Jenn's Menu & Lifestyle Blog

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! (a little late)

I’ve been saving these just for St. Patty’s Day:

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I went KERF style with muffin oats for this special occasion!!!!

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In the shamrock bowl:

1/2 cup (40g) Irish style oats (160 cal) cooked on the stove with 1.5 cups water (extra water makes them creamier!) and 1 medium banana, mashed (110 cal)
Toppings: 1 sugar free banana walnut VitaMuffin (90 cal), 1 TBSP Peanut Butter & Co. Might Maple peanut butter (90 cal), and 1 TBSP Everyday 365 Fruits of the Forest fruit spread (30 cal)

1 serving, 480 calories

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMY! Loved the toppings. I’m going to have to have muffin oats more often. These kept me very satisfied all through my hour-long workout, even though I didn’t start for 3 hours after eating it. I was pretty hungry after working out though, so I went with a protein-heavy meal being breakfast was almost all carbs.

I decided to make a light protein smoothie with the light Tropicana orange juice that I bought last week. It has just as much potassium as regular orange juice, only less sugar and only 50 calories per 8oz serving. Not crazy about the stevia in it, it gives it a funky aftertaste. It works great when mixed with other flavors, though.

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Orange Banana Protein Shake

1 medium frozen banana (110 cal)
8oz Tropicana 50 orange juice (50 cal)
35g Lifetime Life’s Basics vanilla plant protein powder (129 cal)

1 smoothie, 289 calories, 23g protein, 10000000000000g deliciousness

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Tasted like a creamsicle!! This combo is going to be killer in the summer. Along with my smooooooooooooothie, made in my amazing Vita-Mix, by the way, I had a Tofurky sandwich and cauliflower soup.

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I sprinkled a little nutritional yeast (35 cal) on my soup. I couldn’t really taste it, but it did taste a little like cheese to me. I ended up mixing it in. I liked it a lot!! So far, so good! Can’t wait to experiment with it more.

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2 slices Tofurky (40 cal) on a Martin’s dinner roll (90 cal) with a little no salt added mustard (5 cal)

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Excellent post-workout lunch. After I showered and dressed, we headed to Middletown so I could buy a dutch oven and fresh ingredients for dinner. I’ve wanted a dutch oven for awhile now and it seemed like the time to buy it being I could definitely use it for what I was making for dinner. This is the biggest one they had at Macy’s and it was on sale; $139.99 marked down to $89.99. Score!

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On the St. Patrick’s Day dinner menu: Irish short ribs with Guinness beer and potatoes

I’ve never had short ribs before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Needless to say, they are quite a fatty cut of meat! lol I chopped all my veggies, then started the process… Guinness? Check! Red wine? Check! Veggies? Check! Short ribs? Check!

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Bread with…

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Imported Irish butter!! This is the yellowest butter I have ever seen! It was like spreading sunshine on bread. LOVED it! So creamy and sweet. Amazing.

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Irish short ribs with Guinness and red wine

8 (beef) short ribs
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, rough chopped or whole
2 medium onions, sliced
5 carrots, cut into large pieces
4 medium red potatoes, cut into large chunks
6 or 7 stalks of celery, cut into large pieces
1 bottle Guinness beer (11.5 oz)
1 cup red wine
Garlic salt, black pepper (additional salt optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees
2. In large dutch oven or oven-safe pan, add in extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and onions; let the onions cook down for a minute or so on medium heat
3. Add in short ribs; sprinkle with a bit of garlic salt and black pepper, brown them on each side, then pour half of beer and wine over the ribs and onions; season with additional salt if you desire
4. Add in all of the chopped potatoes and veggies, pour remaining beer and wine over the veggies and season the veggies with more black pepper and salt (optional)
5. Turn off flame, put lid on pot, then put in 400F oven for 45-50 minutes

Yields 4 servings

This was SO tasty! To be honest, there wasn’t much meat on the ribs, they were mainly bone and fat LOL. So while Dustin ate ALL of what was on the bone, fat and all, I cut around the fat and ended up with just about an ounce or less of actual meat and a bowl full of bones. It tasted fantastic though! The potatoes and veggies were delicious. Next time I think I would just use stew meat for this because while the short ribs had a lot of flavor, I was disappointed that there wasn’t much meat to eat. I don’t enjoy chewing on fat like SOME people– *cough, Dustin* lol. Loved the potatoes and veggies though! The alcohol cooks out, so you can’t taste it at all, but you are left with a great flavor. I’m sure the fat contributed to the flavor as well.

You know you’re a foodie when you’d rather eat your alcohol than drink it LOL. We bought a 12 pack of Guinness, so I’m hoping to use it in another recipe before Dustin drinks it all. Then again, it’s so smooth and velvety that I might just have one with dinner this week. Hmm… Ooh, I just had a great idea! You’ll see in a day or 2.