Wednesday 20 February 2013

Jalapeno Grilled Chicken

I am always looking for a new way to make chicken. I love grilling chicken and seem to always make chicken breasts that way so finding a variety of marinades of sauces is important to me. I found this recipe on Pinterest. Here is the original. I did make mine a little different. I enjoyed it and had some for leftovers. I separated the marinade before adding the jalapenos so that the kids could have some chicken as well. I marinated 2 chicken breast for them. I had the chicken with quinoa mac and cheese, which I loved, and roasted broccoli.

 
Jalapeno Grilled Chicken
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1 inch thickness
2 tbsp light soy
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves minced
6 jalapeno peppers, seeded, finely diced
1 lime zested
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Marinate chicken overnight.

When you are ready to grill the breasts, preheat the grill. Barbecue for 4-5 minutes per side.

I warmed some up the next day and had some hard boiled eggs, what a great lunch!

Wednesday 13 February 2013

What I Ate Wednesday #6


This is my What I Ate Monday, instead of Wednesday and my Sunday Monday food prep all in one. We went away on Friday to Niagara Falls in the huge snowstorm. The trip usually takes 1-1.5 hours to get there, it took us 3 hours to get there! But we got there safely! I had so much to catch up on on Sunday so food prep didn't happen. I also took Monday off of work so I had an extra day, it was just what I needed. So here's what I ate!

Thanks to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting again!

I didn't have any veggies in my breakfast, but that's okay, I just can't have veggies with breakfast, I had tried and the food will just not go down. I had Egg White Pancakes with natural peanut butter and a little maple syrup and a coffee.

Egg White Pancakes
Makes 3 1/4 cup servings
1/2 cup egg whites
1 banana, mashed
1/4 tsp cinnamon
splash of vanilla

Mix it all together in a bowl. Heat a pan over medium low heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup into pan. Cook like you do a pancake, but there will be no holes popping up to the top.

Then I went for a workout, it was leg day! I had a chocolate protein shake, mixed with water after my workout!

Lunch had veggies and lots of them and no meat! This is what I prepped for the week! I had winter tomato soup and feta cheese, caramelized onion, spinach and tomato quesadilla. They were yummy and good thing because I have to eat it all week.

 

Dinner was salt beef stew and doughboys, yummy!

Man the lighting in this picture sucks, it was dark outside. I can't wait till it stays bright out until later at night!

My bedtime snack was a rice cake with 1/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese and an apple with peanut butter with cinnamon. I think I may be addicted to the apples!

I hope everyone had a good week!

Monday 11 February 2013

Salt Beef Stew

Salt beef is a type of beef that is eaten in Newfoundland. Some of you may have heard of jigs dinner, its the beef that's used in that. I grew up eating salt beef almost every weekend. I love everything about it. I don't eat it as often as I did when I was a kid but when I do eat it, I eat a lot. I used it in stew this time instead of a jigs dinner. It was so yummy and flavourful. I made it with doughboys. Doughboys as kind of like dumplings. Oh man doughboys are so comforting. I have not been able to figure out how to make them as good as my moms but mine aren't bad. When they are cooked in this stew they are different than when they are steamed on top of a jigs dinner. Either way I love them and so does all of my kids!

Salt Beef Stew
Makes 14 cups of stew

For the stew
12 oz of beef cut into bite sized cubes ( I used a blade roast)
1 lb salt beef, cut into bite sized  cubes
16 cups cold water
5 cups rutabaga, cut into bite sized cubes
6 carrots, or 3 cups of carrots, sliced into bite sized pieces
4 cups potato, cut into bite sized cubes
1/2 tsp gravy browning

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place a large roaster on the stove over high heat. Add all the ingredients except for the gravy browning.
Here's what the salt beef looks like
Bring to a boil. Cover. Put in the oven for 2 hours. Take it out of the oven and place back on the stove over medium heat. Add the gravy browning.

For the Thickening
1 cup all purpose flour
1.5 cups of cold water

Mix in a bottle for making protein shakes or whisk in a bowl until there are no lumps.

For the Doughboys- makes 9-10
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup margarine or butter
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk or lukewarm water

Mix everything in a bowl with your hands. The dough should not be really sticky. If it is dust a bit more flour over top and knead until it stops sticking to your hands.
It should look like this.

