Category: Dinner
Mexican Cornbread Casserole
| March 1, 2016 |
Ok, so I realize this is my second Mexican dish in a row but what can I say? I’m Mexican. And I’ve always preached you can’t be on a diet eating food you don’t like. So made something I LOVE. I’ve had it planned in my meal prep for 3 weeks straight. I’m hooked! If a tamale and an enchilada had a baby, this is it.
Mexican Cornbread Casserole
Macros per serving: 12g Fat, 36g Carbs, 26g Protein (Serves 7)*
- 1 (8.5 oz) box of corn muffin mix
- 1 can of cream style corn
- 4 oz can of diced green chilies
- 1/3 cup fat free milk
- 4 tbsp liquid egg whites
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 1/3 pounds (21 oz) of skinless boneless chicken breast – cooked and diced or shredded
- 10 oz can of red enchilada sauce
- 1 sweet onion
- 1 cup of shredded cheese
- sliced black olives
*Macros were calculated off Jiffy corn muffin mix, Del Monte corn, La Preferida green chilies, Fairlife milk (my favorite!), All Whites 100% egg whites, Las Palmas enchilada sauce, 220g onion, Kraft Mexican Four Cheese blend, and 32 grams of Pearls sliced black olives.
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl (muffin mix, corn, green chilies, milk, egg whites, and taco seasoning). Mix until well combined. Pour into a glass casserole dish coated with cooking spray and bake for about 35 minutes. ~ This time will vary based on your casserole dish size, glass depth, oven, etc.
While that’s baking, slice (or dice) your onion and sauté or grill to your liking. If you grill in slices it will be like veggie fajitas. If you dice and sauté, it will act more as flavoring. Once cooked, mix the onion, chicken and red enchilada sauce in a bowl until everything is evenly coated and set aside.
Now your corn bread base may be ready to pull out of the oven. You’ll know it’s ready when the edges are golden. Use a fork and poke into the center of the corn bread base to allow for little pockets of space for the enchilada sauce to seep into.
Note: The mixture is raw if it is runny. If its solid enough that it sticks to the fork, its ready. It should be somewhat sticky and thick.
Pour the chicken mixture evenly over the top of the corn bread base. Top with cheese and olives. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Slice and serve.
Meal Prepping tip! Since 7 servings is hard to cut a dish into, I slice it into 8 pieces. Then I weigh 7 slices and add bits and pieces from the last slice into my tupperwares until all 7 tupperwares weigh no more than 0.1 oz from each other so each serving is nearly identical.
- 1 (8.5 oz) box of corn muffin mix
- 1 can of cream style corn
- 4 oz can of diced green chilies
- 1/3 cup fat free milk
- 4 tbsp liquid egg whites
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 1/3 pounds (21 oz) of skinless boneless chicken breast - cooked and diced or shredded
- 10 oz can of red enchilada sauce
- 1 sweet onion
- 1 cup of shredded cheese
- sliced black olives
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour into a casserole dish coated with cooking spray and bake for about 35 minutes.
- Slice (or dice) your onion and sauté or grill to your liking. Mix the onion, chicken and red enchilada sauce in a bowl until everything is evenly coated and set aside.
- When you're corn bread base is done, using a fork, poke holes into the corn bread base to allow for little pockets of space for the enchilada sauce to seep into.
- Pour the chicken mixture evenly over the top of the corn bread base. Top with cheese and olives. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
- Macros were calculated using Jiffy corn muffin mix, Del Monte corn, La Preferida green chilies, Fairlife milk (my favorite!), All Whites 100% egg whites, Las Palmas enchilada sauce, 220g onion, Kraft Mexican Four Cheese blend, and 32 grams of Pearls sliced black olives.
Easy Mexican Corn Salad
| November 9, 2015 |
People used to tell me all the time that saying you “don’t have time” was an excuse. But I really believed I didn’t have time. And I used to look at those fit people who’d be at the gym every day and have these healthy looking meals packed with envy. I wished I had the time to meal prep they way they did.
I started a #90DayChallenge with my gym and since I started, I learned I DO have time. I spend one day over the weekend making all the food for the week. Then the rest of the week, I don’t have to slave over the stove every night trying to make something healthy, because I already did it already!
