Weeeee! It’s Friday! Hooray!
So, quick catch up… I graduated this past weekend! Woo hoo! {I constantly felt like I was being choked once I was ‘hooded’, the Master’s attire is so uncomfortable and strange… only my MAE cohort would understand the reference to ‘bat wings’}
Although there is only a little catch, I still have 1 culminating seminar to complete the requirements for my Masters, but all requirements have been met for state certification! Holla! So I have a two-week seminar starting next week, then I will be finished! It is a crazy, exciting and bittersweet feeling to be done. I started this program a year ago on June 13, and it has been an absolute whirlwind, but so special and exciting. Now the tough part – praying I get hired on this school year! Haha.
In the midst of the craziness we have gotten sick a lot, had very little time to eat right and work out and thus have allowed ourselves to get into a rut of unhealthy eating and not working out near enough. Result? Sluggish, no energy and totally not happy with the way we looked. We used to eat a fairly balanced diet, and at one time we were eating based upon a mostly ‘whole foods’ rule. Kind of like our own diet creation. So we made an executive decision… time to get back on track! We decided it was time to eat cleaner, workout more and treat our bodies right – we were so tired of feeling gross!
Two weeks ago we starting eating whole foods, hardly anything processed (exceptions: sauces, etc… we aren’t going entirely whole food sans processed foods) and no sugar except for special occasions! OH. EM. GEE. OMG! I had a sugar headache within the first day and it lasted THREE days!! Can you believe it? I felt horrible. And sick to my stomach that I was so addicted to sugar. Craziness. I felt so much better after the first day it was unbelievable, I felt like I had so many toxins in my body. My body is much happier, and actually craves fruit, water and, shockingly, working out! It feels amazing to want to work out again. I suppose the old saying is true: “You are what you eat!” 😉
And this chick… she doesn’t eat pizza, cupcakes and chips on a daily basis. :-X
So, we are eating things like: oatmeal, fruits (bananas, apples, watermelon, all the yummy stuff), almonds, salads, humus, sweet baby bell peppers (new fave!), carrots and other veggies, petite green beans, sweet potato, brown rice, lean steak, and we are taking full advantage of our amazing Pacific Northwest access to seafood: halibut, Copper River Sockeye salmon (OMG – I will be so sad when the season is over), tiger shrimp, etc. SO GOOD!
We had a good amount of tiger shrimp in the fridge so we decided that we would have those for dinner. It turned out pretty good! Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring, this was definitely not a boring recipe. So, here it is, the new recipe we tried out last night, it was so simple to make yet so yummy, and filling! I now have a new favorite way to eat brown rice!
Pineapple Shrimp Brown Rice
Ingredients:
- 2 cups uncooked brown rice
- 1 1/2 lbs shrimp, shelled and deveined {we kept our shrimp whole, but you could cut them up before cooking}
- 1 T sesame oil {EVOO works well too}
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2-3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bell pepper, or 3 large baby bell peppers, diced
- 1/2 cup pineapple, diced {I only had canned on hand, it worked just fine}
- 2 tsp teriyaki sauce {We used Yoshida’s}
- Johnny’s seasoning salt {Salt and pepper work also, but Johnny’s is so good, and locally made!}
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
Directions:
- Cook brown rice according to directions. Tip: I always cook my brown rice in my rice cooker, and it always turns out perfect! Be aware though that cooking brown rice takes much longer. In my rice cooker it takes nearly 2 hours. Be sure to plan ahead for this!
- Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once warm, add garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add onions and peppers and continue to saute for a few minutes. While they are cooking, season with Johnny’s and add the teriyaki sauce.
- Add shrimp to skillet. {This is my favorite part! Watching the shrimp change color is still the coolest thing to me. Haha} Season with Johnny’s, garlic powder and onion powder. {We didn’t measure when doing this, but I would predict we used a 1 tsp-ish of each.} Using tongs, turn shrimp over to continue cooking on the other side.
- Once shrimp are cooked through, add brown rice to the skillet. Season again with Johnny’s and the garlic and onion powder {Again – use your best judgement, but 1 tsp-ish of each is a good guesstimate}. Stir the rice, shrimp and veggie mixture to combine.
- Add pineapple, and stir again to combine.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutritional Information:
- 4 servings
- Calories: Approximately 473/serving
- Protein: 39 grams
- Fat: 6.9 grams
- Fiber: 4.9 grams
- Sugar: 9 grams
- Sodium: 10 grams
I am looking for fun and new recipes, so stay tuned as I will be posting some more!
Question: What is your favorite healthy recipe?? What is your favorite healthy snack?
Enjoy your weekend all! Ciao!
Week: 21
{Santies. Sunnyside Up} 