Quick and easy Miso Soup

It's getting cold around here and you know what that means.  Soup!  We enjoy this quick and easy soup for lunch.  Everything you need for this soup is in the picture except for the chow mein noodles that we add for a little crunch.

2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 or 3 green onions, chopped
2 carrots chopped,
1 1/2 cups of purple cabbage (optional), chopped
tofu
Miso Easy, mild and/ or chili flavored

-In a pot, heat 3 cups of water and the veggies until all vegetables are cooked.
-Add 2 Tbsp. regular miso and 2 Tbsp of chili miso to the pot and stir.  (You can play with this combo to make it spicier or more mild)
-Add tofu and let sit for a minute to allow it to heat up.

*Serve with a few chow mein noodles

{This recipe serves two}


Note:  We usually have celery and carrots on hand but not purple cabbage.  When I buy the cabbage, I chop the whole thing up and then freeze flat it in one big bag.  Then I just grab what I need out of that bag and put the rest back in the freezer.  If you look closely, the cabbage in the picture is still frozen.

Meal Plan Monday and a T25 update

This was a crazy week!  Daddy was out of town for a few nights and I was on my own.  I contemplated not even posting about our meals but then I thought about how I want to be honest and intentional with this blog so below is the real deal.  Here are the recipes (or in this case non-recipes) and how the week went down.

Monday:  I had Bible study in the morning and then spent too long on a lunch date so I ran out of time to get to the store.  Note to self:  Shopping on a Monday is not a good mix.  Instead of rushing through meal planning and then rushing through the store, I decided to get Chick-fil-a for the fam after piano practice and wait until to the next day to prepare.  I thought I was choosing the healthy salad at Chick-fil-A.  I did not.  Maybe it's just me and the fact that I rarely go through the fast food lines anymore, but I got all flustered and in a hurry and I didn't take the time to choose what I really wanted!  Lesson learned.

Tuesday:  Tortellini soup

Wednesday: Daddy was still out of town so we had leftover soup and whatever else we could find.

Thursday:  Good ole pork chops, peas and carrots, and this rice:

Friday:  My sister and her family came in town so we cooked up a large batch of chicken fajita meat.  I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  But we still had the refried beans and rice!  My total comfort food.  

Saturday:  Leftover fajita meat. It was such a blessing to have easy dinners this weekend so we could get a major project done.  Our garage is cleaned out and organized and that makes me very happy.  

Sunday:  We spent the day with friends and ate lunch and dinner at their house.  I enjoyed the food they had there but the best part was holding their brand new baby.  Welcome to the world little Decker!  

I would give myself a C on healthy and clean eating this past week.  I drank my Shakeology every day except one so I know I got the good stuff.   However, I really need to focus on better choices and planning for my other snacks.  For lunch, instead of my quinoa salad, I simply toasted a piece of Ezekiel Bread and topped it with cucumber, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives and a little purple onion and feta cheese.  Top it all with some balsamic vinegar for added extra flavor.  

I finished up the Alpha phase (first month) of Focus T25 and now I'm on to the Beta phase.  I'm REALLY enjoying the shorter workouts.  They go by fast and you are moving fast throughout the whole thing.  It's taking me a while to get used to not having any breaks but sometimes I just pause the video to catch my breath and start up again.  I've found that if you wait too long, by the time you've caught your breath, they have moved on to something else.  So I pause because I don't want to miss anything and I want to get the most out of the 25 minutes that I am working out.  

What have you been eating lately that it simple and easy to get you through a challenging week?

Meal Plan Monday

I want to share my meal plan from last week with you.  It has its imperfections but done is better than perfect right?  In the future, I hope to incorporate more breakfast and lunch options.  I'm pretty boring in these areas so just know that I typically eat oatmeal for breakfast and Mediterranean quinoa salad for lunch.  Snacks for the day are almost always Shakeology.

So without further ado, Dinners were:

1. turkey burgers

2. cauliflower/potato soup

3. crockpot chili

4. zucchini noodles with red sauce ~ Use a julienne peeler like this to make the "noodles" and saute them in olive oil with a little garlic and minced onion.  I made these for my husband and me because the kids were eating hot dogs for Halloween with the neighbors.

5. "Brinner"(Breakfast+Dinner) ~ scrambled eggs, homemade scones, fruit, breakfast sausage

6. Cilantro lime rice w/ black beans

7. Stuffed Pepper soup (I didn't get around to making this this weekend.  I'm thinking of adding it to next week.)

Enjoy!

5 uncommon kitchen untensils that help me cook healthier

Well hello there.  I'm back!  There are so many reasons why I left the blogging world but more importantly, there are reasons that I am back.  Let's just focus on those reasons, ok?  I've missed expressing myself through writing and I've missed the fact of maybe I just might be helping people here.  With that being said, I've had many ideas floating around in my head and I'm ready to jump back in.  Feet first!

Here are the 5 uncommon utensils that I use pretty much use on a daily basis to help me stay on track with healthy eating.

1. Small hand strainer ~  I use this for rinsing my quinoa, rice and canned beans.  The holes are tiny so the food doesn't fall through like a regular colander.

2.  Set of cutting boards ~  We use about 4 on a daily basis and I encourage you to have this many.  Who wants to cut up veggies or fruit when the one cutting board you own is dirty? That alone would make me grab for something else.  Also, I prefer these non-flexible ones because they are easier to clean in the sink.  I run them through the dishwasher every other day or so.  

3.  Julienne peeler ~ This is perfect for making zuchinni "noodles".  I'll share the recipe soon!

4.  Ulu knife ~ This little knife makes cutting up garlic and herbs so fast and easy.  It's fun to use too.

5.  Immersion blender ~  Since it's kind of beginning to feel like Fall here in Texas, soup is on my mind.  I've come across so many soup recipes that call for you to cook all of the ingredients and then add it to a food processor.  I've burned myself too many times and finally picked up one of these at my local grocery store for cheap.  Just blend up those ingredients while they are still in that pot.  (And you don't have to clean a food processor!) I don't use mine too often so I'm not sure how it would hold up with more frequent use.

  What about you?  What would you add to the list?

random

The end of the school year is upon us and the days get busier and busier around here.  I've been on two field trips within two weeks and soccer is in full swing.  Throw in a quick trip for Easter and I'm lucky to have socks clean for the clan.  Anyway, here is what I've been up to!

Easter:

Food:

We (or I should say he) has made 4 recipes from this website in the last week and they were delicious!  Go and check this website out.  

Organization:  

I finally finished my personal binder!  I've been jealous over Erin's for so long.  It's really helpful to have a place for all of the thoughts swirling around in my head to go.  I'm still working on making a daily to do list.  I know it would really help me stay focused on the day if I did one.

I used my printables from Jones Design Company to add some decoration.  I can't wait to see her May selections.  

Music:

{Represent from the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus}

I heard this song a few weeks ago on Pandora and totally thought it was written for the Hunger Games.  Turns out it was released in 2009 but I've still been wrestling with the words.  Tell me what you think! And tell me I'm not the only one that connects to a song and listens to it over and over, please.

Fitness:

 And last, but not least, I'm on the 4th week of Les Mills Pump.  It's so different from Insanity that it's taken me a while to get used to it.  I really like it and can feel it is making me so much stronger.  I did two pull-ups the other day! 

How we grill fish for fish tacos

....or maybe the title should say how hubby grills fish.  It's no secret here that he is the cook so I asked him to help me post this.  Also, I don't really love fish but when I eat it in a taco,  I really like it.  I have never been a seafood fan but we know it's good for us so hubby tried and tried many kinds until I gave him the thumbs up to fresh steal head trout.  Turns out that cooking this kind of fish on a gas grill isn't rocket science and since he's taught me, I've even grilled it a few times on my own while he's been away.

Here are the not so high tech details:

(This recipe is for a one pound filet of steal head trout)  It feeds our family of four just fine when we make them into fish tacos.)

1.  Pre-heat grill on high

2.  Prepare fish by placing it skin down on a vegetable grill pan and spray it with a little olive oil.  

3.  Sprinkle it with the following seasonings lightly.

{The third one is Cavenders all purpose Greek Seasoning}

 ****This is where there are no pictures of the grill.  How do you take pictures when dinner time is crazy enough and everybody needs something?****

 4.  Before popping it in the grill turn it down to medium and scrape off any charred food from a previous cookout if needed.  Place the fish in the center of the grill without the baking sheet under it.  (We use it only for seasoning the fish and transporting to the grill).  Hang out and watch the temp turn to about 400 and then let it cook for 10 minutes.

5.  After 10 minutes check it.  The fish should look like this:

and a little pinky flaky in the middle.  If not, cook for only a few minutes more.  

The meat should fall right off of the skin.  See, easy.

To make them into fish tacos, we add our homemade salsa on top with a dollop of no fat greek yogurt in place of sour cream.  Enjoy! 

Easy and healthier taco salad

Warning:  We have some fancy dinners around here. 

Try this for an easier taco salad dinner.  Believe it or not my kids will eat this.  Especially when I set out all the fixin's and let them assemble their own. 

Roll some foil up into balls.....

Spray lightly with Pam

Cook at 400 degrees until a little brown and crispy. 

Usually around 10 minutes but keep a close watch!

Fill them up with ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. 

Enjoy!

I'm trying this for dinner....

Coffee braised brisket with potatoes and carrots from Real Simple mag.

I'll let you know how it goes! (-: