Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I am still getting used to posting on here everyday, but I am getting better :) Today you get TWO blogs, just because we are doing four healthy recipes today for St. Patty's Day!! I love this day. I feel as though it is a fun way for grownups to be young at heart and imaginative again, so rock on with that green! For lunch today, we had Reuben Paninis and Guinness Stew (remember all of these have been "healthified". 


For the Reuben Panini - find any recipe that fits this, and I altered it by using regular sliced Fresh French Bread, Fat Free Thousand Island Dressing, Light Mayo, Turkey Pastrami, Light Swiss (by) and Sauerkraut. I promise you will not know it is fat-free thousand island and the light mayo once everything else is put on the sandwich. I then just layered everything but the cheese on one side of the bread, and then 1 cheese slice kind of chopped up to fit everywhere on the other slice of bread. I then put it all together and sprayed one side with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and put it in the panini press (a toaster or oven will work just fine). I let it press until it has griddle marks and the cheese is nice and melted. After that enjoy! I LOVE Reubens and this satisfies my craving for one everytime!
I give this recipe 4 stars ****
Adam gives this recipe 3 stars (but he is not a Reuben fan and he still gave it a 3) ***


For the next Recipe: We had a side of Guinness Stew for lunch to go with our panini. Yes, we may not have been completely "healthy" by having so much, but at least we ate at home and each recipe was healthier :). 
The Guinness Stew recipe came from: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/irish_beef_stew/. I took this recipe and toned it down a little bit. It calls for 1/4th of a cup of olive oil while browning the beef, and I just misted the beef with my oil mister (just a couple of teaspoons or nonstick spray in oil flavor would do the same). You do not need that much oil (or fat) to brown beef, in my opinion it does not make it taste better in a stew. The recipe also calls for not extra lean beef, but I did trim most of my beef, and I used Splenda instead of sugar, but this should not be a huge deal if you do not like Splenda. Instead of using 2 tablespoons butter, I used a teaspoon of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, and a couple of sprays of nonstick spray in butter flavor. It will not effect the overall taste, and your veggies will still saute just perfectly. And voila, there is a wonderful Guinness Stew!! Adam lived in Ireland for 9 weeks, traveling all around for study abroad the first year we met, and he said this was one of his favorite meals over there. So I thought I would make it for him this year, since we were actually home for once for St. Patrick's Day, and he loved it!
Both Adam and Myself rate this meal 4 stars ****


Stayed tuned for St. Patty's Day Part 2 (Dinner) :)

Hungry Girl's Chicken Amore

Tonight I cooked Hungry Girl's Chicken Amore. It was divine!! The chicken was nicely seasoned, and incorporated a nice blend of cheese, mushrooms, and roasted red peppers. Hungry Girl really made a delicious, decadent chicken meal that was easy to make. It tasted as if you went to a five star restaurant, except it was made at home in 45 minutes. I also added some shredded mozzarella over the top instead of rolling it up, but not too much mozzarella (maybe 1/8th of a cup). If you follow the recipe, it only has 271 calories with only 4.5 grams of fat!  If this sounds like a meal you would like to prepare, you can find the recipe on Hungry Girl's Food Network webpage: http://www.hungry-girl.com/show/date-night-chicken-amore-recipe.
Adam and I both give this recipe four stars!

National Pancake Day

Hey Guys! So I know it has been a little while since I last posted. I have been a little preoccupied with my beautiful daughter :) But I have lots of good things coming your way!
For starters it is National Pancake Day today!! So, today do not be healthy and splurge on some good pancakes with syrup! Adam, Sam and I are so excited! I always love breakfast for dinner. And you do not ALWAYS have to live healthy (just almost always hehe). Have fun tonight on your adventures for pancakes. I have not tried this recipe but I am going to attempt Cinnamon Roll Pancakes tonight along with the regular yummy pancakes.
If you want to be adventurous and try the pancakes with us: follow this link http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2012/02/28/cinnamon-bun-pancakes/?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Tablespoon&niseg4=Facebook&creativeID4=Post/ to find the recipe for the cinnamon roll pancakes. You should have most of the ingredients in your pantry.
If you still want to be somewhat healthy for pancakes today, remember you can always you sugar free syrup.
And if you do not want to cook, IHOP is serving their short stacks for free today.
Either way, have fun for dinner tonight!
Stay Fabulous
~ Catie

