{Taste Test Tuesday} Spicy Italian Zucchini Boats

I recently discovered Pinterest and have been testing recipes I've found on it.  I saw this recipe floating around and made the assumption there was Italian sausage in it, but that's not the case.  It's a veggie loaded with other veggies...perfect if you're a vegetarian.  Okay, so it's not the end of the world there's no meat in them, but I definitely needed some protein to go with this dish.  I grilled up some chicken and had these on the side.  They do have a kick to them, so if you don't like spicy food you'll want to cut back the red pepper flakes.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium tomato, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
• 3 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise.  Scoop out pulp and seeds, leaving 1/4-inch shell (use a small spoon for this).  Reserve the pulp from two zucchini slices and chop.  Combine zucchini pulp, garlic, tomato, mushrooms, 1 teaspoon basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, olive oil, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl.  Divide mixture among zucchini shells.

Place stuffed zucchini in a 13x9 baking dish; cover with foil.  Bake for 25 minutes or until zucchini is tender.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake uncovered for 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Top with fresh basil.

Adapted from The Comfort of Cooking website

I did like these very much as a side dish and they turned out so pretty. (Except for the bottoms - the skin kind of burnt)  The fresh basil and meaty mushrooms were tasty, but the real winner was the Parmesan cheese!  Mmm...cheese.  These do not make good leftovers, I REPEAT, these do not make good leftovers!  They turn into floppy, soggy...things. 

I'd give these ☆☆☆☆ out of 5 stars.  What's your favorite vegetarian recipe?

Insanity Week 1 & 2 Review

My Insanity challenge group kicked off on July 8th and my challengers are already seeing some great results!

Week 1:  We all did our Fit Test on day one to gauge our progress over the next 60 days.  Personally, I couldn't do the push-up jacks, so I did modified push-ups instead.

We were all pretty sore the first several days, but it went away by the end of the week.  My husband and I started drinking Results and Recovery formula toward the end of the first week which really seemed to help.  It helps you refuel, re-energize, and most importantly, it helps reduce soreness.  Hallelujah!  

My challengers totally ROCKED it the first week and lost a total of 26 pounds!  How amazing is that?!  I couldn't be more proud of them!

Week 2:  After a week of workouts most of us agreed that Pure Cardio is our favorite.  You go from one exercise to another with no rest breaks in between whereas on the other workouts you do circuit training, so you get a thirty second break between sets.  Some of us had a hard time adjusting our schedules, especially me.  I was getting up about an hour and half earlier to do my workout, but was going to bed at my normal time.  Bad idea.  I was averaging 5-1/2 to 6 hours of sleep a night last week which isn't nearly enough for me. 

Some of us are working through minor setbacks (my jacked up toe being one of them), but we keep pushing play and motivating each other.  I love the positivity this group brings and can't wait to see our 60 day results!

Asian Chicken Salad

I can be a pretty indecisive person.  Ask me what my favorite movie is or what my favorite song is and you won't get a solid answer from me.  There are tons of songs and movies I like, so it's too hard to pick my favorite.  The same goes for food.  There are so many tasty recipes it's hard to pick a favorite.  This salad is so dang good it deserves to be a favorite, but my favorite dish of all time???  I can't make that kind of commitment, so I'm putting it under the "Salad" category instead of the "Best Dish Ever" category.

Without further ado...this is my favorite salad recipe!  Yep, you heard me right.  FAV-OR-ITE.  It's light, healthy, colorful, and simple to make. Not to mention it's perfect on a hot summer day. It can be a main dish or a side dish, a red fish or a blue fish.  Um wait...I got carried away.  Moving on...I haven't met a single person who didn't like it, and if I did, I'm not sure we could friends anymore.  That's how good it is - hand over heart.  

 Serves 6

Ingredients

Salad: 

• 1 large carrot
• 3 cups shredded Napa cabbage, from 1 small cabbage
• 3 cups shredded romaine lettuce, from 1 small head of lettuce
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and deveined, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh Thai basil leaves or fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1-2 scallions, chopped
• 2 cups thinly sliced or shredded rotisserie chicken (about 2 small chicken breasts)
• 1/2 cup silvered or sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 tablespoon toasted white or black sesame seeds

Dressing: 

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, optional

Directions

For the salad: Using a vegetable peeler, shave the carrot and add to a large salad bowl.  Stir in the cabbage, lettuce, pepper, Thai basil, chicken, scallions, almonds, and sesame seeds.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.  

Adapted from the Food Network website.

Seriously, what are you waiting for?  Make this tonight!  I promise you won't be disappointed.

I'd love to know what your favorite salad recipe is! 

Upcoming Insanity Challenge Group

I'm beyond excited to start my next challenge group on July 8th!  It's called "Train INSANE or Remain the SAME" and is an exclusive Insanity group.  I think it's such a cool idea for all of us to be doing the same workout at the same time.  We'll all be sore together, we'll all sweat together, and we'll all finish together!  It is incredibly motivating for me to be part of a group and to have others hold me accountable so I don't give up. 

