Dinners Lately: Grill & Carb-light

I kind of hate the term “low-carb”.  It just reminds me of the Atkins and South Beach crazes, and all the fake and processed foods that you can still eat on those diets. 

So even though I’m shooting for less carbs lately, I’m even more committed to REAL food above all else.  

So with that said, I’ve had some delightful meals recently!

Saturday we had Brian’s mom and sister over!  It was SUCH a gorgeous day that I couldn’t very well not grill out!  I also had a craving for Mexican so we decided to make up some grilled fixin’s for Fajitas!

Chicken Fajita Marinade

• juice of 2 limes
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• few shakes of crushed red pepper
• salt

Combine ingredients then add to a large Ziploc bag with your chicken.  We had 4 breasts in the bag, and marinated them for about 2-3 hours.

Grill up your chicken, some sliced bell peppers, and sliced onion.

Serve with your favorite additions:

• tortillas
• salsa
• sour cream
• avocado
• cilantro
• cheese
• mango would also be good here, we didn’t have it though

Best eaten outside :)

I used 1 TJ’s brown rice wrap for my fajitas!  But another idea is to serve over a bed of lettuce.

This was an easy, but fun meal for company!

Sunday was even nicer!

Grilled Steak Salads

• grilled tri trip steak
• baby spinach
• cucumber, chopped
• tomato, chopped
• shallots, sliced
• chives, finely chopped
• goat cheese, crumbled
• Dressing: balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper

We also broke out some refreshing white wine!

This was actually a bottle that we brought home from Wine Country in November.  This is a 2010 Viognier from Thumbprint Cellars in Healdsburg. 

Not sure if this is a “proper” pairing, but we liked it.  This wine has a great full flavor, reminiscent of a Chardonnay to me, but without the bite…it’s smooth :)

Last but not least…TONIGHT!

It was a warm warm Marathon Monday, and unfortunately I was at work.  However, I did leave a little early ;) Shhhh. 

We had some ground turkey to work with and we wanted an easy and fast dinner!

Greek Style Turkey Burgers!

• 1 lb ground turkey, white meat
• 1 T olive oil
• canned artichokes: 4 chokes, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped olives, canned works fine here
• crumbed feta, about 1/4 cup or more
• salt and pepper
• a few shakes of za’atar if you have it

Mix together with your hands, form into patties, grill.

I also whipped up a quick little yogurt sauce!  Just took 2-3 T of 2% plain Greek yogurt, squeeze from 1/4 lemon, salt & pepper, and whatever dried herbs and spices you like!!  I had some different mixes from Penzey’s (used more Za’atar here, Aleppo pepper, and some Sandwich Sprinkle).  Delish!  Tasted like Ranch dressing :)

As you can see I enjoyed mine on lettuce, with some tomatoes, and a sweet potato on the side.

The burgers were incredibly flavorful!! 

I leave you with an outfit post!!  Long time no outfits around here.

But I have a current obsession…in the form of BRIGHT yellow skinny jeans…

 

They just make me happy.  I encourage you to go get some fun colored pants!!

Mine are from the Gap.

Just have to get through this week…then on Friday I leave for a fun weekend in VEGAS!!  I’ve never been, SO excited to have a girls weekend by the pool :) 

Any must see or must do or must eat things while I’m in Vegas???

Shopping Success

First I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the family…and no it’s not a dog (yet)…

This past weekend was mission: “Mama needs a brand new bag!” I would like to thank the gorgeously stocked handbag department at Nordstrom, and my wonderful husband for keeping himself occupied in the Men’s section while I “wandered” around for a bit. This lovely is by B. Makowsky, and BONUS: it was on sale :)

I was really hoping for the double whammy: new purse AND sunglasses weekend…but I forgot how much I loathe sunglass shopping. I love sunglasses, but I go, try on 20-30 pairs, and call it a day. Oh well, still a successful shopping weekend.

Other than that, it was a pretty low key weekend, which is a RARE occurrence for us so it was very enjoyable.

Saturday we slept in (for me that means around 9am), and I made us some French toast! The bread was Pepperidge Farm Soft Honey Oat bread. We needed a break from the Arnold Double Protein, and this was a superb choice. It’s super soft, and a touch of sweetness :)

I used 2 eggs, skim milk, vanilla, and cinnamon for the French toast.  With banana slices and cantaloupe.  So fast and easy. 

topping options

I just stuck with my maple syrup…pure and delicious. 

