Tag Archives: recipe

Black Bean & Quinoa Chili + Spoiled Boyd

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 9 Comments

Black Bean & Quinoa Chili

(via Closet Cooking)

Ingredients
  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon cumin, toasted and ground
  • 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 green bell pepper, cut into bit sized pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into bit sized pieces
  • 1 zucchini, cut into bit sized pieces (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup corn, fresh, frozen or canned
  • 1 handful cilantro, chopped
Directions
  1. Simmer the quinoa in the water until absorbed, about 20 minutes.
  2. Heat the oil in a pan.
  3. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic, chili powder and cumin and saute until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
  5. Add the tomatoes, beans, peppers, zucchini, chipotle, oregano, salt and pepper and simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. Add the quinoa and corn and simmer for 5 minutes.
  7. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro.

That dinner hit the spot!! And it came together very quickly! Love that! We didn’t use the canned adobo chiles because they gross me out! We’re definitely on our quinoa craze, but we agreed that our favorite combo so far has been the Thai Fried Quinoa.

Boyd was extremely jealous that I was the one who got to lick out the Nutella jar. It’s not my fault that chocolate is bad for dogs!!

That’s irresistible, right?! He was prancing all over the place, just waiting for that jar.

Apparently, I’m no longer immune to his charms.

That’s right. After I licked it clean, I cleaned out the jar and put peanut butter in it so Boyd could lick it too!! I put in some time tackling the laundry and the kichen tonight so I can enjoy my half day tomorrow.

By the way…

It looks like Boyd has a distant relative named Lupo (Cocker Spaniel) who has been adopted by the Prince & Princess. How cute are they in their matching boots? I wonder if Lupo eats socks like Boyd! P.S. Did you know Kevin shares a birthday with Prince William? I wish I could share a wardrobe with Princess Kate!

Tonight’s workout was an underwhleming 3.90 miles since a major grocery shopping trip was on the agenda. Once again I managed NOT to by the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Puffs. I’ve never had them! They’re on sale for $1.99. 2 Greek Yogurts = 1 whole bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Puffs. I could do food math all day. If only the nutrition facts were equal, I’d DEFINITELY go for the Cheetos!

Do you spoil your pet? Yes. I don’t know why. He definitely does nothing to deserve. We say every day,”Boyd, you’re lucky you’re cute.” Part of what makes it not cute is how obedient he is when he wants something…. but otherwise he is insanely stubborn!

Best thing you bought at the grocery store this week? I’m really excited for my dark chocolate almond milk and my english muffins and raspberry jam!

P.S. Mom, do you remember that children’s book about the dogs being home alone? There was something in it about not being able to eat chocolate! I wish I could think of the title!! I remember there was something at the beginning about the kids having to go to like sports practice, and then the dogs like pawprints, etc. That’s very hard to Google, but maybe they still have it at the Wabasha Public Library. :)

 

 

 

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BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad + Double Tempos

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 11 Comments

I’m so mad at our stubborn avocados for not ripening in time for dinner tonight! But our dish still ending up turning out delicious.

In the mix:

  • half box of quinoa
  • black beans
  • corn
  • red onion
  • chicken w/bbq sauce
  • mozz & cilantro to garnish

What was missing: avocado!! Wah!! But this combo was still a winner! You can check out What’s Gaby Cooking if you’re the kind of person who likes thorough directions!

My dessert: A spoon full of Nutella. Kevin’s dessert: finishing off the can of pink frosting in the fridge.

But not 5 minutes later, I found him with Nutella jar in hand. And a very defensive look on his face.

Speaking of defensive. Want to know something cool? I’ve been racking up Yogurtini trips tonight! When Kevin forgets to bring me leftover Hershey’s coconut kisses from like he promised, I earn a trip to Yogurtini. When I feel sick after the gym, I earn another trip!! That’s two!!! I’ve tried to claim a few more throughout the evening, but Kevin claims that only he can dole them out.

A while later, I snacked on a 100-calorie pack of kettle corn. So did Boyd. He also got two strawberry marshmallows and the empty frosting can. It’s a really good night for him!

Earlier…

I’ve been feeling like I’ve been doing a lot of “junk” miles lately. Unplanned. Not pushing myself. Not making any progress in particular. So I decided to push myself with a little tempo action.

Check out this workout from Runner’s World:

Double Tempo Run: In this workout, you give yourself a substantial recovery period of 5 to 7 minutes sandwiched between two tempo-paced runs. Once again, warm up by running 2 miles and doing some strides. Then do a 15-minute tempo run. While this initial tempo run is hard enough to fall in the tempo-run effort zone, it should feel like it’s more on the comfortable side of the comfortable-hard effort scale.

After a recovery jog of 5 to 7 minutes, run a second tempo run of about the same length. The pace of this second tempo run should be slightly more aggressive and feel like it’s more on the hard side of the comfortable-hard effort scale. Part of this perception will be from the fatigue induced by the previous tempo run, and part because you’re actually running a little faster. As you get stronger, you can extend the length of each run until your total time at tempo pace reaches 45 minutes.

The advantage of this type of tempo workout is that with the lengthy recovery period between the two runs you’re able to run more overall volume at tempo-run pace. This means you’ll spend more time working at your lactate threshold.

I ended up doing 2 miles for a warm-up, 20 minutes tempo + 10 minutes recovery + 20 minutes tempo. I didn’t realize i was only supposed to be 5-7 minutes of recovery time since I didn’t write it out on a post-it. Oh well. I’m sure that extra 3 minutes didn’t hurt. I ended up covering 8.1 miles. On a Monday! Yay.

You can use the Runner’s World training calculator to choose a good tempo pace. Mine came out to be 7:48 so I kept it between 7:35-7:50.

Is it okay to say that I’m really proud of myself for pushing through that workout? I got a killer stomachache almost immediately when I started running, and I did stop during my “recovery time” to go to the bathroom real fast. But other than that, I stuck to it. I would’ve never done so well tonight if I hadn’t gone in to the gym with a plan, so I’m so glad I did!

What’s your favorite thing to eat straight from the jar/can? Frosting. The funfetti/rainbow sprinkle kind.

Kettle corn or regular popcorn? Kettle. Which surprises me because I’m totally a salty person, but I like to have a little flavor in there too.

Favorite part of your Monday? The few minutes Kevin and I spent hanging out after dinner before he had to start to do homework. When we were parting ways he said,”this was the best part of my day.” Awwwa… That got a big reaction out of me so half an hour later he had to be like,”Remember when I said it was the best part of my day?” Haha.

 

 

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Baked Funfetti & Chocolate Nutella Donuts + Super Outdoorsy

Posted on February 18, 2012 | 9 Comments

I bought a heart-shaped donut pan a few weeks ago, and it’s been burning a hole in my kitchen cupboards ever since!

They’re easier than you think! And they’re extremely donut-like! I was afraid they would just be heart-shaped cupcakes. Not even sure why that would be a bad thing, but I was happy nonetheless.

Baked Funfetti Donuts (via cookies&cups)

2 3/4 cups Funfetti Cake Mix
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Spray the donut pan lightly with cooking spray.

In mixing bowl beat all ingredients on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Transfer batter in a ziplock bag.  Cut of the corner of the ziplock and squeeze batter into each donut mold, filling 2/3 full.  Bake for 7-9 minutes until the tops are slightly browned and spring back when touched.

Check out cookies & cups for recipes for a glaze AND a frosting. You need both! Definitely!

You want the Chocolate Nutella version? All I did was switch up the cake mix flavor and mix up a glaze powdered sugar, 2 TBSP of Nutella, and milk.

My beautiful baking buddy! Can you believe we baked donuts instead of ran today? Oops! I did sneak in a quick twice around the block (1.58 miles) before she showed up. Nothing like a 12 minute run to burn off my Saturday morning antsiness.

Later this afternoon, we finally got the chance to meet up with some old college friends of mine. We’ve been trying to find a time to get together basically since we moved to Denver, but we finally made it happen!

We decided it would be cool to meet alongside a big, muddy, snowy hill for a true test of my outdoorsiness.Ryan is an accomplished photographer who likes to photograph adventurous things so we did a little trail running photo shoot. Kevin and I seriously had a blast slipping and sliding all over the place and arguing over who has better running form. Thankfully, the weather cooperated so I wasn’t freezing to death! I know it’s hard to imagine, but some of them may turn out better than some of my iPhone self-portraits!We’ll give you a peek someday. I didn’t even bring my baby iPhone out there in the elements. I’m sure I would’ve dropped it down a hill somewhere. Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner and catching up with the whole family. We even shared some of our donuts because we’re so nice.

