Chorizo-stuffed poblano peppers

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Katherine

After ogling many versions of chorizo stuffed poblano peppers and finally seeing them at my favourite grocery store, I picked up a few peppers, pulled some chorizo out of the freezer and got to work. These are a tasty, healthy, and fast weeknight dinner. They reheat well for lunches the next day.

Chorizo stuffed poblano peppers – makes three servings

3 poblano peppers
1lb of chorizo
1/2 a small red onion
1 egg
1T of almond or coconut flour
cheese (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400.

Cut your peppers in half and cut out the seeds and white membrane

Get out your favourite chorizo or make it yourself with pork and chorizo spice blend. My chorizo is from my favourite sausage place! Delicious!

Combine onion, egg, flour, and meat in a bowl

Gently press into the pepper halves. Top with cheese (NOT if you’re on a Whole30 or 21DSD!)

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the meat is cooked through.

I really enjoyed these. Mr. Foodie did not. He doesn’t like peppers. He is strange.

Good riddance 2012! Welcome 2013!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Katherine

Happy New Year! I am very glad to see 2012 go. It has been the most challenging, difficult and trying year of my life for many reasons. But hey, we won’t get into that. Onward and upward dear blog readers! 2013 is going to be much better. I’m sure of it!

Like a good little sheep, I’m going to make a few New Year’s Resolutions!

EAT BETTER!

January will see a 21 Day Sugar Detox AND a Whole30! Nutso. I need this kick in the ass to become reacquainted with my kitchen and good habits and say goodbye to this little affair with takeout and purchased lunched. This challenge sounds difficult, but hey, combining the two has been done before! Let’s do this!

MOVE MORE! Yeah yeah, I’ve been lazier than I’d care to admit. I did somehow stumble across the finish line of a 5k in September, but I need to pick up my socks. I’m registered for another 5k in May and I did something kind of silly and registered Mr. Foodie and I in a duathlon in October! 3k run, 15k cycle and 3k run. We can do it. I bought a Groupon for a CrossFit box nearby so I’ll check that out too.

SPEND LESS!

I have an online shopping addiction. And instant-gratification-itis. Not only do I eat when I’m stressed, but I spend. Oopsie. January will be No Spend Month! Now I’m not going to go nutter and live only from pantry scraps, but spending will be limited to essentials like fresh veggies, eggs, and gas. Not nail polish, bike accessories, clothes, boots, makeup… Perhaps January should be more aptly termed a “mindful spending month” for me.

RELAX! I need to do a better job at keeping calm. And not like the annoying memes say. I’m going to try to slow things down a bit. Maybe check out a yoga class. I’m on the home stretch of my graduate degree so it if takes an extra semester to finish it up and maintain some type of balance in my life, so be it!

BLOG REGULARLY! Yes, I should do it. This follows from the previous point… slow down. Relax. Enjoy life. I do enjoy blogging! Santa (okay… Amazon and I) brought me From Plate to Pixel and I look forward to improving my food photography as well!

Welcome, 2013! You couldn’t come fast enough!

Daily Foodie Eats: What I ate Wednesday (May 12, 2012)

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Katherine

Here’s my Daily Foodie Eats from Saturday, May 12. Seems to be easier to document on the weekends cause I don’t haul my camera around with me to work every day!

Breakfast: microgreens with mushroom/almond crusted chicken (will post recipe soon!) and microplane grated kerrygold cheddar. So good.

And a coffee. Or two.

Snack while the kiddo at lunch. Celery with almond butter.

Lunch Iced coffee with cream, salad with more chicken, this time topped with olive/feta tapenade

Dinner Chicken club salad with bacon, tomato, red onion, mayo. Yeah… I did eat chicken on salad for all three meals. So what? Bite me. I had lots of it cooked and was feeling lazy. Meh.

Snack Sliced apple with more almond butter (mmmmm this is my favourite snack lately!) and a piece of cheese.

This day was also during the 21 Day Sugar Detox. Today, as I post this, we’re on day 15/21. Not too shabby! I won’t lie, I’ve had a few packets of stevia in my iced coffee but all in all we’re still plowing ahead! I am most looking forward to some sweet potato fries when this is all done! And a Larabar. Mmm.

