Cocoa Roasted Almonds

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Caroline

Greetings from Nashville! I’ve had a busy few days. This past weekend was spent celebrating my 24th birthday and packing up my car in preparation for our road trip from New Hampshire to Houston. My birthday was, of course, filled with delicious eats!

Too many to even begin describing, but you can probably tell from the photos that everything was quite tasty!

On Monday, my parents and I departed New Hampshire with everything we could fit in my Toyota Rav4 (plus Teddy of course!). Somehow we managed to fit it all. We stopped in Virginia on Monday night and drove to Nashville on Tuesday to stay with my brother and his wife for a couple days. We have one final stretch left!

While I’m enjoying the great country music capital, I thought I’d share the recipe for my favorite road trip snack: Cocoa Roasted Almonds.

I made them on a whim as a break from packing and they’ve been a delicious snack on the road. They are sweet, salty and full of chocolate flavor!

I hope you’ll resist the urge to buy flavored almonds at the store and give these a try in your kitchen – you’ll be glad you did!

First, preheat your oven to 275. In a large bowl, mix together the almonds and honey.

Then mix together the cocoa powder and sea salt in a small bowl and gradually add the mixture to the almonds until they are well coated.

Bake at 275 for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning.

Let cool for thirty minutes and enjoy!

Cocoa Roasted Almonds

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups raw almonds
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 5 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 275.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the almonds and honey.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and sea salt.
  4. Gradually add the cocoa powder mixture to the almonds and stir until the almonds are well coated.
  5. Bake at 275 for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent burning.
  6. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.
  7. Enjoy!
Posted in Dessert, Gluten-free, Recipes, Snacks | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Cake Batter Puppy Chow

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Caroline

I think I have professed my love for cake batter a few times on my blog so far, but just in case you didn’t know, I really love cake batter! My latest cake batter venture?

Cake Batter Puppy Chow!

If puppy chow is foreign to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Puppy chow is something that I never even heard of until I was in high school and my friends decided they wanted to make it one night. (And no, it has nothing to do with dog food, though Teddy wishes it were his dinner!) Once I popped my first few puppy chow bites into my mouth way back when, I couldn’t believe I had lived my whole life without ever having eaten it! Traditional puppy chow is made with Chex cereal, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter and powdered sugar. I’m not a huge peanut butter fan, but I still think it’s delicious.

My cake batter puppy chow mixes things up by using white chocolate instead of semi-sweet, wheat Chex instead of regular (to make it healthier, because obviously wheat puppy chow is much better for you ;) ), and cake mix instead of peanut butter. It turned out amazing and I will definitely be making it again!

I think one of the reasons that puppy chow is so popular is that it’s super easy to make. The hardest part is not consuming it all before it cools! Good luck!

Cake Batter Puppy Chow

Adapted from Adventures in Food

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag white chocolate chips
  • 1 box  Wheat Chex cereal (not family size), about 6 cups
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1.5 cups funfetti cake mix
  • 2-3 tablespoons colored sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

  1. Lay a piece of parchment paper or foil on a cookie sheet and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and cake mix and set aside. Place the Chex cereal in another large bowl.
  3. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave at 50%. It depends on your microwave – so I microwave mine for a minute, stir, and see how much longer they need. You can also melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler if you have one.
  4. Once the chocolate is melted, gradually pour the chocolate over the chex cereal and stir until each piece is coated.
  5. Quickly add the sprinkles and stir to combine.
  6. Then gradually add the cake mix mixture and stir until all of the cereal is well coated.
  7. Pour the puppy chow onto the cookie sheet and let it cool for at least 15 minutes.
  8. Enjoy!
Posted in Dessert, Recipes, Snacks | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

What I Ate Wednesday #17

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Caroline

Morning! I have to say, it is so nice to be able to wake up and relax while I enjoy my coffee and breakfast versus rushing off to work. Packing, on the other hand, is no fun. I can see why people pay other people to pack for them! I’m not sure how my Dad is going to fit everything into my car unless he has magic powers… we’ll see soon enough!

In the meantime, it’s time for another round of What I Ate Wednesday! This month’s theme is summer staples. Smoothies are definitely a summer food staple for me. There’s no easier way to get spinach into my daily diet and a smoothie is just so refreshing when it’s hot outside. If you’re looking for some new smoothie recipes, check out my recipe page for some new ideas! Thanks again to Jenn for hosting WIAW. For those of you who don’t know, Jen over at Peas and Crayons hosts WIAW every week – check out her blog for more information on it and to find some new blogs to read.