We got home nice & early so I tricked Kevin into a quick gym trip. Kevin: “Can I have a donut first?” Seriously? Who asks that?

These are the socks I had to wear since my one good pair was sopping wet.  What about the 12 pairs of socks I got for Christmas? Boyd has been chomping them down one by one.

And these are the pants my husband chose to wear:

Green machine!!!! I ran another easy 2 while he hung out on the elliptical. Right about now we are totally lazing it up on the futon. We have another big day tomorrow!!

Favorite kind of donut? Not a huge fan. I go for the sprinkles and the long johns. I guess I need to learn how to bake long johns.

Do you wear pjs in public? I did so regularly in high school. Very regularly. But after living in the DR, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again. ;)

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2 Ingredient Valentine Fudge

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 8 Comments

My mom sent me this recipe! She knows me so well.

It’s so genius that I hate to share, but hey, I’m a giver! I brought them into the office, and I was secretly happy that nobody asked for the recipe this time. :)

2 Ingredient Valentine Fudge (via cookies&cups)

Ingredients

  • 1 (16 oz) can of strawberry frosting
  • 1 12 oz bag of white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Prepare a 9×9 pan by spray lightly with cooking spray.
  2. Over a double boiler, or in the microwave, melt your white chocolate chips.
  3. When chips are melted, remove from heat and stir in your strawberry frosting, evenly.
  4. Spread in your prepared pan and place in fridge to set for 30 minutes.
  5. Cut into squares (or HEARTS) to serve.

Did you see those two ingredients? Do you realize that they’re in one aisle at Target. I could almost grab one ingredient with each hand while standing in one spot.

I’m a sucker for those chocolate brown eyes so Boyd got the leftover frosting container to lick out. I had to take the paper label off first otherwise he would have eaten it. Silly Boykins!

I felt Kevin’s smile for the fudge picture was a little lackluster so I told him,”Smile like you’re me on our wedding day.” It worked.

Quick mini lunch because I’m on my way to the gym! I’m checking out the interenets for a Valentine Cookie Friday idea. I don’t really want to do anything red velvet or cutout.

Any ideas? xoxo

 

 

 

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Let’s Get It Humid In Here + Buffalo Chicken Soup

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 17 Comments

This beautiful pink thing is going to change my life:

Isn’t that the cutest humidifier you’ve ever seen? I think it’s going to change my life. I can’t believe we made it over 5 months in Colorado without it! I literally wake up multiple times during the night with my mouth so dry that I think I’m going to die. But I forget about it during the day – the time when normal people buy things.

This is the Crane Drop Shape Cool Mist Humidifier. Kevin was nice, and let me choose pink, but they also have some other inferior colors. It’d probably make a great Valentine’s gift for someone in your life with dry skin.

I was the nice one at lunch today, and let Kevin have the good leftovers. It’s all about the give & take in marriage. ;) I had whatever else I could find around the kitchen, and it actually ended up being fairly nutritious! I’m loving the frozen broccoli I bought at Whole Foods. The bag is SO much bigger, and the broccoli pieces are perfectly bite-sized. I don’t like stems or big chunks. Haha. Picky little princess, I know. But at least I’m eating vegetables.

The highlight of my afternoon was definitely when I found a wayward Hershey’s kiss hiding behind the F7 key. That made me so happy!

I finally got a decent workout in today at the gym. 4.06 miles of stairs + 4.07 miles on the treadmill for a total over just 8 miles today. That felt good! I didn’t go too hard on the run. The 4 miles on the stairmill had me sweating like crazy, and I had Jeopardy! to watch.

I was so pumped to come home for this dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Soup (via How Sweet Eats)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8-10 oz), cooked and shredded

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon flour

32 ounces low-sodium chicken stock

1/3-1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce

1/3 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

sliced green onions, crumbled gorgonzola and cilantro for topping

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add olive oil. Add onions with a sprinkle of salt to the pot, stirring to coat, then cook for about 5 minutes until soft. Add in garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Sprinkle in flour and stir for another 1-2 minutes. Add in stock, buffalo sauce, chicken and grated cheeses, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring every so often.

Serve soup and top with toasted baguettes, cilantro, green onions and gorgonzola.

