Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Date Night In

· by ·

One of the main questions I get from people when I discuss my work schedule with them is “How does your husband feel about it?” or “How does it affect your marriage.” I usually smile and say it’s fine and he gets it and blah blah blah. The truth is, he does “get it” and honestly it is what it is, but it does affect our relationship, and lately we’ve been in a little bit of a rut because of it. I am left feeling spread pretty thin which makes me feel needy and he is left getting nothing from me because I don’t have a whole lot left to give, and it is not ideal. But the truth is, come December I will have more free time than I know what to do with and I will be back to being a much better wife and be able to refocus my energy and effort more onto the relationship. In the meantime, we just have to make this work. Luckily, I married the perfect man. Seriously, perfect, and although he may not always get things in a timely manner immediately, he always eventually understands what I need and then goes above and beyond to make me feel special.

Yesterday before I left for work we discussed how we were both feeling about things. Okay, that’s a lie. I talked in overly dramatic circles about how I wasn’t getting what I needed and I don’t feel important and blah blah blah. What can I say? Sometimes I’m a disaster. Anyway, it was all mostly legitimate feeling/concern and when I left, Steve asked if he could take me on a date. I said yes, but honestly was in no mood to get dressed out of my rehearsal clothes and be out in public. But he was trying so I went with it. While I was at rehearsal he was talking about reservation times and finding a place. I got home at about 5 and he banished me to the office while he got out my “surprise”. In case you didn’t know, surprises are the way to my heart. I don’t like to know they’re coming (my dad used to always TELL ME he had a surprise for me and it drove me crazy because I don’t like to not know things!), but when I walk in to a note or an iced coffee, I feel totally loved and special.

Finally I was allowed to leave the office and I came out to this

SURPRISE!!!!! If I would have been able to tell Steve exactly what I wanted, I would have asked to stay home and have dinner cooked for me. Good thing he is a genius. I think seeing him in my apron was maybe my favorite part. I’m sorry, but I think men are cute in aprons–does that make me a weirdo? Anyway, he had gone to my favorite store (Whole Foods) and stocked up on my favorite things!

Turns out, he had googled 2 of my very favorite foods (I don’t have an absolute favorite. I just can’t choose. It would change every day.)

Chilaen sea bass

and

Sweet potatoes

Have you ever had Chilaen sea bass?! It tastes like butter. Seriously. It’s pricey, but oh so worth it!

I got to play photographer while Steve cooked–it was a fun! But I realized that taking amazing pictures the way he does is way harder than it looks!

This amazing buttery brown sugar sauce was used to brush the sweet potatoes. I almost never use real butter so I kept sniffing all of the sauces and saying “Butter! Butter! Everything smells like butter! mmmm! Did you get this recipe from Paula Dean?!”

The good thing about staying in? Spending time with our children puppies! “Dad! What are you cooking? Can I have some? I want to surprise mom too with my amazing eating skills. I will share with her if you just give me a bite!”

“Look mom, I’m sitting! Now can I have some foods? Or at least have you carry me around like a prince? That would be nice too.”

“But excuse me mom and dad, when do I get my dinner? I don’t think you understand that the big bowl of dog food I just devoured was merely a snack. An amuse bouche, if you will…”

Once all the prep work was finished, it was time to take everything out to the grill! I love this part–I know nothing about grilling, so I get to stand there and watch in awe, and occasionally flip something.

I have a confession: When I watch Steve cook, I find it so hard not to give him notes/tips/direction! I HATE when people tell me how to cook, but I have such a hard time letting go of control and not being the one in charge. Guess that’s why I became a director haha. Anyway, it is much easier with the grill because I have no tips or intelligent input.

Prettttttyyy fire!

Of course the puppies were near by. “Dad dad dad dad dad!!! Did you drop anything for me? Look, I’m sitting. Would it help if I acted extra cute?”

At this point, I was practically drooling. I’m sure one classy date.

I am seriously so lucky to have the most amazing husband ever. Thank you babe for the PERFECT night and for always making me feel important and special! XOXO

What is your idea of a perfect date?

