Fist pumps for February!

I am SO excited about the month of February! I have devised a SUPER meal and workout plan that I am actually looking forward to starting. Which is a first for me, lemme tell 'ya. So without further ado.. let's get started.

I bought the February issue of Real Simple magazine the other day. I was excited because I really like the magazine. I also love that when I am scanning the mag racks, it is so refreshing to see a cover that is not cluttered with nonsense. It is literally "real simple." So I bought it, and took it home. I read it with dinner and the section that most caught my eye, clearly, was the food section. I was intrigued at the part that said "400 calorie (or less) meals." They all looked yummy, and as I got to the last one, there was a caption at the bottom of the page that said to visit the Web site for a MONTH LONG dinner menu plan. So I said, why not? I looked at it, and was instantly inspired to do something about my nearly-forgotten New Year's Resolution to eat healthy and workout.

Umm.. did everyone see that one coming?? I, like probably 1/3 of Americans, say every year, "I am going to change myself," and then never do. It's sad, really. I know I can do it, I just need a little push. Well, THANK YOU Real Simple magazine, because you were the push I needed. I know that a healthy person should consume around 2,000 calories a day. Well, on a diet, you should consume around 1,000 calories a day. So, my reasoning is to eat a 400 or less calorie meal for dinner, fill in the rest of the calories with healthy breakfasts, snacks like fruits and veggies and eat salads loaded with good stuff for lunch. All while working my tail off in the gym. Awesome, right? Now comes the planning.

As I have mentioned before, I like to write lists. Of all sorts. This includes my much-missed job of creating calendars for my sorority in college. I was Vice President one year, so I got to make the activity calendar every month. It was fulfilling, and until today, I had no idea how much so. I went to the always handy Calendars That Work Web site and downloaded a free calendar. I filled it out with the specific menu plan from Real Simple and picked the days that it is most appropriate with my schedule to work out and, ta-dah!, I am on the track to success. It feels great! I am excited and I think it is because while I am going to be watching what I eat, I still get to COOK! Which is what I LOVE to do! I am going to use my blog to keep track of all the meals and workouts, and in doing so, I am going to keep three of my NY Resolutions. This is what we call killing three birds while one stone. Which is better than two.. didn't ya know?

So, any who, I am proud of myself for finally taking the initiative. I know it's going to work, I am just going to have to have patience and the will to keep going. We all know the eating part won't be hard, but I have good support to keep me going to the gym even when I don't wanna. And when I complain, I know I'll be put in my place real quick-like.

So, it starts on Monday! Come back for the first of many posts about my journey! Fist pumps for February!!*

*Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!! Jersey Shore's gonna be comin' back y'all! Season Two-- I can't wait for youuuu!!

As an aside, if anyone wants to do this with me, I can send you the Word document with my calendar I made. I know it might not work for everyone, but if you want to see the recipes, you might like them! Let me know by e-mailing me: sugarandspicedc@gmail.com.

Tuscan Chicken.. yes, please!

Just a quick recipe I tried the other night. I found it on the Kraft Foods Web site. It was not the healthiest of all meals, but it sure did taste good!* It's called the Tuscan Chicken Simmer, and it goes a little something like this:

Ingredients:

4 small boneless chicken breasts or tenderloins
4oz. cream cheese (about half a tub or package), cubed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup of pesto (I bought store ready because I was in a hurry)
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, rinsed
1 cup finely shredded Italian Five Cheese blend

Recipe:

Heat a large nonstick skillet on medium high heat and put a few circles of olive oil in. Add the chicken to the pan and cook five to seven minutes flipping once. When chicken is white all the way through, take it from the pan and let it rest on a plate and cover with tin foil. Using the same pan, add the cream cheese, water, pesto and tomatoes to the skillet and heat uncovered on medium for about two minutes, stirring occasionally to mix and melt the ingredients together. Return the chicken to the pan. Cook and stir for one minute to cover the chicken with the mixture and heat back through. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and serve.

Chicken after the first flip...

Chicken's ready to leave the pan..

Finished Tuscan Chicken Melt!

Just a short post, but it's only because I am gearing up for an extremely awesome February. Check back soon to find out the big plans regarding my month-long menu and workout plan!! It's going to be the bomb!!**

*To cut down on the fat of everything, I tried to use ingredients that were fat-free or low-fat. Just watchin' my figure, ya know.

**Yeah, I am not even ashamed that I still use the phrase "the bomb." Along with "coolio," "that's tight," and "fo sho." So sue me..

