I took the time before heading grocery shopping on Sunday to look up some new recipes--I've been saying I'm going to add new meals to the food rotation, but then I am always rushing around like crazy trying to get my grocery list together and run out to the store every weekend that I never remember to actually add to my usual list. I googled "easy, healthy dinners," since dinner has become even more of a dilemma for me now that I'm working out three nights a week, right at dinnertime. I need some fast, healthy stuff that I can make after or before class. I found two recipes I thought sounded enticing, and Dan agreed to try them--so I wrote down all the ingredients for Miso Steak with Green Beans and Baby Potatoes, as well as the ingredients for Lemon-Thyme Chicken.
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| I still don't really know what edamame is |
I headed off to the commissary with my list in hand--a list that included a lot of unfamiliar items, like frozen edamame, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and of course, the miso. I know the commissary like the back of my hand (after all, I live there one hour every week!), so I figured the new items wouldn't be too hard to find. Little did I know (although I probably should have guessed), the commissary is not really a place to find adventurous foods--and I didn't even think the recipes I chose were very adventurous! My first major fail was the baby potatoes I needed for the Miso Steak meal--the commissary doesn't carry them...??? I picked up red potatoes instead, because they are smaller than Russet potatoes, and I thought they were more in the spirit of the recipe. See, I can adapt! Next, I found the rice wine vinegar and the sesame oil fairly easily, but miso didn't jump out at me. It didn't help that I had no idea what miso looks like--is it a sauce? Is it a type of noodle? I was totally clueless. After attempting to read every label in the aisle, I still hadn't found it...so I took my smartphone out of the commissary (I get no service inside) and googled miso. Ah, it's a seasoning--that gave me a better idea of what to look for. Again, I read every label, and again, I had no luck... After what felt like an hour standing in front of that section, I decided to move on without the miso--maybe I'd find it with the other seasonings? (Nope, no miso there.) I kept going, picking up my normal foods as well as some other new items from the recipes (like the skirt steak for the Miso Steak recipe), and the last thing to get was the frozen, shelled edamame. I've never had edamame before, but I have read about it a lot and know that it's a good, healthy snack--I was eager to find it and give it a try. Of course, the commissary doesn't carry it, either--at least, not that I could find after repeated attempts down multiple aisles. Urgh. I headed home with everything I could find, which unfortunately was missing one crucial item from each recipe (the edamame for the Lemon-Thyme Chicken, and the miso from the Miso Steak).
I got home right at dinnertime, because the commissary took me two hours instead of one with all my wandering and searching. Dan had wanted to make the Miso Steak for dinner, but since I couldn't find the miso, I didn't think it was an option. I googled miso again, and discovered that some people think it has no taste--others think it has a salty or nutty taste. The recipe only called for one tablespoon of it, so in our hunger and time-crunch, Dan and I decided to make the recipe without it. Dan prepped the steak while I peeled and heated the potatoes, threw the steamed green beans into the microwave, and made the no-miso sauce--it really was a pretty easy meal to do, and would have been great if we weren't both frantically racing around the kitchen totally winging it since we had never made it before! We both enjoyed the meal, as did Abby...but Jake only ate the steak and Alex ate nothing--he took one bite of green beans, declared that he loved them, and then proceeded to play with them for the rest of the evening. Great. We didn't feed him anything else, so hopefully with persistence, we will win this dinnertime battle and he'll learn to widen his palate a little.
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| Not-So-Miso Steak with Green Beans and Red Potatoes |
At least I did well with my calories on Sunday! We're looking forward to trying out the Lemon-Thyme chicken one of these days, too.
Update on the workout classes: Friday night was my 2nd Zumba class, and it was with a different instructor than the Wednesday class--and by a stroke of luck, I discovered that a woman from my street has also signed up for these classes, so we carpooled over there together. It was really great to not only get a workout in, but also to be social--I'm way too stuck in the house these days. The class was fun, but this instructor's technique and moves are a lot different from the Wednesday class. Friday's was more Latin and lots of hips, so I had a harder time keeping up with the steps, but I still enjoyed it. Then last night was my first step class--I was very nervous about it (and more so after I told my best friend that I was doing a step class, and her response was "Uh oh..."), and let me just say, it kicked my rear end. I wore my glasses, which I don't usually do while I work out, and my glasses were all foggy from all the heat and sweat on my face. Gross! It was definitely a good workout, and a lot more intense than I expected. I'm convinced I'm going to end up missing the darn step and sprawl out on the floor, or accidentally push the step out from under myself--it could happen, because I'm just that uncoordinated. Thankfully, that class is only once a week--I don't think I could handle it otherwise! Bring on the Wednesday Zumba fun!
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