rum, not just for pirates- rum marinated chicken :)

I bought Bajan hot sauce while in Barbados, and wanted something to use it on. I'm not sure why I don't use it more often on everything, but I honestly used it at every meal while there. The servers would get tired of me asking so they would simply give me a bowl of it at every meal... it's that amazing. I also have a ton of rum for some reason, so I decided this would be a perfect dish to make. It's so fresh and healthy and wonderful, you'll just have to get over your fear of God's gift to man and marinate the chicken with delicious rum :)

Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup dark rum (I used bacardi select)
1/4 cup barbecue sauce, either homemade or Sweet Baby Ray's honey BBQ
3 T fresh lime juice
1 T Caribbean hot sauce
1 tsp salt
2 tsp canola oil
1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch thick rings
cooking spray
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp grated lime rind
2 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp dark rum
1/4 tsp Caribbean hot sauce
1/8 tsp salt
4 lime wedges

Combine first 7 ingredients in large zipper bag and seal. Marinate in refrigerator for 2-6 hours, turning occasionally. Remove chicken from bag, reserving marinade, and set aside. Prepare grill to medium heat.  Bring marinade to boil in small saucepan, then reduce heat to medium-low. To prepare, relish, place pineapple on grill rack coated with cooking spray and grill for 3 minutes on each side or until soft and browned around the edge. Remove to cutting board and chop along with the bell pepper. Combine the two as well as the next 5 ingredients and set aside. Place chicken on grill for 30 minutes or until done, turning occasionally. Remove to serving dish and drizzle the cooked, reserved marinade over the chicken and serve with the relish and lime wedges. Hooray for summer and bright and delicious food!

GF crispy rice treats!

What is the best quick and easy dessert ever? Rice crispy treats!!! The ones pictures above are ones I made for easter this year. I molded them into little easter eggs with pastel M&Ms. A big mistake for the gluten intolerant? Eating regular Rice Crispies cereal! It's sweetened with barley malt, so it's definitely not gluten free. However, the company announced earlier this year that their cereal will be gluten free by the summer of 2012, yay, success! Until then I'll be sticking with Nature's Path Koala Crisp cereal or other gluten free brown rice cereal.

Ingredients:
1 box of Koala or other rice cereal, 11.5 oz
4 T butter
1 bag of mini marshmallows
mix-ins if desired- chopped reeses cups, heath, m&ms...

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat. Once melted, add the whole bag of marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the box of cereal until evenly mixed. Into a regular sized casserole dish, pour the cereal mixture. Wear a disposable glove on one hand, spray that gloved hand with nonstick spray, and evenly pat down the cereal into the dish.  So easy and so delicious!

vegetable lasagna sans pasta?? yum!

It's no secret. I HATE VEGETABLES!!! Well that's a lie, because I now love some select vegetables. Notice that I do not call them veggies, because that gives some kind of connotation that they are cute and lovable, and I think they are neither. I have learned, however, that when you know what the heck to do with vegetables, you can actually like them, and maybe even (dare I say it) love them.

I was in the mood for lasagna one day, but I've already said that I'm going to try to work with less meat and more vegetarian proteins. I also did not want to eat a ton of pasta and wanted to be able to stuff in a good bit of real nutrition, such as vegetables. Before eating this dish, I was seriously thinking I would end up hating after all that eggplant slicing. Instead, I decided afterward that eggplant and zucchini are my new favorite "previously detested" foods!

Of course, this dish was inspired by one of my favorite cooks of all time, Rocco Dispirito.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise into long flat sheets
2 packages white mushrooms, sliced
1 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise into long flat sheets
salt and pepper
nonstick cooking spray such as Pam Olive Oil
1 1/4 cups nonfat ricotta
1 whole egg
3/4 cu grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 bottle of low calorie sauce (I love Classico Spicy Tomato and Basil)
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

Preheat broiler on high. Line 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with the nonstick spray.
Lay the eggplant, zucchini, and mushroom slices side by side flat onto the sheets and season with salt and pepper, then spray lightly with the nonstick spray. Broil the sheets of vegetables for 5-7 minutes until slightly browned.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch casserole dish with nonstick spray.
In small sauce pan, spray nonstick spray and saute the minced garlic cloves until slightly browned. Add the sauce and stir for a couple of minutes.
In small bowl, combine ricotta and half of the Parmigiano and 1 egg, and salt and pepper.
Spread 1/4 of the sauce over bottom of the casserole dish. Lay zucchini on top of the sauce, covering the bottom. Spread another quarter of the sauce over the zucchini. Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the sauce. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the cheese sauce. Repeat with mushroom slices on the next layer, then the eggplant slices over the next layer. Sprinkle the Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top of the dish.
Cover with foil, sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until cheese begins to brown for about another 10 minutes and let rest before serving. Belly up!

Forget them... run for it!

 The most annoying thing in the world, other than fad diets that do more harm than good, and all the women who refuse to lift sufficient weight because they thing they'll look like a beast overnight, is listening to all the hype about how bad running is. The terrible part about this commotion, is that the people who make these bogus claims are people who have no idea what they're talking about, who make assumptions based on correlating but non-causative events.

