Simple Shrimpy Dinner Filed under ( Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

Thank you all for your sweet comments on the wedding pictures I posted yesterday! You are all wayyy too wonderful :)

Today was one heck of a busy day. Work was out of control! When the day was over, I coudln't wait to get into the gym. I ran two miles and then took a great 45 minute spin class. I came home to get some more work done and do some laundry/ironing. For dinner, I wanted something simple and delicious. Here is the view via Josh's plate.

Shrimp cooked with a hint of olive oil, lemon juice, and old bay:


TJ's grains:

Pineapple:

Roasted butternut squash:


All together now:

And now its back to work! Hopefully this will mean a shorter day Wednesday ;)

Any exciting events this upcoming week? I have a fancy pancy dinner with Josh's work tomorrow, a cooking glass (gnocchi and risotto) on Wednesday, and my 10k Saturday!

GRILLING!!! Filed under ( Frank, fruit, grill, Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

Hope you all had a nice Wednesday. My Wednesday started out as it usually does- a mile and a half run and body pump! A busy work day was followed by taking my car into the shop and a few other errands. When I got back, Josh and I turned on our new Weber for the first time. Frank was super excited...he couldn't even stand still:

For dinner, we cooked up shrimp (marinated in olive oil, garlic, fresh lemon juice and shallots), artichokes tossed in a bit of olive oil and chili powder, my veggie mix (peppers, green beans, onion, white beans tossed in a little olive oil and chili powder), and pineapple:

Love our new baby!

Josh's dinner plate (including a grilled lemon):

And mine (I had another equal sized serving of cantaloupe after this):

FABULOUS dinner! And now we're off to take the Frankster for a walk :)

Do you guys have weekend plans already? I am going to a sort of exercise convention for the Les Mills programs. I am very excited :)

Sesame Crusted Tuna, Healthy Eating Rules & Body Pump Filed under ( group fitness, Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

Hooray for Wednesday!! Glad you all enjoyed the Body Attack video and thank you for responding with your healthy rules. Here is a quick summary of some of your rules/thoughts:

• Eat lots of fruits and veggies (Maria eats an apple a day (which I think is fabulous), and Eve tries to make her plates at least half fruits and veggies (wonderful tip!))
• Drink plenty of water (Taylor aims for 64 ounces of plain water aside from her other beverages- great job girl!)
• Eat balanced meals (proteins, fats, carbs)
• Eat mini meals
• Portion control desserts (Jenna likes to "live a little" (such a great phrase!!) and have a few pieces of candy or a little dessert every day)
• Stephanie noted she never skips a meal because it just leads to overeating (agreed!)
• MizFit eats intuitively (she just rocks :))
• Jessica tries to make sure she is actually hungry when she eats (not just eating to eat- another great tip)

My day started off right with a quick run and Body Pump. Body Pump is Les Mills barbell strength class that provides me with my huge muscles ;). Here is a quick promo video to make you want to lift some weights:

After pump, I had work and then ran some errands. I adjusted my plans for dinner tonight because I wanted to use up a lot of our fresh produce. For Josh, I made Tuna Medallions with a Sesame Crust based on this recipe (I wish I liked tuna....). I was VERY nervous about making this as I have never seared anything. Josh had his tuna with a dinosaur plum:

...and a big spinach salad with pea pods, broccoli, broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, whole wheat cous cous, almonds, and a little olive oil...

And here is the tuna! I over cooked it just a hint (but I was nervous!):



All together now:

I had another lovely mix of tomatoes, peppers, onions, green beans and white beans with a little olive oil and chili powder, cooked under the broiler in the oven in tin foil. I put the cooked veggies on top of crisp romaine with some salsa. YUM!

And cantaloupe = this times 2 plus nut butter :)

and.............Josh (so so sweet) stopped on his way home and picked up my FAVORITE candy as a special treat. What a guy....love these raspberries and blackberries and I hardly ever eat them :)

On a side note, I also did Polly's Yoga for Runners today. Felt fabulous! Do you do any yoga, tai chi or pilates? If so and you're a runner, do you feel like you have a better run the day after a yoga practice? I definitely do!!

Top Chef tonight- hooray.

Shrimpy Salad Two Ways Filed under ( Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

Hi All! Hope your Tuesday is treating you well! Mine has been OK so far! I had a semi slow day at work and came home and prepped dinner! Since I teach late on many week nights, I try to fully prep or at least partially prep my dinners. As I've said before, this helps me make sure I get in a healthy and delicious meal.

For tonight's din din, I made shrimpy salads. My husbands shrimpy salad is Asian inspired and in it I used these awesome and cheap bean sprouts I found in the produce section:

Aside from the sprouts, his salad contains spinach, broccoli, water chestnuts, snap peas, oranges, walnuts, and shrimp. When hes ready to eat it, he will top it with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, and a little S&P:

My salad is Mexican inspired and contains romaine, broccoli slaw, broccoli, red bell peppers, shrimp, snap peas and shrimp. I am going to top mine with salsa:

On the side, I will probably have a few tortilla chips and Josh will probably go for a grilled cheese. This is a great, quick, easy dinner!

