What Am I Eating?

This morning we walked 2 miles with my niece. Yes, she is still getting up at 5:30 a.m. to walk with us before school :)  I hadn't been walking in a couple weeks. It felt good to be out there again.

This post could have been titled "Dead Things I Saw on My Walk Today."  However, without the pictures I don't think it would have quite the impact. And I just couldn't make myself take pictures of a bunch of dead stuff. During our little over two mile walk we saw a squirrel, chipmunk, frog, bird and a bunch of worms. I suspect most fell prey to cars.

So instead of pictures of all that gross stuff, I thought  a What I Ate Wednesday post would be much more appealing. Safe to continue...I promise no roadkill.

I have been hearing delicious things about Panera's Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken Salad. I haven't tried it yet, but I did make this knock off based on what little I know about Panera's salad . I used fresh lettuce and spinach from my garden, basil garlic grilled chicken, strawberries, blueberries, sweet peppers and red onion with balsamic vinaigrette. I finished the meal with a side of toast. On a side note, this turned out to be a safe place for me to eat toast. Normally when I eat toast I can't stop myself - serious trigger food.  It was the perfect accompaniment to the salad and I only had the two small pieces.

When I grilled chicken for dinner I made several extra pieces to use for salads in the next few days (see above).

My go-to breakfast is unsweetened cereal, but sometimes I just want something different. Below is a recent breakfast of egg muffins and watermelon. The egg muffins are a variation of this recipe from Skinnytaste. The muffins each have about a 1/4 cup of veggies. It is a great used for leftover (inadvertent or purposeful) grilled veggies. My favorite combo so far is asparagus, peppers and broccoli. I made a batch of twelve one morning. I ate two and put the rest in the fridge for breakfasts/snacks later in the week. They keep very well and are a convenient and delicious way to get veggies into your breakfast.

Okay this one is a little weird, but I have heard it about it several times. Since my radishes are producing like crazy and I am kinda obsessed with them at the moment, it seemed like the right time to try. I buttered a slice of Italian bread, spread a little butter and topped it with slices of fresh radish and a sprinkle of salt. It didn't quite live up to the rave reviews I had read. Perhaps I didn't have the proportions down. I was concerned the radish would be overpowering so I sliced them very thinly. In retrospect I think more radish would have been better. I would be willing to try again, but am content with plain radishes and a separate piece of toast - did someone say toast?

As I've mentioned our challenge group is working to get in 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day. I had a Lean Cuisine at work that needed to be eaten - Chicken Fried Rice. For the record when Lean Cuisine says "fried rice" they mean boiled white rice with a sauce. It was okay, but definitely not the naughty fried rice I have come to love. Because the entree didn't even have enough veggies to count as one serving I decided to add two cups of frozen chopped broccoli. It certainly wasn't gourmet, but it was very filling and counted as two veggie servings.

We rarely eat steak, but I happened to be in a meat market yesterday and they had some nice rib-eyes on sale. I have been trying to master my steak cooking techniques. I have temporarily given up on grilling them and have made them the last couple of times in a screaming hot cast iron skillet. You sear them on both sides and then finish them in a super hot oven. We like our steak medium rare and I have had much more success with this method than any else I have tried.  The side of Spicy Garlic Green Beans is courtesy of a recipe by shared by Mary at Runs to Get Waisted. Start by slightly cooking the beans (to retain color and crunch) then toss them with sauteed, garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes and some lemon zest. I used lime zest because that is what I had - loved the brightness of the lime. The next time I make the beans I will probably used less oil for the sauteing, but overall delicious flavor.

The next dish was the biggest hit of the last week. In fact, my husband dubbed it one of the best things he has ever eaten. I was watching BBQ Addiction with Bobby Flay and when he made this recipe for Sticky Glazed Chicken Thighs in Butter Lettuce I knew I would try it. The sauce is sweet and spicy with a somewhat surprising ingredient - orange juice. When I first mixed the sauce ingredients together I tasted the mixture and was very concerned we weren't going to like it - the orange juice was overpowering and seemed a little bitter. However, you cook the sauce for about 15 minutes and during that time the magic happens as flavors meld.

To be honest, my husband was not too excited about this recipe and planned to eat something else. However, being a trooper he took a taste and immediately filled his plate. I was eating mine as the lettuce wraps and I could barely make them fast enough before he swiped the rest of the meat. He ate his chicken as is with a little of the extra sauce. I love lettuce wraps and eating with my hands, so it was right up my alley and another great way to enjoy your veggies.

Now that I have made you all hungry, back to that walk minus the roadkill. I start walking about 5:20 a.m. I love watching the world wake up.

It was about 6 a.m. when I got home. What a difference 40 minutes make. 

Poor tree fighting for its very life...I think someone was a bit heavy handed with the tree trimming!

I switched my weigh-in to Monday for the purposes of our challenge group. Monday morning I was down .6 of a pound :)