Hot Caprese, Jalapeno Turkey Burgers, and Dessert!

One of my all-time favorite things to eat is caprese salad.  For those who have never had it, it usually consists of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fresh basil.  It’s so simple and amazingly delicious.      

After my Jambalaya! success last night, I decided to try the recipe for Hot Caprese in the July/August 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.       

I used their basic ingredients, but modified it to keep it a little healthier (and also to bring it down to a single–albeit it large–serving).      

  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • S&P
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 light babybel cheese
  • fresh basil

Mix all the ingredients (except the cheese and basil) in a bowl, then pour onto a piece of foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Wrap into a pouch, taking care to ensure all edges are sealed so that no liquid seeps out.  Poke a few holes in the packet to let steam escape, then pop into a 350 degree oven for 20-25  minutes, until the tomatoes have started to burst and let their juices go.       

Next, I carefully poured the liquid out of the packet and topped the tomatoes with a cubed light babybel cheese round.  Close the packet back up and make sure to leave space between the cheese and the foil so that the melted cheese does not stick.  Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melty.      

When the tomatoes were finished cooking, I poured them out onto my plate and topped with fresh basil that I grew in my very own back yard!  🙂      

backyard herbs

 

To go along side the tomatoes, I cooked up two Jalapeno turkey burgers that consisted of:      

  • 10 ounces 99% lean ground turkey
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 a small zucchini, grated
  • 1/4 cup white onion, chopped
  • S&P, RPF, Onion powder
  • 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds removed,  chopped

Once the burgers started cooking, my nose could tell that the little jalapeno was gonna add some kick to the burger.  So I decided to top the burger with some tomatoes, onion, and cool fat free sour cream atop a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat.      

      

Sooooo tasty!       

Word to the wise — use more seasonings on the tomatoes than you think you need.  I’ll def bump it up next time.      

Also, I definitely want to add some fresh herbs to the jalapeno turkey burger next time.  Possibly cilantro or flat leaf parsley.      

Stats on Dinner:  387 calories, 46g carbs, 7g fat, 47g protein, 7g fiber     

Post-Dinner      

After dinner, I completed Day #2 of my interval running/walking plan.  I was able to complete all 5 intervals of running without any knee pain!  Yay! 🙂      

After exercising, I threw half of a peach onto the george foreman grill for about 6 minutes.  Then I topped it with some plain greek yogurt I had sweetened with 1/2 packet of truvia and a sprinkle of cinnamon and cloves.        

      

This was quite tasty!  But let’s be honest, I was thinking about ice cream the entire time.  Definitely need to give this a shot with the good stuff.      

Other thoughts before bed      

For those of you who have hopped on the Greek Yogurt train (gimme a whoop whoop!), and even for those of you who haven’t this FitSugar link gives a few different ideas on how to switch up your normal yogurt routine.      

I’m trying out some new things for breakfast and lunch tomorrow….  this should be interesting  🙂      

Oh yes!  I tried the Oatmeal Luna Bar today, and thought it was pretty darn tasty!      

      

Not my all time favorite flavor, but overall I was very pleased with my afternoon snack. It definitely tasted like an oatmeal cookie.  I went to a grocery store by work tonight rather than my usual store, and they had a huge selection of Lara Bars.  So I picked up a few of those to try out 🙂      

QUESTION FOR ALL YOU SILENT READERS OUT THERE:  Have you tried overnight oats yet?  If so, did you love them as much as I do?  If you haven’t tried them, what’s holding you back?

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Power of the Purse

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Power of the Purse Luncheon sponsored by the United Way of Summit County.  This luncheon celebrates the impact women have on giving in our area.  We had a terrific speaker named Jessica Clements.  Jessica was hit by a roadside bomb while serving for the US Army in Iraq.  She was given a 2% chance to live due to the massive brain trama she suffered.  Despite these terrible odds, Jessica was miraculously able to recover.   She spoke on the importance of persevering, challenging yourself, and giving back.  What an amazing and inspiring speaker! 

