Shrimp and shitake quinoa bowls

Today didn't really start out as expected. The huge-normous snowstorm we were supposed to get last week duped us and was just waiting for this week. It's been snowing since 7-ish yesterday morning, with periods where it stops for a bit, but at least it's not coming down too hard. We had 7 inches last I heard, and are supposed to get another couple before all is said and done. Oh and another possible snowstorm the beginning of next week...which I'm not griping about because we sure do need to moisture up in this drought...but if Mama Nature could space these things out a bit so they can clean up the one before it first, that would be nice of her. Too bad she can be a coooold B sometimes.

 

So I didn't try to make the trek (usually a 35 minute commute, but yesterday it was an hour and 15 minutes) in to work today until a couple hours later than normal, to give the road crews a chance to get down and dirty on that ice and snow with their salt layers and plow monsters. I'm glad I did...I saw 5 cars in the ditch in one mile stretch of highway...not a good start to the work day, my fellow commuters, I feel for ya. Instead, I made Main Man an egg white sammich, got some house cleanup checked off the list, and threw in a 30 minute (that's how long it took me anyway) Crossfit workout I found on Pinterest. You guys. I thought this was going to be easy...4 exercises, 10 times...piece of cake. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I'm planning on being sore from this. I do all those exercises in Kosama, so I'm not sure why this was so difficult, maybe the no breaks?? Either way, it's a perfectly intense workout for times when you don't have more than a half hour to throw a little gym time in, and can be completed with nothing but your own body weight, and in your own living room for that matter. Give it a shot and let me know what you think of it...

This recipe also didn't come out as planned.  First, I started subbing things (spinach for snow peas, quinoa for rice) but then things got dicey. I've been looking for oyster sauce everywhere, people...well, one place actually, but it was Whole Foods so I thought it would be an easy one to find there. Well it wasn't. And I had this McCormick Cajun seafood sauce in the cupboard looking at me and jumping up and down and raising it's hand like it knew the answer to the question in class....so I caved. Then I didn't have any eggs (this was supposed to be like a fried rice deal), so I just threw caution to the wind and wung it (wang it? winged it?) to throw this meal together.

 

And it worked. Oh, boy, did it work. Let me tell you what I did use, since you don't have access to the ripped out page of Cooking Light's magazine where they tried this out in the test kitchen and made it the best way possible. I'm sure it's lovely that way...and once I find me some oyster sauce, I shall compare.

1 lb large cleaned and deveined shrimp
1 bottle McCormick Cajun seafood sauce
3 cups fresh spinach
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cups shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T crushed red pepper

Standard drill with the quinoa, ladies and gents...rinse that shizz, put your chicken broth in the skillet and bring to a boil before adding the quinoa. When all the liquid is absorbed, it's done! I chopped my veggies while stirring randomly and it all worked out perfectly in the kitchen of bliss...that night at least, a lot of times when I try to multi-task we've got things boiling over and fingers being sliced...but let's focus on that night when everything under the sun went smoothly as possible.

After the quinoa has cooked all the liquid down, add all the other ingredients. Continue to stir while cooking on medium heat, until the shrimp is pink and cooked throughout. Your veggies should be perfectly done in the same amount of time it takes the shrimpies to get pinkified. The sauce will have plenty of time to meld with the other lovely flavors in that window of minutes as well. This dish works.

Oh, and if you've never bought seafood out of a freezer truck at a gas station in Iowa...I suggest you do so. This shrimp has been the most amazingly fresh stuff we've gotten from any grocer in town (and its even been frozen for a good couple months).

Check that big guy out in the picture below...he wants to be in your mouth. That wasn't intended to be as pervy as it ended up sounding...but really, with it being Lent season and all, put this recipe together on a Friday and you won't be disappointed. I added a splash of soy sauce and crushed red pepper when chowing, and it made all my dreams of shrimp and shitake bowls come true, even if this was an improv performance. Happy snowstorm to all, and to all a good humpday!

Chocolate covered strawberry bouquet

Oh, how peeeeeerdy!! Oh, how yuuuuuuummy! That's what you're going to hear from your significant other (chick or dude) if you make them one of these. I know Valentines Day was a bit ago (I couldn't post this before then, duh)...but you can always pin the idea for next year, or do this for a birthday or anniversary, OR be the sweetest person in the world and bring this baby home for a random "I love you" mid-week surprise for your lovey. You know what that'll get you?? I'm not telling...but I'm sure your imagination will get you near where I'm thinking.

