I had planned on walking before work yesterday morning, but when I reached for my phone when my alarm went off and saw that it was only 30 degrees, I realized that the outfit I picked out to walk in clearly wasn’t warm enough (which could have been easily fixed by the way!) so I stayed in my cozy bed and did what I think most people do with smart phones and wear glasses that aren’t in yet. Hold the phone as close to your face as possible and close one eye to catch up on Facebook and Instagram! It was a relaxing way to start the day, and 20 minutes later I got up. I ate breakfast when I got to work – a Chobani parfait with a Fuji apple and chocolate protein granola that I got at Aldi. Perfect balance of sweet and tart.
Since it was around 50 degrees at lunch time and I only had a winter coat and not a light jacket, I thought I’d head to the gym for lunch. But as soon as I got outside it was awesome! Sunny, blue skies and no wind, so I walked for 45 minutes around my office building. I just noticed my eyes look especially green in this pic – maybe because of the green grass?! Sadly the state of our trees this time of year are like the picture on the right – but at least it was sunny skies!
When my Mom was over this weekend, she texted me “chicken kabobs!” I knew that meant that she wanted to stock up on the Greek chicken that my store sells. So good and super reasonable in price. I picked some up for myself too – each package contains two kabobs of chicken and that’s literally four generous servings for us. While I normally make my naan bread, since I was out and about this last weekend I ended up picking up this:
1/2 a naan bread is 190 calories. I put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it was perfect – soft and fluffy – kinda like me! 
That plate: 1/2 naan, 3.5 ounces chicken, 1 tablespoon tzatziki, veggie “fries” and a tablespoon of Aldi’s goddess dressing came in at only 433 calories and a whopping 39 grams of protein – so filling!
So I know I’ve mentioned that since Hannah has school on Monday night and isn’t home for dinner, Jacob and I have declared it MEAT MONDAY! Normally it’s red meat, but I had the last of my Blue Apron dinners from last week that we never made and I either had to freeze the meat, or make it. I didn’t want to be wasteful with the other ingredients, so I made it last night. Not gonna lie – the side dish called for collard greens sauteed in fresh ginger and . . . tomato paste. (well, it may have called for onions too, but I left that out).
When I got home Jacob was in the kitchen with me and we both admitted that we didn’t think that either of us had ever eaten collard greens before. I decided to take a leap and make the recipe exactly as instructed. Although I did have a lot of jerk seasoning, and even covering the two chicken breasts liberally with the seasoning, I had about a teaspoon leftover.
So even though I’ve been a food blogger for seven years, two new ingredients to My Bizzy Kitchen – collard greens and maduros (plaintains)!
Okay – here’s the deal – the grilled lime brought this whole dish together. Something about the acidity in the lime married the spicy chicken with the tomatoey collard greens and the sweet plantains. This one was winner winner chicken dinner! And I am going to brag, but I cooked my chicken perfectly – I know it looks burnt, but it isn’t – that’s all the jerk seasoning. The perfect bite:
So happy I took a leap of faith with this dish. I never would have come up with the combination on my own. So out of the three meals I made, two were stellar and one was just okay. I decided to sign up for one more week this week and then will probably order every other week to get some variety.
I have a few link loves today. Cannot believe that it will be Thanksgiving in a couple weeks! While we almost all have either turkey or ham for the protein, it’s the sides that you have to figure out. My friend Ally has put together an amazing list of 50 side dish recipes for Thanksgiving – all with links! You can check it out here.
And my new friend Liz that I met in Denver has put up some links of how to use seasonal veggies for the month of November. She has links to recipes using veggies that are seasonal – you can check that out here.
And my blog friend Renee has a slow cooker beef and broccoli recipe. While my non-meat eating daughter Hannah doesn’t like much beef, she loves this recipe, and while I had pinned another recipe, I think I am going to use Renee’s. Flank steak was stupid expensive at $22 for a 1.4 pound package! So I picked up boneless short ribs and fingers crossed it’s super tender so Hannah will like it.
