healthy laps

This weeks weather has been crazy!  It most definitely felt like fall at the beginining of the week, but now it is 81 degrees out!  Come on, Mother Nature, I’m ready for fall weather. 🙂

However, since it felt like summer this morning, I whipped up a cold smoothie for breakfast.

My favorite Chocolate Cherry Bomb!  With cacao nibs on top.

Lunch was AB&J on Flax Quinoa Bread from Whole Foods.  Definitely some of the best bread ever!  But, I forgot to snap a photo.  Snacks yesterday included fruit and trail mix.

For dinner, we made a special weeknight meal.  It barely took anytime at all to cook, but it felt more special due to the ingredients.

Shrimp, Green Beans and Quinoa

I started out by getting the quinoa ready, so that it would cook while we were cooking the other things.

I used a recipe from Clean Food cookbook for Quinoa with Currants, but I subbed currants for dried cranberries.  Everything else was the same, except that I just threw it all in my rice cooker to cook at once!

Into the rice cooker went the quinoa, cranberries and spices.

I added the water and set the cooker to quick cook.  I have found that the quick setting works perfect for quinoa!

Next up, simple sesame green beans.

Cut off the ends of each side.

Then, throw them in a colander to wash thouroughly.

While you are cutting and washing, boil water in a shallow pan.  Once boiling, dump in the beans and blanch for 1 minute just to take the bite off.

Place back in the colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

Careful dry the pan and add a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the dry green beans and saute for 5-7 minutes until they look a little browned.

Add a little salt, pepper and a good pinch of sesame seeds.  Cook for 1-2 more minutes to toast the seeds.  Then, serve warm!

This is our favorite way to eat green beans.  They beans stay crisp, but are warm and delicious!

We added the shrimp to another skillet at the same time as the green beans.  Saute the shrimp over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until they turn white.  Add seasoning of choice (we used a fish seasoning from William Sonoma).

I served the quinoa with a little feta on top.

This was a delicious meal!  Very quick (preptime and cooking took about 30 minutes) for a weeknight meal.  Plenty of greens, protein and omega-3’s from the shrimp!

Served with a slice of Flax Quinoa Bread and butter.

Yum!

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: Clean Food, Recipes, shrimp, smoothie, vegetables | Leave a comment »