Merry Christmas ;)

So with all this talk of beets lately (had to bring this pic back friends haha 😛 )

….and because I think am ready to venture out to a new beet dish idea  (don’t know if any of these will top the balsamic/feta/onion/beet combo – but I’m willing to give it a shot)

….I’ve  found a few recipes on CookingLight.com to make using our beet friends! 🙂   You just may be seeing one of these in the near future, who knows?

Well, anywho, my workout with Elise was a yoga-riffic as usual… and the new jigsaw mats (firm but cushioned, ahhh yes!) in the exercise room are awesome paired with my new yoga mat !  Twas a great workout, feelin’ calm & lean 😉

Onto what we all are craving, dinner!

Tonight was planned to be an easier night in the ol’ kitchen for this lady since I knew I may not get home til later… so what else than chicken sausages w/ peppers & onions (this was The Man’s one request this week) and some easy peasy saffron rice 🙂

  

Before we get started friends, check out some great facts about these fantastic Al Fresco All Natural Chicken Sausages! that I have recently fallen in love with!

•  All natural (!!)    
• 70% less fat than traditional pork sausages 
• No nitrates, nitrites, or artificial flavors

Plus they’re are available in 12 flavors (some fully cooked) yea, woah! 🙂

• Sweet Apple (had these the other night, they are to die for!)
• Sweet Italian
• Roasted Garlic
• Roasted Pepper & Asiago
• Spicy Jalapeno (did someone say chili?!)
• Teriyaki Ginger
• Sundried Tomato & Basil
• Spinach & Feta
• Buffalo Style
• Mango Chipotle
• Buffalo Style (ummm The Man may be in heaven if I can find these!)
• Apple Maple Breakfast Sausage
• Country Style Breakfast Sausage
• Wild Blueberry Breakfast Sausage (need to find this now!)

Pretty impressive?!  I found these at Kroger, however they didn’t have each flavor listed on the website but I am going to be on the hunt for more of these around town fo’ sure!

K – so here goes

Step 1 – Chop up the peppers & onions (I like larger pieces for this dish) and saute them in some EVOO (1 tblsp is ALL you need folks!) for about 25 minutes on medium to medium-high until they are soft and tender, stirring occasionally.  Remember to add some water if they start to stick a lil’ (lowfat trick!) and always salt/pepper for flavor 🙂

Merry Christmas? 😉

Step 2:  Slice up the fully cooked sausages and brown them up in a pan (spray with cooking spray) for about 6 minutes over medium heat

Then, once the onions and peppers have started to caramalize, throw the cooked sausages in and mix together – flava fiesta! 🙂

Ummm friends – these chicken sausages are SO GOOD!!  They beat TJ’s – and you know I am serious if I say that 🙂

Alongside I made this Mahatma saffron yellow rice, which if you haven’t tried before please go do so now!  An ex-boyfriend (shhh don’t tell The Man 😦 ) introduced me to this fancy sounding product and I have never gone back peeps.  It is SO FLAVORFUL and literally costs like $1 in the store, no jokes here.

Check out the brilliant yellow color – boo yah!  I had some leftover chicken broth from the other night, so made it using this for extra oomph (like it needed it?)

 I knew that rice had to be topped with some of my main man Tom Leonard’s fresh salsa (omg so good)

Could these ingredients get any better – I think not!

And some RF sour cream of course 🙂

All together now!

Things that make me fall in love with a weeknight (or any) meal = healthy, delicious, fresh, easy, fast…. you catch my drift friends 😉

So tomorrow I am meeting up with an old friend for lunch, we are tying a new place called Noodles & Company.  I would love to know if anyone has been to one of these, and if so, any recommendations?!  You can see their menu here – looks like they gots lots o’ variety!

Alright, I gotta go watch the Yankees get a beat down the Yankees/Angels game and some trashy MTV as well – The Man is playing video games downstairs so Lucy Dog and me are camping out and having some quality gal time 😉

Have a wonderful evening you awesome friends and see you tomorrow for humpday!

Buffet at my cubicle?

Hello blog world!!!  It’s Tuesday, hooray! 🙂

So listen to this cuuurrrr-azzzzy Richmond weather forecast today… going from a low of 38F this morning to 73F by this afternoon?!  Ummm that is like 2 seasons packed into one day, crazy no?!  However no complaints here, I love me some 70s 🙂

In other news, last night I stumbled across this great Cookinglight.com read about 10 Foods that Sound Healthy but Are NOT… a majority of these I knew already (i.e. certain types of smoothies, energy bars, prepared salads, etc.) however this one caught me by surprise!

• Multigrain & Wheat Breads – many breads labeled “multi-grain” and “wheat” are typically made with refined grains, so you’re not getting the full nutritional benefit of the whole grain. How can you be sure? Read nutrition labels carefully. If the first flour in the ingredient list is refined (it will typically say “bleached” or “unbleached enriched wheat flour”) you are not getting a 100% whole-grain bread.

Learn something new everyday!

Onto lunch, which included leftovers from last night’s superfab din – not as pretty day 2 but definitely just as tasty 🙂

   

Plus an unseen dark chocolate mini and a peach yogurt from the caf – hey, I was hungry today haha!

Buffet at my cubicle? 😉

This morning has flown by so that has been awesome, stayin’ busy busy!  Hopefully this afternoon will be more of the same.

I debated on packing my gym clothes to hit up Cardio3 class after work today, however decided that I was more in the mood for a Yoga.Fitness.Plus sesh with my homegirl Elise from the comforts of home instead 🙂 I need some good stretching after yesterday’s workout plus the crazy toning benefits from this yoga workout is unbeatable! 

I am definitely heading to the gym for Kickboxing class thursday though (finally it’s back!!!) and I couldn’t be more excited gahhh!  If you don’t know already, I adore kickboxing class so much so that I switched to a flex schedule at work where I’d have every other Friday off so I could make it to the 8:30am friday class at my gym that kicks a$$ — seriously peeps, I did this haha.  It’s such a freaking awesome workout, and always varies so you can’t get bored or in a rut!

“Steph’s love for kickboxing” commentary now over.  Hahaha

Alright, back to work time it is!  Can’t wait to see everyone tonight for some dinner… what’s it gonna be?!!? 

The allstar of the game (and no, it’s not an Angels player winning the game in extra innings vs. the Yankees mwuhaha just sayin’ 😉 ):  Al fresco All Natural Italian Chicken Sausages (had the Sweet Apple flavor the other night, they were freaking awesome, so excited to try this kind!)

See ya tonight for how it all turns out 🙂

Have a wonderful day bloggies!!