Chicken Sausage and Spinach Pizza

So yesterday was my half marathon race, I was super excited to be running it again, that was until half way through the race I started to get painful blisters on the side of my heels and toes.  I dont know if it was from the shoes or my socks that I had on, but I was really ready to give up.  I ran into another girl in blister pain and we walked/ran the last few miles together.  I'm really doubting if I can actually complete the full marathon in January.  I am so sore today and I cant even fathom running another 13.1 miles.  Hopefully I can do it, but right now I dont know!

I got this receipe off of Cleaneatingonline.com  I'm always looking for a healthy pizza receipe.  We had got into the habit of ordering dominos thin crust beef pizza at least once a week.  YIKES!  So I saw this recipe and decided to give it a try.  It worked out really well, I was surprised :-)

6 oz. spinach

1 (14.5 oz.) can no salt diced tomatoes

1 12” whole wheat thin pizza crust ( I couldnt find this in my supermarket so I had to use the only crust I could find)

2 fully cooked chicken sausages, sliced into ¼ inch slices

3 oz. low fat shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. oregano

Ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook spinach in a pot until wilted, about 4 minutes. (The original recipe called for adding a tsp of olive oil, I omitted this).  Season with pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place tomatoes in a fine mesh strainer and press out as much liquid as possible. Spread tomatoes onto pizza crust. Top with spinach, sausage, mozzarella, and oregano. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let pizza rest for 5 minutes before serving. Slice into 6 pieces and serve. Serves 6.

Nutritional information: Calories: 230, Fat: 8 g., Carbs: 25 g., Protein: 12 g.

Uncooked pizza

Cooked Pizza ( I over did it on the Oregeno :-)

Spicy Crawfish with Extra Shabang!

I love crawfish, especially the crawfish from Boiling Crab.  You have to ask for it with extra spicy shabang sauce.  Its so good, I think I could eat it everyday. 

Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole

I got this reciepe from cleaneatingonline.  I changed it up a bit, used instant brown rice and omitted the olive oil.

Ingredients:


1 package instant brown rice

1 zucchini, halved and cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 yellow squash, halved and cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 lb. lean ground beef

3/4 c. shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice, cook about 10 minutes until done.

Cook 1 lb. ground beef in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until no longer pink.

During the last 5 minutes of cooking time add zucchini, yellow squash, and garlic to a preheated pan. Sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add cooked rice and ground beef to vegetables, cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes. Stir vegetables and rice together and top with cheese. Place lid on top for 1 minute. Makes 4 (1 1/2 c.) servings.

Nutritional information: Calories: 259, Fat: 6 g., Protein: 10 g., Carbs: 40 g.

Devils food Cupcakes!

I wanted to make a healthier cupcake, so I figured I would start with dark chocolate since thats supposed to be better for you, even though I really dont like it!  I used a box cake mix, substituted the oil for apple sauce.  The box mix made 24 cupcakes.  For the icing you will need the following ingredients:

• 1/3 cup splenda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/3 cup 1% milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

 Begin with the frosting to give it time to cool.  Mix together in a saucepan the splenda and cocoa.  Once its mixed together add 1/2 of the milk until there are no more lumps, then add the rest of the milk.  Cook on medium heat until it begins to boil  Remove from heat and allow to cool for 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla and then the chocolate chips, mix until completely dissolved.  Set aside until the cupcakes are ready to frost.

Now bake the cupcakes at the directions state (mine stayed in the oven for 20 minutes).  Once the cupcakes cool, dip the top in the icing.  Voila!  A healthier cupcake!

Whole Roasted Chicken

I was trying to think of something easy to make that would last a few days.  I saw another blog that had a whole roasted chicken on it.  I figured it cant be that hard!  So I bought the chicken, brought it home, began to wash it out, I was not prepared for all of the um, interesting "goodies" that were stuffed in the cavity.  I dont understand why they dont sell pre cleaned chickens!

Ingredients:

• 1 3-5 lb chicken
• 1 head garlic
• 1 lemon, sliced in half
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1 tsp butter, cut into small chunks
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Preheat your oven to 425. Remove chicken from package and remove and throw away giblets from the inside cavity. Wash chicken with cool water inside and out and pat dry. Stuff the sliced lemon, the garlic head, thyme and half the butter chunks into the cavity of the chicken. Stuff the remainder of the butter underneath the chicken skin on the outside of the bird and sprinkle the whole thing liberally with sea salt and pepper.
Place chicken in a roasting pan or casserole dish and bake for about 90 minutes, or until juices run clear when sliced into. When done, remove chicken from the oven and cover loosely with tin foil, forming a tent around the dish. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Before serving, remove lemon from the inside of the cavity. The garlic will have roasted itself and can just be squeezed out from the peel.

 

First the Baby then the Lady

Greg, Therese, David and I went to eat a Vietnamese restaurant on Sunday.  David was apparently having trouble keeping his food on his plate, so the waiter started calling him the baby.  It then became the tables joke.  The waiter came over, filled up David's glass first, then mine and said "first the baby then the lady".

We ate so much, I only took pictures of the last part of the meal, which was beef, squid and shrimp, that we cooked on the table ourselves.  It was delicious!

Day 3 Dinner

For our last dinner we made reservations at the hibachi grill.  Our waiter was very entertaining!  If you have ever been to a Benihana then you know what the meal was like.

Mixing up the vegies and meat.

Volcano of onions

Doing tricks!

Fried ice cream to finish it off!

Day 2 Dinner 2

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday.  I got busy, I ran in the morning and then did an everlast boxing class at the gym.  Then I met up with some friends for lunch and then went home and made 4 meals to freeze for lunch and dinner this coming week.  Then it was off to meet up with Therese for some shopping!

