Endless slices of banana bread

A cold front blew in this afternoon. Chilly & windy! It made for a nice run home, and the electric gray-blue sky served as a beautiful backdrop. There’s nothing like the colors of the sky of a cold front. Powerful.

Food:
Afternoon snack: Slice of banana bread and a cup of mate cocido
Dinner: 1/2 of a mega chicken burrito (with black beans, cilantro lime rice, mild tomato salsa, cheese) from Chipotle, which serves “food with integrity;” our kind of food! We used our coupon…what a value! Two meals in one. Of course I could have eaten the entire burrito, but I wanted to have something left for lunch tomorrow.
Dessert: Today has literally been banana bread, morning, noon, and night! I can’t get enough–it’s dangerous to have around!

Healthy Banana Bread Recipe: (trust me, the ingredients do not compromise the taste; I think they make it even tastier)

Dry Ingredients
-1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
-1/4 cup oat bran
-1/4 t salt
-1/2 t baking soda
-1 t baking powder
-1 t cinnamon

Wet Ingredients
-1 egg
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup honey
-1 t vanilla
-2 bananas (the riper, the better. If the peel is black, that’s the best!)

1) Mix dry ingredients in medium size bowl.
2) Beat egg in a medium size bowl. Add wet ingredients. Mix well.
3) Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir until combined.
4) Pour into a loaf pan (or any pan is fine–we’ve used springform before)
5) Bake in a preheated oven at 325 for 50-60 minutes.

Makes 1 fabulicious loaf.

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Kale chips: a cure for potato chip addicts

Fitness:
-Ran 30 minutes in my neighborhood hills. Saw a gorgeous sunset and some cute deer.
-My Netflix workout (40 minutes boxing moves & abs)

Food:
Afternoon snack: 2 teensy-weensy pieces of dark chocolate…and…. 4 Medjool dates. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. They taste like PASTRIES!
Pre-dinner: A large apple
Dinner: I made chicken tacos; I had two. Ezekiel tortillas topped with lemon-pepper chicken, spinach leaves, and sauteed onions. Fabuloso!
Dessert: Peppermint tea and a thick slice of banana bread

Weekend Recap:
Where did we leave off?….Here’s a nice little summary for you.

-Saturday:
Fitness: Day off
Afternoon snack: Lucas and I shared an oatmeal raisin cookie and large coffee with half & half at JP’s Java.
Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Dessert: Strawberry gelato sweetend with agave nectar—made in our juicer! That juicer can do anything. Ate my gelatto while watching “Amadeus.”  I forgot how long that movie was–but it’s so good! So is the song from the 80s. We were singing it all weekend thanks to the movie!

-Sunday:
Fitness: 10k at Town Lake
Brunch: Whole Foods: A breakfast taco (spelt tortilla with vegan chorizo, black beans, cheese) and later Lucas and I split a humongous Carmelita bar. Ooooohhhh my goodness. The best. Hands down. Ammmmazing. I love WF Carmelita bars.
Pre-dinner: Salad greens with Happy Rice.
Dinner: I made oven-roasted vegetables (potatoes, Japanese yam, onions, carrots) and Kale Chips.

Kale Chips!! Don’t be fooled by their healthy, green appearance. Kale chips = potato chips without the guilt.

Kale Chips!! Finally I know what all of those food bloggers have been fussing about.

Kale Chips are nothing short of a miracle. Basically, it’s kale (a leafy green) tossed in salt and olive oil, topped with some Parmesan cheese, and baked in the oven. After baking, they become potato chips. Basically. If you blindfolded me, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two. Honestly. Try it. Do yourself a favor. You will be amazed. Really!

Before the oven….

After….

Light, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth salty goodness. Unbelievably tasty.

This is a recipe I got from Kath’s blog:

• Preheat oven to about 375*
• Use about 1 OXO salad spinner’s worth of kale (which was a stuffed grocery store veggie bag). Tear the leaves off the thick stems into bite size pieces. Spread out on cookie sheets.
• Drizzle with about 2 tsp of olive oil
• Sprinkle with Parmesan, Asiago or your seasonings of choice. Plus a sprinkle of kosher salt.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.

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Restaurant Night

Restaurant Night is my new culinary project! Restaurant Night happens in the kitchen at home, but you make a dinner inspired by a dish featured at a restaurant that you like or would like to go to. Your inspiration comes from your past dining experience, or from the restaurant’s online menu’s description of the dish.

