Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

The photo of these Spicy Garlic Parmesan Roasted Green Beans from The Domestic Geek seriously made my mouth water, so I knew I needed to make them ASAP.

So, I did.

Jess has been gone for dinner a lot recently, with work and then his trip to Canada, so I thought I'd whip up some of these for my dinner. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. I just fried a little bit of turkey smoked sausage to go with them and it was delicious!

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4 pound green beans, washed and ends snapped
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. In large bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and seasonings.

I don't know why the olive oil looks so green...

Toss green beans with oil mixture.

Spread on baking sheet, top with remaining Parmesan, and bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on how done you want them.

Voila!

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and line pan with foil.
2. Combine oil, garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and seasonings.
3. Toss green beans with oil mixture.
4. Spread on baking sheet and top with remaining Parmesan.
5. Bake for 15-25 minutes.

A little bit closer now...

Shrimp Scampi with Broccoli

I don't even have a narrative for this. It's lemony, pasta-y, shrimpy, and yummy. It only takes 15 minutes, so go make it! I used this recipe from Ali at Gimme Some Oven and the only thing I did different was add broccoli for some color and filler. She's got some great recipes, so check it out!

Shaved Parmesan really added a bit of class to this...or at least in my opinion.

I listen to Pandora when I'm cooking and cleaning and it is always a struggle deciding which station to listen to. On this particular day I chose Britney Spears radio and I was definitely not disappointed. Some other favorites are Backstreet Boys radio, Destiny's Child radio, and Luke Bryan radio.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter (I use light)
1 small shallot, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, with tails removed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons white wine (I used chardonnay)
Zest and Juice from one lemon
6 oz pasta
2 cups frozen broccoli
Parmesan (shredded, shaved, or grated)

Easy peasy lemon-squeezy. HA. 

Step one: put on some classic Britney. Volume: all the way up.

<3

Cook pasta al dente, adding broccoli for the last few minutes. Drain and set aside.

I used fettuccine, you use whatever floats your boat.

Melt your butter in a small skillet on medium-low heat, I use light butter for most things...it makes me feel better about butter. Add the shallot and garlic, cook for 4-5 minutes.

The aroma of tons of garlic cooking: heavenly.

Add shrimp, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side until they start to turn pink and opaque.

It only takes a few minutes to cook shrimp, don't overcook
them or they will become rubbery. 

Pour in chicken broth, wine, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Don't overcook your shrimp here! You just want to bring the liquids to a quick boil.

Only picture without my camera lens fogging up. 

Toss shrimp and sauce with pasta and broccoli.

Doesn't look like much, but it has a lot of flavor. 

Serve topped with parmesan cheese!

It's pasta, but it's not too heavy; perfect for summertime. 

Instructions:
1. Cook pasta al dente, adding frozen broccoli for the last 5-6 minutes.
2. Melt butter and saute shallot and garlic for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add shrimp, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and cook 3-4 minutes.
4. Add chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, and wine and cook on medium-high for 1-2 minutes.
5. Toss shrimp with pasta and broccoli.
6. Top with Parmesan as desired.

A little bit closer now. 

Healthy Tips and Tricks for the Lazy Dieter (like me)

Until a little over a year ago I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, and how much of it I wanted.  That worked fine for me in high school and before because I lived a very active lifestyle, with practices, games, competitions, etc., I was always on the go, so it didn't matter if I ate Taco Bell three times a week. 

Being healthy doesn't mean giving up turkey legs and wine!  

Then I went to college and gained the typical amount of weight.  I shrugged it off because, hey it's college, it happens right?  Then I turned 21 and the scale became less friendly...and then I graduated and thought for sure I would stop eating like crap, right? 

High school. 

College. 

No.  Haha.  I love cooking, baking, and experimenting with food, so when Jess and I first moved in together I frequently made large, elaborate pasta-based meals with heavy sauces and then some fudgey brownies for dessert.  Delicious? Yes. Good for you on a regular basis? No.

Same dress, borderline too small vs. almost too big two years later! 

