The Chic Life

Real Fast, Real Simple, Real Healthy Dinner

I don't know about you, but I'm soooo ready for a vacation! Work has been extra brutal lately with lots of moving parts and deadlines fast-approaching. The funny thing is that as stressed and tired and worn out I feel after a long day of work, when I feel like all I want to do is crawl into bed and relax and unwind, when I talk myself out of that bed and to go to zumba class, that zumba class turns my ENTIRE day around. I go from exhausted to energized from the moment that first song starts playing, and I start dancing.

Today, after a nine hour day in my cubicle, I met up with my friend Gaby to carpool to an evening zumba class. Class was a blast, as always, and I felt so much better for having gone. I stayed after class to chit-chat with the girls and it wasn't until 9 pm that I was finally heading home. I had been craving ice cream for some reason and almost decided to get a Turkey Wrap from Jason's Deli so I could Ben & Jerry's ice cream afterwards, but after dropping Gaby off, I managed to talk myself into cooking up something quick and healthy instead.

I swung by the grocery store and picked up some basic ingredients: organic, boneless chicken breast, a farmer's market zucchini, and a farmer's market red pepper.

I made what I consider to be a Real Simple-esque dinner tonight.   

I sauteed the chicken breast lightly seasoned with cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper.

For the side, I decided to go low-carb (not because I'm a low-carb person, but because I wasn't really hungry and was craving lots of veggies!). I sauteed up some organic red onion, that zucchini, and that red pepper I picked up on my way home. The veggies were seasoned lightly with salt and pepper and cooked in extra virgin olive oil.

Hubby even had the good idea to add some sesame seeds to the veggies. Although I'm used to seeing sesame seeds on lots of Asian dishes, I recently learned that sesame seeds are actually pretty good for you by being a good source of manganese, copper, and a handful of other nutrients. Check out this article (click) on WHFoods.com for details.

All together now. Dinner is served!

I'm so glad I decided to eat in tonight...dinner was awesome and such a cinch to cook up! I think it took me about 15 minutes of chopping/cooking time. Not too shabby, eh? Even hubby seemed to really enjoy it.

Dessert was a tiny bowl of that hearty Nature's Path Heritage Heirloom Whole Grains Cereal with a drizzle of honey and 2% milk. Ha! Got my carbs afterall! ;)

Dinner

Indian-Themed Dinner Party

Annie + Dave were kind enough to have a bunch of us over for a home-cooked, Indian-themed dinner party.

There was food all over the house and lots of good eats to be found.

Kelsey + Emily - happy eaters!

I have some photos of food, but unfortunately, have no idea what I ate. It all tasted delicious, though!

Kath's rice pilaf.

And since I don't know what anything is...I bring you some delicious-food-photos (sans descriptions)...

My bowl. So good...especially with that cucumber sauce!

Hey Kath! Don't you love her dress?

Kath and I tried to play with the cats...

...but they were both hiding.

Group shot...so cute how we all dressed for the event.

I wore a sparkly, super-bright, yellow top...it's not "Indian" (duh!) but I thought the color was pretty and kinda sorta went with the theme.

We missed half of the dinner party who took off before we got our group shot, but hopefully, we'll catch them next time.

The sun was setting as I was leaving and the lighting was making everything look so photogenic...even these stairs. I couldn't help but snap a shot.

I got one of the city skyline in the background with the setting sunlit horizon.

I dug into my Soy Creamery chocolate ice cream sandwiches treats in the freezer for a quick dessert...yum!

Thanks Annie and Dave for the most-delicious dinner party!

Dessert, Dinner, Life

Sunday Funday - Houses, Picnics, + Italian Music

Since I have a post in need of being blogged up next, here's a quick recap from Sunday...

Hubby and I did some serious house-hunting on Sunday. We met our real estate agent somewhat early, so I had my breakfast to go - a piece of Great Harvest Dakota toast with Barney Butter, a not-so-green smoothie, and plenty of water. We went out for a few hours and found some houses with good potential. We need to think about the houses some more, though.

Later in the day, I solo'ed it to meet up with Kath , Matt , Kelsey , Kate, Nate , Caitlin, Jason, and Conor at Pops in the Park - an outdoor symphony event.

I left my camera at home (put the camera in the wrong purse...doh!)...good thing I had my iPhone! Though, I did manage to accidentally post a photo on someone's FB page instead of mine...oopsie!

I brought some super yummy Gorgonzola & Artichoke Cheese Spread from a local fave spot - Pasta & Provisions . Love them! Love this dip...wow! Who knew I liked Gorgonzola cheese so much?

Check out that spread! I filled my plates up with lots of yumminess including some of Kelsey's delish pasta salad.

Oh, and Kath and Matt brought the perfect summer picnic item - Gazpacho! It was so perfectly cool, with a nice texture and slightly spicy flavor. Mmm...

Conor brought his homemade Italian doughnuts...

...with 3 (count em, 3!) dipping sauces: chocolate, raspberry, and raspberry-chocolate.

I had one doughnut per sauce, plus one extra of my fave - the raspberry!

Kath managed to get some delicious coconut-pecan cake from a neighboring picnic and was kind enough to share some with us. Yay! Thanks K!

The weather was hot and humid, but the night was fun with a little Italian red wine and Italian music playing in the background.

Kath let me borrow this group shot (Thanks!).

Fun times, guys...let's do this again next year, if not sooner!

Dessert, Dinner, Life

Zumba-licious + Jam-Packed Weekend

Wow, this weekend has been crazy!

I knew Friday night that I had a full day ahead of me, so I tried to keep dinner healthy.

I tried to keep dinner light with some TJ's Wild Blue Shrimp and some veggies - organic squash and organic red onion from our organic produce delivery service.

For our carb, I heated up this cool new Kashi product I found - 7 Whole Grain Pilaf. It took a mere 60-90 seconds and was ready like that!

Yum!

First, I went to a boot camp class with a couple zumba instructors to assist with an 8-9am Saturday class.

I didn't want to have a full stomach whilst zumba-ing the morning away, so I just had a Clif Energy bar in Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch.

It was pretty cool because I got to test out my cueing and mirroring skills and move around in the audience to try to help those who couldn't see the lead instructor.

Then, we rushed over to Southpark for the Asana Zumbathon! I downed a protein bar and lots of water. Water so was KEY today because of all the exercising - especially the outdoor part. I found these awesome and affordable gigantic bottles of electrolyte enhanced water at Trader Joe's the other day and got 2 for Saturday's events.

The Zumbathon went from 9:00 - 10:30am, but we got there right at 9:30 for the last hour. Better late, than never, right? :)

I wish I had pictures, but alas, I left my camera in the car, so I found this one from Asana Activewear. The event was a blast! We'll have to have one of those again soon. *crossing fingers*

After the zumbathon, it was time to gear up for my zumba instructor auditions. I got some hummus from a local restaurant because I simply love it and it's pretty healthy.

