Category: Dinner

Mid-Week Check In

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Wednesday. Nice to see you! I love the feeling after a Wednesday is over because the rest of the week is downhill from there! I can’t say that this week has flown by, but it also hasn’t dragged on, so I guess that is a good thing!

Where did we last catch up? Oh, I posted a workout yesterday, but didn’t really post about much else (besides big news about my friend Jess’s new company!), so there is a lot to talk about!

We finally had nice weather on Monday!! My coworker and I decided to break in the nice weather with our first lunch on the water. Working in Fort Point definitely has its perks in the summer!

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Post work, to take more advantage of the weather, I laced up my sneaks  and went for a nice, 4 mile jog through Brighton before teaching Dynamax. Per usual, we had a great Dynamax class- can’t believe the last class of the session is next week! Time is flying by- I’ll be 28 in 4 days. Yikes!

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Yesterday was a much-needed rest day. Well, rest day except for walking at least 3 miles in the city and getting up to do my Triceps Tuesday workout for the April Arms Challenge. I loved yesterday’s workout because of the crab walks!! This got a funny conversation going between Athena and myself on Gchat.

animal workoutDo any of you have funny animal moves that are great forms of exercise?

After work, I headed over to Jess’s condo to talk about our partnership and congratulate her for her big day! Since we have the same birthday and I walk right past Crumbs, I picked her up a little treat!

001So, so yummy! Tell me, do you have a favorite flavor there? There are so many that I have a hard time choosing!

I ended up getting home later than I had planned, so I thought about what I could throw together for dinner while I was on the T. I didn’t come up with much, but it was healthy, tasted good and filled me up. I’ll take it! Looks, on the other hand, are really not that great. I promise it tasted good, though!

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Quinoa harvest blend, chicken, asparagus, goat cheese and marinara sauce. Quick, easy and healthy… and I used up some leftovers:)

And that brings us to today! I kept thinking that I could wear skirts and dresses with no tights this week, but between rainy mornings and cooler temps in the morning, I haven’t bitten the bullet yet.

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I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Questions for you: How has your week been? Is it going by fast or slow? What is your favorite quick, easy and healthy meal to throw together when you get home late?

Sunday Dinner- Pinot Grigio Chicken with a Honey Citrus Glaze

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Hey everyone! How was your Sunday? The weather- again- didn’t end up being what I thought it was going to be, but that’s ok. I mean, it has to get warmer soon, right?

Even when I try to make Sunday’s relaxed, a wide open schedule stresses me out and without even meaning to, I end up filling it with random things. Is anyone else like this? For instance, yesterday I got up, had breakfast, blogged, went grocery shopping, made a delicious lunch, went to the mall, prepped some blog posts, showered, made dinner, did my April Arms Challenge for the day… no wonder why I am tired! The thing is, I never once felt stressed or rushed or anxious. Yesterday was a great day and a great mix of being on my own schedule of things I WANTED to do and some things that I had to do.

After facing the masses and masses of people at Market Basket, Danielle and I got to making a nice lunch. This is kind of weird for a Sunday, but since we didn’t have any leftovers and had lots of groceries, it was a great idea.  I cooked up a bunch of chicken and made a salad for lunch, as well as a few for lunches for the beginning of the week.

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Danielle made her new favorite thing to make: homemade Mac N Cheese! She added broccoli and buffalo chicken (leftover from Friday night pizza night) and it was delicious! My mom had gotten me the cutest little pot thing and it was perfect for the Mac N Cheese.

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I went to the Cambridgeside Galleria for a few things (got my birthday dress at the first store I went to- on sale- amazing!!), but wasn’t really in the mood to poke around so I didn’t stay long. When I got home, I prepped dinner and then got busy with the Sunday circuit for the April Arms Challenge.  Since I was tired and sore from a tought week of workouts, I just did a 5 minute warm up and cool down and 2 rounds of the 3-2-1 circuit. I also switched up the 3 mins of cardio to a kickboxing cardio move that felt better for my shoulder and did the same with the reverse curls (something wasn’t working with them, which I was so bummed about because I love that move!).

Ok, ok, let’s get to dinner, shall we?

