fish bones

Have you ever bought fish with the bone still in it? Did you have any idea what to do at that point?

Mike went to the store earlier this week and decided to buy a salmon steak, which I attempted to make last night for dinner. When I took it out of the deli package, there was a bone still in it. Yuck...

I tried to cut the salmon out of the bone and skin, which kind of just grossed me out. I've decided I really don't like making fish at home. I love ordering it and eating it when someone else makes it, but I am a big baby when it comes to cooking it myself. I also never feel like it is cooked enough either, so it usually turns out gross by the time I am finished.

Once I finally got this thing de-boned and de-skinned, I used a sweet and spicy rub and then broiled it. I used a recipe from eatliverun since I had all the ingredients on hand, and it seemed super simple. It was a very easy recipe to put together, and the flavor was pretty good. I just worried the whole time that it wasn't cooked well enough.

Luckily, I made a monster side of sauteed veggies, which I piled high on my plate. I used green cabbage, yellow peppers, onions, and my new favorite - Swiss Chard, with some olive oil and sea salt and pepper.

I loved the veggies, they were perfectly wilted, but with plenty of crunch.

After eating dinner, I remained on the couch, doing my yearly training requirements for the hospital until Mike got home. I am such a party animal.

This morning I headed out for a run, but I really didn't have a lot of time. My legs were pretty tired from yesterday's run, so I took today really easy and slow. I would actually call it more of a jog than a run. The weather was much cooler, and I really just wanted to stretch my legs out and get in some form of exercise today.

I came back to the house, showered, and then headed back out the door for work. I grabbed a glass of chocolate milk (chocolate sun warrior, skim milk) for the drive in, since my stomach was growling before I even woke up this morning.

We have another pretty busy weekend with me working at the hospital a little bit and going to a retirement party for a friend in Greenville. Sunday we will be going to church, then to a luncheon, then back to the house to clean and get ready for lots of visitors that are coming for Easter.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 282
Sodium (+) 213
Protein (-) 2

My Nephew Jumps for Nut Butter

For Christmas, I made my sister a big batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Almond Butter. I knew she would love it, but I had no idea her whole family would become a fan. While they were visiting me, I gave her kids each a spoonful and they came back for more at least 10 times. Her husband even enjoyed the health(ier) nut butter, so I think the gift was a win-win. 

Yesterday, my brother in law sent me this video of my niece and nephew begging for more nut butter. So. freaking. adorable. My sister says their stash is getting low, so it looks like "Aunt Dee Dee" (that is what they call me) will be whipping up a few more batches here soon. 

 

Dinner Last Night

My cousin is coming to stay with us this weekend, so Mike and I spent last night cleaning up the house while waiting for our dinner to cook. Dinner was amazing. I love roasted vegetables, so I found a new roasted veggie recipe in Tosca Reno's cookbook: The Eat Clean Diet. We are using up our veggies from our produce box and it makes me really happy. I decided to make a few variations to the cookbook's recipe, since I didn't have some of the ingredients, but it still turned out fantastic.  

Oven Roasted Vegetables

adapted from The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

8 small potatoes cut in quarters (I used *red potatoes and yukon gold potatoes, since that is what I had on hand)

3 *beets, peeled and cut in quarters

4 large *carrots, cut in long chunks, quartered

1/4 of a large *onion

1 bag Brussels Sprouts, stems and outer layer of leaves removed (to reduce bitterness), cut in half

4 tbsp EVOO

Sea Salt and Pepper (to taste)

2 tsp dried rosemary

* denotes items from our GoLocal Produce Box

Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss veggies with EVOO, S&P, and Rosemary and arrange in a baking dish (we used 2). Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 35 minutes, remove foil, stir and then bake for another 20-30 minutes until carrots and potatoes are soft.

We had our veggies with some Trader Joe's Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage and it was a great meal. I just cut up the sausage for myself and ate it with the veggies, while Mike had his on a bun. 

We both love the TJ's Chicken Sausage. I would say that Sweet Apple is my favorite, but the Jalapeno comes in at a close second. For us, they are a good replacement of hot dogs, only 100 calories per link and no nitrates.

I finished my meal off with a chunk of dark chocolate, the perfect sweet treat. :) 

Rest Day

Since we went to the gym every day this past weekend, I took today off to finish cleaning up the house. I am working at the hospital tonight for a few hours, so I won't be able to do anything tonight. I don't even want to take rest days right now, but I know they are needed and helpful when I have other things going on in life. 

I am feeling great about my work outs lately and feel like I am putting in real, quality work each time. Yesterday, I worked my chest and abs, and then did 30 minutes on the treadmill doing interval running. Tomorrow, I think I will do legs, since I haven't done them since last Thursday. Speaking of legs, I did not get nearly as sore last week after doing a good 10 minute stretch after my leg work out. I did a lot of different leg exercises too, so I hope the stretching is making the big difference. It is so much nicer to be able to walk up and down steps after a leg work out.

Hope y'all have a good day! 

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (+) 73

Sodium (-) 211

Protein (+) 7

Days like yesterday make me realize that I am definitely on the right track. Only over my calories by 73 and then staying below on my sodium and above on my protein! Yeah!