I'm am off to throw in some laundry and then I have to teach Body Attack. Hope you all have a fabulous night!

Broccoli Dip & Tilapia Filed under ( appetizer, Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

It has been a busy Wednesday over here! I started my day out with 1.8 miles on the treadmill and then I took Body Pump. I had the usual work, a doctors appointment, and then I ran tons of errands (WFs for fruits/veggies, bank, pet supply store, FedEx, dry cleaners, pharmacy).

When I got home, I prepped a part of dinner. I saw this recipe for Fiesta Broccoli Dip on KERF and knew I wanted to try something similar! I love guacamole but Josh is not an avocado fan, so I made two versions

Josh’s Mix

Blend:
1 cup steamed broccoli
2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ tablespoon hot sauce
A few snippets of fresh cilantro

Mix in (once blended):
½ cup corn
1 tablespoons pinto beans

My Mix

Blend:
1/8 of a slimcado
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ tablespoon hot sauce
1 cup steamed broccoli
1 tablespoon salsa
A few snippets of fresh cilantro

Mix in (once blended):
2 tablespoons on pinto beans

Once the broccoli dips were prepped, I headed out to take Body Combat. According to the Les Mills website, Body Combat is a “fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai.” I wasn’t really in the mood for a workout (since I had already hit up pump in the am), but we were having a demo of Body Combat at our gym (we currently do not have any Combat classes) and my new friend Gina was doing the demo so I had to show my support!! The class was awesome and I was totally exhausted and ready for din din when I got home.

I ate my broccoli mix with tons of veggies and a few tortilla chips(not shown). I also ate a ginormous bowl of fruit and a little tortilla crusted tilapia (see recipe below).

Josh had his mix with tortilla chips, a side of banana (that’s for you Ricky ;)), and tortilla crusted Tilapia. For the tilapia, I followed Lauren’s recipe from the awesome blog Say What You Need To Say.

Tortilla Chip Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients:
Tilapia fillets
Egg whites (2 egg whites or 1/3 cup egg whites in a box)
1 tsp chili powder
Salt & pepper
½ tsp cumin
Tortilla chips crumbled (colorful chips would look much prettier but I only had plain)

Directions:
Mix egg whites, chili powder, desired quantities of salt & pepper & cumin. Dunk tilapia fillets in egg whites and the coat with tortilla chips. Bake the fish in a 400* oven for 15 min.

Phew! I feel just about ready for bed ;)

Ellie Krieger's Popcorn Shrimp & Sweet Potato and Rutabaga "Chips" Filed under ( Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

Did you all have a nice start to your week? I hope so! Work seemed to fly by pretty quickly! I switched up my workout routine today and headed to the gym almost immediately after work for a 2 mile run on the treadmill and then a 45 minute spin class. I haven't taken spin since I moved to SC and have been promising my friend (and fellow Body Attack instructor), Jennifer, that I would take her class. It was AMAZING!

I came home and got showered up and did some laundry before getting started on dinner. Tonight I made Ellie Krieger's Popcorn Shrimp served with a side of Sweet Potato & Rutabaga "Chips" and banana.


I have tried this Ellie Krieger recipe before and it turned out kind of meh. I decided to give it another try and it turned out to be VERY yummy. Recipe can be found here (Note: I did not make the sauce, Josh used bbq instead and I used salsa):

The sweet potato and rutabaga chips were very yummy. I sliced both up very thin and sprayed them with Pam. I cooked them for about 20 minutes (turning once) at 425 and then put them under the broiler for a few more minutes:

I meant to post these pictures of the Frankster yesterday. He really HATES being alone. On Sunday, I headed upstairs to shower while Josh was out mowing the lawn. Frank got super irritated and propped himself up on the couch so he could at least watch his Dad:

Too cute:

Love that little mushy man.

What are you all looking forward to this week? I am looking forward to my half day Thursday and day off Friday (which I get to take because I ended up working so much this weekend!!).

Anniversary Crab Cakes & More Pie Filed under ( Seafood )

As planned, the rest of my Sunday has been very relaxing :). I finished up my work and then read some Twilight. For dinner, I made up a half batch of these crab cakes with a side of squash and red plum. I actually cooked the crab cakes without any oil or butter and they turned out just as yummy. Josh's plate:


This was sort of our anniversary dinner (as I mentioned before, Josh will be on work travel for our real anniversary on Tuesday). To finish it all off, Josh had another slice of his key lime pie bars:
I'm so happy that hes loving these! Hes already had three and I'm hoping he has a fourth before he leaves tomorrow (that way I will only have to freeze 2 large bars)!!

Tonight I will be watching the Next Food Network Star finale and Kendra. I'm going to DVR Entourage and will catch up on it tomorrow. Do you have any Sunday night rituals?

Vegan Banana Cake & Shrimp & Grits Filed under ( Breakfast, Dessert, Family, giveaway, Restaurant Review, Seafood )

Hope you all enjoyed the rest of your weekend. After crashing early Saturday night, I got up early to start into some work work and to get some baking done. I baked up a vegan banana cake using my vegan banana muffin recipe as a base, and made some adjustments to make it more cake like.