Breakfast

Breakfast was a fresh everything bagel with spinach and artichoke hummus. We can never get good bagels here in Manchester, so I picked some up while we were traveling this weekend and now I’m taking full advantage of delicious bagels for breakfast. If we didn’t have bagels right now, I’m not sure what I would do because we are out of chia seeds! Oh the horror! I can’t make my summer staple breakfast of overnight oats. I drove to three grocery stores yesterday, two didn’t have them and one simply had none in stock. I’ll probably be searching for them again today because I can’t forgo overnight oats for too long!

Lunch/Snacks

Since I’m no longer working, I was able to snack my way through the afternoon. First up was an Orange Creamsicle Spinach Smoothie (recipe here). Delicious, refreshing, and definitely a summer staple for me!

Later, I snacked on a Core Warrior Raw Almond Raisin Bar. I got a pack of these bars when I won a giveaway from Allie. This was the first one I tried and I wasn’t really a huge fan. It just wasn’t sweet enough for me and it had an odd texture. Maybe I’ll like the other flavors better, we’ll see!

A couple hours later, I was hungry again, so I munched on a juicy pluot. I always forget that I prefer plums to pluots – I just can’t resist buying pluots in the store due to their fun name :) .

Dinner took longer to cook than I could wait, so I snacked on grapes while I waited impatiently.

Dinner

The deliciousness of dinner made up for the wait! I cooked up my healthier version of Indian butter chicken (recipe here) and served it over quinoa. This is a recycled picture because I was too hungry to photograph! This was seriously tasty and I went back for seconds too.

And that’s a wrap for what I ate Wednesday Tuesday! Be back tomorrow with an amazing new dessert creation! *Warning, it’s not very healthy!*

Posted in Uncategorized, WIAW | Tagged | 8 Comments

Weekend in the White Mountains and the Mythical New Hampshire Moose

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Caroline

Good morning! I am officially on vacation. Well, not really vacation, but I’m not working :) . Luke and I did take a little getaway to the White Mountains over the weekend though. We stayed at the Adair Inn in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. It is the nicest and most adorable bed and breakfast we’ve ever been to (it was our second visit there).

The innkeeper upgraded us to a suite and it was very luxurious. Our room even had a heart shaped soaking tub!

The bed and breakfast is set on a huge estate with acres and acres of beautiful landscaping and trails. Everything is just gorgeous!

Everywhere you turn there are beautiful flowers, ponds and gardens!

We spent a good amount of time relaxing at the inn and enjoying delicious food, and the rest of the time we spent hiking. On Sunday we hiked up Bald Mountain.

It was a beautiful but windy day!

On Monday, it was even more beautiful out and we hiked to Ripley Falls.

We had such a great time hiking! When we came back from our hike on Sunday afternoon, we found homemade cheesecake waiting for us at the bed and breakfast. What a treat!

We then relaxed for a bit followed by a delicious dinner at the Adair. We sat on the patio and had a gorgeous view of the gardens and mountains.

Dinner started with a complimentary hourderve, or amuse-bouche, from the chef.

For an appetizer, I had the Smoked Chicken Crepes and Luke had the Adair Antipasto. Both were delicious, but my crepes were the best!

In between courses, the chef served a lemon sorbet. It was nice and refreshing!

For our entrees, I had the roast lamb loin and Luke had the vegetarian plate. Both were quite tasty, but Luke’s plate had so many unique foods like a grilled vegetable strudel and herb spaetzle tossed with truffle oil, which made his entree a bit more fun!

As you can imagine, we had no room for dessert, but the chef finished our dinner off with complementary chocolate truffles. Yum!

After our amazing dinner, we had a mission. Moose hunting! I have been trying to find a moose in New Hampshire for two years now with no success, so we wanted to give it one last try before we move to Texas. This was our fourth time actively looking (ie. going out at dusk and driving around for hours in the forest!). We followed a local’s advice and sat at place where moose “come every night” for over an hour. This is all we saw.

I am officially convinced that moose do not exist in New Hampshire. Those road signs are for nothing! Luckily, we returned to our room to find delicious cookies on our bed (part of the nightly turn down service) :) . Way to cheer me up! It’s little things like this that make the Adair Inn so nice!

We then shared our last bottle of Virginia wine, a 2008 Keswick Vineyards Norton. It is my absolute favorite red wine and I’ve been aging this bottle for three years. It was just as delicious as I remembered. If you’ve never tried a Norton, you should! They have a really unique, spicy flavor that I adore. Unfortunately, this vineyard no longer sells Nortons. It was a bittersweet last sip knowing I can’t get any more!

The following morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before we checked out. It started off with homemade granola and local yogurt.

We then enjoyed fresh fruit, followed by the Adair’s famous giant popovers!

The main course (yes, there was more!) was cinnamon amaretto french toast.

Double yum!

We left satiated and stuffed. It was the perfect weekend getaway! I’m off to begin packing… I’ll be back tomorrow with a WIAW post – catch ya then!

Posted in Fitness, Restaurants, Travel, Wine | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Dip

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Caroline

Morning! Who’s excited for Olympic women’s gymnastics tonight?! Me me me!

Gymnastics is the only summer olympic sport that I truly love to watch. The other stuff is fun to watch if I have nothing better to do, but I actively try to watch gymnastics. *If you watch the competition live during the day today and spoil who wins in the comment section I will go nuts! Please don’t! It’s hard enough keeping my eyes averted from all the news sites.*

Gymnastics was one of my long-term sports as a kid (along with dance and a brief love affair with ice skating). I spent countless hours having my Dad “spot me” trying to do back handsprings and the like. Those were the days! I think I remember quitting because as I got more advanced they started requiring us to run during practice. Ha!

I’ve been trying to decide if I’d prefer that Aly Raisman win tonight (or this morning really) or Gabby Douglas. I’m leaning towards Aly – her story resonates with me more and I love her parents! (If you haven’t watched them watching her compete, please do it now). I also dislike that Gabby is 4’11 because one of my hurdles with many gymnastics moves back in the day was that I was too tall. I would have envied her when I was 10!

Let’s hope one of our two ladies wins the gold!

Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Dip

Moving on to food! One of the staples in my fridge every week is a dip or spread. Whether I’m having a homemade panini or a wrap for lunch, I always need a little extra flavor and it’s the easiest way to give my lunch some oomph!

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been “too busy” to make a lot of the things that I usually try to avoid buying at the grocery store simply because they are so easy to make at home, like hummus and granola. I finally convinced myself that yes, I in fact do have 5 minutes to make my own dip and I was just being lazy. I wanted to switch things up from my usual hummus, so I made this Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Dip instead.

Delicious? Yes. Easy? Yes. Healthy? Yes. Worth making my own and not being lazy and buying it at the store? Yes.

Versatile too! Spread it on your sandwich or toast, dip your veggies or crackers in it, add it to your eggs or breakfast burrito – the possibilities are endless. I’ll be making this dip again, that’s for sure!

Just put all of the ingredients in a food processor or immersion blender and blend until smooth! Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with paprika and enjoy!

Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Dip

Makes about 1.5 cups

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of navy beans (other white beans would work too, canneloni etc.)
  • 12 sun dried tomatoes, either in oil or that have been soaked in water
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (add more or less to your thickness preference)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • paprika for garnish

Directions:

  1. If you are using dried sun-dried tomatoes, first soak them in boiling water for 30 minutes to make them soft and pliable.  If you are using the kind that are soaked in oil, you do not need to do this step.
  2. Put all of the ingredients in a food processor or immersion blender and blend until smooth.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Garnish with paprika (optional) and enjoy!
Posted in Fitness, Gluten-free, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

What I Ate Wednesday #16

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Caroline

Good morning and happy birthday month to me! It’s hard to believe it’s already August! This is my last Wednesday with my summer job as a law firm receptionist, so it’s my last day of full-time working eats. Hopefully my eats will be more varied and interesting once I’m a student again :) . Thanks again to Jenn for hosting WIAW. For those of you who don’t know, Jen over at Peas and Crayons hosts WIAW every week – check out her blog for more information on it and to find some new blogs to read.

 
Breakfast

Breakfast was raspberry vanilla overnight oats – old fashioned oats, vanilla greek yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, chia seeds, a splash of vanilla extract and frozen raspberries (that thaw overnight). After being out of town for a few days over the weekend, I was seriously missing my overnight oats! I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m roadtripping from New Hampshire to Houston in a few days and can’t have my oats again!

