Sriracha for days & faux-asian recipes

There are a lot of things I wish I were better at in terms of blogging. Like actually updating my blog, for one. Another vital skill that I lack: photography. Not only am I a less-than-stellar picture-taker, I rarely remember to even attempt to snap a photo, especially when I'm preparing food. There are two reasons for this: my knowledge of my photography handicap and my tendency to leave my phone and ipad out of the kitchen for fear of splattering food particles all over them. I definitely need to work on being neater and steadying my hand.

Onto the point of that spiel. I've actually been in the kitchen a bit more frequently testing out new simple recipes that I've thrown together, largely based on my craving for Srirarcha.

This is me

I made up a large batch of red quinoa this week to experiment with, and ended up making quinoa "fried rice" with all of it because it was so craveable. I even got my mom and sister's boyfriend to try it and enjoy it. Win. Especially since it's the easiest, quickest recipe ever and amounts can easily be adjusted to serve one or several people, as a side or main course for a meal.

Quinoa "Fried Rice"

• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 diced celery
• large handful of sugar snap peas
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup - 1 cup cooked red quinoa
• low-sodium soy sauce, to taste
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• black pepper
• Sriracha, to taste (I recommend liberal application)
• 1 - 3 eggs 

Saute garlic, celery, and sugar snap peas in a large non-stick frying pan on high until soft. Reduce to medium heat and add red pepper, quinoa, and seasonings. Reduce heat to medium-low and add eggs one at a time, stirring constantly to incorporate into the quinoa mixture. Top with more sriracha and enjoy!

I actually served this with some baked marinated chicken and a side of balsamic asparagus. Such a good meal.

Another super simple non-recipe that I toyed around with this week was egg drop soup. Guess I'm craving eggs, too, huh? After being sick last weekend, I was really craving soup, but didn't want to make a big batch...voila! Egg drop soup!

Definitely Non-Traditional Egg Drop Soup

• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 - 3 tsp low-sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos)
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 tsp ginger
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• salt & black pepper, to taste
• Sriracha, to taste
• 1/2 diced celery
• 3 medium radishes, sliced thin
• diced scallions
• 3/4 cup sliced white mushrooms
• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach
• 1 egg and 1/4 cup egg whites

Add all ingredients except spinach and eggs to a saucepan and bring to a boil, cooking until celery is soft. Reduce heat to a simmer and add spinach to cook through. Remove the pot from heat. Crack in one egg, stirring the entire time to get those stringy tasty egg bits (yum!). Do the same with the egg whites, or another egg, pour it all into a bowl, and dig in.

Like I said, my photography skills are nil. That lighting is repugnant. The soup, however, was awesome. 

I've also been utilizing my air popper on the reg and toying with some new popcorn toppings. My favorite so far? Sriracha, cayenne & black pepper, and sea salt. 

Have I mentioned that I LOVE Sriracha?

Speaking of sriracha, I stopped by AS220 last night, a non-profit organization in Providence that services troubled youth, hosts small concerts, and has an amazing FOO(d) menu and bar. They regularly infuse their own vodkas with some unique ingredients (cinnamon sweet potato clove, anyone?). To my surprise and delight, they happened to have a pineapple sriracha ginger infused vodka, which I had to sample. The flavor was spot-on sriracha. Kudos to AS220 for the successful infusion!

A new approach on eating to gain muscle & a chipotle pumpkin chicken stew

I'm not changing out of yoga pants today, and I don't feel guilty at all about that. Sundays are made for being lazy. Plus, my weekend was entirely overstimulating and chock-full of awkward situations, far too little sleep, and new-to-me people and places. But I'm saving that for tomorrow's Marvelous in my Monday post, so you'll just have to wait for the details.

One thing that I have accomplished this week was doing a little research on putting some structure into my eating routine to gain weight and build muscle. I really struggle with knowing how much food is enough, especially when it comes to carbs. The problem is that I basically cut out most non-vegetable and non-fruit carbs for a while when I revamped my lifestyle in college. My body and tastebuds just stopped craving them. Now, after years of trying to gain back some of that weight, I finally started to become more comfortable with increasing my carb intake and have found some foods I really enjoy. The problem remains that I just don't know how much my body actually needs to repair and build muscle, so I tend to severely overeat at night when I look back on my daily intake and realize I haven't really consumed any whole grains. This usually appears in the form of me eating an entire bag's worth of chips or several bowls of cereal without even necessarily feeling hungry, but eating because I'm panicking that my body didn't get enough fuel and I'll lose the precious little muscle I have been able to build. Kind of a ridiculous notion, I know.