Day 2 Dinner 2 was at the Asian food restaurant.  We waited over an hour to get a table. I was extremelly dissapointed in the food.  I ordered the Tom Yum Goong soup, it tasted like cabbage soup.  It wasnt spicy, it was bland bland bland! Greg ordered some chicken scewers that I didnt try.  I ordered a spciy shrimp noodle dish, it was not spicy, it was extra sweet, which I hate in "real" food, I only like my sweets to be dessert!  Greg ordered the chicken fried rice, you cant really go wrong there!  Therese ordered a chicken dish, and Greg took the first bite, ate half of the piece of chicken and realized it was not cooked through, at all!  Luckily he didnt get sick!  David ordered a noodle dish as well, he seemed to like his, I gave up trying everyones dishes at this place, was tired of having bad food!

This doesnt even look like Tom Yum Goong!

Day 2 Dinner 1 Main Course

I'm not really in the mood to blog today.  Being out of work is so boring.  My typical day, wake up, either run or do a class at the gym or pilates, go to gym to do some weights, drive around town for 30 minutes trying to find something to do, go home, search for jobs for a few hours, watch TV go to sleep.  Exciting I know.  Today I did a spin class, going to do power pilates tonight.  Oh well enough of my complaining.  Here is the main courses that we ordered.  I ordered the suckling pig, it was really fatty and there was only like 3 pieces of meat in the dish.  Greg ordered some steak, flank steak I think, it was good, and David ordered another type of red meat in a coffee sauce.  I didnt try it since I dont like coffee.

 

Day 2 Dinner 1 Appetizers

On day two we did our first dinner at a Mexican food restaurant. The appetizers were all better than the main courses (which I will show you tomorrow :-). They started us off with a mango cream shot. It tasted like pudding to me.

Next we each ordered an appetizer for everyone to share.  I ordered the tamales, made with mexican cheese and a chocolate chili sauce.  They were ok, nothing special.

Therese ordered the ceviche, it had good flavor.

Greg ordered the lobster quesadillas, which were the best thing that we all ate.

David ordered the shrimp, I thought it was very good, it had a really good mouse that came along with it.

Then we ordered the two soups that they had, the lobster and shrimp bisque, it was very fishy tasting, with very little meat, and the tortilla soup.  I just had a bit of this but everyone seemed to really like it.

All in all the appetizers were decent.  We ordered two more orders of the lobster tacos :-)

Day 1 Playa Del Carmen

Sorry for the lapse in posts, we went to Playa del Carmen on Thursday and obviously didnt have time to post.  We got in around 6:15 pm, but then the drive from the airport to our resort, Secrets Maroma, was a 45 minute drive.  Our friends Therese and David were already there, waiting for us in the lobby, having a minchelada or two.  We immediately went to the outdoor "bar b que" they were having  by the pools.  Didnt take any pictures of the food, it was pretty standard buffet style.  A couple of hours later we went and had more food, hey it was an all inclusive resort we had to get our moneys worth lol!  Here is night 1, dinner 2 :-)

Therese and I started off with the grilled octopus.  I really liked it, it tasted like a more rubbery calamari.

Therese and I love spicy food, so she asked for some of their hottest sauces.  She is giving them the thumbs up :-)

Therese had the shrimp and scallops, the scallops were so good!

I had the halibut with mashed potato's, the potato's were better than the fish.

Greg had the grilled chicken and fries.  It was ok, can't really go wrong with a standard chicken dish.

Saved the best for last, David ordered the ribs, they were so good!  We kept saying we were going back for them, but there were too many restaurants we had to try out before our short trip was over.

Davids Birthday

So we went out to our friend David's birthday party last night. I told myself I wasn't going to have any bad food, 4 pieces of brisket quesadilla, copious amounts of cheese and queso, french Fry's dipped in ranch dressing and one chicken finger latter I thought I was going to explode. Then Therese brings out the birthday cake, red velvet, my favorite.....so of course I had to have a slice (or two).

Mesa Grill

I think my favorite restaurant in Las Vegas is Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.  Everytime I go the food is fantastic.  The one thing that I always have to get it is the red apple martini.  It tastes like an applie pie, its so good!  The Goat Cheese Queso Fundido is delicious!  I love cheese, especially queso, adding goat cheese to it, so good!  Dont you just want to dig in!

Spicy Thai Chili Oil Pho

I was craving some Pho for lunch today so I stopped at a noodle house while I was out. I love spicy soups and Pho I think has to be my favorite. This was a beef pho with spicy chili oil, I added in some saracha for some extra kick!

ACL here we come!

So I've been tyring to eat healthy all week because I knew Austin City Limits was coming up this weekend, and I know there is no way I'm going to be able to pass up delicious fried festival food!  Last night I did sushi with one of my friends, mostly sashimi, we sneaked in one roll and some edamame :-)  This  morning I woke up and decided to do a protein shake with Kefir, and then do a quick 3 miles, bad move, Kefir before a run, never again!  It does not taste as good coming up as it did going down! 

This is the protein powder we are using.  It says to use three scoops, but thats 600 calories, so we put in just one.

Here is the wonderful Kefir.  It tastes like regular non sweetened yogurt.  I mix these two with water ice and some cinnamon.

Trying to Eat Healthy

So I stepped on the scale for the first time last week and realized I need to loose 45 lbs! (well maybe not 45 lbs, exactly, but at least turn some of this flab i've mysteriously acquired into muscle again). So we are now trying to eat extremelly healthy. I'm also training for the Houston Marathon in January, so its better that I am eating healthy for energy. This morning I made a cup of oatmeal, one tablespoon almond butter, a pinch of granola and a banana for breakfast. I had it yesterday morning too and it gave me enough energy to run 9 miles. It keeps me full all morning which is hard to do :-)