I had a few outings last week that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get to a microwave. But I didn’t want a normal salad so I came up with this spicy Mexican corn salad. It’s a great option for a packed lunch because it’s a no-heat dish! (It’s also a no-cook dish so it’s super easy to prepare!) I just added a side of cold cocktail shrimp to add some protein to my meal and I’m ready for a healthy week.
Note: Notice my serving size is divided by 7 for easy meal prep. You’ll start to see a lot of my future recipes also divided by 7.
Mexican Corn Salad
Macros: 11.1g Fat, 33.1g Carbs, 7.5g Protein (Serves 7)*
- 3 cans of corn, no salt added
- 1 can of black beans
- 4 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1/2 bundle of cilantro, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 habanero pepper
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (in liquid form)
- 3 tbsp mayo
- Optional: cotija cheese
Directions
Gently toss the corn, black beans, tomato, onion, and cilantro together. (You can chop up some of the stem too. I’m lazy and don’t pluck off the leaves. I just chop the whole thing up.)
Next, put the habanero and garlic in a small food processor with the coconut oil and mayo and puree into a sauce (you definitely don’t want big chunks of habanero all in one bite). Then mix the sauce into the salad.
Top with some crumbled cotija cheese and serve with your choice of protein.
Spicy Note: if opting not to use a habanero pepper, feel free to use a garlic press and stir in the pressed garlic, coconut oil, and mayo – skipping any need for the food processor.
*Macros were calculated off Del Monte brand corn (5 cups), Sun Vista black beans (1.5 cups), 12 oz tomato, 10 oz onion, Hain organic brand coconut oil, Kraft mayo, and 3 oz cheese.
Visiting Koreatown & How to Make Kimchi
| October 30, 2014 |
A while ago, I visited Koreatown for the first time in Los Angeles with a bunch of other food bloggers in the area. Christina of Christina’s Cucina was our tour guide for this food crawl. It was my first time ever in a Korean market and boy was I glad Christina was our tour guide. There were so many things that I’d never seen before or never cooked with before. By the time our crawl ended, I had a full bag of groceries and somewhat of an idea on how to use them…
What I learned was…
1. Most food packaging is not in English, but most still have the ingredients and nutrition listed in English.
2. Watch out for MSG. It’s in a lot of products offered at a Korean supermarket.
3. When they have jerky-like fish samples… it’s not jerky. It’s meant to flavor broth.
4. You can buy SO MUCH MORE in terms of produce. It’s a lot cheaper. Even organic food is cheap!
5. I love buckwheat noodles. They have a similar texture to normal noodles but have protein in them! Great way to sneak in extra protein on those cheat days when I eat carbs.
6. Bibimbap is actually a pretty healthy lunch option, as are many Korean food items.
7. It’s official. I can’t resist the milk tea and boba… No wonder why I rarely go to a mall. The boba calls to me.
8. Kimchi (or Kimchee) is really cheap and easy to make. Save yourself the $ and just make it yourself.
Easy Kimchi (Kimchee) with Sriracha
- 1 head of napa cabbage (about 2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/3 cup white rice vinegar
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 1/3 cup sriracha
- 1 bunch of scallions
Directions
Quarter cabbage lengthwise, then chop into pieces. The size of your chop depends on how little or big you want each bite. I chopped 2 to 3 inches each piece.
In a large bowl, toss with 1/2 cup of kosher salt and let stand for 2 hours at room temperature. Toss occasionally (about every 20-30 min) while it sits. Drain excess water as needed when tossing.
Rinse cabbage with water & drain. Squeeze out all the excess water with your hands and transfer to a large bowl. Tip: I used a colander during this process. It makes it much easier to rinse & drain.
Purée garlic and ginger with vinegar in a blender & pour over cabbage. Add scallions and sriracha. Toss until the cabbage is evenly covered.
Put it in a jar and let it marinate overnight in the fridge & enjoy!
Note: The longer you let the flavors marinate in the jar, the better you’re kimchi will taste. If you have the patience, wait a week before eating it.)
Storage: The best type of containers to store Kimchi is in a glass container. The red juice can stain plastic containers. Keep it in the fridge. It should last you a while because it’s fermented. Mine lasted me about 2 months before I ate it all (and it wasn’t bad yet). I have no idea how long it actually will last because I ate mine before I could find out.
>> If you keep yours longer for 2 months, let me know and I’ll update this to let other readers know how long it lasts.