I also got some fresh ingredients to make a delicious deli-style sandwich with a side of fresh, red pepper.

I used Great Harvest Dakota bread, smoked turkey, tomato, organic baby spinach, and muenster cheese. It was so awesome! Filling, nutritious, and energy-providing.

An hour before my audition, I made hubby and me a not-so-green smoothie with frozen, mixed berries, a banana, organic baby spinach, and skim milk.

Although I put spinach in there, I think the berries won out as far as colors go. Hubby didn't even know there was spinach in the smoothie till I told him...teehee. :)

I wore a top I got especially for auditions, my zumba pants and used a black, leather cuff as my statement piece. I thought it added to the whole zumba look. :) As for auditions, they went really well. I was nervous, but I am just pleased that I did about as well as I think I could have. I had to do 3 songs with mirroring and cueing and then some interview-type questions. Mostly, I was proud of my dancing...I was worried about messing up the routines, but they went very smoothly. No word yet on the results, but I'll let you know.

Later that night (yea, we're still on Saturday...lol), we grilled out with friends.

Hot!

We did grilled onions on top of our burgers.

Then, I topped my burger with a tomato slice, spinach, dab of mayo, mustard, and ketchup.

I had a real Coke in a bottle (tastes so much better, I think) to drink.

Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies were dessert.

After dinner, we headed out to the marina...

...for some night fishing....just as the sun was setting.

We didn't catch anything...

...but we did have fun out on the water.

After night-fishing, we were ready to head home. I was sooo ready for bed after my extra long, but fun-filled day.

Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, Life, Lunch

Michael Jackson - King of Pop

I still can't believe Michael Jackson is no longer with us. I'm in shock that his life has been so tragically cut short.

Michael Jackson was my first major music obsession. When I was a little girl, I listened to his tape so many times and so often that I wore it out. I wore out a freakin' tape! Have you ever heard of such a thing? My parents still laugh about it today.

Here are a couple videos...

Michael Jackson performing "Bad" live - I believe Bad was the tape I wore out, but I'll have to confirm with my parents since that was so long ago!

Remember the Time - a great example of Michael's creative genius - his music videos were like mini movies!

And, will anyone ever be able to compete with Thriller? I couldn't find an embedable version, so here's a rehearsal video with a wee-clip of a Michael home video. Neat stuff!

RIP Michael...we'll always have your music.

What's your favorite Michael Jackson song?

Clean Eating Magazine

I stumbled upon a cool, new magazine the other day:

Clean Eating magazine

The magazine doesn't appear to be all that "new" (I checked the back issues and there are 7 older versions online), but it's new to me.

I'm working on trying to eat more whole foods and be a cleaner eater, so this magazine really piqued my interest at the book store.

I can't wait to try this shrimp and zucchini dish.

These turkey-stuffed peppers look awesome.

Oh, and I can't wait to try this Chia Fizz drink - sounds so cool and unique!

Does any one out there subscribe to this currently? If so, what do you think?

Magazine

Morphing Polenta

Polenta Day #1

I decided to try a polenta dish that I've been wanting to try for awhile for dinner the other night.

I made Giada's Polenta with Arugula.

I cut back on the butter and used skim milk instead of the cream requested, which I think made the consistency a tad off, but it still tasted good.

I served the polenta with steamed broccoli and TJ's battered halibut and tartar sauce.

I was really impressed with the TJ's halibut from the frozen food section. Pretty good stuff for frozen food.

Hubby and I split a Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale .

I took the leftover polenta and spread it out till flat in a square-ish tupperware for later.

Polenta Day #2

I wanted to make shrimp for dinner last night, but got to the grocery store late after Zumba (and chit-chatting with girlfriends) and after the seafood counter was all put up. I decided to try out these adorable Crab Cake Minis by Phillips .

They were mini, indeed! Here are my fingers for comparison.

For veggies, I tried the Neely's roasted broccoli with cherry tomatoes dish, which didn't turn out so hot. That's what I get for trying to multitask and take a shower while my food cooks.

The crab cakes were a cinch to cook up.

As for sides, I wondered, "Hmm...what do I do with this leftover polenta?" I quickly decided to morph the leftover polenta into something equally tasty but with a totally different texture.

For the leftover polenta...I cut it up into chunks and baked it along with the broccoli and tomatoes.

I drizzled the polenta pieces with olive oil and tossed to coat.

All together now.

Slightly charred broccoli and cherry tomatoes - I'll have to give this another go, but pay closer attention next time.

The crab cakes may have been mini but they were filling, so I only ate 3 1/2 cakes. I thought they were really good for frozen food, too. Nice texture.

The polenta leftovers baked up quite nicely - I loved the finished texture. Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.

What do you do with leftover polenta?

Dinner

New Fave Breakfast - Simple Oatmeal + "Sausage" + Coffee

I have a new favorite breakfast combo:

New fave breakfast consists of a small-ish bowl of simple oatmeal:

Pre-cooking ingredients:

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup water

Post-cooking ingredients:

• sprinkling of sliced almonds (store in the freezer to keep longer than in than pantry)
• sprinkling of TJ's ground blueberry flaxseed
• slight drizzle of real maple syrup

Why I like it? It's so simple and can be made with some of the most basic pantry ingredients. I store the ground flaxseed and almonds in the freezer to extend their shelf life. The oats and maple syrup already last pretty long. A banana would be a nice addition, but we haven't had any around at all times, so simple oats it is.

But this breakfast wouldn't be complete without something savory to balance the sweetness of the oats - Morningstar "sausage" patty (I'm not vegetarian, but I love these little guys) - another great pantry item that keeps well in the freezer.

A nice, hot mug of milky-sweet coffee is the perfect breakfast beverage for moi. Especially if it's that Fresh Market Fair Trade Certified & Organic Guatemalan coffee I'm currently loving.

Yum!

Breakfast

PS Happy Father's Day!

PS I almost forgot to say...

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(green = my dad's favorite color)

We are taking a trip home to see my dad in a couple weeks for a belated birthday and Father's Day celebration, so more on that in the near future. :)

Life

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

In an effort to be more efficient with my money, I've kept the same phone for the last 4 or 5 years. Two years ago, hubby was one of the first to have the ever-impressive iPhone and oh how I was jealous. Though I wanted to cave in and get the iPhone when he did, I decided it would be better to wait, especially since my phone still worked. While my phone worked well while I had it, it was really crapping out on me towards the end.   The night that I knew I absolutely had to do something about my phone was when I was on the other side of the country, trying to meet my friend for dinner at Millennium, and my phone was starting to die before I even had time to figure out where to meet. Had things not worked out in my favor, I may have ended up completely stranded in San Fran with no phone and no friends.