I usually make up my own recipes for the blog, but when I saw a recipe for Pinot Grigio Chicken over at Eat, Live, Run, I knew I wanted to make it soon. Another deciding factor was the fact that we just happened to have an open bottle of Pinot Grigio in the fridge:) I followed the recipe to a T (except for the fact that I had to use drumsticks since Market Basket was out of chicken breasts), so go on over to Eat, Live, Run and check it out!

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On the side, I roasted some asparagus (all I did was spray them with Pam spray and give a few shakes of garlic crumbles, sea salt, pepper, and lemon juice) and cooked up some harvest grains blend quinoa.  Since we had extra white sauce from the Mac N Cheese, we put a little of it on the asparagus, which was a great idea!

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I absolutely loved this meal! It was very different from what I usually make and I only wish that I could’ve grilled the chicken instead of baking it! I was a little nervous that it would be TOO citrus-y (is that a word?), but it was not at all! I took the skin off of the drumsticks and poked some holes in them so that the marinade would be absorbed, which was perfect because we didn’t lose all the flavor when peeling off the skin before eating. I have just enough left over for dinner tomorrow night- score for me!

Questions for you: What’s your go-to blog for finding recipes? drumsticks/Thighs/Darker meat- fan or not? I used to hate it, but then I realized how much more flavorful dark meat is than white meat so now I eat it when I can!

[Dad’s] Pork Pie & [Mom’s] Tomato & Zucchini Casserole

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Hey everyone! How is your week going so far? Anyone else enjoying the #AprilArmsChallenge as much as I am so far? I am still battling a nasty head cold, but trying to push through it and sweat it out when I can!

Today was the first day in probably a month where I was able to come right home after work and I cannot tell you how nice that feeling was. The only problem with coming home early, though, is that I don’t know what to do with “extra” time and am horrible at relaxing.  What’s a girl to do besides pour a big glass of vino and think about what to do to fill the time (please tell me I am not the only one who suffers with relaxing and enjoying free time!)?

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(Recycled Photo, but you get the idea. Tonight was actually red wine. I heard it helps with congestion 😉 )

Dinner didn’t take me much longer than 20 minutes to prepare, but that is because the hard part of the meal was already done thanks to my dad! Both of my parents are 100% French Canadian, so having Tourtiere (aka Pork Pie for the non-Frenchie readers) around Christmas is a big tradition for us. According to every friend and family member who has tried dad’s Tourtiere can attest that he makes the absolute BEST around. Seriously. People pretty much place orders in November. Lucky for you (anyone who might be looking to indulge a little, but as dad said on the phone today “don’t drain the excess liquid. The saltines soak it up. Just have a smaller piece if you’re watching your waist”), he has agreed to share the recipe. It all sounded so familiar since Danielle and I spent a few hours with him right before Christmas making 9 (I think) of them!

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Dad’s Tourtiere

Note: it’s 1 pound of ground pork per 1/2 pound of onions and 1/2 pound of potatoes. Use this ratio if you plan to make a bigger batch than what is below. He said he usually makes a batch with 10-12 lbs. of pork.

  • 1 lb. ground pork
  • 1/2 lb. onions
  • 1/2 lb. potatoes
  • 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 tsp. Red Hot
  • 1 tsp. All Spice (this is key- you don’t want to add too much of this! A little goes a long way!)
  • 1/2 sleeve crushed Saltine crackers
  • Pie Crust

1. Place the pork and onions in a big pot. Add the Worcestershire and Red Hot and stew until onions are translucent and meat is fully cooked.

2. While pork and onions are stewing, boil your potatoes. When cooked, “smash” them, which means leave the skin on when you mash them. Mix the smashed potatoes into the pork/onion mixture and mix well. Add the All Spice.

3. Crush up 1/2 sleeve of saltine crackers (1/2 sleeve per pound of meat) and add to the meat/onion/potato “pudding” as dad called it (clearly we have different ideas of what “pudding” is). He said this is key to soaking up the excess liquid and helping to keep the pie filling together when slicing and serving.

4. Place the pie crust into a pie dish and spoon in the mixture. Bake at 400* for about 15 minutes (or until the pie crust has browned up).

011(my own mini pork pie that dad sent me home with!)

To accompany the pork pie that I thawed, I wanted to make my favorite veggie dish that my mom makes in the summer: Tomato and Zucchini Casserole.  This is SUPER easy and so tasty!