Take the roaster off the heat and mix in the thickening. Put the roaster back over the heat. Pull the dough for the doughboys apart. You will 9-10 pieces. Roll gently into a bowl in your palm, until you have rolled all of them. Quickly place them all into the stew, don't push them down.
Here's the stew before the doughboys are steamed
 
Put a tight fitting lid over top and steam for 15 minutes. Take one out and cut it in half with a knife, it should be fluffy inside. If it's not but it back in for a few more minutes.

Serve the stew with the doughboys, Add pepper if you like.




Thursday 7 February 2013

Swiss Chard with Mushrooms and Peppers


This was the first time I have eaten swiss chard. I am trying to eat more vegetables, greens specifically. I loved it! I will be making swiss chard again! I had it along side roasted tilapia and fettuccine alfredo.

Swiss Chard with Mushrooms and Peppers
2 bunches swiss chard, washed
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 package of pre sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, diced
salt and pepper

Remove stems from swiss chard. Slice thin. Set aside. Slice the swiss chard leaves and set aside. Heat a pot over medium high heat. Add the olive oil. Saute the stems, peppers, garlic, onion, mushroom, salt and pepper to taste. When all the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes, add the leaves, cover for 5 minutes. Stir for 3-5 min, until leaves are wilted. The leaves could wilt quicker, depending on the size of pot you use.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

What I Ate Wednesday #5


This week has been pretty busy and I have not been eating as well as I usually do. I didn't pick one day to capture what I ate but I do have pictures from different meals that I ate throughout the week. Some of my family that I haven't seen in 14 years were in town this weekend so it was great to spend time with them.  On Saturday I went to a cottage for the day, I was able to spend the whole day with all of my co workers! It was a great time! I know there are many people out there that may think that this sounds like a nightmare but it was quite the opposite. I have the best co workers any one could ask for.

Thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting another What I ate Wednesday. So many people link up, you should head over and check out what others are eating!

This is the Pumpkin Paleo Pancake that I made on the weekend, I split mine in half. I put a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and maple syrup on it, I cut half a banana for it and ate the other half. The flavorful of this pancake is good but I don't care for the texture of it. I don't think I would make it again.
This has been a typical lunch this week. Roasted buttercup squash and roasted broccoli. This is the chicken that I made on the weekend. A great lunch hot or cold.

We had nacho night last night, which is a big hit with the kids. I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought it looked really good. Usually when we have nacho night I make myself a salad with the ,meat instead of nachos. This will be my go to meal on nacho night from now on. I used ground turkey and no fat plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I didn't slice the potato and bake it, I just wrapped it in tin foil an d baked it then cut it up. So delicious.

Well that's about it! Don't forget to check out what everyone else is eating here!

Sunday 3 February 2013

Sunday Prep #4

This week I prepped for my breakfasts  and only the vegetables for my lunch. I plan on taking leftovers from supper this week to work. I started the Jamie Eason Live Fit Trainer this week and have successfully completed week 1. For the first four weeks of the trainer you don't do any cardio. I love it! Unfortunately the first 2 weeks of workouts are super short, I am out of the in 20 to 30 minutes. It's great that I don't have to spend alot of time at the gym but I just never feel like I have worked enough, kind of like I am leaving halfway through my workout. I don't like that part. Anyways here's what I've got for the week!

We had roasted chicken for dinner tonight, so I shredded the breast for my lunches this week!

Buttercup Squash- Roasted with a little tiny bit of butter and brown sugar

Paleo Pumpkin  Pancake that I found on Pinterest, here's the link, I'm going to split mine into 2, it's a huge pancake!

This recipe I also found on Pinterest, I changed it up just a little, here's the original
 
Chocolate Apple Protein Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
2 cups large flake oats
1 large apple, with skin, cored and chopped small
2 scoops chocolate whey protein
4 egg whites or 1/2 cup of egg whites
1 cup no fat Greek yogurt, plain
1 tsp honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and line your muffin pan. 
Mix everything in a bowl.
Pour into muffing liners
Bake 16-18 minutes

 

Is anyone else doing Live Fit?