Good morning!

One of my favorite ways to start the day.

Whole grain cereal (in this case, Life + Grape Nuts) topped with fresh blueberries, drowned in vanilla almond milk.

YUM.

Combine with a workout today.  Just do it.

Mr. PT Cooks

Mr. PT is officially in charge of making dinner on Thursday nights.  Thanks Mr. PT!  

If you are the primary "meal preparer" in your house you know how wonderful it is to come home from work and NOT think about making dinner, even if it's just once a week.

And I can always count on Mr. PT for keeping it healthy.  He knows I've been craving protein lately so he whipped up this delicious plate of chicken and broccoli!

 

With apples, of course!

He made this so quickly I was almost in disbelief when he said it was ready.  

He took boneless chicken breasts and dipped them in egg, breadcrumbs, and herbs.  Then he browned them off in hot olive oil and let them simmer until they were cooked through.

The broccoli was just steamed with a touch of butter!

This was delicious!  So simple, yet so fulfilling.  

Feeling overwhelmed in the kitchen?  Try to keep it simple.

Combine with a group workout.  There's something about having your friends around that makes you work harder.  If you are alone in the gym, pretend you are competing with the person next to you!  You'll be surprised how you're more motivated to do that extra rep when you think someone is watching!

Purple Power

It's time to get serious...about eggplant.

How did I not know about the deliciousness of eggplant until I was in graduate school?

Who knows, but I am really enjoying getting to know this purple plant.

In fact, I made an eggplant dish twice this week!  They were very similar with a few different tastes.

Eggplant by itself might be a little much, but serving it on top of whole wheat pasta with cheese and sauteed vegetables might be more palatable to you.

You will need:

-1/2 box whole wheat pasta

-3-4 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

-1/2 red onion, sliced

-1/4 cup feta cheese

-olive oil

-1/2 eggplant, peeled and sliced 

-1/3 cup mozzarella cheese

-1 cup flour

-1 egg

-favorite seasoning (I used a mix of garlic, pepper, parsley, and lemon peel)

Boil your pasta and set aside in a 9x9 baking dish.

Heat your oil in a pan and add sun dried tomatoes and onions.  Saute until soft.  Add all contents of the pan (including the oil) to the noodles.  Mix in feta cheese.

Heat more oil in your pan.  Add seasonings to flour.  Dip eggplant slices in egg, cover in flour/spice mixture, and add to hot, oily pan.  Brown the eggplant on both sides and place on top of noodles.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Pretty delicious, huh?  And this made great leftovers for lunch the next day!

Tonight, I tweaked the recipe a bit and tossed the noodles with sauteed onions, lemon juice, and mozzarella cheese only.  I also coated the eggplant in breadcrumbs instead of flour. 

The three of us were quite happy after this meal!

Combine with a walking interval workout, outside or on the treadmill.  If 1 is super easy and 5 is hardly breathing...

First 5 minutes on a 2

Next 5 minutes on a 3

Next 5 minutes on a 4

Peak 5 minutes on a 5

Active recovery for 5 minutes on a 4

Cool down for 5 minutes on a 1-2.

Eating Cincy Style

Mr. PT and I spent last weekend visiting friends and family in Cincinnati, OH.  We held a lot of babies, drank/smelled a lot of beer, and of course, ate some excellent food!

I wish I had done a better job with documenting, but a major highlight of the weekend was visiting the local brewery 50 West.  We grabbed some pizza from across the street and enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the tasting room.

I had a wood-fired bianca pizza (olive oil instead of red sauce) with roasted peppers and arugula.  It was delicious!  Me and baby ate the whole thing on our own, haha. 

I was a major fan of this event.  The pizza was incredibly fresh tasting and the beer, so I heard, was delicious.  I did take a little sip of the Speedbump Kolsch, which was quite tasty!

My awesome mom also showed up on Saturday with two homemade chicken pot pies.  I unfortunately did not get a picture of these before they were devoured by the crowd, but I will tell you that I have a mental image of Mr. PT eating scraps out of the pie dish after dinner.  They were that good.

See her recipe here.

I love traveling and eating amazing food!!

Combine with driving to a walk.  Tired of walking in your neighborhood, seeing the same houses with the same barky dogs?  Hop in your car, drive to a new neighborhood, and walk there!  Maybe visit a friend's neighborhood and have him/her lead the way!

Spinach

I love spinach.

I'm not sure if it's the kelly-green color, the blood-boosting iron, or the myriad ways to cook it...it's just a great vegetable!

Actually, I love the way you can add it to hot dishes and it magically disappears among the other ingredients.  

Did you put the spinach in already?  Maybe not, better add another handful.  

Five minutes later, you'll wonder the same thing until you've added five handfuls of spinach without overwhelming the dish.

This is what I did with the zucchini pasta dish I found on Pinterest.  After melding all the ingredients together in a deep pan, I started adding spinach.  This dish contains three heaping handfuls of spinach, but you would never know it!

