Chicken Piccatta…. Picattttttaaaaaa

I just like saying it, Picatta… Picaaatttaaa! I was saying it in my head all day.

So breakfast was all about fruits… lunch was all about Vegetables and Dinner was out of this world!

I did a a little saute mix of tofu, some a few grilled chicken pieces, and lots of frozen veggies ( bell pepper mix, brussels, cauliflower, carrots, zuchinni)

I had the last slice of whole grain bread to go with it.

Then I got prepped for dinner…

Chicken Piccatta!

Oh my goodness oh my goodness, this was delicious!
So here are my pre-prep ingredients ( minus the chicken obviously) with my recipe
 

Here is the recipe…

You can click on the picture to get the recipe, but my differences were:
I used 3 pounded and thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts ( huge ones)

• Whole Grain Flour ( I used about 1 cup for 3 large breasts, recipe calls for AP)
• Smart Balance instead of Butter
• Reisling instead of Chicken Stock

NOO Olive Oil and Smart Balance bubbling…

Chicken dredged in flour sizzling in the butter for 6 minutes…

Once chicken is browned, add in the wine, lemon juice, campers ( or Capers haha) and scrape brown bits until bubbling like this:

 

When it gets hot and bothered like that, add the chicken back in and simmah (or Simmer) for about 10 more minutes.

On the side I had cooked some wild, whole grain Uncle Bens. I don’t prefer rice really at all but this stuff was pretty tasty and had different grain textures.

 

And I broiled brussels and cauliflower..

drumroll please…

This was absolutely by far the best chicken I have ever made.

It was scrumptious. Using whole grain flour really gave the chicken a wonderful texture. I decided to pound out the chicken for a few reasons, for one, the breasts were HUGE and would’ve taken forever to cook thoroughly and another reason is that pounding the meat makes it so tender. The briny capers and sour lemon cut the buttery taste nicely and the wine added a refreshing sweetness. The lemon, caper, butter and wine combination is probably one of my all time favorite.

Body:

Run:  5.11 miles in 39 minutes. Same time and distance as Sunday so that pumped me up.

I was so pumped that I did Jillian’s 30 Day Shred ( my Day 10 of the challenge) after my run, Level 2, with my 8 lb dumbells. Phew! I’ve lost 1.5 inches in my waist in 10 Days of shredding ( To be fair though- Since starting the 30 Day Shred Challenge, I have run 23 miles and moved huge furniture for about 4 hours) 

Mind:

Vitamins Exam in ONE WEEK! eek! didn’t I just have one of those! Today’s lecture was on Vitamin B 12, Magnesium and Iodide.We saw all these pictures of goiters ( iodide deficiency condition). Scarred me for life I think.

Studied for our terminology quiz.. about to study more right now..

Soul:

That chicken picatta… gees.. it was so delicious and satisfying.

I talked with my brother and my mom- We now have my brother’s girlfriends’ birthday dinner this weekend at Melting Pot.

Our other friends are moving too! We might just help them out too.

I am really happy that I do not have a goiter.

Coconut Curry Thai Fry

Body:

The hip opening yoga was alright, it was a little hard to follow at first because I hadn’t looked at the pose guide- so after I looked at that- I was good to go. I think my favorite will be the detox based on the pose guide I glanced at today.

Run: I ran a steady, paced 6.5 miles after warming up by walking a 1/2 mile. It felt just fine but my knees weren’t “awesome” so I stuck to a slower pace.

Mind:
While I like to do something for my body, mind and soul everyday- I am on spring break from school so part of me feels I should give my mind a rest this week. That would still be doing something for my mind since it could use it temporarily! 🙂

I did flip through two magazines at the gym… 🙂

We’ll see…

Soul:

Yoga gave me an almost instantaneous boost in my spirit today that was really noticeable even after just 20 minutes! I had felt kinda “blah” yesterday so for sure I knew I wanted to up my yoga practice. I have gotten away from it recently ( at least compared to as often as I used to practice)… I am looking forward to it tomorrow as well. I know it always makes me feel better but I don’t always remember just HOW much better it makes me feel!

