Lemon Pepper Chicken Home Made Crouton Salad and Fresh Bought Ravioli Ridiculousness

One of the things I will miss about my old job is its close location to Eastern Market. They have a large indoor market with all sorts of fresh and hand made foods. I particularly love the home made pasta section. Earlier this week I bought these little beauties:

Hand made cheese ravioli with pretty stripes.

I boiled them for about 3 minutes and they were done! Fresh pasta has so much more flavor then store bought pasta and cooks in about a third of the time. I try to buy it anytime I come across it.

I topped it with my home made marinara sauce and....

Yummmy ridiculousness!

I know Jake doesn't consider food a meal without a meat so I grilled up some easy lemon pepper chicken.

Recipe:

4 chicken strip cuts

Lemon pepper seasoning

2 tbs olive oil

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Remove chicken strips from package and pat dry. Season both sides with the lemon pepper seasoning. Cook for about 8 minutes flipping chicken half way through. Remove once chicken is fully cooked through. Makes 2 servings.

I topped mine with a raspberry walnut light dressing and Jake went with the light ranch. I forgot to buy croutons at the store so I thought I would give home made croutons a shot.

Recipe:

4 pieces of Healthy White or Wheat bread cut into bite sized cubes

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tbs of salt

1/2 tbs of pepper

1/2 tbs of garlic powder

1 tbs dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss bread cubes with oil. Add seasoning and gently toss again. Arrange on tin foil lined baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until bread is golden brown. 

They turned out pretty good and definitely more healthy then store bought croutons. I might try adding Parmesan cheese next time as well.

Home Made Marinara Sauce

I have always wanted to try to make marinara sauce from scratch. I don't know if it's the Italian in me or my super pickyness when it comes to marinara sauce - but this is a sauce I feel like I should master. During my lunch break I bought some fresh tomatoes, onions, and what I thought was garlic....

Has the shape of garlic and the store labeling of garlic...

But not garlic at all...

I swear it's staring at me saying (in a squeaky British accent for some reason..) "Ohhh nooo I'm an onion, not garlic silly.."

Sigh.. I told you all I was not a master chef...

After being humbled by my garlic failure, I returned to my marinara mission. I had some dried minced garlic and garlic powder that would just have to do. I prefer marinara sauces that taste light, slightly spicy, and aren't chunky.

Recipe:

5 tomatoes deseeded and chopped

1/2 yellow onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

10 basil leaves chopped

1/4 cup white wine

4 tbs olive oil

1tbs dried oregano

1 tbs salt

1/2 tbs pepper

1/2 tbs cayenne pepper powder

1/2 tbs garlic powder

1 tbs dried parsley

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat until hot. Reduce heat to medium low. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and soft (about 7-10 minutes). Add wine to deglaze bottom of pot. Add tomatoes and basil. Let simmer for a few minutes. Take a hand blender and blend until no big chunks can be seen. Make sure to wear long sleeves and an apron since this can get messy. (There will be less of a splash if you keep the hand blender submerged the whole time.) Add remaining ingredients and stir. Add more or less of the spices depending on your taste. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Makes about 4-6 servings. 

While I really like how the sauce turned out, I'm going to tweak this recipe slightly. (i.e. remove tomato skins, add tomato paste, and try roasting the garlic and tomatoes). Hopefully I can do this in the next week or so and update the recipe :)

10K Training Plan

I researched a few 10K training plans before I came to the decision that I wanted to make my own. All the plans I found online had a few things in common. They all had a run that focused on pace with strength training afterwards, a run that was more relaxed but added in other cardio work, and a "long run" at the end of the week. Most of these plans took up about 5-6 days out of the week... Something I'm not ready to commit to for a 10K run.

My plan needed to be flexible and realistic for my schedule which means 3 days of runs per week.

Each week I will have a shorter run that focuses on pace and then strength exercises afterwards, a slightly longer run which will be slow and steady and then will do another form of cardio exercises, and finally a long run on the weekend to increase my mileage.
Here is my (color coded) plan starting January 22nd!

Week 1 :   1.5m + strength    2m + additional cardio        2.5m long run
Week 2:    2m + strength       2.5m + additional cardio     3m long run
Week 3:   2m + strength       2.5m + additional cardio     3.5m long run
Week 4:    2m + strength        2.5m + additional cardio     4m long run
Week 5:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      4.5m long run
Week 6:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio     4.5m long run
Week 7:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      5m long run
Week 8:   2.5 m + strength       3m + additional cardio      5.5m long run
Week 9:   2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio       6m long run
Week 10:  2.5 m + strength      3m + additional cardio      4.5m long run

Week of Race: 2.5 m + strength   3m + additional cardio     10K!!!

Not going to lie.. I'm kind of worried about the amount of miles towards the end of this plan but I'm going to do my best to stick to it!

1/11/2011 Run

Ever just have a bad work out? It happens at least once a month for me. I don't know why it happens. I guess a bad work out is just like a bad day - sometimes you can't control it and it just happens.  I got on the treadmill and after being on it for 2 minutes I knew the run was going to suck. I didn't enjoy one minute of it which actually improved my time since I was upping the pace to get off asap.

Distance: 2 miles
Time 17:58
Time per mile: 8:59

I did some leg and chest presses, ab work, stretched, and made a bee line out of the gym. I came home, drank a smoothie, and didn't move for the rest of the night.

Important things to remember with bad work outs are that they happen and don't be discouraged by them.

Excitement & Italian Food!

So I had grand plans of making a healthy dinner.. All of that went out the window when I got a call this afternoon. I currently am employed at a political firm which I love, but like alot of political jobs, it is seasonal work. I have been searching for jobs for a few months and finally one came through at a comminucations firm! My healthy dinner went out the window and in came delicious carb and cheese loaded italian food :)

Jake wanted to take me out but once I got comfy on the couch I decided delivery was the way to go.

Carbonara with gnocchi.. probably the most unhealthy thing you can get at an italian restraunt but it was delicious and hey, it was a celebration dinner :)

Movie/Wii Night = Spiced Popcorn

Last night Jake and I had some friends over for a movie/Wii night. Dinner for Shmucks was hilarious as was watching Jake get beat in all the Wii games he thought he "owned" :) I found a recipe for Spiced Popcorn  and tweaked it slightly. It was pretty tasty and easy to make.

Recipe:

2 bags of popcorn popped

1 stick of butter

4 tbs brown sugar

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

Place popped popcorn in a large bowl or pot that has some sort of top. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Add the rest of ingredients (excluding popcorn) until well combined. Pour butter mixture over popcorn some what evenly. Place top over bowl and shake gently until mixture has coated all popcorn. Transfer popcorn mixture to a tin foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes and serve.

Jake's Take: Thinks sprinkling Seasoning Salt over popcorn is easier and quicker... But still liked the final result and thought it was a good spin on movie popcorn.