So, for the first time in my life I am looking at the nutritional information on EVERYTHING I BUY. Now, I did it the "easy" way by using Weight Watchers.  I say easy because I basically just entered my weight, goal weight, basic info, and bam, they told me exactly how much I could eat. While I'm at it, I will use this to be a plug for Weight Watchers. I highly recommend it to people who are just looking to be healthier in their choices.  It is not a radical diet, requires no exercise (although it is recommended...), is a reasonable price, and is very flexible.  I consistently lost 1-2 pounds per week and reached my goal in less than a year.  For me, it was worth the money because I honestly don't feel like I was motivated enough to do it without the push of knowing that I was paying for it.

Pre- and post-WW! With my gorgeous mama! 

So below are some of the things that have helped me get to where I am now and hopefully they'll help you, too!


Portion Control & Meal Planning - No Leftovers!
As mentioned above, I used to make a whole box of pasta every time I fixed spaghetti.  Or I'd make 4 chicken breasts so that we could take them to work the next day for lunch.  This turned into us overeating because it was there and so easy to not listen to suggested portion sizes.

This is an easy remedy and although it takes a little self-control, you can look at it this way: you'll save money because you're actually buying less food!  So I only make enough food for the two of us for dinner, no exceptions.  Jess requires more food than I do, so I just make sure his portion is slightly larger than mine.

So what do I eat for lunch now, you may ask? Something simple, lots of veggies, low points so that I can splurge more for dinner.  I eat tuna & crackers, some sort of soup (Lipton double noodle is 6 points per package and Progresso makes Light soups that are 2-4 points per can, crazy!), spinach salad with some berries & tuna with croutons for crunch (and carbs), steamed vegetables with a little fat free Italian dressing...I've gotten quite creative!


Snacks
I'm a snacker.  I bored-eat, stress-eat, emotion-eat, you name it. Literally chips & salsa are my favorite snack.  I could eat them every single day if my body could handle it.  Sitting at a desk for half or more of my work-day is rough on the mindless eating.  So here are some of my favorite snacks:

1. Pretzel sticks - Seriously, you can eat like 40 for only 2 points, and they can be dragged out to make a lasting snack.  Highly recommend pretzel sticks for salty-fixes.

2. Mixed fruit - You can buy pre-made, but make sure it is packed in water and not syrup.  I just make my own with whatever fruits I can find: mangoes, kiwis, berries, peaches.  Just chop it all up, mix in a bowl, and pack in to-go containers for easy grab & go!

3. Apples (similar to above) - I eat at least one apple per day. Did you know eating an apple in the morning has as much energy-booster as a cup of full-caff coffee??? As an admitted coffee-junkie, I believe it works! Just pack it into a baggie with a bit of lemon juice to keep it from browning and bam, snack all day...apples are big!

4. Chips & Salsa - in moderation*. I still have to have my chips & salsa, so I just count out my chips and put them in a bowl and just know that that is it, no more.  Good news is, most salsas are zero points, especially if you make your own, so that's good.

gimme.

Activity
Woof.  I hate working out.  So this will be the shortest tip: walk.  Walk around the block, walk your dog (that's what I do), walk in circles around your apartment or office when you're bored.  Just do something.  I also do yoga classes semi-regularly which have been wonderful. Just find something that works for you and do it! It doesn't have to be running 6 miles a day, or weight-lifting for an hour. Any increased activity on your schedule will help boost you metabolism and make it easier to lose weight, not to mention any time you spend active is less time you can snack!

Get outside, it's pretty there!

Planning
PLAN EVERYTHING.

Whether you join Weight Watchers & get the app or not, plan what you will eat every single day. I'm sure there are other apps to help you track food & activity, probably free ones!  I sit down and plan most (obviously I cannot plan it 100%) of my meals at the beginning of the week.  I go ahead and plug it into my app to hold myself accountable.

Before planning like that for my week, I sit down, make a meal-plan, and make a detailed grocery list.

Making a grocery list and sticking to it really is important.  I do not buy anything that is not on my list.  Literally, I plan out splurges - like I'll only buy cookies if they're on my list and "planned" on splurging on them.


