The Night We May Have Overdosed on Sriracha

Sriracha is a funny, inexplicable obsession. It burns as you eat it, but you keep adding more, hoping for a taste of the slight hint of sweetness. As you add more to your food, your eyes well up, your nose starts twitching, and sometimes, you just cry. But it’s a joyful cry, I promise you that.

Amanda and I took adding Sriracha on our food to a whole new level last week when we made an entire meal centered around it. It burned so good. I found all three of these recipes on pinterest, but, as always, altered them to our personal nutritional standards and likings.

Sriracha Panko Encrusted Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken tenderloins
• 1/3 cup Sriracha
• 1 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
• 1 inch peeled and grated ginger
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 large egg whites
• 1.5 cups panko crumbs

Preparation:

1. In a large ziploc bag,  combine the Sriracha, rice vinegar, minced garlic and grated ginger. Place chicken tenderloins in bag and shake to saturate. Let marinade in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 425*. Set up a dredging station with bowls. Fill the first with egg whites and the second with panko crumbs. Taking one chicken strip from the marinade at a time, dip in egg white, then roll into panko crumbs until coated.Place the breaded strip on a clean plate and continue with the rest of the chicken.
3. Once all of the strips are breaded, place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. After 15 minutes, turn the oven on to broil and broil for about 5 minutes until golden brown.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Sriracha Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into strips
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 1 (5.3 oz.) container plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tsp. Sriracha
• salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Combine cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Toss spice mixture on potatoes. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn potatoes with a spatula and bake an additional 10 minutes.
2. While potatoes are cooking, make dipping sauce. Whisk together Greek yogurt, garlic, lime juice, and Sriracha in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Remove potatoes from oven and serve with Sriracha dipping sauce.
   

Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha, Honey, and Lime

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Brussels sprouts
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. Sriracha
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut each Brussels sprout in half. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pan fry until golden brown.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together Sriracha, honey, and lime juice. Remove Brussels sprouts and add to a bowl. Toss with Sriracha mixture.

This dinner was awesome. Despite having Sriracha in all of it, it wasn’t as spicy as we expected. Our favorite part was definitely the dipping sauce – we put it on everything. I’ll definitely make it again to use on other vegetables or fish.

I’m proud to say that after having my first bottle of Sriracha for only a week, it’s half gone. Crazy, right?

What is your favorite condiment? What’s your favorite way to incorporate it into a meal? What’s the strangest way you use it?

Weekend Highlights

Aziz!!! Oh  my gosh, he was funny. My face still hurts from smiling so much.

Sunday’s weather was glorious. There was absolutely no reason to stay indoors. Well, except for brunch. Rewind to Saturday night. After the Aziz show, Boding and I went to The Macintosh  for drinks. I go in there pretty regularly and last night got to hang out with Jacob, one of the chefs. It was really cool to talk to someone who is so passionate about food, being a chef, and the Indigo Road restaurant group. We were quickly convinced to come back the next day for brunch, but I told him I would be ordering “the healthiest thing he could come up with.”

The bartender was a little puzzled by me requesting “the healthiest thing he can come up with” but Jacob did an excellent job of coming up with just that. I had an incredibly delicious plate of  butternut squash, brussels sprouts, onions, mushrooms, micro greens, and quinoa with a parsnip puree. Ahhhhh, everything needs to be dipped in this puree. Everything.

Guess who ate the mushrooms! This girl. Unbelievable.

My beverage of choice at The Macintosh is something one of the bartenders came up with for me a while back. He named it The Xtina: Corazon tequila, ghost pepper-infused St. Germain, lime juice, and agave. It’s like a spicy margarita.

Boding had the Chicken and Waffles. At first I was skeptical of waffles that aren’t served with maple syrup but then I tried a bite. They do not need a single drop of anything. They are perfect, as was the chicken.

Jacob later sent out a gift to be funny. Fried dough. Quite comical after my healthy veggie plate. He’s got jokes.

I almost forgot! I had a side of their homemade pickles again. Mmmm!

After brunch settled, we poked around random stores downtown and played tourists. I met the dog of my dreams at Seeking Indigo. Meet Stella, the labradoodle.

Broad Street.

Later on, we went to Mt. Pleasant Waterfront Memorial Park.

For a little bit, I reverted from 27 years old to 7 years old. Swings! (I think that kid next to me might have been dying.)

Monkey bars!

And then I went from 7 all the way to 77. Reading a book with a giant blanket in a rocking chair is fiiiiiiiine.

Happy Monday! Have a great week!

Biceps and Brussels Sprouts

I have been eating out way too much lately.

• 4 Course Beer Kitchen dinner last Wednesday
• Taziki’s twice this weekend
• FIG on Monday

Don’t even get me started on my alcohol consumption over Halloweekend. However, life is short, and I refuse to not enjoy every moment of it! So what if I sipped a little too much this weekend? Instead of complaining about it, I balance it out with new workouts and clean eating during the remainder of the week. And then all is right in Xtina land.

