Stir-Fried Honey-Ginger Chicken with Peppers

I've been feeling a bit off this week. Even my workouts have been lackluster. On Tuesday I managed to get in 30 minutes on the elliptical. I should have stayed to do a few upper body strength moves, but I was just done.

Plus the weights area was a zoo — dominated by the one dude who grunts a lot and drops the weights on the floor a lot when he's done with a set. Every gym has one of those, I think.

Last night I couldn't even muster the energy for 30 minutes, plus I had to go home to let my parents dog out. I ended up taking her for a 20 minute walk, so at least I got a little activity in.

Stir-fried honey-ginger chicken with peppers was on the menu for last night and like my workouts it ended up being just "meh." Just average. Nothing exciting.

It's not bad calorie and fat-wise, but I've had better homemade stir fries. I'm trying to remember to include complete nutritional info for recipes I try that don't come with it, by the way. I'll include the calories, fat, and fiber because that's what you need to figure Weight Watchers POINTS. I guess old habits die hard. For full nutritional info click the bold blue link "nutritional info."

I'm busy for the next couple of days so I don't know how much I can post. Tonight I'm meeting up with a college alumni group I belong to for a happy hour and tomorrow night I have some wine-tasting event for charity I'm attending. I'm roping my friend into helping with my photography homework assignment afterward — so I might have a rather interesting set to share in this week's class. I hear the wine-tasting is unlimited.. so it might be a tipsy photo shoot. Should be fun!

Nutritional info (without the brown rice): 267 calories, 8 grams fat, 2 grams fiber

Shrimp Tortilla Soup

Yesterday was mostly cold and rainy. On a day like that, there's nothing better than a hot bowl of soup.

I was looking for something quick, with few ingredients, that wouldn't make a huge batch. I ended up making Shrimp Tortilla Soup from the most recent Everyday Food. The recipe claims it's a 10 minute soup and it's true — it cooks for about 10 minutes. Somehow, though, with prep included it took me longer.

Even so, it was finished faster than I could order takeout.

I really liked using shrimp in a tortilla soup. I usually use chicken and this was a nice change of pace. And like all tortilla soups, it's less about the soup itself and more about the toppings. I usually prefer to top mine with fresh cilantro, avocado, sour cream, lime, and homemade tortilla strips. Unfortunately I was out of most of that. I did have avocado and tortilla chips.. which still worked. My only complaint was that it calls for way more broth than I liked. The recipe actually calls for 1.75 cups for just one serving. I reduced it in the recipe below.

This is a super healthy soup low in fat and calories — perfect for last night's dinner considering the foodfest I had the week before. The soup itself is just shrimp, corn, onion, garlic, broth and a chipotle chili, you really just need to keep an eye on the toppings. Especially the avocado. It's a healthy fat, but can add up pretty quick.

Shrimp Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Everyday Food

2 corn tortillas
canola oil cooking spray
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle in adobo, minced
3 cups of chicken broth
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
8 oz. shrimp, peeled and deveined

Preheat the oven to 350°. Cut tortillas into strips, spread on a baking sheet, spray with canola oil and bake about 10 minutes until brown and crispy.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add chipotle chile and cook for 30 seconds.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add frozen corn, reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 1 minute. Add the shrimp and simmer until shrimp is cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Optional toppings: sour cream, avocado, lime, cilantro

Nutritional information: 380 calories, 8 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber

Weekend Eats in Photos

It's been a pretty random low-key weekend. Here's what I ate in pictures. Click for more detail.

Busy.

I learned how to convert images to black and white. Fun.

In other happenings, I've let the blog slide — obviously. Between a crazy month at work and taking a bunch of photos for my photography class, I've been super busy and not focused much on my food.

In fact, last week was the first week I grocery shopped in two weeks. Yikes. I'd love to say that means I'm eating fabulous dinners out.. but that hasn't been the case, either. It's more like canned soup and toast.

I'll stop making excuses now and just blog more. And try to revive this thing — if I have any readers left.

Vegetarian Black-Bean Chili

It's super warm and spring-like this week, so what do I decide to make? Chili, of course.

Doesn't seem like the brightest plan, but soups, stews, and chili are year-round foods for me. They know no season.

And this Vegetarian Black-Bean Chili is definitely a keeper.

I like a meat-filled chili as much as the next gal, but sometimes I like something a little fresher and healthier. This one is filled with black beans and veggies like carrots and zucchini — making it a lighter choice.

The only thing I added was TONS of hot pepper sauce. It just needed more of a kick. Otherwise, I really loved all the carrots, zucchini and corn. If I make a vegetarian chili, I want it to be chocked full of vegetables — not just faux meat.

On the side, I indulged in my favorite multi-grain tortilla chips. They're not the health food they masqarade to be, but sometimes you just have to live a little. YUM!

Need to know more? Get the nutritional info for this recipe.

Weekend eats on a Thursday

In my vast years of dieting I have always heard people complain that they do really well through the week, but blow it all on the weekend. Weekends are when people go out, drink too much, eat too much, etc. It makes complete sense to me.

But, I'm exactly the opposite. I sleep in, don't snack, workout more, and am always on the move. Even when I do go out, I don't really get all that wild and crazy. Usually because I still have to drive myself home to the 'burbs.

To demonstrate, I tried to record a typical weekend day. Well, a sort of typical day. I orginally had plans to go out on Sunday so I ended up staying in on Saturday. So, I guess this is typical if I stay in.

I ended up eating in between a crap-load of chores (I seriously neglected them for a few weeks), errands, some family time, and a 3 mile run. The only things not shown are the chocolate protein shake made with vanilla soy milk in between lunch and dinner and the mint ice cream sandwich I ate for dessert.

In my vast years of dieting I have always heard people complain that they do really well through the week, but blow it all on the weekend. Weekends are when people go out, drink too much, eat too much, etc. It makes complete sense to me.

But, I'm exactly the opposite. I sleep in, don't snack, workout more, and am always on the move. Even when I do go out, I don't really get all that wild and crazy. Usually because I still have to drive myself home to the 'burbs.

To demonstrate, I tried to record a typical weekend day. Well, a sort of typical day. I orginally had plans to go out on Sunday so I ended up staying in on Saturday. So, I guess this is typical if I stay in.

I ended up eating in between a crap-load of chores (I seriously neglected them for a few weeks), errands, some family time, and a 3 mile run. The only things not shown are the chocolate protein shake made with vanilla soy milk in between lunch and dinner and the mint ice cream sandwich I ate for dessert.


Overeasy eggs cooked in a smidge of butter w/ grits and 2 slices of center cut bacon. It was a little beige, but I was out of my usual whole wheat toast.


Turkey, spicy mustard and lettuce on whole wheat bread with an apple. I had bread because I finally went grocery shopping.


And finally, spicy tuna roll, orange and a Newcastle. Random, but tasty.

It was actually pretty tough to remember to take pictures of my food on the weekends, especially. I make some pretty awesome food that rarely gets seen, and that's a shame. I'll have to try to remember to record my weekend eats more often.

How do your weekends compare to your weekdays?