Can It Be Taco Tuesday Every Day?

I have always loved allllll the Latin foods and I think moving to Texas has only made the love stronger. My family feels the same way...except, my dad has boycotted "Taco Tuesdays" because my mom went on a TT spree last year and it was too much for good ol' Miguelito.

However, in our house, we are always down for fajitas/tacos/enchiladas/tamales/margaritas (especially margaritas). Despite all da cheese, a lot of these staples can easily be made healthy and still full of flavor. One of our favorite recipes is for chicken tinga tacos! I got this recipe from "Fixate" (a cooking show by my favorite trainer, Autumn Calabrese, and her brother, Bobby, who is a chef!). These tacos are easy to make and the flavor is out-of-control good. Let me know what you think if you make them!!


Chicken Tinga Tacos (From "Fixate")
Serves: 4 (3/4 cup meat mixture per serving)

Ingredients:

1 cup low-sodium organic chicken broth
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¾ cup chopped onion (approx. 1 medium)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup all-natural tomato puree
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
2 bay leaves (I left these out because I'm lazy and we don't have any)
2 canned chipotle chili peppers in
adobo sauce, finely chopped  (THESE ARE MY FAVORITE!!!! I use more than they call for because I like spicy food!)
1 Tbsp. adobo sauce (sauce from the
canned chipotle chili peppers in
adobo sauce)
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. finely grated lime peel (lime zest)
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (Save yourself the trouble and use rotisserie!)
¼ tsp. sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Steps:

1. Sprinkle broth with gelatin in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat until fragrant.
3. Add onion; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
4. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.
5. Add broth mixture, tomato puree, chili powder, oregano, bay leaves, chipotle chili peppers, adobo sauce, lime juice, lime peel, chicken, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; gently boil, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until sauce is reduced by half.
6. Remove bay leaves. Divide ¾ cup chicken mixture between two tortillas for each serving.

Notes: Instead of tortillas, I just put my serving on top of salad mix and it was phenom. Also, this makes a great leftover lunch the next day!

Oh, Hello Again!

It's like I forget I have a blog and then once a year, remember to do something with it! Well, I did some yoga tonight while my fiance watched the Rockets game in the same room (it was as #zen as possible...he is a vocal sports fan) and thought about why I started this thing in the first place a few years ago. It comes down to three reasons:

1. I like to write. Writing is how I have always worked through all my emotions; my songbook that I started in the tenth grade has made it through 8 moves with me! I am the nerd that would prefer to write a paper than take a test any day.

2. I am, and will probably always be, on an ongoing journey towards better health. The name of this blog (and my Instagram!) Skinnyish Shan is sort of tongue-in-cheek though. I don't want to be skinny (not that there is anything wrong with that; it just a'int how this body was made to be!) I want to be healthy and functioning at my optimal level. It's hard work, but I know how it is worth it.

3. I've had a lot of people reach out to me whenever I've been public about my experience with weight/eating/exercising. I am by no means an expert, and I'll never pretend to be. I, however, have lost 50lbs (twice) on my own with clean eating and exercising and am an (almost) doctorally-prepared nurse. I can read through the research, know which statistics and data are real and which are not, and help people make educated decisions because that's what I've trained to do.

I never want to be be preachy, I never want to be pushy, I never want to be a bully. My hope is that by being vulnerable and open about my experiences, I can help someone who is in the same boat. I don't believe in quick fixes and I don't believe in unhealthy and unsustainable programs that promise you'll lose 30lbs in two weeks. I believe in nutrition and exercise science. I believe that working hard and treating your body well is the best gift you can give yourself.

I'm starting another round of "80 Day Obsession" on June 4th. I'll post some more about it this week and I'm so excited to share this part of my experience with anyone who is interested.

Egg Roll Bowl

Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I love adore am obsessed with any kind of Asian food. Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. The flavor combinations a lot of these foods offer are probably what I dream about most nights. Spicy, sweet, salty. NOM NOM. It can sometimes be tricky to find healthy options that aren't boring ("ugh" to all the times I've ordered chicken with mixed vegetables, sauce on the side), so I'm always looking for recipes to try to recreate my faves at home. My boyfriend and I made homemade beef with broccoli once and it was awesome! He fully embraces my love of all things Asian food, except sushi :/ He's always down to split some of our fave takeout fried rice with me though. 


