Insta-spiration III

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Hey guys! Did you look something like this today!? And by today, I mean ALL WEEK?! #ESKIMOSTYLEFORTHEWIN

I just got a City of Boston ALERT that all Boston schools are closed tomorrow as temperatures at the bus stop could feel like -20 below with the wind chill. Jeesh. Stay warm, my friends! In the meantime, here are some things to distract you... Round 3 of Insta-spiration!

 

We little-ones can be pretty powerful, too you know! This picture is amazing.

 

 

Perfect appetizers. 

 

 

How does this inspire me might you ask? Well, obviously it inspires me to love Tom Brady more than I already do. Also, it inspires me to make more pancakes. I love pancakes.

 

 

These look tasty AND healthy!

 

 

Did you read my "happy new year!" post? Quit hating Monday... appreciate what is around you.

 

 

I'd like to make rice paper rolls. These look tasty!

 

Do something you love, every day.

 

Oh, and watch this clip from Fallon. So friggin funny. I cannot stop laughing - my face hurts. Have a great week! xo

Extra Spicy Noodle Bowls

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So, two things happened today. One, I finally went food shopping. Veggies, protein, and complex carbs have all been added back into my kitchen. Two, I'm finally feeling a little inspired in the kitchen again.  Recently, I realized that I have been making the same standard meals for a couple of months. I have become very bored with the same old, same old. But, for some reason, I had a mental block on how to mix it up. Does that happen to you guys? Oooof. Anyway, since I had some down time last week, I watched a little food network... Chopped, Ina, Giada. It really helped... really! I feel like I'm getting my groove back again so hopefully #fff will benefit! 

I asked Rob to give me a little inspiration tonight and he suggested noodle bowls, so I went with it! The last time we had noodle bowls at Blue Dragon, they used ground pork and a lot of spice. Here's what I used:

- Soba noodles
- Organic ground turkey
- Sliced green beans
- Sliced red bell pepper
- Hot pepper oil
- Sesame oil
- Rice vinegar (a lot of it)
- Crushed red pepper
- Grapeseed oil and extra virgin o/o
- Black pepper
- Reduced sodium soy sauce
- Ground ginger
- Shallot
- Chopped jarred jalapeños
- Freshly sliced jalapeños

In a large sauce pan, add sesame oil and evoo to pan with a chopped shallot or two. Add the turkey and season with salt, crushed red pepper, and black pepper. As it starts to cook through, add a decent amount of rice vinegar, and smaller amounts of soy sauce, sesame oil, and hot pepper all to taste.

Chop green beans and orange bell peppers and add to pan. Also, add the ginger and taste it to see what else it needs. I usually keep adding soy sauce, sesame oil, hot pepper oil, crushed red pepper, and vinegar. What's great about these dishes is that you can use whatever veggies and whatever seasoning you like - making it as spicy or not spicy as you please. As everything continues to cook through, add the soba noodles to a rapidly boiling pot of salted water.

Mix together in the saute pan, put in a bowl and top with freshly sliced jalapeño peppers. Serve hot & enjoy. Rob and I LOVED this meal tonight. I made extra for lunch tomorrow- whoo! There's a lot of nice protein in this dish from the ground organic turkey and the soba noodles which have more protein than regular wheat or white noodles. The veggies and seasoning provided added vitamin-rich benefits. The spice is great for a winter cold or just to warm up on a cold night. Enjoy!

Have a great Wednesday! xo

Living off the Land

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Hollaaa and Happy Monday! I realize most of you went back to work today, I hope it went smoothly! I worked sporadically last week and over the weekend so I'm back in the grind but, today was the first day that felt real. By that I mean, I stopped getting 'out of office' responses haha. Anyway, I got back in the swing, finished up work and went to the 6:30pm PWG class which was filled with newcomers. Oye, I always struggle with this! I am a giant proponent of starting a healthy lifestyle, but, man... can it be spread out throughout the year and not just January? Class was PACKED. (But, if you are starting a new routine - Good for you and I hope you keep it up!! Serious!!!!!)

Look how many options I had for dinner tonight!!!!! Random beer, tortillas, cheese, broccoli, old wine, ACV, eggs.

Luckily, I had some really fantastic purple sweet potatoes in the cabinet and a couple of shrimp left in the freezer. This brings me to the theme of this post: living off the land.  This is something that I've been doing A LOT lately. All of the holiday parties and gatherings has resulted in a lot of food shopping... food shopping for the gatherings and the parties, but, not everyday meals. Have you guys experienced this, too? I need to start stocking back up on more staples again. In the meantime, I have been trying to be as creative as possible and tonight's meal was actually quite good!

First, I chopped up these amazing purple-skinned sweet potatoes that I cannot say enough about. They have THE BEST flavor. I added them to a pan with chopped broccoli and seasoned it all with extra virgin o/o, cayenne, crushed red pepper, salt, paprika, and rosemary. Popped it in the oven on 400 for about 13-15 mins and then tossed them and set them for another 7-10. They were REALLY crispy, but, I like them that way.

While that baked, I defrosted and marinated the shrimp in soy sauce, sesame oil, shallots, crushed red pepper and, a squeeze of lime juice.

I heated the tortilla on a hot cast iron grill pan. Removed it and added some jalapeños and feta to the tortilla (it would have been so lovely with some red peppers and shredded purple cabbage, but, I was living off the land and the land offered jarred jalapeños and feta)... haha it worked!

Quickly grill the shrimp for a minute or so on each side and place in the tortilla. Top the potatoes/broccoli with a sprinkle of Parmesan, plate and serve! The marinade on the shrimp is so delish and would be great in a stir fry over rice, in a chopped salad, or in a bigger tortilla filled with veggies. It just works perfectly. The potato/broccoli bake is soooo ridiculously easy and something I make several times during the week throughout the winter. I always mix up the spices to change it up.

My point with this post is this -- you can always make a nice meal even if you only have random things in your kitchen. Get creative and see what you can come up with! You won't just save your waistline, you'll also save your wallet. No need for takeout.

Have a great week! xo