What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Hump Day! Since I always forget to do this, I thought I would link up with Jenn today and What I ate Wednesday “Fall into Good Habits.”

This morning was a little hectic, to say the least. Since we were heading to my parent’s house to spend the night, I got up very early to attend the 7:00 a.m. class at our box this morning. Before I left, I ate a small snack of half of a banana and a couple teaspoons of peanut butter to get me through the workout. Boy, did I need it! The skill was 3 sets of 10 handstand push-ups and 20 bridge ups. For the WOD, we did 3 rounds with a 20 minute time cap of 20 “two for one” wall balls (squatting twice), 3 rope climbs and 50 double unders. The wall balls were hard for me (as they always are!), but I managed to finish in 18 minutes and 33 seconds, not too bad, but not great.

As soon as I got home, my husband had breakfast waiting for me and Keenan was already up, changed and just finishing his breakfast…I just love my husband! He made me half of an egg sandwich with some cheese and avocado, along with some strawberries and a latte to go (sorry, I was in such a rush, that I forgot to take a picture!). I scarfed down my breakfast, took a quick shower, loaded up the car and headed to swim class.

Before I talk more about today’s eats, below is the recipe for our dinner last night. I prepped everything, but my husband put it all together, since he didn’t go to the gym with us. He isn’t much on measuring, so he says the recipe is as close as he can remember. He did an excellent job; it was delicious!! We will definitely be making this again!

Dinner last night!

Grilled Baby Bok Choy Salad: (servers 3)

 Ingredients:

– Three boneless, skinless chicken thighs

– 6-7 heads of baby bok choy, halved lengthwise

– 2 cups sliced mushrooms *we used baby portobello

– 1 red bell pepper, large dice

– 1 medium onion (white, yellow, or red), medium dice

– 2-3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

– Fresh ground pepper, to taste

– 5 T good-quality soy sauce or tamari

– 4 T oyster sauce

– 1 t fish sauce

– Garlic powder, to taste

– Chinese 5-Spice, to taste

– Toasted sesame oil

– Rice or white wine vinegar, to taste

 Directions:

1.  Marinate chicken: Place chicken in food-safe bag or bowl, and glop on 3 T soy, 2 T oyster, and 1 t fish sauces. Grind in some pepper, sprinkle in some garlic powder, and trickle in enough cold water to allow the chicken to marinate. (Add more water if you’re going to let it site for a while, or leave the soy sauce concentrated if you’re going to be cooking the chicken very soon.)

2. Prepare bok choy: Halve the baby bok choy lengthwise, only removing outer leaves that are damaged. Don’t bother trimming the base, as you’ll be cutting that off after they’re grilled. Drizzle with oil, salt, and pepper.

3. (If you’re grilling over fire, start your grill, now, and get ready for medium-high heat.) Heat a large skillet or everyday pan over medium-high heat, and add about 2 T oil. Sauté onion, bell pepper, ground pepper, garlic powder, and 5-spice for a few minutes, then add garlic. Sauté for another minute, and then add mushrooms. Add some more garlic powder and 5-spice, if you want it to be pungent (we do!). Stir a little, and then cover the pan. Some brown bits should start developing on the bottom of the pan, and removing the lid and stirring a few times should help keep that going. If you time the “sitting and stirring” correctly, the mushrooms should start releasing water just before anything starts burning, so all of that nice brown flavoring should come right off the bottom of the pan. At that point, keep the lid off the pan and cook until most of the moisture has simmered away. (If you’re using a gas grill, you need to start it, now, and get ready for medium-high heat.) Add 2 T soy sauce, 2T oyster sauce, and cook until the sauces have thickened slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

4. Remove chicken from marinade, oil it, and place on grill. Watch it while you cook the bok choy, and flip when needed. Once it’s almost done, remove from the grill, wrap in foil, and let the chicken rest. It will continue cooking, and be super-juicy.

5. Place as much of the bok choy on the grill as you possibly can, cut side down, without cramming things. Cover grill. Depending on the size of the bok choy heads, you want to check things after 3 minutes, or so. The very tips of the leaves should get a little black, but everything else should be fine, with some grill lines developing on the stem of the leaves. If that’s happened, flip the bok choy, and leave it for about 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye on it. Remove bok choy when it’s done, and let rest, uncovered. Finish cooking the rest of the bok choy, if you couldn’t do it all at once.

6.  Pour veggies and sauce from pan into a large mixing bowl. Chop chicken and toss in bowl. Rough-chop bok choy, leaving thick base of stem (but trimming as much of the leaves as possible, to reduce waste), and toss into bowl. Grind in some pepper. Sprinkle about ½ t of toasted sesame oil over salad. Sprinkle about 2 T of vinegar over salad, and mix well. Taste, and adjust seasonings (it’ll probably need more vinegar for a sharp bite, unless you like a deeper flavor).

7.  Divide amongst 3 plates or shallow bowls.

*Note: For more texture and added flavor, I would sprinkle roasted walnuts or almonds on top!

After Keenan’s swim class, we headed to my parent’s house and made it just in time for lunch. Keenan was SO excited to see Nonna, Avo and Maddie, that he kept repeating (over and over) in the car, “Going to Nonna and Avo’s house!” My mom had some Aram Sandwiches (flat bread wrapped in a pinwheel with turkey, lettuce, tomato and cheese) from Costco, so I had two of those with a small piece of a leftover pork chop (that my parents had for dinner last night), broccoli, baby carrots and some slices of a peach. Keenan loves the Aram Sandwiches, so he had one with some broccoli dipped in hummus, a few pieces of cheese, slices of a peach and a glass of milk. Again, I completely forgot to snap a picture, sorry!

After the kids wake up from their naps, we are going on a little bike ride and to pick peaches! I’ll be sure to take a few pictures!

I’m not sure what my mom has planned for dinner tonight, but I’m sure it includes some pasta with meat, veggies and a salad! Have a great afternoon!

Question: What are some of your favorite dishes that your mom and/or dad make or that you had while growing-up? My favorite dishes that my mom makes are her chicken scallopini, raviolis and risotto!