Tomato & Zucchini Casserole (small version)

  • 1 medium zucchini
  • 2 small tomatoes
  • herbs & seasoning of your choice
  • 1/4-1/2 cup of cheese (can be parmesan or Italian blend or whatever you have on hand

1. Slice up the zucchini and tomatoes.

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2. You’re going to layer these in a small casserole dish. In between each layer, sprinkle in some herbs/seasoning and a sprinkle of cheese. Repeat until you’ve used up all your veggies. Top with extra cheese and microwave for 4-5 minutes to speed up the cooking. Bake at 400* for about 10 minutes to brown everything up!

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This meal reminded me so much of a meal cooked at home with mom and dad and I loved it!

Questions for you: What meals remind you of home? Do you have any “traditional” meals that your family makes around the holidays?

From MA to ME

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Greetings from my favorite state: Maine! As much as I love my life in Massachusetts, my heart will always be in my home state of Maine, so I love when I have the chance to break away from the fast-paced city life and slllooowww down and hang out in Maine with my parents.

Let’s catch up on Friday before we get to Saturday…

Last time I checked in with you, I was debating on what to do for a workout. I wasn’t feeling great and had had a couple of intense workouts earlier in the week. I thought about just walking or doing nothing, but when Athena suggested that I do the “Deck of Cards” workout (originated by Bob Harper- google it), I was totally peer pressured. I had wanted to do this workout for a while, so I figured that Friday was the best day to do it.

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Yeah, that face totally means “oh, wow. that was killer. #sweatybeastmode”. I picked cardio and core moves since I had just lifted on Thursday (and was teaching UXF later in the day where I knew I’d be doing about 50% of the strength exercises) and let me tell you, when I flipped multiple hearts followed by diamonds, or vice versa, I was cursing. The whole workout, including a 5 minute warm up, only took me about 30 minutes so it is great to do when you’re in a time crunch or traveling. (for those of you unfamiliar with the “deck of cards” workout, you pick and exercise to do for each suit in the deck. When you flip the cards over, that’s what you do for an exercise. Face cards= 10 reps, Aces= 11 reps).

Post workout, I decided that I just HAD to get to Lulu to get that tank that I had been dreaming about.

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Cute, right?! And, I ended up finding a really cute of low-rise (unheard of at Lulu) capri’s on sale for $29!! With my instructor discount, that’s basically free when it comes to Lulu:) Since I “saved” so much money and had extra time on my meter and before class, I treated myself to some frozen yogurt.

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YUM! Great fuel for teaching, right?! 😉 Class went great, though. Wasn’t a huge group, but considering it was Easter weekend I was happy with the turnout. Post class, I grabbed a couple of drinks- and nachos- with a friend and my sister. Yum, again!

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My sister and I called it a relatively early night since I knew I had to teach at 10am today and pack and be ready to head to Maine straight from teaching.

Onto today….

My day started out with an hour cardio kickboxing class at the Oak Square YMCA. For the new readers, I recently dropped my Saturday 9AM TBC class at the Allston BSC for an every-other Saturday Kickboxing class at 10AM at the YMCA.  This class makes my week! Even on Easter weekend, I had 31-32 people in class today and boy did we SWEAT! Perfect start to my weekend of extra glasses of vino (yes, that is possible…I am the “wuss” in my family”) and extra candy.

We had an extra long trip up to Maine due to a shopping stop in Kittery and ice cream stop in Sanford

015Avocado ice cream?! No, thanks! Plus, Shaw’s Ridge is wayyy better than Shain’s anyway (I worked and managed Shaw’s Ridge for 7 summers and had the privilege of working with the BEST group of girls everrrr, so I am biased, but the ice cream quality really is much better).

We finally got home around 4pm and got back in the car with mom to head to our roommate’s mom’s house. My mom and Amy’s mom are best friends and when you take our mom and  my sister, Amy, Sara and Rachel, that makes up the “Shapleigh” girls. Rachel wasn’t there today, but we still had a blast!

EasterOk, how CUTE is Amy’s mom’s centerpiece?! I swear, that is the best use of peeps I have ever seen! I just love these girls so much!

