Happy Monday! It truly is a happy one for me; I am starting on some fun new projects for work this week that you will undoubtedly be hearing about. We had a tiring weekend in Killington, VT (post to come!); I could not get to sleep for the life of me either night and promptly fell asleep upon arriving back home in Boston. I am hoping to build some good energy to put toward marathon training and work this week. And we have a meeting tonight to work on the details for our Boston Marathon fundraising party.
I’ve been cooking up all sorts of simple, healthy meals lately and thought I would share a couple today. The first features Pete & Gerry’s eggs from our Stone Hearth dinner last week. We actually already buy eggs from the Pete & Gerry’s brand, but at the dinner, I also received some of their heirloom eggs, these lovely light blue eggs below.
It’s so easy to build a meal around an egg, so for lunch one day I poked around the kitchen to see what I might eat. I started by making a half cup of wild rice from Minnesota. Wild rice, as you may know, is not rice at all, but is the grain from a grass-like plant that grows in and around the lakes in Minnesota. It’s black and brown and kind of chewy and nutty, and it makes a nutritious base for lots of recipes.
In this case, I topped the wild rice with crispy kale made by quickly cooking it in a little bit of olive oil in a pan. I also cooked one of the heirloom eggs at the same time and added that to the wild rice mix. I topped the whole thing with half of an avocado, some garlic powder, and nutritional yeast, and I had an amazing, filling lunch.
Another easy dish I made recently was a twist on orange shrimp. My lightened up version was sautéed, not fried or breaded, so the result was different but fresh and flavorful.
The saucy ingredients? Lots of fresh cilantro, a sprinkle of brown sugar, a pinch of curry paste, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, two cups of orange juice, and lots of sriracha.
A little sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.
All mixed up in one big pan with peeled and cleaned shrimp and heaps of broccoli. I simmered it to thicken the sauce, which didn’t really happen, so we went ahead and used spoons and forks for this dinner. I can literally still imagine the bursts of citrus, sweet, peanut butter, and cilantro, with a kick of spice.
I love meals that are pulled together with all sorts of random ingredients! We’ve been doing a pretty good job sticking to our healthy eating plan for the New Year, and although the meals are sometimes too simple to even be blog-able, we are feeling great!
Are you looking forward to anything this week?
My beautiful frittata was thin, stuck to the pan, and cooking way too quickly. The only way to save it was to scramble it up and make a big pile of kale and eggs. 
