Gluten Free Grilled Cheese Comfort Food

Yesterday I walked home from work. Door to door it took 22 minutes! Since I didn't go to Bar Method, I thought it would be great to walk to work and home again so that I still got some activity. Ryan and I also went for a nice walk after dinner so I reached my daily activity goal for the day (over 10,000 steps and 2 WW activity points).

Dinner was simple...a buffalo chicken grilled cheese sandwich. I used deli meat from FreshDirect (2 oz. buffalo chicken, 1 WW Point) and 30g of Shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (2 WW points) between 2 slices of Udi's whole grain gluten free bread (4 WW Points). I served it with a side salad made of mesclun, grape tomatoes, peppers and avocados (1 WW Point) and some baby carrots. And yes, that is sunlight in the photo despite it being 7pm when I finally made dinner! I love daylight savings!

And of course dessert was Ben & Jerry's Froyo Chocolate Fudge Brownie!

I did have a few late night snacks though, what can I say, I'm weak. While I was in bed, watching the premiere of Real Housewives of NY, and Ryan was in the shower, I snuck out to the kitchen and got 1/3 cup of Envirokidsz peanut butter cereal (1 WW Point) with 1/3 cup of Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. It was worth going over my daily points because I felt satisfied. I wish I could ignore my late night cravings because I know it's not real hunger, but sometimes it is easier to give in to them.

Today is the last day for warm weather before the next batch of cold and windy forecasts. Unfortunately it is going to rain so I won't be able to walk home. I have a 1 hour focus group tonight - It's a long day - it started with a great bar method class taught by Brittany! We did chair and arabesque which got my thighs burning and my glutes shaking! I loved every minute of it! We have a lunch meeting at work so hopefully there is something there I can eat - they ordered from Cosi's so maybe there will be a salad or even a bag of baby carrots to get me through the meeting. I brought a salad with me just in case made with sliced almonds, goji berries, hemp cereal tomatoes, carrots and peppers (I weighed the toppings to 3g and under so it was still 0 points, a little indulgence in my salad, but still staying on track), and if I don't eat that for lunch I will eat it before my focus group at 6pm so I don't have a rumbling stomach the entire hour and then get hour and ravage the kitchen for anything in sight! I also pre-tracked a quest bar (cookies and cream, 5 WW Points) so I have 12 points to play with for the lunch meeting. For dessert tonight (or a second dinner after the focus group), I want to stay away from chocolate and see if cutting out some sugar at night will help with my late night cravings. I plan to make a sweet cinnamon egg white omelette. Made with 1/3 cup of egg whites, vanilla extract, stevia and cinnamon (3 WW points), it seems sweet enough for my sugar needs, and it's packed with protein which will hold me over through the night and through my morning bar class!

Have a great day everyone.

XO

Skinnytaste Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Friday bowling was so much fun! Ryan and I usually go bowling alone and it is so fast - 2 games, 30 minutes, $60. It's just crazy and doesn't always seem worth it to go. But with 6 people, it took us 2 hours to bowl 2 games, and we had a great time! The first game we played boys vs. girls team which we knew going into it would not be very motivational to the girls - of course, we lost. But the second game, the boys picked the girls names from a hat and we played 3 teams of 2. I was paired with Aaron (Stephenie's boyfriend) and we won! The scores were really high, I bowled 108 and Ryan bowled 138! After the game we went to Stout, a pub in Herald Square. I ordered the grilled chicken salad, but Ryan's weakness for Buttermilk Fried Chicken got the best of him and he ordered that for dinner. I don't blame him, they looked amazing. I never want to tell Ryan not to order something, or not to eat something because it contains Gluten. I want him to make decisions regarding food and his health for himself and sometimes, buttermilk fried chicken is worth it to him. If he feels deprived than living gluten free becomes a diet, a struggle, a pain rather than a way of life, and a healthy choice. It's important to make a lifestyle work for you. No one pressured Ryan to eat the chicken, it was what he wanted and since we are not celiac, the pleasure of eating the fried chicken was worth it to him - and to see him happy, makes me happy.

Ryan is really busy at work and has to work from home in the evenings and weekends right now while he waits to hire a coordinator to help him with his research studies. This weekend he went to work to write a research paper and I stayed home and relaxed and watched TV, which, after not getting a good nights sleep for the past month, felt amazing! Saturday night, Ryan cooked dinner for us. He made gluten free chicken francaise with gluten free fettuccine. It was delicious! And I let go of all of my controlling tendencies when it comes to cooking and trusted that Ryan was measuring, weighing and serving everything as it should be! I never want to let my tracking get in the way of enjoying food so it's good every once in awhile to let go and not worry about points and calories as long as I understand portion sizes and ate well the rest of the day! Ryan was so excited to cook for me that he made sure everything was measured following the directions of the recipe (which he emailed to me so that I could upload it to my WW Recipe points tracker).

Sunday, I cooked dinner and made a simple, easy, delicious recipe from Skinnytaste. I made Cilantro Lime Shrimp which I paired with gluten free chicken dumplings and a salad. The shrimp would have gone perfectly with pasta if we hadn't had it with the chicken the night before. The recipe was so easy to follow, and the points were really low so I was able to have a couple of the dumplings which were 2 points each! I had more than one serving of the shrimp since it was so good and because heating shrimp as leftovers isn't that great. So Ryan and I each had about 1.5 cups so it totaled 7 points. I went a little overboard with dessert though because Ryan made King Arthur's Gluten Free Brownies and I had a cup of So Delicious Purely Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Coconut Milk Ice cream. I found different gluten free, dairy free, soy free flavors and stocked up. Ryan thinks I have a problem now since the door of our freezer is filled with ice cream! I may have a slight addiction. The only problem with having it in the house is that I will eat it...and then I'll complain that I ate it, and then I'll eat some more because I feel bad about myself and the cycle will go on and on until all of the pints of ice cream are gone (and then I'll buy more). I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth!

The Skinnytaste recipe can be found here, or I have listed it below!

Skinnytaste Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Servings: 6 (2/3 cup)
Weight Watchers Points: 3

1.5 pounds shrimp (peeled)
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp cumin
2 tsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp lime juice (from 1 medium lime)
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

1. Season shrimp with salt, pepper and cumin

2. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and add olive oil to the pan. Add shrimp and let cook for 2 minutes.

3. Flip shrimp and let cook for 1 more minute.

5. Add garlic to the pan and let cook for 1 additional minute.

6. Add cilantro and mix well.

7. Remove pan from heat. Squeeze lime juice all over shrimp and mix once more before serving.

Serve and enjoy!

The last couple of days I have very minimal activity. Despite going to Bar Method Monday morning, I wasn't able to hit 10,000 steps goal, or 2 WW activity points. It is absolutely due to me sitting at my desk all day and not walking around for 8 hours. I also didn't go out for a walk with Ryan last night, which I should have, but we were waiting for our dining room table & chairs to be delivered. Unfortunately, it was delivered, but with a box missing so we were unable to build the table. It is really frustrating and now we have to wait another week for the box to ship and be received. I am just so ready to not be working on the apartment and just have it complete. I try not to think about what we still have to do to "finish" the apartment like hanging art, building the desk, building the table/chairs, because I just want to enjoy living there. It's just so shocking how big the apartment is and how much time and effort it is taking to fill it and make it homey! And March is a very busy month for me and Ryan so we have to finish this stuff now, otherwise, before we know it, it will be April!

Today I woke up early to prepare a slowcooker meal for dinner tonight. I am making Skinnytaste Crock Pot Turkey Meatballs with a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was so quick and easy to prepare and I love that it is cooking while I am at work so as soon as I get home, I just get to eat! Here is a sneak peek!