We added little itty bitty noodles. Because we are carb happy. And we want the soup to stretch out for leftovers!

Served with some leftover homemade bread.

This picture is for you if you ever get confused by this blog into thinking I’m good at life because I make cookies every week or I run a lot or any of my slightly redeeming qualities:

That’s what I call my curly fry hair, guys. I know I’ve confessed before about how much I loathe washing my hair during the winter. And how it’s been noticeably tanglier since moving to Denver. So my hair just starts to get curled & crunched into place… after a few days. If I have to choose between washing my hair and eating diner 5 minutes sooner, you can guess which one wins.

And, yes, that is marshmallow creme you see prominently displayed on my lower lip.

The good news is that my skin is not that color. It’s just weird bathroom lighting. Lol.

Do you wash your hair every day? Just asking. I used to wash it every day when I lived in the DR. If the utilities were on that day. But it was always warm there, and my hair would air dry on a walk to the colmado!

What’s your favorite buffalo flavored thing? I also really love buffalo on pizza and sandwiches. And pretzel crisps. And I believe I’ve seen some recipes for buffalo mac ‘n’ cheese which I would obviously love. Don’t say wings. I don’t like yucky bones. Haha.

Have you had any Valentine’s candy yet? Several Hershey’s Kisses. But I miss the Christmas Special Edition mint ones. I wish they did a good special edition for Valentines. I only saw raspberry. That looked gross.

 

 

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45 Min Gym Tri + Caprese Quinoa

Posted on February 4, 2012 | 10 Comments

Further proof that I’m in winter denial…

Kevin’s boots versus my boots:

Hey, I figure my feet won’t get wet in them. Kevin laughs when I walk in these shoes because I have extremely good posture. Gotta suck in that core so if I trip I don’t wipe out!

As I get sicker and sicker of winter, I’m really getting into these mixed up workouts. Yesterday, I had the idea to do a “gym tri.” I wanted to do run-bike-row, but I didn’t like the idea of going all out on the rowing machine for 15 minutes. My poor hands would be all blistered! So I went for run-bike-stepmill!

I did this workout for mileage so I was really pushing myself, but I had short breaks every 15 minutes when I switched machines.

My stats:

Run: 2.14 (7:00 pace)   Bike: 6.78      Stepmill: 2.12 (7:04 pace)

I think I took it the easiest on the bike portion. I wasn’t really sure what a “good” amount of mileage would be to complete in 15 minutes since I’ve not been real into biking. I set the bike to an easy-medium resistance and did what I could. My overall mileage was: 11.04. I was drenched when I finished!

Can’t wait to try to beat that number sometime soon! It was a fun workout because I never spent too long on one thing!

After our Marriage+ class tonight, we had a little pot luck to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We were asked to contribute a salad, and we’ve been loving the quinoa lately so this is what we came up with!

Caprese Quinoa (via How Sweet Eats)

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 16 oz container of grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 3/4 cup fresh mozzarella pearls (or just buy a fresh mozzarella ball and cut it into chunks)
  • 10 large basil leaves, cut into ribbons
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Prepare quinoa according to directions on box (which is most likely: 2 cups water + 1 cup quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes). Depending on whether you want your quinoa hot or cold (it’s great both ways) either let it cool completely or immediately add in the tomatoes, cheese, basil, salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over top and serve!

There was also a recipe to make a homemade basil oil to drizzle over the quinoa, but I just put in extra basil and drizzled the regular olive oil to my liking.

Funny quinoa pronunciation video: I saw this on Ellen while I was running!! Haha. I can’t stop watching it!

See also Hors d’oeuvres & Aeropostale, & ok, just one more, Jake Gyllenhaal!

I can’t stop: Onomatopoeia

Hehehe. I can’t stop giggling. I love the quinoa one so much.

Aren’t you excited that it’s only Saturday?! I can’t stop thinking that it’s Sunday! Yay! We still have a whole day of weekend left!! Although that annoying Super Bowl thing is going on. Haha. I’ve already made Kevin James some Super Bowl snacks, but I might be hanging at the gym. It’ll probably be really quiet!! :)

Link me your favorite quinoa recipe! I also loved this one for Thai Fried Quinoa. I’m not even going to ask about the Super Bowl. I don’t wanna know.

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