Hi friends!  Hope you all are doing well :-)  Sorry I've been m.i.a the last couple of weeks, it's been so busy over here.  I definitely need to figure out a schedule to get my blogging in on a regular basis instead of squeezing it in whenever I can. Which obviously is not working! Lols  We're thinking of moving, staying in southern Cali, but possibly somewhere with a better school system and easer access to the freeway since the hubs is all over SoCal for work.  Plus ya'll know San Diego is not a cheap city to live in so it looks like we will be heading a lil farther away from San Diego but within an hour and a half away.   So we've been house hunting on top of all the parties and activities.  The summer has begun! wooohooo

So you all know I've been loving Chrissy Teigen's cookbook.  I have to add to that she LIKED my cacio e pepe pic on instagram since I tagged her.  I know it's silly to be giddy over that but hey, the lil things excite me and I thought that was very cool!  Anyways, I've made a couple recipes from the cookbook so far with yesterday's lemony cacio e pepe being the third.  I usually put a healthy spin on recipes I find.  But this time I decided to just keep it the same and enjoy the carbs, fat and sat. lols  Let me say, it was well worth it and you gotta be naughty once in awhile!  Enjoy! xo





Lemony Cacio E Pepe

Ingredients:
kosher salt
12 ounces dried spaghetti (I used gluten free since my hubs is doing gluten free)
1/4 pound (about 3/4 cup) pancetta or bacon finely diced (I used prosciutto since that's what I had)
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS (about 4 big cloves) minced garlic
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 tsp red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups freely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
3 cups baby arugula

Directions:
1. In a large pot of heavily salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti to al dente according to the package directions.  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water (it comes in handy), then drain the pasta.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the pancetta/bacon over medium-high heat until crisped, 7-9 minutes.  Add the olive oil, then add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3.  Add the lemon juice to the skillet, then toss in the drained pasta and toss to coat.  Add the Parm and toss, adding the pasta water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, just to help the cheese coat the pasta.  Add the arugula and toss until it wilts, about 1 minute.  Season to taste with additional salt, lots of black pepper and red pepper flakes.  Serve with more Parm.

Note:  For a healthier dish, substitute pancetta/bacon/prosciutto with shrimp, chicken or omit the meat all together.  Instead of noodles, replace with spiraled zucchini- zoodles.

Feeling meaty!!!

I'm not a vegetarian but I don't eat red meat everyday, maybe once or twice a week?  I guess I'd rather save my beef intake for the weekend if we do go out.  Then it's a good cheeseburger, Korean BBQ or ramen.  Well ok ramen is usually pork, which is another meat I hardly eat.  I do love a good bacon or prosciutto though but I save that for special occasions.

Anyways, this post is starting to sound um....pointless.  lols  So  I was feeling meaty today, looked in my freezer and found some stewing beef.  Yay!  I simmered those babies in beef broth for 2 hours to make em nice and tender.  I wanted to post the recipe and then realized I didn't measure anything!  But sometimes the best recipes are from our own concoctions right? Works for my dad!  Alright, the beef broth kept evaporating so I would just pour more beef broth and water in.  Dumped in some mushrooms, a bayleaf and a couple spoonfuls  of worcestershire sauce.  I then mixed in a lil water and corn starch to thicken the sauce plus a few shakes of pepper and a lil salt. Simmered for 5 minutes and dropped in a couple plops of greek yogurt- much healthier than using cream.  Then ta da.......




I made another Chrissy Teigen recipe, 2 days in a row woohoo!!   Her cauliflower garlic and ricotta mash was deeelish!  Gotta check out her cookbook if you haven't done so yet.  If you want the recipe for this cauliflower mash, let me know and I'll add it :-)

Chrissy Teigen's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Hi friends and Happy Hump Day!

So I finally made a dish from Chrissy Teigen's cookbook Cravings.  I have to admit when I first saw her on Lip Synch Battle, I thought she was super annoying.  As I kept watching the show and saw her on random interviews, she actually seemed cool and she kinda grew on me. lols   I started following her instagram last year mainly for her food.  She may not be a professional chef but her stuff looks deeeelish!  So when her cookbook came out, I had to get it.   I made her lettuce wraps and they did not disappoint!  If you are a Chrissy Teigen fan or a food lover, I think you'll like her cookbook :-)



Here's the lil guy helping me make the sauce.  Doesn't he look like a well behaved 22 month old stirring away patiently?  Don't let him fool you, 5 minutes later he started splashing with the spoon and that was the end of his sous chef job.



Ta daaaaaa....