I made a delicious cobb salad for lunch today with salami, turkey, grapes, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber and avocado and Lentil chips for an added crunch. It really hit the spot because I was craving something salty and sweet so the grapes and avocados balanced perfectly with the cold cuts and Lentil chips.

Work has been steadily busy which is great because the day is going by, but it is hard because I am stuck at my computer and only getting up for a few minutes each hour. I can't wait until it warms up so I can go for a walk around the block just to get some activity in.

I am going to start spinning at Pablo Fitness again this week. I love his studio - it is the first time and only time I have ever enjoyed spinning and I am excited to start classes again. Mentally, with all the ice cream I have been eating, I just need to sweat. Bar Method is amazing and nothing will make me want to work out more than a Bar Method class, but I need to push myself a little harder and sweat out some of the sweets I keep eating. Pablo has amazing energy and even though I can't stand riding a bicycle in place for 45 minutes, when the lights go off and I just get inside my head, it's a mental game to push myself harder and faster and I feel great afterwards. I have a 10 class pack so hopefully in the next 2 months before it expires I will use it all!

Can't wait for dinner tonight! I will be sharing more photos tomorrow!

Stay warm everyone.

XO

Baked Gluten Free Chicken Parmesan

Well, Ryan could not wait to make chicken parmesan until Valentine's Day and honestly, Valentine's Day is just another day, so we made a "love" dinner on February 13th and made our favorite dinner! We both love chicken parmesan, but we both hate how greasy and heavy and filling it is. Instead of pan-frying the chicken is oil, we decided to bake the chicken and make individual chicken parmesan (I didn't put it in a baking dish with sauce and cheese either). This was the best chicken parmesan we have ever made and it was so easy, and this is a recipe that can be made for 1, 2, or more so this could be the perfect individual dinner if we want chicken parmesan, but not a lot of leftovers! We supplemented the chicken with a big salad and some broccoli on the side. It was a perfect evening, valentine's day or not!

This recipe was adapted from Skinnytaste's Baked Chicken Parmesan. I made this gluten free using gluten free bread crumbs and used an egg instead of butter as the coating ingredient. The ingredients and the recipe are really easy to adapt to make this your own - use an arrabiato sauce to make it spicy, use panko bread crumbs, use butter (instead of eggs)...the possibilities are endless. And that's the great thing about recipes - we all share our recipes, but we have to make them work for us. Just because I prefer gluten free, does not mean someone needs to make this recipe gluten free. It can being anything you want, whatever you crave, however you like to cook. Cooking is fun and it should not be a step by step guide on how to get a good meal. A good meal is one that is made with love and tastes great for the person eating it!

Baked Chicken Parmesan
Servings: 4
Weight Watchers Points: 7

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thin sliced), 4 oz. each
5 tbsp Schar Gluten Free Bread Crumbs
2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/2 Cup Low-Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/2 Cup Tomato & Basil Marinara Sauce
1 egg
1/4 cup egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 450. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. If your chicken breasts are not purchased thin, place a piece of chicken in between saran wrap and pound them thin. Make sure they are even to allow for even cooking.

3. Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and egg whites.

5. One at a time, dip a piece of chicken into the egg mixture, followed by the breadcrumb mixture. Coat both sides of chicken with egg and breadcrumbs and place on baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

6. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes

7. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and put 2 tbsp of sauce over each chicken.