Easy and Delicious

· by ·

Last night I had big plans of all sorts of recipes I wanted to try for dinner, but by the time evening rolled around I was super exhausted. I decided to just put some things together and hope it worked out. After scanning the house, I picked a package of frozen butternut squash ravioli and a bag of kale and decided we were having ravioli and kale chips. I drizzled the kale with about 1 tbs of olive oil, sprayed some fakey no calorie cooking spray (yeah, I’m classy) added freshly ground salt and garlic pepper, and some sriracha and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about kale chips and they totally delivered! Yummmm. Salty/crunchy craving satisfied!

To dress the raviolis, after cooking and draining

I added about 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1 tbs goat cheese, and 1/2 tsp fig butter. I figured it could go a million different ways, but I love all of those things separately so I would probably love them together.

It was the perfect easy and delicious dinner. Oh my gosh, it was so so delicious. I would make it again and again and again! We ate our dinner on the couch watching the end of Project Runway and then starting to watch Bride’smaids. While we were watching, this happened

Winston seriously laid on top of Clementine like that for a good 10 minutes as if he had conquered her. He didn’t want to let her up, but after being content laying underneath him for a while, she got squirmy and wiggled her way out. I love these crazy puppies.

Rest Day

· by ·

Today I woke up and had no idea what to do with myself. I never take a rest day on a Thursday. No run. No spin. Derrrrrr….what do I doooo? I decided to try to get some use out of my free morning and started out by making some oatmeal. Steve was at work and I wanted pretty pictures, so I took out his fancy shnazzy camera to document 🙂

I always chuckle when I cook my oatmeal in the Paula Dean butter warmer. Irony. What would oatmeal be without nut butter on top?!

Are you ready for the best part? Okay, let me preface with the fact that I really do not drink a lot of soda. I used to live off of it–no water, only soda, then gave it up completely, then reintroduced it occasionally, drank too much again and now I am back to every once in a while. Well Michelle came home last night with one of my favorite things in life–diet cream soda! Yes, I drank one at breakfast, I have no shame!

Yummmm. Breakfast of champions.

Winston and Clementine also enjoyed their own breakfast of champions.

“Moooommmm, stop staring at me and let me eat my breakfast! All those clicks you’re making are really ruining my moment here”

“Also, I’m long and cute. Jealous?”

After breakfast, I decided that if my morning wasn’t going to revolve around my work out, then obviously it had to revolve around food. Confession: I LOVE grocery shopping. It can (and this morning DID) take me up to 2 hours. I’m a freak. We’ve acknowledged this. Let’s move on. I will go to multiple stores and browse and read labels and look for neat new things I’ve never seen before. I love actually having the time to not have to rush through it every once in a while. Today was TJ’s and Fry’s.

I also got a hot coffee (whaaaatttt? It’s still almost 100 degrees here, but I wanted it!) on the way home. It was almost free, but then it wasn’t. I prefer it when it is free ( 😉 )

“Look I cost money, therefore I am less cool. But I have steamed soy milk, therefore I am awesome.” Yes, my coffee speaks, doesn’t yours?


It appears I may have a small pumpkin and fig problem…

I spent the rest of my time before work baking some pretty amazing cookies, but you will have to wait until tomorrow for them because it is 10pm, I barely got home 30 minutes ago, I’m beat and have to be up early to run 6 miles tomorrow. Yikes. I’m scared. But excited. Stay tuned for a post tomorrow I’m super excited about! 🙂

 

PS: LOOOOOK!!! I can take pretty pictures too! I took all of these myself!

So Much Coffee

· by ·

Every time I wake up early, Winston stays in bed and stares at me with the saddest longing eyes like he’s saying “Mom, please don’t go. Come back to bed and snuggle with me.” Yes, I legitimately cuddle with my dog in bed. You are free to judge me. It won’t stop me. I got up at 5:45 to meet Kara for an early morning run around the lake. I love this route. Each lap is almost exactly a mile, slight hills, adventurous travels through the apt complex, nice scenery and of course, the ducks!

This time we must have encountered them 3 or 4 different times and each time they angrily quacked at us like they were pissed that we were interrupting their important waddle time. Those ducks crack me up. We finished 3 miles with a 9:55 average pace. Whoot.