The point of my mini-rant is that I really need to implement some more structure into my eating routine in order to retrain my brain and body to know what it needs. After reading several articles about the benefits of carb-cycling, I've determined that this is probably a good dietary guideline for me to follow. I've found this article on FitnessRX to be very informational.

Basically, there are several ways to structure carb-cycling, including high carb, moderate carb, and low carb days based on my workout schedule, with fat intake in contrast to carbs and high protein intake on all days.

My rough weekly plan is:

Sunday - 9am Total Fitness, 10am yoga; high carb day
Monday - 6pm Vinyasa yoga, 7:15pm hot yoga; moderate carb day
Tuesday - 6:30pm Yoga Fusion; high carb day
Wednesday - 7pm Tone & Crunch (kettlebells and TRX); high carb day
Thursday - off; low-moderate carb day
Friday - off; low carb day
Saturday - 8:30am yoga fusion, 9:45am vinyasa yoga; high carb day

So I'll follow a high carb, lower fat diet on the days I'm lifting weights. I found this meal plan example helpful in giving me an idea of what a day's intake should look like on both low and high carb days, though I'd aim to consume closer to 2000 calories daily rather than 1400. This week I am going to come up with a meal plan for myself to follow and ideally I'll start carb-cycling next week officially. We'll see if I can stick to it.

For dinner tonight, my lazy self was motivated enough to throw some pantry ingredients into a crockpot and call it cooking a meal. I loosely followed this recipe from A Teaspoon of Happiness, tweaking here and there based on what I had for ingredients and quantities.

Crockpot Chipotle Pumpkin & Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1 15-oz can black beans, undrained
2 or 3 medium sized boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp minced garlic
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4-5 large handfuls of kale (I used about 1/2 the bag pictured)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced
2 tsp adobo sauce (from the can of peppers)
cilantro
cumin
salt & pepper

Dump all the ingredients into a crock pot over the chicken breasts, adding spices to suit your tastes (I used a lot of cumin and cilantro, but very little salt). Cook on high for 4 hours. Remove the chicken, shred with a fork, and return to crockpot to cook on low for at least 2 hours. Serve with shredded cheese, if you're into that.

Super easy, super filling, and super delicious. #supersoupsunday haha

MIMM: Staying positive and stepping out of my comfort zone

After last week's onslaught of disappointment, both within my own personal life and hardships of others close to me, I'm really trying to keep my chin up and appreciate what I have. I've also been making a point to step out of my comfort zone in a number of ways and, awkward as it feels and sounds, feel comfortable with my discomfort. I guess in my mind, discomfort means progress, and that should instill a comforting feeling.

A few highlights of the past week are making for a Marvelous Monday:

• Today was freakishly warm and sunny for mid-November in RI. The forecast was calling for heavy wind and rain, so this was an extra special treat. I embraced the opportunity for a walk to have a much needed vent session with my co-worker. Perfect.

Quest delivery! LOVE this company.

• I won a 12 flavor sampler pack of Quest bars from BusyBod's blog giveaway. To my surprise, they arrived with an extra three bars--the elusive cookie dough, white chocolate raspberry and double chocolate chunk flavors--and TWO packages of Quest Cravings Protein Peanut Butter Cups!!! I've been trying to find these EVERYWHERE and cannot wait to try them.

Note: I had every intention of microwaving one of these bars for my post-yoga meal tonight, making for an extra amazing end to my Monday, but I had a serious salt craving. Dinner was far too many carrots with about half a tub of garlic hummus, a lavash wrap with a Laughing Cow light swiss wedge and strawberry preserves, and a mini bag of popcorn with nutritional yeast. Yeah, portion control is not one of my strengths.

• I successfully grabbed my toes from behind my head in dancer's pose tonight during hot yoga on both sides! So happy!

• Last night, I made an incredible and super easy dinner that everyone else enjoyed just as much. (Let it be known that never happens.)  

  

  Baked chicken breast with roasted grapes & red onion and garlic roasted asparagus

Totally random recipe, but it was a success! My sister's boyfriend went home and asked if his mom could make it sometime haha. I also baked a batch of snickerdoodles.

Note: I consumed about 3x that much asparagus and finished off my mom's piece of chicken. Further evidence of my terrible portion control lol.

Chicken Breast with Roasted Grapes:

• 1 - 1.5lb seedless red grapes
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 T olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425F. 

Toss grapes (removed from stems) and onion with the olive oil and a little salt & pepper. Pour into a baking dish and roast for 15 minutes.

Remove baking dish from the oven, mashing about half of the grapes to release juice and stir. Place chicken breasts on top and return to oven at 450F for 45-55 minutes, until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Serve chicken with sauce poured over the top.

Thanks, Katie, as always, for hosting MIMM!

Pre-weekend Happenings: The Grange and a Smart TV

I love when spontaneity acts in my favor.

Case in point, Thursday night. I had made plans with a co-worker to hang after work at our usual spot, the Thirsty Beaver, but when she went home with a migraine, I texted a friend and suggested we go out that night. I'm usually really bad at coming up with new places to check out, even though there are a million places I want to try (I really should start keeping a list), but I suggested we grab drinks at The Grange in Providence. 

Fast forward to 8:30pm. We park in front of this:

Weirdest store front display I've ever encountered. Napoleon Dynamite status.

We waited for a seat at the bar and asked the bartender what he suggested off of their drink menu. We were a little indecisive, but decided on some drinks...somehow he managed to make us both the wrong drinks. Go figure. But it was a pleasant mistake, I'd say. I ended up with the Holy Smokes (left), a mezcal-based cocktail with basil and a smoky aftertaste. It was mind-blowing. My friend got the Adonis, made with bourbon, Pama pomegranate liqueur, and a slew of other alcohols. It was really strong, but had a good flavor. The best part? The drinks were mixed in a beaker, it was like watching a mad scientist work.

The place was adorable. There were swings by the windows and a little lounge area, a dining area for the restaurant, the bar, and it looked like there was a bakery section with a display case to the right of the bar that might be open during the day. I loved the vibe.

My friend ordered the quinoa dish with butternut squash, avocado, and lettuce. Delicious. The Grange is owned by the same people who run the Garden Grille so we expected nothing less. 

We opted to stay for a second round of drinks, something I don't typically do since I'm a lightweight, but we just weren't ready to leave and I'm trying to embrace my 20s. I had a tequila-based cocktail with various citrus notes and orange oil; Kristen ordered an apple cider cocktail served with a dried apple chip. Again, both were amazing. 

Gotta give The Grange a solid 9/10. A little pricy but so worth it for the experience. I'll definitely be back!

Sancho Panza (left) and Helen of Troy

Good thinking on having a hearty breakfast-for-dinner before I consumed all of that alcohol: Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal with 1/2 scoop of Designer Whey Sustained Energy vanilla protein powder and 1T dry butterscotch sugar-free Jello Pudding mix.

+ 

I love the texture of Scottish oatmeal, especially when you add in the pudding mix. Dessert without the sugar.

Time felt like it was standing still throughout my entire workday on Friday. This long weekend is going to feel so good. I already started it off on a good foot last night when I made out like a bandit at JC Penney. Colored tights on clearance for under $3 a pair! Plus two unpictured fitness tops for $5 each and an adorable pair of workout capris. I rang up at $34 for it all, but the cashier gave me a random $10 off. Steals.

We ended up buying a new "Smart" TV for the basement with built-in wifi and all that jazz, so I spent the rest of the night with my sisters assembling the TV stand and setting up the TV while my mom watched, glass of wine in hand. She claims she helped. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mom ;)

My snack before said TV assembly. Weird, but so good.

Pictured above is a typical snack when I know I need to take in a little more fat and protein at the end of the day and when I'm blessed to have a near-empty jar of peanut butter. I was especially fortunate this time to have Peanut Butter & Co White Chocolate Wonderful <3. 

Basically I use 1/2 cup of egg whites and 1.5 T dark chocolate cocoa powder with a little chocolate stevia to taste. Mix it all up in a large microwave safe bowl until it's combined and microwave on high for 90-120 seconds. Then I break up my little chocolate egg white puff and scoop it into the nut butter jar, seal it up, give it a shake to melt all the peanut butter into the egg whites and enjoy straight from the jar with a spoon. Damn right I make sure to scrape every last bit of peanut butter out of that jar.

We took advantage of the WiFi to watch this hilarious Jimmy Kimmel segment where celebrities read mean tweets about themselves, then segwayed into Zach Galifinakis' Between Two Ferns videos. I also enjoyed a glass of Redvolution red wine. Don't hate on BotaBox.

I'll leave you with some LOLs, courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel:

P.S. Apologies for the long-winded post, but it's been an eventful past few days! 

