Cajun Sweet Potato Fries

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

If I had to pick one food to eat on a desert island every day for the rest of my life, I would choose french fries.

I certainly love noshin’ on a tub of fries, but it’s definitely not the best thing for my waistline.

Subbing in sweet potatoes instead of regular french fries makes all the difference health-wise, as sweet potatoes are considered a “super food”(source). Sweet potatoes are chock full of antioxidants and vitamins that our bodies need daily.

Fries and super food in the same sentence? Yes, please.

This spicy recipe is adapted from Cookie and Kate (Um, I like that blog name!)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp hot chili powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into fries.

Place the uncooked fries into a mixing bowl or a plastic bag.

Add cornstarch, olive oil, and additional seasonings and spices to your bowl/bag o’ fries. Mix everything so that the fries are evenly coated.

Pour the fries onto a baking sheet(s) covered with parchment paper or a non-stick baking sheet(s) and spread the fries in a single layer with some breathing room.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Take out and flip the fries with a spatula.

Put back in the oven and bake for 15-20 more minutes. Remove when fries are crispy.

Add ketchup and enjoy!

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

If you had to pick one food to eat on a desert island every day for the rest of your life, what food would you choose?

8Jan2013

How To: Seed A Pomegranate

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, How To by chicken nugget girl

I wasn’t feeling very good this weekend, but lucky for me, my friend Mal stayed in with me on Friday and did cool things with me like figuring out how to get all of the pomegranate seeds out of a pomegranate.

It all started with a trip to Whole Foods to pick up ingredients to make quinoa sliders.

Since pomegranates are currently in season (in the winter) they are all over the grocery stores right now. We were thinking about buying one of the small tubs of pomegranate seeds, but then looked at the price tag.

Yeah, not going to buy a bunch of seeds for $8.00. (Unless they’re chia seeds, of course).

So instead, Mal was nice enough to buy us a fancy Whole Foods pomegranate for $2.99 and ~~she~~ we studied multiple youtube videos of how to cut open a pomegranate and get out all of the seeds.

Thank you for being my pom model, Mal!

First, cut off the nubbins at the end of the pomegranate.

Cut the pomegranate in half vertically – the ends where the nubbins were should be horizontal (don’t cut through those).

Look at all those juicy seeds!

Put the pomegranate in a bowl of water (or over-sized Tupperware of water) to soften it up. Be careful, because the seeds can pop and stain clothes, counter tops, and cutting boards.

Start breaking the seeds out of the rind.

Go slowly – and peel ’em all out!

Once the seeds are out, toss the rind.

Rinse the extra bits of rind off of the seeds and dry them on a paper towel.

Perf for a little snack during Law and Order SVU…

with some dark chocolate chips. 🙂

7Jan2013

Not Feelin’ So Hot and A New Food

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Goals by chicken nugget girl

Ugh. I have not been feelin’ so hot the past few days.

I caught the mid-winter cold that everyone else has, with a stuffy nose, low fever, and achy joints. But instead of being concerned about where to find my misplaced Airborne, I spent my Saturday morning stressing about skipping my long run.

(original via)

Last week was only the second week of half marathon training, and I really really wanted to stick to my very important New Year’s resolution.

(source)

A 5 mile run was on the agenda, and my brand-new Garmin was still desperately begging to be played with.

I was good though, and didn’t try force my sickly self through a long run in the cold.

Yes, I felt guilty, and my mind really wanted to get the run in.

But my body most certainly did not. So I came up with a new theory to make myself feel better about missing my run.

A training schedule is a guide to prepare yourself for a race.

Um, duh?

Hold on, I’m going somewhere with this.

So is that schedule about successfully executing each individual run or rest according to the plan? Well, maybe. But not if you’re sick, or injured – that would actually make your body less prepared for a race because you’d be hurting it!

Sticking to a training plan is exactly what you should do if you are healthy – and not because you HAVE to write in the exact mileage that is on the spreadsheet to make your chart look pretty. I’m going to get through this training cycle by looking at the big picture.

I want to best prepare my body for 13.1 miles which means taking care of its needs first. And sometimes those needs are hot cocoa and sitting on your ass.

I’ll be back to making my chart look pretty tomorrow, when I’m feeling 100% back to normal.

*****

In other exciting news, I tried grapefruit for the first time this weekend.

I was hoping the vitamin C content would fix me right up.

After two bites, grapefruit is now on my: “Food I Have Actually Tried and Do Not Like” List. I figured I would treat you with this lovely video of me eating a grapefruit:

(source)

Do you skip or push through runs when you’re sick?

2Jan2013

Quinoa Sliders

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

When I brought these quinoa sliders to our Christmas lunch, I kept joking to my family that they better enjoy them because I was never going to make them again! They were quite labor intensive and set the fire alarm off not once, but thrice (I forgot to turn the stove fan on).

But then I tasted them.

Alas, I shall be making them again. Maybe this weekend?

