Zucchini Boats

Now that my work schedule has slowed down a little (PTL!), I really want to re-focus our eating habits and begin cooking dinner on a more regular basis. I had seen this recipe on Pinterest for zucchini boats a while back and pinned it because they looked so good. Then a few days ago, I saw that a friend had posted a picture of some she made and they looked even better the second time around! So, on Sunday night, I decided it was my turn.

The ultimate food critic approved, so I must have done a pretty good job! I did ask Luke if he would have changed anything and he said, "Next time, can you add ground beef?" That's actually not a bad idea, especially if you have a husband that is as big of a carnivore as mine. :) The recipe I followed uses bacon, but ground beef would make this meal a little heartier.

If you haven't tried zucchini boats yet, I'd definitely recommend them. Super easy and healthy!

Chicken Fingers with Curried Ketchup

Since before I can remember, my mom has been cooking my sisters and I chicken fingers with mashed potatoes and homemade gravy. This was one of those meals that became a staple in our family. As a newer wife, I'm still trying to figure out which meals will become those staples in my own home.

If you're a new wife, or just new to cooking, The Food Network website is amazing! You can find quick, easy, and healthy recipes in seconds, which is definitely appealing to me! When I came across this Chicken Fingers with Curried Ketchup recipe, I immediately wrote down the list of ingredients needed to pull it off. This recipe was super easy, definitely healthy (only 330 calories per serving!), and gave chicken tenders a fun twist.

{via}

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• kosher salt
• 2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (1.5 to 1.75 lbs., cut into 1-inch-wide strips)
• 1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• juice of 1 lime

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Set a rack on a baking sheet and mist with cooking spray. Whisk the eggs, mustard, 1 teaspoon curry powder, the cumin and 1 teaspoon salt in a shallow bowl. Mix the panko with 1/2 teaspoon curry powder in another bowl.

• Dip the chicken strips in the egg mixture, letting the excess drip off, then coat with the panko. Place the chicken on the rack and mist all over with cooking spray. Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

• Meanwhile, bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in a large pot with a steamer rack or basket in place. Add the broccoli, cover and steam until crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Mix the ketchup, lime juice and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon curry powder in a small bowl. Serve the chicken strips with the curried ketchup and broccoli.

(**Ingredients and directions from FoodNetwork.com)

 {Instagramed pictures of my own success with this recipe}

I hope you will try this recipe and then let me know what you think! My husband is a big guy and tends to eat us out of house and home, so I normally make about 2lbs. of chicken tenders. If he doesn't eat it all, then I just pack it for lunch the next day! I also have a super easy garlic mashed potatoes recipe that I will substitute for the broccoli, just to change things up.

Enjoy!!

Miscellany Monday: Weekend Edition

Today is going to be rough after the relaxing weekend I had. Why is it that the weekends go by so quickly and the weeks so slow? One of life's mysteries, I guess. :)

1) The puppies got a lot of lovin' and got to play outside a ton this weekend, which resulted in some pretty sweet naps. Normally our babies have to hang out in the house without us because Luke and I are both at work, but they had me home all day Saturday. Good times for momma and the pups!

{Sleepy heads and partners in crime}

{It's tiring chasing around a puppy all morning}

{Lazy Bentley Roo}

2) On Sunday, Luke and I made a special trip in HEB Plus to buy "fancy" groceries. And by fancy, I mean not the dinky Super S in OG whose "produce" (if you can call it that) lasts 24 hours before growing fuzz. No offense OG--your Super S saves me often when I've forgotten to plan dinner and frozen pizzas are a must. For this I am thankful. :)

For the first time in my life, I made a grocery list tailored to the 5 dinner meals I plan on cooking this week. This was good for me, because I so easily drift away from the vegetables and over to the chip or dessert aisles. Fail! My list (and the husband) helped me stay focused though. One of the meals I planned to make was white-bean chili and this ended up becoming Sunday night's dinner. 

{Ingredients}

{Final product. So YUM! And only 245 calories per serving.}

{And for dessert...vanilla yogurt with strawberry granola and blue berries!}

So, the rest of my miscellany isn't necessarily weekend related...

3) I'm loving my new tennis shoes! I've been a Mizzuno girl for a while, but after trying on every pair of Mizzunos in Corpus, I couldn't decide on a pair I liked. I did, however, stumble across a pair of Brooks that felt really good when I tried them on. Luke wears Brooks and loves them, so I decided to give this pair a try. So far, so good! They give me great support and I think they'll be good for that half marathon I've decided to run in 2012!!

4) I'm attempting to stop drinking coffee and let me just say that it has been ROUGH. I've had a pretty consistent headache since Thursday and I'm not the biggest fan. I'm replacing coffee with hot tea, which seems to help a little, but it's definitely not the same. Blah.

5) I'm buying a desk!! I'm pretty excited about this. My friend, Holly, is having a baby in a couple of months and in preparing the baby room, she is selling an old computer desk. Except, it's not that old and it's cute! The desk is from World Market and hardly has a scratch. I'm pretty pumped to take this off her hands. The nerd in me has been dying for a "work space" in the house and now I finaly have a reason to remove our Christmas tree from the new office nook and replace it with adesk. Yes, the tree is still up. Don't judge.

6) Last night, a college friend of mine (Sarah!!) who knows I'd love to run a half-marathon this year, suggested that I run the the Rock-N-Roll Nashville half-marathon with her. And I'm seriously considering it! I have a $100 voucher for Southwest that must be used this year, so why not?? Plus, this race benefits St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the charity that mine and Sarah's soroity raised money for while we were in college. I don't know if I'll be ready by the end of April, but Sarah passed along her training schedule, which starts in February. Hey, you've got to set goals, right? Now is as good of a time as any!

Hope everyone has a blessed Monday!!