Thinking about doing a Whole30 in June, but including dairy. Cause I love me some dairy. So more of a Whole-ish30.

Roasted chicken breast + broth. Double whammy!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Katherine

I’m all about the dual purposing of recipes. This one is like a meal that keeps on giving! Deliciously crispy roasted chicken that is pretty enough to serve to guests, easy enough to use for leftovers, AND some delicious bone/veg broth to put in your freezer or make into a soup right away!

Roasted Chicken!

2 giant bone-in chicken breasts (unsplit!) Or you can use split. Or thighs. Or legs. Or hell, a whole chicken if you really wanted to. Just adjust the cook time accordingly. Don’t use boneless chicken. Please don’t.
3 onions, peeled, cut into thick slices
1 lemon, cut into thick slices
a few sprigs of thyme
ghee or butter
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375. Lay your sliced onions and lemons in a pan. Toss on the thyme springs. Use dried thyme if you don’t have fresh.

Place your chicken breasts on top of the veg. Rub some butter or ghee on your chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Toss it in the oven.

Bake until it’s done. 40 minutes? 45? Depends on the size of your chicken breasts. Use a meat thermometer to be sure. It’s 185 for poultry. I think. ha. You can stick it under the broiler for a few minutes to make it extra brown and crispy. And when it’s done it’s PRETTY. Yes, I ate the skin right off of these babies. Delicious…

NOW!… take the meat and skin off the chicken. Toss the bones into your crockpot. Dump in the contents of the pan too. Add some celery and carrots if you have them around. Cook on high overnight. Why yes, I do roast chicken at 10pm. That’s just how I roll… This is what it looks like in the morning. Stick the crock in the fridge while you’re at work for the day.

When you come home, strain the broth. I pour it through a mesh colander lined with a clean tea towel. Then, I funneled it into a jar and stuck it in the fridge to be turned into a delicious soup. Or frozen, if I don’t get around to it. It’s so nice and flavourful from all the vegetables. Nice and dark! Yummo.

21 Day Sugar Detox: Week One Recap

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Katherine

So I have a little confession to make. I had a bit of a false start on the 21DSD… Last week was one of the most stressful I’ve ever had in my short little career in the seven years I’ve been with my employer. There may have been some eating of my feelings. My planned day one, May 1 ended up with a lunch with a dear friend to catch up… at a bakery. Excuses excuses. So I technically didn’t start until May 2. So here we are, on day eight. I’m doing level two – which focuses on meat, veg, seeds/nuts, fats/oils, and allows full fat dairy (coffee cream… I *heart* you), but bans all grains, legumes, processed carbs, fruit (with the exception of one green apple or green-tipped banana per day). I could probably do level three, and maybe I should since I eat paleo-ish already, but I just can’t cut the dairy!

The good: I’ve lost a few pounds! I was definitely bloated from my little food bender on vacation last weekend. I’ve been chowing down on lots of vegetables this past week. My taste buds have changed. I finally had my daily green apple allowance last night and it pretty much tasted like the best thing ever. Mr. Foodie and kiddo are not doing it with me, and it hasn’t been difficult to supplement their meals with other foods or take them away from mine.

The bad: I miss my “convenience” foods! I used to rely a lot on Larabars for an emergency snack. Now, my stash tempts me in my office drawer. I try to pack extra snacks like beef jerky, nuts (feel like I’m eating too many nuts), chopped veggies. Also, this is MUCH harder than I expected it to be!! I’ve gone weeks with no starch/sugar but this time seems to be more difficult! Short term pain for long term gain? I’ve been more hawk-eyed for hidden sugars. In my fish sauce! In my favourite pizza sauce!

The ugly: I “cheated” on day two. I wasn’t thinking and ate a few dried cherries as I was organizing my pantry. And I’ve had a few crystal light packages (yes I know that shit is full of chemicals and is eating away my insides and fake sugars mess with your insulin levels just as much as real sugars…) and I put a pinch of stevia in my yogurt! In any case, I’ve been giving it a good old college try.

If you want to learn more about the 21 Day Sugar Detox, you can check it out here.