The night my phone was dying in San Fran, I stopped by the AT&T store in search of a new battery. No dice (who keeps batteries for phones that old, right?). I stopped by RadioShack. They had the batter, but it was $50! All I could think was that $50 would make nice dent in the cost of a new phone, perhaps a new iPhone. I almost bought an iPhone that very night, but hubby told me he heard rumors a new iPhone was coming out later this summer. I decided to wait it out, but the longer I waited, the worse my phone worked. The phone stopped taking a charge. I could leave it plugged in all night and only have about 5 minutes of talk time the next day. Although a short talk time is bad, the worst part was how it started cutting out on me so I couldn't hear the person on the other line. I'd be listening to a conversation mid-sentence when the phone conversation would suddenly to silence. Over the last couple months, I almost caved...several times.

But, good things come to those who wait (at least that's what I tell myself after putting up with a barely working phone for 3-ish months of pure cell phone frustration) and when I heard the announcement of the new iPhone, I knew my patience would be rewarded.

Hubby and I went to the local Apple store after my zumba instructor training. The line was short (about 6 people ahead of us when we got into the line).

After a short wait, we worked with a specialist to pick out all my goodies. I got: the 16 MB white iPhone (white to be different), a pink case, and MobileMe (which I've used for all of 5 minutes and so far love).

Helllllllllloooooooooooo hotness!

For some reason, the contacts on my SIM card wouldn't copy over to my new phone, so I had to spend about an hour and half manually adding all my contacts. The downside - losing an hour and a half of my day. The upside - a freshly cleansed contact list, which was automatically synced to my Mac. Sweet! I can't wait to see what else this iPhone and MobileMe are capable of!

Life, Shopping

Zumba Instructor Training

Zumba Instructor Training yesterday was SO FUN! I have to say, I have a whole new respect for anyone teaching group fitness classes, especially the wonderful instructors I see every week. Teaching zumba is hard!

The training workout started with a Master Session, which was one and a half hours long and totally kicked my ass!

I was completely worn out, but luckily, I had a snack and plenty of water to help me make it through the rest of the day. Thank you Clif ZBar!

Yum! I felt a lot better after my snack. Girls in the class with heart rate monitors calculated they burned between 800-1100 calories from the Master Session alone!

The rest of the day consisted of lectures and working on specific areas (mirroring, cueing etc) in groups.

We had an hour long break for lunch, so I went with some girls to get something nice and light - a turkey sub with some Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. I also got sweet tea. I didn't quite finish all my food, but I was thankful I had something filling but light on the tummy for the rest of the day.

Katherine was kind enough to model one of her mini oranges.

Isn't it adorable?

A closer look at her Zumba bracelets...I want one! I want a lot of Zumba gear, actually. It's all so cute!

We continued our lectures and workshops and even choreographed a new routine as a group to Fire Burning by Sean Kingston. I had so.much.fun at the workshop!!!!!!!!!

Being in the training today reminded me so much of going to skate camps when I was younger and training in figure skating 6 days a week. I truly miss my skating days, but I'm so glad to have found another creative-athletic outlet to focus my energy on. Whether I become an instructor or not, I learned a lot of great tips and techniques I can apply to my zumba workouts to make me jam harder and be a better zumba-er.

After class, I showered and went out with hubby for some shopping errands. I treated myself to a special, new workout top, which I may or may not debut next Saturday. ;)

I may or may not have made another big purchase after the top...

Life

Fueling Up for an All-Day Workout

I have zumba instructor training in less than an hour and will participating in a 1 1/2 hour workout class followed by 4 1/2 hours of workshop and choreography.

When I was a kid, I didn't like to eat breakfast. My mom would tell me, "Honey, your body is like a car, and if you don't eat breakfast, you won't have any fuel to run on and won't have any energy." Being a kid (and later teenager), I of course listened to her intently. Did you believe that? Neither did I. I didn't listen to my mom and her brilliant advice back then because I "knew better." Instead, I'd roll my eyes at her and still skip meals.

Nowadays, I know better, so I really wanted to fuel up for my all-day workout, so I made some oatmeal.

I'm terrified of eating spoiled foods, but figured this overly brown banana would be ok since my mom also saved the "old" bananas for banana bread. I only used about 1/3 for my oats.

I normally like to slice my bananas into my oats, but this guy was so soft, I had no choice but to mash it all up into the oats. I used about 1/4 cup of oats.

On top, I added some sliced almonds, ground blueberry flax seed, and a drizzle of vanilla maple syrup.

All-together with my assortment of beverages.

First up, we had water - to hydrate pre-workout.

Next up, OJ. I remember when I was in figure skating camp, they told us that OJ was good for nutrition, but only a little because that was all you needed to get the nutrition and after some point, you were just drinking extra sugar. That seems to make sense still, plus, I read an article (click) awhile back saying OJ and oatmeal went well together and actually helped increase the nutritional value in each other.

Lastly, coffee. Ok, this probably doesn't help you pre-workout, but it is a morning must for me.

I also had a candle going...just for fun.

I didn't quite finish all my oatmeal, but I did well with the beverages. Gotta get ready now...here we go!

Breakfast

Hubby's Lunch Delivery Surprise

I didn't have anything at the house to make for lunch today, but hubby was sweet enough to offer to drop something off for me.

He brought me 2 different bags of lunchtime goodness.

In the brown bag, I got a half Cafe Wrap sandwich from Jason's Deli with fresh fruit, dipping sauce (which I don't use), and some mints.

A closer look at the wrap - inside: turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and some sort of sauce.

I brought out some Kashi Honey Sesame TLC Crackers I've been saving at my desk for a simple side.

In the white bag, I had a super special surprise - a vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing from my favorite cupcake bakery, Polka Dot Bake Shop. I just love these little things and this is my favorite flavor combo.

After work, I headed over to Zumba!! I was a little on the fence about whether I should go or not because I have my instructor training tomorrow, but I figured if the instructors could do the class and training, why couldn't I? I pushed through and even got to dance on the stay to one of the songs! So fun!

I was going to pour myself a nice big post-workout glass of milk, but decided to do a play on this post-workout beverage by turning my skim milk into hot chocolate using some Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder and sugar. Following this recipe by Ellie Krieger, I started by making a paste.

I just added some skim milk, which I heated up in the microwave and I had a love post-workout snack.

Yum!

Want some?

In keeping with the bad habits of eating out too much this week, we got take-out for dinner from a local Mediterranean restaurant. I'd like to work on not making excuses for eating out (like I'm too busy). We were actually planning on cooking chicken tonight, but hubby suggested one of my fave take-out places I just caved. In my defense, I have been craving food from this restaurant for awhile now. :)

While I've got you, this is a little off topic, but hubby picked up a new flavor of bread for sandwiches this week:

Oregon Herb ! I haven't had the chance to try this yet, but it sure smells great. My only beef is I'm not thinking this would taste good in one of my fave snacks - Almond Butter Toast. Doh!