This recipe was adapted from How Sweet It Is.

Makes 10-12 sliders

INGREDIENTS:

1 C uncooked quinoa
1 C cooked chickpeas
12 wheat slider buns
2 avocados, sliced for topping
1/2 C chipotle mayo for topping
1/2 C mozzarella cheese
1/4 C wheat bread crumbs
1/2 C chopped carrots
2 green onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg + 1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Cook quinoa.

Add green onions, carrots, garlic and cheese to a separate bowl. Add bread crumbs and mix.

Coarsely chop chickpeas and add to the mixture.

Add in cooked quinoa and stir.

Then add the beaten egg and egg white, salt, and pepper. Mix well, then form into slider sized patties

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Place 5-6 quinoa patties in the skillet and cook until deeply golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Flip the patties and cook the other side for 5 more minutes. Remove, add new oil, and cook the remaining patties.

Serve with chipotle mayo and sliced avocado.

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

P.S. Have you entered my BIC Bands Giveaway yet??!

26Dec2012

Dark Chocolate Turtles

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

Here’s a little snack that I brought to my family Christmas party yesterday. These tasty turtle bites are just a little bit of an indulgence before gettin’ serious about healthy eating when the New Year comes.

Between prep and cooking, these babies only take a few minutes until you can shovel them into your mouth by the handful.

This recipe was adapted from SELF magazine.

INGREDIENTS:

16 mini whole wheat pretzels

16 dark chocolate-covered caramels (like Rolos)

16 pecan halves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place wax-paper on a baking sheet. Spread pretzels on the baking sheet.

Plop a chocolate caramel on the center of each pretzel.

Cook in the oven for 2 minutes – you want the chocolate caramels to be a little soft, but not too melty!

Remove tray from oven and add pecan halves on the top of each chocolate covered pretzel.

Put the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.

Super easy and delicious. Yum!

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

17Dec2012

Healthy Living Holiday Wish List

Posted in Clean Eating, Run, Running Gear by chicken nugget girl

I love looking at other bloggers’ Holiday wish lists, so I decided to share mine with you!

Maybe it will give you some ideas for gift giving for your healthy living/run-obsessed friends – or for you to ask for! In my fam, if you don’t provide a list of present options for people to get you, you’re in big trouble.

(source)

Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS Watch

Ok, so I didn’t quite ask for this specifically, because it has the price tag is a little steep at $130, but this would be my dream watch. My stopwatch unfortunately died in Brazil due to a tragic nail polish explosion.

According to amazon.com, this new Garmin Forerunner has:

High sensitivity GPS receiver
Records position, speed/pace, distance and calories
Easy-to-use, button operated
Virtual Pacer compares current pace to target
Auto Lap and pause.

Perhaps this one shall have to wait until my birthday. 🙂

BIC Bands

Apologies for this odd pic. I was cold on Rockville 10K day.

Apologies for this odd pic, but it’s a good BIC Band shot. I was cold on Rockville 10K day.

I am one of those people that has to have everything feeling PERFECT during a run. If my shoelaces aren’t tied at the right level of tightness I have to stop and re-tie. I know, I’m slightly cray cray, but please tell me you do this too!

Anyway, I’m the same way about my hair during a run. It MUST be out of my face. My friend Mal got me a BIC Band for my birthday last year, and now I can’t run without one! They stay in place so you don’t have to be constantly messing with your ponytail like I am forever messing with my running wedgies. Sorry in advance to anyone ever running behind me on a treadmill.

Not only are BIC Bands cute and relatively inexpensive, a portion of funds are donated to charity.

Speaking of running wedgies these are apparently the solution to them.

(source)

Oiselle Roga Shorts

Many runners swear by them – the only problem is that they’re about the same price as my monthly electric bill. I guess lights and heat are more important in my life than not having running wedgies (right now.)

Magazine subscription to Runner’s World

(source)

Foam Roller

(source)

I have grown tired of using the one at the gym, especially after sweaty people. Gross. I would also like to foam roll with a glass of wine in hand for the entirety of every Real Housewives episode.

Chia Seeds

Let’s cut to the chase: chia seeds are damn expensive. Instead of buying a packet of chia seeds from Whole Foods that will last you 10 overnight oat jars for $12.99, order them in bulk here like my Mom does.

Though – I wonder if you could grow chia seeds from the hair on a Chia Pet. That would be both cost effective and beneficial to my apartment decor. Looks like I have some research to do….

What is on YOUR healthy living Holiday wish list?

12Dec2012

Le Pain Quotidien

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Restaurants by chicken nugget girl

Or as I still call it, “Le Puh puh qwah qwah,” since I cannot pronounce the name of this restaurant if you paid me.

The Saturday we got back from Brazil, I had to immediately brag about our trip to some of my fam.

We went to Le Pain Quotidien for brunch. I had never been there before – and it was good! Basically a fancy pants Panera that is more of a sit-down restaurant with communal tables.

