Bits & Bites! (is back)

/

What's uppp it'sss Thursday night! Taco night in this casa! As I've mentioned, I went through a total food-creativity slump end of Dec/beginning of Jan that I recently pulled myself out of in a major way. Things are getting allll creative up in here lately and it's been fun! That being said, the creativity is mainly taking place during dinner. I'm not much of a lunch gal... ah, let me re-phrase that - lunch is my dream on days off, at the beach, on vacation, etc. Lunch at work - meh. I'm trying to mix things up a bit and if I force myself to start including more "bits & bites" posts, it'll make me expand outside of my hard-boiled egg, fruit, popcorn lunches. At least, I'll try. Here are some bits & bites over the past few weeks!

This was a simple dinner the other night: Tuna melt on a brown rice wrap, roasted asparagus, & roasted parsnip baked "fries".

Breakfast: organic instant oatmeal made on the stove top with almond milk, peanut butter, dried cranberries, and topped with coconut and cacao nibs. (I love putting peanut butter in my oatmeal!)

Dinner: Pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes, and spinach salad with roasted beats, cranberries, feta, and evoo. (heavenly)

Dinner: Ian's gluten-free fish sticks, roasted asparagus, roasted potatoes. (a quick staple)

This is what I eat for lunch wayyy too much (or is it too much? does it matter? I digress.) Anyway, 2 HB eggs, watermelons, pineapples, and skinny pop. Love.

Dinner: Lemon/Herb cod, roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon, cayenne, salt, evoo, and roasted asparagus. (I guess I eat a lot of asparagus, huh?)

Dinner: Homemade turkey burger (organic ground turkey, dijon mustard, chopped onion, garlic powder, evoo, salt, feta) with raosted sweet potato baked "fries" and avo/lime mash. Deeeeelish.

Saturday lunch: fried egg and cheese on an organic rice cake with watermelon/pineapple. (oh, and that gross green drink that tasted like romaine lettuce - blech)

Dinner: Baked piccata-style chicken breast with artichokes, olives, capers, lemon, etc. and quinoa with parmesan stirred in.

Lunch: Traded in my fruit for a bowl of tomato/basil soup because it's EFFING FREEZING!

Dinner: Sauteed sweet potato "swoodles!" with brown butter, sage, red onion, pecans, parmesan and shrimp! Yum!

Lunch: I know this looks odd, but, it's my effort to get away from my usual. Rice cake with hummus and pumpkin seeds with organic beef jerky. This was actually so friggin delish and really high in protein which was the goal!

Ok question time: Do you have lunch staples? Are you a habitual eater? I am, I always have been - ever since I was a little kid. How do you pull yourself out of a food slump or do you even care?

Have a fabbbbulous night!

Steak tips, avocado cream, twice baked patater

/

Hellll-llloooo ma frennsss... How is everyone doing? I've been writing the following phrase a lot (I mean every.single.work email) "HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL AND STAYING WARM!". Sound familiar? I do mean it though, so I hope you are!
Anywayyyy, I promised to reveal the recipe for the steak tips dish I made on Thursday night. It now feels like I made this ages ago considering I've made approximately 1,425 meals since then. However, if memory serves me... it was pretttty tasty and way healthier than it looks! And so... here you are!

First things first, I marinated the steak tips in a zip lock bag with the following ingredients:
-1 garlic clove
-Juice of a half lime
-3-4 Tbs soy sauce
-Couple tbs of Evoo
-Salt/Pepper

Next, I took one giant purple, sweet potato, cut it in half lengthwise, poked some holes in it, wrapped both sides in a couple layers of foil and baked them in the oven on 400 for about a half hour (until softish).

Then, I whipped up (pun intended) the avocado cream based on PALEOMG'S recipe. This is ridiculously tasty and the following day I used the cream as a spread on a wrap - DELIGHTFUL.
-Two Avocados
-EVOO
-Salt
-Two limes
-One lemon
-Hot Sauce
-Cayenne
Blend in the food processor and put aside.

Next, I got the peppers and onions ready by slicing both (one each).

Then, I started grilling the tips (I used a cast iron grill pan - you could use that or a real grill). It's zero degrees here sooooo... cast iron is my friend right now.

While that happened, I cooked the peppers and onions in a saute pan with the tiniest bit of evoo and salt. They are flavorful enough on their own and will cook in their own awesome juices.

Next, when the potato was almost done - I took it out of the oven and scooped out most of the insides.  CAREFUL - IT'S HOT. I left a little potato wall though so that it almost created little bowls. I mashed the insides in a separate bowl with a ton of rosemary, a tiny bit of salt and a little pad of organic butter. Put the mixture back in the potato halves and bake on 375 for the last ten minutes of the process. I bet you thought these were way less healthy. The thing is - the sweet potato is so flavorful that it REALLY doesn't need much. I'm kind of obsessed with rosemary and that mixed with the tiniest bit of butter makes them PERFECT.

At this point, the steak should be covered and resting.

Once the potatoes and the peppers/onions are done. Plate it and eat it. Yum, yum, yum.

That's it. Hope the rest of your week is GREAT! xo

15 Minute Meals: Broiled Salmon & Edamame Salad

/

For months now, Rob has been telling me that "people would really like 10-minute meals, Sheh" "I think it would be a hit!". I appreciate the thought, but, unless I give you guys a million salad recipes, 10 minute meals are kind of tough. Though, the guy has a point. So yesterday, as I was putting together a ridiculously easy and healthy dinner... I realized that it was only taking me minutes to prepare it. Then, I started thinking of a handful of meals that only take about 15 minutes to prepare. I think 15 minutes is doable! And so I give you, the first "15 minute meal" out of a new series that I will start writing. You can thank Rob for this.

You can use any fish for this, but, I really like broiled salmon. Take a piece of WILD fish (try to avoid farm raised), pat it dry, drizzle with evoo, a squeeze of lemon, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary. 

Set the broiler on high and cook for about 10 minutes (More or less depending on how you like your salmon. Some like it a little rare, some like it well-done. Do what works for you)

While that's broiling, mix shelled edamame, chopped avo, and crumbled feta. Drizzle with lemon juice and evoo, mix in a bowl and plate. I was able to add roasted onion that I cooked the other day. You could leave it out or add raw onion, whatever you'd like really!

That's it - you're done in 15 minutes OR LESS! I already mentioned that broiled salmon is one of my favorites, but, this edamame/avocado/feta mixture is fantastic. The flavors and textures marry really well together.

Hope you are all having a great week. It's practically Thursday! YEAH! xo