Monday, May 14, 2012

Happy Monday!


Hope you all had a delightful and relaxing weekend.  I spend Friday night with my boyfriend having "date night."  I prepared our meal the night before so we didn't have to spend time cooking and cleaning.  I made grilled chicken breast and vegetable skewers accompanied by a light salad (recipe/preparation to follow below).  Saturday the two of us completed a 7 mile run together which was nice since the weather was so pleasant.  My mom actually worked on Mother's Day so I spent the day home studying preparing for my upcoming exam (while tanning in the yard as well).

 As far as this "recipe" goes, it's pretty effortless and customizable to your own tastes/wants.

For the chicken breast, I tried something new.  I marinated them in olive oil, cumin, ground cloves, turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper.  You can let this marinate for hours depending on when you prepare it and want to ultimately cook it.  

Chicken Marinating
As far as the kebabs, if you use wooden skewers like myself, you must soak them in water for about 30-45 minutes.  This will ensure they don't catch fire on the grill.  If you are using metal skewers then you save yourself this step!  I skewered the kebabs with sliced zucchini, yellow onion, orange pepper, cherry tomatoes, and Baby Bella mushrooms.  These are some of my favorite veggies but obviously you can pretty much substitute in any veggie you wish.

Skewered Veggies





I grilled the chicken breasts on high for about 10 minutes, flipping them once or twice making sure there are visible grill marks.  

I cooked the skewers on the top rack of the grill so they aren't in direct contact with the flame.  These take a little longer to cook than the chicken does so you want to throw them on about 10 minutes prior to the chicken or you can cook them with the chicken and just keep them on a little longer after you remove the chicken from the grill.  

A new salad I tried out included cherry tomatoes, scallions, watercress, and cucumber.  I halved the tomatoes, diced the cucumber, and chopped up some scallions and watercress.  I drizzled the salad with olive oil, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  Simple yet tasty and refreshing.

Cucumber Tomato Salad
This meal was light and low in fat and carbohydrates.  The preparation is on the easy side, as most of the work lies in skewering and grilling the veggies and chicken.  The grilled veggies and chicken work great as leftovers too.  An easy meal to make on a gorgeous day whether it's just you and your significant other or a group of friends.  Everyone's sure to love it!

I came across a great quote today, "Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who are patient."  I find it so true!  Waiting and being patient are two different things.  No matter what life throws at you, where you are and where you want to be are all decided by YOUR hard work and determination.  Nothing good in life comes without struggle or persistence.  You can apply this to life in general, to your health and wellness goals or to a particular situation you may be facing.  For me currently, it's a little bit of each!  I know with hard work and patience my efforts will pay off in the long run in terms of my career, health and personal life.  So keep in mind that you must stick with whatever it is that you desire, and in the end with enough hard work you will obtain what you set out to achieve :)


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