Snow Day

I had a bad week this past week. I was naughty.
After an awesome start on Saturday and Sunday at the gym, the irate little person who shares the bed with Mike (boyfriend) and I decided that sleep was not an option...and instead of getting some rest, I got punched in the face repeatedly by tiny fists and slapped on the forehead by tiny hands. Needless to say, I skipped the gym on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was Mommy and Me, and I got to chase Eisley around for an hour. Thursday and Friday brought more sleepless nights and laziness, so I skipped the gym again. What's worse, Mike brought home doughnuts for me. If you know me, you know I have a serious sweet tooth (I keep a stash of chocolate for when cravings strike), and I have a hard time resisting the urge to make cookies. So this past week I ate cookies and doughnuts instead of fruit and yogurt.

Yesterday morning I woke up ready and raring to go to the gym, but as anyone in the Northeast is aware, Mother Nature decided to dump about 4 inches of snow on us. After the snow stopped, I asked Mike if I could do the shoveling instead of him. He looked at me as though I had five heads, and we had a somewhat heated debate about why I wanted to shovel. I simply love to shovel snow, and I could reeeeeally use the exercise. I spent about two hours shoveling and scraping up the snow from the driveway. I loved it. Our neighbor offered to use his snow blower to help me, and when I turned him down because I was doing it for exercise he raised his eyebrow and shrugged before turning back around. After finishing I rewarded myself with a hot bath and a cup of green tea. Surprisingly I had no appetite even though it was dinner time.

This morning I woke up for the third and final time, and I actually feel awesome. I was assuming I would feel far worse due to how much shoveling I did, but I'm glad I don't. I hope it snows more this winter so I can shovel some more!

Also, since I am a total foodie, I am always coming up with recipes to try out, so here's one I made for lunch yesterday:

Ingredients:
16 oz large uncooked easy peel shrimp
1 cup water
5 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey (or your choice of sweetener)
1 teaspoon of garlic powder/ fresh crushed garlic
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon oil (vegetable/canola/coconut/etc)
16 oz broccoli (I LOVE the easy steamer bags)
Rice (Optional)

I love rice, so I made some to go with this meal.

1. Clean and peel the shrimp, set them aside. (If you are making fresh broccoli, clean it and chop it up and set it aside.)
2. Preheat a wok to medium high, and add the oil of your choice, when the wok is ready to go add the shrimp, and chili powder. (If you are using fresh broccoli, set a pot of water to boil)
3. In a bowl add the soy sauce, water, garlic, black pepper, and honey. Mix it well and set aside.
4. When the shrimp have taken a slightly pinkish color, add the soy sauce mixture to the wok and turn up  the heat. Let the shrimp cook in the juices for 3-5 minutes, and then drain. Set the wok back on the burner on a medium low heat, and continue to cook the shrimp for 5-7 minutes or until it is a bright pink/orange color. (If you're using the fresh broccoli, it should be cooking by this point)
5. Once everything is cooked to your liking, serve how you wish! ((One serving of shrimp is around 7 shrimp)) This should serve 4-6 people depending on various appetites!

Hope you enjoy the recipe!

-Nicole