Inspired by this Equinox workout that was featured on FitSugar, Mariah and I busted out a circuit workout in roughly 45 minutes.

Complete Circuit 1 three times. Repeat with Circuits 2 and 3, with a 1-2 minute break between each circuit.

Circuit 1:

Exercise	Reps	Equipment	Notes
Jump Squat	15	Body weight
Squat Thrust Deadlift	15	15 lb. dumbbells
Single-arm swings	15	15 lb. dumbbells
Plank with Reverse Row	15 each arm	10-15 lb. dumbbells

Circuit 2:

Exercise	Reps	Equipment	Notes
Lunge with Bicep Curl	15 alternating legs	10-15 lb. dumbbells
Mountain Climbers	45 seconds	Body weight
Bridge with Exercise Ball	20	Exercise Ball	Place soles of feet on the top of exercise ball, then lift pelvis up and control it down.
Plank	45 seconds	Body weight

Circuit 3:

Exercise	Reps	Equipment	Notes
Romanian Deadlifts	15	10-15 lb. dumbbells
Push-ups	15	Body weight
Overhead Press	15	10-15 lb. dumbbells
Jump Rope	60 seconds	Jump rope	Can substitute with jumping jacks

By the third set of each circuit, we were miserable. Once we completed all  9 circuits, we were groaning, but both agreed that it was an excellent workout, for cardio and strength.

We then rushed back to my apartment for some fresh fall veggies. CHECK THIS OUT. Have yall ever seen Brussels sprouts still on the stalk? I nearly did cartwheels in Trader Joe’s when I saw this.

Thank goodness I had just worked on my biceps – this branch was beastly! (So was my hair after the gym, but hey…)

Brussels sprouts are incredibly easy to make. Just 5 simple ingredients will make delicious roasted sprouts: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper. Of course you can add more, but why mess with nature too much? We used this recipe, but roasted them a bit longer so they’d have a nice crispy outer layer.

We also made spaghetti squash and topped it with tomato basil sauce and goat cheese. The sprouts were the highlight of the meal, for sure. I could not stop eating them.

At the gym, do you prefer cardio or strength training? I love running outdoors but definitely prefer strength training. It does wonders for my metabolism and I get to hang out near the boys at the gym. Any talk about “bulking up” drives me absolutely crazy– 10 to 20 lb. weights a couple times a week are not going to make a woman bigger. We do not have enough testosterone for this. And on that note, STRONG OVER SKINNY!!!

What’s your favorite fall vegetable? BEETS!!!

How Do You Prefer Your Vegetables?

At work today, Sean and I ventured down to the cafeteria for lunch. As I was skimming the salad bar, whining that there were no beets for the 3rd day in a row, I suddenly heard Sean proclaim, “Veggie plate!”

Score.

For $4.49, we got to choose four different prepared vegetables. The lady serving at the hot bar must have thought that Sean and I:

a.) Need to gain weight

b.) Have a vitamin deficiency

c.) Should be put in a food coma so that we couldn’t work this afternoon, or

d.) all of the above.

This plate of food was meant for a small army.

Steamed broccoli, carrots, and snap peas, Brussels sprouts, butter beans, fried okra

Sean glanced at my plate and asked,  “You like okra?”

Me: “Nope. I liked fried okra.”

Sean: “So you like clogged arteries.”

Me: “Ew.”

Okra any other way is just nasty. Call me a distant relative of Paula Dean, but there are just some vegetables that taste better fried:

• okra
• potatoes
• pickles…err, cucumbers

Other than my fascination with frickles, I really don’t like fried food. It isn’t heart healthy and usually kills most of the vegetable’s nutrients. In an attempt to balance out my fried okra feast (oh, and the cookies), I made a healthy vegetable snack that afternoon.

Baked Kale “Chips”

• 1 bunch of kale, washed and patted dry
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt, to taste

To make the kale chips, I  removed the stems and tore the leaves into bite-sized pieces.

While I was getting my tear on, I found a dead ladybug. Ladybugs are supposed to be good luck, but dead ones? Um…

After the lady bug’s funeral service/burial in my trash can, I finished preparing the kale. In a bowl, I tossed it with olive oil, spread it on my Silpat-covered baking sheet, and sprinkled it with garlic and salt. I placed it in the oven that had been preheated to 350*.

Baked kale chips are done when they have reached your desired crispiness and the leaves start to brown. Be careful! It burns easily. You can eat the kale as is, or, if you’re as ketchup obsessed as I am, dip those chips!

So, I have to ask your opinion.

How do you like your favorite vegetable prepared? You all know I cannot get enough of roasted beets.

Which vegetables do you like better fried? Just admit it. I promise not to tell.