White Bean Chili, Home made Pizza Mexican Turkey and Black Bean Soup, Red Velvet Cupcake,

The Weekend Meals

I decided to make a meal that was comforting and also relaxing.....MEATLOAF and Mashed Potatoes

I had originally sworn off ingesting so much red meat because of the fact that it takes it so long to digest in your system. So I decided to do was take 1/2 lb of ground turkey and 1/2 lb of ground sirloin beef and combine the two along with chopped green peppers onions and an array of seasonings such as celery salt, poultry seasoning, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper. Mixed it all up and formed it into the shape placed in the oven for 1hour and 15 minutes. Make sure that the bottom of the pan is lined with olive oil so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. For the potatoes I mashed red potatoes with sour cream, chicken broth, and ranch dressing along with garlic butter and turkey bacon. I then took broccoli and steamed it with Colby and monterey jack cheese.


The next dish displayed it is an oven fried lemon whole wheat bread crusted chicken with peanut butter pureed peas and rice cooked in chicken broth.

I toasted several pieces of whole wheat bread in the oven and let the chicken pieces soak in lemon juice for approximately 30 minutes for it really to take in the flavor of the lemon juice. When the bread was toasted I placed them in the food processor until it was finely chopped. I then took some poultry seasoning, oregano, Italian seasoning and pepper and mixed it in with the breadcrumbs. I took an egg mixture to coat the chicken by dipping it first in the egg and then rolling it in the breadcrumb mixture. I then let it cook in the oven for 1hour and 15 minutes with olive oil and chicken broth and lemon juice coating the bottom of the pan. With the peas I took them n cooked them with butter in a skillet for about 3 minutes until they were just about ready and took them placed them in the food processor and and combines butter and peanut butter just about a tablespoon n pulsed until it was a thick puree. You could taste the peanut butter but you needed something sweet to cut the acidity of the lemon pepper chicken hence where the peanut butter pureed peas were good.

2 meals One night...

Last Night I had inspiration to cook two meals and it turned out Wonderful

First Meal

Broiled Ahi Tuna Steak with Pea-Puree

3 stalks of Celery, quartered lengthwise

1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Ahi Tuna Steak (cut thickly)

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 cup of peas

1/3 cup of cream

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

Preheat the broiler. Line the broiler pan with foil and preheat for 5 minutes. Brush the celery and onions with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush the fish with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, season with salt pepper and sprinkle with the paprika; brush to coat the fish evenly with paprika. Carefully remove the pan from the oven, place the fish in the center and scatter the onion and celery around. Broil until the fish is golden and just cooked through, 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile boil the peas until just about tender, just about 4 minutes. Transfer the peas and cream into a food processor and pulse with butter and pinch of salt to make a slightly chunky puree. Then Serve....

The peas where should I begin maybe because I am not a fan of Peas I should have known the Pea Puree would have bin a struggle to get through but I ate it. It tasted very sweet and was actually really good compliment to the fish but I was not a fan of the peas.

Second Meal

Chicken Soup

1 chopped onion

1 chopped celery stalk

2 teaspoons chopped oregano

2 sprigs of thyme

2 cups diced tomatoes

3 cups diced red potatoes

3 cups of sweet corn kernels

3 chicken skinless chicken breasts, sliced 

1/2 tablespoon of Italian seasoning

4 cups of chicken broth

I combined all the ingredients into a crock pot and allowed them to cook overnight I literally woke up at 330AM engulfed in the smell of a beautiful chicken soup. You can also make this stove-top in a large pot. 

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil add a base which could consist of onion garlic celery stalk and carrot next add your chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Then stir in the potatoes and tomatoes for about 4-6 minutes. From there you add your corn and chicken breast allow that to cook thoroughly for about 20 minutes if not already cooked. Once it has cooked thoroughly you can sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese croutons or crumbled crackers I added cooked noodles cause I feel that every soup needs some noodles.

Both of these recipes were taken from Food Network Magazine Cookbook pictured above. 

The workout was light because I didn't want to not cook for 30 days so I did two recipes to accommodate for today not being able to cook or workout. So last nights workout consisted of push ups and sit ups not total body just the simple areas that every girl wants to workout.

Skillet Pork & Peppers....Workout Injury

Last Night Dinner was a play on Skillet Pork and Peppers Recipe provided by Food Network Magazine Great EASY Meals 

1 large pork tenderloin

Kosher sale

3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, sliced in chunks

2 bell peppers sliced into wide strips

6 cloves of garlic, smashed

16 bay leaves 

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup of sliced jalapeno peppers

1/4 cup of pickling liquid from the jar

2/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the broiler. Slice the pork on an angle into 1-inch thick pieces; season with salt. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the onion and bell peppers season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook until the vegetables are crisp-tender and slightly browned. Transfer to plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet. Add the pork and sear over high heat until browned on both sides. Transfer the pork to the plate with the onion and peppers. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic, sage and tomato paste to the skillet. Cook, stirring until the tomato paste turns brick-red. Add the jalapeno slices and their liquid, then pour in the broth slowly bringing it to a boil. Arrange the pork in a single layer in the skillet; add the onion and peppers and sprinkle the cheese. Transfer to the oven and broil until the pork is cook thoroughly, 4-7 minutes. 

The vegetables are navy beans, spinach and yellow carrots broiled and blanched and then sautéed with olive oil salt and pepper to taste.

