Dreary Day Dinner: Asian Beef Cucumber Bowl

Check out the scene as I drove home from work this evening.

 

The pouring rain meant no walk for this little girl:

It also meant no trip to to PetSmart to get her nails clipped, which I think made her quite happy.

Sadie didn’t seem too thrilled about the idea when I tweeted about it earlier…

 

 

Her rebuttal via her own twitter account:

 

Seriously though, what kind of a dog has a twitter account? 😉

Dreary Day Dinner

Since Sadie’s walk and nail clipping appointment were no longer on the agenda, the rainy weather meant slipping into comfy pajamas right when I walked in the door.

I busted out my comfy flannel pj pants for the first time in months. Who cares if it’s in the 80s outside? Dreary weather demands cozy clothes!

After changing, it was time to get a lil’ dirty in the kitchen.

(Thanks, Rachel for my new super-soft tank top!)

We had some lean ground beef waiting to be cooked into something delicious in the fridge, so I made us beef and cucumber bowls using Asian flavors and spices.

To make the beef, I first sautéed 3/4 of a large onion in a pan before adding the beef.

I then added soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and chili sauce to the mix and let it simmer for a bit while I chopped up a cucumber.

After topping the cucumber slices with the Asian beef, dinner was ready for eatin’.

The cold, crispness of the cucumber slices were the perfect compliment to the heat from the beef.

Gotta love flavorful, healthy dinners that take less than 20 minutes to prepare!

I’m off to relax on the couch with a book for the rest of the night.

G’night!

Asian Beef Cucumber Bowl (adapted from Real Simple’s Asian Beef and Mango Salad)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 3/4 large onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. chili sauce with garlic
• 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 extra large cucumber

Directions

• Sautee onion in a pan sprayed with cooking spray until tender
• Add beef and brown
• Add hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, chili sauce and soy sauce and let simmer for approximately 5 minutes
• Slice cucumber
• Top cucumber slices with beef mixture and enjoy!

Sandwiches Don’t Need Meat. Who Knew?

Growing up I used to think that a sandwich had to include meat. (Unless, of course, it met one of two exceptions: It was a peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwich.)

Today I often make meat-free sandwiches, letting nut butter, cheese or hummus do the talking.

If cheese and meat got into a flavor fight in my mouth, cheese would win every time. I love the strong, creamy taste of a good slice of cheese.

My lunch today featured a smoked Provolone cheese and tomato sandwich, made on a toasted Toufayan everything flavored Smart Bagel.

'Maters

Tomato + Provolone Bagelwich

Cheese, you are delicious.

On the side of my tomato and cheese bagelwich, I enjoyed cucumber slices and a crisp apple for some sweetness.

Cukes

Do Apples Even Have a Nickname? Apps?

Aaand, a little slice of birthday cake may have made it into my mouth as well.

CAKE!

This cake was leftover from a coworker’s birthday yesterday (I pretended it was for my blog’s birthday).

I enjoyed it so much the first time around that I just had to experience its deliciousness again today.

Growing up, marble cake was always my birthday cake of choice! 😀

Winner, Winner, Cookies for Dinner

Thank you to everyone who commented on my one-year of blogging anniversary post. You guys sure know how to make a girl blush!

The winner of the homemade batch of cookies giveaway is…

Number 64, Come on Doooown!

Andrea: Congrats!! I love your blog and can’t wait to see what the next year has in store!

Hooray, Andrea! Please email me at pbfingers@gmail.com with what kind of cookies you would like and your mailing address.

Of Possible Interest

• Your Healthy Fall Food Plan (FitSugar.com)
• Dos and Don’ts of Dining Out (FitBottomedGirls.com)
• How to Create Positive Goals (lululemon.com)
• Chocolate Coconut Biscotti Recipe I’m Dying to Try (HeathersDish.com)

Question of the Afternoon

Pick one: Meat, cheese, veggie, or nut butter sandwiches?

Honeymoon Selection

Sloppy joes are kinda like chili in that they seem to taste even better the next day.

My lunch today included a leftover sloppy joe sandwich along with slice cucumber, grape tomatoes and kidney beans.

Tuesday's Lunch

Crisp 'n' Crunchy

Beans, Beans, They're Good For Your Heart

Confession: As I packed this lunch this morning, I easily ate a serving or two of cold sloppy joe meat. It’s so darn good!

Honeymoon Selection

Our wedding is less than two and a half months away and I can really feel the momentum picking up!

Ryan and I have been pretty laid back about the whole wedding planning process. We selected our venue, photographer and florist first, waited a while, and then selected our officiate and DJ… and now, 2.5 months out, all of the “little” projects are demanding our attention.

One not-so-little project that we really need to figure out is our honeymoon!

We Want the Beach!

For some reason neither of us are too into planning our honeymoon. I think it’s because there are so many options that meet our criteria:

• Caribbean location
• Beautiful beach
• Activities available (namely scuba diving)
• Clean, romantic hotel
• Hotel located near a town for exploring

Yep, that’s pretty much it! This pretty much describes more than half of the hotels in the Caribbean!

