Trip to Trader Joe's to Kick my Ass

Over the last 10 days or so, my terrible eating and lack of physical exertion sort of hit a peak.  My baby brother was in town from New York and with 4th of July taking place on a Wednesday, well my week became a really long vacation-y weekend.  This meant boating, drinking, sun, snacking, delicious meals out, and absolutely nothing good for me.

Luckily for me, there is Trader Joe's and I spent an intense $115 stocking up there on healthy food the other day.  I've started doing some jumping jacks, push ups, and lunges every morning as my big work out effort (hey at least it's something!).  I bought a bunch of salads to take to work and a lot of good, frozen, healthy, low carb options.  I WILL get skinnier by the end of summer (you know, when it's time to put a coat on again).

It doesn't help that I started this ass kicking a day before my first cake decorating class with Cece, which I will say was a success and I am looking forward to more.  Get excited to start seeing some beautifully decorated cakes soon!

Last night was my brother's last night in town and the family took a night boat cruise to a restaurant where you're allowed to tie up.  I had a few drinks and the table shared some delicious lobster mac and cheese, which of course is monstrously unhealthy.  But other than that, I ordered a chickpea burger and removed the top bun and only ate half of my fries so I'm not calling the night at total fail.

This brings me to tonight's amazing dinner, which I cannot wait to share and am proud because for once, I made this one up entirely.  I'm on a total quinoa kick because it's like a low carb carb and can fill up a lot of space without getting really bad for you.  Pretty much all of the ingredients for this recipe are from Trader Joe's.

I will warn that this dish is VERY spicy.  If you do not like things really spicy, make a few substitutions.  I pretty much layered up the spice, because I love it that way.  You'll notice there is jalapeno, jalapeno chicken sausage, and srirarcha in this recipe.

Before adding the Greek Yogurt and Sriracha 

Spicy Chicken and Quinoa with Avocado: 


Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 chicken sausage links of your choosing (I used spicy jalepeno), sliced
Chopped jalapeno to taste (optional) (If you don't like really spicy things, remove the seeds.  I kept em :) )
1 tbs olive oil
1 avocado, chopped
2 tbs fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I like Fage 0%)
Srirarcha to taste

Bring quinoa and chicken broth to boil in a saucepan.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, and let stand 5 minutes.  Add sliced avocado and basil and mix thoroughly.

Meanwhile, saute jalepeno in oil over medium high heat for about two minutes.  Add sliced sausage links.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until sausage looks golden brown on the edges.  Add to quinoa mixture.

Pour into a bowl and top each bowl with greek yogurt and sriracha.  Mix well.

So good and spicy and just the right amount of creamy.  I felt like I was eating an unhealthy pasta!

Spicy Chicken and Quinoa with Avocado and Greek Yogurt 

Off to karaoke tonight.  My summer has been totally amazing.  I even sent out my first agent query the other day.  I know it's a bit early, but I came across her blog and just loved the sound of her so we'll see if I hear anything back.  So excited!