The only downside was their small servings, but it’s all organic and moderately priced.

I started with some apple cider.

There weren’t any handles! Guess it’s a French thing.

My mom got a fancy turkey and avocado sandwich.

I stuck with some ~~hangover~~ comfort food, and ordered french toast.

My lil’ cuz ate half of it, so we ordered a second round! 🙂

Le Pain Quotidien looks a little bit like Beauty and the Beast on the inside with it’s provincial French decor (I need to start taking pictures of things other than my food!)

(original via)

Tuna got the Spanish omelet and I was jeal. I wish the omelets I make would look like that!

Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

What is your favorite brunch spot?

Best comfort food. Ready….go.

28Nov2012

[Real] Coconut

Posted in Adventure, Clean Eating, Food, Travel, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

Now that I’m back in the U.S. of A. with my laptop, I finally feel that I can give my Brazil posts the credit they deserve! (It was getting tricky trying to blog from my iPhone.)

So travel back a week in time with me to last Monday night when Tuna and I boarded our plane to Rio.

I knew international flights were meant for me when I sat down in my seat and immediately saw this gem:

I shall take several glasses, por favor.

Tuna was jealous of my mad skills to sleep anytime, anywhere, so the plane ride wasn’t too bad (for me).

Once we got to Rio, Tuna’s parents immediately took us to their sweet beach three blocks away from their apartment in Leblon.

Please observe the below picture of Leblon Beach. This is where we got to spend the week. I seriously almost cried when I got home. How amazing is the landscape?

(source)

The two mountains right in the middle are called the “Two Brothers” and a favela (slum) is scattered along the rocks. The sociological side of me would love to study the social issues of Rio. Seeing everything the entire trip really made me realize how lucky I am and how lucky we are to have the opportunities we do here.

We walked down about half a mile to Tuna’s parents’ usual coconut stand to buy some coconuts to drink for 3 real each (pronounced reais) which is about $1.50. I was a little skeptical because I didn’t think I liked coconut. But after drinking these, I realized I love coconut!

What I don’t like is processed coconut – the shredded white stuff doused in sugar. Real, natural coconut is where it’s at.

I’m definitely ready to be on Survivor now.

After you drink your coconut water, they cut it open for you with a machete and you can peel off the white stuff to eat.

When I got home from Brazil, I immediately went to Whole Foods and bought ~~a shit ton of~~ coconut water.

More pictures and new foods I tried to come! We’ve got a whole week to cover with this view from our window.

Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

21Nov2012

Mojitos and Museums

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Travel, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

How cute is Tuna’s sis’ dog? By the end of our stay in Miami, Tom Selleck was snuggling with us and he finally let me do a photo shoot with him.

Our last day in Miami was a busy one! Tuna’s sis did a great job playing tour guide and taking us to the cool local spots.

Typ, another day of perfect weather in Miami.

We started out the day by tickling our toes in the ocean on Miami Beach.

Then it was time for lunch. We grabbed a bite to eat at a trendy Cuban place called Yucca on Lincoln Road.

Tuna and I got mojitos – they were actually pretty cheap: only 5 bucks each! In DC, a mojito would probably be the ridiculous price of approximately $12.50. Another reason I am now a fan of Miami.

We ordered the croquetas and the chicken empanadas for our appetizers. I loved the empanadas (especially the spicy guacamole sauce) but didn’t like the goat cheese filling inside the croquetas.

Luckily Tuna finished my croquetas for me.

Tuna’s sis and I both ordered the Mango Avocado Salad with Chicken. It had a sweet chili dressing that was really good.

Please observe one of the best side dishes in the world: fried Yucca.

After lunch we ventured over to Vizcaya.

Vizcaya is a famous old mansion in the Grove in downtown Miami Beach that they turned into a museum. The inside is amazing – it’s filled with ritzy antiques from the turn of the century. It felt like we were in The Great Gatsby or something!

A super rich dude built/owned it during the Titanic era and basically lived there by himself.

Um, I would like concrete ship for sunbathing in my backyard please.

The gardens were also extremely elaborate.

We had a great time walking around the grounds all afternoon.

Next up: our first day in Brazil!

Thanks as always to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Have you ever tried Cuban food?

What’s your favorite happy hour drink?

7Nov2012

Cinnamon Baked Apples

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

So I really wanted to make these on Saturday night after recipe stalking on Pinterest – but I needed to be searching for recipes for dinner, not dessert!

But suddenly, I stumbled upon the same baked apples as a side dish in a dinner recipe. One that didn’t involve pork.

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I had a potato I could use for the starch and frozen green beans in the freezer to have for a side. I glanced at the ingredients.

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Oooo, herbes de Provence, fancy. Wait…that was the name of the fru fru salad dressing I bought at Whole Foods last week! I could pour it all over the chicken and then grill it. That would go well with my cinnamon baked apples!

It was a damn good dinner.