Running, Recipes, and Real life adventures!
Simple yet so yummy dinner tonight. Roasted spaghetti squash (season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and drizzle with oil. Roast face down for 30 minutes at 375 degrees, remove and flip over and add shredded pecorino or Parmesan cheese, return to the oven for about 10 minutes until you can shred with forks), with my super slay red sauce and shrimp. Can’t get easier, or healthier.
Happy Thursday!!! I took it to the kitchen after work today. I’ve discovered the joy of making my own red sauce and will never buy jarred again. I don’t have an exact recipe, but I can tell you I roasted a bunch of Roma tomatoes with garlic and onions/drizzled with avocado oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, oregano and basil-roasted about 25 minutes at 350, then cooled and removed the skins.
In a large sauce pan, sauté half of a diced white onion, one diced carrot (breaks up the acidity of the tomatoes with natural sweetness), and a ton of minced garlic🤣. Add one large can of peeled whole Roma tomatoes that’s been drained. Squish the tomatoes with your hands (or a spoon lol), add a few chunks of Parmesan cheese Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano and basil. Cook down for about 25 minutes. Add in the tomatoes you roasted and removed the skin, and purée with an immersion blender or whatever you use to blend things.
Add back to the sauce pan, and let warm through. Add a pat or two of butter to finish it off.
This time I added sautéed Italian Turkey sausage and served over brown rice noodles. Yum!!
Do you enjoy making homemade sauces? What’s your favorite?
Happy Thursday!!
In efforts to try and lose the five lbs I’ve gained this summer, eating all the food and drinking all the drinks, I decided to come up with a healthier version of stuffed mushrooms.
Chicken sausage, spinach and kale stuffed mushrooms:
-four large Portobello mushroom caps
-one package of Italian chicken/Turkey sausage
-one package of fresh baby spinach/kale
-one large shallot-minced
-4 cloves of garlic-minced
-2 tablespoons of low fat cream cheese
-freshly grated Parmesan cheese
-salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
-avocado oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and heat a non stick skillet to medium on the stovetop. Drizzle mushroom caps with avocado oil, both sides, and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (spray with non stick cooking spray), and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes.
While the mushrooms are roasting, add avocado oil to the preheated non stick skillet, and sauté the shallots and garlic until softened. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Next, add in the chicken sausage and let brown for about 10 minutes. Add in the two tablespoons of cream cheese and stir until creamy. Lastly, add in the spinach and let wilt. Salt and pepper to taste.
Take the mushroom caps out of the oven, and scoop in the mixture into the caps. Top with Parmesan cheese, and return to the oven. Set oven to broil, and let cook until golden brown.
Enjoy!
What’s your favorite recipe?
Cheers! Enjoy!!
Michelle
Today was my first physical day back at work since I was sick last week. Add in the fact that I only got four hours of sleep, equals a perfect rest day tonight. I did make a yummy dinner-panko crusted pork chops, brown rice/quinoa blend with scallions and sautéed asparagus. Yum! How was your day? #tuesday
Cheer!
Michelle
Chicken chili
One package of chicken thighs cut into cubes
1 packet low sodium taco seasoning
Cumin, red pepper flakes, dried cilantro & oregano
1 can diced tomatoes
2 can of beans-lightly rinsed
2 green onions, thinly sliced (for garnish)
1 red pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 box of low sodium chicken stock
Season chicken with the taco season packet and set aside. Sauté the veggies in a stock/soup pot until soft, adding the cumin, dried spices and salt and pepper to taste. Add in the chicken, beans, and diced tomatoes and bring to a boil for about 10-15 minutes. Taste for seasoning and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Garnish with green onions, and enjoy!
Cheers! Enjoy!!!
Guys and Gals!!! Who doesn’t like a quick, easy, and healthy weeknight meal?!? I know I DOOOO…especially with our crazy schedules.
Here’s a quick recipe that will leave your family full, and satisfied.
All you’ll need:
1 pepper per serving
1 lb. of ground beef/turkey/pork
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Shredded cheese to top the peppers
Green onions for garnish
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, cumin, onion powder, smoked paprika, dried cilantro (1/2 tsp each)
What you’ll do:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put your peppers on a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with Pam nostick spray. Drizzle the peppers with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and pop them in the oven.