We’re slowly narrowing down our choices and are leaning toward some resorts in the Dominican Republic. We love the all-inclusive options, as they seem like a great way to indulge but also save some money.

Our goal is to get this trip booked within the week!

Question of the Afternoon

For Married Molly:

• Where did you do on your honeymoon? Would you still choose to go there if you could do it all over again?

For Single Sally:

• Where would you want to go on your honeymoon?

Sadie is Officially Nuts

Sockeye salmon was on sale at the grocery store this week so you know we had to nab a large filet to enjoy!

Seasoned Sockeye Salmon

I made the fish by placing it on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. After spraying the fish with cooking spray and seasoning it with a mixture of lemon, thyme, basil and salt, I broiled it in the oven until the fish flaked with a fork.

My Plate

Ryan and I opted for fresh veggies on the side in the form of purple and red pepper and cucumber slices.

Peppa!

I can’t believe I was intimidated by fish for so long. It’s so darn easy to make!

Sadie is on Twitter

I’ve always said Sadie is a total nut job and today she once again proved me right.

Sadie went and started up her own Twitter.

Follow Me to Freedom!!!

If she wasn’t so darn cute I wouldn’t encourage you to follow her because her first tweet wasn’t exactly singing my praises.

"Yeah, I said it. So what!?"

If you’d like to follow Sadie on Twitter, click here. I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of updates about the really big sticks she sees on her walks, the lizard that got away and how much better people food is than dog food.

She’s insane. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 🙂

Coyotes, Cows and Turkeys, Oh My!

First things first, your comments about the crazy things you’ve seen while working out not only made me laugh out loud, but they truly amazed me!

Here are some of the things you’ve encountered while getting your sweat on:

• Coyotes
• Road runner (Are you sure you weren’t just watching Looney Tunes? 😉 )
• Cows that somehow escaped the farm
• Family of turkeys
• Man walking on the treadmill at a 1.5 pace while using his arms to do dance moves
• A kid on a school bus who threw a pencil at the runner
• Guy doing push-ups in work attire
• Naked man sweeping his driveway
• Mockingbirds dive-bombing a squirrel that was trying to steal from a bird feeder
• Dog running down the street with a mailbox attached to its leash

And my personal favorite:

• A middle-aged Amish man walking across a road with a dead turkey on his back while his wife walked behind him in her dress holding a gun.

All of your comments reminded me of a weird thing I once saw while working out:

One time a guy was doing ab exercises on an exercise ball near the treadmills at my gym.

Crunch it Out

He had his legs propped up on the ball, and mid-crunch the ball flew out from underneath his feet and into a nearby treadmill.

The problem? A woman was running on that treadmill and the ball caused the treadmill to stop, sending the woman flying. While this was happening, the exercise ball squeaked loudly as the treadmill tried to keep moving.

It was insane! Luckily the woman was okay, but she was clearly very shook up. It also took a good two minutes or so for someone to turn off the treadmill and stop the ball from squeaking, which made the whole scene seem all the more dramatic. Totally nuts!

Lunch

My lunch today included two new things!

• Avocado
• Tabouleh

They’re probably not new to you, but they’re new to me! Well, I’ve loved avocado for years, so it’s not technically new to me, but since I rarely buy avocados, it felt like a new discovery!

Tabouleh

The tabouleh, on the other hand, was definitely a new dish. I’ve tried tabouleh (a Middle Eastern salad featuring bulgur, mint, parsley, and other herbs and spices) one other time at TooJay’s Deli when I was in college. I liked it a lot back then, but totally forgot about it until Sunday evening when my friend Merri gave me a box mix to make my own!

Using Fantastic World Foods’ box mix, I made tabouleh last night while dinner was cooking and let it chill in the fridge. By the time I was ready to eat it for lunch today, it was nice and cold.

I topped a bed of fresh spinach with the tabouleh, along with grape tomatoes, cucumber and celery and half of a large avocado.

Tabouleh + Avocado

I used Ryan’s method to prep the avocado, which made it super simple! Ryan makes the most amazing (and simple) avocado salsa dip and has perfected his avocado slicing technique.

To prep the avocado, simply cut it in half, lengthwise, and twist to separate the two sides. Stab the pit with a knife to remove it before carving a grid into the avocado. Scoop out the avocado! You should have perfectly diced chunks of avocado!

Avocado Grid

Sliced Avocado

My lunchtime salad was definitely taken to another level due to the addition of the tabouleh and avocado. I forgot how much creaminess and flavor avocado adds to any dish (not to mention it’s a great source of good fat!).

Summer Salad

I’ve actually noticed something about my body and food recently.

I seem to feel much fuller off of fat and fiber than I do when I consume protein alone. A simple protein shake might calm hunger pains for a little while, but if I eat a small handful of nuts with the shake or add some high-fiber fruit to the mix, I feel much more satisfied. I guess the whole “eat protein + carbs + fats” at every meal is a pretty decent equation. 😉

Of Possible Interest

• Tips to Avoid Weekend Weight Gain (FitSugar.com)
• 50 Fattiest American Foods (One from Each State!) (Health.com)
• Coupon for $.30 off Yoplait Greek yogurt