My mid-morning snack was a Cliff Kid’s Iced Oatmeal Cookie Zbar. I haven’t had one in a while and I almost forgot how good they are, almost. Yum!

Lunch

Lunch was a piece of toasted multigrain pumpkin seed bread topped with spinach artichoke hummus, an apple topped with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, and a bowl of Chobani’s new flavor, Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, topped with some Bear Naked Heavenly Chocolate granola. If you have not tried the new Chobani flavor, do it! It is so good. It’s really more of a dessert though. After I took my first bite of deliciousness, I looked on the label and found that it has 30 grams of sugar. So, it’s not the healthiest, but it’s fairly healthy for a sweet treat!

Teddy was clearly eyeing my apples at lunch! He can’t decide if he likes apples or almond butter more :) .

Fitness

After work, I took Teddy on a short walk followed by a 2 mile run around the neighborhood. I was very grateful for the sub-80 temperatures on my run yesterday!

Dinner

Dinner was sesame seared tuna (recipe here) along with a kale salad with chickpeas, dried cranberries and a homemade tahini vinaigrette. It was just the delicious, healthy meal I needed after a weekend of mostly junk food.

After dinner, I enjoyed a refreshing glass of 90+ Cellars Sauvignon Blanc (from the Marlborough region, of course) and an un-pictured bowl of ice cream while I watched the Olympics. Gymnastics is and always will be the best sport ever!

And that’s what I ate Wednesday Tuesday! Be back tomorrow with a new recipe!

Posted in Teddy, WIAW | Tagged | 25 Comments

Wild Book Review

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Caroline

Good morning! It’s a rare occurrence, but there will be no food in my post today! Today’s post is all about the July book club selection for Peanut Butter Finger’s Book Club. I spent the majority of my last trip to Kennebunkport reading Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, on the porch with Teddy.

I’m sure most people have heard about this book, but if you haven’t, here is the Amazon.com book description:

“A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone. 

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.”

So what did I think? Well, I liked the book, but I didn’t love it.

I enjoyed reading about Cheryl’s adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail and was definitely inspired to go on a hike after I finished the book. If anything, the book will make you want to explore the great outdoors!

What I didn’t so much like about the book was the character herself and the lack of momentous action.  I couldn’t really relate with Cheryl very much. I realize she went through a lot with her mother’s death, but she also made quite a few bad choices, and, I just didn’t sympathize with her most of the time. In addition, I found her to be complaining and blabbering on too much during some parts of the book. Much more of the book is focused on her emotional journey than the hike itself.

I think I was also a bit let down because I thought there would be more excitement to her hike. Many of the reviews talk about how brave she was and how she had to drink muddy water and fend off rattlesnakes and black bears. I mean, yeah she did, but it wasn’t too exciting and it never seemed like she was in too much danger. It does take guts to embark on a hike like that on your own and I am in no way saying that what she did wasn’t awesome, I just wasn’t as captivated by the plot and had expected it to be more exciting overall.

Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it – just don’t expect to be wondering whether she lives or dies after each chapter!

I just finished a lighthearted read, Arranged by Catherine McKenzie. It was a quick and fun read and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a good beach read. I also just started Where We Belong by Emily Giffin and I’m loving it so far! I’ll be back to regular food blogging tomorrow :) .

Posted in Books | Tagged | 6 Comments

Oops! Brownie Cookies

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Caroline

Morning! I’m about to board a plane back to New Hampshire after a fun bachelorette weekend in the Texas hill country! The weekend was filled with lots of wine, vineyards and games. I might get in trouble if I posted any of the other photos I have, so I’ll stick with these!

Those longhorns up there? They came with the house we rented. We had armadillos too, but I failed to get a picture. Only in Texas!

Oops! Brownie Cookies

Ever have those days where you almost (or do) pour orange juice into your cereal instead of milk? Well, last Monday, I had one of those days. I was just out of it! I should probably make a note to myself to not bake on those days, but in this instance, I was really craving some homemade baked goods. So I set out to make a healthier brownie recipe. The result? These:

Strange looking brownies, right? :)

When I set out to “healthify” a classic recipe, I often look at a bunch of different recipes and, from those, write up my own version. This time, I happened to make a little mistake. I wanted to use half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour, but, when I wrote down my recipe, I forgot to cut the flour in half! Of course, I didn’t notice this until I had mixed everything together. I stood there looking at my bowl thinking, “this does not look like brownie batter what on earth did I do wrong!” The flour. Oh. Oops.

