healthy

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Quick and easy is the name of the eating game in our house these days. Early in the week, I try to squeeze in my long runs, and for the day of the run and the day after, I am ravenous. Unfortunately in these moments, the last thing I want is to eat vegetables. It’s all about cheese, carbs, and trying to fit in some sort of protein. I think I make up for the veggies the rest of the week; it’s all about balance, right?

This past Monday was a slow work day, and with the lingering daylight, I was able to fit a 17 mile training run in late in the day, followed by a 90 minute yoga class at a shop near my class.  I didn’t realize the yoga class was 90 minutes; I thought it was 60! But it felt so luxurious to be able to stretch for so long in a warm room, and stretching so much meant I wasn’t the slightest bit sore the next day which NEVER happens. I even got a little massage and extra stretch throughout the class with the help of the instructor. She is actually donating a 90 minute private yoga class for the raffle for my Boston Marathon fundraising event. If you are interested in delicious yoga that will make you feel amazing after, check out her teaching schedule:

http://www.karmadawnyoga.com/

Anyway, running and yoga meant that I exercised for 4.5 hours on Monday, and my appetite was feeling it on Tuesday. I wanted an easy dinner with stuff we had in the house, and these salmon burgers, accompanied by oven fries, were made.

Ingredients:

1 cup faro, soaked all day

1 16 ounce can of salmon (Canned salmon is one of my best-kept healthy-eating secrets!)

1 large egg

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 teaspoons habanero maple mustard, picked up at the Cabot store in Vermont

faro

habanero mustard

I used a potato masher to mash all of the ingredients and then used a spoon to make sure they were combined evenly before putting the salmon mix into a lightly oiled muffin tin.

I had my oven fries roasting at 420, so I just popped the salmon burgers in for about 10 minutes until they were browned on top and my fries were ready.

salmon burgers

Since I am all about the sauces, I used the cooking time to whip up three sauces to dip my salmon burgers and fries in. I made a simple tartar sauce (mayo and relish), a horseradish and Fage yogurt sauce (more protein!), and a honey mustard using the habanero mustard and some honey. And I added a giant pool of ketchup to my plate as well. There can never be too many sauces!

sauces

The salmon burgers came out just the way I had hoped. The faro added a nice chewy texture, and the mustard and bread crumbs some nice flavor. I forgot an after photo, but they did get browned on the top while staying soft in the center which made them fall apart. They were still delicious!

I was kind of dragging during the day, but a couple of these burgers and some roasted fries really made me feel energetic again. I need to remember to keep the protein levels up so that my stomach is not growling at bed time!

The sauces added a fun, fast food kind of feel to the meal, and I enjoyed having all of them. I am seriously a condiment fiend. I think my most favorite recent condiment is truffle ketchup from Saus.

What’s your favorite condiment/sauce?

Tags: dinner, Food, healthy, recipe, salmon

Healthy Cooking

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.

heirloom eggs

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.

kale and eggs

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.

kale and eggs

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. 

cilantro

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.

orange sauce

A little sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.

soy and sesame

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!

image

Are you looking forward to anything this week?

Tags: eggs, Food, healthy, kale, recipe, shrimp, wild rice

Busy, busy, busy. The next five to six weeks are going to be full of marathon training workouts, new work, blogging and social events, and travel. Keeping on an eating budget and making healthy meals is still a priority, so on our most recent Market Basket trip, we kept an eye out for some affordable shortcuts. The Market Basket in Woburn was in-freakin-sane on Sunday, I have to tell you. I witnessed one fight and got yelled at by an elderly man because apparently my cart was at an angle he didn’t like.

Don’t mess with me when I am picking out bananas.

image

As always, my paltry patience somehow prevailed, and we got some great stuff, including a rotisserie chicken that was on super sale. The smell of the chicken was pretty enticing, so it was easy to add one to our overflowing cart.

I already had a giant pot of kale and three bean chili set up to cook for Sunday dinner, so I decided on a Monday night chicken salad for the rotisserie chicken.

image

Chunky Chicken and Fruit Salad

The ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed and chopped into chunks

2 medium apples, chopped

1 /2 cup each dried cranberries and dried cherries

1/4 medium red onion, chopped

3/4 cup Fage Greek yogurt (I used 0% because it was on sale, but I prefer 2%.)

image

Assembling this salad was, of course, very simple. I made it during my lunch break, added some salt and pepper, and let it chill until dinner time when I served it on a whole wheat ciabatta, also on sale at Market Basket. I also made a giant batch of simple roasted broccoli, mostly because I wanted to stand next to a 420 degree oven. And also because we needed greens, of course.

image

Everything about this salad said summer, so it was a nice treat. Lots of crunch and chew from the fruit, and it had a nice zing from the onion. I love Greek yogurt for recipes like this; I planned on adding a few spoons of mayo, but it just didn’t need it.

Healthy, simple, make-ahead, it was just what we needed. I have a dinner out tonight and another tomorrow, so luckily there are chili and chicken salad leftovers for the husband.

What are you eating this week? Do you have any shortcuts to quick, healthy meals?

Tags: chicken, dinner, Food, healthy, recipe, sandwiches

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