Steamed Veggies &
Shrimp with Quinoa!

I had plans on stir-frying these veggies but decided tonight to reduce the amount of oil in the dish and take a steamed veggie approach instead.

I always overfill my steamer basket so I just throw a lid over it to make sure it steams evenly.





I steamed:
   Broccoli
   Sugar Snap Peas
   Snow Peas 
   Yellow Squash
   Carrots

I sauteed in stir-fry oil:
  mushrooms
  pre-cooked shrimp

I also toasted some white sesame seeds in a small fry pan - which was super easy and made the whole dish seem really legit

Everything was mixed and then portioned for lunch for the week.

As a delicious an nutritious side to this meal, I  boiled some edamame in the same water that I had used to steam the veggies.

Cooking veggies until they are brightly colored and still a little crispy seems to be the best way to go to retain their nutrients.  If you over-do it, you can cook the goodness right out of them.

BUT, try as I might, I have a sneaky suspicion (judging from the color of the water when I finished) that there is always still some leaching of valuable vitamins and minerals out of my veggies and into the pot.

This time I decided to get those nutrients back and used that same water to boil my quinoa!

By the way - this is the very first time I've ever cooked quinoa - I'm crossing my fingers that it turns out well
How in the world am I supposed to rinse quinoa?!? Suggestions?





...Shrimp, veggies and quinoa, with toasted sesame seeds.

I can't wait for lunch tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day!!! 

Laziest dinner ever....but still delicious and nutritious

I realllly didn't feel like making dinner tonight, but refused to settle for junk food. So I went with hot cereal instead.

Bob's Red Mill makes some really nutritious products:
This one contains: Whole Grain Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley, Brown Rice, Oat Bran and Flaxseed.
140 calories, 1.5 g of fat, 6g of fiber, and 6g of protein per serving

To this I added:
1 TBSP Peanut Butter
A hearty drizzling of honey
A small handful of raisins

Delicious! It was the first time it dawned on me to add peanut butter but now I'm hooked. Next time I may just have make it PB&J Cereal.

IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!

Preservative Free Prunes

Sunsweet D'Noir Prunes

This was a huge WIN during my last trip to Shop n' Save. Fancy name aside, this is as simple as it gets. There are no preservatives or sweeteners in this bag - just prunes. And what's more!?! This 9 oz. bag was 2 bucks CHEAPER than the traditional Sunsweet product (also 9 oz).  The catch? It must be refrigerated after opening. OH NO! NOT THAT! I'm glad that little "inconvenience" is working to my advantage. Thank you Sunsweet!