Hubby also brought home something deliciously different - another new bread - Pecan Swirl . omg...this stuff is ridiculously good!

Look at those layers!

Yum! I did get to have one slice of this but hubby ate the rest of it! Guess we'll have to try to get more next time. Either way, this stuff was delish and didn't even taste like it was made with wheat bread.

Ok, I have to get some rest before instructor training tomorrow. G'night!

Dinner, Life, Lunch

Our Evening Muse

Meet our muse for the evening - Matt MacKelcan (more on him in a bit):

Another long day at work today - had 6 hours of meetings back to back. One ended early, which allowed me to eat lunch...yay!

I normally go for Clif Energy or ZBars for pre-workout snacks, but I've really been liking these Gnu bars because of their great texture, yummy flavor, and low-ish calorie count (around 130-140).

I decided to try a new Gnu Bar flavor & fiber bar in Chocolate Brownie Bar.

At first, I thought the flavor of the bar was just-ok, but it really grew on me as I ate it more. I do prefer the fruity flavored ones more, though, I think. I did still really enjoy the chewy, grainy texture of the bar.

After work, I grabbed a zumba friend to hit up a new zumba class I'd never been to before because it always seemed so far away from me. Turns out it was only about a 20 minute drive...nice! I had a lovely hour long zumba class which I rocked out with my hair down. Our main instructor always dances with her hair down and does all the fun hair-flips that I cannot quite replicate. Today, I just ran out of hair thingys and couldn't find a single one in any of my bags or at home or at work. Guess I need to go hair accessory shopping?

After zumba, I showered, changed, and met up with some friends for a pre-band-gig-show at Cabo Fish Taco

I've wanted to try this place for the longest time and was so thrilled to finally make it.

I knew I had to have fish tacos (duh! I always try to get a restaurant's specialty), so I went with the Blackened Mahi Mahi version.

We started with tortilla chips and a corn salsa...

...and slighty-spicy queso. You guys know how much I love a good cheese dip - sometimes nothing beats nice, hot, melty cheese on salty corn chips, no?

Drinky-drink - mojito - a drink that is quickly becoming a fave of mine.

My fish tacos!

A closer look. The fish tacos were so good - esp that cilantro white sauce! I thought the mahi mahi was really well-seasoned and cooked, as well.

My side dish - black beans and rice (and corn - which wasn't part of the side description but a welcome addition)

Our friend, Tim, digging in.

After dinner, we headed to a neighboring bar for a couple drinks (them, not me...I was the DD).

Then, we headed down the street a wee bit more...

...to The Evening Muse where our friend's friend was playing.

Matt MacKelcan and his band rocked it out tonight and we so thoroughly enjoyed their music, hubby purchased their CD.

Though I tend to lean towards being a homebody on weeknights, I was glad to be able to come out to support our friend's friend's band and switch it up from our norm. Great times...we need to do stuff like this more often!

Dinner, Life, Restaurant, Snack

Simple Roasted Shrimp Dinner

This week has been packed with after work activities. I normally get pretty lazy after work hours...ok, so I make time for zumba and typically work on my blogs and other personal project, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I turn into a total HOMEBODY!

Weeks like this require super simple dinners. I threw this one together using stuff around the house:

I had two sweet potatoes left from our last organic product delivery, so I sliced another up for some sweet potato chips. This time, I drizzled them with olive oil, salt, and pepper before baking. I drizzled them with maple syrup AFTER the cooking was over so as to not have the burnt up mess I did last time.

Letting the oven do all the heavy lifting for dinner sounded like a good idea, so I tried a new method of preparing my shrimp (defrosted frozen TJ's shrimp) - roasting! Towards the end of the cooking time of the potatoes, I added a baking sheet of shrimp tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Once the shrimp came out of the oven, I tossed them with fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest.

While the potatoes and shrimp cooked, I enjoyed a simple salad of nice, peppery arugula with some diced yellow pepper and Drew's Rosemary Balsamic Dressing - yum!

The plate looks sparse, but I couldn't fit that huge salad on the same plate as the entree.

Who knew roast shrimp were so good? I think I found a new favorite way to prepare shrimp...yum!

Dinner

Healthy Southern Supper - Ellie Style

Last night's dinner was a Southern Supper with a healthy Ellie Krieger twist.

I decided to make Ellie's Oven Fried Chicken (using boneless chicken breasts, TJ's flaxseed whole wheat crackers, and that yummy, wholesome Nature's Path Organic Heritage Heirloom Whole Grains cereal I've been into lately).

I've been meaning to make this oven "fried" chicken for awhile now, but randomly enough, the episode where Ellie actually prepares this dish came on TV this past Saturday. I decided to make the accompanying veggie dish she cooked up during the episode - Ellie's Short Cut Collard Greens , which is made healthier with Canadian bacon.

I made a bit of a mess in the kitchen using various bowls and plates to prepare dinner.

The collard greens seemed to have extra steps but were pretty simple overall.

The end result was definitely worth all the work, though. The results were fantastic!

From the tender collards...

...to the crunchy chicken.

This whole meal was perfection! I can't wait to make it again! Make that "eat it." I can't wait to eat this dinner again! Yum!

Dinner

1 Year Anniversary My Style

Hubby did his anniversary celebration on our actual anniversary weekend, but my plans revolved around a different kind of schedule. So, yesterday, I mentioned I had something a little risky planned. Well...guess what?! My plan worked perfectly! Here's what went down.

I wanted to stick with tradition, so I planned to get something with "paper" for our 1 year anniversary.

Normally, I like to do surprises for special occasions, but what I really wanted to do was take hubby to see a Broadway performance and I found out they have tickets for a mere $20 if you have a student ID. I also learned tickets for the show I wanted to see were available 2 tickets per student ID but could only be purchased 2 hours before the show. I researched some dates and found out the matinee show today (Sunday) had some seats left in the Orchestra section (normally $80), so I decided to take my chances and head to the theater to buy tickets.

My plan worked and we scored 2 of those orchestra tickets for 1/4 the price...sweet!

Want to know which show I wanted to take hubby to?

I took him to my all-time favorite show ever - Phantom of the Opera. Now, I'd never actually seen the Phantom before, but I ice skated to the music from the show when I was a kid (favorite program btw), and I've grown up listening and singing to the highlights CD, so I feel like I know it.

My plan was to spend the 2 hours before the show getting brunch, so we headed over to Monticello to check out their brunch.

The restaurant was surprisingly busy, so we waited in the lobby area for just a bit, but not too long.

We were soon seated and had no problems selecting something from the menu.

Table decoration.

Hubby and I got mimosas to celebrate.

The mimosas were awesome. I think they used fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Our tickets - yay! We couldn't wait to see the show.

Hubby got some bread and butter before his meal.

Hubby got the shrimp and grits, which I happen to really like at this restaurant.