Mile 1: 10:45

Mile 2: 9:50

Mile 3: 9:13

Talk about negative splits! My first mile is always soooo slow. It’s like it takes my body the entire mile to get warmed up and ready to actually run. I need to work on that my next week day run. Tomorrow is a rest day because Friday we are running 6 miles!! Every long run makes me equally nervous and excited. New challenges, new accomplishments! After our run, we headed to Starbucks for water and iced coffee. I got my usual: Grande SF caramel iced coffee with soy, light ice (light ice=MORE room for coffee!) I also ordered Steve a coffee to take back to him, but then I got home and this happened

Second time in a week I’ve tried to surprise him with coffee and he had the EXACT same idea. Ironically there were no days in between where either of us got each other coffee. Steve laughed and said “We need to coordinate or something.” I don’t know, looks like we’re pretty in sync to me! Two iced coffees hanging out in my fridge, soon to become one 🙂

After our I showered and got ready, I met the other Kara (hair Kara) at Forever 21 for some shopping. The new-ish one in AZ Mills is HUGE and I’d been wanting to go. I got a pair of shorts that are about 10 years too young for me, a super cute emerald green shirt that I didn’t even try on because I loved the color so much annnnnnd, the most exciting part, an ALADDIN SWEATSHIRT!!!!! I saw it and new I had to have it since we open on Friday (get your tickets, peeps–these kiddos are amazing!) I will take pictures of the new clothes (including my super awesome pumpkin shirt I bought at Target for $10 to be festive) once I have Steve around to take actually good pictures.

After shopping I had to make a super annoying trip to the tmobile store because my battery full on died–like unable to be brought back to life died. Soon my over heating phone will kill this battery as well and then MAYBE they will give me a new phone that actually works. By the time I got home I was soooo hungry and wanting the fastest lunch possible, so I took out this frozen pizza I bought at TJs a while ago.

I jazzed it up with some crumbled red fat feta cheese and sriracha on top, but I was so hungry I didn’t want to wait for the oven to preheat. My oven seriously takes years. It’s annoying. So I set it to burn broil and cut the cooking time almost in half. Well the burn button did it’s thing and I ended up with a pizza that was cold in the middle and burnt on the outside. I’m an awesome cook, can’t you tell?

Well, like I said, I was ready to gnaw my left arm off hungry, so I put it in the microwave for 40 seconds and then ate it anyway. It was not great my friends, but not awful. It did the trick. I would buy it again for an easy meal, but even cooked correctly, I don’t think it would have been anything too fantastic. Alright, off to get some life errands done that I’ve been neglecting, then off to work. Have a good day everyone!

Blogger meet up & PDR!

· by ·

First I just need to say that my Salted Caramel Mocha Brownie Cupcakes were a huge hit! Hooray!! Kara even told me she liked them better than the pumpkin canolis that Riga Tony’s brought out 🙂 I really love being the designated birthday baker and I love it so much more now that I am embracing the way I want to make food and not putting myself in a situation where I feel like I “can’t” eat what I’ve made. It’s so interesting discovering that when I embrace who I am and what I need, other people openly embrace it as well. I feel like so many things we do to try to please others could be so easily avoided, because honestly, people just like the real us better anyway.

Anyyyywayyy, moving on 🙂 Yesterday I got the amazing opportunity to meet some other bloggers in the area! I was so excited when I started to find other Phoenix bloggers and even more so when everyone was so nice and welcoming! I was totally nervous about going–would you believe that I actually tend to get pretty significant social anxiety? I have a pretty outgoing personality, so it’s something people are often pretty surprised by, but I nerd out about wanting people to like me. Maybe it’s an actor thing 🙂 Anyway, I met up with the group at Four Peaks after I got done with rehearsal. It was so nice to talk to other people who are as passionate as I am about health and food. These ladies are fabulous and I left feeling inspired by every one of them 🙂

I brought my camera, but then never took it out for some reason, so I’m stealing pictures from Nicole and Emily! For some reason, I look pissed in the first one. What’s up with that? I’m just not a good camera smiler! 🙂

L-R Raya, Carolyn, Dani, Nicole, Me, Emily, Heather

I’m so glad I went and thank you guys so much for making me feel so welcome!