 

This particular fruit bouquet was a gift from my bossman to my bossman's girlfriend for Valentines Day. Look at that thing, you guys...raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and angel food cake all covered in dark chocolate (we tried for some white chocolate swirls but they didn't work out too well).

 

To start, we lined a vase with some tissue paper so you wouldn't be able to see our sticks in the clear vase. Then garnished the vase with a bunch of parsley for foliage, which I think turned out mighty nicely. We used kabob skewers for all our fresh fruit, and mini dip crockpots to melt our dark and white chocolate chips. An angel food cake was cut with Valentine-y cookie cutter shapes and then dipped in the chocolate fountain along with the fruities. We dipped and then set the sticks into another vase to put in the fridge to chill and harden the chocolate, so that we wouldn't have marks from laying the chocolate down to harden on some waxed paper. I think that kept the finish very "I bought this" looking over "I made this" looking.

Adding the sticks of undipped berries gave the bouquet some color, and just all around finished the look, in my opinion. The sprinkles were also a stellar finishing touch. Arrange all your sticks at different heights and mixed throughout...and there you have it! Oh, and I would recommend doing all this the same day you want to gift it to your lover dover...the parsley will tend to wilt after a bit, and all the veggies will be best when supa dupa fresh.

I got to take a couple extra sticks home to Main Man that night...although with his upset stomach, I'm the one that ended up eating them. Dark chocolate is heart healthy, riiiiiight? Right. So I had a strawberry that was divine and an angel food heart that made my real heart sing. Not even exaggerating. You ever heard your heart sing? It's beautious. But even better if you make your Valentine's heart sing...so do this. Experience that. And live to see another dark chocolate filled day :)

Cajun chicken with mango salsa

This recipe makes me "happy, happy, happy".  That was for all you Duck Dynasty fans out there :) But it's also the truth...I was so happy with how this turned out. I'm a huge fan of this mango salsa from a tilapia recipe my friend Michelle gave me, and I'm not real sure how I never thought to use if for chicken before. Now I'm wondering what else I could serve this on...it's got a kick to it that is instantly satiated by the sweetness of the mango, and the cilantro just finishes it off perfectly. I always make the mango salsa the night before to allow the flavors to meld, and the heat to kick up a notch...but you can do this all in one night if you so choose. Here's what you need for the star of the show:

 

mango salsa:

1 jalapeno diced
1/2 white onion diced
2 mangoes diced (they're tough to core so I need two to get the amount off
there that I want)
1 lime's juice squeezed in
fresh cilantro if you want (I use it if I have it but skip it if I don't)

 

If you want to see how I cut my mangoes, go check out the original recipe for tilapia and mango salsa.

 

I went simple with the chicken breast and just seasoned it with some cajun seasoning and a fancy pepper blend that I got from a good friend (who knows the way to my heart is fancy spices) from one of our wedding showers.

 

Have I showed you my grill pan yet?? We got it for our wedding and I just love this bugger! It makes the most beautiful grill marks on whatever I'm preparing, just like I pulled them off the grill, except I don't have to go outside in the snow to use it. Pretty perfect for an Iowa girl, if you ask me.

Cook the chicken through and then pile on as much or as little mango salsa as you feel is needed in your life...I like a lot...and serve (with steamed asparagus if you're me)!! So fresh and seems so summery...it's right around the corner folks!! Daylight savings time is over in 13 days...and counting down! This is a perfect meal to celebrate the coming of longer days in less than 2 weeks, if you ask me...enjoy!

Brudder Ben's tater tot casserole

Well, the whole snowstorm thing yesterday was a bit anti-climactic. We were told a week ago to expect up to 20 inches (from one of the local news stations) and it turned out to be only about 6 in most places. I'm ok with that, minus the fact that I had a really good plan of scrapbooking and coffee this morning instead of showering and commuting. The picture of my day in my head was a lot more fun than it ended up being, but such is life.