8. Top each piece with 2 tbsp of shredded cheese.

9. Bake for an addition 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

10. Serve and Enjoy!

This morning was surprisingly warm considering yesterday we had a 3-part storm and have another round of snow coming tomorrow. I decided to walk to work since I hadn't done that before. The streets were very slushy, a few were icy, and there were puddles everywhere. But besides that, the walk was extremely enjoyable. I walked up 1st avenue from 23rd street to 42nd street and it took 25 minutes door-to-door to get to work! The views from 1st Avenue across the East River are beautiful too - a lot of 1st avenue in the 30's is NYU buildings including Bellevue (translated to Beautiful View) and the hospital and once you come up on 39th street, there are unobstructed views of Brooklyn/Long Island City! It was a beautiful sight and I can't wait to see what it looks like in the summer when I walk to work on a warm spring day! I didn't go to Bar Method this morning because I wasn't sure how the weather and streets would be. I wanted to try to go to an evening class tonight, but honestly, I didn't sleep well last night and I would prefer to get the activity from walking home rather than deal with a Friday evening in SoHo on Valentine's Day. I am going to go to class tomorrow morning but I might have to leave early and walk to the train or take the crosstown bus because I am not sure if a citibike is the best choice since most are buried under snow and the bike lanes are pretty icy. I will play it by ear and maybe bike home from the studio if the roads don't seem too bad (but there is more snow in the forecast so who knows).

Are you tired of hearing me talk about snow, because trust me, I am tired of writing about it! I can't wait to see with Peter Cooper/Stuy-Town is like in the summer with movies and concerts on the green and a farmer's market and the community of people out and about together. It's beautiful right now in the dead of winter, but it's too cold and icy to be walking around exploring. We haven't made it to the East River Promenade either because it's been too cold to go for a long walk on the water. That is something I really miss about Brooklyn - our promenade only 3 blocks from our house with the most spectacular views of Lower Manhattan. I can't wait to see what the view looks like from this side though! Funny enough, I used to have my 12th grade Science Class along the Easter River promenade 9 years ago! It's so crazy to think that my life has come full circle in NYC and I am living across the street from my Middle School and down the block from my High School.

I love NYC (maybe not this winter) and I am so happy with how everything has worked out for me and Ryan. We are a family and we have to think as a family and living and working in NYC is the best thing for us right now. I have thought about moving - possibly to the West Coast, where it's much warmer, but Ryan and I are in a great place right now. We have family close to us, we have great jobs, we have friends here and we are comfortable in a new apartment. I would love to travel more together - Italy was our first big trip together and I fell in love with traveling and sight seeing. It's expensive, but it's something worth saving for! There's so much to see and do outside of New York City and I don't want to feel like I was stuck in one of the greatest cities, but never experienced anything outside of it. I love having my family in the city, and Ryan's is so close in Boston and I wouldn't want to put a strain on our relationship by being far away from our families, but as long as we take time to travel and have new experiences, our relationship together can only get stronger. We are planning to go to Puerto Rico in June - Ryan is going for a conference as part of work and I am going to tag along! He has been going to this conference for 2 years now and both times it has been in California and I have not been able to take time off of work to go. I want to go this year since I have never been to Puerto Rico and I have the vacation time to do it. I wanted to also plan a trip to San Francisco this year for us - it is my favorite city and I only went once with my family many years ago and I fell in love and want Ryan to experience it so much! I think we will have to wait on that trip until 2015 because the amount of money we put into our move and making our new home beautiful has been the same as a second trip. I am so happy with our home and wouldn't change the amount of money we spent, as long as we now know we need to start saving again!

Our dining room table should be delivered next week; it was delayed because of the snow storm (surprise, surprise). I can't wait to start having people over for dinner - it's getting hard to cook and bake for only 2 people. We get stuck with so many yummy leftovers and we just have to eat them all, right? I've been bringing some of the cupcakes and cornbread to work so that we don't let it go to waste sitting at home (or eat it all ourselves). I love cooking and sharing my food and time with others and having a dining room table will be the best thing for us. Ryan and I love being home rather than going out, so entertaining at our house is the best for us. We just haven't been able to the past 3 years because our house was too small - I didn't think people would appreciate sitting around a coffee table on the floor as much as we did!

Stay safe and warm everyone and have a beautiful Valentine's Day!

XO

Warm Chai Cupcakes on a cold snowy night with a green pancake for breakfast!