I was more in the mood for breakfast, so I got The Southern - biscuits & gravy, sausage, scrambled eggs, and grits. The whole plate was really tasty.

Happily full.

After brunch, we made our way back to the theater. The weather was beautiful outside - sunny but not too hot with a lovely breeze hitting us every now and again.

In front of the theater.

Phantom signs.

Line to get in.

Scanning the tickets.

The Phantom cast list.

Phantom memorabilia.

We headed downstairs for the orchestra area.

Looking up. What a view!

Heading into the theater.

Our view - just before Act 1.

I wanted to take pictures of the show, but apparently, you're not allowed to, so I held back.

A new curtain for Act 2.

Wow! The show was absolutely amazing! When the show started and the Phantom theme song kicked on I got so excited...I couldn't believe I was fiiiiinally seeing the show after listening to the CD for 15+ years. The show was just as awesome as I thought it would be. I was so happy that the cast did such a wonderful job - I thought a lot of the characters sounded just like the CD. The Phantom and Christine parts were especially fabulous. Oh, and the ending...so cool! I was glad to see and hear the songs all pieced together with the smaller sections so the story became more cohesive for me. I can't wait to see it again, except next time I'll pay full price and buy early to get us the best seats in the house.

Of course, we had to leave with a little bit of Phantom paraphernalia - we got the program and a t-shirt.

Hubby said he had a wonderful time, so I think my half of the anniversary celebration was a great success. Between the 2 celebrations, we had a lot of anniversary fun. Hopefully, we have just as much, if not more great times next year!

Happy anniversary babe!

Brunch, Life, Restaurant

Full Day, Fun Day

I tend to find myself stuck at home a lot on the weekends with that overwhelming feeling of having so much to do around the apartment, but I'm working on this:

1. I'm going to start downsizing - less stuff, less to manage, less to worry about

2. I'm going to start forcing myself to prioritize FUN higher...you have to balance things, right?

Saturday was spent forcing myself to have fun:

Firstly, I went to a fabulous zumba class for a beautiful, yet really tough hour. This meant I successfully completed going to zumba 5 out of the last 7 days! I'm so proud of myself. I was so tired Saturday, but I just pushed myself through class. Phew! All in all, I burned about 2,500-5,000 calories over the last week (based on the estimate of 500-1000 calories per class).

After class, I went with one of my zumba friends to hang out by their pool and work on my tan. Saturday was the first day I've been to the pool this summer!

Amazing blue skies!

Our pool is closed, so I'm lucky my friend had me over to hers. We also met up with another zumba friend at the pool - so fun, but I had to leave around 3:15pm to pick up my car from the shop. Ugh!

My pool/beach towel. I love these oversized Vera Bradley beach towels . Not that I have many, but I usually try to find them when they go on sale. I do think they're worth full price because of the size, softness, and pretty patterns.

After picking up the car, hubby and I went by Jason's Deli . I haven't been a huge fan of Jason's Deli until recently now that they've ramped up their menu and moved their focus to organic foods and "real food". Apparently, Health magazine has also taken notice.

Hubby and I split the (I think it's called) Cafe Wrap. The restaurant was actually thoughtful enough to go ahead and split our plates for us. I love little touches like that.

Yum!

After lunch, I was really craving ice cream! Probably because of all that zumba and the hot sun from the pool. I'm not sure where the craving came from because ice cream isn't typically something I crave...in fact, I rarely want it. Anywho, I got the Oatmeal Cookie flavor, which was really delish.

For dinner, hubby and I hit up our fave Mexican spot in town, 1900 Mexican Grill. We started with 2 salsas and some hot cheese dip.

I got a margarita - the Orange Pineapple Crush, with muddled pineapple. Yum!

For dinner, we got the chicken fajitas...so good! Our plate was really loaded up.

Not sure I was much help by eating only 1 fajita and a wee bit of rice and beans.

I was stuffed, but everything was so tasty.

After dinner, hubby and I stopped by a friend's place where we met up with a bunch of people and headed to a local bar for some evening drinks. Make that "drink". Hubby and I only had 1 more drink and called it an evening.

I have big plans for Sunday, but I'm taking a risky approach to the day's events - will explain later. Promise. Wish me luck!

Dinner, Life, Lunch, Restaurant

Scallops...Encore

Hubby and I didn't give up on those weird looking scallops from the other day. I mean, we gave up on those scallops, but not on scallops completely. Hubby and I went back to The Fresh Market and exchanged those strange scallops for new ones.

Much better!

I decided to re-heat some of that leftover tomato risotto, so I could re-create my original idea.

I've only ever cooked scallops a handful of times, so I'm always a little cautious preparing them.

I heated up some frozen green peas for our veggie side.

All together now.

So simple, so tasty, so healthy and a good use of leftovers and pantry items! :)

Dinner

The Icebox Conference Room

The Icebox

Today I had to dial in to an all-day meeting conference call, so I set-up in one of the conference rooms in our office. Little did I know, the conference room was more prepped to store frozen food than be used for meeting. It was freezing in there!

This may look like a normal outfit to some of you, but...

...the jacket I'm wearing is by The North Face...as in the gear people wear when they're climbing snow-capped mountains...yea, that one.

But wait, it gets better...

Remember those leg warmers I bought for that 80's party?

I wore them today because I was THAT cold in that conference room...seriously!

A closer look. Good thing I was wearing pants today so I could at least hide those leg warmers a bit.

My Patagonia Synchilla Blanket also helped me stay somewhat warm today. Boy, was I glad when that meeting was over so I could thaw out!

Hodge Podge Lunch + Snacks

Lunch was a bit of a hodge podge. We didn't have any lunch meat so I couldn't make a sandwich, like usual. The risotto I made for dinner last night made a TON so I brought some leftovers in along with a Morningstar Soysage for good measure.

I also brought in a half orange pepper and some baby carrots - lots of good orange veggies in there.

"Dessert" was a TJ's fruit leather...

...and the snacking didn't stop there. I also had some Kashi Crackers in Fire Roasted Veggie .

Later, I had a lovely Pure Bar in ChocolateBrownie - these things are just amazing, no?

This bar made a great pre-workout snack.

Foodie Explores

After work, hubby and I ran some errands. We got some new scallops to replace the funky-looking ones we did not eat yesterday and I also picked up some new foodie things to try:

Did you know that the makers of the oh-so-good Yogi Teas is now making cereal? Yuppers! Yogi is now offering cereal, and I got some Goji Berry Fake & Cluster (Essential Antioxidant) to try.

We also got the coffee The Fresh Market had on sample because it was so nice, light, and smooth. This is the Fair Trade Certified & Organic Guatemalan coffee. I love supporting fair trade whenever possible and this is organic and was on sale to boot!

I can't wait to dig into my new goodies!

