Chicken Stir Fry

Hello loves! Today I wanted to share with you one of my go-to recipes: chicken stir fry. My mom made this for me for the first time about a year ago, and it’s been a constant favorite of my ever since. It’s super easy to make, reheats super well, and it’s super pretty. (Totally Instagram worthy.)

To start off with here’s what you’ll need:

  
Ingredients: sesame oil, peanut oil, classic Thai sauce, soy sauce, powered ginger, garlic powder, your choice of chopped veggies, and sliced chicken breast. Also for a side, some rice! I prefer brown rice with this, and it’s also the healthier option.

To start off with, boil some water in a sauce pan to make your rice. Timing wise you should do this first!

  
Next grab yourself a frying pan and pour 1 Tablespoon of peanut oil into your pan. Wait for that to heat up a bit, then add in your chicken. You’re going to want to keep an eye on the chicken and keep stirring it so it cooks evenly. Right about this time, your water should be boiling so add in the rice and let it sit.

  
  
Next we’re going to work on the veggies. Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a large pan. Wait until it’s very hot, then add vegetables. Here we have broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, carrots, red pepper, celery, red cabbage, flowering kale, parsley, zucchini, and peas pods. Stir in everything so it’s coated in the oil and cover to steam veggies. *If you’re going to add in bean sprouts you should wait until later to add them in because of how quickly they cook.

   
 Let the chicken simmer in a pan at a low heat once it’s lightly browned.

  Then it’s time to add in a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, a 1/2 cup sauce, and a 1/4 cup soy sauce. Let that all simmer in the pan. *Now would be the time to add in the bean sprouts to your veggie mix. Once the chicken is coated, you can pour it into the veggie mixture as well.
   

   

Mix it all together and volia! You have your delicious stir fry! Now just plate it with some of your brown rice and you have an amazing meal all ready for you. 

 I hope you guys found this meal useful and give it a try sometime soon! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

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A Day of Food

Hello loves! I was recently watching a YouTube video about how to create good content for your readers: make it something you would want to see. For some reason this opened my eyes to new horizons. So for today’s post, I decided to try something that has become more popular on YouTube lately, a “What I Ate Today” kind of video. This is not meant to be “that person” that calls to tell you everything they ate that day, it’s more of a “hey, here are some healthy meals I’ve been loving lately that you might wanna try out too.” So hopefully you all like this! On that note, let’s start off the day!

Breakfast: I had a package of McCann’s Irish Oatmeal in the apple cinnamon flavor. It is 130 calories, which isn’t bad for a super filling breakfast. I also had some peach ginger tea from the Republic of Tea with a dash of honey, which is about 60 calories for the honey.

 

Lunch: 4oz of steak, brown rice and sautéed vegetables. Sugar snap peas, red bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and carrots. I absolutely love sautéed vegetables and they reheat really well for meals through out the week. According to my Fitbit, the total calories of this portion is about 380 calories.

  

Afternoon Snack: blueberries and light Babybell cheese. Which is about 85 calories, not bad for a quick and easy snack!

 
Dinner: gluten free bread, toasted, with crunchy peanut butter from Peanut Butter and Co. (their peanut butter is what dreams are made of.) I sliced up a pear and a chunk of watermelon to go with it for a light but filling dinner. According to my Fitbit food log, this meal is about 445 calories.

   

Evening Snack: I am that person who has to have a snack sometime after dinner. I’m never super hungry at dinner, but later I’m starving. I try to keep this snack relatively light, like tonight for example, I’m having some all natural popcorn by Orville Redenbacher. And according to my Fitbit, this is about 110 calories.

  I hope you guys have enjoyed today’s post, I’d love some feedback on if you want to see this again or what to do differently, so let me know in the comments! Have a fabulous day!xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Hello loves! Today I wanted to piggy back off of yesterday’s post with some healthy breakfast ideas. I know breakfast is a frequently underestimated meal, but it’s so important. It kicks your metabolism into gear right away in the morning and gives you the energy to start the day. I used to be the kind of person who would run out the door with a water bottle and a tiny granola bar, but since I’ve been trying to live a healthier lifestyle, I’ve been making a point to eat breakfast! Today I wanted to share with you some quick easy and filling breakfast options I love.

First off is my favorite, and a classic: toast and fresh fruit. I’ve been staying away from gluten recently and have really seen a difference! Gluten free bread tastes the best toasted, so I like to toast it up and spread crunchy peanut butter on top. The peanut butter gives a boost of protein to keepy you energized for a longer period of time, and the bread has carbs to give you immediate energy. (I’ve been obsessed with the Peanut Butter Company crunchy peanut butter, all peanut butter isn’t equal. It’s not.) I also like to have some fresh fruit with this, today I had a honey crisp apple.



For my second example, a yogurt parfait. I like using either Dannon Healthy and Fit vanilla Greek yogurt, or Yoplait vanilla Greek yogurt. These two are a little last tart and a bit lighter which I really prefer. I like to top it off with a layer of Udi’s granola. Then finish it off with your choice of fresh fruit. My favorite is basically any kind of berries, today I had fresh strawberries, which are super great right now!



For my last example, this is my new and improved on the go breakfast. I love making smoothies in the morning (and waking everyone in the house up bright and early.) A good basic recipe for smoothies is 2 cups of fruit (if not using frozen, add ice cubes), 1 cup of juice. This next part is kind of mix and match as you’d like for your own personal preference. If you want a thicker consistency, 1/2 cup of yogurt. If you want to add some greens, add just a handful, so you don’t over do it. I like to add 1 scoop of vanilla protein power along with 1 tablespoon of flaxseed for some fiber. In the one I made for the example today, I put two cups of a mixture of pineapple and mango, then added 1 cup of apple juice, a scoop of protein powder and a few scoops of non-fat Greek yogurt.



