second day of walking 10k. i always thought, getting a good dose of exercise was suppose to help you sleep. remember, 10k is 5 miles. but for the last two days it has not. of course there are other benefits but i do miss sleeping past 4am.
yesterday i made one of the meals from hello fresh. southwestern chicken salad. as a refresher, each meal comes in a separate set of boxes. the biggest box holds all of the vegetables and season packets to make the meal.. the only items i will have to supply are salt, pepper and olive oil.
this meal's vegetables were romaine lettuce, avocado, red onion, red bell pepper, fresh cilantro, roma tomato, and 3 season packs. cumin, oregano, southern spice mix.
the red bell pepper was put aside and i did not use the amount of red onion as recommended. the chicken breasts were rubbed with the seasonings (i used a part - not a fan of a lot of those spices). seared the chicken and then moved them into to the oven to continue cooking with the red onions on top. the recipe called to cut all of the red bell pepper and onion into medium size strips and bake in the oven. i opted to not.
the dressing was made of avocado, lime juice and sour cream. the lettuce, tomato and a light amount of cilantro into the salad bowl. once the chicken cooled it was sliced to put on top.
pros/cons
i'll be positive and start with the pros. enjoyed trying a new recipe with all of the ingredients on hand and with correct proportions. the recipe was easy to follow. loved using my new kitchen tools. the knives are wonderfully super sharp. and since i purchased pans that can go directly into the oven i did not have to messy a baking sheet. the combination of flavors were good. (see empty dish)
now for the cons. i chose to make this dish first this week because i knew the vegetables were more time sensitive than the other recipes. the romaine was small and rough around the outside. i could not have made two salads out of it if i tried. the avocado was hard a rock. i tried microwaving it to soften it up (that is one kitchen hack - the other is wrapping it in the oven and baking for time - worth the research). the microwave hack - not so much. i'll try the oven hack if it happens again.
the chicken was dry but that was my error. i used the maximum cook time instead of the minimum. forgot that meat always continues to cook for a bit after being removed from the flame/heat. i could of handled more of the spices rubbed on the chicken but i'm better safe than sorry in that area. i was pretty sure i wasn't a cilantro fan but i was willing to try a small amount. THAT won't happen again. still not a huge cilantro fan.
i may have misread the recycling advice - i need to double check on the freezer packs that are delivered in the box. the non-touched bell pepper, remaining red onion and cilantro will be passed on to steve's wife. i like that part. i don't like wasting food. not that i would have eaten these if she did not want them - just my effort to trim down on throwing away food.
yes, still working on obtaining employment. that will continue today. as well as a few errands, those awesome 10k steps, cleaning the floors (yuck cat hair tumbleweeds) and going out for my first meet up. country/western two step.
there are two types of two step and it looks like they use the one here that i do not like. but, when in rome...
blot you later.
(blot...ha..blog!)
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