Several people tell me about their friend's uncle who had both of his knees replaced because he's been running all of his life. In reality, that uncle had his knees replaced because either A. lack of proper training or B. didn't listen to his body while running or resting like he should have. In Anatomy 301 in college, I wasn't even a runner yet. I didn't yet have that understanding about the wonders running does for you body. If someone even made such a comment with "wonders" and "running" in the same sentence to me, I would have thought they were crazy. However, I will always remember my professor explaining Wolff's Law: "Every change in the function of a bone is followed by certain definite changes in its internal architecture and and its external conformation." In Lehman's terms, Wolff's Law explains that a bone strengthens and deposits mass in response to the stress placed upon it. Running, with proper form, is actually great for you. It builds your bone mass better than any other aerobic activity. I say better only because you can withstand running for a longer period of time than plyometrics or other high intensity activities. For proper running form, check out Chi Running by Danny Dreyer. Pretty awesome stuff. I have not suffered any major injuries since I started following his Chi Running guidelines, and I actually run much faster and more efficiently.

Check out this article posted on Runner's World. Maybe you'll be inspired to go for a run :) 
10 Reasons Why Running is GOOD for You

I also get chastised by cyclists for running so much. They argue that running is hard on the body whereas cycling is so much more gentle and efficient. Again, I cite to them Wolff's Law. On a bike, you have no weight bearing pounding to signal your body to increase your bone density. Thus, over time you can actually decrease your bone mass by cycling and not doing any type of running or weight lifting exercises, due to the simple fact that bone mass decreases as you age naturally. Check out this article which explains my understanding.
Why Running is Better than Cycling

yummy honey nuts!

I love honey roasted nuts and all those fancy nuts you can buy at the local markets. Not only are they tasty, they make for an incredible snack! However, I really wanted to make a batch of my own with less sugar and more of the nuts I believe to be healthier. I tried to make a batch before this successful one, and almost decided you just can't have your cake and eat it too. But then again, I thought, I've always had my cake and ate it too, so why not this time? My second shot was a great success! :) Use whatever nuts you prefer.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw pecans
1 cup raw peanuts
1 egg white
1 T honey
2 T brown sugar
2.5 T stevia in the raw
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk egg white until thick and foamy, then add the nuts and honey and stir until evenly combined. In small bowl, stir together brown sugar, stevia, cinnamon and salt, and pour into the nuts and stir until evenly coated. Spread the nuts into even layer on the baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Let nuts cool and place into air-tight container.

tofu and asparagus stir-fry

The only regret I have after making this meal is that I should have had soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) in my pantry and used those. This dish would be wonderful with soba noodles. However, the flavor was just as wonderful with brown rice noodles. Jake is a big fan of asparagus, unlike me. I like my asparagus the way I like most of my veggies.... covered in garlic or some other sauce. Luckily, I've got Rocco Dispirito in my recipe collection so that I can use his rockin' stir fry sauce for my stir fry so that it's not drenched in anything unhealthy. This dish is soooo yum!

Ingredients:
Rocco's rockin' stir fry sauce (recipe follows)
16 oz brown rice noodles or soba noodles
1 package firm tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 bunch asparagus cut into bite-sized pieces
1 T sesame oil

Boil pasta according to package directions. Saute the tofu for about 2 minutes in sesame oil once pan is hot, then add asparagus and saute for another 2 minutes. Add drained pasta into pot with asparagus and tofu then add sauce and stir. It's that simple!

Sauce:

Ingredients:
1 T sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped fine
1 T cornstarch
6 T GF low sodium soy sauce
3/4 low-fat, low-sodium all natural chicken broth
3 T vinegar
1/2 cup simply Heinz ketchup
salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper

Heat large skilled over high heat. Add sesame oil to hot pan. Add ginger, garlic, and scallions and saute for a couple of minutes. Place cornstarch in a medium bowl, add the soy sauce, broth, vinegar, and ketchup and whisk together. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the pan and bring to simmer, whisking constantly until thickened. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper. This sauce can be stored for up to a week in an air-tight container.

tortilla-crusted cod cakes with garlic-ed asparagus

Adapted from myrecipes.com

Crunchy and healthy cod cakes? Yes please! As I said, I'm leaning toward eating more seafood and vegetarian protein as opposed to turning to steak and chicken every night. These cakes are my attempt at following through, and they worked out well. I will say one thing, these cakes are very fragrant when they cook. If you've ever smelled calamari while it was cooking, this smells similar. It's not fishy, just fragrant, so keep a door open!

Ingredients:
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
4 T olive oil
1 large jalapeno, chopped finely
1 1/2 lbs cod fillet
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup finely crushed tortilla chips
3 lemon slices

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Heat ovenproof skilled with 1 T oil, add onion, cilantro, and jalapeno and cook until softened. Pulse the co, egg, salt, pepper, and onion mixture in food processor until combined, but not pureed. Form 6 large cod cakes. Coat each with tortilla chips. Heat skilled with 1 T oil over medium heat, and add the cakes and cook until golden brown, 3 mintues per side. Transfer to baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve with lemon slices, to be squeezed over the cakes just before eating.

Asparagus:
Saute one bunch of asparagus in 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 T olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper.