Long Day....Short Weekend

Well as exhausted as I am, I must add another post this evening. I made some super yummy stuff this weekend that I just have to share. I just returned from taking Tripp to the ER and the poor lil fella has the Croup, and when I came home....I found this waiting on the stairs from Brock and Daddy! And to the right is a picture of Tripp still smiling even though he's so sick in the hospital   : (
So on the agenda tonight.....Green Smoothies, Almond Meal Chicken, and what I'm gonna call SouthWest Quinoa served with my South West Ranch Dressing!!!

First up is the Green Smoothie
1/2 cup non fat milk
1/2 cup Water
2 cups raw spinach
1 small banana
1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp of flax seeds or chia seeds

Brock drank an entire glass of this stuff soo I'd say it was a hit. Tripp was too sick to want to try it but I thought it was pretty good myself. I think it would have been a tad better had the banana been frozen as well so next time thats what I'll do!




















Almond Chicken 
Marinade
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp tomato paste
2 sundried tomatos chopped fine (you could probably leave this out but I threw it in anyway)
3 egg whites
1/2 cup water

I cut the chicken breast into strips and let them sit in this for about an hour, I also used a lil salt and pepper to taste

Dredge (first time I've heard that word but I like it, I kept saying it over and over , try it ....Dredge....its fun to say) LOL I'm probably officially to tired to be blogging lol but thanks for reading Anyways onto the DREDGE
1 cup Almond Meal or Flour they are the same
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp Mrs. Dash or mixed spices of your choice and a dash of salt and pepper

I breaded the chicken with the DREDGE and then grilled them until they were done, I'm sure you could bake them and they would turn out just as good! And let me tell you that SouthWest Dressing is the Bomb!!! Soo Good, here's the recipe!
I kinda just kept tasting this as I added each ingredient and it turned out perfect sooo not a whole lot of measuring going on. Start out with 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt then add
Balsamic Vinegar, Hot Sauce, Seasoned Salt, Chili Powder, a lil left over Tomato Paste from your marinade, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Lemon Juice and Water .....it was Delish!!!!

I made this the night that Tripp got Sick so I wasn't able to take a picture of everything plated up and all pretty but the side dish was my very own South West Quinoa. You start out by adding one can of Black Beans (drained), 1/2 cup chopped Onion, and 1 chopped Tomato. Cook over medium heat and add a dash of garlic powder , salt and pepper. Cook about 2 cups of Quinoa separately either in your Rice Cooker (which is what I prefer, it comes out perfect every time) or on the stove according to package directions. Then in a large bowl mix the cooked Quinoa with the Black Bean mixture, add a little Olive Oil to lube it up a bit, and salt and pepper to taste!

SOoooooo Good I'll absolutely be making this again!!!! One of my favorite Quinoa dishes so far! Also if you aren't familiar with Quinoa I encourage you to google it, its very healthy for you and just about the only grain-like side dish that I allow myself to have these days. Very high in protein and its basically like rice if you ask me....love the stuff. It can usually be found at Harris Teeter or Kroger, but its cheapest at Trader Joe's.

In my last post I talked about the Tahini thats necessary to make hummus, well I found this picture of my first shot at a Tahini! And I also saw at Kroger a store bought sesame seed Tahini. Who woulda thought! But I'm pretty sure its a LOT cheaper to make your own, I think this jar was around $9! 

And here is a picture of how my husband chooses to torture me on the weekends, but I swear I said No....thats right I didn't even have one tiny lil doughnut hole. Why? you ask ...seriously its just a doughnut hole, well because I know that I cannot control myself when it comes to stuff like this. One will quickly turn into 4 or 5 and then I'll feel like shit all day and full of guilt......I've made up my mind that I honestly may never eat treats like this ever again because of the lack of control that I have, so I've made it my mission to come up with new and healthy treats instead of this garbage. He also made some Pillsbury chocolate chunk cookies on Sat. night and had the whole house smelling like damn Betty Crocker herself was in the kitchen but I said  NO to those as well, and if you know me , you'll know that that is HUGE!!!

Here's a picture of my Saturday morning Breakfast , the usual with Kale instead of spinach this time as well as a piece of Ezekiel toast with coconut butter. I got the Ezekiel bread because its actually made of spouts instead of grains, and every now and then I'll treat myself to a piece, and the coconut butter was a treat from "Whole Paycheck" that I just wanted to try. 

And Last but not least my favorite choice of lunch these days. A Kale/Spinach Salad topped with fresh strawberries and grilled chicken, and Newmans Own Light Balsamic Vinegar Dressing. Delish! By the way side note.....Kale is awesome....I'm really starting to love that stuff more and more. Also another side note....every morning when I make my eggs and I add in some type of greens,...when they are about done I add a splash of water to add a steaming effect which helps cook down the greens as well as makes your eggwhites super fluffy!!! Oh and its nice to cook up a bunch of chicken at once and have it cut up in tupperware containers in the fridge, ready to spring into action at any minute! Ha!  PREPARATION IS KEY! I can't say it enough, but I'll save that for another post! 

As far as workouts this weekend....I taught Body Pump Friday, Sat. and Sunday and today I stayed for Paige's awesome Body Combat (aka Cardio Kickboxing) class for  my cardio....workouts are gonna be slim for the next couple days since the boys are sick so I'll have to be on my A game when it comes to my food! 

Hope you all have a great week....Meal Plans and Workouts planned and ready to make happen!! :)