Vegan Banana Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon flax & 3 tablespoons water (or 1 egg)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 bananas
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• chocolate or carob chips

Directions:

Mash bananas with the back of a fork and then combine with all other wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (do not over mix). Add in chocolate chips. Place in sprayed 8” pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean).

  

My parents also came down to take Josh and I out to brunch for our anniversary which is Wednesday (3 years!). We went to Crave. Their Sunday brunch is $11 and includes your choice of juice, coffee (which I got):

tea or soda, an entree, fruit & corn bread muffins.

I got a 3 egg omelet with onion, spinach & tomato plus extra fruit (instead of home fries). The omelet was fabulous and not greasy at all. The fruit was super fresh. Their coffee was just OK.

 

Josh went with Crave’s Big Breakfast (2 large eggs scrambled, a ginormous pancake, home fries, fruit & bacon):

 

My Mom got the Fried Green Tomatoes topped with ham and eggs:

 

My Dad got the Black and bleu chicken (which I didn’t grab a picture of).

Overall, we all really enjoyed our food! It all was cooked perfectly and was filling without being too heavy or greasy. The kitchen did seem very slow, our waitress had to apologize quite a few times.  I would go back….but I would rather go to Charleston’s Cafe :)

It was wonderful to spend some time with my parents and catch up. It seems almost funny to celebrate a 3rd wedding anniversary with my parents who have been married for 36 years and have been together for 44 years(my parents have known each other forever- my Dad was in my Mom’s Dad’s boy scout troop). My Dad took an anniversary picture of Josh and I. I am on my tip toes (as always) and Josh is holding himself up with his crutches…haha:

The rest of my Sunday was spent on errands and work. Josh’s friend Jeremy came over for the usual Sunday night Entourage meet up. After seeing Amelia make shrimp and grits, I knew I wanted to try my hand at it. I made  it for the boys and I enjoyed vegetables and grits. I used this Bobby Flay recipe, but subbed prosciutto in for the bacon and added lots of old bay and hot sauce to the shrimp.   The vegetables (yellow summer squash and zucchini) were roasted in the oven with a little olive oil and spices and were added into the dish. The result:

The boys were raving! For dessert, I heated up some banana cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Thank you all who entered my tofu xpress giveaway. The winner is….Stephanie from Cooking Fanatic!!!! Send me an email with your address (itzyskitchen at gmail dot com) and I will have your prize out to you ;)

Its another crazy week! Josh’s parents and brother are coming to visit on Thursday and I cannot wait! What are you looking forward to?

Mexican Shrimp Bowl & Papaya Filed under ( fruit, Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

You all are SO wonderful :) Thank you for the dessert suggestions....I have no idea which ones I will make now! Today was a very nice day in my neck of the woods. I got up extra early (~4:45 am) and headed to the gym to practice the tracks I am teaching at our upcoming Body Step launch and then I took Body Pump.

After a full day of work, I went out to run some errands and then picked up a misto at Starbucks. I sat out in our backyard with my misto in my make shift lounger with the third Twilight book...

It felt so wonderful to read for a couple hours :). Dinner tonight was extra yummy (to borrow a word from Polly ;)). I picked up a papaya from Publix (they're on sale this week!!) and enjoyed half of it with dinner....

I also took some inspiration from Sandra Lee (even though shes not exactly my favorite Food Network host) to make the following Mexican Shrimp Bowl (makes 1 serving):

Ingredients-

~ 9 medium shrimp

1/2 avocado

1 pepper (I used 1/2 a red and 1/2 a green bell pepper)

1/2 tomato

1 tablespoon salsa

1-2 teaspoons lime juice

(feel free to play around with the ingredients, use whatever veggies you have on hand)

Directions-

Boil up shrimp for ~3-4 minutes until cooked through. Place veggies on grill or under broiler until cooked to desired tenderness.

In a bowl, mix up salsa and lime juice (feel free to add some fresh cilantro as well). Add avocado, cooked shrimp and veggies and mix well. Enjoy!

Josh is on work travel again, so I plan to spend the night with my boyfriend (Frank ;)), do some more reading, and watch SYTYCD! What are you up to?

Light Fish Tacos, Fish Taco Salad Filed under ( Beans, Healthy, Seafood, Vegetables )

As I always say on Mondays- we made it through!! Today consisted of a light 2.4 mile run, work, doctors appointment, relaxing. For dinner, I made awesome tilapia tacos.

For the tilapia:

Preheat oven to 375. Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil with 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Brush tilapia with mixture. Sprinkle with chili powder. Bake for 6 minutes, flip. Bake for an additional 6 minutes, shred.

Josh ate his tacos in traditional form:

Tilapia, spicy corn (corn boiled and then sprinkled with chili powder), TJs refried beans:

Lettuce, cheese, magic bullet salsa (Josh doesn't like tomato chunks so we smooth it out with the magic bullet):

Flour tortillas:

I opted for a fish taco salad (tilapia, spicy corn, salsa, peppers, romaine, TJs refried black beans, TJs tortilla flats broken up):

Totally delicious.

How did your Monday treat you?