Skinny Mac & Cheese
| March 6, 2014 |
Mac & cheese is definitely one of my favorite guilty comfort foods. It’s a funny story though, because generally a lot of comfort foods come from when you grew up with, but when I was little I LOVED the blue box mac & cheese and wasn’t the biggest fan of the home-made stuff.
When I was a kid, my Grandma would pick my sister and I up from school every Friday and we’d all have dinner together. When it first became a weekly thing, she asked my mom what my sister and I liked to eat. My mom said macaroni. My Grandma, being the AMAZING cook she is, made it from scratch. And of course, me being the child I was, I said it wasn’t the same as having the blue box mac and I liked “my mom’s” better. Although we all know “my mom’s” was really my way of saying I liked the boxed kind. To this day, I still feel a little ashamed because the next time my grandma made mac & cheese for us, she made it out of the box. Sure I loved it at the time, but looking back on it … I was young and ignorant … what can you do?
I can confidently say that my palate has gotten a lot better (and I no longer prefer boxed foods, haha). But either mac & cheese recipe, blue box or from scratch, can put a damper on the diet.
Mac & cheese is full of fat and carbs. But I wanted to make a skinny version that didn’t just replace everything with fat-free labels. Can anyone honestly say that fat-free cheese is better than the real thing? No.
I wanted to keep the essence of mac & cheese intact by not touching those two ingredients. I used full fat cheeses and normal pasta (because I’m also not a fan of wheat pasta) but just replaced the heavy cream and butter with cauliflower. With the added fiber, it’s definitely more filling than the heavy buttered up mac. Not to say this is an every day “healthy” meal, but it’s certainly better than the traditional recipe, twice-baked with bread crumbs on top.
The serving size is for a full bowl of mac, so if you want to indulge without using this as a cheat meal, eat it as a side dish with some chicken and spinach. Who says macaroni has to be a main dish?
Side note: This recipe passed the boyfriend test. I gave it to him and didn’t tell him it was cauliflower. About half way through, I asked him what his opinion was and told him it was cauliflower. He didn’t taste it until I told him. #winning 🙂
Skinny Mac & Cheese
Makes 4 Servings ~ Macros per serving: 28g Fat, 68g Carbs, 34g Protein
- 3 cups uncooked pasta of choice
- 1 small/medium head of cauliflower
- 2 whole garlic cloves
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to tast
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Pour in your favorite pasta and cook until al dente according to package directions. Personally, I like to go for the fun kind like fusille (spiral) or farfalle (bow-tie, although it technically means butterfly in Italian). Radiatore pasta is what can be seen in the photos.
While the pasta is cooking, cut cauliflower into florets. Place cauliflower, garlic cloves, and chicken stock into a covered pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let steam build in the pot. Cook until cauliflower is tender (about 5 minutes depending on the size of florets).
Drain pasta and set aside.
Pour cauliflower, garlic cloves, and chicken stock into a high-speed blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour back into the pot used to cook the cauliflower. At medium heat, slowly stir in the cheese until melted smooth to create a sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Gently stir sauce and pasta together. Depending on your pasta and how well it absorbs the sauce, you might have extra cheese sauce. Add it in slowly and put any extra sauce in a tupperware. (You can use it as a sauce for veggies, chicken, etc.) Serve immediately.
I topped mine with a little cayenne (optional!) for an extra kick, but feel free to add your favorite topping. Some tasty ideas: bacon, green onions, jalapeño, diced ham (probably not all these ingredients at the same time)
Play around with different cheese options. They all have different nutritional value to them so have fun experimenting. For instance, the parmesan was lower in fat and higher in protein than the cheddar. I added it to balance out the fat content so there would be more protein than fat per serving.
Skinny Butternut Squash Soup
| September 20, 2013 |
While it may still be pushing the upper 80°s at my house, Fall has officially begun. Despite the heat, I LOVE soup and have every intention of enjoying it even if it means I am sweating in the process.
So mixing my love of easy blend-everything-together type recipes and fall, I thought what better than to try out Butternut Squash Soup?
Often times, restaurants will put a ton of butter or cream and a ton of salt in their recipes. But butternut squash already has so much flavor, and like most foods, if you cook it with the right spices you don’t need to add the fat.