Am I right?!

My recipe was slightly altered from the one I found on Pinterest, so here you go:

-1 box of whole wheat pasta

-2 small bags (or one big bag) of frozen shrimp

-1 zucchini, diced

-1 red pepper, sliced

-1/2 red onion, chopped

-olive oil

-1/2 bag baby spinach leaves

-Mediterranean seasonings (garlic, lemon peel, thyme...)

Heat a deep pan with olive oil (I used garlic-lemon infused oil I got for Christmas, but you can use regular...add garlic and lemon juice for extra flavor if you want!)  Toss in any size shrimp you want.  I used 2 small frozen bags of salad shrimp.  Allow the shrimp to defrost and soak in the flavors of the oil.  Spoon the shrimp out and set aside.

Meanwhile, boil water for whole-wheat pasta.  Cook the pasta as directed and set aside.

To the watery-oil mix in the pan, add chopped zucchini, red pepper, and onion.  Add seasoning.  Cook the veggies on medium-high until soft and most of the water has evaporated.  Add the cooked pasta and shrimp and toss.  Add more olive oil (1-2 teaspoons) if it's too sticky or dry.

Now start adding spinach, one handful at a time.  Allow the spinach to cook down and "disappear" before adding the next handful.  Really, you can add as much as you want!

Allow all the ingredients to simmer for at least 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Combine with a new weight lifting routine.  I took a friend to a Body Pump class today and although she was nervous, she enjoyed it!  Hope she's not too sore tomorrow!  Although they say "sore is the new sexy!"

Weekend Eats

Mr. PT and I trekked through the blizzard to visit my sister and brother-in-law in the Richmond area this past weekend.  Man, was it worth it!  We did a lot of laughing, eating, watching stupid TV and funny movies, and beer/wine drinking.  Well, they drank.  I mostly tasted and chugged water.  Higher calling these days!!

We ate some really tasty meals!  Friday night we headed to a Thai restaurant and had sushi and vegetable lo-mien (guess which one I ate).  Saturday night my brother in law grilled some chicken and we made quesadillas on the George Foreman!

These were filled with sauteed onions and peppers (in olive oil and taco seasoning), Mexican rice, grilled chicken and cheese.

Dipped in your choice of toppings!  Guacamole, lettuce, sour cream, salsa...

Saturday morning, my sister Kelly felt adventurous and made a fantastic vegetable quiche!

She sauteed onions, peppers, and spinach in olive oil with a pinch of salt.  She pre-baked the pie shell for about 10 minutes then filled it with the vegetable mixture.  On top, she spread 4 eggs mixed with a touch of milk and cheddar/mozzarella cheese.  This baked for about 30 minutes.

Delicious! So much good food!  So much fun!

Combine with...traveling exercise!  Don't know what to do?  Offer to take the family dog on a walk.  You'll get a good workout while giving your hosts a break for the day.

Thinking of warmer times

Remember back in the summer, when we went on a long hike up a mountain in tee shirts and shorts?  Remember when we came home and sipped on cold beer and cool wine?  Remember when we made a fantastic dinner filled with fresh ingredients?

Well, those days are in hiatus until June.  However, I try to bring some summer memories into the kitchen in the dead of winter just to keep our spirits up.  Recipes usually come out differently when the temperature is 15 rather than 85, however, we still end up saying "delicious!"

Last night I served a warm vegetable pasta dish with a side salad.  I started with garlic-lemon infused olive oil in a pan with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.  I boiled 1/2 bunch kale then drained and added it to the pan.  I boiled 1/2 box of whole wheat spaghetti and added this to the mix.  I topped our bowls with feta cheese (cheese makes any dish amazing!).

This pasta reminded me of the summer when we got bunches and bunches of kale from our vegetable share.

Tonight, we ate leftover veggie pasta alongside a winter version of the zucchini tomato gratin.  I started with regular olive oil in a medium heat pan with most of one red onion (sliced) 3-4 sliced mushrooms, one sliced zucchini, and 3-4 chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I'm kind of obsessed with these right now!).  I took1-2 cups of bread crumbs and toasted them in a 350 oven for about 15-20 minutes.  Once the veggies were soft and bread crumbs were crunchy, I split the veggie mixture in half, leaving half in the pan.  I spread them evenly on the bottom of the pan and topped with half of the bread crumb mix and a hefty sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.  I topped the cheese with the other half of the veggies, the rest of the bread crumbs, about 1 tbs. of dried basil, and more cheese.  Then I baked the whole darn thing at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.  

Watch so it doesn't burn!!

So a little different, some would say less fresh than the summer version, but still incredibly healthy and awesomely yummy.

What's your favorite summer recipe?  How can you alter it to make it a runner-up in the winter?

Combine with a free-weight or band exercise at home.  Hit biceps, triceps, back, chest, and shoulders.  Add a few squats and lunches to hit the caboose.