The Bachelor season finale! I heard he picked Melissa but it seems like he is totally in to Molly more- I don’t know!?!?!

Here are my Eats:

Lunch

I had made the other half of tofu ( I did taco tofu yesterday) by rubbing it with a ranch seasoning packet and letting it chill for a day or two. I had found the last of the packet in the cabinet next to the last of the taco seasoning packet and figured I would try out both for fun. I dropped it in the skillet with some black beans and browned it on all sides.

Let me tell you, I thought I liked the taco tofu but the ranch tofu is WAY better!! I really really REALLY  enjoyed this combo!

I also had heated up some farro ( wheatberries/spelt/ etc) on the side which was lovely.

I found this guy on sale at Harris Teeter and really wanted to try it out,
and  the broccoli stir fry veggies were on sale as well so it was perfect! I know I haven’t talked much on here about budget, but I am in graduate school with no job so if you hadn’t guessed, I am a rather tight budget! So I came up with this random idea:

Coconut Curry Broccoli Thai Fry
1 bag broccoli stir fry with snap peas
1 tablespoon of lite soy sauce
1/3 cup Coconut Curry Broth
1 teaspoon all natural peanut butter ( with the oil)
dash of wasabi powder

– Just add to a skillet and stir occasionally until preferred tenderness.

Snack:
a big old organic naner with peanut butter

Dinner:
 

Overall, dinner was super easy and fast and delicious! I made the curry thai fry again but made a whole bag this time and without the black beans. I added about a tablespoon of lite soy sauce at the beginning of cooking. I just let it all simmer for about 15 minutes. It was gorgeous when all the vegetables started getting bright and really vibrant in color.

Jeff grilled steaks that were also a great price this week!
I heated up some frozen brussel sprouts with pepper in the microwave.

We had Hodgson’s Mill Whole Wheat CousCous on the side- I made it according to the package and threw in a can of chick peas after cooking. Man, couscous is WAY easier and WAY faster than rice! It only took boiling water , add in the grain, and 5 minutes of soaking up.

Hmm.. I am totally satisfied! I ate my whole plate too ( approximately 1.5-2 servings of meat, 1.5 servings of grain, 3 servings of vegetables)

Happy Monday!

Does anyone have a super awesome tofu recipe ? Does anyone ever use it to make something sweet and dessert like?

Going Backwards…

So right now we are watching the third Lord of The Rings movie, neither of us have seen it and we watched the second earlier today. We are trying to figure out what to do for dinner so it will have to be a surprise for the morning!

Body:
Gym- short 30 minute elliptical session just to stay loose and I am going to do some yoga before I go to bed…

Mind:
I finally got the yoga downloads to work!!  For whatever reason, I have been trying to download them for months now and have been unsuccessful of getting them to download to my computer after getting them into my account. They always freeze mid-download until today! Woohoo!

Soul:
It has been raining for two+ days straight! Blech! And it is chilly- there are all kinds of winter storm warnings too! We are supposed to get up to 6 inches of snow! I bet everyone has a snow day tomorrow! Since I am on Spring Break, it will be cool if I get to hang out with people normally not on break.

We’ll see!!
Does anyone remember how excited you would get at the chance of a snow day when you were young? Sometimes I would be so excited I couldn’t sleep!

Alright, going backwards from just a few hours ago with a snack to yesterday’s festivities, Here is my food- life in photos:

Snack:
Chobani Strawberry and Kashi Go Lean

Lunch:
Organic Herb greens with black beans, tofu and veggies ( broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zuchinni, red pepper, snow peas and a snap pea) with a little Goddess Dressing..

Taco Tofu! I have been marinating extra firm tofu in taco seasoning and lime juice and pressed it under a plate for a two days. I just heated it up in the skillet, flipping it on all its sides.

It was my favorite tofu so far.