So today I have prepared accordingly and will be walking outside this morning – while wearing the scarf that Shelley knitted for me and sent me after Tony died. It’s so soft and cozy! And it does feel like a hug when I wear it.
Make it a great day!
It makes me happy to hear that you are wearing and enjoying the hug…er, cowl, that I made for you. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I had to look both ingredients up and I know now why: both can’t be bought here.
But the meal looks good.
The nice weather here is over, Autumn has finally arrived in all it’s glory … correction: rain and wind 🙂
Our nice weather is going to end today too Fran – thunderstorms and the temperature is going to plummet tonight 🙁
I literally laughed out loud when I read your description waking up in the morning and not having glasses or contacts in. When I wake up before the alarm I totally do the same thing, close one eye and browse stuff on my phone. Usually it’s reading emails and sometimes Pinterest to see what the night-owls pinned after I went to bed.
I’m too cheap to try Blue Apron, I get more than enough recipe inspiration from all the books, magazines, and other stuff I read. Plus I totally love grocery shopping! I know that’s not the norm though.
Ha, funny you do the same thing when you get up Jessica! I actually have liked the two new dishes I tried, and can come up with a recipe to make them on my own now that I know they are a hit – Jacob loved both the meat dishes, and Hannah loved the pork meatballs – go figure!
Yum….your chicken jerk looks really good, you take some nice pictures. I am glad you enjoyed 2 out of 3 of the meals. There will be more good ones and learning new ways to doing things and new foods never tried. I enjoy BA a lot. Never tried plantians, that should be on my list. Will have to get the jerk recipe to try, that was the week I skipped.
BA will enjoy you as their food critic…after you try each meal there a place on BA that you can write out your comments and rate the meal. I like reading the comments of the other chefs that try these meals and what they thought or did….always interesting.
I need to check out those links you gave for side dishes. Sounds interesting.
I’ll have to check that out Louise – I got another order this week and then took the next couple weeks off – I think I’ll only do it once or twice a month, I still enjoy meal planning!
The food looks awesome as always! I grew up eating collard greens, mustard greens & turnips so maybe it’s a southern thing cos Hubby never had them either growing up in Indiana. But I don’t guess that matters cos he still won’t touch them. Lol Here we just boil them down & pour hot pepper sauce on top and dig in. But the tomato paste & ginger sounds like something I might have to try! 😀
It was really good Sherry – but I like your idea of hot pepper sauce – or better yet – pepper vinegar! 😀
Yeah I don’t blame you. I would have stayed in bed too!
And my bedroom is so cozy now, I don’t ever want to leave it!
We get those naan breads here too. We actually have a local restaurant called Stonefire, I thought they came from them. LOL. See you tomorrow. I’ll text you if the flight takes off late.
Looks like your flight was only 10 minutes late leaving – see you tonight!
Now I want jerk chicken and plantains! Yummmmmmmm.
Your short ribs will be tender but they have a ton more fat than flat iron or flank so you’ll want to skim the fat off before you make the gravy in that recipe!
I forgot to put them in the crock pot Helen! But I think Hannah is going to make it for dinner tonight, so I’ll let her know – thanks for the tip!
Oh I just love plantains. But I kind of forget about them (food blogger problem, right?) and don’t use them nearly enough. I bet they are perfect with this jerk chicken you made. Sounds amazing! I can’t believe Thanksgiving is so close. It’s been unseasonably warm here the past two weeks, so it has me thinking it just CAN’T be a week into November. I mean, it was 70 degrees here which is pretty unheard of in New England in November. GAH! But it’s been nice to get in some more exercise time outside. Fresh air cures all!
I am not even sure my store sells plantains, but then again, I’ve never really looked either – they were delish!
I think our warm weather ends today – our HIGH on Friday is going to be 40 🙁