025From L to R: my mom, Chris (Amy and Sara’s mom, me, Amy- our roommate-, Sara- Amy’s sister- Danielle- my sister)

As much as we would’ve loved to have stayed and had fun with them all night, dad was at home waiting for us to eat dinner. I told him I wanted crab cakes, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he not only had the crab cakes ready for me when I got home, but also had chicken sausage sando’s, veal sando’s, and pea soup. I’m a lucky girl!

We also surprised mom with the coolest thing ever! Mom and dad live off of box wine (they drink A LOT of wine, so it makes more sense to buy by the box) and my sister and I found this “Purse Box Wine” that we knew she’d love.

wine purse

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As for the rest of the night, I’ll likely be in bed early since I’m exhausted! Church in the morning and then a delicious Easter spread!

Questions for you: What are you doing for Easter? Have anything you’re really excited about eating? Did you get in any good workouts this weekend in anticipation of candy indulgence?

Chicken Sausage & Veggie Sauce Spaghetti Meal

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Hi everyone! It’s about time I finally got my “weekly recipe” post up for you! Since I knew I was not going to be around on Sunday night because of Danielle’s study abroad event, I spent a few hours of my Sunday afternoon food prepping, cooking and baking. Miranda Lambert Pandora station cranking, sunshine streaming through the windows, delicious smelling food cooking/baking… the only thing missing was a big ol’ glass of Chardonnay!

Anyway, where was I? Oh, that’s right… talking about my dinner with all of you (I get so sidetracked when I talk about wine;) ). While flipping through this month’s Cooking Light magazine, as well as some blogs, I came across an add for Al Fresco Chicken Sausages. I mentioned it to Danielle and she was totally on board for a meal with chicken sausage. Perfect! The only unfortunate thing, was that they were not on sale at the grocery store and I was not about to spend $6 on 4 sausage links. I almost scrapped the whole meal idea until I saw the Nature’s Promise brand of uncooked chicken sausage links- 5 for about $5 was still not a “deal” by any means, but it was better! Note: if you do not like chicken sausage, feel free to substitute for regular sausage or chicken breast or something else of the like!

As far as the sauce, as much as I would love to make homemade sauce from scratch, it’s just so much easier to buy a jar of it (or, take some from my parents when they make a big batch!).  However, if I am making a pasta and sauce meal, I will always “doctor up” the jar sauce. What I mean by this, is that I cut up veggies and sautee them in wine and garlic and then add the jar sauce to those veggies and let everything simmer on the stove for a couple of hours. This gives the sauce some extra texture and flavor without requiring you to slave over the stove for hours.

chicken sausage

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped red pepper
  • 1/4 cup summer squash
  • 1/2 cup chopped broccoli
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • Couple splashes of white wine (optional)
  • Dash of salt, pepper, oregano, basil and italian seasoning (probably about 1/4 tsp. of each)
  • 2 cups of jar sauce
  • 2 servings of whole wheat spaghetti (or any other pasta/spaghetti of your choice)
  • sprinkle of parmesan cheese

1. Chop up your veggies. I did measure this time (go me!), but feel free to use these just as a guide pending on whether you like more or less veggies in your sauce. Add a little bit of EVOO to a pot, add the onions & minced garlic.  After a few minutes, add the rest of the veggies, herbs/seasoning and wine.  003

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0042. Let the veggies sautee for about 5 minutes until they just start to soften. Add in 2 cups of sauce. I used Prego since that was on sale this week:) Mix everything together and reduce the heat to a simmer level.

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3. While the veggie and sauce mixture is cooking, it’s time to start the sausage. I only used 3 links because I didn’t want to waste any (I froze the other two and have plans on making some type of chicken sausage sub in the near future:) ).

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All I did was brown these up and *mostly* cook them. I say mostly, because I had plans of cutting them up and placing them to finish cooking IN the veggie and sauce mixture.

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4. Let the sausage, veggies and sauce simmer for as long as you desire- mine ended up simmering for about an hour before I added the sausage and about 45 minutes after I added the sausage, but you don’t have to wait that long.

5. When you’re about 15 minutes from “dinner time,” cook your spaghetti according to the back of the package.

Place spaghetti in a bowl and top with the sauce/veggie/sausage mixture. Add parmesan cheese if you wish (note: I added goat cheese because I love it so much!).

005Questions for you: Do you make your own sauce? What’s your favorite pasta meal?