I’ve been loving the spring weather this week. All the snow is gone and the temps have been warm enough for me to run in a tee. Mike and I are hoping to take advantage of this weather by going on a nice, long hike and with the pups this weekend and then grilling out after. Fingers crossed that the forecast is wrong and that it doesn’t rain!
This pineapple salsa is sweet with the perfect amount of heat. It’s super versatile, too. I ate it with chicken, with pretzel thins, and even just straight-up with a spoon.
Fresh Pineapple Salsa
1/2 pineapple peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper, to taste
In a large nonreactive bowl, stir together pineapple, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, lime juice and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
This chicken is Mike-approved. He inhaled his entire piece before I got through a quarter of mine. I was surprised at how juicy the chicken turned out. When roasting, I usually try to use bone-in, skin-on chicken to keep the chicken from drying out. But the magical lemon-thyme sauce kept this boneless, skinless chicken breast tender and juicy and not at all dry.
And the vegetables? They were my favorite part of the meal!
Lemon-Thyme Roasted Chicken and Veggies
for the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme, minced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced (save other half for veggies)
for the vegetables:
4 medium russet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 pound green beans
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced
Olive oil spray
Preheat oven to 450F.
In a shallow dish, combine olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and lemon juice. Add chicken, turning to coat.
Lightly spray an oven-safe pan or cast iron skillet with olive oil and arrange lemon slices on the bottom of the pan. Place chicken on top of the lemon slices, pouring any remaining marinade on top.
Spray a separate oven-safe baking dish with olive oil. Add in potatoes, green beans, garlic and lemon juice. Toss to coat.
Bake for chicken and veggies for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.
I slid my way through 6 snowy, icy miles on my run yesterday. There were a few things on my mind:
Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall
Don’t get hit by a car
Don’t fall
I’m so hungry… Ooh! I have Brussels sprouts at home!
These Brussels sprouts are dangerously addictive. Even Mike, who doesn’t really care for Brussels sprouts, gobbled these up happily. He has actually been requesting roasted Brussels sprouts for the last couple weeks. I think we’re averaging 2 – 3 pounds of Brussels sprouts per week right now!
This recipe is a good reminder that good food doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s four ingredients: Brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I still can’t get over how simple and delicious these are.
Easy Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 pound Brussels sprouts
extra virgin olive oil spray
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a baking pan with olive oil and set aside.
Cut off the end of the Brussels sprouts. Cut Brussels sprouts in half and remove any discolored outer leaves.
Place Brussels sprouts in prepared baking pan and spray with olive oil. Sprinkle on salt and pepper and stir to coat. Bake in preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring once or twice. Brussels sprouts are done when lightly browned. Season with more salt and pepper to taste before serving.
I whipped up a batch of this rice to go with the chicken enchiladas I made for Mike. Because, you know, a carb-heavy entree needs a carb-heavy side dish to go with it. Ok, truth is, I made this rice because the enchiladas smelled so good and I couldn’t eat them. So I made a bunch of rice and ate that instead. Now, this rice is obviously not the same as a chicken enchilada, but it was enough to satisfy my craving. This is my favorite go-to recipe for a quick and easy dish to accompany any Mexican-inspired entree that might find its way onto our table.
Quick & Easy Mexican Rice
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups uncooked long grain rice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced, optional
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
cilantro and lime wedges to garnish, optional
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, until rice is lightly toasted. Sprinkle with garlic powder and cumin and stir to combine.
Add in onion, garlic, and jalapenos and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent. Stir in diced tomatoes and broth and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 20 – 25 minutes or until rice is fully cooked. Fluff with a fork before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro and a lime wedge if desired.
I’ve been hunting for quinoa dishes ever since my co-worker picked up the world’s largest bag of quinoa from Costco for me. I’ve come across some seriously drool-worthy dishes laden with cheese and other delicious dairy-ness. While I’ve been able to introduce dairy back into my diet with some success, I’m still wary – one bite too many is bad news.
Fortunately, this super easy maple balsamic quinoa salad is 100% dairy-free. As an added bonus, the ingredients in the recipe are fridge and pantry staples for me. I found the original dressing proportions of oil, vinegar and syrup to be way too sweet, so I decreased the amount of syrup and oil. If you prefer a sweeter dressing, use a 1:1 ratio of oil, vinegar and syrup.
Maple Balsamic Quinoa Salad
1 2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup raw unsalted almonds, roughly chopped
4 to 5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tsp sea salt, plus additional to taste
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Refrigerate until completely cooled, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, prepared the dressing by whisking oil, vinegar and maple syrup together in a small bowl.