I found a recipe this week that I knew I needed in my life ASAP: egg roll bowl.  I LOVE EGG ROLLS. I didn't until recently, but now, I crave them all the time, even especially the ones in the hospital cafeteria. If you're looking for your egg roll fix, but a little healthier, you're welcome in advance :*

Egg Roll Bowl (from "Grounded and Surrounded")
Serves: 4

• 16 oz spicy ground turkey sausage, browned
• 16 oz package of coleslaw
• 1 red pepper, julienned
• 5 green onions, thinly sliced 
• 5 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1/4 cup soy sauce or coconut aminos (I used low sodium soy sauce)
• 1 tsp ground ginger powder

1. In a large pan, brown turkey sausage.
2. Next, add in bag of coleslaw, red pepper slices, whites of onion, and grated garlic. Saute with browned meat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Last, mix in ground ginger powder and soy sauce. Saute another 2 minutes and serve warm!
4. Top with greens of onions and enjoy

SO GOOD!!!!!! I topped mine with a little sweet Thai chili sauce :)

Enjoy y'all! 

S

Healthy Pad Thai

I have a small to moderately-sized obsession with chicken Pad Thai. One time, I ordered it from Noodles and Company and they gave me shrimp and I cried. I think it was also during finals in midwifery school, so trust me, that was a normal emotional response.

Anyways, I try to follow a low(er) carb diet. I am fine with gluten and all that, but I have found that eating lots of carbs (like pastas or bread) makes me tired and sluggish. I still eat fruit, I still eat whole-grain, sprouted toast (Ezekial bread 4 lyfe), but overall, I try to minimize carbz. So, a sad absence from my beloved Pad Thai was noted.

UNTIL I FOUND THIS RECIPE!!!!!! Zoooooooodles are my new fave. I've had a spiralizer for a year or so and never used it. Well, I finally did and I'm so happy, but be careful because that sucker is SHARP. This zoodle Pad Thai is SO good and full of flavor that I don't even miss the noodles.  Note that it doesn't have bean sprouts or egg, which are pretty traditional in Pad Thai. So, maybe this isn't technically Pad Thai. I'm not an expert, homies, I just like good food.

Healthy Thai Peanut Chicken and Zucchini Noodles

1 garlic clove, minced
 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced 
4 tablespoons of peanut butter 
1 lime, zested and juiced 
2 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium! I used 1 tbsp of coconut aminos and 1 of low sodium soy sauce)
¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes 
2 tablespoons of canola oil (I used EVOO here and it was just fine) 
2 cups chicken breast, cooked and shredded 
3 zucchini, spiral sliced 
2 large carrots, spiral sliced 
1 red pepper, spiral sliced 
⅓ cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
 ¼ cup of green onions, diced 
chopped unsalted roasted peanuts and lime wedges, optional as a garnish

What to Do:
1. Add the garlic, ginger, peanut butter, lime juice and zest, soy sauce and red pepper flakes to a small bowl and mix together. 
2. To a large frying pan, add your oil on high heat. 
3. Add the zucchini, carrots and bell peppers to the pan and cook until just wilted, 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
4. Add in the chicken, sauce, cilantro and green onions and toss together until all warmed through. 
5. Garnish with sesame seeds and wedges of lime if desired.

*According to the recipe, it serves 6. I think 4 and that's with relatively small portions, but maybe this lady isn't as hungry as me? Idk. Also, I'm gonna try this with powdered PB next time to cut down on some of the fat, but seriously, this is signif better for you than takeout. Eat it, love it, don't cry when your takeout order is wrong.

<3
S

#RealTalk

I have a little time off before I start my new job, so I took the morning off today from studying/paper-writing/discussion-board-stalking to have a cup of coffee and watch something on Netflix. I watch a lot of cooking competition shows (I promise no one shouts at the screen like I do when I watch "Chopped"), so a lot of my recommended programs are food-based. The documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" came up. I've heard about it in the past and thought "Eh, why not?"

It follows the journey of one man who uses juicing to change his life and essentially cure himself of a rare autoimmune disorder he had previously been taking steroids to control. He juices for 60 days, traveling across America and meeting real people and talking about people's relationship with food in this country. He meets a truck driver in Arizona named Phil who later reaches out to him for help. Phil juices, adopts a new lifestyle, and loses a lot of weight. Phil had some ups and downs after the film came out, which you can read about right here.

That article made me cry in my kitchen as I diced some butternut squash. Big tears so, no worries, I put down the large chef knife because I like my hands the way they are. No, I'm not a 400lb man who drives trucks, but what he said resonated so deeply with me that I have to get this out. If you don't want to read some #deeptalk, no worries. I'll post some yum recipes later this week when I'm avoiding homework again. If you want to get real, read on.

Some of you know this, most of you don't, but I have struggled with an unhealthy relationship with food for as long as I can remember. I have no exact reasoning behind it. I grew up with the MOST AMAZING family with a mom who always made dinner for us. No, it wasn't salad every night, but her meals were nutritious and so good. The thing is, I got chubby and then overweight, and then (according to BMIs) obese. It could be a slow metabolism, maybe a thyroid thing, but I've never gotten bloodwork done about it, so I'm not sure. I grew up playing softball, tennis, lacrosse, and I swam. I was never an amazing athlete, but I wasn't awful. All I know is that I never looked like my friends, the majority of whom were tall and thin. I don't remember a time where I felt comfortable in shorts or a swimsuit. In high school, I distinctly remember a guy tell me in the cafeteria that I should "go take some diet pills or something".  I was 16 years old.

When I got to college, it didn't get better. I went to a school known for having beautiful, skinny girls with credit cards with no limits. I will never, ever regret the time I spent there (I still consider it home), but I became a product of my environment. I was obsessed with how I looked, what I wore, etc. I'd eat healthy (healthy-ish) in front of my friends, then I would drive to a suburb about 30 minutes from campus and binge-eat Zaxby's because for some reason, it made me feel better.

After I moved to Houston, my weight continued to increase. I ate whatever, I worked out rarely. Every now and then, I'd start some crazy diet, lose a few lbs and then get back into my old habits. I put up with a lot of really bad relationships because I was grateful that somebody wanted to date me when I barely wanted to look in the mirror. This past January, I decided I was tired of feeling that way. I was tired of feeling tired and sluggish. I was tired of my stomach always hurting. I was tired of getting migraines. I was tired of going shopping and never wanting to try stuff on because I didn't think it'd fit and I was embarrassed to ask for a bigger size. So, I did something about it.

I'm not going to tell you it was, or is, easy. That I wake up every day and juice some kale and smile like some weird commercial. Or that I put my shoes on every morning, ready for my workout. That's not true. It's hard. I have worked my butt off to get my Masters and I'm working on my Doctorate and it a'int easy...but this, this daily battle I have found myself in, is the hardest work I've ever done. There are days that I don't win. There are days when I drive up to the Zaxby's in Cypress, eat this massive meal, and cry the entire way home. There are days when I eat to the point of getting physically ill and then I feel better, as if pushing my body so far that I get sick means the calories are simply erased. But, more often than not, there are days where I scramble up some egg whites with arugula and drink coffee on my balcony. There are days where I do a quick, 30-minute workout (see my last post!!!) and then even have some time to go to my favorite kickboxing class at the gym. There are days when my wonderful, sweet boyfriend makes me Chicken Tikka Masala and gets whole-wheat naan because he knows how important this is to me. It's funny because those are the days that I feel the happiest. Those are the days that I sleep better. Those are the days that I am a better nurse, better friend, better sister, better girlfriend, better daughter. Taking care of myself lets me take care of the people (and patients!!) that I love.

So, if you are reading this and think no one else knows what it feels like to feel fat, looked down on, weak, sad, tired, frustrated, defeated, or depressed, you're wrong. I've been there and sometimes I still am there. Every day, you have opportunity to treat your body well. Make small changes, then make bigger ones. No one else is going to do this for you. You owe it yourself to feel happy and beautiful <3


Happy Holidays
S

Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself..

I'm the absolute worst at this consistent blogger thing. Between starting my doctoral program, working, and trying to maintain some level of fun-this blog kinda took a backseat. As did my eating healthy and working out on a regular basis. In mid-October, I was down 65 pounds from January! Starting December, I had gained about 15lbs of that back. I could blame school or work or the fact that I live in a town with some of the most amazing restaurants I've ever been to. But really, it's because I got a little lazy. I slipped back into some old habits and could feel my body getting sluggish and missing how good I had been to it earlier this year.