Hope you enjoy my recipe. I can literally say I put my love, sweat, and heart into it. (Praying for the heat in CA to chill off.)
Skinny Butternut Squash Soup
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 butternut squash (about 3 lbs)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 5 cups of low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegan)
- 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Slice or chop the onion into large pieces. Sauté them in the olive oil until they become slightly translucent. – I sautéed them in the same pot I planned to cook the soup in because I am a lazy dishwasher like that.
Peel, scrape out the seeds, and chop your butternut squash into 1 inch cubes. Peel the skin of the garlic cloves. Put the squash, onion and garlic into a pot with the chicken broth and simmer until the squash is soft (approx 20 min).
Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the squash, onion, and garlic cloves. Place in a high speed blender or food processor, adding a few cups of the broth so it will blend easier. Purée the ingredients until smooth. Depending on the size of your blender or food processor, you might need to do this in a few batches.
Pour the puréed ingredients back into the pot and stir, allowing the broth and puree to evenly mix together. Add the spices and seasonings. (I personally didn’t add any salt because the broth had enough for me. Depending on your broth and personal preference, you may want to add salt. The pepper, I added 1 tsp but again, your own personal preference.) Simmer for another 10 minutes uncovered.
For a creamier soup, top it off with a dollop of greek yogurt or sour cream.
White Grapefruit Sweet Tea
| July 27, 2013 |
I have been trying SO HARD to kick this newly reclaimed habit of drinking diet soda. I know it’s bad for me but it can be so refreshing sometimes. Like I mentioned in my last recipe post, I have white grapefruits galore. So I figured it was time to do a little experimenting with stevia.
When life gives you grapefruits, make grapefruit sweet tea!
White Grapefruit Sweet Tea
- 6 cups water
- 6 green tea bags
- 2 cups white grapefruit juice (3 large white grapefruits)
- 5 tbsp stevia
- 1 lemon
Directions
Boil the 6 cups of water. You can use a large tea kettle or if your tea kettle isn’t large enough, just use a pot. After it’s reached a rolling bubble or your tea kettle is whistling, remove from the heat and put the 6 tea bags in. Let the bags steep for about an hour.
While your tea is steeping, juice your grapefruits. You can use a juicer or juice by hand, like I did. You should get about 2 cups of juice. Don’t worry if you have a little more or less than this, it won’t effect the recipe too much if the measurement is off.
After the hour of steeping, remove the tea bags. Stir in the juice and stevia. Slice the lemons and let them float in the pitcher for looks. They will also add just enough lemon to the tea, not enough to over power the grapefruit. Put in the fridge to chill completely before serving.
Directions for your pitcher: If you have a heat resistant pitcher, you can put the boiling water into the pitcher right after it gets to the rolling bubble and let the tea steep directly in the pitcher. If you’re pitcher isn’t heat resistant, then allow your tea to cool in the fridge after steeping. If you used a pot, be sure to cover it while in the fridge. Once it’s about room temperature, then pour the tea into your pitcher and continue with adding the juice, stevia, and lemon.
Serve it “happy hour style” – just add gin! It’s still a better alternative to a sugary margarita or cranberry cocktail. All that syrupy juice and mixer stuff is horrible for you. (add gin after the tea has been chilled)
Raw White Grapefruit Cilantro Dressing
| July 8, 2013 |
A coworker of mine brought in a ton of HUGE white grapefruits for everyone to take home. I didn’t know much about white grapefruits. Most grapefruits I’ve eaten are pink inside. After doing what anyone would do (hello Google!) I discovered white grapefruits are generally a little more tart and bitter than the pink ones, which tend to be a little sweeter.
So I figured I’d try it in recipe like a lime. Less sour so I could make a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, no salt needed to balance out the sour. I’d never experimented with them before but my recipe was a success!
Sneak peek into my next recipe: it also includes white grapefruit and has my best friend’s stamp of addition on it, so you better buy some extra grapefruits. I’ll post that one later this week once I get my new memory card reader in the mail. (I lost mine, fail).
White Grapefruit Cilantro Dressing
- 1/2 white onion
- 4-5 cloves of garlic (I used 4 because my cloves seemed larger than usual)
- 1 bundle of cilantro (about 1.5 cups chopped)
- juice of 1 white grapefruit (no more than 3/4 cup)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (make sure it says for dressing and not for frying)
Directions
Put the onion and garlic in the food processor and chop fine. Add the juice and chopped cilantro. (My cilantro comes from the regular market in a bundle and I have seen it like that at multiple stores. But if your store doesn’t sell the cilantro in a bundle, once you chop it up it should equal around 1.5 cups.) Once it’s all chopped, almost like a pesto, add the olive oil and continue to allow the food processor to do it’s work until it’s all mixed and chopped into a pesto (or liquid) form.
Recipe makes about a full bowl full. If you make it, plan to eat it all week or freeze some for later.
Note: A really nice high speed blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec will be able to process the recipe into a liquid. More cost effective products like my food processor (a Cuisinart) will produce more of a pesto texture.
ALSO!!! This recipe tastes amazing cooked as well!!! Sorry, I don’t have any photos but I have been making my scrambled eggs with it, and using it as a sauce for chicken on the BBQ. It’s very versatile. If you prefer a less potent garlicky oniony taste, you can sauté the garlic and onion before adding it to the food processor. I keep mine raw until I add it into my recipes (like my grilled chicken) so I have the option to cook or not to cook. AND, pre warning you – worst garlic breath ever. Definitely not a good date food, haha.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Chili
| June 14, 2013 |
Let’s talk chili. It’s probably one of the easiest things you will ever make (microwave food excluded) but to me, it was one of those things that seemed tough and a little intimidating. There are so many ingredients and most recipes are made to slow cook, what if I add too much of something and then when it’s time to eat my chili is inedible?
Seriously. I have nightmares about making food for a party and ruining it and everyone at the party goes hungry and starves and it’s all my fault … I am a strange one.
Anyways, back to my point: chili is one of the easiest things you will ever make. Put it in a pot and leave it there all day. Come for dinner and it’s ready!
Slow-Cooker Chicken Chili
- 1 cup dry black beans (cooking directions below) OR 2 cans black beans, drained
- 24 oz boneless chicken breast (about 3-4 breasts)
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 chopped red onion
- 1 chopped jalapeño
- 1 small can of chopped green chilies
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 can of corn
- 3 chopped roma tomatoes
- 2 cups of chopped Okra (20 oz.)
- 1/2 cup cilantro (about 1 handfull)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbs cumin
- plain greek yogurt to top it off with
Directions
Put all the ingredients together in a slow-cooker, excluding the Greek yogurt. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 3 hours. You may need to add extra water to your chili depending on your slow cooker. Temperatures can vary, making the required water amount vary. Once it’s done, pull the chicken breasts out of the slow cooker and shred the meat. Put the shredded meat back in the pot and stir. Serve and top with a dollop of Greek yogurt – it makes a great sour cream substitute!
Also, chili is so easy to play around with and change things up. If you don’t like okra or want things a little more spicy, this is the dish to experiment with. Feel free to substitute things or add more of what you like and less of what you don’t. It really is harder to mess up chili. As long as you have the right seasonings you are good to go!
**if you want to use pre-cooked chicken, instead of doing 2 1/2 cups of water, use 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water. A lot of the flavor is coming from the chicken, and if yours is already cooked, the chicken flavor wont seep into the chili as much as needed for flavor.
How to Make Your Own Beans
Forget the canned stuff. Yea, you can use it – but making your own is SO much cheaper. A couple pounds of beans cost just as much as a couple cans (generally). So I opt to making my own beans. Another plus is that it doesn’t have all the preservatives that canned beans have.
First, measure the beans. My chili recipe calls for one cup, so that’s where you’d start.
Then you sort the beans. Most of the packaging that beans come in have cooking directions. But “sorting” is where most package directions fail to include or explain. Sorting beans is something you have to do by hand. I think the easiest way to do it is by pouring some of the uncooked beans onto a large cutting board or tray making it easy to see all the beans. It’s even easier if the tray or cutting board is the opposite color of the beans. For instance, it was very easy to see the black beans on my white cutting board.
Then section by section, I drag the ‘normal-looking’ beans off the cutting board, into my colander. The beans you don’t want in your colander are the ones that look deformed or misshapen and rock/dirt clumps. Yea, those rock-like clumps are dirt. If you get it wet and then mush it between your fingers, it turns to mud. GROSS! That’s why we sort the beans. You don’t really need to worry about beans that are halved like some of them in my pile above, but I like to get them out just because I figure I am already going through all the work, I might as well. But most people let those be.
Next, rinse the beans in colander. Rinse them well … we did just pull some dirt out of the pile after all.
Then pour the beans in the pot with the 4 cups of water (1 to 4 ratio). The water doesn’t really need to be exact. You generally just need to make sure the beans have plenty of water to soak up. You always want there to be extra water in there so if you don’t want to measure (I don’t normally measure) just be sure to check on the beans every so often to make sure they have plenty of water.
Bring the water to a rolling boil and let it boil for 2-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 1 – 2 hours until it’s reaches the desired softness or put it in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to use the beans, drain and rinse the beans again.
You might be asking yourself, do I need to drain the beans? Can I cook with that water? (or at least I asked myself that)
Soaking the beans allows some of the indigestible sugars to be released from the beans themselves. You know why people say beans give them gas? If you drain them after soaking, there’s less of those sugars to give you any digestion discomfort. – Also found out, your plants will LOVE this water. So if you don’t like to waste, introducing your new plant food.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
| May 4, 2013 |
Cinco de Mayo is this weekend! That means margaritas and more Mexican food than you should probably eat. Before the fiesta begins, I want to give you a few pointers…
If you’re planning to go out:
Limit your chip eating or just don’t have any at all. Seriously! Chips at Mexican food restaurants are like crack. You eat one – next thing you know the whole basket is gone. Been there, done that! If you are going to indulge in chips, pre-plan how many chips you will eat before you go.
When you order your food, avoid any fried and cheesy items. Go for the fajitas or grilled chicken and skip the tortillas. Try the taco salad without the shell, hold the sour cream.
For drinks, stay away from beer and sugary cocktail drinks. A good restaurant will make a margarita from scratch using lime, versus the cheaper way – using a syrup. It’s a safer bet if the menu says it’s served on the rocks and tells you what type of tequila. Generally, they don’t like to blend a good tequila. But let’s be honest, if you’re going to have a drink, the option with the least amount of calories is the one without any mix-ins. Get a shot of tequila! OLE!
Easy Shrimp Ceviche
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 jalapeno
- 1/2 a cup of lime juice
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 1/2 a cucumber
- 1/2 a bundle of cilantro (1.5 cups chopped)
- 1 lb prepped cooked shrimp (small)
- 1 mango
- 2 celery stalks
- sea salt to taste
Directions
Using the food processor, chop the garlic clove, jalapeno, roma tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber. You can add the lime juice if you need a little liquid to allow the processor to do it’s job. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Hand chop the cilantro, shrimp, mango, and celery stalks and add it to the mixing bowl. I hand chop this stuff because: 1) the cilantro will only wrap itself around the blade if you try to chop it with the food processor. 2) The shrimp is generally cut in larger pieces which you cant control with a food processor. 3) It would absolutely kill your mango into mush. 4) Celery strings might mess up your food processor.
Mix all the ingredients together (including any of the lime juice you didn’t already add). Add the sea salt to taste. Now you can stuff an avocado with it, serve with chips, or just grab a fork and dig in.
Optional: So I cheated on the shrimp by using pre-cooked cocktail shrimp which I then made sure all the tails and shells were taken off. But if you have the time and aren’t lazy, buy raw shrimp. After removing the shells and tails, place in a bag or tupperware with 1/2 cup of lime juice. Refrigerate until the shrimp turns opaque. Then boil the shrimp and put it in a bowl of ice to stop it from over-cooking. Then use this shrimp in the recipe above instead of the pre-cooked stuff.
Skinny Margarita
- 1 shot of tequila
- 1 shot of lime juice
- 1/4 shot agave
- 1/4 peeled orange
- rimming salt
Directions
In a shaker, add all the ingredients together (minus the rimming salt) and mash the orange into the shaker. Add ice shake, shake, and pour in a glass rimmed with salt over fresh ice. If you think it’s too strong, feel free to add a little water to it. But no more than a shot or two of water, otherwise it will just be a watered down drink.