Chrissy Teigen's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
For the Sauce:
3 TBS Thai sweet chili sauce
3 TBS hoisin sauce (did you know there's gluten in this?!!!  I didn't realize until I already put 1 TBS in it. Hubs is trying to go gluten free but 1 TBS won't kill him)
3 TBS light soy sauce (I used gluten free)
2 TBS sriracha
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1.5 TBS unseasoned rice vinegar
2 TBS minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1 TBS minced fresh ginger

For the Filling:
1 pound ground chicken
3 TBS vegetable oil  (I didn't want this much oil  since there was already a lot in the sauce so I just squirted a  little in the pan)
8 scallions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept separate - I didn't have any scallions
1 TBS minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 TBS minced fresh ginger
1/2 pound white mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely diced canned water chestnuts
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 heads butter lettuce, leaves separated and washed

Directions:
Make the Sauce:  In a bowl, combine the chili sauce, hoisin, soy sauce, sriracha, vegetable oil, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and ginger

Make the Filling: In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the sauce into the ground chicken.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the chicken and cook until browned for 5-6 minutes.  Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet, then add the scallion whites, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring until they release their liquid, 3-4 minutes.  Return the chicken to the pan, then add the water chestnuts, bell pepper, and the rest of the sauce and cook, stirring, until cooked through and the liquid has reduced and thickened slightly, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the scallion greens.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set out with the lettuce leaves.

March in Review

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!!  Talk about a month and half hiatus!  I'd like to say it was because I was doing something important like saving the world but really I was just busy doing other things.  Not to say this blog isn't important but you know what I mean ;-)

Ook so before I tell ya about last month, I just have to share my latest jamicure that I love love love!  The wrap is in Cherry-O and the red is Tru Shine's Candy Apple.  Gorgeous!    The jams are actually juniors so technically it's for the lil girls.  But I love cherries and just had to get this since they didn't come in the regular size.   So ladies, it's quite doable to use the larger sizes of the jam juniors if they have a design you really love!   Plus they were discontinuing cherry-o too...boo hoo!

Ok March.....we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I've always wanted to check this out and now that I went I don't have to go again.  Waaaaay tooooo crowded!  It is nice to check out if you've never gone though.  So if you do go next year, make sure you get tickets online ahead of time.  Then you can just bypass the ridiculously long ass line and head to the front.  I can't believe people will actually wait hours for anything...

We went to eat after the festival and this has to be one of many faves of mine...

My parents stayed with us for the whole month as well as my sister and brother for one of the extended weekends.  Wish my youngest brother was able to make it out!  So a lot of fun just spending time with them, celebrated my brother's birthday and just our usual shenanigans......

We all did some yard work on our eye sore of a back yard......




I met my new girl crush, Padma Lakshmi....dang her for being so smart, gorgeous and nice!



Of course since mom and dad were here, the hubs and I had to take as many date nights as we could and we went to San Fran for a quick weekend getaway!  Met up with my besties Cheryl and Teresa, who lives there,  as well as a couple good friends Lethu and Kelly who live up there as well.  Always a fun time in this city, especially the food!  Too many food pics to post but my faves for the weekend would have to be the kouign amanns from B Patisserie, the tea salad from Burma Love and everything at Lers Ros....must check those out if you are in town!!!





I'm also very excited to share with you all my latest business venture- joining Beautycounter as a consultant!  I will post more on this amazing brand but I've been using the skin care products and some of the cosmetics for a month now and I am soooooo in love.  They're high performing, luxurious and most importantly safe for your skin- none of those icky ingredients that have been tied to cancer, infertility and hormone disruption- to name a few.  If you are interested in safer skin care for you and the family, then I would love to help you!!!!  www.beautycounter.com/bernadettelugo

Hasselback Chicken

If you're on Facebook, you probably have seen those yummy food videos by Tasty floating around.  I've tried a couple of their recipes so far and they have been faaaantastic, so when I saw one for hasselback chicken I had to try it.  Mainly because 1. it looked super easy and 2. I had no idea what a hasselback chicken was so if course I had to make it.

Apparently it's a spin off from hasselback potatoes, which are Sweden's version of baked potatoes.  They were popularized as the namesake dish of the restaurant at the Hasselbacken Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden- thank you Wiki!  I've actually had these lovelies before but I never knew they had a name.  A glorified baked potato sliced up to look all fancy and sh*t?!!  YASSSSSS!!!!!

Anyways, back to the hasselback chicken.  Tasty's recipe calls for ricotta cheese and spinach stuffed into the chicken.  Easy peasy but I didn't have any ricotta cheese.  I mean who keeps that in their fridge all the time?  I guess if you make lasagna a lot?  So I decided to stuff it with ingredients I did have and if I don't say so myself, it still turned out deeeeelish :)  Enjoy!

