A nutritious meal can be minutes away

I usually love making 4 servings for dinner, so there are plenty of leftovers for Adam and me for lunch the next day. Somehow the last few days I ended up making 2-servings type dinners, which meant I had to get creative for lunch. :D

Yesterday morning I dug deep into the fridge and, freezer and combined a whole bunch of leftovers to create this wholesome lunch:

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In the mix: leftover brown rice, leftover mushroom sauce, tiny bit of leftover grilled chicken + rest of opened packet of TJ’s black lentils, frozen peppers + frozen peas. I defrosted the frozen veggies straight in the pan (took just a few minutes), then added the rest of the stuff to the pan to combine. The flavors worked great together, and it took literally less than 5 minutes. Closeup…

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This morning I was faced with the same dilemma – buy lunch or get creative. I dug into the freezer for a protein and found some lagostino tails. I defrosted them in the sink under cold water while making breakfast, then threw them on an EVOO sprayed pan to warm them up and combine them with cajun spices. So here is what’s for lunch today: romaine lettuce, cajun lagostino tails, cucumbers, fresh zucchini, black beans, tortilla chip crumbles, salsa. Can’t wait! :)  

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Getting cozy together ;)

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Operation “empty the freezer + fridge” is underway in our house, and I think I’m doing quite well so far. There is no reason to buy lunch – you can definitely make a nutrious meal in minutes with a little creativity and some help from your freezer :)

I’ve fallen off the wagon

Hi bloggies,

Sorry I’ve been MIA.  I kind of went crazy with food the last few days and it’s hard to blog when you don’t feel very good about yourself.  Also work is insanely busy so I haven’t been able to go to the gym yesterday and won’t be able to go today either.  That’s too bad because I really want to restart this whole healthy living thing and exercise really helps.  Anyway, I just wanted to say that I miss you, and here are some pics of yesterday’s food (as always, scroll over for descriptions).  My meals were healthy but there was a lot of unpictured junk in between (cookies, nuts, Barney Butter out of the jar!).  Barney Butter is trouble by the way… I don’t know if buying it in jars was a good idea.  Maybe I should stick to the little packets, although they are definitely not as good.

nonfat yogurt with 1/2 kiwi, 1/2 banana, blueberries, kashi golean cereal + 1/2 srvg of TJ's nutty american trek mix

chocolate brownie zbar

mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumber, shredded pork tenderloin, cranberries, goat cheese salad

cranberry/white chocolate cookie

Paradise Bakery chocolate chip cookie

beef in ponzu glaze with rice/broccoli/pepper/water chestnuts "stir fry"

Tea tasting anyone?

I’ve been a bad girl – blogging from work in the morning!  Well I upload the pictures at home and then write a little somethin’ somethin’ here at work.  Hope you guys aren’t too bored!  I’m not very clever before my morning coffee ;)

Speaking of coffee… well, tea actually.  Tina was nice enough to email me and let me know about a Tea Tasting and Pairings Event that Starbucks is hosting for all media/bloggers here in Boston.  They originally were going to host it at 11am on January 29th (a Thursday) but I think they may switch it to a brunch spot so maybe an noon on January 31st (Saturday).  It will be held at 755 Boylston St.  Do any of you Boston bloggers want to join me for this?  I would love to meet some of you in person!!  Please let me know if any of you plan on going… I’m being shy and don’t want to go by myself. :)

Onto food… this is going to be quick!

BEST FOOD OF THE DAY

It’s really a tie between an awesome risotto and no pudge brownies with dried cherries (I just added about 1/2 cup into the batter).  I had 2 of these babies as they came out of the oven.  I wanted even more but got a hold of myself :)

No pudge brownie with dried cherries

Now the risotto with porcini mushrooms and mascarpone… I came across this recipe on Kelly’s The Pink Apron blog and it sounded right up my alley.  I immediately put it on my to-make list and last night was the night to execute this beauty.  Risottos are a little work intensive because you have to constantly stir them to make them creamy.  Also, for some reason, mine always take more broth that the recipe calls for (like double!) so it takes that much longer.  The result, though, was well worth it!  It was absolutely incredible!!  My serving (I went back for a little more after finishing this):

risotto with porcini mushrooms and mascarpone

A few modifications on my part… I used vegetable broth instead of beef, because we had a box open.  I think beef would be really nice here, though, so when I make it again I’ll use beef.  Also as mentioned I used like double the broth (just keep adding 1/2 cup at a time until it’s nice and creamy… read: not crunchy).  Lastly I didn’t use shallots, because of my onion aversion :D   Last comment on this: Cooking Light nutritional info says a serving is under 200 calories, but that’s definitely wrong.  I did a quick and dirty calculation and it’s at least 280.  Still amazing for such an indulgent tasting dish!  Oh, and the mascarpone is really key here.  It instantly made this risotto super creamy! 

OTHER EATS:

Kashi heart 2 heart waffles with 1/2 banana + barney butter

hummus/turkey/cucumber/mustard sandwich + yellow carrots & 1 orange

sandwich closeup

Mojo mountain mix bar

Total calories for the day: 1475

WORKOUT

I took a great Stability Ball class (bootcamp type class, using the bosu, stability ball and medicine balls) and then finished off with another 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I think I finally stretched all those muscles!! :D

Off to work!  “See” you later ;)

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