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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Just trust me on this one…

Breakfast #1           

I think we all know I adore eggs for breakfast.  No arguments here.  Bad news is I sometimes can’t find the time in the morning to whip them up.  I’ve been wanting to try cooking eggs in the oven for a while, so last night I decided to give it a go.  I mixed up my typical scrambled egg mixture:  1 egg, 3 egg whites, S&P, Red Pepper Flakes (RPF?), and some Frank’s Red Hot.  I poured the mixture into two miniature ramekins, and popped in a 350 degree oven for 26 minutes.           

How cute are these lil guys?

 

They look like little egg muffins!  Little eggins! 🙂          

This morning, I decided to turn the lil eggins into a wrap.  So I pulled a Mama Lupe’s low carb tortilla out of the freezer, heated that puppy up, and topped it all off with some ketchup.           

           

That looks like an eggin massacre…           

all wrapped up

 

Portable and delicious!           

These eggins are just so cute!  What I really like about this cooking method is you could make a whole muffin tin full of lil eggins!  If you had friends over for brunch, everyone could toss in their mixins of choice!  Love this idea!  Who’s ready for a brunch party? 😀           

            

Breakfast #2          

Recently, it was brought to my attention that peanut butter may make an amazing mixin for greek yogurt.  Today my friends, I put this to the test.           

          

I mixed up 1 Dannon vanilla greek yogurt, 1 tbsp JIF peanut butter, and 1/2 a serving of crushed Emerald’s cocoa roasted almonds.           

          

The result?          

Friggin’ deliciousness!  This reminded me of a peanut butter cheese cake for some reason.  Some crushed up nilla wafers on top would have been fabulous.  Let’s just say I licked the container clean, and it’s not exactly easy to reach the bottom of a yogurt container with your tongue.  But I made it happen. 🙂         

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Lunch           

Alright…  Here’s where the just-trust-me factor comes in.           

Let me preface what’s about to go down on my blog with the following:  I wanted to try something new for lunch today.           

Repeat it with me:  I wanted to try something new for lunch today.           

I’m going walking with my sister after work, and knew I was packing a chicken sandwich for dinner.  Soooo, I was leaning toward the other white meat AKA tuna fish for lunch (NOT a fan of pork, and therefore it is NOT the other white meat in my life).  You may recall that I have a long jaded relationship with fish (case in point:  my fight with fish).  Tuna happens to be the only fish I have found to date that I actually enjoy.           

So Tuna it was.           

I subsequently noticed I had some cottage cheese in the fridge that was nearing the end of its useful life.            

I decided to google tuna + cottage cheese + recipe just to see what might turn up.           

I clicked on the very first link:  Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe           

       

Internal debating ensued.          

       

Do I really want to try tuna fish mixed with cottage cheese?  Could it possibly be good?  I was hesitant, but I decided to give it a go.           

Into the bowl:           

  • 1 5 ounce canned solid white albacore tuna, drained
  • 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
  • salt, pepper, dried parsley, celery seed, dried dill
  • small squirt spicy brown mustard
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
tuna + cottage cheese + herbs = ?

 

At this very moment, you are probably disgusted thoroughly intrigued by this concoction.           

I added some chopped up tomato, red onion, and banana peppers right before serving.  In an effort to keep my carb-tooth (located directly next to the sweet tooth) under wraps, I served the tuna salad up in a red pepper instead of your typical sandwich:      

      

Me and the tuna pepper:     

     

Up close:     

     

I know those cottage cheese chunks look a little funky, but rest assured my friends, it was down right tasty!  

Stats on the tuna pepper:  218 calories, 18g carbs,  2g fat,  36g protein, 4g fiber

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Taco salad does the trick

This morning started off on the right foot:  Trader Joe’s coffee for the road as I headed to a breakfast meeting for Akron’s Knowledgeable Network of Women. 

Check this guy out, he thinks he lives at my house:

I also have a stray cat who calls my side porch home.  I’ll take these guys over the possum who had a brief stint in my backyard :-/   Ugh, possums are so creepy!

On my way to the breakfast meeting, I started to recall the days where I loved breakfast/lunch work meetings.  The more the better!  Bring on the free food!  Pass the rolls!  Dessert?  I’ll take one of each, thank you!  Nowadays I dread them.  It’s so hard to make healthy choices when you have no idea what the restaurant is actually putting in the food.  Unless I’m at a chain restaurant that posts the nutritional data online, I have thee hardest time picking out the healthy choices on the menu.  It can be downright frustrating!

Today’s meeting was at a small locally owned restaurant, so I was left to fight the battle on my own.  I went with a plain english muffin (no butter, thanks) with blackberry preserves and a bowl of fruit.  What I REALLY WANTED was the strawberry stuffed french toast… Maybe I’ll attempt a healthified version this weekend 🙂

Check out the KNOW by clicking here.  I always encourage people to get involved and do something that is outside their comfort zone.  That’s exactly why I joined the KNOW a few years back.  I HATED networking events and always felt uncomfortable entering a room full of unknowns.  I’ve made drastic improvements since then.

For breakfast #2 I decided to go with my newly declared indulgence:  Dannon Vanilla Greek Yogurt, blackberries, and 1/2 a serving of Bear Naked Maple Pecan granola.

Stats of B#2:  190 calories, 31g carbs, 2g fat, 15g protein, 3g fiber

 

  

Lunch

I really didn’t have a plan of attack for lunches this week.  While scrounging around in the freezer looking for hidden treasures, I found some frozen lean ground beef I had cooked up with taco seasoning a while back.  So I decided to make a taco salad using romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, banana peppers, and black beans (STILL trying to use these up from the stuffed peppers I made last week!).  Topped it all off with some hot sauce and some fat free breakstones sour cream.

The best part of eating salads for lunch is you can consume an enormous amount of food and still feel good 😀

Stats for the taco salad:  326 calories, 32g carbs, 10g fat, 29g protein, 9g fiber

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(good) Case of the Monday’s

It’s Monday, and I am surprisingly cheery today!  Even despite the gray and dreary weather we’ve got going on outside. 

nice and gray outside

 

Maybe my good mood is due to the delicious Trader Joe’s coffee I had this morning on the way to work…  That Trader Joe… Sure knows how to put a smile on my face 🙂 

Almond butter sounded good this morning, so I went with a toasted Pepperidge Farm Deli Flat  (that I had leftover from the turkey burgers) with Trader Joe’s crunchy almond butter and a little smear of Smucker’s Blackberry preserves (my favorite!  love the seeds!). 

PB & J? Strike that. AB & P!

 

Motivational poster I drew for the BF:  

 

For breakfast #2 I went with a barley breakfast bowl again, which consisted of Stoneyfield Farms Greek Yogurt, Barley, and Red Raspberries: 

 

I still have some leftover barley, so I think I’ll try and incorporate that into dinner somehow…  

Today for lunch I had a very special treat 😀  

Jarrod made me a GINORMOUS salad with romaine, grilled chicken, black beans, tomato, onion, cucumber, and carrots: 

 

He has an uncanny ability for chopping things into perfect shapes 😉 

As I’m eating my lovely salad, I realize that I haven’t really planned anything out for lunches this week.  Do you ever fall into sack-lunch-doldrums?  I know I do.  I’ll have to do some brainstorming and see if I can spice things up this week.

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