I never promised you an herb garden...

Ever since I started getting into cooking and we moved in this house, I have wanted to have an herb garden. There is nothing like the taste of fresh herbs. I attempted one inside, but didn't realize they need constant sunshine. Whoops! So this summer cultivating an outdoor herb garden was at the top of my to-do list. After a few weeks of collecting all of the materials, I'm happy to say, it's now crossed off my list!

I mentioned before that I had a bunch of outdoor projects that I forgot to take before pictures of, this is one of them. I found all three of those planter at a garage sale for $6 total. They were gold and, judging by all of the chipped paint,  looked like they were pink before that.  

But a couple coats of Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and they match our deck furniture perfectly. I lugged them around to a few stores before I found a pot that would fit. These three are from Meijer.

Next step was deciding which herbs I wanted to plant. I chose four that I thought I would use most:

I didn't want to go hog-wild on my first second attempt at growing herbs, so I stuck with four and doubled up the parsley and rosemary in the same pot. They seemed like they'd get along.

They've been out there about a week now and I couldn't be happier with their progress. I placed them right outside the kitchen door so they are easy to get to for watering and harvesting. Tonight is my mom's birthday and I plan on using all of them for different items on the menu. I'll let you know how they taste!

And for those of you who didn't get the post title pun, do yourself a favor and watch this little gem. I defy you to get this song out of your head.

lettuce get healthy: healthy living recipe

The Mr. and I didn't hold back in Boston. Beer, steak, burgers, seafood... beer. It was great and I don't regret one minute of it. But now we're getting serious. Healthy eating, working out, making better lifestyle choices.

For our first dinner back home, I "remixed" one of our favorite meals into an even healthier version. I took my healthy Pad Thai recipe, cut the amount of chicken in half and turned them into lettuce wraps.

I left out the spaghetti squash and cilantro and just used chicken, half the amount of peanut sauce, carrots, cabbage and spicy peanuts for the filling. The beauty of lettuce wraps is that they are instant portion control. Unlike the mounds of pad thai I can heap into a bowl, you can only add a spoonful or two to the wrap because they are so delicate.

I paired it with Thai rice with lime and lemongrass. YUM! Delicious and nutritious, and met with rave reviews from the Mister. As a big taco and burrito family, lettuce wraps are definitely going to be a new staple of our diets. Chinese chicken, tacos, and buffalo chicken would all be delicious wrapped in crisp iceberg lettuce. 

Healthy pad thai...

Since working from home, I've been bitten by the cooking bug. I usually take lunch right around the time the ABC show The Chew is on and have been inspired to try lots of new and different recipes.

Right after we got engaged, next to the same table here we sat on our first date. 

Ryan and I both love Thai food, in fact, we got engaged at the same Thai restaurant where we had our first date. So in my search for a dinner recipe, I wanted to make a thai meal I could "health up" so I decided on Pad Thai. Traditionally, Pad Thai includes noodles, spicy peanut sauce, egg, peanuts, cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, lime, cilantro and the meat of our choice, I prefer chicken.

To health it up a bit, I swapped out the noodles and replaced it with spaghetti squash. To be honest, I have tried spaghetti squash in a number of recipes, but this is the first one where I can honestly say, it was a perfect replacement for the noodles, it had the right consistency and held the flavor of the dish.

I didn't use a recipe for this dish, I made it up as I went, so here is a rough estimate of what I used.

HEALTHY PAD THAI
(Serves 2)
3 chicken breasts
1 large spaghetti squash
1 cup of matchstick carrots
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 bottle of Thai peanut sauce/marinade (whatever brand you prefer)
Juice of one lime
Chopped cilantro to top
Hot and spicy peanuts to top

DIRECTIONS:
(I prepared the chicken and spaghetti squash earlier in the day and kept in the fridge)
1.  Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, olive oil and cook at 350 for 25 minutes

2.  Cook spaghetti squash per the directions on the sticker, but generally you cut lengthwise, place cut side down in a backing dish with a little water at the bottom and cook for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

3. Shred squash with a fork to get the "spaghetti" and cut the chicken into bit-sized chunks.

4. Put the chicken in medium-sized pan and the squash in large pan on the cooktop. Cook both pans on medium heat, watch so the squash doesn't burn. Reduce heat if necessary. Both the chicken and squash are already cooked so this is just to warm through.

5. Coat both the chicken and the spaghetti squash with the peanut sauce to taste.

6. Add carrots to the squash pan.

7. Warm both pans through then add the chicken to the squash pan. Cook for a few more minutes to combine the flavors.

8. While the pan is cooking, in a separate dish combine the cabbage, lime, ginger and cilantro. This is the garnish for the dish. I tossed in a little peanut sauce too.

9. Remove squash and chicken mixture from heat and spoon into bowl. Top with cabbage mixture and sprinkle with hot and spicy peanuts. Add a wedge of lime if you choose. 

How delicious does this look?

This is the first meal we enjoyed on our new deck and, if I do say so myself, this was the best meal I have made in recent history. So much flavor you wouldn't even know it was healthy.

And it seems that my better half agreed! Two thumbs up. What more can you ask for?!

smoothest gift in town...

I want to preface this entry by saying I LOVE everything we got for our wedding. Everyone was so generous and the gifts have all been put to good use. But the one I am most amazed with is our Cuisinart Compact Smoothie Blender.

It's a mini-blender that comes with four travel cups. You just fill the travel cups with your desired ingredients, twist the blade base to the top of the travel cup, flip over and place directly on the blender. Blend, remove the blade base, replace with a travel lid and VOILA! you have a great smoothie in mere minutes.

I've gone hog-wild buying fruit at the grocery store lately, so I've been loading mine up with blueberries, bananas and strawberries. Then I add some low-fat vanilla yogurt, a scoop of protein powder and some OJ. It's a great go-to breakfast or shake before the gym.

It's easy to use and easy to clean up. A match made in smoothie heaven.