Tonight’s dish is inspired by the Parmesan Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad from Z’Tejas.  It’s pretty much the only thing I ever order when I go to Z’Tejas. The menu describes the salad as “baby spinach, Roma tomatoes, crispy bacon mixed with warm bacon dressing and topped with parmesan pecan-crusted chicken and goat cheese.”

I’m calling my version Almond Chicken Spinach Salad: baby spinach topped with grilled chicken, finely chopped almonds, and almond-crusted feta cheese, with a honey dijon mustard dipping sauce.

With my version, I wanted to go a bit healthier and use ingredients that I already had in the kitchen; all I had to buy was the spinach and chicken.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
1/3 – 1/2  pound of baby spinach
4 tbs of feta cheese
handful of almonds
2 tbs of honey
6 tbs of dijon mustard
1/2 tbs of balsamic vinegar

1) Cut chicken breast into strips, approximately 2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide.
2) Season chicken with salt and pepper.
3) In a large frying pan, heat several tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat for a minute or two.
4) When pan is hot (you should be able to hold your hand a few inches above the pan and feel the heat. If the oil is splattering, you’ve waited too long).
5) Add chicken to pan. Heat on medium.
6) Once chicken is half-white, half-pink, flip each piece over.
7) Heat until white all the way through. Remove from heat, and let cool.
8) Chop a handful of almonds into fine pieces. (If you have food processor, use it!)
9) Make 2 feta cheese balls. Each ball has 2 tbs of feta cheese. Form the cheese into a ball, and sprinkle well with some of the chop almonds.
10)  Place half of spinach onto a plate (other half goes onto other plate:) Top with grilled chicken, and sprinkle with remaining almonds. Place feta cheese ball on the side of the salad.

Dipping sauce:
In a small dish or bowl, mix honey, dijon mustard, and vinegar well. Serve on the side of the salad.

This recipe was quick and easy. I think the Z’Tejas is tastier, but this was much cheaper, healthier…and still delicious. Give it a try!

Food:
Dinner: The above salad and a glass of wine.
Dessert: Maybe chocolate?

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Do you check your receipt?

I saw my friends Ashley and Jenni of OutofControlFatroll.com at Town Lake. They manage to look cute while working out. Luckies!…Check their blog out!!! These ladies are currently in round 2 of a weight loss competition that they chronicle on their blog, along with food, fitness, and other fun facts. Love them!

Fitness:
6.2 miles at Town Lake. I wanted to do some toning exercises afterward, but I came home starving and made a beeline for the kitchen. Now I’m full….so that’s either going to have to wait or not happen at all.

Food:
Snack: 3/4 large apple, 2 Medjool dates, a piece of spirolina
Lunch: leftovers from last night

Grocery store:
Yes, it happened! And…I got some great deals today!
-32 oz tub of Fage 2% Greek Yogurt was on sale for $5.99. This is a real bargain when you consider the 16 oz. tub is $4.99.
-Free organic celery! Always check your receipt—instead of charging me for celery, the cashier rang it up as asparagus—$11.91!! Say what?!?! After loading up my groceries, I checked the receipt and caught that whopping mistake. A nice man in customer service refunded me the $$$ and didn’t charge me for the celery.
-Organic chicken for $3.99 a pound by buying the whole chicken.
-Saved $1.00 by getting my steel cut oats in the bulk section.

Green heart:
I brought brown bags and plastic containers to reuse at WF for my groceries and bulk items.

Q: Do you check your receipt after shopping?

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Where did the morning go?

Mood:
Kind of catatonic

Food:
Breakfast: Freshly-juiced carrots, apple, celery, oranges, and ginger. Lucas made it and brought it to me while I was still in bed. So sweet!
Dinner last night: Take out. Chicken fajita burrito from ZuZu’s. We had a buy one, get one free coupon, so you know–it was a must. The ingredients didn’t look that fresh and the taste was kind of bland, but that didn’t keep me from eating the WHOLE thing. And that’s a BIG burrito.

Dessert: Cup of Fage greek yogurt with agave nectar and carob chips AND a cup of hot chocolate (unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and whole milk).

We watched Julie & Julia last night. I had seen it before, but Lucas hadn’t. Really makes me want to visit Paris and eat amazing food.

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