A Nor'easter has come to NYC and it has brought winds, snow, ice, rain and a lot of unhappy commuters with it. I am so ready for winter to be over and for the warmer weather to be here! I hate being cold and bundled up and not being able to walk a lot! But in preparation for the storm, Ryan and I mad Carrot, Walnut, Chai cupcakes with a vanilla maple frosting. The chai mix was something I found at Home Goods last weekend with my mom. It is gluten free and if you use non-dairy milk, it is dairy free as well. I don't like to use mixes a lot but when I do, I love added my own ingredients to it to make it more special! To a chia mix, the thought of a walnut carrot addition sounded perfect. I used Wholesome Chow Chai Mix and Wholesome Chow Vanilla Frosting Mix and to the frosting I added maple syrup and vanilla extract. The cupcakes were so moist and the added carrot and walnut added so much to a simple mix and the maple in the frosting made this cupcake super delicious!

Carrot, Walnut Chai Cupcake with Maple Vanilla Frosting
Servings: 12 Cupcakes
Weight Watchers Points: 9 per cupcake

Cupcakes
Wholesome Chow Gluten Free Vegan Chia Spice Cake Mix
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cup Lactaid Milk 2% (Use non-dairy milk to make these dairy free)
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Frosting
Wholesome Chow GF Vegan Vanilla Frosting Mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Lactaid Milk 2%
2 tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

TO MAKE CUPCAKES
1. Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Line or grease cupcake pan.

2. In a medium bowl, combine Milk and Apple Cider Vinegar. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, until foamy.

3. Meanwhile, shred carrots and chop walnuts.

4. Add olive oil to milk and vinegar mixture and whisk well.

5. Whisk (or use stand mixer) baking mix with the liquid ingredients and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.

6. Add carrots and walnuts and continue to mix until blended well..

7. Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes.

8. Let cool before adding frosting.

TO MAKE FROSTING
1. In stand mixer, whip butter until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes.

2. Add frosting mix, maple syrup, vanilla extract and milk, whip on low speed for 1 minute until mix is well combined.

3. Increase speed to high and beat for 5 minutes until frosting is fluffy.

TO PREPARE FROSTED CUPCAKES
After cupcakes are cool, add frosting to each. Frosting can be stored in fridge if not used immediately.

Serve and Enjoy!

It's snowing a lot and when I woke up this morning, a lot of my coworkers were working from home. Now that I moved so close to the office, I didn't think it was fair to not try to come in and work. But I did get to sleep in a little until 7am. I decided to make a warm breakfast at home before trekking out in the snow so I decided to make my usual egg white and oatmeal pancake. This time though, I added spinach to the mixture and blended all of the ingredients in the nutribullet (similar to my green eggs). I blended the oats as well, though next time I might blend all ingredients and add oats at the end. The batter was super green and Ryan even thought I was making a bullet to drink. 3 hours since breakfast and I am still full and satisfied which is my biggest struggle when I eat breakfast at home before coming to work. I try to eat lunch at 1pm to make the day spread out so that I am not starving by 3pm/4pm which is when I will start snacking and craving sugar. But that means I usually try to eat breakfast at 9:30am so I don't have to wait too long until my next meal. I cooked up the batter and topped it with almond butter, flax seeds and a banana. Ryan made corn bread for breakfast and a spinach, grape, orange and raspberry bullet! We ate breakfast together before I layered up to go to work.

Ryan is working from home and doing some work around the house. I don't mind being at the office when its a snow day - the work day is slow but its a different experience than when everyone is here and busy! We are ordering pizza for lunch and I got to order a separate salad since I am not eating pizza that isn't gluten free.

I hope everyone stays safe and warm and dry today in this crazy weather - just remember, the more snow storms we have, the closer we are to winter being over!!!!! My biggest problem with this weather is how little activity I have. I can't wait until its warm and I can start walking to and from work and biking more. I probably have to take the bus/train to Bar Method tomorrow morning - the citibikes are buried under 3 feet of snow right now!

XO