Hasselback Chicken

Serves 2 adults and a toddler

Ingredients

2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts

1 TBS olive oil

Fresh mozzarella cheese slices

1 cup of spinach

1 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil 

grated fresh pepper

sea salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cut vertical slices in chicken breasts, do not go all the way through. 

3. Mix onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, pepper and salt in a bowl.  Sprinkle over both sides of the chicken.    

4. Place one slice of mozzarella cheese in each slice of the chicken. 

5. Sautee garlic and spinach for a couple minutes, it will cook the rest of the way in the oven.

6. Place sauteed spinach and garlic into each slice next to mozzarella.

7. Place chicken in a baking dish prepared with foil.

8. Bake for 25-30 min.

Weekend Shenanigans and Meal Planning This Week!

Hi guys!  I hope you had an awesome weekend!  Did you do anything fun?  Saturday we went to the Gluten Free and Allergen Free Expo.  As I mentioned before, we don't have any food allergies but the hubs is trying to go gluten free more to help with his hypothyroid.  It was a fun expo and for only $12 bucks so worth it with all the yummy food samples and loot you get!   It's good to know people who do have the food allergies have more options nowadays.


Fun Photo Booth at the expo.  I thought my sign was funny so of course I picked that one.  The lil guy looks so excited to be there.

 

Sunday, I had my girlfriends come over to play with some Jamberry!  I love girl time and I love my girls!  Check out our adorable jamicures!  Mine is the third picture and I must say I'm loving the floral designs more lately.  Please ignore my dry cuticles. Ew.  You can see more Jamberry products on my website at www.bernlugo.jamberrynails.com.  I will definitely post more about my Jam addiction in the future.


So meal planning.  I seriously think if you are trying to lose weight, eat healthier, save money, save time, and save your sanity all while creating good meals for you and your fam....meal planning is the way to go!  During my days as a health coach, this was probably one of the most important things I recommended to my clients.  There's really no wrong or right way, it's all about doing it in a way that is effective and enjoyable for you.  I'll dedicate a post later to just meal planning so I can give you some tips.  I don't meal plan for breakfast since I always have the same green smoothie, whole wheat bagel with fat free cream cheese and lox or some scrambled egg whites with veggies in it.  For lunch, it's always some sort of salad, sandwich or my dinner leftovers from the night before.  So here's my dinner meal plan for this week:

MONDAY- Chinese noodle soup with shiitake mushrooms and bok choy.  It's usually something meatless because it's Meatless Monday ya'll!

TUESDAY- Hasselback chicken - Can't wait to try this one!

WEDNESDAY- Dinner plans with a girlfriend!  We always have our monthly sushi and grocery shopping at Trader Joe's date.  Since she's not a fan of rice vinegar so we always order our rolls riceless.  No carb Wednesday, woohoo!

THURSDAY- Roasted lemon pepper salmon with a side of steamed broccoli.  I know, not that exciting but it's yum, easy peasy to make and healthy!

FRIDAY- Dinner with my girlfriends!  Leaving some chicken marsala in the slow cooker for the hubs and lil guy.

Now, sometimes I stray a lil from my meal plan.  For example, I might not be in the mood for salmon or I forgot an ingredient for the hasselback chicken.  If that's the case, I just go to plan B of browsing my pantry and fridge for something to throw together.  It usually works out but I definitely try to stick with my meal plan.  It's not fun browsing around when you're hungry.  Lols


Chinese Noodle Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms and Bok Choy
Serves 2 adults and a toddler


My favorite noodles to use when I make padthai.  These were the only noodles I had on hand so I used these.


Last time my mom was in town, she bought these "Chinese special spices"  because her friend, who is a chef, recommended it.  I was expecting to find MSG and a whole bunch of crazy stuff I couldn't pronounce in the ingredients. To my surprise, it's simply anise, fennel, coriander, cinnamon, clove and sugar.  Hopefully not tons of sugar.



Ta-da!  Ok, I went a tad overboard with the pepper but other than that it turned out great.  The broth was light and tasty, most importantly I finally didn't overcook the bok choy! Hooray!


