Marie’s Menu 1/22/13

My weekly cooking continues as I’ve picked up some days of work outside the home and am worried that I won’t have something healthy for dinner.

This morning while I was home with the little one I cooked up Skinnytaste Pork chops with mushrooms and shallots. I used boneless chops that turned out to be more like pork medallions because its what I had on hand. Served them tonight for dinner for my son and husband.

This evening – after a quick call to my stepdad for advice – I attempted tilapia for the first time. I cut lemon slices, placed the fish on the slices on a baking sheet, salt and peppered them, sprayed them with EVOO using my misto, then topped with 1 tsp whole wheat breadcrumbs. 10 minutes at 350 degrees, then 5 minutes under the broiler on high. It was delightful! The breadcrumbs gave it a nice flavor and texture. The tilapia was perfectly cooked and basically melted in my mouth. I am trying to get more fish into my diet and this was definitely a recipe to keep around. I am taking a leftover piece for lunch tomorrow!

I served the tilapia with organic kale that I sautéed, salad, and half of a sweet potato. It was a great meal. I felt satisfied after, but not stuffed. And I love the idea that I am eating high quality food. It just feels better, you know?

I already got one great fish recipe from a friend via Facebook, but I’d love more – so if you have any please send them my way!

Happy cooking everyone!

@affairwitcheese

Marie’s Menu 1/20/13

Happy Monday! Due to work and a weird sleep patter on Sunday I only got 2 dishes prepared today for the week. More to come Tuesday!

Turkey sausage and peppers – easiest recipe ever. Chop peppers, drizzle with EVOO, S&P add turkey sausage and bake for 50 mins at 350.

Skinny meatloaf made with half ground beef and half ground chicken (to keep it moist yet light). See “skinnytaste petite turkey meat loaves” on Skinnytaste.com

Also, my salmon with Soy Vay was a big hit last week. My son is loving it! I told him its “brain food”!

Happy healthy cooking y’all!

I’m Wide Awake

Well, well, well. 2013.  How the hell are ya?  Its unimaginable to me that I graduated college 10 years ago this coming May.  How did a decade fly by so fast?  I still haven’t even finished unpacking my boxes from my old dorm room.  Oops!

It forces me to look back (as we are often forced to on milestones like turning 30 or starting a new job).  Nearly 10 years since I entered the world as a college graduate and “bona fide” adult. I had a checking account at 16 years old so, I’ve been an adult for a while, albeit not a college educated one. When I graduated college, I planned to embark on a career as an actor. I thought I had the drive and the talent to make a go of it.  In the meantime, I was instructed to “get a job” so I asked around and was pointed to Lord and Taylor where a college educated person such as myself would be sure to find something to do.  Did I mention I have a degree in “The History of Theatre; The Theatre of History”? (self designed, of course)

My personality and limited experience with make-up pushed me to the cosmetics department where I could even make a little commission.  I started work and was filled with so many fears about not being pretty enough and not looking “the part”.  Sure, I knew how to be a character on stage, but selling make up to older women from 6-9PM on a Tuesday, was an entirely different story. These were “Garden City Women” (read: rich) so they were extra scary to me. So I faked it.  I faked it till I made it.  Some friends came by and let me do makeovers on them for practice and that taught me the most important piece of information I could impart on you in the field of cosmetics.  “If it doesn’t look good, don’t worry, there is make-up remover at EVERY cosmetics counter.”  Basically, you can’t mess this up.  Even an idiot with a degree in “The history of blah blah blah,” can figure this out.  Selling is another story, but thankfully I knew how to fake that too.  (I’m the daughter of a real salesman).

I had some mis-steps and some identity crisis about “What to do with my life?”  I decided after quitting cosmetics for acting, and then going back that I really did want a career in cosmetics.  It was so fun to meet new people.  There was always something new around the bend (Spring colors, Limited Edition lipsticks, etc).  Surely this was something I could make a living at.

Ten years later I am without a job – by choice mind you, but still.  I went for the brass ring, got a firm handle on it and then decided, “you know what? This isn’t me anymore.  I WANT more”, and threw that brass ring away.  In September I turned down a veritable dream job from a major cosmetics brand because my gut told me to.  I got the news that I’d been offered the job and immediately felt my stomach turn and then the tears came.  “I thought this is what I wanted for the last 10 years, but now that I’ve got it, I may have been terribly, terribly wrong.”  Shit. Now what?

It turns out 31 is not too old to change your “major” in life.  Having a baby and a mortgage doesn’t render you stuck to working at the same old thing.  Luckily for me, I had the ability to leave my job and grab for a different brass ring.  This week I started a nutrition course at the world’s largest nutrition school.  I am going to become a certified health coach.  I’m not sure exactly where this will take me 10 years from now (much like my younger self who took a chance on a cosmetics job for $9 an hour), but I’m excited.  I know I want to help others be healthy and find balance in life.  I do believe these are the 2 hardest goals we can strive for in this world of DVR and BOGO Big Mac’s and the highest obesity rates we’ve ever encountered.  I want to do this.  For me, for you and for the earth.

Please join me on this journey as we shift our thinking from “losing a few unwanted pounds” to being an “agent of change to make the world a healthier, happier place.”

Thanks all, Namaste.