Monday, January 27, 2014

Eats, eats everywhere and snowed in

I figured since I bothered to take pics of my dinners last week, I should probably share them.  

Maple Sriracha Chicken over a bed of spinach and arugula
If you want the recipe for the chicken, click here.  I just used the same recipe but used Ian's whole wheat panko seasoned with red and white pepper.  I'm not a big salad for dinner person but we both agree, this was to be added to rotation.

Chili with cornbread
Tuesday and Wednesday were chili and cornbread.  I was having a serious hankering for cornbread and fit it into the calories.  The first night I put the cornbread into the bottom of the chili bowl to soak up the goodness.  Yum!

Spinach ricotta ravioli with a side of brussels.  
We had two movies to fit in that night so it was Trader Joe's frozen ravioli and a side of brussels.  10 minutes and dinner is ready.

Orange roughy over thai lime rice and a side of brussels.
I love orange roughy.  That is all.

The weekend was spent being snowed in most of the time.  


Before the snow hit, we decided I would be the restaurant and I had a hankering for Cheesecake Factory's good ol' days when they carried Mile High Meatloaf.  They stopped carrying it about 10 years ago and still have a different version but it's nowhere near the old one.  So I decided to search the web, got the recipe (or a reasonable rendition) and remade the dish.


Yes, it was a bit much at just under 1000 calories but it was our high cal day and it was well planned.  Cheesecake Factory's version clocked in at well over 1700 calories and 1600+ milligrams of sodium.  Mine was 975 calories and 940mg of sodium so I call that a pretty good makeover.  It's not something we can have all the time of course but to satisfy that old craving, I'm down with this version!

The next day we found ourselves under a total of 7ish inches of snow.  We decided our workout would be snowshoeing and it was a great outing.  Before we headed out into the weather and crappy roads, I made a pepper jack and cheddar grilled cheese and tomato soup (for me- chicken soup for him).  It was the perfect thing to get the bones prepared for the great outdoors!


Sometimes the universe has a way of telling you to slow down, enjoy time with your favorite guy/gal and snows you in.  I think I rather like being forced to slow down with my favorite guy.

What did you do this weekend?

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15 comments:

  1. Those meals look yummy and snowshoeing sounds like a great way to get in a fun workout.

    Saturday I was still recovering from a bout with a stomach bug, and hubby was full on sick so we pretty much laid around the house and lamented out condition while the little guy played legos all day. Sunday was chore day and the little one and I went out for a walk in our almost 60 degrees and sunny weather. Plus we went and looked at a couple cars while the salespeople were off the lot. The transmission in my car is hanging by a thread so we're trying to be ready for the inevitable.

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    1. Feel better soon and hope the transmission hangs on for as long as possible!

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  2. It was a great weekend despite being snowed in. I mean, just look at how well we ate for one thing. I am so glad we got to snowshoe too because it was fun and it was a great workout.

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    1. Yes, we did eat well! Snowshoeing was fun. I wish it wasn't 3 degrees today so we could do it again today!

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  3. I don't normally make brussel sprouts, but you make them look delicious! How do you normally cook them? If I remember correctly, they're a bit bitter and that's why I didn't like them much.

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    1. Cut off the ends and cut them in half. Season them with pepper and garlic powder and microwave them covered for 3 1/2 minutes. (Anything longer will activate the sulfur content that happens when they're overcooked which is the bitterness you talked about. So a light pre-steam is key to quick brussels without making them mushy or smelly) Then grill them. I usually cook 1 piece of bacon and put the brussels cut side down in the little bit of bacon grease to caramelize them.

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    2. Thanks for sharing this! I was about to ask about the sprouts too. I didn't know about activating the sulfur content. . .that's something I'll have to keep in mind in the future. That whole orange roughy meal looked amazing. Where did you get the fish at? Trader Joe's or local grocery store? (I guess it doesn't matter, but like I said, that whole meal looked really good and now I want some fish! lol)

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  4. how do you cook your brussel sprouts ? ... all of your food looks great!! and I wish I had a trader joes near me :( closest one is 3.5 hours away!

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    1. Hi Faith! See my response above on how I do my brussels. I wish Trader Joe's was in more locations. You can check their site for locations coming soon. You never know, one might pop! :-)

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  5. What is the salad dressing on the Maple Sriracha Chicken salad?
    The food looks good! I enjoy photos of your food, as it gives me meal ideas. Will you be sharing the recipe for the Mile High Meatloaf Cheesecake Factory Copycat? I've eaten there once, but any meal containing meatloaf, mashed potatoes and what appears to be Texas toast has me very interested!!

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    1. It's just the same maple sriracha sauce listed in the link above. Instead of coating the chicken, I drizzled it on top. It makes a pretty yummy dressing! The meatloaf can be found doing an internet search but I'll post my version when I get the taste just the way I like it. It needs a little tweaking for my taste.

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  6. Great pics! My weekend consisted of an early morning meeting on Saturday then I stayed in the whole weekend! We were snowed in and since our backyard and side yard are fields, the winds were insane! The hubs ventured out to do the grocery shopping (he gets cabin fever) and I stayed home doing laundry, taking care of the pups, and enjoyed some reading. It was truly a relaxing weekend. This week I'm working about 5 hours of OT so it'll be a long week...and I have to work Saturday morning in a dept I do not like at all...boooo.

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    1. Sounds relaxing after the meeting! Hope the OT goes by quickly!

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  7. I actually made a sauce similar to that maple chicken salad dressing last night. Question about the panko crusted version: was it fried or baked? Looks great.

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    1. You can do either but I just put mine in the skillet with some cooking spray because I like the extra crunch. Baking can sometimes make the crumbs a little soggy even when it's elevated on a rack.

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