Enter my girl Autumn Calabrese. You may have heard of her, you may have not. She is a Beachbody celebrity trainer (and former EQX trainer....gotta keep it in the family!) who created 21 Day Fix. I credit her for about 80% of my success on this journey. When people ask me how I've lost the weight, 21 Day Fix is what I tell them. Yes, I did work out with an amazing trainer and still take group fitness classes along with Autumn's workouts, but I wholeheartedly believe, and she taught me this, you can't out-work out a bad diet. For me, what works is following the 21DF meal plan based on clean eating and a lot of really wonderful foods.

So, on Monday, I re-committed to this whole "be good to yourself" thing. I have about 40 more pounds to say goodbye to and needed a way to get there that I know works. Autumn started a challenge group to complete all 4 of her Beachbody programs (21DF, Chisel, 21DF Extreme, and Country Heat) all in a row. Every day for the next 3 and a half months, I'll carve out 30-40 minutes of my day to do the daily workout. I'll eat the meals that I plan and prep. I have spreadsheets and a new planner just for planning my food and workouts (I know, I'm weird). I have 28,000 (yup!!!!!) other people motivating me on Facebook as we go through this journey together. So, if you see me at work measuring out my food in these crazy, little containers or limping down the hallway because #LegDay,  it's all good. I have found such happiness and confidence in building the best version of myself. There is nothing better than pushing yourself and seeing what you are capable of.

If you are reading this and you want to know more about 21 Day Fix or meal planning, please let me know. I'd love to help any way I can :)

Here are some dope recipes I've made this week:

21 DF Beef and Broccoli (I added half a red onion to this, left out a cup of peas, and no rice....it's so good)
21 DF Cheeseburger Skillet (This is AMAZING and SO easy...I added some diced bell peppers for more vegetables)
Bananas Foster Overnight Oats (My go-to workday breakfast....prep a few, keep them in the fridge, grab one and roll on out the door)


Sending you lots of love and thank you for all the support,

S

Thai Chicken Meatballs and My Awkward Interaction With the Meat Guy

What up, y'all?

I'd like to think that at some point in my life, I'll outgrow my ability to occasionally be super awkward. At almost 26.5 years of age, I'm not sure it's happening soon. Case in point: I found a recipe from my new favorite food blog ("The Garlic Diaries") and went to my local grocery store to get the ingreds. I head to the meat department where I ask the young man behind the counter for a pound of ground chicken. At this point, I should have just stayed quiet or re-watched Kim's Snapchat story (I'll always love ya, Tay...but dang, girl). Instead I made that b**** famous small talk:

Me: "It's weird, I didn't even know ground chicken was a thing"
Meat Guy (his superhero name): "Yeah"
Me: (SHANNON, LEARN TO HUSH): "Yeah, haha, I guess you could grind up anything you want and sell it and we wouldn't even know.
Meat Guy: *Blank stare*

I'm blaming "Criminal Minds" for my ability to turn what would be a horrific crime into casual conversation.

Anyways, yes, ground chicken is a thing and if you like Thai food (and who doesn't?? My roommate it turns out :/) you'll love these little bad boys.

It's "21 Day Fix" approved and you know that ish is my jam.

Chicken Meatballs with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce (From "The Garlic Diaries")

Serves: 4 (4 meatballs per serving...and btw 1 red, 1 blue, 1/4 yellow, and 1/2 teaspoon for my 21 Day Fix babies)

(Hahahaha, it makes me laugh how bad my food pics are. Hey, it's taken on an iPhone, and I was hungry, and honestly I don't give a hoot)

Ingredients:

1lb of ground chicken
1 egg
1/2 cup whole-wheat panko
1 teaspoon salt
Some black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh, grated ginger
1 clove garlic, grated
3 green onions (the green and white parts)
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock (I got a low-sodium kind)
1/4 cup unsweetened original almond milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
Basil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mush the chicken, egg, salt, pepper, and panko all together
3. Make meatballs outta that mixture (For 21DF purposes, I made 16 since 4 is one serving). Bake them for ten minutes, take them out and flip 'em around, and then bake for 5 more minutes.
4. Heat the olive oil in a skillet
5. Add the garlic, onions, and ginger and cook them for a few minutes
6. Add the curry paste and mix it all up
7. Add the coconut milk and chicken stock and stir
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir it every so often until it thickens
9.Turn off the heat and add the almond milk
10. Season with salt and pepper, if needed
11. Add the meatballs and stir them around so they get saucy
12. Chop some basil and toss it on the meatballs


SO GOOOOOOOD. Enjoy, homies.