Even the Real Housewives of RI love the Great Gatsby

Last night I had the "privilege" of DJing the most opulent 16th birthday party I've ever attended.

Bear in mind that the classiest 16th birthday party I went to was held at a banquet hall in Pawtucket with a faux-French name (LeFoyer), acting under the ruse of being any better than a 9th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was the lack of greasy pizza and rats that really gave it that air of glitz and glam.

Back to aforementioned 16th birthday party:

The theme was The Great Gatsby. Obviously, a lover of good literature, and of the recent film release  -I'm a sucker for Leo and Baz Luhrmann style as a director - I took full advantage of the opportunity to dress up and enjoy my evening as best as I could while swallowing my jealousy.

Pardon the Instagrammed photo, but peep that $17 steal of a dress from Francesca's. WIN.

The party was held at Alpine Country Club in Cranston, RI. Absolutely gorgeous. Not to mention the beautiful lighting, the self-serve candy "bar"/favor table, the gold and silver-plated cake complete with a bejeweled flapper headband and frosting pearls, and the ice cream sundae station. I so wish I could have gotten pictures. Or have been 16 and friends with this girl.

But this is my life, so expect the unexpected. Surprise, the mom of the birthday girl has just finished filming a show for Bravo airing this winter called Game of Crowns. Think Real Housewives of RI / New England. So that explains the partying with tiny glasses of limoncello, her ability to dance and run in 6+ inch heels, and her willingness to throw such an over-the-top party, on a Sunday night nonetheless, for her daughter. She's going to refer her friends to the company, too, and claims they'll be hosting lots of parties that require a DJ. Perhaps we'll meet again before the big TV premiere. Another reality TV show added to my late-night to-watch list.

Today was much more low-key. The highlight of my workday was my pre-yoga snack of a sweet potato topped with Artisana raw Macadamia nut & Cashew butter, eaten at my desk. I've been really hesitant to try the combination of sweet potato and nut butter, but I actually really enjoyed this. 

Ugly, but tasty. Don't hate.

Ended my Monday on a marvelous note with Vinyasa II and hot yoga, followed by Once Upon a Time and The Good Wife. The DVR is a wonderful invention.

<center><a href="http://www.healthydivaeats.com/2012/06/first-marvelous-in-my-monday-yay.html"><img src="http://www.healthydivaeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MiMM.jpg" /></a></center>

I'm a long-time follower of Katie's blog and I'm so glad to have a reason to participate in her MIMM link-up!

Having an off-day

Returning to work and routine has a way of throwing me off completely. While my day was unexpectedly uneventful, I'm still feeling scattered and unfocused. I couldn't even manage holding inversions in yoga tonight due to a pounding headache. I did, however, manage to get my head to my toes--or is it my toes to my head?--in pigeon pose!

Didn't get a picture this time. Try to imagine this as a human being with an asymmetrical haircut. That's me.

And my mom dominated her split in hot yoga!

Best one yet! Go, mom!

Maybe the fact that I left my house looking like I stepped straight out of Ferris Bueller's Day Off was the problem.

The 80s called. They want their haircut and sunglasses back.

Just reliving my childhood, apparently.

I blame my parents. Hipster status, before it was even cool.

I even burned the deliciousness out of my kettlecorn. Luckily that was remedied by my addition of toppings. Someday I'll make the transition to air popped popcorn instead of chemically-laced microwave popcorn bags, but I'm an American and I like taking the easy way out.

Chocolate Protein Kettle Corn

• One bag microwave popcorn
• 1 T Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder of choice (I used a mix of Neocell belgian chocolate and Designer Whey chocolate sustained energy)

Prepare popcorn according to microwave instructions. Remove immediately and sprinkle the cocoa powder and protein powder into the bag while it's still hot. Close it up and shake vigorously to coat the popcorn with your toppings. Season with extra sea salt or stevia (I use NuNaturals Prebiotic granules for this) if desired. A sweet, salty, dark chocolate snack with a protein kick. This is a go-to late night snack of mine. It's so satisfying.

Try it and let me know how you like it!

Vacation Success and Dreading Monday

To say this random week off from work went as I expected it to could not be farther from the truth. When work stress was at its peak in August, I wasn't able to take time off with the excessive amount of paperwork that was due and over-involvement of insane family members, so I opted to request the week of my birthday off. With no set plans, I anticipated a boring, albeit much needed mental health week, consisting of waking up to only sit around on my couch with a laptop and Hulu Plus. Not so.

