Seriously. Why Didn’t I Think of This Sooner?

Half a left over sweet potato with chicken salad on top!!!! Amazing this is one of the most delicious flavor combinations I have ever enjoyed. By the way my chicken salad was just what the doctor ordered. It totally hit the spot.

Speaking of just what the doctor ordered remember how I was sick? Well, I am sure this is what healed me.

My little niece Hannah missed me at church so she wrote me a letter. How great is that? She is so cute. As my mother-in-law says, “She is very satisfactory.”

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Pork Finally!!!

If you remember our impromptu vegetarianism a few weeks ago you know I was planning on making pork tenderloin but the pork was bad. So I tried again. One of the best recipes I have ever used for pork is from Cooking Light. It is their Pork Tenderloin with Paprika Spice Rub. The recipe is simple once you make the Paprika Spice blend. You just pop the tenderloin in a very hot oven for 20 minutes and then let it rest. But, I live in Southern California and heating an oven to 500F is rarely a fun thing unless you want the AC to work overtime and the paprika tends to smoke like crazy in the oven so I usually do it on the grill. The pork gets this wonderful blackened crust from the paprika burning and the heat from the grill keeps the meat pink in the middle. Yum! I love pork I think is probably my favorite protein. There are so many things that come from this wonderful animal. I also think pigs are kind of cool looking.

Thank you Clipart Guide.

I served the pork with peas and sweet potatoes cooked in the Crockpot. Thank you Gina! Her most recent post was for baked potatoes in the Crockpot and I thought it would work the same for sweet potato. Boy was I right I washed and dried the little beauties then wrapped them in aluminum foil and put them in the pot. Turned it on high for 4 hours and presto! David raved that these were the best sweet potatoes. They were so tender from being cooked slowly and basically steamed in the foil wrappers. Again a wonderful thing when turning the oven on sounds like a fate worse than death. Late Friday night we made my famous oatmeal cookies for David to take to his Kung Fu picnic. They turned out great but I want to tweak the recipe a little before I post it. I am considering making them vegan. Any thoughts? Look out they are on the way.

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Now That’s Chicken Salad!

All week I have been craving chicken salad. That is strange for me because I can’t ever remember having or liking chicken salad. I don’t know what came over me. I was thinking cranberries, celery, and mayo. So I started searching online…nothing. I ended up having a veggie burger for lunch.

After dinner tonight I still wanted my chicken salad.

So I made my own recipe.

Looks good, right? I think so. I am looking forward to lunch tomorrow. I need to bring it to work so I can take a yoga class at my break. I think this will be just the thing to fill my belly without weighing me down. I was also shocked by the low points calculation. You can have half of the recipe for just 4 points!!

Cranberry Chicken Salad

2 Servings
4 Points/Serving

12.5 oz TJ’s canned chicken
3 stalks celery, chopped
¼ cucumber, cubed
2 Tbsp dried cranberries
3 green onions, sliced
¼ cup Fage 0% Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise
½ tsp kosher salt
pepper to taste
1 Tbsp fresh dill
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix. It turns out to be a little more than 1 cup per serving. I am going to have it with watercress. Yum.

TEASER: Coming soon 1 point oatmeal-antioxidant cookies.

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Dinner for One

David officially started Law School today. It was so cool to get up early together. (Usually I am alone at that hour.) I went for a run while he was in the shower then…

Yep I made him pose for a picture before he left. Ha! I am so annoying.

Well David is now upstairs reading and I am realizing that we will be having most of our meals separately for then next few years. I am looking forward to seeing him at Thanksgiving.

Tonight I made my favorite solo meal…Breakfast!

Yum.

Erica’s Egg White Omelette

1 Serving
2 Points/Serving

butter flavored Pam
¼ bell pepper, diced
1 Trader Joe’s Canadian bacon round, diced
2 green onions, sliced
1 cup spinach
pepper
3 egg whites plus 1 drop of a yoke
1 pinch of salt
½ oz soy pepper jack cheese, shredded
¼ cup tomatoes, chopped

1. Spray a nonstick pan with Pam and heat over medium-low heat.
2. Don’t wait for the pan to get hot! Just start adding the bell pepper, onion, bacon, and pepper.
3. Cook until the bacon begins to color and the onion is soft.
4. Add the spinach and wilt.
5. The trick with egg white omelets is to whisk the eggs until they get nice and frothy and adding a pinch of salt before you start to whisk.
6. Spread the ingredients out evenly in the pan and add the eggs.
7. Move the egg around in the pan a little until it starts to set then sprinkle the cheese over the top.
8. When the cheese melts carefully fold the eggs over and cook a little longer.
9. Slide the eggs on to the plate and top with a few leftover green onions, tomatoes, and more salt and pepper.

The amazing thing about the Trader Joe’s Canadian bacon is that three slices = 1 point!! That means I can have the other two slices on the side. Served with an English muffin spread with Smart Balance this is the perfect 4 point meal.

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A Few Introductions

I know this blog is intended to be about food and fitness but being as I’m sick I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce you to my little family.

I live with my husband, David.

And our two cats, Fred and Ginger.

Don’t mess with my man. He will take you down.

Fred is also very fierce.

And don’t under estimate Ginger.

The kittens spend most of the day sleeping and then in the evening they…sleep some more. They are older cats that we accidently adopted about two years ago. David is allergic but he loves them. He loves them and me so much he is getting allergy shots. (They seem to be working quite well.)

