Meals and Moves

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Here is a peek into a few day’s worth of dinners. Some of the meals were new experiments, some were “throw whatever we have in the fridge on the plate” and some were the old stand-bys supplemented with veggie garden goodies. I’ve also included calorie counts for the dinners. Unfortunately, our kale is now gone. It was infested by aphids (it took me forever to figure out what they were) and I yanked them out. The rest of our garden is still going strong. I can’t wait for my tomatoes to be ready.

The Meals

MONDAY

Michael blackened some boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the grill outside and then chopped them into small pieces. I made a salad with lettuce from the garden topped with black olives, black beans and jalapenos. The dinner was fantastic and so easy to make.

I like doing these faux “Mexican salads” because I can skip the tortillas and gooey cheese and save hundreds of calories. Don’t get me wrong though: it will fill you up. I wish the photo had turned out better to really show off this salad. Calories: about 800.

TUESDAY

Salmon! I have about three favorite salmon recipes that I rotate between. This time I did the baked lemon and dill salmon. I had fresh lemon handy so I used that along with lemon pepper seasoning, salt, pepper, dill and butter.

Michael sauteed some fresh zucchini up to go with dinner. Calories: around 500.

WEDNESDAY

A repeat of this amazing BBQ sauce! We grilled up BBQ chicken thighs with white corn on the cob. I had some raw broccoli as a veggie on the side.  It was nice sitting outside on the deck in the balmy 85 degree evening just relaxing.

Everything seems to taste better when it’s grilled outside. Estimated calories: 600.

THURSDAY

So….lazy night for me. I biked home from work and Michael was out with a friend playing golf. I had zero desire to make something difficult for dinner so grilled cheese sandwich it was!

I made a salad to go with my sandwich. Total calories: about 500.

FRIDAY

Remember that amazing dinner I made recently–the Sweet Chili Lime Tofu? Well, I made it again but with shrimp. I defrosted two servings of shrimp and then let it marinade in the sauce. I make a salad with veggies from the garden, poured an amazing glass of Pinot Grigio from Marchesi vineyard, and made some basmati rice.

The wine was a nice cool, crisp, peachy white wine that balanced out the much hotter-this-time-dinner! I had a serving and a half of the basmati rice, which turned out to be the perfect amount after biking to and from work that day. Shrimp is really low in calories but I find that when I pair it with something like rice, it does the trick. I also added chopped, sauteed onions that were cooked with the shrimp in the marinade.

Loved. loved, loved this dinner. It will be making an appearance many times in the rotation. Next time: I’m trying chicken. Total Calories: 781 (including a few tortilla chips I might have been munching on while I cooked….).

SATURDAY

Homemade pizza night! We had some friends over for dinner and drinks so we made our pizzas for them. We’re still using the Bobby Flay recipe but this time Michael grilled the pizzas outside. They turned out great. The toppings were mozzarella, fresh basil, rosemary and oregano from the garden, pepperoni and black olives.

My friend Erika made the dessert. She brought some fresh fruit and then made a healthier s’mores. She took two ripe bananas, mashed them up in a bowl and mixed in 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter and then spread it between graham crackers like a s’mores. Then she froze them for 3 hours or so. They are fantastic and my new favorite summer dessert!

Make this dessert! It’s so good. Total calories for dinner: about 1000 for the pizza and wine.

The Moves

Now for the moves! While I’m trying to get my weekly mileage up on the bike, the other things kind of fall by the wayside. I usually swim 2 days a week but that’s down to one or none. I figured I can head back to the pool when the weather is bad. The weight lifting has also been reduced.

This is a pretty standard week for me with two rest days. Each week seems to be a little different depending on what I am doing.

QUESTION: Do you have some notable meals and moves to share?