After this weekend the one thing I need to do is work out. Unfortunately, it’s also the last thing I want to do. So. Tired.

Diana Nyad is attempting to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage and with no breaks. Oh yeah, and she’s 61 years old. That’s a heck of a drive.

You can track her progress here.

HOLY YUM, Y’ALL! I had no idea how amazing chicken could be until I made this… and it was so easy! Thank you, Cooking Light! Do yourself a favor and make this for dinner.I served it with sweet and sour sauce and it was delectable.

Total: 28 minutes
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 4.5 ounces)

Ingredients

• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  cup  rice flour
• 1  cup  whole buttermilk
• 1  large egg
• 1 1/2  cups  unsweetened flaked coconut
• 3  tablespoons  canola oil
• Sweet chile sauce (optional)

Preparation

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine buttermilk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well. Place coconut in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour; shake off excess. Dip chicken in egg mixture; dredge in coconut.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes or until done, turning to brown. Serve with chile sauce, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 298 

Fat: 12.7g (sat 4.1g,mono 5.4g,poly 2.6g)

Protein: 28.7g

Carbohydrate: 15.9g

Fiber: 1.7g

Cholesterol: 102mg

Iron: 1.4mg

Sodium: 318mg

Calcium: 20mg

Over the past few months I’ve done a fair amount of bike riding. I’ve even done a weekly 50/50 class (half spin, half strength workout). This is impressive, because if you know me, I generally HATE the stationary bike. It’s not my thing. Well, after 4 months of 50/50 I decided that I had overcome my loathing and was ready to shake up my workout and try an hour long spin class. So last night, I laced up my shoes, climbed on my bike and started cycling.

Newsflash: I still hate spinning. The whole hour was a battle of “don’t look at the clock, don’t look at the clock… Okay, look at the clock… Damn!!!! How can it have only been 5 minutes!!!??! Arrrrgh!!!!

Somehow when it’s 30 minutes and broken up with 30 minutes of strength training it’s tolerable. But a full hour? That’s just cruel and unusual punishment. Ugh.

My mom sent me this recipe today and I decided to try it tonight. It’s really delicious. Technically, it is to be served cold, but I ate it hot because I didn’t want to wait and it was still really yummy! 

Squash Soup

Ingredients: 

1. 2-2.5 lbs yellow squash, sliced 
2. 1 large Vidalia Onion, chopped
3. 1 32 oz. container Chicken Broth
4. 1 t. salt 
5. 1 garlic clove (optional) 
6. 8 oz cream cheese (I used the weight watchers version, but any non-fat/reduced fat works here too!) 

Directions: 

Put all but cream cheese in a sauce pot and bring to a boil, then simmer until tender. 

Turn off heat and add cream cheese, stirring to mix. (You could add parsley, dill or basil here if you wanted.) 

After it’s cooled a little bit, put small batches into a blender or food processor and puree. (Make sure you don’t do it all at once.) Then put it in the fridge to chill. 

Yum!! 

I love asian style dishes, but whenever I try to make a good asian stir-fry sauce… I fail. Until this recipe. It’s super easy and super healthy. I’ve made some changes to the recipe, but overall I think it’s pretty much the same. I got the recipe from my Hungry Girl Cookbook (a good buy if you are looking for some quick/healthy meals that aren’t labor intensive). 

Citrus-y Stir-Fry Shrimp: 

Ingredients

1. 10oz raw peeled & deveined shrimp (I used 3/4 lb)
2. Vegetables that you like (I used zucchini, but you could use snow peas, water chestnuts, mushrooms, broccoli, whatever)
3. 1/3 c. fresh squeezed orange juice (no cheating here, use the real deal if you want to be healthier/have less sugar! It’s usually about 1 orange.) 
4. 1/2 t. cornstarch 
5. 2.5 t. Splenda
6. 3 T. Low Sodium/Light Soy Sauce
7. 2.5 t. minced garlic
8. 2 T. chopped scallions (optional!) 

Directions: 

Bring a medium pot filled 2/3 of the way with water to a boil. 

Meanwhile, in a small dish, combine orange juice, soy sauce, Splenda, cornstarch and garlic. (If you are using scallions, add those as well.)

Once the pot of water has come to a boil, add shrimp. Cook until the shrimp turn opaque and pink (about 35 seconds for large shrimp). Drain and rinse in cold water and set aside.

Begin stir-frying your vegetables in a large pan or wok, coated with non-stick spray. (I like PAM Olive Oil Spray.) Try to keep them crisp, 5-7 minutes should be plenty. 

At the same time, mix your sauce thoroughly and transfer to a small saucepan. Set heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. (I had more success keeping the sauce on medium). 

Once your veggies are ready, add shrimp and sauce to the pan/wok. Mix it all together and stir for about 2 minutes or so to heat everything through. 

This makes 2 servings, so be aware that you may want to double this if you are having guests or want leftovers!

I served it with roasted sweet potatoes, which I had diced and coated with PAM Olive Oil Spray, salt & pepper & chili powder. Baked them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. They were delicious. 

Bon Appetit!

Tonight I tried my hand at a kettlebell class. For those who don’t know, a kettlebell is a bowling ball shaped weight with a handle. You swing it and lift it in multiple directions and in different forms. (Pictured below is the swing.) It’s so effective because it requires you to use various muscle groups all at the same time and keeps your body fully engaged through the workout.

I had heard about this class before, and after doing some research online I found out that it is a calorie torcher as well as a great way to tone your muscles. So, since I’m being adventurous on the exercise front, I decided to give it a whirl.

HOLY. SMOKES. It was definitely really hard. I can guarantee I did not have a smile plastered on my face like the lady in the photo below, and I sure as heck didn’t look as put together as I swung my 8kg weight through the air and attempted to avoid knocking myself unconscious. There were only two other people in the class, which was good because the instructor was able to spend a lot of time helping me make sure my form was correct. (Most of the time it wasn’t, even if he had just corrected me… oops!)

I worked up a pretty intense sweat by the end and I can already tell that I am going to be seriously sore tomorrow.

Overall verdict: I would do it again. Hopefully next time I will have better form and won’t give myself serious bruises from where I accidentally let the kettlebell hit my legs on the way down and around. But that is probably a pipe dream.