I then almost threw a fit and threw everything out, but like I said, I was really craving some homemade sweetness. As I licked spoonfuls of delicious batter, I thought about baking them as brownies and hoping they ended up being edible. Then it occurred to me that the batter was pretty much the consistency of cookie dough. Cookies use more flour. Duh!

So when life gives you over-floured brownie batter, make brownie cookies!

I honestly didn’t think they would turn out very good and definitely did not plan to blog about them, but they were oddly wonderful! A little reminiscent of a brownie, a little of a cookie, and the yogurt really gives them a unique and delicious flavor – almost like chocolate frozen yogurt!

So go ahead, please follow my lead and make my baking mistake! :)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, butter, sugar and vanilla. Then beat in the eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and stir to combine. Then add the chocolate chips.

Spoon the dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Oops! Brownie Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup 0% plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp butter, softened or melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in the eggs.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
  4. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and stir to combine.
  5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  6. Spoon the dough onto a greased baking sheet (about two tbsp per cookie, or however big or small you want them!).
  7. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.
  8. Let cool and enjoy!
Posted in Dessert, Recipes, Snacks, Teddy | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Easy Baked Miso Chicken and Latest Reads

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Caroline

Good morning! I am so glad I made it to the end of my short week. Tomorrow morning I’ll be on a plane en route to Texas! Can you believe I am taking all of this for a weekend?

As Southwest allows a carry on and two checked bags, I am lugging some of my stuff to Texas early so that I have more room in my car for my road trip from New Hampshire to Houston in a couple weeks. I’m not known to pack light, but I’m not that crazy of a packer for one weekend :) .

Since I know I won’t be able to sleep on my long flight tomorrow (never can), I have my Kindle loaded up with books! I just finished reading Wild and I’ll be posting a review on that next week. My book list is like a mile long right now… For this trip, I plan to finish the book I’m currently reading, Arranged (so far, so good) and then I am going to dive into Emily Giffin’s new book Where We Belong. She’s one of my favorite authors and I’ve been waiting for her to release a new book for a while! If I manage to finish both of those, I’m going to move on to either Gone Girl or Sarah’s Key. I seriously love that with my Kindle, I always have a ton of books to read, even if it makes the choice hard!

Before I move onto food, if anyone is a new or aspiring runner, you’ll probably enjoy this article on learning to lighten up! I feel like I’m finally getting there :) .

Easy Baked Miso Chicken

One of the new ingredients I’ve been loving is miso. Until a couple months ago, I had never used it. Now, it’s one of my favorite things to experiment with. It really adds great flavor to Asian dishes! (If you’ve never heard of it, you can find it in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores.) My latest miso creation is this Easy Baked Miso Chicken:

How easy? Five minutes prepping the marinade the night before and then 30 minutes of baking when you’re ready to eat. That’s what I love about marinades! This one is fairly similar to my Effortless Baked Asian Chicken (even the name!), but the miso definitely gives it a distinct flavor profile. I’m not sure which recipe I like better. They are both so easy and delicious – it’s a tough choice!

I served mine with rice (only because we were out of quinoa!) and some roasted Asian asparagus. After making it, I realized it would have been great with carrots too. If you want to serve it with carrots, I would suggest slicing your carrots and throwing them in with the chicken when you bake it. That way, the carrots will soak up some of the delicious marinade! And you’ll only have one pan to clean up :) .

Just mix together all the ingredients in a tupperware container the night before. Add the chicken and marinate overnight.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat your oven to 400.  Reserve half of the marinade to reduce into a sauce, and place the chicken and the rest of the marinade in a baking dish. Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, until cooked through.

If you want extra sauce for the chicken (or for side veggies), bring the reserved marinade to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Set aside to pour extra sauce over your baked chicken.

Garnish the chicken with sesame seeds and serve over rice or quinoa with a veggie on the side. Enjoy!