Add dressing to the cooled quinoa. Stir in cranberries, pecans, scallions and salt until well combined. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Ok, so there isn’t any “L” in this BLT salad. It should probably be called BKT or BKaleT. As it turns out, raw kale isn’t really my jam. It tastes like what I think grass might taste like. But, raw kale covered in dressing with bacon? Right up my alley.
My coworker gave me three huge bags of kale – two curly kale and one dino kale. The curly kale went into this salad and I’m still contemplating what to do with the dino kale. I might just make another BKT salad because I’m seriously lacking in the kale recipe department. My coworker kindly included a recipe for this salad along with the kale. A little internet searching led me to the original source – Vegan Yum Yum. Needless to say, I completely un-veganfied it. Not only did I use mayo and bacon, I went and ate my salad with some grilled chicken, too. No regrets 🙂
Kale BLT Salad
2 heads curly kale
12 strips bacon, cooked and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
for the dressing:
1/3 cup low fat mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Wash and dry kale. Remove the stem from each leaf with a pair of scissors, a knife, or your fingers. Stack leaves on top of each other and slice into thin strips. Place kale strips into a large bowl and toss with bacon, cherry tomatoes, and red onion.
To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients together. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.
Summer means shorter work hours for me, but for some reason I’m finding myself less and less motivated to make elaborate meals. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe the shorter work weeks make me lazy. Maybe it’s Summer Brain.
All that said, I love this dish because it tastes complicated but is really quite simple to make. The worst of it was it requires a lot of pans, plates, and utensils, but that’s not really my problem since Mike does the dishes 😉
Chicken Schnitzel with Parsley Potatoes
for the chicken: 1 cup flour 3 eggs, beaten 2 cups panko bread crumbs 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied and pounded to 1/4 inch thickness salt and freshly ground pepper 1/4 cup canola oil 2 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth 2 teaspoons capers juice of 1 1/2 large lemons 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
for the potatoes: 1 pound red potatoes, quartered or cut into eighths if large 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted juice of 1/2 large lemon 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped salt and pepper, to taste
To make the chicken, place the flour, eggs, and panko in three separate shallow dishes. Mix in 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper into the flour mixture.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess. Dip into egg and then coat with panko, using your hands to gently press the panko to the chicken.
Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 – 4 minutes each side.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until lightly browned. Add in chicken broth, capers, and lemon juice. Spoon over chicken and sprinkle with parsley before serving.
To make the potatoes, place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in butter, lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper. Toss gently until potatoes are coated evenly.
This simple salad is packed full of flavor and makes the perfect accompaniment to pretty much any summer dish. If you’re ever asked to bring a salad or side dish for a potluck, throw this together… I’m 99% sure that no one else will show up with the same dish as you 😉
I’ll tell you a little secret though – this dish is also perfect alone as a main. I meant to grill some chicken to go with it, but sometimes I just run out of gas at the end of the day. This was one of those days. So we each had nice, large bowls of this instead. Perfect 🙂
Easy Quinoa with Roasted Mini Bell Peppers
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups quinoa
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup garlic olive oil, divided
1 package mini bell peppers
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add in quinoa and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover pot. Simmer until chicken broth is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place peppers in skillet in a single layer and cook until blistered on all sides. Set aside in a large bowl.
Add quinoa to bowl along with remaining olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Top dish with feta and parsley and serve.
This post two-for-one deal. It’s a running and recipe post all rolled into one! Let me start the race recap with my Saturday. In my last post I talked about my nervousness and how I planned on dealing with it. So, what did I do all weekend?
Well, like I had said before, Mike and I went to the Cellcom Race Expo and picked up my race packet. We bought a running hat (for him) and some more running capris (for me) there. We then headed over to Hinterland for some beer & food. It was so good. We decided to sit in the lounge and I’m so glad we did. The space is really neat – we snagged a corner booth that had a nice view of the downtown area. The service and food were amazing. We’re already planning on next trip back – I’m sad they are a 40 minute trip away, but it’s definitely worth it.
We drank: Cherry Wheat (Crisp, cool and refreshing. Brewed using tart Door County cherries from Seaquist Orchards) and Bourbon Barrel Dopplebock (Dark amber color. Full-bodied. Pronounced notes of caramel and oak with a smooth bourbony finish. Aged 10.5 months). Both were delish.
We ate: Caprine supreme goat cheese curds with kimchee ketchup and Nueske’s smoked chicken pizza (maple bock barbecue, mango, chives, goat cheese). The cheese curds were different than any cheese curd I’ve had before – they were light and fluffy and the kimchee ketchup was awesome. The pizza was, of course, delish as well. I loved the addition of the mango.