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family

There is nothing like visiting family. It makes you realize so much about yourself and about where you came from. I wish so badly that I was able to visit mine more often. Although I was born in Detroit, Michigan, I grew up mostly in the South. To this day, all of my extended family, both Marshall and Kline sides, live in MI. In the last year, however, I have been able to visit more than I have in the last five years! This past weekend, my dad, mom, sister and I flew to Michigan for my Grandma Marshall's memorial service. Although the circumstances were not ideal, I am still so happy to have REALLY caught up with everyone. It was a wonderful service and I was able to meet many friends and extended family of my parents. They were surprised to see folks that they haven't seen in almost 20 years! My mom's family came to the memorial too, and I was happy to visit with them as well. Earlier in the day, we were able to visit my Grandma Kline and Marshall's homes and look through hundreds of old photos that both of my grandmothers had collected for years. It was a special experience, but I miss them both dearly. It has been a hard year for us, but we will stick together and get through it. :)


On a lighter note, however, it wouldn't be a trip to Detroit without visiting the famed Buddy's Pizza. My mom's only dinner request whenever we visit, is to get a famous square deep-dish pizza and Antipasto salad from Buddy's. Of course there is no complaining because this pizza really is one of the best I have ever had. Seriously, y'all, we ate there on Thursday night with Uncle Mike, Aunt Genia, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Cindy, and again on Friday night with the same group plus my cousin Mike and his wife Maureen and their kids, Justin, Sean and Declan and my other second cousins Kyle and Isabella. I mean this pizza is serious business. And, don't fret, of course I took pictures.


Shoutout to my sister, who understands the importance of good blog photos. She expertly helped me arrange everything just right. :)

Mom's favorite Antipasto salad! It was loaded with ham, salami, cubed Mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and the BEST dressing!

These are Buddy rolls. Umm.. AMAZING. The sauce was perfect, and vaguely reminded me of the sauce used by Mungoni's Pizzeria in Lexington's Old Mill circa 1997. (It has since moved to Main Street and is called Cardoni's)I used to order the pizza bagel there after school almost everyday!

Of course, Jessica tried the spaghetti with meat sauce! I helped her "almost" finish it. So good!

Here is our deep-dish square pizza! Half cheese, half mushrooms and green peppers = YUM! Once again, I don't know what my problem is, I forgot to take a pic before we dug in. :) PS: That cheese was melting everywhere.. just like it looks in the picture. Ha!

Too bad this is blurry! He wanted to take this because he was "made in Detroit!" Ha! If only I could show you some of the other photos taken of Dad from this weekend. He would kill me if I posted the funny ones, but if you are a Marshall, then you probably know what I mean when I say.. "Yo, homie." Ask Dad if you see him, and he'll tell you the story. :)

After the memorial service on Saturday night, we headed over to my cousin Mike and his wife Maureen's house. The food and company were great, and I wish we could do it every Saturday night! I look forward to visiting again as soon as possible. One thing I am proud of.. I love being a Marshall!

Have a great week, y'all! I won't be too busy this week, but I did buy the new Food Network magazine in the airport on Thursday, so I am starting to browse for some new material.. Could get interesting..

Weeknight Risotto

So lately, I have been OBSESSED with risotto. It is so fun to mix and match different flavors and create yummy, hearty dinners. Here is another one that I made last Wednesday that I had to share:


Gorgonzola and Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock

1 package sliced white mushrooms
Olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup (3 oz.) Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
Salt
Pepper


This recipe serves 4 to 6 people, so adjust ingredients accordingly.


Recipe:

In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil over medium high heat. In a heavy-bottomed pot, (the kind with two handles on both sides) heat a few turns of olive oil over medium heat and add shallot and saute until tender. Next, add mushrooms and some salt and pepper to taste. Saute mushrooms until tender, about 6 minutes. Remove mushrooms from pot and set aside under tin foil to keep warm. Add Arborio rice to same pot and stir to coat with oil. Once coated and lightly browned, add wine to the rice and stir until it is absorbed. Then, 1/2 cup at a time, ladle the chicken broth into the rice and stir until absorbed. Make sure all liquid is absorbed in the rice before adding another ladle-full. Keep doing this until almost all the broth has been used. Add the mushrooms back into the rice and gently stir. After all the stock has been used, add the Parmesan and Gorgonzola cheese to the rice and stir until melted. The mixture should now look really creamy! Add salt and pepper to taste and serve!

Here are some photos of the process:

Sauteing the mushrooms -- Almost done..

Rice absorbing the oil, before the stock has been added..

About one ladle of stock added to the rice..

Stock fully absorbed.. ready to add another ladle-full to the pot..

All stock absorbed and cheeses and mushrooms added..

Finished product!

Yummmm! It's always fun to experiment with food, and risotto is a good one to try new things with! Hope you all had a nice long weekend! I'll be trying some new, and even easier recipes this week, so I'll keep you updated. And, if I ever finish it, I have a list of my favorite kitchen gadgets and tips to pass along, so stay tuned!

As a side note, please keep my family in your thoughts. My Grandma Marshall passed away last night after a struggle with cancer. I'll be in Michigan this weekend with my family and we appreciate any prayers that come our way.

My triumph over seafood!

Last night, I came home after work to an empty apartment. Randan is in California and Courtney was working the night shift at the hospital. I have come to find that I am very good at occupying my time by myself. I think this is a good quality to have, because then you are rarely bored. I doddled around the apartment for a while before deciding I was a bit hungry.* I had stocked up on meals at the grocery store earlier this week, and on my pre-planned menu, decided on Asian Grilled Salmon with roasted vegetables for dinner. Sounds daunting, but it is SO easy.


Before I move on to the recipe that was had, let me explain a little background on me and seafood. I started to move out of my land animal comfort zone to the world of sea creatures about three years ago, and I haven't looked back. One of my best friends from high school is to take credit for finally pushing me into the light. During a beach trip the summer after we graduated from Lexington High, her parents made Beaufort Stew.** Right then and there, Kaley MADE me peel shrimp for the first time. It was gross, but man, oh man, was it worth it! I still can't get myself to peel a large number of shrimp or eat the tentacles of calamari, but other than that, I am game for just about anything that had been swimming in a tank or the ocean just hours before. There are a few restaurants that I go to especially for the seafood. I always get excited when I go visit Adam in his hometown of Virginia Beach because of the fresh selection of seafood they serve in the restaurants there. Chicks' steamed combo of shrimp, clams, oysters and crab legs is my FAVE. But, you can't beat the mussels at Sequoia on the Georgetown Waterfront. And - for those of you in Columbia, SC -holy cow, have you tried Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish?!? Whoa!! My sister swears by them, and I think she would eat them everyday if she could! There are so many more places that I die over the seafood, but I digress.


So-- Asian Grilled Salmon. I adapted this recipe to my liking after finding it from the Barefoot Contessa. I had never bought a fresh slice of fish at the seafood counter before, but it was very easy. You just pick what you want and they reach in there and get it for you. It can be a bit expensive if you are buying for more people, but with just one filet, it's not too bad.*** I asked the nice man behind the counter if he could slice the outer layer of skin off because, frankly, I just don't like to think about scales being on what I'm about to eat. I kept it wrapped in the paper and stuck it in the fridge overnight. You can't keep fish for too long unless you freeze it, so eat it within a few days of purchase. Any who, here are some pictures and the recipes for what I made.


Asian Grilled Salmon with Roasted Vegetables


Ingredients:


1 filet fresh salmon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove minced garlic


Directions:


Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half the marinade onto the salmon and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes. Cut the salmon filet into pieces if you can't fit in one dish to marinate.


Spray a large pan liberally with cooking spray and heat to medium-high on the stove. Lay the salmon in the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on one side. Throw out the rest of the used marinade. Take a wide spatula and carefully flip the salmon to the other side for another 4-5 minutes. It will depend on the thickness of the piece of fish, but if you can stick a fork in the fish and it flakes off and is slightly pinkish-white in the center, then it is done. Transfer to a plate and let it rest under tin foil for about 5 minutes. Drizzle the rest of the reserved marinade over the fish and serve with Roasted Vegetables. (Recipe below)


Roasted Vegetables


Ingredients:


1 yellow squash
1 zuccinni
1 small onion
1 package of sliced white mushrooms
Garlic salt or regular salt
Pepper
Olive oil


Directions:


Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil. Slice all veggies into similar sizes and toss them on the baking sheet with a liberal amount of olive oil until they are covered. Sprinkle garlic salt and pepper all over the veggies. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.


You can use whatever combination of veggies you like. This would also be really yummy with broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus or bell peppers! There are so many options!


This meal will serve two people, so adjust ingredients when cooking for more.

Salmon just after marinating and into the HOT pan.

After the first flip. The soy and olive oil create a crispy crust.

Veggies roasting!

Finished dish.. once again, I apologize for taking a few bites before taking the photo. :)

This dish was so yum! I ate and watched the Crimson Tide roll all over the Texas Longhorns! I'm a Gamecock at heart, but who doesn't love to see an SEC team win the National Championship!! I had leftovers and was really excited about eating it for lunch today, when my dad called me and said he and my mom had a layover in DC for a few hours on their flight to Detroit today! So, needless to say, I will be eating it for my dinner later tonight!

Hope y'all have a great weekend! Also, as a side note, please keep my Grandma Marshall in your prayers. She is very ill and your thoughts are very much appreciated by my whole family. :)

*When I say "doddled" I mean I cleaned the living room and my room and watched some TV and played a few rounds of MarioKart Wii. Yes, MarioKart. Laugh if you must, but I know a select handful of people I am friends with would thoroughly appreciate the above mentioned activity. And, watch out, because Yoshi and I are getting pre-tty awesome.


**For those who are not familiar, Beaufort Stew (which can go by many other names) is just unpeeled shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob all simmered together with some Old Bay and other spices. It is heaven!