Easy Baked Miso Chicken

Adapted from Chef Fresco

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
  • 1/4 cup red miso
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (any vinegar will work)
  • 1/4 cup rice wine (white wine would probably work too)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp sambal olek chili paste
  • 5 scallions, chopped
  • 2 tsp freshly minced ginger
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:

  1. Mix together all of the ingredients, except the chicken, in a tupperware container. Add the chicken breasts and marinate overnight.
  2. When ready to cook, preheat your oven to 400.
  3. Reserve about half of the marinade. Place the chicken and the remaining marinade in a baking dish (line with foil if you want to prevent a messy pan!) and bake it at 400 for about 30 minutes, until cooked through.
  4. While the chicken is baking, reduce the reserved marinade by bringing it to a boil in a small saucepan, then reducing the heat to medium low and simmering for about 5 minutes.  This step is optional – I just always like to have extra sauce!
  5. When the chicken is cooked, pour some of the reduced marinade on top and garnish with sesame seeds.
  6. Serve with rice and a veggie and enjoy!
Posted in Asian, Books, Chicken, Recipes | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

What I Ate Wednesday #15

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Caroline

Good morning! Lucky for me, I get to skip Wednesday this week and go right onto Thursday, since tomorrow is like Friday for me! But I’ll still do my What I Ate Wednesday post, per tradition! Thanks again to Jenn for hosting WIAW. For those of you who don’t know, Jen over at Peas and Crayons hosts WIAW every week – check out her blog for more information on it and to find some new blogs to read.

 
Fitness

Last week and this week, I’ve been better at sticking with running three times a week. I think that my finally accepting that it’s okay to just run 2 miles outside instead of 3 has helped push me to get my runs in after work, even in the heat. I’ve also been taking a short walk break every half mile, and to my surprise, my time is not any slower in the end! I feel like I’m finally getting my running groove back when I do my two mile runs around the neighborhood. Hopefully I’ll be able to take my runs back up to three miles soon, but for now two miles is working for me. On my non-running days, I’m either doing yoga or a Jillian 30 Day Shred workout and some light strength training.

Breakfast

I’ve been trying to switch up my breakfasts from my usual overnight oats at least once a week. One of my latest experiments was a quinoa breakfast bowl (next time, I’ll make it more photogenic!). I’m still in the experimenting phase, so I once I get the right combination, I’ll probably share the recipe. Today’s bowl was filled with quinoa made with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, vanilla greek yogurt, fresh strawberries, chia seeds, and a little extra almond milk. It was pretty good and a nice change, but I still prefer my overnight oats. On another note, I started using unsweetened vanilla almond milk (instead of regular 2% milk) this week and I’ve been loving it! I don’t know why it took me so long to hop on that bandwagon!

For a mid-morning snack I had a Quaker Cinnamon Pecan Bread Baked Bar. It was the healthiest looking granola bar I could find at the store this week and I didn’t have time to make my own. The sugar content is a little high, but otherwise they are fairly healthy and tasty.

Lunch

I had a makeshift lunch today – a slice of sesame seed red pepper hummus foccacia bread with a bit of sun-dried tomato white bean dip on top (I’ll be posting the dip recipe soon!), leftover roasted sweet potatoes, a peach and some blueberries. Teddy was very interested in my peach and managed to snag a few blueberries too! By the way, if you’ve never tried leftover roasted sweet potatoes cold, you should! It sounds weird, but they’re really good and they make such a convenient, healthy snack.

Dinner

After my 2 mile run, I was very hungry! This week has been pretty busy for me due to my trip to Texas this weekend, so I haven’t felt like cooking intricate meals, or cooking at all! Last night we decided to skip cooking and venture over to 900 Degrees for pizza. They have a 2 for 1 pizza deal on Tuesdays, and since they are gourmet pizzas, it’s a really good deal! We had two pizzas – one with tomato sauce, mozzarella, gran padano, artichokes, olives and arugula, and another with red pepper pesto, chicken, roasted red peppers, feta, mozzarella and arugula.  They were both delicious but the first was our favorite! I also sipped on a pomegranate martini, which is very unusual for me (I am a wine girl). It was a delicious meal!

We came home to realize that Teddy had eaten onions and peppers out of the trash can. We started driving to the emergency vet (onions are poisonous to dogs) and ended up turning around after talking with the clinic. We are going to keep a close eye on him and hope he’s okay!

And that’s a wrap for what I ate Wednesday Tuesday! Be back tomorrow with a yummy new chicken recipe!

Posted in Fitness, Restaurants, Running, WIAW | Tagged , , | 23 Comments