Water
I lied, this is my shortest tip: drink it and drink lots of it. Avoid soft drinks, drink water. Please.

My water cooler at work :) 

Write down servings & point values (this one is specifically for Weight Watchers)
Whenever I buy anything I check the point values and use a permanent marker to write the serving size and point value right on the bag, just so I know before I get anything out, exactly what I'm getting into.

I'll do this with things in the fridge like salad dressing, greek yogurt, butter, sour cream, etc.  It really makes things so much easier!  And now after months of opening stuff with big numbers printed on them, it almost is like instinctual how I know what every serving is.  Practice makes perfect!



I hope these tips help! I did end up cancelling my Weight Watchers subscription after I met and maintained my goal weight for a while, but I still use many of the ideas and lessons I learned while on the plan. I'm sure that some day when I'm feeling extra-tempted I'll sign up again, but until then I'm using my progress as motivation!

Now go have some cake. 

Meatless Monday: Black Bean & Butternut Squash Enchiladas

It's been 8 months (almost exactly...WEIRD) since my last post. First the holidays happened, then my sewing machine broke (ugh), then it just got pushed to the back of my mind. However, I've had several requests for more recipes so I'm here to try to get back on the wagon. But since then, I've been to Vegas and Tennessee, so yay for traveling!

I've recently tried a few vegetarian recipes over the last few months, mainly for healthy options. Never fear: I love bacon..and beef...and chicken...yea I'm definitely not a vegetarian. Jess has come back with mixed reviews on them, but I'm still trying. He got two bites into this one before asking, "So, what all is in this?" To which I had to respond, "No meat, because I know that's what you're looking for." Regardless, he ate them without complaint, so we will be adding this to the rotation.

Mmmmm...

These enchiladas are seriously amazing; they have great texture, amazing flavor, just a bit of spice, and the cheese on top just makes it all feel like an enchilada should feel. Yea, that sounds weird, but it is true. I found the recipe at SkinnyTaste and I think it is pretty much the same except I did not use cilantro (I'm one of those).

I served this with a little bit of Spanish rice and Jess ate his with tortilla chips. I had never cooked with butternut squash before so I actually had to look up what the hell to do with it...but it was easy! The Kitchn has a great tutorial that shows you exactly what you need to know about cubing butternut squash. These were a bit spicy, so if you are sensitive to that you can omit the jalapeno and use mild Ro-Tel. And these are big: I didn't even need rice to complete the meal, I definitely could have just eaten two enchiladas and been satisfied.

Black Bean & Butternut Squash Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1/2 small onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
10 oz Ro-Tel
15 oz black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups cubed butternut squash
2 green onions, sliced thin, divided
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup water
6 flour tortillas, taco size
11 oz red enchilada sauce
3/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese

Nothing too crazy, pretty standard ingredient list 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour a bit of enchilada sauce in bottom of deep baking dish, just enough to cover the bottom.

Heat olive oil in large skillet and saute the onion and jalapeno for 5-10 minutes or until the onions are translucent and soft. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes, until fragrant.

The smell coming off this is amazing...

Throw in squash, black beans, Ro-Tel, half of the green onion, water, and seasonings.

So many colors! So many flavors! 

Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 30-35 minutes until the squash is tender. Stir occasionally, adding more water if it dries out.

This could just be eaten by itself. 

Make 6 enchiladas and lay them seam-down in the pan.

Top with remaining enchilada sauce, cheese, and green onion.

Bake 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Cheesy goodness

You'll never complain about Meatless Monday again...maybe...

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pour a bit of enchilada sauce in bottom of deep baking dish.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onion and jalapeno, saute 5-10 minutes or until the onions are translucent and soft. Add garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes.
3. Add squash, black beans, Ro-Tel, half of the green onion, water, and seasonings. Bring to a low simmer, cover, and cook 30-35 minutes until the squash is tender. Stir occasionally, adding more water if it dries out.
4. Form 6 enchiladas and place seam-down in the pan. Top with remaining enchilada sauce, cheese, and green onion.
5. Bake 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

GIMME.