Oh, and guess what?!  Beachbody just came out with a new Shakeology flavor.  Wait for it...vanilla!  Hip hip hooray!  I've been waiting for this day to come because honestly, who doesn't like vanilla?  It's so versatile you can pretty much throw anything in it.  There's a promotion going on until July 7th, 2013 where you get FREE shipping on any one-time Vanilla Shakeology orders, so my husband and I took full advantage of it and placed our order yesterday. :-)  

New challenge group + new Shakeology flavor = one happy girl!!!

Low Fat Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Yes, you read the header right.  LOW FAT Buffalo Chicken Wraps.  The tanginess of the vinegar and hot sauce with the creaminess of the Greek yogurt and blue cheese take these wraps to another level.

  

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons Frank’s hot sauce
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar, divided
• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 1 lb. thinly sliced chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons reduced fat mayo
• 2 tablespoons plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
• 4 (8 inch) tortillas
• 4 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped
• ½ a large tomato, diced
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 celery rip, finely diced
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Whisk together hot sauce, 2 tablespoons vinegar, and cayenne pepper in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add chicken.  Cook until no longer pink in the middle.  (3-4 minutes per side)  Let chicken rest for 5 minutes and then chop into bite sized pieces.  Add it to the hot sauce bowl.  Toss and coat well.

Whisk mayo, Greek yogurt, black pepper, celery, and the remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl.  Stir in blue cheese.

To assemble wraps: Lay tortilla on a work surface or plate.  Spread with ¼ of the blue cheese sauce and top with ¼ of the chicken, lettuce, scallions, and tomato.  Roll into a wrap.

Add some sweet potato fries and dipping sauce to the side and dinner is done. 

You're welcome.

Move, Work, Run

The past several months have been BUSY and my workouts/blog posts have suffered.  I moved out of town, went back to work (after a year hiatus), and picked up running again.  Whew!  

Moving.  After a year of eating out, floating the river, and drinking local beer we decided to move back to Klamath Falls.

Klamath Falls, OR

As I'm sure most of you know, moving sucks.  I'm glad the worst part is over.  (Packing, loading the U-Haul, etc...)  We're looking to buy our first home which is exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.  Luckily, we know an awesome realtor, Kim Swagert, who should be able to hook us up with the perfect house.

It's been nice to catch up with family and friends and I definitely missed local hockey and 99.5 The Rock!  

Work.  What can I say?  I really enjoyed not working this past year, but got a little lonely being home all day with nobody to hang out with other than the dog and cat.  You can only watch so much "Deadly Women" and "Snapped" before you start to feel like a criminal.  When I heard my old job at the radio station in Klamath Falls opened up, I was all over it.  I had a good gig there and knew the opportunity to get my position back wouldn't come around again anytime soon.  As Eminem would say "It feels so good to be back!" 

Just another day at work back in '07

Running.  I've done little running the past year because the Beachbody workouts are so intense.  I didn't want to over-train and honestly, I just didn't have the energy to do both.  Since I have some races coming up, I thought I'd better jump back on the running wagon.  I am fortunate enough to have a running partner for the first time ever.  Did I mention she's awesome?  Not only does she run with me, but she told me about some great local running groups.  The first one is actually a trail running group where you earn points over the duration of the series and they give away weekly prizes.  The second is a running club called the Linkville Lopers.  They do weekly runs every Wednesday with two pace groups.  I believe one group runs at an eight minute pace and the other group (led by my running partner) runs at a ten-ish pace.  The trail runs are pretty insane, but the Wednesday runs are fairly mild and great for beginners, like me.  

My running partner, Grace.  Photo courtesy of Cody Ames Photography.

Life is good.  

{Taste Test Tuesday} Curried Chicken Salad

I've tried several Curried Chicken Salad recipes that pack a lot of calories.  I was skeptical to try this recipe because of how healthy it was.  I also worried about how the chicken would taste after poaching it.  I'm not a fan of poaching chicken and prefer to roast it when possible. 

There are some odd food parings in this dish, but they seemed to work very well together.  You get the sweetness from the grapes, the crunch from the almonds, the spice from the curry powder, and the creaminess from the Greek yogurt. 

It was surprisingly good, but make sure you don't over cook the chicken or it will be tough.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1-1/4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, no more than 3/4" thick
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons  mayo with olive oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 cup halved red grapes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 6 ounces mixed greens (about 6 cups lightly packed)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let the chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator.  Cut into 1/4" dice.  Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayo, and curry powder.  Fold in the chicken, grapes, and cilantro.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.  Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with almonds. 

Adapted from the Food Network website

This dish gets ☆☆☆