Cod with Sauteed Asparagus

So after the "Snowmageddon" that occurred this weekend, and all the fun that came along with it, I am back on track with the plan. I have to admit, homemade pizza, spaghetti and meatballs and Chinese food were all very yummy, so I know that it's going to take perseverance to adjust my eating. So, yesterday I ventured out into the snowy mess and stocked up on groceries for the week. I started Monday with Cod with Sauteed Asparagus.

Ingredients:

1 cod fillet

Salt 

Pepper

1/2 bunch asparagus

Olive Oil

Recipe:

Spray a pan with Pam and heat on medium heat. Sprinkle the cod on both sides with salt and pepper. Saute the cod for 4-5 minutes on both sides. When the fish is flaky, remove it from the pan. Meanwhile, heat another pan on medium heat and drizzle a few swirls of olive oil until heated. Add the asparagus to the pan and toss with salt and pepper. Saute until soft or tender to the bite. Serve with the cod.

I enjoy light flavoring on fish, so if you find it a bit bland, feel free to add any type of seasoning to the fillet before adding to the pan. Some that come to mind are lemon pepper or Cajun seasoning that you can find pre-made at the grocery store. 

It starting snowing a while ago, so hopefully it won't get too bad overnight. I've been off work since Friday, and while it was a nice vacation, I am itching to get out of the apartment. Also, just a little late happy birthday to my lovely sister, Jessica and to my wonderful boyfriend Adam and friend Casey! Love you all!

Hope y'all have a nice night!! Pray we can dig out tomorrow!! 

Chicken with Mushrooms and Spinach

Oh my goodness, y'all! This is my FAVORITE meal so far!! Chicken with Mushrooms and Spinach. The picture does not do it justice AT ALL. I need to start taking pictures with my camera that has a flash, but it has been dead for quite some time now, so my iPhone camera has been doing all the work. Any who, it was so good, and it was one of the lighter meals that I have had so far. I was able to workout really hard after only one hour of letting my meal settle. Yay for good food and a good workout! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used tenderloins that were frozen, they are smaller and you have don't have leftovers)
1/2 container of sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup wine (I used chicken stock; trying to cut down on cals and it's the same effect as wine)
1/4 container of frozen spinach (Just defrost it in the micro for a few minutes and cut 1/4 of the spinach off. Stick it in a pot with 2 tablespoons of water and boil it for a few minutes until softened. Add some salt and pepper to taste.)

Recipe:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook for about 6-8 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate when no longer pink in the middle. Cooking times may vary. Meanwhile, cook spinach according to above instructions.

Return the skillet to the stove and carefully pour the chicken stock into the pan. It will steam alot. As it comes down, scrap the bottom of the pan to get all the bits of chicken and flavor off the bottom of the pan. Add the mushrooms to the pan with chicken stock.  Cook for a few minutes until they start to brown and soften, maybe 2-3 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 miuntes, making sure the garlic does not burn. Once the chicken stock is mostly evaporated, add the cooked spinach to the pan, stirring carefully. Once combined, add the chicken back to the pan and heat up for just a few seconds. After chicken is re-warmed, serve.  This dish is 295 calories per serving.

I must remind y'all that I have changed these recipes to suit my cooking style and I am using ingredients that I have readily available. I have also cut them down in size, because I am the only one eating the meals. :) If you would like to see the originals, please go to Real Simple magazine's Web site and check them out.

Happy eating!

PS: On a side note, DC is supposed to get 2 feet of snow this weekend. Needless to say, I will not be driving through the blizzard of January '10 like I did during the blizzard of December '09. Which means, rather than spending the weekend in Hampden-Sydney with Adam for his birthday, I will be stuck in DC. Oh well, guess I'll have to hunker down and enjoy a few (or five) glasses of wine, all while watching the snow fall.

(You can always click on the comic to read it larger in a new window.)

Roasted Shrimp with Peppers and Lemon

Yummm! This is dinner from Day Two of the February workout and diet plan. I guess I should come up with a name for it, since it has literally taken over my life for the past few days. Maybe something like.. February Diet Extravaganza.. FDE? Hmm.. no. I'll think of something, and get back to that later.

For now, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white rice (I used half a package of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice.. stick it in the micro for 90 seconds and it's done. Way easier.)
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 green onions, sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
6-8 frozen shrimp
Pinch of paprika

Recipe:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Cook the rice according to package instructions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss bell pepper, lemon, thyme, green onions, red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of oil, and some salt and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet covered with tin foil.

Add the shrimp to the same bowl as before and toss with paprika, another tablespoon of oil and some salt and pepper. Nestle the shrimp in the bell peppers on the baking sheet. Roast until the shrimp are cooked through and the bell peppers are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Serve over the rice. This dish is 392 calories per serving.

This recipe is really tasty, however, I got a little pour happy with the red pepper flakes. I do love heat in my food, and I usually load them up on my pizza, but WHOA! I was literally ON FIRE while eating this dish. So I adjusted the recipe above to say "a pinch." You can always add more at the end, if you wish to.

I finished out the day with another Wii Fit workout. I did some more aerobics and a TON of pilates and yoga to stretch out my sore muscles.

So, any who, happy eating and thanks for reading!

Steak with Golden Zucchini

Well, here it is!! Tonight's dinner was sooooooo good! It looks a bit strange in the picture, but it was delish! If you're interested, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 ribeye steak

1 zucchini

1 small clove of garlic

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon Italian-style breadcrumbs

Salt

Pepper

Recipe:

Heat one turn of olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Season steak with salt and pepper. Cook until desired doneness, I did about 4-5 minutes per side (only flipping once) for about medium. Transfer to a plate and tent with tin foil. Cut zucchini lengthwise, season with salt and pepper and add to same pan. Cover with a lid and cook for about 6 minutes until soft. Transfer to plate and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. In a small bowl, combine lemon zest, garlic, and bread crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the zucchini and serve with the steak. This dish is 321 calories per serving.

I worked out for about an hour alternating between several aerobic exercises on Wii Fit and about 30 minutes on the elliptical. My abs will be paying for it in the morning, but it was worth it! One day down, 27 to go! 

Now on to The Bachelor.. nothing better than a good dinner, exercise and trashy, reality TV :).

The Beginning..

So, it's here folks! The first day of February! I have officially started my new diet and exercise plan. I have also decided, that since I will (hopefully) be posting everyday, this will be my last post that I make as a Facebook or Twitter status. I think it will get old not only on my own wall, but also on people's mini and news feeds. So, if you wanna read my blog, you have to put in the teeny bit of extra clicking to get to it. It's located on my FB under Web site, if you are interested. Which I hope you will be!

This morning, I had my usual coffee with Splenda and half and half. I am trying to limit caffeine intake as well, so I will try to drink water for most of the day rather than soda. I enjoyed a Nutrigrain bar as well. Nutrigrain bars are my favorite breakfast bar. Since I moved out of my parent's house and went to college, I didn't have a lot of time to eat breakfast,* so breakfast bars became a regular thing. They are only 130 calories and they come in lots of different flavors as opposed to other breakfast bars that only come in a variety of about three or four. My favorites are raspberry, apple cinnamon and strawberry.

For lunch, I ate a salad (that I prepared at home last night, yay!) loaded with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and red onion. The best part about this salad: the dressing. Red wine vinegar. I kid you not. It is amazing. It is straight out of the bottle and I am obsessed.** It also has ZERO CALORIES. That, my friends, is awesome too. Because that means you can use as much as you want, and IT DOESN'T MATTER!*** Wahoo!!  Around 2:30 p.m., I'll eat a banana as an afternoon snack.

Later tonight, I am working out in the gym for about an hour. I hope to do about 30 minutes on the elliptical and about 30 minutes back in my apartment on the Wii Fit doing some strength training and some yoga.

The part I am most excited about though is dinner. Every night this month, I have a dinner planned that is under 400 calories. Tonight, I am making Steak with Golden Zucchini. Hooray! I will post pictures and recipes tomorrow.

Have a great day! Again, if anyone is interested in hearing about the plan, I have some more info that I made for myself outlining the plan that I can share. Just e-mail me at sugarandspicedc@gmail.com.


*Clearly, this is because I never woke up more than 10 minutes before class started back when I lived on campus at USC and before jobs and internships set in. And when they did, I only woke up in exactly enough time to get ready, grab a Nutrigrain bar on the run out the door and get there on time. Isn't that what everyone else did? Mmm, hmm.

**Shoutout to Katie M. for introducing me to the wonderful world of RWV!

***Well, unless you use too much, in which case you may get heartburn from the acidity.

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..