Ingredients
1 carton of chicken stock * see notes
2 cups of water
1 bag of Chinese spices *see notes
2 slices of ginger or 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1-2 teaspoons of gluten free soy sauce, regular soy sauce or fish sauce
4-5 baby bok choy
1/2-1 cup cooked noodles of your choice.  Depends how noodle-y you want it.
1/2 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms

Directions
1. Bring chicken stock and water to boil in a pot.
2. Add the bag of Chinese herbs, soy sauce, ginger and noodles.
3. Boil noodles for whatever length of time is listed on box, remove and set aside.
4. Check your broth, if some of the liquid has evaporated you can add a little more chicken broth.
5. Add the baby bok choy and boil for only 2-3 minutes, remove and set aside.   These babies cook fast and if you overcook them you will have soggy bok choy.  I know from experience.  Don't make my mistakes. lols
6. Bring pot to a simmer/low heat and throw in the shiitake mushrooms.
7. Taste your soup if it needs more soy sauce, ginger, etc...
8.  Places some noodles in a bowl, add the bok choy and pour some of that yummy soup over it.

Notes
I apologize I didn't measure this because I just dumped the whole carton in.  I used the organic chicken stock from Costco and it's 32 FL OZ.

Chances are you don't have these herbs already in your pantry.  But I think if you sautéed garlic, ginger and onions in the pan first and then added the stock to boil you should come up with a good flavor.  I'm thinking you could probably add some Chinese Five Spice to it too?!

I pretty much made up this soup because I wanted to try that little bag of Chinese spices.  So if you don't like it, I don't want to hear it.  Just kidding.  I would like to hear if you made it and added anything else to it!  I think that's the fun part about cooking, you can do whatever you want and try whatever you want!  So get creative and add any veggies or noodles you like.  Even meat, I bet chicken would be great in it :-)

Gluten Free Alfredo Sauce and Pasta

So I'm not gluten intolerant and I don't know if I could even handle it if I was considering how much I love white rice and noodles! lols  I've been learning which foods have gluten in them and it's like practically in everything except meats, veggies and fruits.  But for those that are gluten intolerant, it's great to know there are a lot of alternatives out there.  My hubs has hypothyroidism, meaning his thyroid underproduces the thyroid hormone, which affects his metabolism.  As a result, he's sometimes a little sluggish and it's not as easy to lose weight as say someone who doesn't have it.  He isn't really overweight but I swear he's been on the mission to lose ten pounds for the past few years.

My hub's friend's girlfriend also has hypothyroidism and told my hubs that ever since she went gluten free she has been feeling a lot more better in her body.  Now the hubs knows it's not realistic for him let alone both of us to go completely gluten free.  But he would like to go gluten free when he can so like the supportive wifey that I am, I have been buying gluten free bread and snacks.  We eat pasta and rice about once a week so I bought gluten free pasta as well.  I've been experimenting more with making some gluten free baked goods and meals like the alfredo sauce.  I'm definitely always open to more suggestions and recipes!

Gluten Free Pasta and Gluten Free Alfredo Sauce with Spinach and Mushrooms

Serves 2 adults and a toddler

Adapted from www.gimmesomeoven.com

Ingredients

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

3 Tbsp cornstarch or gluten free flour

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 garlic gloves, minced

1 cup low fat milk

3/4-1 cup parmesan cheese (I used 1 cup since I loooove cheese!)

1 cup chopped spinach

1/2-1 cup chopped mushrooms

Dash of sea salt

Dash of black pepper

Fresh chopped parsley or basil (optional)

Instructions

1. In a bowl, whisk together the broth and cornstarch or flour until it is dissolved and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium heat.  Add spinach and mushrooms and saute for about a couple of minutes, when you see the spinach start to wilt.  Add in the garlic and saute for another minute.  Set aside.  

3. In a medium pan, pour the stock and cornstarch or flour mix into the pan and stir until smooth.  Stir in the milk and let the mixture simmer for another minute or two until thickened.

4. Add in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Stir until cheese is melted.

5. Add in the mushrooms and spinach, remove from heat.

6. Toss in your favorite gluten free pasta and top with chopped parsley or basil if desired.

Notes

If your broth is not homemade, like mine was not, don't forget to read the label and make sure it is gluten free.

If you aren't a vegetarian, this is delicious with grilled chicken!

To make this even healthier, you can make the alfredo sauce out of cauliflower.  I'll share the recipe on another post :-)

  

Mmmmm brussels sprouts!

I remember thinking brussels sprouts were so gross when I was a kid.  Now that I think of it, I don't even recall trying them first before deciding I didn't like them!  But now as an adult and mommy trying to make sure her kid tries all veggies from an early age,  it's one of my favorites!  I think the most popular way to prepare them are roasted in the oven.  Quick and tasty, just toss those babies in some olive oil and garlic then roast them in the oven. Sprinkle with a lil sea salt, pepper and parmesan ...voila!