Well that is our family. I hope this distracts from the fact that I have no recipes to share. I will be well soon. That or I’ll jump off something high. Let’s hope for the former. Type soon.

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I’m Sick!!

I am sorry I have been absent the last few days. I have been sick and therefore not cooking. My meals have looked like this…

..and this.

Don’t judge me it makes me feel better when I’m under the weather. I promise I will have some great recipes as soon I feel like eating again

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Perfect Picnic Food

As many of you know David is starting Law School next week!! So, we have been taking advantage of having him home as much as possible. We live in beautiful Southern California and our home is just over the canyon from Malibu. How did we get so lucky?

This salad was the star of our beach picnic this Thursday. It packed nicely in Ziploc containers and was just what my body wanted to eat at the beach. The flavors were light and refreshing and the shrimp and quinoa filled me up without weighing me down. I think this would be a perfect recipe to take to a potluck. Let me know what you think.

Shrimp and Quinoa Salad

Servings 6
3 Points/Serving

1 cup quinoa, uncooked
2 cups water
½ tsp salt
½ pound shrimp, pealed, deveined and cooked
½ cup mint, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp red onion, minced
1 medium tomato, diced
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
juice and zest of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring water, quinoa, and salt to boil in a saucepan. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook about 15 min. until water is absorbed and the look of the grain changes.
2. Drain into a fine colander.
3. Add the quinoa and rest of ingredients to a large bowl and mix well to combine.

Each serving is just under a cup but only 3 points. I liked it for lunch with carrots and hummus. You could also double the serving and have it as a whole meal in a bowl.

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Yummy Steak Salad

I went back to my old standby Cooking Light magazine for inspiration tonight. We adapted the Miso Glazed Steak salad to fit us. This was a great summer meal! It was the perfect blend of spicy and refreshing.

Hayley came over and we did week 5 day 2 before hand. When we got in we were ready to eat and this was great because it came together super fast and David was grilling while I showered. I had to adjust the ingredients a little to make it appropriate for the grill and I didn’t have any white miso so I just used what was on hand.

Hayley suggested we try the recipe with fish. I was like, “shrimp, shrimp, shrimp” but then David said, “What about seared tuna?” Wow, genius!

Miso Ginger Beef Salad

Serves 4
6 Points/Serving

1 pound flank steak, trimmed of all visible fat
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp miso paste
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, through the press
¼ tsp hunan red chili sauce

3 cups romaine lettuce
2 cups baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
½ English cucumber, thinly sliced

1. Preheat the grill.
2. In a small bowl combine ground ginger, garlic powder, salt, pepper.
3. Sprinkle the steak with the spices and grill. 6-7 min. per side for medium rare.
4. Make the dressing; combine cilantro through chili sauce in a bowl and whisk.
5. In a large bowl combine the salad.
6. Dress the salad with half of the dressing and toss.
7. Let the steak rest 5 min. then thinly slice.
8. Evenly distribute the salad on 4 plates, top with steak, and drizzle the reaming dressing over the top and enjoy.

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Fish and Chips

This was another Clean Eating inspired meal. I followed the recipes fairly close but made a few adjustments. It was wonderful to enjoy such sinful food that didn’t cause me to go over in my points. The sweet potato chips took a little longer than they said because I don’t have a mandolin so my chips were not paper-thin. I also cut my fish into small pieces so they were a little more like fish sticks. I remember eating fish sticks and tater tots as a kid so it brought me right back.

Fish Sticks

4 Servings
3 Points/Serving

12 oz cod fillets, cut into desired shape
¾ cup wholegrain breadcrumbs
¼ cup ground fiber one cereal, start with about 1/3 cup then wiz up
2 egg whites, whisked gently
Cajun spices
Mrs. Dash original
Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Pat fish dry and sprinkle with Cajun spices, Mrs. Dash, and salt to taste.
3. Set up stations: in one pie pan mix egg whites and in another spread out breadcrumbs and fiber one.
4. Dip the seasoned fish in the egg whites and then coat with breadcrumb mixture.
5. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 min, depending on the size of the fillets.

The chips were just a sweet potato sliced thin and spread out on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and cook at 350F for about 10 min. Mine took more like 15 min because like I said I don’t have that handy mandolin. Definitely going to be my next big purchase.

In our house David is the sauce master. So this evening he made cocktail sauce from the contents of our refrigerator. I can’t tell you the proportions but I know I gave him ketchup, taco sauce, horseradish, and lemon.

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Lived to Blog About It

Jogged for 12 min straight and lived to blog about it!!
This morning I woke up to do week 4 of Couch to 5K for the third time. I was feeling good because I took Friday off. I wanted to wake up earlier and go to the trail a few miles away to try the jog there but the bed was holing on tight this morning. At the end of the podcast after my fourth jogging interval I was instructed to walk for a cool-down and I didn’t want to stop. I just kept running and ended up running all the way home. I jogged a total of 21 minutes this morning!!!

When I got home I was so gross and I needed a shower before I could do anything. After a quick stretch out I jumped in the shower and then I was hungry. Time for another green monster.

This one turned out very brown in the beginning but it got greener as the morning went on. I should have taken another picture.

I think I have this shake thing down now. I have a recipe I really like. So here it is you try it and let me know what you think.

Green (Brown) Monster

½ frozen banana
3 frozen strawberries
¼ cup frozen blackberries
½ serving of Organic Hemp Shake Berry Pomegranate
3 cups baby spinach
1 cup Soy Slender Vanilla

1. Blend well and enjoy!

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