Iced Cap. with lots-o-foam

After digesting, Brian and I headed out for a run to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather! We did a 4.7ish route down to a nearby pond, around the pond, and back. We stopped a few times to walk, more than I’d like lately, but his pace is faster than mine so even though I try to keep a slower pace I always end up running faster with him! I guess this is good, but does make me lose steam faster. Either way it was a gorgeous day and I did better than him anyways ;)

The various errands + Bridget’s shopping mission commenced after running (and showering…etc, of course).

Even though I had snacks after the run: nineteenth hole trail mix

and a Strawberry Oikos with Kashi Autumn Wheat

we made a trip to the S-Bucks!

His and hers Vivano Smoothies :) The strawberry and chocolate smoothies looked very pretty together…I heart Pink + Brown (they were my wedding colors after all).

Later that night we hit up Border Café to fulfill our Mexican Food craving!

Chips + salsa

Chicken + Veggie Fajitas…they have the BEST fajitas, and I always have lots of leftovers.

Sunday was pretty uneventful again, aside from a trip to visit the grandparents…and actually purchasing my purse (yeah I slept on it).

However I had a super relaxing breakfast, waking up 1+ hour earlier than the husband.

Iced cappuccino + banana oats

Other eats that day included a ripe red grapefruit, segmented.

TJ’s Reduced Guilt Brownies and some new icy treats!!

best low-fat brownies ever!

For the first time EVER, our grocery store had Coconut Milk ice cream on sale! (now by sale I mean $4.50/pint as opposed to the usual $6). They only had 3 flavors…vanilla, chocolate, and coconut so I went with the vanilla to enjoy with the impending brownies that night.

However at the end of the grocery trip I happened to notice this guy…

Unlike me to every buy 2 ice creams…but I have a mild (ok not so mild) obsession with Almonds and almond flavored…anything! This sounded like heaven.

And it was…I obviously took a little spoonful out of the container as soon as we got home. Smooth creamy base with swirls of marzipan and pockets of almond cookie!!

However I had my brownie with a smear of PB and vanilla coconut milk ice cream…SO GOOD!
                   
I was a little skeptical because the time I tried coconut milk yogurt I was grossed out, but that was more of a texture issue. Anywho, the Coconut Milk ice cream is delicious…initial taste of vanilla bean followed by a subtle coconut flavor.

Work is really interfering with my workouts this week:

Sat: 4.7ish mile run

Sunday: did some strength training at home

Monday: Body Combat – kicked my butt per usual

Tues-Wed-Thurs – nothing, various classes/work things after work…
                                         grrrrr.
Possibly a morning workout Thursday, we’ll see…I’m a newbie when it comes to working out before work.

Friday: Gym – probably a treadmill run

Anyone else just itching to buy all the adorable spring/summer clothes that are coming out NOW?  It’s such a tease…  well I did buy a dress at Target that I clearly can’t wear for another 2-3 months.

So much food so little time

The past 24 hours have provided me with an influx of delicious food-filled material to post for you guys. First there was the delicious Mexican feast at my co-workers house last night and then today was an Amazing blogger event at Starbucks! In order to keep this post from becoming ridiculously (good-looking) long I am going to save all the Starbucks awesomeness for tomorrow (because tomorrow is not going to bring me any good food pictures anyways).

I will say this though, it was so fun to meet some of my fellow bloggers out there who you almost feel like you known just from reading their blogs everyday... Tina, Elina, and Shannon it was so great to meet you and we should get together again soon! There were also some other great bloggers there too that I met and will give you all the details tomorrow.

Mmmm Tea Lattes!

Rewind back to Friday...I remember now I was writing my last post as I was eating an incredible bowl of oats. I really think one of the biggest reasons this was SO good was that I cut back on the water a smidge.

• 1/3 cup oats, a not quite full 1/3 cup skim milk, 1/4 cup water salt
• 3/4 of a banana
• 1 tsp TJ's pumpkin butter stirred in

Topped with:

• Zoe's Honey Almond Granola
• few golden raisins
• 1 or 2 candied pecans, chopped
• dried unsweetened coconut
• spoon of White Chocolate PB

I want to taste more coconut next time, so I may add it in before cooking...I'll let you know.

After work, Brian and I headed to my co-workers for Friends and Fajitas night! He brought me a sweet treat too ;)

I had a few bites but then gave him the rest...those things are big!

If you remember from last post I had made Ina's Guacamole...and man did it go fast, by the time I thought to whip out my camera there was about 3 bites left, I think you can imagine what Guac looks like :)

The Fajitas we actually more like taco's...no complaints here...and there were a multitude of toppings that left me piling my plate to my hearts content.

The heart of the fajitas were right here:

The two bowls on the left had a mixture of ground lean turkey and beef with seasoning. The bowl on the right was a rice/spinach/black bean/spices mix! This stuff was money! I'd make it on it's own.