 

It seems as though some people can find something to crab about in any situation though. The weathermen are getting pummeled with comments on Facebook and Twitter, and are actually talking smack to other weathermen whose predictions were worse. If you live in Iowa and don't follow KCCI's social media, you're missing out on comedy gold, I'm telling you. I for one, would rather be warned of 20 inches and get 6, than plan on 6 and get smacked with 20...but that's just me. I'm fairly certain the same people complaining about the lack of snow that actually accumulated are the same people who would be griping about it if we had gotten it. I read a quote yesterday that seemed to fit perfectly:

 

"We can choose to complain that the rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice that the thorn bushes have roses."

 

If that doesn't put things in perspective for you, I don't know what will. It's Winter in Iowa, people...enjoy life a little :) OK, I'm done with my own complaining now...back to business! This here, is Brudder Ben!

 

Brudder Ben came back from overseas and lived with Main Man and I for a few months before finding a place of his own to reside. Things got rocky a few times, but not many siblings think they're ever going to be roommates again after moving out of the rents house...so growing pains were expected. We also got along swimmingly sometimes, so it all evened out in the end...

One thing that greased the skids, was when Benny Boo (I'm sure he's super pumped about me sharing all my endearing names for him on the internet) would cook for us. The kid sure can throw down in the kitchen. Let's be clear here...he doesn't keep that girlish figure by cooking light. Be warned that this is a comfort food cheat meal from the depths of the clouds of heaven...where calories don't count. I've never really been a fan of tater tot casserole before this, so Brudder took it upon himself to make a believer out of me. And he did...

When I asked Brudder Ben to send me his recipe, this is what I got:

"Can of cream of mushroom, chicken, and cheese. 2lbs of beef. 1lbs of kraft cheddar made with cream cheese. 2 cups of sour cream. Bag of mixed vegetables and a bag of Sweet corn."

Don't worry, I speak Brudder talk and shall translate for you. I watched him create so I would be able to pass this gem on to you...

2 lbs lean ground beef (I added the lean part)
1 lb bag of Kraft Cheddar cheese (has to be the stuff made from cream cheese, I'm told)
2 cups of sour cream (if it were me, I would use Greek yogurt)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (Birdseye Steamfresh brand is what he used)
1 bag frozen sweet corn (Birdseye Steamfresh brand is what he used)
Cookies flavor enhancer seasoning
Cracked black pepper
Garlic powder
1 family sized bag of tater tots

Brown the ground beef (if you wanted to lighten it up, you could use ground chicken or ground turkey) in a large skillet. Season generously with Cookies flavor enhancer, black pepper, and garlic powder. Add all other ingredients, besides the tater tots, to the skillet and stir together until mixed thoroughly. Heat until warm throughout.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan (we use disposables for convenience, as you can see below). Start to layer the tater tots on top of the casserole. Season the top with more Cookies, pepper, and garlic powder if desired. You should really desire that. Yum!

Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes (until tots are crunchtastic). Let it sit to cool for about 5 minutes and dig the heck into that masterpiece.

Try not to go back for second or thirds...and make sure you get to the gym the next day! This would've been perfect for a snow day meal after scrapbooking all day....

These are a few of my favorite things...

I've been pretty excited about some new finds lately, at the grocery store and beyond, so I feel like I should share the wealth of knowledge or let you guys know that I've finally joined the party if this stuff isn't new to you. Either way...here are a few of my favorite things lately:

Cuties...where have these been all my life? I never even knew they existed until this year. At 40 calories a clementine, I eat 2 for a light snack and am always satisfied in the sweet tooth area of my tummy as well as the non-guilty snacking area of my brain. Give these a try and let the juice just run down your face...thank me later.

These things. Oh. My. Goodness. I have always steered clear of nuts because they're high in fat, but you know it's the good fat, and they're heart healthy and all that jazz so the more I've read about Main Man's cholesterol issues lately, the more I've been trying new things. The wasabi and soy sauce almonds are my absolute fave but these salt and vinegar ones pull in a very close second...there are tons of flavors though, so if the tang of those two don't trip your trigger, I'm sure the jalapeno smokehouse, honey dijon, or the blazing buffalo wing will do it for you! Blue Diamond Bold is where it's at...