10 Minute Solutions Rapid Results Pilates

I try to workout everyday that I do not have class which is on Mondays and Wednesdays. I workout to DVDs at home, either by myself or with my neighbor. Today I did Rapid Results Pilates video from the 10 Minute Solution series. I absolutely love these series in general, because you can either do one workout for 10 minutes if that is all the time you have, create your own custom workout with as many of the 5 sections you want, or play all 5 sections for a total of 50 minutes. Today my puppy Sophie and my daughter Sam were so nice to let me workout to all 5 :). I have not done many Pilates videos, so I am not sure about comparing it to others, but I really liked this video! It was challenging to me, but not too challenging to where I felt like I couldn't do it. I highly suggest this video if you are already working out at home or want to start. You will need a mat if you are on a hard surface and a couple of light dumbbells (water bottles work great too!). You do most of the work on the floor and none of it is high intensity, but you really get a workout for toning! Like I said I cannot rate this DVD compared to other Pilates DVDs, but as an overall workout DVD I rate it a good 4. If you are looking to buy any of these series, check out their website http://the10minutesolution.com/. You can also go to Amazon to see more information on the Rapid Results Pilates DVD and order it for yourself: http://www.amazon.com/10-Minute-Solution-Results-Pilates/dp/B000GEIRAU/  So get out there and start or continue your workout journey :)
Till Next Time
~ Catie
****

Alabama Style Shrimp Bake

Last night, I decided to go for seafood. I absolutely love seafood, and it is so healthy for you. I have had the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook for awhile now and I have never cooked anything from it. So last night I decided to try the Alabama-Style Shrimp Bake. I loved this meal, and so did my dad and step-mom! Now, it does have a small kick to it, so if you do not like anything hot or spicy do not try this one. It does not light your mouth on fire, but it does have a little spice to it, which I love. Since it is in a cookbook, I will give you the recipe and a link where you can go to buy the cookbook itself. I will also give you the full recipe, and the changes I made to make it healthy (it has A LOT of butter in the real recipe, so I cut that down a little). 
My dad, step-mom, and myself all rated it four stars, so get to cooking :)
Amazon has the cookbook here http://www.amazon.com/Bubba-Gump-Shrimp-Co-Cookbook/dp/0848714792. 
But here is the recipe from the cookbook and my changes in blue:
Ingredients:
1 cup melted butter (4 Tablespoons melted butter)
¾ C lemon juice

¾ C Worcestershire sauce

1 T salt

1 T Pepper

1 t rosemary
1/8 ground red pepper 

1 T hot sauce

3 cloves minced garlic

2 ½ lbs. shrimp

2 lemons thinly sliced

1 med. Onion 


Directions:
1.     Combine 1^st 9 ingredients in a small bowl & set aside.
2.     Rinse shrimp with cold water; drain well. Layer shrimp, lemon slices, and onion slices in an ungreased baking dish. Pour butter mixture over shrimp.
3.     Bake, uncovered, at 400F for 20-25 minutes, basting occasionally with pan juices.


Serves 6 
****

Pepper Steak

So, I visited Gina's Skinny Recipes website (www.skinnytaste.com), and found what looked to be very good recipes. So, I saved a lot of the recipes onto my computer, and finally decided to cook one. So on Tuesday night, I cooked the pepper steak recipe. Not only did it look good, it tasted WONDERFUL! And it is a useful guide on how to stir-fry anything, just add whatever (healthy) sauce, vegetables, and meat you want and there you go! This would make great fajitas with a different sauce or sub in broccoli, chicken, and sauce and you have a wonderful Asian creation. But leaving this recipe just as is also delicious! My husband also tried it, and he loved it! We both thought it was simple allowing you to taste all the flavors. Also, for all you busy people out there this gets five stars, because you can literally chop everything up and cook everything in about 10 minutes! This will definitely be a staple recipe in my recipe box. I love that we were able to start this blog off with a spectacular recipe! Good job Gina!
If you are interested in the recipe go to Pepper Steak.
~ Until the next meal, Catie :)
***** 5 out of 5 Stars

Myself

My name is Catherine Carter, but I go by Catie for short. I am 26 years old. I graduated Auburn University with a degree in International Trade in French. I am however very fortunate to be able to go back to graduate school and be a stay at home mom to our 15 month old daughter, Samantha. My loving husband and taste tester for all these foods, Adam, is an Engineer for a company in Columbus, GA. We also have two dogs, Kodi and Sophie. Kodi is a 4 year old long haired chihuahua, and Sophie is a 4 month old Australian Shepherd.
I started this blog to let healthy eating readers out there know whether they should attempt these recipes. The recipes I post about will be anywhere from appetizers to drinks, and each review will have a link to follow to receive the actual recipe to try yourself. I will have another page that will have posts regarding unhealthy recipes such as yummy cupcakes and such :).
I absolutely love to cook, and I try to have a home cooked meal every night for dinner. We always have people over, so I tend to have a good bit of taste testers, so most of my recipes are well tested. I am currently on weight watchers, trying to loose the baby weight :). So there will be reviews on everything to be healthy, from workout DVDs to healthy options at restaurants to recipes.
I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoy review and posting this blog! I would also love to hear about your journey, whether it is about losing weight or just becoming more healthy. And everyone, including myself, would love to hear your comments, reviews, and tips and tricks as well!
Happy Reading

Catie