Balsamic Asparagus and Zuzana Light Workouts

Roses from Mr. Gaunt. Tulips from my mom.

Tuesdays are our eat early nights. Although there is something weirdly nice about eating dinner at 5pm. It just sort of gets that task out of the way, and reduces the likelihood of it getting “too late, and too tired” to make anything. Resulting in eating garbage.  I wish I could convince myself everyday to just come home, straighten my house and make dinner. I’m working on it. So Tuesdays I have yoga and Mr. Gaunt has class at 6:30, so we eat early.

Using what we had on hand I went for easy and classic. The chicken is just breaded with Italian bread crumbs, and the Black Beans and Rice is a boxed thing. The Asparagus though was done Mr. Gaunt’s favorite way, with balsamic!

It’s nothing fancy, just trim, throw on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oi, balsamic, and salt and pepper. Bake for 10-15 minutes on 345. Comes out a little crisp on the edges and very tangy.

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The last couple weeks I’ve been working 9 hour shifts at work to help train new season employees. It’s definitely challenging, but more entertaining than my previous task of doing NOTHING! Our busy season has just started, so the hours may get longer and longer. I need to stay on top of my working out and not use long work days as and excuse to be lazy. I’m continuing to go to the gym right after work at least 3-4 days a week, plus yoga on Tuesdays. Recently I read a post from Emily Martin (The Black Apple) about a great online workout video series that I have decided to try! They are short, like 12 minutes and super intense I guess. Has anyone tried these?

Zuzana Light from bodyrock.tv

Freezer Alfredo – Light

When we move I’m very excited about getting a fresh start and paying more attention to what we buy. I have talked about our desires to consume less as far as “stuff” but I would like to add groceries to this too.  It’s so easy to suddenly have a junk drawer full of snack foods, and a freezer full of…umm…what is that? You know you have crap in your freezer that you havent seen in 6 months!

We also end up with lots of odd spices and packets, and odd canned goods. I have big plans to work out a very tight (but functional) budget, especially with wedding coming up and my income being a little iffy. It just gives us such good vibes when we think of all the things we get to try to do better.

So back to the freezer. We are trying to eat everything in the freezer before Mr. Gaunt moves in with his mom for a month. I highly doubt she wants our old frozen food crowding up her space.

So without further rambling, Freezer Alfredo!

Ingredients:

-Whole Wheat pasta (two different kinds, as you didn’t have enough of one kind. It’s like a rainbow of carbs in your mouth!)

-Frozen Shrimp (that you think tasted a little freezer burned, but your boyfriend didn’t so he ate it all)

-Turkey Bacon (because you were apparently going to make big breakfasts on the weekends, only didn’t)

-Asparagus (this is actually fresh, but you could have easily used one of the many bags of frozen veggies in the freezer too)

-1 Can of Light Alfredo Sauce (store-bought. Come on people, you don’t have time to make alfredo at home.  Especially not one that only has 60 calories for 1/4 cup!)

Directions:

-Fry up shrimp in a pan with some olive oil.  Microwave turkey bacon, cut up, and add to the shrimp. Add a little water (1/4 cup) and toss in chopped up Asparagus, cover and let it cook for a 5-7 minutes until the water is pretty much gone and the Asparagus is bright green. Now dump your jar of Alfredo in….lol. Add Pasta (oh yeah you should have been cooking your pasta during all of this). Mix all together in a big pot and serve!

Easy Peasy. Mr. Gaunt loved it…lol, he always likes the dishes I’m mildly embarrassed by.

Weekend Meals

POACHED EGGS & TOAST : Protein (22g) Fiber (4g) Calories (242) Fat (11)

MACARONI & CHEESE : Protein (18g) Fiber (10g) Calories (309) Fat (6g)

SALMON DINNER : Protein (47g) Fiber (11g) Calories (582) Fat (23)

DAILY NUTRITION CONSUMED: (please note I only counted the large food and did not count oils, seasonings, and drinks)

CALORIES: 1133  DAILY REQUIRED: 2000

PROTEIN: 87 grams  DAILY REQUIRED: 46

FIBER: 25 grams DAILY REQUIRED: 25-30

FAT: 40 grams DAILY REQUIREMENTS : 65

These werent actually eaten in one day, they are parts of two days meals. The above chart also does not include any snacks or beverages I consumed. This is just a good way to show you what kind of nutrition my main meals have.

Looking at this though, it shows that I am in fact lacking in FRUIT! Grrr I cant wait for summer! Today I am planning on getting a big bag of Grapefruit and peeling them all and putting them in Mason Jars to eat throughout the week. I love fruit, and I get sad when I don’t have it. Other than that each meals includes Whole Grains (the toast, the Orzo, The macaroni) and a healthy Protein (Organic Eggs, Low fat turkey Sausage, salmon) I also managed to get veggies in two of the dishes (Kale in the Mac-n-cheese and Asparagus).

Obviously all the meals do include carbs.  I usually do at least one meal a day without carbs, but the carbs were all whole wheat. The Mac-n-cheese is a “were too lazy to cook and we want comfort food” meal for Mr. Gaunt and I. I get the Back To Nature 100% Whole Wheat macaroni and White Cheddar at Sunflower market or Whole Foods. We almost always add a lean chicken sausage to give us a little protein, and yesterday I chopped up some kale and threw that in (I’m pretty much convinced you can throw Kale in anything). As soon as I did this (added the Kale) it got me thinking about Kids and feeding them vegetables. Teaching my children good nutrition is really important to me, and I plan on doing a post on this at a later date.

The Salmon is also a new thing. I have been purchasing Tilapia because its cheap and easy and lower in fat, but have recently heard poor reviews on its nutritional values. As a kid growing up in Washington I was always the odd man out because I hated Salmon and people cook a ton of it there. As I’ve gotten older my taste buds have changed greatly and now I really like Salmon. The cost is a lot higher (almost twice as much) for frozen Salmon Filets at Costco versus Tilapia, but investing in my health is what this year is all about! So Mr. Gaunt and I bought the Salmon and we attempted to grill it (on our cooktop grill) last night. Things started out well but then flipping the steaks caused them to break apart, so Mr. Gaunt just chopped them all up. It was actually quite yummy because it has a bunch of crispy parts. We put it on a bed of Orzo with some sesame asparagus, delish.

Anyway I just wanted to show some good healthy meals that are pretty damn easy if I do say so myself. Now Im off to get Grapefruit!

Sesame Asparagus

I’ve heard that Asparagus is out of season, and upon further research it does look like peak season is April through July, however you can get it on sale still. Mr. Gaunt’s mom made us dinner last week and one of the side dishes was the most delicious Asparagus. She basically cooked it in a bath of Hoisin Sauce, Sesame Oil, Ginger and water, then topped it with Sesame Seeds. It’s very good, so if you’re looking for a new and interesting way to cook Asparagus (or probably any stemmed vegetable, I bet broccoli would be good too) add a little sauce and some Sesame Seeds!