This morning I got up and decided it was time to make this idea that Kara and I have been discussing a reality. The idea being half marathon training. The PF Chang’s Rock and Roll half marathon happening Jan 15th to be precise. I’d been really nervous to announce it in fear that I wouldn’t be able to make it happen. Up until this morning, 5K was my PDR and it is not an easy distance for me by any means. How the hell am I going to add an extra 10 miles to that by January?! So this morning I got up and I new today I had to run 4. So I headed out for a run to Starbucks (what is a better ending location than iced coffee?!) and proved to myself that I will be able to continue to run longer and longer distances because I can do anything I set my mind to.

I even did better time wise than I was expecting! Not that a 10:15 average is exactly fast, but considering it’s my first time and it was just a couple of weeks ago that I decided to get serious about this running thing, I’ll take it! In fact I will take it with excitement and happiness and make this face

F you short achilles tendons!! You just try to keep me from running a half marathon! Actually, please don’t try because the last thing I need is something to make this HARDER. I promise to spend lots of time like this trying to keep you happy

Winston and Clementine don’t mind. They ♥ the lap time 🙂

4 miles in 40:58. I am a happy girl, and I feel ready to take on this new challenge! I am so thankful that Kara is going to be doing it with me! The only thing better than accomplishing life goals is having great friends along the way doing it with you. This has been something I’ve wanted to do since the first day I ever ran a mile a little over 2 years ago and I just always believed that I couldn’t. I can’t wait to prove myself wrong! 🙂

I ♥ my running buddy

· by ·

Happy Friday everyone! Today was the loooonnnngggest day. I woke up while it was still dark out at 5:30 after not being able to fall asleep til about 1am. For some reason I still got up in time for a short run. As soon as I started to put my shoes on, Winston jumped all over me and laid on my feet. I always think it’s so sweet when he tries to keep me home with him. So I decided to take him with me. Jack Russells make awesome running buddies! We didn’t have time for much so we just took a quick stroll around the neighborhood.

But on about 4 hours of sleep, it didn’t feel quick. At all. Winnie had a great time though, and to thank me, proceeded to lick sweat off of my face

**Don’t judge my hair dyed face–Kara is an arteeeest and sometimes face paint happens, but it’s worth it and fades pretty quick :)**

Look at that face (Winston’s…not mine haha)! I love him. He makes me happier than I ever knew an animal could! After we got back, I made breakfast and lunch and was out the door by just after 7. I just got home about an hour ago. Of course I walked in and immediately had to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy. I went through several stages of tired today from not yet feeling the tired, to needing a nap, to grumpiness, to loopiness. Loopy was the most fun. I think my kiddos officially think I’m a nut job. Not that I disagree with that. Now I’m just back to total exhaustion. I think that means it’s bed time. I had a million things I wanted to write about, but I guess they will have to wait for an other time. Have a good night everyone! 🙂

Is it just me?

· by ·

Today my mom asked how I was doing and I answered “You know how when you’re really sleep deprived and it makes you overly emotionally responsive? Like, the smallest thing can make me laugh or cry or be overwhelmed by joy/sadness/anything. Except, I’m not really sleep deprived.” I actually *most of the time* don’t mind being super in tune with my emotions because it leads to things like the discovery I made today.

This morning I met Kara for Spin like every Thursday. Our fav teacher was back. We ended up starting almost 10 minutes late, but she promised to make up for it. By the time we reached the top of our big hill and I discovered gear 23 (Hello gear 23. Nice to meet you. This is the first time we’ve been acquainted. To be honest, you kind of suck. But, somehow I think I may see you again sometime anyway), I knew she wasn’t lying. Then it was time for sprints. She mentioned something about the first minute and the second minute, so silly me, I thought they sprint section would only last 2 minutes. Lies. All lies. And to be honest, I kind of thought I was going to die. I felt so certain that I couldn’t keep up and that I had burnt out too quickly again, but something sparked inside of me and I knew that I had two options.