Breakfast #1

Last night, I cooked up two of my lil eggins with the 1/2 of a link of Jennie-O’s hot turkey sausage I had leftover from the Jambalaya! (I apparently can’t type that word without using an “!” after it 🙂 )

The eggins consisted of 3 egg whites, S&P, Franks Red Hot, Red Pepper Flakes.  I baked them up in a 350 degree oven for 27 minutes.  I also had the other half of the english muffin that was leftover from yesterday’s egg love.

Despite looking slightly creepy, the sausage/egg combo was so yummy!  🙂

Stats on eggins & 1/2 english muffin:  193 calories, 18g carbs, 6g fat, 23g protein, 4g fiber

  

Breakfast #2

Chobani Blueberry greek yogurt with 1/2 a serving of Bear Naked Maple Granola

As much as I L-O-V-E greek yogurt, I am seriously looking forward to making up some overnight oats tonight.  There are just so deliciously cold and creamy!  And addicting!

Stats on yogurt + granola:  205 calories, 31g carbs, 2g fat, 16g protein, 2g fiber

  

Lunch

Good news / bad news on lunch. 

Bad news = I didn’t make anything fun for lunch because of the luncheon, nor did i get any pics of what I ate! Bummer!

Good news = I jotted down a few inspirational quotes from the speaker at the luncheon:

Don’t give up the first time you do something and it turns out terrible.

Every day strive to be the best “me” you can be

I especially liked:  Live for today.  Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come.

I’m trying a couple new recipes tonight!  Pumped! (as always 😉 )

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Jambalaya!

Ever since I saw the recipe for Cajun Jambalaya in the July 2010 issue of Clean Eating magazine, I’ve been dying to try it! 

Luckily, I already had some leftover grilled chicken from last week and leftover turkey sausage from the “corn dog” I made over the weekend, so there wasn’t a ton of prep work for me to do.  You could definitely use raw meats though–everything is chopped into bite size pieces so it cooks through pretty fast.

I can’t believe how ridiculously easy this was!  Basically, I mixed the following list of items together in a bowl:

  • 4 raw medium size shrimp, tails removed
  • 1/2 link Jennie-O Hot Turkey Sausage
  • 2 ounces grilled chicken
  • 1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 plum tomato, chopped
  • 1/4 cup white onion chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • Sprinkling of S&P, onion powder, red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 cup dry brown rice
  • 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

Then I layed out a big piece of foil, sprayed it down with olive oil cooking spray, and dumped everything onto the foil:

Then you just wrap it up like a Chipotle burrito — making sure that the edges are sealed tight so the liquid doesn’t leak out.  Pop into a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes, and VOILA!

 JAMBALAYA!

This was spiiiiiiicy!  I loved it!  And it made a TON of food.  One note for next time — some of the rice that was sitting on the top of the pile got a little crunchy.  I think this can be fixed by either soaking the rice in water before putting it in the mix, or by adding more liquid to the pouch. 

I’m in love with this foil pouch cooking method!

Stats on the Jambalaya:  384 calories, 46g carbs, 8g fat, 30g protein, 5g fiber

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Starting the week off on the right foot

Happy Monday 😀

This morning I decided to start my week off on the right foot with a 2.5 mile power walking session.  This was a follow up to Day#1 of my interval running/walking plan, which I started yesterday.  My knee only bothered me slightly during the running intervals yesterday, so I ended up swapping the 5th running interval for a cool-down walk.   I definitely want to err on the side of caution as I start building myself back up to running.

I thought walking today would be good to help keep things loose.  I’m also making sure to not sit in the same position for too long while I’m working so that my knee doesn’t lock up.  I’m determined to get my knee back into running shape!

 

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Happy Ending

Following the lead of my first ice cream cone of the season, I wanted to keep my post this evening short and sweet.  errr… make that tall and topped with whipped cream 😀

joyous
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