I will be very VERY honest the vegetable were HORRIBLE I will not be trying that recipe again I believe it was the navy beans I am not a fan of ALL beans and those were the PITS....Why I chose Pork tenderloin is because it is just as lean as skinless, boneless, chicken breast and just as high in protein. Therefore when I got done with the workout that tried to kill me I would be putting the right supplements into my body.  

THE WORKOUT *dramatic music

I continued with arm exercises from yesterday and felt that I could amp them up by doing total body workouts with them adding in lunges and squats when there weren't any. Needless to say I pulled a muscle doing a squat n just collapsed over to circumvent the injury from preventing me to work out today I soaked in the tub with Epsom sale for an hour and then wrapped my leg and actually felt better today walking into work I didn't actually feel it until I had to go walk the property but it's alright the cold helped a lot and I didn't have a limp walking out of the office today. Therefore I will probably continue with arms later today and take a rest day tomorrow from the workout to give my body a rest.

Day 4 Experimental Play of Bacon wrapped Chicken and Arms

Last night was an experimental Recipe......

Took chicken drumsticks and soaked them in toasted sesame oil for about 10 minutes. While they were soaking I diced red potatoes, sweet onions, celery, green peppers, and limes. I then wrapped the chicken drumsticks in TURKEY bacon and seasoned them with seasoning salt, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, and lime juice. I cooked them at 400 F for about 1 hour 15 minutes with a low broil for the last 15 minutes to really give ignite the flavors. For my side I julienne green beans and steamed boiled them for about 10 minutes as they were steaming I finely chopped almonds and toasted them for 10 minutes also. Once they were done I just seasoned them with salt and pepper to taste.  There was hardly any measuring for this recipe I solely went off sight, smell, and taste. If it made my mouth water when I smelled it then it went into the dish.

Now the workout....*sighs deeply

I decided to alternate between upper and lower body since Sunday was lower Monday had to be upper. I did the Total Workout in 10 DVD... 

With a 8lb weight I did shoulder press, Bicep curls with a squat, and a few other exercises. Pictured around,  the hardest part were the push ups. You basically started in the center went down come up go out to the right down and up center down and up and to the left down and up. For a total of 30 push ups total, easy right, not so much I am super committed so if I took a break I would add another one to the full set. After my arms felt like spaghetti I felt as though I couldn't leave my abs out of the party. I did 20 sit ups to the center, 10 to the right and 10 to the left. By the time dinner was ready all I wanted to do was eat and soak, and sleep which is exactly what I did. I know if after this I don't have the body I'm trying to perfect I'm a be one Chiseled sexy Fit Woman :)

Day 3 Homemade Stir Fry n Workout

This morning I started a vigorous workout with two DVD provided by Womens Health magazine. One allows u to lose 15 lbs in 6 weeks and the other has workouts for specific sections of your body for those on time crunches I enjoyed working on my lower body and even though when I finished my legs felt like spaghetti and the rest of my body felt great so it provoked me to super clean my house. The squats and lunges will make my legs look simply incredible. I think I will keep alternating between the two for the next couple of weeks. The dinner consist of chicken breast n thighs with broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn, julienne green beans, and mushrooms. I cooked the stir fry all from scratch even making my own white clear sauce that consisted of rice wine vinegar flour and sugar. I got to use my new wok and it only took about 30 minutes total to get everything done. I already know how I will change that recipe to make it even better by making a sweet and sour sauce. Stay tuned for day 4 and see what's next.

Grocery Shopping Day

Today I started my day with an glorious breakfast....red potato hash-browns with green peppers onions n smoked sausage with a fried egg n pancakes. The highlight of today was the grocery shopping cause Mom surprised me n got me a stir-fry wok something I wanted for a while but constantly forget to get it while in the store. While in the store I grabbed items like pork tenderloin turkey wings chicken thighs ahi tuna steak chicken drumsticks along with a plethora of new spices to try on the many dishes I will create on these 30 day GREATNESS path. Tonight I will not be making dinner cause Mom took me to Five Guys so that definitely filled me up but I can't wait to get started on these dishes I'm gonna create tomorrow will be stir fry from scratch yup I'm a throw down on my new wok.

Tacos with a KICK

Tonight's dinner was Spanish influence...Tacos were made with ground beef (sirloin) while cooking the ground beef I cooked them in jalapeño pepper juice n cilantro. Next I took black beans rinsed n drained them cut up tomatoes onions jalapeños lemon juice and cilantro. After the meat cooked n the beans absorbed the juice n marinated I made the shells with Mexican cheese so they were stuffed. I roasted a jalapeño n the oven so it knocked it up a touch needless to say it was phenomenal.

The Start of something Great

Alright so I'm starting something new instead of just tweeting about it I'm going to start this blog to take u on my journey of 30 day of cooking and working out with Ari. I was challenged by my doctor to lose 20-30 more pounds I weigh currently 189 and my target weight is 150. Not only that but I am challenging myself to cook consistently for 30 days a different meal every night along no nights of repeating...I can use the same meats (chicken, beef, pork, fish) but I cannot cook them in the same way as before unless I am changing something within the dish like if I make chili I can't use the same ground meat or side to go along with it. This will be a great challenge especially since I want to advance my culinary career so why not. I will include pictures everyday of the meals/creations that I make so welcome to me journey....