Superfast & Supergood Orange Beef

I'm tired and I have a headache tonight. Therefore, this shall be short and sweet.

What's for Dinner? 5/4/2010

-Spicy Orange Beef
-Cucumber Salad

This dinner was great! I found this recipe in a "Superfast Beef" section of Cookinglight.com and it was indeed SUPER fast!! In fact, it was a little too fast because the rice wasn't anywhere near cooked when the beef was done. {Hence the lack of rice in the photo} I think the whole beef recipe took about 10 minutes, 15 tops.


Here's the link to the Cooking Light recipe. I followed it exactly and it was delicious. I don't think I would make any changes next time.

This one is definitely making it into a favorite recipe category!! We both commented on how it tastes exactly like something you would get from a Chinese restaurant.

Quick + Scrumptious = A Winner in my Book. Every time.

Pork Chops d' Blah

What's for Dinner? 5/3/2010

-Parmesan Breaded Pork Chops
-Steamed Broccoli
-Buttered Toast

The inspiration from these pork chops came from this Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chop recipe that is a favorite of mine. That Giada d' Laurentis sure knows what she's doing!

This time I tried baking the pork chops in the oven, instead of in a pan like the recipe suggests. Yeaaahhhh, not such a good idea. I don't recommend it. The breading was kinda mushy and just blah. I mean it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

They even look kinda blah.

Just click on the link to Giada's pork chops above and make those instead. :) You're welcome.

Fab Fish

What's for Dinner? 5/2/2010

-Fish with Citrusy Tomatoes
-Brown Rice
-Steamed Snap Peas

I saw this fish recipe on a favorite blog of mine, Health for the Whole Self, and immediately added it to our menu for this week. It looked like something right up our alley....and it WAS. It was so good! Hubs was high-fiving me throughout this meal because he liked it so much. :)

Katie made hers with tilapia but we decided to go for cod. Cod gets a bad rap but I happen to love it. It's mild, meaty, never "fishy" tasting and cheap. This meal was great served over brown rice too because it soaked up all that extra yummy sauce. Below is the recipe, with my changes notated as well.

Fish with Citrusy Tomatoes

Seen on Health for the Whole Self

Adapted from Real Simple {my changes in red}
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 fish fillets, 4-6 oz each (any mild white fish will work, such as tilapia or halibut...we used cod)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh orange juice {next time I would probably do 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of orange juice to cut some of the sweetness}
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped {we only used 1/4 cup}
2-3 tablespoons capers (depending on how salty you want the dish to be)
sea salt and black pepper

1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, orange juice, capers, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to break down. Add parsley during the last minute.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, heat the remaining 1 tsp oil over medium high heat. Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, then place in the skillet and cook until opaque throughout (about 5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your fillets). {We just cooked the fish in the broiler for about 7 minutes, instead of pan frying it. I don't like having two burners on the stove going at once....it stresses me out.}

3. Spoon tomato mixture over fish and serve.

Topsy Turvy Update

One week ago, I blogged about how we planted a Tospy Turvy. Here's a little update on how it's doing...

The Day We Planted it:

1 Week Later:

It's taking off!! I can't believe how much everything has grown in only one short week. The mint and cilantro are doing especially well, so we'll probably have to start harvesting those soon to keep them from taking over. I'm so excited to get some tomatoes and jalepenos in the future.

And just because I think he's cute:

New Things I Love

I recently fell in love with a couple of new things, so I thought I'd share them here with you.


First off, greek yogurt. I've discussed before how I don't really like regular yogurt, but I do like greek yogurt. My grocery store recently {finally} started carrying more selection of greek yogurt, so I've been sampling all the different brands.

Well, this one is by far my favorite:

Stoneyfield Organic Oikos Greek Yogurt. This one is nice and thick, creamy and smooth {some of the brands I tried were watery...yuck}. The honey flavor is by far my favorite. I'm not a big fan of the fruit version of any of the yogurts but I loooooove honey mixed in. This Stoneyfield Oikos comes with TONS of honey in the bottom and the serving size is just the right amount. One gripe I had with some other greek yogurt brands was that the portion size was too big or too small. As a bonus, it's organic! I seriously love this stuff!



Another thing I don't really like is juice {of any kind really, but especially pomegranate juice}. It's just too concentrated and sweet for me usually. Plus, I always feel like it's a waste of calories. When I do drink juice, I usually water it down or mix it with club soda to dilute it a bit. That's why when I stumbled upon this I was excited to try it:

Minute Maid Pomegranate Tea. This stuff is GOOD! It's only 40 calories per 8oz serving and it has the added benefit of antioxidants. EXCELLENT!

Derby Jealousy

My mom and dad are at the Kentucky Derby this weekend. They sent me this picture of them:


Yes, I'm jealous. But aren't they cute?!?!

We asked them to bet on Paddy O'Praddo for us {simply because I liked the Irish name}, but unfortunately he came in 3rd. So close!!

Steak & Sacrifices.

I have been MIA the past few nights because they involved eating something like this:

Ok so maybe this was only one night, and the other 2 nights we ate at legitimate restaurants....but still. Not that exciting. And somewhat embarrassing.

Anywayyyyy, moving on..........

What's for Dinner? 5/1/2010

We had steaks for dinner tonight! Awesomesauce. {Have you heard "awesomesauce" used yet? I have....and I think it's kinda cool.}


Alex's Grilled Steak + Ashley's Oven Roasted Green Beans = Awesomesauce.

As a side note: I've realized exactly how imminent "bikini season" is now and freaked out. Therefore, I've resolved to eat significantly healthier from here on out. Hence, the reason for the mysteriously missing starch {potato} side dish from this meal. I mean, if you're gonna eat a steak, you've gotta sacrifice somewhere else, ya know? So my beloved potato was sacrificed.

RIP, dear friend, because you were sacrificed for the bettering of my thighs...and stomach....and various other areas that need improvement.

And does anyone else find it ironic how I'm talking about my new "healthy lifestyle" in a blog post that began with a picture of the Taco Bell that I scarfed a couple nights ago? My life is like Alanis Morissette.