Monday, June 30, 2014

Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day-June 2014!

Afternoon y'all!

This month was my third month participating in the Foodie Pen Pal program, spearheaded by the genius Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean. If you haven't done this before, drop everything and sign up. Here's how it works:

  1. You sign up before the 5th of the month at http://www.theleangreenbean.com/foodie-penpals/.
  2. On the 5th of the month Lindsay will send out a mass email with the name and information of your foodie pen pal for that month.
  3. The ball is in your court to purchase up to $15 worth of foodie items for your pen pal. You can also add things you've made too (i.e. granola or marinara sauce, etc). 
  4. Both pen pals mail the packages out by the 15th of the month and enjoy the goodies. If you have a blog, you post on reveal day, which is the same for everyone so at the end of the month it's like a virtual posting party!
This month my pen pal was a native Floridian, Lauren from The Finish Line Runner blog. She's a runner and has a list of marathons she's completed and a list of ones she has yet to complete. I love her passion and diligence for running! 

Check out my awesome package:


As of today the banana chips are almost gone, and the snack stick and protein bar have been devoured. I plan to use the sun-dried tomatoes in this Summer Veggie Salad this week with some fresh produce I got at the Coppell Farmer's Market on Saturday. I haven't used the tea yet, but I love Sleepy-time tea, so I know I'll be using it soon to help me relax in the evening. Those wasabi peas threw me for a loop! Those'll be going into our snack bags and I'm also going to see if I can find a creative way to use them. My two favorite items from the package are the Trader Joe's bag, that totally has Florida printed on it, and the pink shoelaces! Lauren is an I'm Fit Possible ambassador, and helps to encourage others to be fit and strong no matter what they look like. I absolutely love it. I'll be posting a picture of my own running shoes with the laces. I just love that! 

~Lex

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Easy Italian Sausage and Peppers

The roomie loves italian sausages. And not just any sausages. Johnsonville sausages. Now, they may not compare to authentic Italian sausages from a real Italian deli, but for grocery store brand, they'll do. 

Sunday I was working on my food prep, and it was taking a pretty long time. I wanted to make the sausages in a way where I didn't have to slave away over the stove. So I threw them in a baking dish and let the oven do all the work. Super easy, and you just need to turn them once during the cooking time. 





Easy Italian Sausage and Peppers
Serves 2-4

1 package Johnsonville Italian sausages at room temperature (we prefer hot versus mild)
1/2-1cup sliced bell peppers
1/2 cup sliced onion
1 Tbsp chili-infused olive oil
1 tspn dried parsley or basil (or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley or basil)
1 tspn red pepper flakes (decrease the amount if you don't care for the heat, we like it HOT)
Salt and Pepper to taste

~ Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
~ Evenly spread onion and bell pepper in bottom of baking dish.
~ Place sausages on top of the onions and bell peppers. 
~ Drizzle with the olive oil, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Toss with your hands or tongs to make sure everything is coated with the oil. 
~ Pop into the oven. Bake 15 minutes, then turn sausages and bake for another 15 minutes. Serve up alone or with a buttered, toasted bun and enjoy! 

Monday, June 2, 2014

Lettuce Wrap, Oh Lettuce Wrap


Saturday was a lettuce wrap kind of day. It didn't happen intentionally, it was actually the result of an empty refrigerator. There was a roll of ground chorizo, eggs, and leftover ground beef from the previous week's enchiladas. Breakfast was chorizo and eggs on lettuce, and then lunch was Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps by Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen. I subbed lemon zest and juice instead of lime, and since I didn't have fresh scallions or cilantro, I used dried shallots (cooked with the beef) and dried parsley (mixed in with the lemon juice). They still tasted great. I will definitely try the recipe without substitutions next time. I know that the lime, scallion, and cilantro give the lettuce wraps a lot of freshness. We actually drizzled a lot of extra sriracha on the wraps, and that brought the flavors out a lot more. A great recipe, and now I'm hooked on trying all different kinds of lettuce wraps!