Greek yogurt...although I've been using the plain stuff as a sub for sour cream and cream cheese in cooking, I've never actually been a huge "eat a yogurt" person. Until now. These are a perfect pre-workout snack, lots of protein and only 100 calories so they seem to keep you full for longer. And they taste amazeballs! I feel sorry for you if you've never tasted amazeballs...

Hot yoga at Power Life Yoga in West Des Moines has been a great supplement to my Kosama classes in Ames. I think I've finally found a perfect balance to my workout routines each week. I've started a 20 in 30 challenge (20 workouts in 30 days for those who needed an explanation), and am going to my 12th workout tonight...its been challenging, but its also taught me how to organize my time, energy, and plans to accomplish my goal. Makes me realize that excuses can be found around any corner, but they can also be eradicated pretty easily if you're adamant in your plans to achieve said goal.

Blueberries. I know these have been around for a while. But I have never just sat and ate handfuls of them. Or snuck a baggie of them into a movie theater on a Friday night. Or not been able to take a picture of them for you to post because I just devoured the container this morning. I didn't know I liked them that much. They say your taste buds change every 7 years or something...try a handful of blueberries soon if you haven't done so recently, you may very well be a closet berry lover like me!

Wholly Guacamole spicy guac is my favorite new discovery (click that link for a coupon)! They are available in little 100 calorie packs, because I don't know about you, but stopping on a container of guac doesn't happen easily. So I know exactly how much I'm taking in, and it's got more of that good fat I was talking about above with the almonds. It's not exactly low in fat or calories, but if you're choosing between queso and guac, always go the guac route! And the spicy kind has just the right kick in the pants that gets me going...you know how I like a good pants kick :)

Last but not least, Vince Flynn's series about CIA operative Mitch Rapp (listed HERE in order) is my new obsession. These were recommended to me by a friend's husband, and I'm so glad he lent me the first couple novels to get me sucked into ordering the rest on my Kindle. There are 14 books in the series, which was a little daunting at first, but it keeps my attention to start a new book when I already know the characters and want to see what's happening in their lives. It's exciting, with a little romance, and I feel like I really want to know Mitch in real life...it's actually disappointing when I think that he doesn't really exist. I'm reading Executive Power (book #6) now, and am starting to get nervous about what I'm going to do when I get to the last book, hopefully Vince Flynn will kick another one out for me by that time...

And that's me in a nutshell the last month or so...do you have any new products or favorites that I should try??

Chicken and gnocchi soup

If you live in the midwest, you've no doubt been hearing the rumors of the monster snowstorm that is supposed to happen upon us the end of this week. Unless you live under a rock that is, and if that's the case, I hope your rock has central heat. It's getting chilly up here, which is sad after last week's temperatures that made Spring seem just around the corner. No worries, I have a pretty exciting plan to simmer some soup and scrapbook all the livelong days away while I'm snowed in...which will happen if we get as much as they're chattering about. Twenty inches is nothing to fool with, so I won't even attempt to get anywhere besides my living room that day...

 

I get just as excited for snow days now as I did when I was a kid, but for different reasons altogether. Snow is sooooo perdy the first day it falls. After that, I could care less about the nasty stuff, but I love to sip on hot cocoa and watch the big white flakes fall out the window, as long as my house stays at a perfect 72 degrees throughout. Main Man is always out plowing, so he doesn't get to run the heat on snow days :) I do not, however, want anything to do with going sledding or building snow forts/men in the yard. Maybe I will be more fun in the cold when I have kids of my own to play with in the white stuff, but for now, I'll view the beauty from the winda.

 

This soup came together out of an excess amount of veggies in the fridge problem...my carrots were getting to look pekid, my green onions were starting to slime up, and I have no use for celery after a veggie tray has been demolished (celery is one veggie I don't use much). So, I made soup! I've been dying to make a soup anyhow, as I went through sort of a phase this Fall where I made tonnnnnns of different varieties (check out skinny loaded baked potato, beef mushroom and quinoa soup, and cheesy veggie chowder for a few new faves) but have now eaten our way through our frozen stock. Being a food hoarder is great, but it gives me anxiety to have an empty freezer...