Saturday, we wasted the day away at home and ran some errands. I felt sick with anticipation almost all day. I was refreshing the weather on my iPad every hour (definitely wasn’t helping). I ended up throwing together dinner early at around 5:00 so we could eat early and get to bed by 9:00.
Some people have certain foods they need to stay away from before race day. I’ve found that I can eat almost anything, but it’s best if I stay away from fiber and copious amounts of grease. I ended up making a dish with chicken sausage and bell peppers with a pasta salad side. I loved that this meal was filling, easy, and my stomach handled it perfectly.
Chicken Sausage & Peppers
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
12 ounces fully cooked chicken sausage*, cut into 1 1/2 – 2″ pieces
2 bell peppers, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add in onions and cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until they start to soften.
Add in sausage and bell peppers and cook until sausage is heated through, 3 – 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*I used Johnsonville’s Chicken Sausage – Chipotle Montery Jack in my dish. I’ve had this type before and love it so I used it again instead of trying something new.
Easy Spinach Pasta Salad
12 ounces farfalle or other small pasta
1 teaspoon garlic olive oil or plain olive oil*
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cook pasta according to package directions in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain and immediately toss with garlic olive oil. Toss warm cooked pasta with spinach, onion, tomato and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
*I used a garlic evoo from a local store, The Olive Cellar. Love the place and will never buy olive oil (or balsamic) from any other place.
After eating a fair amount of this, Mike and I turned in for the night. He tried to calm my nerves by playing the Fun Run episode from The Office. It worked 🙂
Now, that brings us to Sunday: race day. Mike and I rolled out of bed at around 4:00 that morning and I nervously ate a banana and some Quaker Oatmeal Squares. I chugged a little water and then we were off to Green Bay. We weather was beautiful at first. Here’s a picture of me – all happy that it was race day and ready to conquer Cellcom once again.
I got about 2 miles in before I realized just how hot and humid it was. Last year was hotter, but this year was much more humid. I do not handle humidity or heat very well. Put the two together and well… I’m a goner. Let’s just say that there aren’t many pictures I want to post of my grossness mid-run. I will, however, share with you the pics Mike snapped during my last mile in Lambeau Field!
I may look happy and full of energy in the above photos, but miles 2 – 12 were killer. I was dragging and just mentally d-o-n-e with it all. After I crossed the finish line and found Mike, I loaded up on brats and beer. I got my picture taken with a complete stranger (??) and then changed into dry clothes before heading back out to Lambeau and cheering on the marathoners and snapping a few more pics.
I wish I could say that everything was perfect. That I hit my goal time. That I PRed. But none of that is true. I debated sharing my time with the world because I was embarrassed at first. Then, I realized that all runners have good days and bad days. I just happened to have a bad day. And even though my time was 2:27 and I finished nearly 15 minutes after my goal time, I still did better than the person I was just 2 1/2 years ago. I used to be someone who couldn’t run for 20 seconds straight and struggled through Day 1 of Couch to 5k for a solid week.
I. love. fries. Like, really love fries. I like to pretend that I’m not fully aware of how bad they are for you and always get fries at restaurants. Well, not always… more like 90% of the time. The last time I turned down fries was a couple months ago at a German restaurant. I opted for liver dumpling soup instead :-P. The last time I was out and had an option, Mike and I were in Milwaukee. I could choose between cottage cheese, fruit, or fries. I actually asked about the fruit first, but it had cantaloupe in it and I found out about a year ago that whenever I eat cantaloupe my throat and ears get really itchy. So… that wasn’t going to happen again. Long story short, I chose fries.
I could have fries with every meal and be happy. In fact, I could have fries as my meal and be happy.
Yup.
That’s what I did. I made a meal out of these and I don’t regret it one bit.
Baked Sweet Potato Chili Cheese Fries adapted from Joy the Baker
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Lightly grease two large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Cut sweet potato into 1/4-inch slices. Stack slices and then slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch strips. Repeat with remaining sweet potatoes to cut fries.
In a medium bowl, whisk together corn starch, chili powders, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, ground cumin, and chipotle chile pepper powder.
In a medium bowl, toss fries with olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and grill seasoning. Sprinkle cornstarch mixture over fries and toss to combine.
Divide potatoes between the two prepared baking sheets. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes, until fries are crispy. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for about 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and place fries onto serving platter. Sprinkle with jalapeño slices and green onions and serve hot.
DoughSeeDough 