1) Give up.

2) Push harder than I’ve ever pushed and leave everything I had in that room.

When you’re that tired there is no option 3. No middle ground. At least not for me. All or nothing. So I peddled and peddled and pushed harder and faster than I knew I had in me and all of the sudden all of the emotions I haven’t really had time to acknowledge or mentally digest just came up like emotional vomit and I felt like I was going to start crying, but I wasn’t sad. The only thing I could possibly relate it to is when I’ve been on stage and fully released over into what I was doing. I completely let go in that moment and found a lot of reality inside of myself.

Sorry to sound like a nut. The truth is I am a super emotionally driven person and I 100% believe in all this crap. No one can convince me otherwise. I should come with a warning “I’m emotional. Love me anyway.”

I left class, completely beat physically, but feeling amazing mentally.

Not amazing mileage wise, but not bad considering the lost time and killer hills.

After Spin, I finalllllyyy got my hurrrrr did! One of my besties is basically the most fantastic hair dresser on earth. Her name is Kara, but she is not the same Kara from spin. Hair Kara and I have been friends for something ridiculous like 12 or 13 years, and we have had some crazy times together. Ask me one day, and I will tell you all about our shenanigans! While my color sat, I definitely went over to Great Harvest for some lunch lookin like this

Classy, right? I’ll post pictures of the new color once I actually have time to style and make myself pretty.

After my hair appt, I worked and had a super productive/challenging/amazing rehearsal. I am having such a blast working on this show and it is totally challenging my brain to think, focus, and teach in new ways. I’m so happy, and I wouldn’t turn down a single thing I’m doing right now for all the days off in the world! But I have to admit, I miss Steve and I miss these cutie patooties!

This morning, I went to grab something from my car and Winston followed me and jumped in the back seat. I guess he’s sick of me leaving all the time and he wanted to come. So cute.

After rehearsal, I stopped by my mom’s where I was poured wine and treated like a queen for an hour. My family has been super sensitive to my crazy schedule and made me feel like a million bucks the small amount of time I got to spend with them!

Tomorrow I work from 7:30am-8:30pm and it’s midnight and I can’t sleep. Yikes. Buuuutttt, I have the Phoenix blogger meet up on Saturday to look forward to! Sooo excited (and I have to admit, a little nervous)! If you live in Phoenix and you’re not already on the list, you should come tooooo! I can’t wait to meet everyone 🙂

Ok. Must. Try. To. Sleep.

Goodnight friends.

PS: Question of the day: Have you ever had an emotional response during a work out? Does what I expressed make sense, or do you kind of think I’m a freak? 🙂

Apple & Goat Cheese Sandwich

· by ·

So yesterday I made the most delicious lunch ever, and ate it so fast that a camera was the last thing from my mind, but sometimes when I create something I absolutely love, I will make it like 11 days in a row until I’m sick of it and never want it ever again. So, obviously, today I recreated yesterday’s sandwich

Apple & Goat Cheese Sandwich

  • 2 slices cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread
  • 1 oz goat cheese
  • 1 tbs fig butter
  • 1/2 apple, thinly sliced
  • light drizzle balsamic vinegar
  • 1 leaf romaine lettuce

Directions:

1) Place bread on foiled baking sheet and place in the oven on burn broil to crisp.

2) Spread fig butter over one slice.

3) Drizzle second slice with balsamic vinegar, and top with goat cheese.

4) Stick back in the oven until cheese is softened.

4) Top with apple slices and lettuce.

5) Enjoy!

I enjoyed my sandwich with some yogurt which was delicious, but not nearly as exciting. Then, Steve and I got some quality time in with our children!

Winnie always looks so sad in pictures. Cheer up, Win!

Notice Clem’s flipped back ear.

I guess we tired them out? I love when they hang out together just by themselves! It must be like when parents see their siblings love each other. 🙂

Confession: Sometimes if I only take/post pictures of one of the dogs, I start to feel guilty like I’m picking favorites and everyone will think I love one more than the other. I also feel guilty if I pay more attention to one of them, because then the other one gets sad and sulks. Does anyone else have this problem? Or do I worry way too much about the feelings of puppies?