While the peppers are cooking in the oven (about 20 minutes), sauté the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes for about 2-3 minutes until tender and translucent. Add in your ground meat, and cook on medium to high heat for about 10 minutes or cooked through. Next, drain the grease from the meat in colander.
Remove the peppers from the oven, and spoon in the meat mixture all the way to the top.
Top the peppers with shredded cheese and return to the oven and let cook for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is all melted. Serve with your favorite side dish, and enjoy!!
Dinner is served!!
What is your favorite weeknight meal?
Cheers!
Michelle
Hey gang!! How was your weekend? Friday my hubby and I went on an impromptu date in downtown Tampa. We are at a place called Oak and Ola and it was amazing. I wrote about it on Yelp (Michelle D. in Tampa), but may start writing more restaurant reviews here on the blog again this year.
Saturday we did some errands and went and saw “Jumanji” and we thought it was really cute and entertaining. We also hit up my favorite consignment shop as I still had money left over on my Christmas gift card.
Sunday I slept in which I always allow myself to do when I’m not training for anything, because I have to get up early enough every day for work. I also decided to meal prep for the week, as this is where my diet/exercise regime have gone to crap over the last six months. I made some egg muffins for the week, as well as a big pot of Chicken Soup. (Click the link for the basic recipes but feel free to change up whatever protein/veggies sound good to you!!!)
Tonight after dinner I went for a nice walk with my neighbor, and did my plank. I’ve been planking since October 1st, and haven’t missed a day yet. I did this back in 2016 when my husband was deployed, and managed to plank for an entire year straight.
How was your weekend? Does cooking ahead of time help you? Any tips for burning belly fat?
Have a great week, everyone!!
Cheers,
Michelle
Tonight we had meatballs and marinara sauce topped with ricotta cheese. I know I’ll be eating carbs tomorrow for Sunday’s race so wanted to eat healthy today. Yum!! And so easy!! 1 lb of ground beef, 1 egg, 3-4 tsps of almond flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes (seasons to taste, about a tsp each) and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Form the meatballs and sear on all sides. Top with marinara sauce and transfer into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. For the last five minutes remove and top with ricotta cheese and return to the oven that’s been turned up to broil for five minutes. Voila!!
What’s your favorite weeknight meal? Do you have any races this weekend? Good luck if you do!!
Cheers!
Michelle
Wednesday I went out for my short run after work, and felt incredibly strong. I always wonder how I can pull these runs after working all day, but I got it done and it felt great. Fast forward to today’s long run, and whoa…but we’ll get to that in just a bit. I haven’t gotten a chance to write since my last post about mid-life due to crazy schedules, but just thought I’d share a little about my week last week.
Like I said, my mid week 5k went great. I settled in after the first mile and was able to let go and just run. While I often miss my once speedy average pace of 9:15 for short runs, I will celebrate my time no matter what. I didn’t get to run much for the year of 2016 while my husband was deployed, and 2017 was busy playing catch up for the year I lost with my husband, and moving my family across the country to start our Florida adventures.
For dinner tonight I made Beef bourguignon over cauliflower mash and it was amazing. To keep it keto friendly I omitted the carrots, but I feel like it was missing something with leaving them out.
Please click the links for the recipes!
How was your week/weekend? Are you training for any specific races? How do you handle running in extreme temperatures?
Cheers, and have a great week!!
Michelle
Today we had 100% chance of rain, and not just for an hour or two like normal Florida storms, no, it was going to rain from 4 am until who knows when. In fact, I think it is still raining as we speak. So both plans to go to Disney and my long run have been postponed. I will run my scheduled 6.2 miles after work tomorrow, and we can go to Disney another day.
Since it was raining, we figured it would be the perfect day to watch movies and relax. We ended up watching “Christopher Robin,” and we all enjoyed it a lot. It was light hearted but emotional all at the same time. Afterwards, we played the Disney version of Monopoly and I am proud to say after a several hour long game, I won!
Lastly, we cooked a simple Sunday supper. Pork loin that was cooked low and slow in the sous vide, and a broccoli mash (see recipe for my cauliflower mash but use a head of steamed broccoli instead and parmesan cheese vs. Italian cheese), and my daughter made us arugula salad with radish and mushrooms.
Which brings me to my thankful part of this post:
Have you watched any good movies lately? What’s your favorite board game? Does your family eat together in the evenings when possible?
Cheers!
Michelle
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