Groceries, Life, Lunch

A Last Minute Dinner Save

Got caught up working on other projects last night and forgot to blog about dinner! Oops!

But firsts, let me show you these beautiful blueberries we got in our organic food delivery on Tuesday - they are from the first batch of the NC blueberry season.

These babies were put to good use in an AM bowl of oats. Yum!

Moving on to last night's dinner, I recently caught an episode of Lyon in the Kitchen where Nathan made a roasted veggie risotto with seared scallops. Since hubby recently picked up some scallops, I decided to do a play on Nathan's dish.

I did a play on the dish by just using canned, diced tomatoes.

Hot risotto and steamy chicken broth in the background.

I also got some organic green beans and broccoli in the steamer while the risotto finished.

With about 2 minutes left, I decided to get out the quick-cooking scallops, but imagine my surprise when they came out looking like this. What in the world?! They don't even look like scallops...they look like chopped up leftover seafood stuff.

I went with an emergency back-up - TJ's frozen shrimp.

Phew! These cooked up nicely with red pepper flakes, fresh garlic, lemon zest...

...and fresh-squeezed lemon juice...yum!

All together now - talk about a last minute save! The risotto and veggies got a little cool while I waited for the shrimp to de-frost and then cook up, but dinner was still quite enjoyable.

Dinner

Long Day Dinner

Had another long day at work today, but they are always pretty long with so much work to do!! It's good to be needed, though.

I was feeling extra tired today, so I went on a 15 minute trek during lunch to find some Smart Water...After checking about 5 stores, I finally found the silly stuff, but I think it worked because I felt better after drinking it.

I also geared up for zumba with this gnu foods flavor & fiber orange cranberry bar.

This thing was sooo tasty! I loved the texture - it was nice and chewy with bits of dried fruit throughout. The bar was also light on my stomach - perfect for a pre-workout snack IMO.

I spent another lovely hour at zumba class tonight and boy was I tired afterwards! If I go to all the classes I'm planning to attend, I'll be zumba'ing 5 out of 7 days this week!! I stayed after class chit-chatting with a couple girlfriends before heading home and scheduling an appointment for my top secret project (will spill the details soon, I swear!) on my car ride home. Hubby thought we were doing separate dinners and had already eaten and I really really really wanted to just pick something up for take-out and not worry about cooking, but talked myself into just heading home.

We got another delivery of organic fruits + veggies today, so I decided to hit up the pantry again for dinner. When I saw the sweet potatoes, I wanted to make roasted potatoes, but since I didn't want to wait too long, I decided to do a play on this recipe but in chip shape.

To spice things up, I added pepper and cayenne pepper.

The chips went onto the baking sheet and in the oven.

Meanwhile, I steamed some of the fresh organic veggies we got today - green beans and broccoli.

The veggies cooked nicely, but the sweet potatoes...noooot so much. I almost set off my fire alarm with this mess!

Luckily, I was able to salvage plenty of the maple sweet potato chips. They were actually pretty darn tasty - the hint of heat from the cayenne pepper was lovely and the sweet maple syrup...yum! The chicken was leftover from last night's dinner, so I just re-heated it in the microwave.

Though there were some hiccups, dinner was overall fab-u-lous. I was really happy I decided to use up leftovers and cook from our pantry instead of picking up new food. We need to do this more often!

Dinner was enjoyed over a lovely DVR'ed Lyon in the Kitchen - this guy rocks!

Dinner, Snack

Breakfast for Dinner (Catch-Up Post)

How did I forget to post about Sunday's dinner!!?? Hubby and I were so tired from Taste of Charlotte that we decided to skip a grocery trip and just make stuff from the pantry.

Cooking from the pantry usually means Breakfast for Dinner.

I found these lovely local eggs at TJ's recently...another step towards making the switch to organic and local and being green.

The eggs went into this Fresh & Easy Multigrain Pancake Mix from the lovely Kate .

Pancakes are just so-good, aren't they?

I made an egg scramble starting with some sauteed yellow peppers (I think yellow are my fave of the pepper colors).

Then, I added the eggs and mixed in some baby spinach.

Feta finished the dish.

Look how tall the pancakes got!

They were a little on the dry side, but still tasted delicious - especially with matching Fresh & Easy Vanilla Bean Maple Syrup (also from Kate). :)

Breakfast Dinner of champions.

Yum-O!

Breakfast, Dinner

A Long Time Coming Shopping

Today's been a good day with good eats and even better news.

I went with some co-workers to take lunch at a local organic eatery, blynk . It may sound crazy, but taking lunch is a bit of a luxury for us - we usually end up eating at our desks during phone conferences, so to actually get out of the office is a really good thing.

I got a duo with a half simply turkey sandwich and onion/roasted garlic soup. It was super yummy.

A lovely Peanut Toffee Buzz Clif Energy bar gave me some ammo for my zumba class! I have to admit, I actually felt pretty tired throughout the class, but I pushed through and really tried to give it my all anyways. Mind over matter...it really works sometimes...or at least having a good willpower does.

I stayed late after class chatting with a zumba girlfriend, but managed to make it to Best Buy minutes before the doors locked to buy The Matrix soundtrack. I used to love listening to this CD a few years ago and it popped into my head recently. My CD became unusable a couple years ago due to scratching or whatever, so I had to buy a new one. I couldn't find it on iTunes (along with some other oldies but goodies) so Best Buy came to my rescue.

By the time I made it to the grocery store, I was feeling pretty tired and hungry, so I just grabbed some thin-sliced chicken (cooks nice and fast), some cheddar cheese, and a roma tomato. Throw it all together, and you get this: sauteed spiced chicken, spinach salad (with tomatoes, feta, sunflower seeds, Rosemary Balsamic dressing), and flaxseed-wheat crackers with white cheddar cheese.

I even had a special treat that my zumba buddy gave me - a piece of her wedding cake, which they de-frosted for their 1year anniversary. How cool is that? It's especially cool for me because hubby and I didn't get to do the cake-top tradition since we couldn't bring food in from the Bahamas.

This cake is also extra special because it's a traditional Puerto Rican cake...nifty, no?! The cake tasted like it had

Hubby indicated interest in the cake, so I halved it with him and enjoyed my half with a mini mug of skim milk...Yum! Thanks K!! :)

See this? This is hubby's iPhone. He bought his iPhone when the first round of iPhones were released. I wanted to get a matching phone, but alas, couldn't at the time. I've had cell phone envy for the last 2 years...on top of that, I've been dealing with a phone that no longer holds a charge and cuts out on me in the middle of my phone conversations. I put up with my phone longer than I should have because hubby told me that rumor was that a new iPhone was coming out.