I know these are super simple suggestions, but they are some of my favorites! I wanted to share this with you all because I was one of those people who rushed through the morning, not giving a thought to food before starting my day. But since I’ve started eating breakfast, I’ve seen a huge improvement to how I feel all morning long and it starts my day off on the right foot. That’s more of what I wanted to share with you guys as well, and the fact that eating a good meal before starting your day can be super simple and delicious! I hope this has inspired you to take time for yourself to eat in the morning! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Valentine’s Day: Snacking

Happy Friday! We’ve made it to another weekend, and the end of the week before Valentine’s Day. I wanted to close the week with one of my favorite snacks to make for many occasions, but it is especially cute for Valentine’s Day. We call this snack “white trash,” which is the perfect name for this tasty treat! Let’s jump into making this super simple snack!

What You’ll Need: Popcorn, pretzels, Chex cereal, nuts of your choice (I like using almonds), white chocolate, and M&M’s. You’ll also need a large mixing bowl, a spatula, a glass bowl/mug, parchment paper, and a baking sheet.

To start off with, mix together your popcorn, pretzels, nuts and Chex cereal in the large mixing bowl. You can adjust the proportions to your liking; I always put in more popcorn than anything else. I suggest not filling it all the way to the top, you’ll see why later.

Next we’re going to pour some of the white chocolate into your glass mug or bowl. Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat this at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is well melted so you can pour it easily. (The reason for the 30 second intervals and stirring is so you don’t burn the chocolate.)

Next quickly pour the chocolate over your bowl of popcorn, pretzels, nuts and Chex cereal. Mix the chocolate in so it lightly covers the entire mix.

Now that the chocolate is all mixed in, spread it out on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once it’s spread, sprinkle the M&M’s over top. You can add as many or as few as you like. Put the pan in the fridge for 10-20 minutes, or until the chocolate has hardened. Then you’re done!

You can throw it back into a large bowl for a party snack, or individually bag this mix for Valentine’s. Either way, definitely plan on sharing this with friends! Have a great weekend, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Rolo Pretzels

Happy Thursday! We are almost to the end of the week! To celebrate this great accomplishment, I thought I’d share with you one of my most loved treats: Rolo Pretzels. I had this for the first time this year at Christmas when we made cookies together as a family, they are amazing. I have made them 3 times since Christmas, no shame. These treats are the perfect snack, or fun appetizer for any occasion. Seriously, if you bring these to a party, I promise everyone will love you. So let’s get started!

First off, you’re going to need a baking sheet, parchment paper, a bag of Rolos, a bag of pretzel snaps (the square ones), and whole unsalted pecans.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Next put the parchment paper on your baking sheet. (Shown above) Then lay out your pretzels on the baking sheet. You can put a lot of them on, and touching is totally fine since they don’t spread like cookies would. Then, start unwrapping the Rolos and placing them in the center of each pretzel snap.

Once you have them all laid out, put the baking sheet in the oven for 3 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly: THREE minutes. So you should be on stand-by when these are in the oven. Even taking them out 30 seconds before the 3 minute mark is fine. The reason for this, is the chocolate gets very melty very quickly, but the reason for the higher temp is to melt the caramel inside. They chocolate should look kind of glazed when they’re ready to come out. (Photo on the right shows them ready to come out.)

Now it’s time to test your speed! Before all the chocolates harden again, press a pecan down onto the Rolo to push it down into the pretzel. Having a helper for this is great! Once you’re done putting pecans on all the pretzels, let them cool for awhile until the chocolate is hard once again. The time this takes varies, so if you need to speed it up, place your whole baking sheet in the fridge. But this is what they should look like when they’re all finished:

I hope you guys love these as much as I do! This is a great quick and easy treat my family and I have quickly become huge fans of, and I’m sure you and yours will too! Have a fabulous day!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette

Molasses Cookies

I feel like there’s some kind of universal rule that if you’re good at baking you stink at cooking, and if you’re good at cooking you stink at baking. For me, sadly this rule does not apply, I’m rather average at both… But, in an endeavor to improve my skill set, I’m starting to cook and bake more often. One of my tried and true recipes that even I can make is Molasses cookies. These are my ALL TIME FAVORITE kind of cookie. I have fond memories of driving up to my grandparent’s lake house and stopping on the way at a little Amish farm for the best molasses cookies around. I’m not sure if my mom bribed one of them for this recipe or not, but they taste equally as good as I remember. Naturally, I’d like to pass this life changing recipe on to all of you! Well… maybe not life changing, but you get the point. Let’s jump on in!

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

1 cup of packed brown sugar

3/4 cup of shortening

1/4 cup of molasses

1 egg

2 1/4 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cloves

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Optional: granulated sugar to roll cookie dough in.

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees.

1) Beat 1 cup of brown sugar, 3/4 cup of shortening together. Then add the 1/4 cup molasses and 1 egg.

2) Next you’re going to stir in the spices: 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

3) Now you can add in the 2 1/4 cups of flour. I recommend mixing this on a very slow speed to avoid having the flour spill all over you. If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid, or something of relatively the same size, I’d also recommend adding in the flour slowly.

4) Next shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll or dip them in granulated sugar. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

5) Put them in the oven for 13-15 minutes, or just until set. They should crack on top, so don’t flip out when this happens. Be sure to not over bake them! They should be moved immediately to a cooling rack, so they get too hard.

Your finished product should look something like this:

These soft cookies are the perfect rainy day (or any day) treat! I’m sure they will soon become one of your favorites too! Have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo,

The Blonde Brunette