Sunday Breakfast
Cinnamon French Toast Triangles with some greek yogurt and blueberries

Saturday Recap:
I had a beer at the fundraiser! It was similar to blue moon, a belgian wheat/white ale called “shocktop” .

We ordered food shortly after because that run had me starving! I ordered a Reuben and split it with Jeff

He had ordered a sampler for the table and I had a fried mushroom from it.

We ended up staying out all night! After they finished the fundraiser we met our other friends at a Sushi Bar.

(Brit, Andrea and Me).
We used to go there quite often but I ended up usually not feeling well, despite ordering non-shellfish containing items. Considering cross contamination is probably highly likely with the rolling and knives etc, it is tough for me to order food there and trust that it had not been prepared on something that already touched shellfish prior.

Long story long, I got a salad with ginger dressing, miso soup and edamame.

I also ordered a Lychee Martini. If you have never had lychee fruits, they tastes very similar to grapefruit but slightly more sweet in comparison. You can get gummy lychee fruits at asian supermarkets I believe, my friend at school always has them and shares with me so hence the inspiration when ordering this guy. I only had a couple sips though and was glad to share the rest with Andrea.

Nate ordered two banana desserts for everyone to share! The banana was tempura fried and there was ice cream and whip cream and chocolate sauce. I was highly disappointed that I only got one bite of a banana and two bites of ice cream even though Tim (Brit’s bf) swears he didn’t get any at all! I would have probably finished one of these desserts entirely on my own had I the opportunity.

After this guy, we headed back to Andrea and Nate’s to play Wii until the Wee hours of the morning.

There was our friend “before” he got his head shaved- too bad I couldn’t get an after shot- he had already left to shower off all the hair clippings! ah well… next year and maybe even Jeff will do it?

Hot Chocolate Kind of Day

Breakfast:
Smoothie: Pineapple, Blueberry, Banana, Flaxseed Butter, Organic Milk 1% and
Miini bowl of oats ( just 1/3 cup irish cut mixed with 1/3 cup water, tsp of peanut butter, sprinkle of coconut)

Lunch:
Organic Creamy Leek and Potato Soup, BBQ Tofu Sammy ( with hummus and a tiny piece of cheese)

Dinner:
Whole wheat pasta, garlic herb tomato sauce ( a can of Hunt’s and I sherry-ied it up!) and a Tilapia Filet.
I used to eat this my last year in college very often- I loved the tomato sauce and tilapia sprinkled with parmesean- so yummy!

Body:
Still resting ugh! I would love to get me some exercise of any format at this point but the cold wins, I slept literally for 12 hours from last night to this “morning” . I know I needed it but mentally I am dying to exercise~physically just not ready yet.

Mind:
I did make it to class today, we had three presentations on The American Indian- Strong Heart Study, African American Women Obesity, and CVD in non-hispanic foreign born populations…

and.. Gasp, I messed up a suduko! Man I really must be sick!
Soul:
I found this great Southern Living Magazine (The Best Ever Cakes and Pies)

from earlier this year- one of my student’s mom’s gave this to me during Teacher Appreciation week- I read through it dreaming of all the amazing desserts to make. I am going to share/attempt one with my mom for next week since she bought a springform pan while we shopped together “Lightened Mocha Chocolate Cheesecake” – yum! We may make more too. ( hint hint )
And.. I got this in the mail from her ( I called her to debate whether or not I should get these sheets b/c they were a really good deal)

and… I made this Hot Cocoa, while my pictures were uploading because it was so cold out today ( I took Jack outside and took my garbage can to the curb for am pickup… Brrr!)

I use a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder, mix it with 1/2 teaspoon of Brown Sugar Splenda blend, 1 cup of 1% Organic Milk, splash of cream, and a big splash of water… mix very well, heat in the microwave for 1 1/2 -2 minutes… stir, add marshmallows, sprinkly of coconut

Rocky Road…

Body:
Doctor says it might not yet be a respiratory infection but I did get an icky strep test that (thank goodness) came out negative! So rest it was after buying some crucial theraflu for sore throat. As soon as I got home and took it, I fell asleep. I pretty much slept all day because I did not sleep AT ALL last night! Awful, I was up every hour ( i looked at the clock) from my throat hurting etc etc.

