisture to come out of the zucchini)
  • In a large bowl, combine the cooked ingredients with all other ingredients on the list, with the exception of 1/4 cup of the ketchup and the sriracha sauce (if using)
  • Mix everything together well, and then with a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop out and place into muffin tins which have been sprayed with olive oil spray or non-stick cooking spray  (NOTE:  for me, this equaled out to 8 muffins total)
  • Mix the reserved 1/4 cup of ketchup and the sriracha sauce together and spread on the top of each muffin
  • Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the muffins are cooked through
  • Let cool, and then remove from the muffin tins with a spoon – they should pop out easily
  • TIP:  Place a sheet pan on the rack underneath your muffin tins in case any “juices” from the meat bubble up and spill over while it is cooking

Nutrition (based on 8 muffins, 1 muffin per serving):

  • 133 calories
  • 8 grams of carbs
  • 5 grams of fat
  • 12 grams of protein

Did you do any meal prep for your week?  What did you make?

Take that, Taco Bell!

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Today I was inspired to make something new, and I drew my inspiration from – of all things – a Taco Bell commercial.  You see, The Bell (or “The Smell” as we used to call it in my college days) is currently running an ad promoting its new Cantina Bell menu, with recipes developed by Chef Lorena Garcia.

In the commercial, Chef Garcia is slicing and dicing and chopping up all kinds of fresh ingredients.  At one point, she grabs a big ol’ handful of fresh cilantro and starts chopping away.  Honestly, what I made today probably has zero of the same ingredients (minus probably the cilantro), but just the same, I have to say that Taco Bell inspired me to take a run to the border of my kitchen and see what kind of ingredients I could throw together for my own (healthier) Mexican-inspired meal!

I realized that I had a bunch of ingredients in my fridge and pantry that I could throw together for a “ceviche” type dish, so….that’s what I did ;)

Shrimp and Crab “Ceviche”

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound of shrimp.  The size of the shrimp is up to you – I happened to have frozen, shell on, tail on jumbo shrimp in my freezer
  • 1 pound of imitation crabmeat (or if you feelin’ fancy, go for the real stuff)
  • 1/2 of a small red onion, diced
  • 1/2 of a cucumber, seeded and diced
  • 1 big handful of fresh cilantro, chopped (thanks Chef Garcia!)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos
  • 2 cups or so of Spicy V8 juice
  • hot sauce, to taste
  • ketchup, to taste
  • juice of 1 lime
  • corn tortillas
  • chili powder
  • olive oil spray

Directions:

Boil de shrimp in a big pot of water for 3 – 5 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through.  Drain, spray down with cold water to cool off the shrimp, and then peel them.  I roughly chopped my shrimp into bite size pieces:

Next, also chop up the crabmeat and add it to the shrimp in a large bowl:

Add your onion, cucumber, and cilantro and gently mix it all together:

Now add your tomato products:

I eyeballed the measurements…just add enough so that the mixture isn’t too “tight.”  Also, I did not add salt to this recipe, as the tomato products (particularly the V8 juice) already contain plenty.  Finally, finish with a hit of fresh lime juice, let the flavors marry for a while in the fridge, and voila:

I enjoyed mine with some homemade tortilla chips (corn tortillas that I cut up and sprayed with a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and chili pepper.  Throw them in the oven for a few minutes at 350 degrees to crisp them up):

Here’s my best estimation of the nutritional value per serving (minus the chips):

163 calories
16 grams of protein
23 grams of carbs
1 gram of fat

BAM!  I’ll take that over some 760 calorie burrito any day!!

July faves

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Blah!  Sorry to be gone for so long!  Damn, I am a broken record.  Each post seems to start with some variation of that sentence.  ;)

Well, good news is that I jumped out of bed this Monday morning just ready to attack the day.  I had a great workout this morning and have been full of energy all day.  Hopefully that also means I won’t be so MIA on the blogosphere for the rest of this week :)

I’ve compiled another list of faves for the month of July – and I’m realizing that I certainly do have a lot of “favorite” things.  Maybe I should rename these posts, “stuff I kind of like.”  But that just doesn’t have the same zing to it, does it?  Regardless, here are my monthly favorites:

Costco Workout Tanks:

Costco doesn’t put images of their clothing items on their website!  So I need to credit Skinny Runner for this photo that I am borrowing (hope you don’t mind, Skinny Runner!  Great blog!)

Costco tank

I really like these tanks - in fact, I like them so much I bought it in 3 colors:  hot pink, peach, and purple.  They are not too tight and they are long enough to cover the booty.

Starbucks Refreshers:

Also an impulse buy from Costco!  These are really refreshing.  I’m pretty bummed that I missed the memo that they were giving these out for free at Starbucks last Friday, but oh well.  The flavors are not too sweet, and there is not a lot of added sugar or other scary ingredients.  I think they are a nice treat!

Breaking Bad:

Seriously, I am obsessed.  The hubby and I are trying to catch up on the last 4 seasons before watching the new season that just started last night – so no spoilers, please!  We are about halfway through the 3rd season and I can’t believe I missed out on this show for so long – it is crazy good!!

My Toss & Chop Salad Chopper:

I picked up this nifty gadget a year or so ago from a specialty kitchen supply store in my town.  I use this just about every day!  Here’s the thing:  I love to eat spinach salads, but I find they just take up too much space in my tupperware containers when I pack them up for work.  So, I simply chop, chop, chop down the spinach with this tool, then I add in whatever protein and other veggies I want.  I chop that down too, and before you know it, I have a lovely, compact chopped salad.  If you’re interested in buying one of these guys, here’s a link.

MUFE HD Foundation:

I just bought a bottle of this foundation over the weekend at Sephora and I’m already in love!  It’s very challenging to find the right shade for my skin tone in the summer time, but there is such a selection of colors that I was able to find one that was spot-on perfect.  It covers beautifully and seems to last all day.  My “holy grail” foundation for eons has been Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, but this one may have won me over!!  Come to think of it, I’ve never been disappointed by any Make Up For Ever products, so if you are in the market for some new cosmetics, check them out!

What are your current faves?  xoxo,