***Plus, "one filet of salmon" can probably feed two people if you cut it in half, and serve lots of sides.

A brand new year.

Doesn't that feel great to say? A new year.. a time to pick resolutions, forget a month later why you picked them, and to start over fresh with a new you! I can't even begin to think about how crazy 2009 was. I continued to drive all over the lovely state of Virginia visiting Adam at H-SC, graduated from college, saw many of my dear friends get engaged or married, traveled to the beach with family, and lost our sweet dog, Sugar, a few weeks later. As summer went into full swing, I moved to a new city, celebrated a one-year anniversary with Adam, experienced new things and met new people, finally found a job and then found a BETTER job. As fall came around and winter set in, I enjoyed another season of Gamecock football, lost a dear grandmother, traveled to NYC for the first time, introduced Mom and Dad to DC on their first big visit, went through hard times with friends and enjoyed great times with friends, rang in the New Year with my best friends from college, and, overall, had a life-changing year. It was a rollercoaster, but it was wonderful. I am so thankful and blessed to be surrounded by people who love and care about me, and I hope that those close to me know I feel the same about them. I like to say that I have love in my life, and I have lots of laughter, and I am living it just the way I want.

So, enough with all the serious talk. In keeping with New Year's traditions, I have chosen several resolutions, which I truly hope to continue throughout the year.


In random order.. (drumroll please..)


1. The classic, the cliche -- WORKOUT! See, my friends, this one is serious. I have, for the better part of four years, not worked out. At all. Eww.. are you cringing with disgust? Because I sort of am. From the time I was about three to just after I finished my first semester of college, I danced ballet (or any other type of dance you can imagine) almost every day, of every week of every year in that span of time. That doesn't include the countless rehearsals that went along with performing in a pre-professional ballet company. So, needless to say, my hiney was in SHAPE! After I burned out on the dance thing, I started living life like any normal, burned-out-from-a-hobby-person does; I ate and drank anything I wanted all while having a FANTASTIC time in college. Well, didn't that just catch up with me!!! Ha!! I don't like to say I am fat, because I can still fit into some clothes I have had since sophomore year (and no one should call themselves fat), but I would say that I am a less than ideal body size and shape (in my opinion.)* So, thanks to Mom and Dad, I am now the proud owner of Wii Fit Plus. And it's tight. For sure. I started my routine of working out last night, and I burned a significant number of calories and stayed on that dang thing for TWO HOURS! On accident! It was so fun! My fave is the ski course and slalom. It has multi-player, so anyone around DC, come play with me!! In any case, I will continue to workout as much as possible. I'll keep you updated on how it goes!


2. Eat healthier. This one is not as hard as you think. I am a huge fan of cooking, as you all should know, so using ingredients like veggies and lean meats is not going to be a huge adjustment. I normally use healthy and sometimes organic (when cost permits) choices anyways. I have started to plan menus for myself throughout the week, so when I make larger portions, I save them for lunch the next day. It saves money, time and I don't have to trek out in the cold, DC winter to drool over/splurge on overpriced menu items at Corner Bakery every day**. I have also found that by stretching my dollars and actually using or eating almost everything I buy at the grocery store that sits in my fridge or pantry, in fact, is really easy. Hopefully, I can continue to do this as the year goes on.


3. Blog more. Should I explain more? Honestly, I should be blogging three to four times a week with all that goes on in my life. So that's what I'll do. Three to four times a week.


4. Join volunteer groups and organizations in DC. I know that I am fortunate to have a roof over my head and a steady paycheck coming in, so the least I can do is give some of my time to help others. I hope to start working with the Arlington County Animal Shelter as soon as possible, and hopefully look into joining the Junior League of Washington. I want to say to others, five, ten or twenty years down the road, that I helped those in need. And there's no better time than now to start.


That's all for now. I like to start small, that way I won't be outnumbered by how many goals I have. I think that these are achievable, so I'll keep you updated on my progress. :)


Have a lovely rest of your week! And since this is a cooking blog.. I guess I should mention, I promise to continue to give all sorts of recipes I try full attention on my soon-to-be numerous posts! Pinky-promise, y'all!




*I have a lovely and adoring boyfriend, who will beg to differ with me. He thinks I am pretty. And, he tells me often. Aren't I lucky? :) Not to mention, all I have to do when I feel fat is call home and anyone who answers the phone at Governors Grant Blvd. will tell me I'm nuts. Gotta love 'em.


** OK, so I was a bit harsh. I absolutely love Corner Bakery. Especially the soups and salads. Yum. It's almost like a mix between Panera and Bakers Brothers (for those of you in Columbia, SC). But, let's get real. It's not worth spending $8.05 everyday or potentially getting frostbitten or, worse, getting hit by a crazy cab driver trying to cross the street to Union Station. Smart, right?