I almost went ahead and bought an iPhone when I was in San Francisco simply because my phone wasn't getting the job done. It almost died on me the night I met up with my friends at Millenium, which would have been extra bad because I would have been 100% lost in a city on the other side of the country away from everyone I knew and with my friend's cell phone # lost on my dead phone and no where else to stay. Luckily, the battery held out juuuust long enough for us to meet up, but I've through with my phone. It's been a long wait since March, and I've almost caved and purchased the iPhone anyways a couple times, but I held out hoping the rumors were true - that there would be a new iPhone. Well, guess what...the rumors were true! There will be a new iPhone and it will be mine! The wait is almost over...phew!

Kate, pencil me in for the 19th. ;)

Dessert, Dinner, Life, Lunch

Charlotte Food Festival

Hubby and I decided to hit up the Taste of Charlotte for lunch today.

As we expected, the place was rather packed.

We picked up some tokens and a pamphlet and started to wander around.

We got a free bagel-ful sample, which really did taste just like a bagel with cream cheese - I mean same texture and everything.

Note water bottle in the background - this baby saved us some tokens to spend on food instead of water...woohoo! More eats for us!

There was a booth that was playing a song we do in Zumba class - I thought about jumping up on the stage and busting out our zumba routine...but there were little kids dancing around the stage and I have stage fright anyways...haha. I think they were recruiting for some new dance TV show - looks interesting but I'm not auditioning.

There were plenty of random things, too, like this pig car.

We meandered all the way to the end before making final decisions on eats. We got a lot of stuff, though:

Crab cake from Village Tavern.

BBQ Pork Slider from Outlaw BBQ.

Jerk chicken and peas and rice from Caribbean Hut.

BBQ Shrimp from Flat Rock Grille.

Hubby and I kept scooting out to the sides of the event behind the tents for shade and quiet to eat.

Dessert - Chocolate Cinnamon Macaroon from Amelie's French Bakery.

Dessert - best part of any meal!

Hubby picked a chocolate chip slider (chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich) from Black Finn's for another dessert option - it was sooo good and the ice cream really helped us cool off from the hot-hot weather outside.

Look at that crowd!

By the time we were done eating, we were ready to go. We walked back to our car and pumped up the AC. Then, we headed out to check out some open houses. Hubby is trying to expand our search area and we looked at 2 houses in the neighborhoods he likes and 1 in the area I prefer. They were all pretty nice, but I dunno...we're just not finding "the one." Hopefully, soon we will.

Dessert, Life, Lunch

Karaoke Crew

Around 6:30 pm last night, hubby and I met up with friends for an evening of snacking and karaoke singing.

We headed over to Kate + Nate's where we met up with Kath , Matt , Amanda , Justin, Kelsey , and some other fun peeps.

We had a wonderful assortment of beers to choose from, and I kicked things off by trying a new beer - Shock Top - and it was veeeerrrry nice. I'm not a big beer person, but I really enjoy the lighter, smoother brews, and this one fit the bill.

Gilbert was in the hizzy and loving all the extra attention.

Shortly after we arrived, the snacks were brought out, including these beautiful blondies by Kelsey.

What it's like to hang out with food bloggers. :) I love all the picture-taking of the foods!

Yum!

There were also some chocolate chip cookies...

...and some hummus with TJ's pita chips.

A few of us hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we ordered pizza from a local pizzeria - 1 pepperoni and 1 cheese. Guess I was hungrier than I thought because I completely forgot to take photos of the pizzas - no boxes, no pizzas, no pizza slices...not even a crust! Oops!

The snacks didn't last long.

After enjoying some brewskies on the back porch, it was time to head over to karaoke!

Three of the girls were uber-prepared for the evening - we all had sandals in our purses in case we needed to change shoes! Can you tell which purse and shoes are mine?

And, you'll never guess who was trying on Kelsey's shoes!

We headed out on a full moon.

We all walked to a local karaoke joint - Kelsey and Kath led the way.

At the bar - more brews.

I wanted another Shock Top, but settled for a Blue Moon, which tastes about the same, but is slightly sweeter.

Kate was prepared for the bar smoke....jk...she didn't wear this all night - just for some pictures.

I thought about suggesting a game of pool, but we were there for karaoke.

Those karaoke books were HUGE! I think they have every song imaginable. There were 3 of these gigantic song books!

Matt provided the ice breaker by singing first.

The girls sang "Like a Prayer " by Madonna.

Then, a couple of us just danced to the next song...

Ooh-Ooh!

We even had "Alice Cooper" there to serenade us on our way out. Now that's the way to exit!

Dinner, Life, Snack

Zumba Morning + Farmer's Goodies

I normally try to pace out my zumba workouts during the week so I don't totally exhaust myself, but since I've signed up for the instructor workshop, I've decided to really step my game up and go to as many classes as I can possibly do. Just talking about the instructor workshop and cueing and mirroring and all the fun instructor stuff makes me realize that I'm really not ready at the moment to become an instructor, but there's no better time than the present to focus in on a goal, no? The funny thing is that even if becoming an instructor isn't in my cards, I'll become a better zumba-er which will mean I'll get a better workout, too, so it's really win-win if you ask me. :)

In light of my new motivation to push myself harder than ever, I decided to hit up a new zumba class I've never visited before since it's a fairly long drive for me. I scouted out the schedules last night and targeted in on a late morning class on woke up ready for some dancing.

I decided to carb up for breakfast with oatmeal, plus coffee...

...and strawberries (from yesterday) for extra vitamin C.

My oats were rather boring today since I didn't feel like mixing my strawberries in and didn't have anything else to add. I just did a regular ole bowl of rolled oats cooked in the microwave with some skim milk stirred in. I topped the bowl with sliced almonds, ground blueberry-flaxseed, and a drizzle of vanilla-maple syrup for my sweetener.

After breakfast, I headed to zumba class. I wasn't sure how it would go since I already did zumba last night and was pretty tired at last night's workout, but surprisingly , I pushed my way through the class and had a blast. I could feel the burn in my muscles afterwards, but I wasn't nearly as tired as I thought I'd be.

By the time I left zumba, it was nice and hot outside...the perfect day for an iced latte. I decided to grab a quick Starbucks on my way home and got a tall white nonfat mocha with whip. It was so good!

After some time on the computer catching up on blogs and what not, I decided to make lunch with my goodies from the farmer's market from yesterday. I started by making some red potatoes a la Rachael Ray's Parsley Dill Potatoes (click)

While the potatoes cooked, I got started on the second farmer's market item - squash.

I chopped the squash up.

Then, some fresh dill got some chopping attention.

I found some pre-chopped onions in my freezer to saute with the squash.

I love sauteed veggies! I usually just keep sauteed veggies simple with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.

When the potatoes were done, I drained them and added them back to the pot with some butter and the chopped dill.

All together now.

Lunch was light and simple and enjoyed with simply water. The pantry was running low so we weren't really able to round out the meal quite like I normally prefer, but it worked. I'll probably get a snacky-snack later before dinner.