Skinnified Sunday: Chicken Tender Salad

· by ·

Steve and I actually did our Skinnified Sunday dinner a day early because tonight we are going out for our friend Kara’s birthday. So we moved our cooking and our 6 month anniversary celebration up a day! That’s right, we have been married for 6 months today. I know a halfiversary may seem like a silly thing to celebrate, but we like to celebrate, and after almost 8 years together, it’s fun to start the counting over and celebrate months!

First, we went to one of my all time favorite stores–WILLIAM’S SONOMA!!! and used some of our store credit from the wedding to buy some new toys!

Then we exchanged gifts. I got him a book to assist in his new photography obsession (In case you didn’t know, he takes all the good pictures that show up on the blog. You can see more of his amazing photography @ his blog or on his flicker account). And he got my a framed picture of the whole fam from our wedding!

While I got cooking, Steve started to get creative with the camera and got a super sweet picture of our wedding rings 🙂

This dinner was pretty easy, so I was able to enjoy myself a little more (sometimes I get really stressed about everything being perfect) and play with my vegetables.


Meanwhile, Winston and Clementine were cute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner, I was inspired by the trap of restaurant salads. Have you ever ordered a salad in an attempt to stay healthy at a restaurant, only to look it up later and realize that you could have just had a burger and fries for less calories?! I feel like I’m pretty good at this point in deciphering a menu, but there as a time where I thought salad=healthy. The specific inspiration:

Red Robin’s Crispy Chicken Tender Salad

  • Greens
  • Breaded, friend chicken
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Bacon
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Bread
  • Dressing

My Swaps:

  • More veggies–tomato, cucumber, carrots, red pepper (+vitamins, +flavor, +all sorts of veggie goodness)
  • Faux fried chicken for friend chicken (-fat, -calories)
  • Half whites/half whole eggs for hard boiled eggs (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • Center cut or turkey bacon (baked) for bacon (-fat, -calories, -saturated fat)
  • Goat cheddar for cheddar cheese (-fat, -calories, +flavor)
  • Fat free croutons for bread (-fat, -calories, +crunch)
  • Added avocado (+YUM)
  • Home made feta yogurt dressing for full fat restaurant dressing (-fat, -calories)

Skinnified Chicken Tender Salad

yield 6 servings

  • 1 1/2 hearts romaine, chopped
  • 2 1/2 Persian cucumbers, sliced
  • 3/4 cup carrots, chopped
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 3/4 cup fat free croutons
  • 3/4 cup goat cheese, shredded
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
  • 6 slices center cut or turkey bacon, baked and chopped
  • 2 hard boiled egg whites, sliced
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 lb chicken breast, sliced
  • 3/4 cup cornflakes, crushed
  • 1/4 cup Fiber One Original, crushed
  • 1/4 cup reduced fat parmesean cheese
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 ts garlic pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • dash cayenne
  • 2 egg whites, beaten

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400.

2) Combine cereals,parmesean, oregano, garlic pepper, salt and cayenne.

3) Dip chicken in egg whites, then transfer to cereal mix.

4) Spray a raised baking rack on top of a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil.

5) Place chicken on the rack and back for 20-25 minutes.

6) While chicken is baking, put all other salad ingredients together except goat cheddar and croutons.

7) When chicken is finished, chop into smaller pieces and add on top of salad.

8) Place desired serving in bowl and top with croutons and goat cheddar.

9) Enjoy with feta yogurt dressing!

Feta Yogurt Dressing

yield 8 servings

  • 6 oz non fat plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbs light olive oil mayo
  • 1/4 cup reduced fat buttermilk
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 clove garlic, minced (I used a zester with mine)
  • 4 oz reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled (I suggest Trader Joe’s brand)

Directions:

1) Whisk all ingredients together, except feta.

2) Gently fold in crumbled feta.

3) Enjoy!

And as their present to us, the kids were especially cute and lovey with each other. They know it just melts out hearts!

Happy 6 months, babe!!

Skinnified Sunday: Rachael Ray’s Double Bacon Beer Burgers

· by ·

Sorry this is so late! Life has been crazy. Yesterday I barely spent any time at home, and that time was spent choreographing and getting the pumpkin spice latte cupcakes up! Anyway, Sunday was a pretty amazing day, and in addition to all the food pictures, Steve took lots of pictures of the family

Like mother, like daughter 🙂

We even finally got one together!

I love my children!

Me & Jasy

But mom, when do I get a burger?

Onto the food! I guess I’ve been in a Rachael Ray kick lately. Next week I will have to open a different cook book. These burgers turned out pretty spectacular. At the end of the dinner everyone was like “Well this wasn’t the ‘skinnified’ part, right?” Ohhhhh yes it was! Here we go…

Original Recipe:

  • 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 10 slices smoky bacon, 2 of them chopped
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
  • 3/4 pound ground chuck
  • 3/4 pound ground sirloin
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • A few hearty glugs stout beer, such as Guinness, half a bottle
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
  • 3 tablespoons grainy mustard
  • 1/2 pound sharp white aged cheddar, sliced
  • 8 leaves red lead lettuce or red leaf romaine
  • 1 red onion, sliced
  • 4 Kaiser rolls or crusty rolls, split open

My Swaps:

  • I made 1.5 of the recipe because I was cooking for 6 instead of 4. We’re popular 🙂 (+fun!)
  • Olive oil who needs it?! (-fat, -calories)
  • Center cut or turkey bacon for regular bacon (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories)
  • 1 slice bacon per burger (-calories)
  • 2 lbs 96% lean ground beef for chuck/sirloin–the first time I’ve used actual beef in FOREVER! (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories)
  • Fat free sour cream for sour cream-you could also use non fat Greek yogurt (-fat, -calories)
  • Light havarti for sharp cheddar (-fat, -calories) But to be honest, next time I would skip the cheese for myself because with all the other flavors, I just didn’t need it.
  • Red onion ehh just didn’t feel like slicing one haha
  • Whole wheat sandwich thins for Kaiser rolls (-calories, +fiber, +protein)
  • Grilled instead of pan friend in bacon drippings (-gross, -fat, -calories, -heart attack)

Skinnified Double Bacon Beer Burgers

yeild 6 servings (well it actually ended up making 7 burgers)

  • 9 slices center cut or turkey bacon, 3 of them chopped
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 lbs 96% lean ground beef
  • 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • A few hearty glugs stout beer, such as Guinness, half a bottle
  • 3/4 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1.5 tablespoon prepared horseradish
  • 4.5 tablespoons grainy mustard
  • 6 slices light havarti
  • 8 leaves red lead lettuce or red leaf romaine
  • 6 whole wheat sandwich thins

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Bake 9 slices of bacon for approx 15-20 minutes on a slotted broiler pan until crispy.

3) Spray nonstick pan and cook three chopped slices of bacon until they begin to crisp.

4) Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Approx 5-7 minutes

5) Remove, place in a large bowl and cool.

6) Add meet, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and combine with hands–the fun part!

7) Form into desired size of patties (we had enough for 7) with a small thumb print in the middle for even cooking *see picture below

8) Grill until desired “doneness”

9) Place in a cake pan, and pour room temperature Guiness over to soak in.

10) Crisp up sandwich thins in the oven with cheese on top.

11) While buns are crisping, combine sour cream, horseradish and mustard.

12) Top buns with burgers, lettuce, sour cream mixture and any other desired toppings (I added tomatoes)

13) Enjoy!

 

Steve, me, Hank, mom, Charlie, Jason!! The best friends feel just like family!

TAAAAADDDDAAAA!!!!

Breakfast Sammies

· by ·

After working up an appetite during my run this morning, I invited Jason over to join us for breakfast. I was planning on making a skinnified eggs benedict, but I didn’t feel like bothering with making a healthy hollandaise sauce–I don’t know if I even like the stuff (can you believe I’ve never tasted it?!) So the next best idea was egg sandwiches–think McMuffin style.

I got work crisping up some whole wheat English muffins in the oven on burn broil.