But if you are looking for another quick alternative, try just sautéing them in a skillet,  which is what I did for tonight's dinner.  This one is healthy since I didn't add bacon, chorizo or pancetta to it but oh boy you should try it with one of them ;-)  I did grill some chicken, no picture since well it just looked like a piece of grilled chicken. lols





Sauteed Brussels Sprouts and Garlic
Serves 2 adults and a toddler

Ingredients
2 cups brussels sprouts, sliced with the ends cut off
2-3 TBS of olive oil
Small pat of healthy butter- I use Smart Balance with EVOO
1-2 cloves of garlic - depending how garlicy you like it (garlicy?  Is that a word? lols)
Sea salt (optional) and pepper

Instructions
1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
2. Add brussels and saute for 5-10 minutes until tender.
3. Add the pat of butter and garlic, saute for another minute.
4. Remove from heat and toss with pepper

Notes
This is also yummy with fresh grated parmesan on top or even a little lemon juice and zest.  If you like a little kick, you can add some red pepper flakes with the garlic.

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Coconut and Pineapple Sweet Chili Shrimp

TGIF friends!  Hope you all had a great week and I'm sure you are looking forward to the weekend :-)

I've had people ask me how I stay on track with healthy eating during the week or how I know what to cook for dinner.  Meal planning guys!  I know it's extra work but seriously, if you can make time for this at least once a week it will help you out tons.  I will post more on how I do this in another post.

I'm not a recipe developer.  I wish I had the time and talent to do that!  There are some recipes I have been able to make up but mostly I just find dishes online or in cookbooks that look yummy.  Most of the time, I find a recipe I like and adapt it to my liking and to make it healthier.  I'm also not a professional photographer as you can see by my pictures. haha  But I'm working on it!

So I've made this coconut and pineapple sweet chili shrimp a few times now.  It's super easy, tasty and I usually already have the ingredients in my kitchen.

 

        

    

Coconut and Pineapple Sweet Chili Shrimp

Serves: Two adults and a toddler

Ingredients

1 pound shrimp (15-20) peeled and deveined

3 TBS coconut cream - I found this at Trader Joe's

3 TBS sweet chili sauce

1-2 TBS pineapple juice

1/2-3/4 cup of chopped pineapple -depending on your liking

Squirt of srirarcha - optional

Instructions 

1. Mix coconut cream, sweet chili sauce, pineapple juice, and srirarcha together in a bowl.  Toss in shrimp and pineapples to coat. 

2. Saute the shrimp and pineapple mixture in a frying pan- no oil is needed since it is saucy. This will only take 5-10 minutes since shrimp tends to cook very quickly so be sure to watch it.  Nobody likes rubbery shrimp right? hehe 

Notes

This recipe is great for grilling too!  On a skewer, alternate shrimp and pineapples on it.  Grill a few minutes on each side and then brush with the sauce.  I didn't feel like grilling so I threw everything in a frying pan.

If you aren't worried about your carbs, this is so yummy over rice!

I always like to have a side of vegetables with every dinner since I'm not always the greatest at eating my veggies at lunch or breakfast.   In my meal plan, I wrote to have this Asian cabbage slaw but since I didn't get a chance to go to the store I had to find a plan B.  I know this sounds familiar right? lols   I looked in my fridge and found plan B....fennel!  Fennel is from the carrot family and is actually rich in protein, fiber and vitamin B.  I kept seeing this veggie in Trader Joe's wondering how the heck do you eat that?  Then one day, TJ was offering this as their sample of the day and I loved it.  It has this licorice or sweet kind of taste, sounds weird but it's really good.  I like it and I don't even care for licorice.

  

Roasted Fennel

Serves 2 adults and a toddler

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb

olive oil

sea salt

pepper

fresh parmesan

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Lightly oil the bottom of a glass dish.

3. Cut the stalks and feathery green stuff (fronds) off the fennel.  You can use the fronds as a garnish if you want like I did, it's edible!  

2. Leaving the core together (which helps keep your slices intact), stand the bulb up and cut the fennel in half vertically from top to bottom.  

3. Arrange the fennel in a dish and sprinkle with sea salt, pepper and fresh parmesan shavings. 

4. Bake until fennel is fork tender and the top is golden brown for about 40 minutes. I would check after 30 minutes though since oven temps tend to vary.  

Notes

This is also great for grilling too!  Prepare it the same way but instead of baking in the oven, place it over a grill.  I also like to squirt a little lemon on this but I didn't have any.

I apologize I don't have any measurements for this.  I basically just eye ball everything when it comes to quick dishes like this.  But if you need measurements I will try to take some in the future :-)