Instead, I had one of the most amazing weeks of my life in recent years. It was really just about the positive energy I felt this week from every person I interacted with, with every place I visited, the beautiful fall weather, and coming to peace with some parts of myself (even if that last one proves only to be temporary). It's been a long time since things aligned themselves so perfectly, and I couldn't be happier.

Thursday night's experience at the piano bar was a blast. Half price drinks, no cover, and we actually got to see the dueling piano show...way better than my first experience on a Saturday night. In fact, we had so much fun that we may go again next Thursday for the Halloween costume competition.

I drove up to Boston on Friday to meet up with a college friend/roommate and to have lunch with my favorite professor/my idol. (Apparently I only make such trips for people who have earned two titles in my mind, lol). I hadn't seen either since graduating in 2011, so amazing does not even begin to describe my visit. Steph and I spent two hours catching up at a Starbucks by Fenway...we both agreed we can't leave two years between our next rendezvous.

I went for a late lunch with Dr. Mary Elizabeth Pope, who taught most of the writing classes I completed in my final two years at Emmanuel. I am giving her full name because she just published her first book (!!!) titled Divining Venus. It's a collection of short stories about women and relationships, and it is available on Amazon.com. She is an unbelievably talented author and I cannot wait to read it. We attempted to have lunch at the Isabella Gardner Museum cafe, but with an hour and a half wait, we walked about a mile down Huntington Ave to Penguin Pizza per the museum's recommendation. Kind of a dumpy little place, but the service was great and the food was good; the company was even better, and that's all that mattered. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I was too caught up in conversation to whip out my iphone and make things awkward.

When we parted ways, I had some time to waste to avoid rush hour traffic, so I took a walk to a few of my old favorite local haunts: Trader Joe's and Brookline Booksmith. It was so hard to keep from buying everything I saw. The last things I need right now are food and used books, I already have quite the collection to burn through. My (de)motivation was the mile walk back to school and the thought of carrying heavy bags. While I was in Trader Joe's, a woman randomly stopped me to comment on how stunning my haircut was and literally thanked me for walking past her because she found it that fascinating. Thanks for the compliment, lady, but chill. By the time I drove back home, I was exhausted and opted to stay in, catching up on DVR-ed TV with my mom and a glass of wine.

Saturday morning ritual of back-to-back yoga fusion and vinyasa yoga, my favorite way to kick off the weekend. I did some grocery shopping in the afternoon and out for almost-day drinks at 4:30 with two of my oldest friends. Who am I to argue when my friends are taking me out for a late birthday treat? We went to Murphy's Law, which is a pretty cool bar/restaurant with pour-your-own-draft tables. Insert lots of reminiscing, new memories, and quality conversation.

Sunday morning means two more hours of yoga first thing after waking up. I was a little sore from yesterday and class was tough today, I'm definitely going to be feeling it tomorrow. Stuffed my face when I got home, then off to Providence Place Mall. I scored a cute striped top from Banana Republic for $10 and a $17.50 dress at Francesca's for the Gatsby-themed 16th birthday party I have to DJ next Sunday night. Borderline thievery, I ain't mad.

Dinner tonight was a stand-by, effortless crockpot meal. White bean turkey chili.

Ingredients:

• 1lb lean ground turkey (I use 93% lean)
• Three 15oz cans of cannellini beans, undrained
• One 28oz can of crushed tomatoes 
• 8-16oz chicken broth (depending on how thick you like your chili)
• one yellow onion, roughly chopped or diced
• chopped green chiles or jalapenos, optional
• chopped garlic, to taste
• black pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika, dried cilantro, to taste

Add all ingredients to a crock pot and stir to combine. Set on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Thicken with a little guar gum or gluten-free/wheat flour if needed. 

Substitutions can easily be made depending on what's on hand. Today I used two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of the large can of crushed and it came out fine. I like to eat mine from a giant coffee mug, seasoned liberally with hot sauce. And always steal a few extra bites with tortilla chips when storing leftovers. FYI, this makes a huge batch of chili and it freezes really well.

Currently, I'm snuggled up on my couch and watching TV after snacking on the remnants of Jif Whipped peanut butter mixed with some light Cool Whip, frozen. Totally processed and unhealthy, but I needed the extra fat and wanted something sweet. All in an effort to continuously increase my calorie intake. My mom pointed out that my sister is Barry from Meet the Goldbergs. If you don't know my sister and you watch that show, well now you do. 

Tomorrow marks the return to my mundane schedule, so posts will probably become more frequent and less eventful.