From what I can remember we had:

• Turkey/beef
• rice/beans/spinach
• red and green bell peppers
• lettuce
• onion
• avocado
• shredded cheese
• mango(!!)
• fresh cilantro (!!!!!)
• 3 types of sour cream (full fat, lite, and fat free hahah...the girl who brought it didn't know what to pick)
• mango/peach salsa
• regular salsa
• Hmmmmm I think that might be it.

Not too shabby! I definitely went back for seconds. My favorite topping had to be the fresh cilantro...I forgot how much I love that stuff!!

Now I gave you a few hints to the dessert I was making...pretty easy hints actually, and a few of you got it right!

Key Lime Pie!!! This was based off of another Barefoot Contessa Recipe for Frozen Key Lime Pie. My tweeks involved:

• Using Ellie's recipe for a graham cracker crust: much less butter and no added sugar...delish!
• I wanted to use low fat condensed milk, but couldn't find it
• I used 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks instead of 6 yolks

All in all it was really refreshing and delicious!! You just can't leave it out at room temp for very long. It doesn't freeze, per say, but like ice cream it kind of melts after a while.

I also made fresh whipped cream...a MUST with this pie in my opinion :)

I can't believe I'm blogging this late but Brian and I were at Pre-Cana all afternoon/evening, and will be there ALLLLL day tomorrow (hence saving the tea post til then). It's the Catholic marriage-prep course required if you want to get married in the church. Poor guys isn't even Catholic but he hasn't complained once :)

Today also involved: Hot Yoga!! and got my hair done!! Fun fun!

I also found these:

And proceeded to buy 1 other flavor of them, and 2 packs of the smaller kids size versions!!

So I ate this for late lunch...Flat out, buffalo turkey, havarti dill, and spinach

And this beautiful orange...

Ok, Must.Sleep.Now

Sweat it out!

I got back from my first Hot Yoga class a little while ago that I took at a studio about 3 min from my apartment in Davis Square called Yoga in the Square! I must say, I feel great! I'll admit I wasn't too too thrilled about getting up at 6:45, but once I was out of my warm bed I was fine :)

The class was pretty crowded (I heard someone say more than usual), but I'm sure that's also the whole "new years resolution" thing. I have only taken yoga once; I did a few power yoga classes in college with some of my roommates...it was fun, but at the time not my thing. Now that was about 5 years ago, and I was very happy that this class was not hard for me to pick up. The room is heated to around 90 degrees F, which I love...I love being warm (esp since it was like 15 outside this morning!!), and yes you do sweat a lot, but for me that's a great feeling. I'd say the only struggle was after a while it was hard to keep a grip on my leg or foot because of sweat.

I think the fact that I am a dancer also helped me a lot. A lot of the same principle in yoga are principles in dance, like holding in your stomach, pulling up through your head while pushing down through your feet, using opposite motions to hold poses...etc.

I felt limber, flexible, and refreshed afterwards. I'd say the only "bad" thing is towards the end the combo of hot room and sweaty people doesn't make for the most refreshing smell...but it wasn't too bad haha.

I wasn't sure what to eat before class, so I had half of TJ's chocolate PB granola bar. I think next time I'd have a little more...there were a couple points in class that I felt slightly light headed but only for a few seconds here and there...I'm sure that's also from the heat.

After class I hit up Starbucks for a non-fat cappuccino with caramel drizzle on top! I had also planned to make my oats I never ate yesterday but I was still warm and craving cold cereal...so the oats will just have to sit until tomorrow (has anyone ever done overnight oats for two nights??).

My cereal was awesome. It was a nice Quad Mix:

• Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax
• Kashi Autumn Wheat
• Kashi U!
• PB Puffins!!
• Skim Milk

I was contemplating trying dance class today as well, but I got a great workout with the yoga so I am going to do some laundry and errands around here instead.
Last Night's Fajita Left Overs!

One of the BEST things about Border Cafe Fajitas is the leftovers!!! You get two solid meals out of one order!

My roommate and I just pretty much set up our leftovers on the counters and just eat right there while its all assembled!

Process:

• heat tortillas in a damp paper towel
• slightly warm up filling (Chicken, onions, peppers), and sides (rice and beans)
• assemble some filling and cheese on tortilla
• heat again for cheese to melt
• add other cold toppings (tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole)
• ENJOY!!!!
• Repeat for second tortilla

Just as amazing the second time around.

Enjoyed with a little white wine. Another bottle the roomie brought back from a winery in Connecticut.I only had a small pour

Update: I just got up to go get my camera and my legs are definitely shaky!! I have a feeling I am going to be sore tomorrow...but I like that kind of sore :)

Enjoy your Saturday blogland!!