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healthy

Food

Chicken & Apple Pita Wrap

January 14, 2016

Now that the spring semester has officially begun, time is at an ultimate premium. I need as many quick and healthy meal ideas in my arsenal as possible because my schedule is going to be packed. Fortunately, I can add this chicken and apple pita wrap to the mix! It only involves four ingredients, is super easy to assemble, and totally customizable depending on my preferences. Bonus points for the pita pocket making it perfectly portable as well.
Ingredients:
3 oz chicken
1/4 of a medium sized green apple
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 whole wheat pita pocket

Directions:

  1. Slice your green apple into fourths, taking one of the fourths and dicing it into smaller one inch chunks.
  2. Take your chicken, cottage cheese, and green apples and mix them all together.
  3. Carefully place the mixture into your pita pocket and enjoy.

I’ll usually have this with some yogurt, crackers, or a piece of fruit (like the remaining 3/4 of my green apple). A note about the chicken: I usually nuke it in the microwave for about 20 seconds but you can also have it cold like a deli wrap. And if you’re wondering where to find pita pockets, they’re usually hanging out with the breads and soft taco wraps.

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

xo,
Chi
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Food

Culinary Pursuits: Coconut Curry Kale Chips

October 6, 2014

What to do when you have a half of bag of kale in your fridge that you don’t want to go to waste? You make kale chips. I’ve wanted to try making my own kale chips for a while especially since it seemed so simple. Well it was! Check out the recipe below:

Ingredients:
5 cups of kale
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 cup of Coconut Milk
Olive oil spray
Red Pepper Flakes

Sea Salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with canola oil.
Mix together the coconut milk and curry powder.
Toss the kale in the coconut curry mix.
Lay pieces of kale flat on the baking sheet.
Spray some olive oil over the kale, and then sprinkle on some sea salt and red pepper flakes.
Put them in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until crispy.

Enjoy!

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Food

Culinary Pursuits: Warm Kale Quinoa Salad

September 16, 2014

I’ve officially been a PhD student for a month now and so far, so good. Balancing a full course load with my research assistantship and taking time to just breathe has been a challenge, but I’m hanging in there. No rest for the weary! Fortunately, I’m surrounded by good people and that has made all the difference. It also helps that I have a great space to come back to after a long day. I love my apartment (especially my kitchen). It’s so nice and spacious so I feel like I have to put it to good use. One of the first dishes I made in it was this warm kale quinoa salad. It was too yummy not to share the recipe so check it out below!
Ingredients:
1/3 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of quinoa
Kale (6 cups)
4 cups of sweet potatoes
15 oz can of black beans
15 oz can of garbanzo beans
curry powder
sea salt
Olive oil spray

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Dice two medium sized sweet potatoes, spray them with olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt.
Pop them in the oven for 35-40 minutes
Follow package instructions for cooking quinoa. I like to add sea salt and curry to the water I use to cook the quinoa so it’s more flavorful.
While quinoa is cooking, cook the beans (adding curry powder and sea salt to taste) on medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes (Don’t drain the sauce from the beans. You’ll use that for the kale).
Once the beans are done stir in the kale one cup at a time until it shrinks in volume.
Once quinoa is done add coconut milk and stir.
Add the sweet potatoes and the kale-bean mix to the quinoa and stir.
Optional: Garnish with goat cheese and sliced honey roasted almonds.

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Food

Baked Banana Almond French Toast

April 27, 2014

Brinnertime! I love breakfast foods. Whether I’m eating them for breakfast, brunch, or dinner, it’s all good in my book. So I decided to make myself some french toast, one of my all time favorite breakfast foods, for dinner. To make it a little less indulgent, I used egg whites, whole wheat whole grain bread, and some agave nectar. Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of egg whites
1 large egg
1 tsp of almond extract (I got mine from TJ Maxx but you could also find it at Publix, Trader Joes, or Walmart)
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 slices of whole grain whole wheat bread (I used Peppridge farm)
1 banana, large (sliced into 18 pieces)

Agave nectar

1. Whisk the egg and egg whites in a bowl
2. Add the vanilla and almond extract.
3. Pre-coat a glass baking dish with cooking spray.
4. Dip a slice of bread in the batter and add six pieces of sliced banana on top,         sprinkling on some cinnamon.
5. Repeat step 4, with the other two slices.
6. Pour any leftover batter on top of the bread.
7. Cover with saran wrap first, and then aluminum foil.
8. Let sit in the fridge overnight or for 6-8 hours.
9. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes (Tip: It’ll probably work better if you un-layer the three slices of bread for more even and faster cooking).
10. Take out of the oven, let cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle on some agave nectar.
You can serve it with egg whites and chicken sausage like I did or whatever you’d prefer.
french toast
P.S. That’s sparkling pomegranate juice from Trader Joe’s;) You should try it!
I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful lazy Sunday!
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Food

Culinary Pursuits: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quinoa Wrap

March 29, 2014

This one’s a quick vegetarian dish that uses some of the things you probably already have prepared in your fridge. I always have sweet potatoes on hand and I also just so happened to have black beans and some extra quinoa leftover from the quinoa bake so I decided to put them together to make a very  tasty and meatless wrap. I sprinkled on some goat cheese and dinner was done in under 5 minutes. A perfect weeknight meal. Hopefully this gives you some wrap inspiration. Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!

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Food

Culinary Pursuits: Tomato Coconut Curry Sauce with Roasted Spaghetti Squash

March 24, 2014

I’m bringing you a quick and easy, low-calorie, delicious, and vegetarian friendly dish that I made. If it sounds to good to be true just wait.

For the sauce you’ll need:

1/2, large white onion
1 Tri-color bell pepper mix (pre-diced from Publix)
29 oz can of Hunt’s tomato sauce
15 oz can of reduced sodium chickpeas
12 oz can of Rotel Seasoned diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut milk
One tablespoon of olive oil (to sautee the onions and bell peppers)
Seasonings (the only seasoning I measured was the curry; everything else was to taste):
1 tablespoon of curry
Sea Salt
~1/2-1 teaspoon of Olive Garden’s Garlic & herb seasoning
~1/2-1 teaspoon of Tony Chachere’s Original Creole seasoning
~1 teaspoon of cilantro leaves

  1. At a medium to high heat cook the onions in one tablespoon of olive oil and sea salt until translucent.
  2. Once translucent, add the bell peppers and cook for 3 minutes, spraying some olive oil cooking spray.
  3. Add the can of diced tomatoes and green chilies, followed by the can of Hunt’s tomato sauce.
  4. Let that come to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  5. Once that comes to a boil add the chickpeas and let cook for 5 more minutes.
  6. Add the 1/2 tablespoon of coconut milk, followed by the different seasonings.
  7. Turn off the stove, the sauce is done.

For the spaghetti squash:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and while the oven is preheating heat the spaghetti squash (whole) for 3 minutes.
  2. Once the spaghetti squash is done in the microwave, slice off the ends and cut in half.
  3. Spray a pan with cooking spray and place the two halves (face down) in the pan and let cook in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. This depends on the size of the squash you have. For larger squash cook closer to an hour, or if you like your spaghetti squash mushier, cook closer to an hour
  4. After an hour has passed fork out your spaghetti squash.

I sprinkled black pepper on top of mine before adding the sauce since I know spaghetti squash can be a bit bland.
I suggest sprinkling on a little sea salt as well. Add the sauce on top. Enjoy!


I highly recommend trying this one and be sure to let me know what you think if you do! I’d love to hear from you!

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Fitness

Fitness Feature: My Pure Barre Experience

March 19, 2014

I took a barre class this past Saturday at a Pure Barre Studio in Druid Hills and I thought I’d share my experience. I wasn’t going in as a complete newbie. I’ve done barre workouts before (Exhale Core Fusion and Tracey Mallett), but I knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I was right. I got there about 10 minutes early to fill out some forms and was then taken to a room to store my bags and shoes while I worked out (no shoes allowed).

The class was held in a smaller room, more dimly lit with wall to wall mirrors so you could see your form and of course, wrap around ballet bars. I got the sense that a lot of the people there were regulars but there were a good bit of new people as well. It was a smaller sized class with about 15-20 people. The actual class lasted for 55 minutes including the warm-up/stretch and cool-down. While I did recognize a few of the moves, most of them were completely new to me which I loved. For equipment we used 2 or 3lb hand weights depending on preference, resistance bands, and a small ball. We used the ball pretty much throughout the lower body section and it made the moves much more challenging.

My arms were sore from workouts I had done earlier that week and I thought going into this class that I’d be okay because they’d probably just focus on legs. I was wrong. They hit everything. We worked our arms, abs, quads, calves, and glutes. The instructor would come around and correct form, if need be. She corrected mine a couple of times, which was nice because I feel like I got the most out of the moves and the workout. The music was also spot on. Not distracting or offensive but still motivating. At the end of the class, they had some instructors walk around to the students and gently push us deeper into the stretches. I thought that was a nice touch.

Overall, I thought it was a well-balanced and very challenging workout. I felt it especially in my glutes for the next few days which was awesome! Will I go back, perhaps, but it won’t be too often. The first class for new clients is $15 but after that it’s $23 a pop. The price per class goes down as you commit to more classes, but I don’t want to lock myself in to just barre because I want to take all kinds of fitness classes. Stay tuned for more fitness features!Have you ever tried barre classes or workouts before? If so, tell me what you think about them!

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