Make your own takeout

Hi friends! How’s your day going?

Huge congratulations to my friends who ran the Boston Marathon this morning! Did you, or anyone you know, run today?? I’m so so excited for Sarah, Tina, Janae and Kristin; you are amazing. <3

it’s been an interesting afternoon over here. The Pilot is home sick with food poisoning -I hate that he feels so terrible- and my eyes are bothering me, so I’m in glasses while tears run down my face. Let’s see how spin class goes haha.

At least breakfast was a win,

(oat banana blender pancakes!)

BODYPUMP was a beast -a fun beast, but I’m always so sore after a new release!- and Liv and I had a great morning together at her gymnastics class, hitting up Better Buzz and making Play Doh sculptures outside. 

Dinner was pretty glorious last night, too. 😉 

I’ve been really hankering for Chinese food lately, so I added cashew chicken to this week’s meal plan. It’s so easy to make, often using ingredients we already have on-hand, and a healthier version of takeout. While getting takeout is always fun, it is nice to have a say in the ingredients and sodium content of your food. Here’s the quick recipe if you want to give it a try! We also had some not-fried quinoa, which Liv surprisingly LOVED. Note to make it more often!

(A super informal recipe; this how I cook at home for most of our meals)

-Cut one pack of chicken thighs into cubes and season well with salt and pepper

-Start the quinoa (rinse and boil in water. I did 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups water)

-Make the sauce with 1/4 cup Tamari, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, salt, pepper, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce and 1 tablespoon honey

-Brown the chicken on medium in a little olive oil. When it’s almost finished cooking, add the sauce (as much as needed to coat the chicken) and take the heat down the low. Stir occasionally while you do the quinoa.

-Drain the quinoa, and in a medium pan, heat some stir fry veggies on high (I used half of a frozen mix from TJs). When they’re crisp, add the quinoa back to the pan and move to the side. Crack an egg into the side of the pan and use your spoon to scramble it into the quinoa. Season well with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a splash of Tamari.

-Stir some raw cashews into the chicken (and more sauce if needed) and sprinkle with chopped green onions if you’d like!

Our little heirloom tomato plant is started to grow tiny tomatoes! I can’t wait to until they’re ready to harvest… caprese and bruschetta all summer long.

Just because this post is already random, some more eats from lately:

(Cilantro-lime shrimp for taco night! I just sautéed some garlic in olive oil, added the shrimp and seasoned well with salt and pepper. Before they were almost finished cooking, about 1-2 minutes per side, I added the zest and juice of one lime and some cilantro just before serving. We added them to our corn tortillas with lettuce, guacamole and salsa. Perfection.)

(cheese board to go! We had a picnic date with friends, so I packed up some manchego, goat cheese, dates, dried cherries, medjool dates, sliced pear -with lemon juice so it didn’t brown- and drizzled with honey. + Mary’s crack, hummus, and fruit crushers for the kiddos on the side.)

and Sephora finds! The VIB sale ends tomorrow, so I picked up a couple of necessities this weekend. (My Sephora impulse-buy-stopper was with me, who rightfully wants to smell and touch everything. So we smell a few pretty things and get out of there as quickly as possible.)

Beloved BB cream, argan oil light (this size is awesome for travel) and a new bronzer compact.

What’s your favorite takeout meal to make at home? Any awesome recipes to share?? What was on the workout plan today?

Hope you have a lovely night!

xoxo

Gina

New post on the Family page here!

Workout challenge: a barre burn to sweat and shake. Give it a whirl before bed!