That broil button can burn food in a second. Watch out. Luckily, today I kept a good eye on things!

Winston and Clementine made sure to keep their eyes out too. What fun is it to beg for burnt food?

Eventually, all the laying around got to be very strenuous for Clementine, so she got some rest.


I cooked one egg per sammie (I usually do an egg + a white for myself, but that was the last of the eggs). A while ago I bought these egg thingies special for making the perfect muffin size egg. I love kitchen things!

Topped each muffin side with freshly grated goat cheddar, and then cooked lean meat of choosing (turkey, canadian bacon, turkey bacon) and stuck back in the oven on burn broil until the cheese is melty.

I topped 1/2 with fresh tomato and my egg and the other half (that I did not put cheese on) with sunflower butter and fig jam. Half savory, half sweet! 🙂

The boys each had two sammies. They were hungry!

About to start tonight’s skinnified dessert! Hope everyone is having an amazing weekend!

I love weekend breakfast!

· by ·

Lately, I have been having the weirdest (for me) craving. All I have wanted to do is make french toast for breakfast. This is weird for me, because usually I like my french toast with super thick, fluffy, grainless white bread with a big glob of butter on top. This why I haven’t had it (with the exception of pumpkin bread french toast that I made for Thanksgiving) in years. No matter what I can say about indulging every now and then, I just don’t feel good when I eat that way. Physically or mentally. So I usually go for whole wheat pancakes when I want a sweet carby breakfast. But this time I had an idea and I had been waiting for the right opportunity to try it out. Well friends, today that time finally came!

As usual, I looked at a couple recipes online for inspiration, then did my own thing 🙂

French Ezekiel Banana Toast

yeild 2 servings (2 slices each)

  • 4 slices cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 banana
  • 1-2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (I wanted to use almond, but sadly we were out)
  • 1 tbs sugar free maple syrup + extra for topping
  • chia seeds (optional)

Yogurt Topping

  • 1/2 cup non fat vanilla Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbs peanut butter (I used PB & Co White Chocolate Wonderful. I suggest you do too 🙂 )

Directions

1) Beat egg whites, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, 1 tbs syrup, and half of the banana with an electric hand mixer

2) Soak bread (the longer, the better!)

3) In a small bowl, beat yogurt and peanut butter together with an electric hand mixer

4) Place soaked bread on a sprayed nonstick pan over medium heat

5) Sprinkle with chia seeds if desired

6) Pour remaining soaking mix on top

7) Flip after about 5 min (when bottom is golden)

8) Sprinkle with more chia if desired

9) Cook approx 3 more minutes on second side (until golden)

10) Slice remaining half of banana in half length wise

11) Place banana on pan, sprinkle with cinnamon and cook for about a minute on each side

12) Plate and serve!

 

Prepping the soaking batter

 

Showing some love for Ezekiel bread–it really is good! No one believes me. Buttholes. 🙂

Ready, set, cook! Notice the scrambled eggs cooking in the background? We were completely out of dog food. Whoops. So the puppies got a specially prepared breakfast. Clementine of course dug right in, while Winston is a big scaredy cat had slight anxiety over the change. I had to feed him by hand assist him in his eating endeavors. No pictures of that–Win has a reputation to uphold!

Topping

TAAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!

It was so delicious. I can’t believe it was my first time making a healthy french toast. It was also super easy and I will definitely make it again and again!

In other news, I finally broke down and tried the tofu I bought @ TJ’s last week. I wanted so badly to like it. I put it in a huge delicious salad. I’m sorry tofu lovers, but I HATED it. I’m throwing the rest in the garbage. My tastes have changed and developed quite a bit, and maybe a different tofu would have been better, but I’m definitely going to be put off by it for quite some time.

Tomorrow is Skinnified Sunday!!! My mom, Hank and Charlie are coming over to enjoy with us. I love cooking for my family. It is probably my very favorite. They have done a lot for me and I like being able to share my love of cooking with them!

Hope everyone is having a fab weekend!!

Featured Here

Member Of…

FitFluential Is Fitness Found
AZ Bloggers Network
az 150 photo az150_zpsfb093d32.gif

Archives


Image Map