By using agave, it’s a cleaner way to get the sweet flavor without using a margarita sweet syrup. The orange replaces the Triple Sec, a citrus based liquor in most margarita recipes. Is the Triple Sec really necessary when you can use the real thing? Hope you enjoy 🙂
My Carbo Loading Recipe and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon
| April 7, 2013 |
There are so many different ways and techniques people use their diet to boost their running performance. Having not really thought about a special diet for the Disneyland Half back in September, for RunDisney’s Tinker Bell Half Marathon I wanted to be more prepared. (If you read my post about the Disney Half, you know I wasn’t prepared in any way, shape, or form).
Besides preparing for the run by running, because we all know that’s a must, I was doing my regular healthy low-carb diet with very minimal cheat meals. The month of, I didn’t cheat at all (with the exception of a celebratory glass of champagne for my work’s 25th anniversary).
Here’s where the diet change starts to come in… Like I mentioned, I follow a low-carb diet. I rarely eat breads and pastas and when I do have carbs, it’s usually some quinoa or oatmeal, and this usually only happens once a week. The week leading up to the run, I added carbs into my daily diet routine. I would have a piece of whole wheat bread for breakfast with some almond butter and a banana or a sandwich for lunch.
The night before my run, I had pasta. YUM! A lot of people say you should carbo-load the night before. There’s even a Pasta in the Park party at Disneyland the night before for an additional fee. For me personally, the acidity in traditional marinara doesn’t sit well with any cardio sessions, so I made a pesto!
Note that it’s nut free for all my nutty EpiPen people out there (some of my best friends included). Not to mention that I discovered pine nuts are way out of my budget. Yikes! Sunflower seeds just seemed so much more practical.
{Nut Free} Spinach Basil Pesto
- 1/2 cup packed fresh basil
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Directions
Put the basil, 2 cups fresh spinach, garlic cloves and half of the extra virgin olive oil in a food processor. Allow the processor to run until the pesto reaches a thick sauce-like consistency. I had to do half the spinach first, then added the other half due to the size of my food processor. Add extra olive oil if needed.
Add your pesto to your pasta or pack for later use. This also tastes great on sandwiches, used as a salad dressing, or even baked on chicken.
Be sure that if you don’t use all of it, you store it with a layer of olive oil on top. Air is pesto’s worst enemy. Think wilted salad, only it’s your pesto that now has a funky wilted flavor. You can store it in a jar but I didn’t do anything fancy – just my tupperware. See how I put about a quarter inch layer of olive oil on top? The next time you use it you can just mix in the olive oil you topped it off with.
Pre-race dieting can really affect your run. The best thing to do is look at your diet. Increase your carb intake based on your current intake. Don’t eat a ton of pasta because another runner said that’s what they do. Eating more than your body is ready to handle can put your digestive system in a funk.
Another thing to look out for is to watch your fiber intake. I generally eat a TON of fruits and veggies loaded with fiber. Pre-race, loading up on fiber can be just as bad as eating too much pasta … maybe worse! Registered Dietitian Tara Gidus recommends you “cut back on those foods three days before a major race.” This doesn’t mean you cut everything out those three days – just reduce the amount of fiber based on your regular daily intake. For me, I eat about 2 cups of veggies a meal so I chose veggies with less fiber and cut it to one cup a meal those 3 days.
The final and biggest mistake new runners make is trying something new. That’s why I recommend you base your fiber and carb intake off your current diet and I don’t just straight out tell you how much you should have. New diets, new products, even new running shorts should all have a trial period before the big day. Don’t decide the morning of that you want to try some new protein shake made for runners. It’s the unwritten law – stick to what you know.
My run itself went great!!! My goal was to keep running or jogging the whole time, no stopping. Last time I didn’t train and wasn’t ready at all, so when walked for a bit I couldn’t get back up and running. That was not going to happen this time. I also made sure I had good shoes, my KTTape and everything else I mentioned in my last RunDisney blog post. When I was running, I just kept telling myself “mind over matter” and thought about how I just spent around $200 for this race so I better not disappoint myself. HA! I shed 30 minutes off my last time and finished with 3:03:26. I call that a win!
PS – Seeing that it was the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, I thought I’d be original and dress like Tiger Lily. You like? (and you can barely tell but that IS a feather in my hair)
UPDATE(4/9): Just found out that the runner wearing the Fireside Girl costume next to me has a blog too! It’s a small world! I shared my post on one of the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Runner’s Facebook groups and Patty from Margaritas, Miles & The Mouse commented that it was her.
