Recipe Alert: Baked Eggs

Hello Hello! For those of you on the east coast, I hope you all got through Jonas. Friday morning I stocked up on a few essentials: bread, chicken, milk, eggs, etc. I also cooked a ton of food during the week to have on hand!

Snow days mean lazy days and lazy days mean lots of fun time in the kitchen for me. A few things that I cooked:

A dried moong daal! So quick and easy!

Saag paneer 

Okra, simple and easy.

Baked eggs. Quick, healthy and delicious!

I love making the last dish, baked eggs. Looks so fancy yet it's so easy and quick to make. It's also a pretty healthy dish. Enjoy this quick and simple dish with the recipe below:

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 15.5oz can of diced tomatoes 

1 15.5oz can of black beans (rinsed and drained) -optional

Salt/pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375. In a cast iron pan add the tomatoes and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally. If using black beans add them in a layer on top of tomatoes. Do not mix. After a minute crack 6 eggs on top. Sprinkle eggs with salt/pepper. Place in oven for 10 minutes. Done! 

Servings: 4-6

Note: If you do not have a pan you can put in the oven put a lid on top of the pan, after cracking the eggs. Let the eggs cook in the steam for 10 minutes. 

This is a great dish to have for breakfast or brunch!

How was your weekend? How did the east coasters spend their time during the blizzard?

Checking In...

Hello Hello! I know... It's been a while! I just got back from a fun little vacation in Florida! Although sunny, I hate to say that most of our days were chilly. If you guys know me, my favorite type of vacation is where it's sunny, HOT, white sand beaches and crystal clear water. Unfortunately, the days were just not warm enough to get in the water :(. It's ok... this just means I can look forward to the next vacation! Barbados anyone :) ?

While in Florida we certainly did eat a lot of good food and a lot of key lime pie. Seriously... LOVED the key lime pie in Key West. 

Oh... There was also key lime ice cream:)

And lots and lots of DELICIOUS Caribbean food!

Mmm...the best food was at Yardi Spice. A small mom and pop shop in Homestead, FL. The owner, JP, greeted us with all smiles and it felt like he welcomed us in his home. We all devoured the jerk chicken, goat curry, fish and veggie curry. The food was so fresh. JP even welcomed us into the kitchen to take a look at what's being cooked. DELICIOUS! Thank you, JP!

Florida was beautiful. The drive from Miami to Key West was mesmerizing!

Now, back in Jersey, it's time to focus! I'm now working on doing a little bit of this:

And eating more of:

God speed! More to come later...

***Recipe Alert*** Coconut Crusted Shrimp

Sometimes you need to eat something other than chicken!  This is the way I felt the other night. I took a look in the freezer and my eyes spied shrimp. Shrimp- high in protein, low in fat and can be flavored in many ways. Also, quick to defrost when thrown in a bowl with some water :-p. I knew right away how I was going to prepare this shrimp! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Coconut Crusted Shrimp. 

This recipe was quick, easy and flavorful. I hope you enjoy it. 

Ingredients:

2lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on

1/2c coconut flour 

2 egg, lightly beaten in bowl

1/2 unsweetened, shredded coconut 

Salt/pepper 

Curry powder (I used Madras curry powder)

Cooking oil spray 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375. 

Pat dry shrimp with a paper towel. Holding the shrimp by the tail, dunk in flour to coat. 

Next, dunk in egg to coat. 

Lastly, dunk in shredded coconut to coat. 

Place on a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining shrimp. 

Spray cooking oil on shrimp. 

Sprinkle salt/pepper and curry powder on shrimp. 

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Servings: 4

Getting My Fitness On...

Moving on...as stated in my previous post, I made it to the gym today. Since it was my first day back after a while, things were a bit..ahem...slow. 

I did twenty minutes of this old favorite:

I then went and worked on strength. I did three exercises:

Bicep curls with weight bar: 12.5lbs/ 12 reps, 3x

Chest flies using dumbbells: 10lbs/ 12 reps, 3x

Chest press using dumbbells: 10lbs/ 12 reps, 3x

Of course, I had to work on my core:

25 crunches

20 sit ups 

10 weighted crunches (10lbs)

I feel good.

I will be sore tomorrow. 

Sore is good. 

Hello Stranger...

Hi Guys,

Long time no talk! I know I know...it's me, not you.  I'm hoping to blog more regularly now.  You have to start from somewhere. So, here I am...starting!  Let's just get over this awkwardness and straight into this post!

So, after a year and a half, I finally made it to the gym.  Why, after a year and a half?  Let's just say mom life has kept me pretty busy. I'm now into a solid routine and ready to get back at it!  As far as baby weight goes, I still have 12 pounds to shave off. More importantly though, I want to gain my strength back.  I feel my body is weak.  I want to gain back cardio strength, core strength and upper body strength.

It's so weird...I use to work out all the time.  In college, I skipped classes to go to the gym. Adult life, I always made time for the gym.  Due to all this I have always had strength. Sure, I may not have been the leanest of individuals, but I was a healthy, strong person.  More important than losing weight, I want to feel healthy, strong and energetic. I want to be the Energizer Bunny (my nickname after college).

How am I going to get there:

• Balance (family time: my loves, work:  productivity)
• Healthy diet (cut the sugar)
• Exercise (combine cardio and strength)
• Happiness (cut the negativity out in life)
• Sunshine (feel the rays on my skin) - I have always been a sun person!

How is this blog going to help me:
I want this blog to hold me accountable with the "How am I going to get there". I also hope to share my experiences. My ups and downs. Show people that this is what life is about...ups and downs. I want to share my exercises, foods, recipes and outdoor adventures.  For now...this is good. Baby steps with everything (no pun intended).

What I need to ask of myself:  Be patient.  If I can only lift 10 lbs of weight, it's OK. I'm starting. I will only get better. Just be patient.

What I ask of you: Sit back, relax and let's learn together!

Oh yeah,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

PS:  We got this...

Recipe Alert: Chilled Cantaloupe Mint Soup

Since we are having some wonderful hot weather, I wanted to make a refreshing and light soup for dinner. I had a very ripe cantaloupe in the fridge and decided to make a Chilled Cantaloupe Mint Soup. Here are the deets:

Ingredients:

1 ripe cantaloupe

A couple sprigs of fresh mint

1/4c of honey Greek yogurt

Preparation:

Blend all ingredients until completely smooth. Chill in the fridge at least an hour before serving. Enjoy!

Servings:  4

Fun Times in Bocas...

Good Morning from Bocas Del Toro! Today is our last full day in Bocas. Tomorrow we spend a day in Panama City. 

Right now I'm chillin outside the deck of the cabin with this guy

So, let's talk about yesterday. After a delicious breakfast of coffee, fruit, eggs and potatoes, Raj and I headed to PanJam for some dolphin sight seeing and snorkeling. 

PanJam was recommended by Jack and they were pretty awesome. 

Once we arrived at PanJam we got in a boat and took a 15 minute ride to Dolphin Bay. At Dolphin Bay we were able to do some dolphin sight seeing. 

I managed to get a few pictures, mostly of fins. 

After 25 minutes at Dolphin Bay we went to Coral Keys for some snorkeling. 

On our way to Coral Keys we passed some amazing coral and starfish. 

Beautiful. 

After another 15 minutes we arrived in Coral Keys for some snorkeling and lunch. 

After snorkeling and some lunch we took another 25 minute boat ride to Red Frog Beach. 

Once we docked we had a 15 minute walk to the beach. 

Guess what we saw along the way:

Can you see the tiny little red frogs? That's as big as they get. 

Eventually, we made it to the beautiful beach. 

This beach was so much fun. The water was warm and the waves were strong. We went out really far in the ocean and the water was still only to our knees. This beach was fun because we did a lot of body surfing as the waves came. Good times. 

After a couple of hours at the beach we headed back to town. 

When we got to our cabin we ran into these lovely ladies, fishing!

These girls were so cute. They were right outside our cabin and caught about 15 fish. After chatting with these girls for a bit we headed out for dinner. 

We went to a cute taqueria called Taco Surf. 

This was a really cute place. We ate outside where it was a little cooler. 

I ordered the fish tacos. This came with a side of rice and beans and chips. 

Delicious. 

After dinner we walked around town. We stopped at an ice cream shop and we both had dulce de leche ice cream cones. 

Well now we are off to enjoy our last full Day in Bocas. 

Till tomorrow...