Mind:
I even stayed home from class… I HATE missing class but there was just no way it would be good for me to bear the cold and strain myself and making classmates sick ( esp. since there were food presentations today too)

I did do three suduko puzzles after waking up late afternoon

Soul:
I found a race next week, Thursday morning 8k around my Campus!!! How awesome is that! I loved training with my runs around campus and I was looking for a 10k to keep my spirits up since the non-race marathon a few weeks ago. I am going to try to kick this nasty bug with lots of rest and hopefully be up and going by thursday/friday of this week .. It will feel so good!

I totally called my mom – It will never go away, needing your mom’s comfort when you are sick. I actually broke down on the third time I woke up last night, 1:30 am, I banged my hip on our doorknob trying to get back to bed without lights on. I crashed and just started bawling, which made me literally heave because of all my congestion and throat pain. As I was blurting unaudibly ” i can’t breathe I am so miserable I just want to sleep I hate this”….Jeff almost laughed at me but was seriously SO sweet, he was rubbing my hands and patting my back telling me to try not to cry because it would make it worse. He is so wonderful.

So this is the first time all day I have had any energy to do anything!
Onto eats… I did eat today and last night I made the most amazing dessert so I should start with that..

HOLY YUM! Rocky Road Brownie for Two ( B-healthy -style)
-three tablespoons no-pudge brownie mix

-2.5 tablespoons nonfat greek yogurt ( i used Oikos Organic Vanilla)
-mixed it very well

-microwaved for 2 minutes

-topped that with:
– Marshmallows

– Pistachios, Almonds, Pecans
– Flaxseed Butter

So freakin delicious! yum!

I know the marshmallows and the mix aren’t incredibly healthy- but all the other ingredients are – IT WAS AWESOME!

Tuesday Breakfast:

French Toast
– two egg whites

-splash of organic 1% milk

-cinnamon

-a half teaspoon of Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

-whisk very well

-Dip slightly toasted bread into this mix, then into a hot pan ( on medium)
– While it was cooking I heated up some fruit – I could definately use the extra vitamins/minerals/antioxidant
– pineapple

-strawberries

-blueberries

-cranberries

When the french toast was done, I took it out and sliced half of a banana into the pan. Turned off the heat and let the sugars caramelize – YUM

Two dipping sauces: Chobani Strawberry Greek 0% Yogurt and Flaxseed Butter

Fantastic breakfast- I was hoping it would make it a fantastic day, but the cold won…

onto…

Lunch:
I got back from the doctor’s and had…
Chicken Noodle Soup ( Healthy Choice)
added extra chicken and extra veggies!
On the side I slathered up a mini whole wheat tortilla (Trader Joe’s) with hummus

Dinner:
Easy casserole + Tofu on the Side
-Annie’s Mac and Cheese ( organic)
-Made as directed but used a splash of organic cream and 1/4 cup nonfat plain Chobani

– While that cooked, I defrosted broccoli in the dish

-Added sliced up “healthy style” canadian ham bacon ( it literally says it on the package “health style”)
– I added the Annie’s into my dish, mixed all of it really well

-Crushed four triscuits very well and spread on top

-Shook Parmesan cheese on that

-Baked for about 20 minutes on 350 ( in my toaster oven of course)

For the tofu, ( which is making its first appearance on the blog! wooohooo applause please)
I dried it out with a few paper towels, then sliced the pack in half. I left one half in the fridge for later and this half I used
Olive Oil

Pepper, Salt

Hot Pepper Sauce ( dashes of Frank’s and Tabasco)

And let it saute on several of its sides.
I have to say, it was alright, but it was tofu.
Does anyone have any good recipes for tofu that do not include a “sweet” factor?

I found a bunch with maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, etc. I was trying to make it taste like buffalo chicken but it didn’t do it for me. I will not give up on tofu though. ( I have actually tried several times before) ..