 

Also, I read Iowa Girl Eats religiously, and she always mentions putting a cheese rind in your soups for extra flava flav. I've never done it before, mainly because I never remember to save my cheese rinds (just pop them in a freezer bag and keep them in the deep freeze until you're ready for them), so I wanted to give it a shot now that I have a pile of rinds in my freezer. Main Man is constantly flabbergasted by the things I choose to save and freeze :)

 

 

 

Tiny little addition, tons of awesome flavor! I used a Greyere cheese rind this time...

 

Gnocchi is my new thing lately, I want to make my own sometime, but for now we're sticking with the store bought stuff. Notice it's cholesterol free for my Main Man!

Here's what you need...

4 chicken breasts, seasoned, cooked, and cubed
2 cups chopped carrots
3 cups chopped celery
1 cup diced green onion
1 cup diced white onion
4-5 cloves minced garlic
3 cups fresh spinach
1 cheese rind (if you have it)
1 package potato gnocchi (1 lb)
1 large can chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the broth to a boil, and add all the veggies (besides the spinach) and the cheese rind to boil until they are almost tender, about 6-8 minutes. Add the gnocchi and boil until chewy but firm, about 6 minutes. Turn the soup down to a simmer and add the spinach, salt and pepper, and skim milk. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until flavors meld. I like to let my soups simmer for a couple hours, but if you're hungry, get on in there! Soups are always better the next day, in my opinion though.

Serve with fresh cracked pepper and saltine crackers. Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Great...Campbell's has got nothin' on our snowday soup! P.S. Aren't those little soup bowls with cracker holders just adorbs?? I promise I won't say adorbs again, so you don't break my thumbs. But, gaaaahhhhhhh! My friend Bea gave them to me for Christmas and they give me a warm fuzzy in my heart region :) Happy snow week, all!!

Prosciutto and fontina chicken

Happy Monday, people! It was a phenomenal weekend around the Casa Del Stensland, at least a perfect one in my world. If you asked me what my perfect weekend would be, it would generally include some good workouts, some productive time at home, some great meals, and generally taking things at my own pace with no timeframes for nothin'!  And that's exactly what we did...

 

Friday night I came home from yoga to a meal prepared by Main Man, which is always a nice surprise, especially since I had nothing planned for dinner which doesn't happen often. Saturday we got to hit lunch and shopping at Whole Foods (his first experience there, he was less than impressed with the prices), hit a hot yoga class, get through Menards with supplies to repot a couple houseplants and start our veggie garden indoors so we're rocking the freshies earlier this year, and spend the evening making homemade whole wheat pastas to eat and freeze while taking care of a couple bottles of wine I had laying around. You pretty much can't add anything in there that I would rather be doing, especially when I get to do them with my favorite duder in the 'verse. Yesterday I planned all my meals for the week, I always feel so much better about my life when I have my week planned out. It's tough when I don't get home from my Kosama class until 7 pm, so I love having things prepared ahead of time to throw down for dinner when I get home.

 

We've been trying to stick with chicken and seafood a lot lately, we had our physicals recently and we have a bit of a cholesterol problem for the Main Man. He's been hitting the gym and we've doubled our efforts at eating healthier, so we're hoping to get his numbers down before his next appointment. Chicken can get a bit boring if you're not careful, so here's a good one to try if you're sick of the standard "marinated in Italian dressing" or "Lawry's flavored" chicken breast.

 

chicken breasts

prosciutto (2 slices per breast)

fontina cheese, grated

anaheim pepper (not spicy, tastes more like a green bell pepper), chopped

 

Pound your chicken breasts out flat and lay them over 2 overlapped slices of prosciutto, like below. Sprinkle with fontina cheese and chopped peppers before rolling up and securing with toothpicks.

 

Put them in a greased baking dish and cook for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees.

Some of the cheese melted out so I just scooped it up like a love blanket for the crispy prosciutto wrapped chicken breast. I kinda want a cheese blanket for myself. I wouldn't even make Main Man cuddle with me if I had one of those.

Served with one of our favorite veggies, the roasted brussel sprouts, and we were in business in no time! Hope this week goes as quickly as last week did, we're supposed to get buried the end of the week with a crazy snowstorm so I'll be working hard to get all my workouts in for the 20/30 challenge (that I'm doing with my friend Leslie) and getting things done at work in case I'm stranded on Friday. Can we all do a little finger cross that we don't get the 20 inches they're predicting??