Post lunch, I enjoyed a lovely cup of Yogi Tea Ginger tea whilst cuddling on the couch with Bails and catching up on my DVR...I swear that thing fills up faster than I can watch!

I have to admit, I haven't worked out on a weekend in awhile and now remember how great and energized I feel the rest of the day. Between the amped up zumba and the relaxation on the couch with Bailey, I think I'm ready for a serious night of karaoke!

Breakfast, Doggie, Lunch

Farmer Fresh + Friday Date Night

Yesterday, they had a small farmer's market set-up in a common area near where I work, so I headed over with a co-worker to check out the goods. The stand was quite popular, as you can tell from the photo. I love hitting up farmer's markets and stands for the fresh veggies and to support the local farmers. It's one small way to go green.

I left with 2 small bags of goodies for Saturday's lunch and a carton of strawberries.

While heating my sandwich up in the toaster oven at work, I decided to rinse off some of the strawberries I had just purchased. I figured the extra vitamin C just might give me some more energy for zumba after work.

Look at those vibrant berries!

Yum!

After work, it was zumba time! We hit the floor hard for a most-awesome hour...such a great workout. I can't wait for instructor training to learn more about the other side of zumba.

After work, hubby took me out for a little date night to PF Changs (one of my personal faves). I started with a cocktail that may now be my PF Changs go-to cocktail - the Asian Pear Mojito...it was delish!

I didn't have my big camera with me, so these photos aren't quite as clear as normal, but better than none, I suppose.

The PF Changs special sauce concoction - I used to rarely use this, but I find myself using it more and more each time I go.

Lettuce wraps - these are so addictive!

We totally got upsold by our waitress who suggested a few of her favorites when we asked about specials. We ended up going with the Mongolian Trio, which is really just the Mongolian Beef dish with shrimp and chicken added. We didn't really mind being upsold, though, because we absolutely loved our dish. The Mongolian sauce reminded me of a light teriyaki - a bit sweet. Teriyaki is one of my fave Asian-themed sauces. We also really liked the combination the different meats - I had a little of each. I really liked the way the beef was prepared - a bit crispy and tender at the same time.

Brown rice rounded out the meal, which was fab-u-lous! We were so happy with dinner.

After dinner, we hit up the movie theaters to see Hangover . It was HILARIOUS! The movie was a bit vulgar, but there were many scenes that were just laugh-out-loud funny. Hubby had a special treat for us at the theater - he picked up some cupcakes from a local bakery earlier in the day and we ate them during the movie for dessert...they were so yum. I had vanilla (with real vanilla bean seeds) with uber-rich chocolate icing cupcake. It's my fave combo from this particular bakery.

What a wonderful date night we had...maybe I'll take hubby out to see Bruno ...I can't wait till that one comes out! I'm probably more likely to take him to Up first, though...I do love my cartoons!

Dinner, Groceries, Lunch, Restaurant

Quick Healthy Chicken Pita Sandwich + Kath's Kale Chips

This work week has been crazy busy with training and after work activities, but I've been having a great time and it's been awesome getting to know my co-workers outside of work. Anywho, I'm a little behind, but here goes...

Zumba Instructor Training

Monday night was spent doing a love belly-inspired zumba class. I also signed up for zumba instructor training, which will take place in a couple weeks! I'm stoked...I'm not sure if I'll like zumba from an instructor POV, but that's sort of the point of this class...to see if you're ready for more. The next step is getting officially certified and then finding somewhere to teach...we'll see, but either way, I think it will be a great learning experience.

Healthy Chicken Pita + Kale Chips Dinner

I was super tired after work and wanted to make something healthy and easy. I decided to finally try some of those kale chips I'm always seeing over at Kath Eats .

I washed and spun-dried the kale pieces, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano.

15 minutes later I had these yummy-looking little guys.

Meanwhile, while the kale was in the oven, I seasoned some all-natural chicken tenders with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano (same spices as used on the kale chips to tie the flavors together).

Since I was feeling extra lazy/tired, I just threw the chicken tenders into an electric grill to cook.

While the chicken and kale chips cooked away, I prepared a simple sauce, inspired by this tzatziki sauce I saw on Lyon in the Kitchen . I mixed together some TJ's lowfat plain yogurt, chopped dill, minced garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.

All mixed up.

Too bad I forgot the cuke! It still tasted good, though.

Once everything was cooked, I just had to assemble.

I was surprised that hubby ended up liking the kale chips...he ate them straight-up, but I preferred mine with a wee bit of ketchup. They were quite tasty and soooo easy.

Oh, and the pitas were really cool, too. I almost didn't buy them because they weren't "pita pockets", but I read the bag for these babies which explained that typically the filling is placed on top of this style pita and wrapped around the filling. I got the wheat pitas this time, but they seem so darn crumbly...I may have to get the white ones next time (don't tell my dad!).

All in all, a super simple, super tasty dinner...yum!

Dinner

Buitoni Riserva Wild Mushroom Agnolotti

As a Foodbuzz Tastemaker, I recently had the opportunity to try out a new Buitoni product - their Buitoni Riserva Wild Mushroom Agnolotti made with 100% natural ingredients.

From the web site:

A blend of earthy mushrooms, including sweet, rustic portobellos and delicate criminis, creates an impeccable pairing with fresh-roasted garlic and imported grana padano and parmesan cheeses, wrapped inside thin layers of stone-ground semolina pasta.

I decided to do a play on a Giada recipe I like, Giada's Ravioli with Creamy Tomato Sauce, except I started my dish by sauteing some sun-dried tomatoes in the oil they're packaged in.

Then, I added 2 small jars of Trader Joe's marinara sauce and heated the sauce through.

When the sauce was hot, I added some ricotta - just a couple tablespoons - I didn't really follow the recipe but more so the idea.

Then, I mixed, mixed, mixed!

Meanwhile, I cooked the Buitoni pasta.

When the pasta was done cooking, I added a bit of the pasta water to my sauce and then moved the cooked pasta directly from the pasta pot to the sauce pot using a strainer. I tossed everything together, and then it was time to eat.

Hubby topped my pasta with some fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

We had some salads with organic lettuce, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes to go with the meal.

All together now.

Hubby and I really enjoyed the pasta, which surprised both of us a bit, I think, because neither of us like mushrooms! I am working on growing my palate to enjoy them more, but like them or not, we both thought the ravioli was quite good. Hubby actually said the pasta was one of the best raviolis he's had and he actually preferred it over cheese and meat-filled ones.

I think I may actually prefer this pasta over the meat and cheese-filled ones, myself. The flavor was simple but nice and the pasta was certainly convenient. We kept it in the refrigerator till we were ready to eat and when we finally were, dinner was ready in under 30 minutes. The new Buitoni pasta seems like a winner, and I look forward to seeing it in stores soon.

Thanks Foodbuzz and Buitoni for this delicious tasting opportunity!

Dinner