Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken w/ Butternut Squash

Just thought I would post a couple recipes we had for dinner the other night.

YUM!

We had Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken with butternut squash and salad on the side.

Here ya go…

Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken

From AllRecipes.com

• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons lite mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon steak sauce (I used A1)
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce.

Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting.

Dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat.

Grill chicken on outdoor grill for about 20 minutes (10 on each side) until no longer pink inside and juices run clear.

Baste occasionally with the reserved sauce.

OR

(this is what I did) Put coated chicken on broiler pan (I don’t know what happened to my real broiler pan, so I had to improvise! 😉 )

Broil in the oven about 10-15 minutes each side or until cooked through (no pink) and juices run clear.

Baste with reserved sauce occasionally.

Yummy and easy!

K, I also baked some butternut squash to go on the side.  There are a million ways to prepare squash, but I found a yummy little recipe on Taste of Home.com

Here ya go…

Baked Butternut Squash

• 1 butternut squash (2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 6 teaspoons brown sugar, divided (I only used 3 though)

Cut squash in half lengthwise.

Discard seeds. (I just used a large spoon to “clean” it out.)

Brush squash halves with butter.

In a small bowl, combine the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper; sprinkle over squash halves.

Place 2 teaspoons brown sugar in each half.

Sprinkle remaining brown sugar over cut sides of squash.

Place in 9×13 baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Cover and bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

Uncover; bake 15-25 minutes longer until squash is tender. (I had to cook mine quite a bit longer though…maybe 1 1/2 hours total.)

The only thing that was hard about this meal is that the chicken had to broil and the squash had to bake.

I cooked my squash first and then let it sit on the counter covered with foil while the chicken baked.

Kind of a pain, but it worked!

Here’s my plate…

I just made a quick salad on the side…Romaine, grape tomatoes, pecans topped with lite Ranch!

Bon Appetit!

I’m Baaaack!!

Well, I’m back from a wonderfully long weekend of running and little sleep!  I had such a great time running the Epic Relay race!  I’ll give you a quick recap of my weekend…

Friday:

• Woke up at 4:30 AM to get ready for the race
• 7:15 AM–Ran my first leg (7.39 miles) and I felt so so so good!  I averaged an 8:45/mile pace including a couple quick hydrating and Gu stops.
• Took a short (but very refreshing) 1 1/2 hour nap on a church lawn in a sleeping bag.
• 6:30 PMish–Ran my second leg (4.67 miles).  It was my shortest, but ended up being my hardest leg.  It was pretty hot outside and was mostly uphill.  Blah.  Oh, I think I also averaged an 8:45/mile pace.

Saturday:

• 2:00 AMish–slept on a dirt parking lot in a sleeping bag for about 3 or so hours.  It was freeeezing (about 38 degrees) and I wasn’t prepared for that!  All of our sleeping bags and pillows were wet when we woke up.  Needless to say, this was not the highlight of the weekend!
• 5:30 AMish–woke up, quickly got the truck packed and got ready to run our last legs.
• 6:00 AMish–Ran my last leg (5.44 miles) and it was great!  I loved running at sunrise…very very rejuvenating!  My IT Band was buggin’ and I had a few sore toenails, but other than that I felt great.  I was ready to be done though!  I think I averaged in the low 9s/mile pace on this one.  I held back a little because I wasn’t sure how my body would hold up!
• Our entire 12 person team finished the race around 4:30 PM!  It was great!

We had such a fun time!  We ran 205+ miles in 33 hours!  I got a total of about 9 hours of sleep the whole weekend long!  It was awesome!

The team members who rode in the first "van" (which was actually a truck)....we had such a fun team!

Kev and I just before I started my first leg (I was the first runner too!) Our team name was "Stayin' Alive"....hence the lovely costumes.

Our entire 12 (13 with our alternate) person team at the finsh line! Woo Hoo!

I really had such a fun time, but I’ve had a little bit of a hard time recovering and getting back into normal life!  I think the sleep deprivation took a greater toll on my body than the running!  I am barely sore today, but I am still draggin’ from lack of sleep!! 

I must be getting old!

BUT……………I am back on the wagon today with a vengeance!  It feels so good to be “in control” again.  I can’t say it’s easy, but it’s awesome.

I thought I would share what I ate today….

Breakfast was a typical Veggie Egg Scramble.  I love this breakfast because it’s fast, easy, healthy and only ~150 calories!

4 egg whites + bell peppers, onions, green beans, salsa and fresh tomatoes from our garden! Yum!

Lunch was this…

Red grapes, Multigrain Wheat Thins and carrots, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from the garden

and this…

Cheese Crisps! Looks weird, I know! But, they are awesome!

The cheese crisps are so simple….you just cut up a string cheese (the picture above is 2 string cheeses because I shared with my kids!)

Here's what it looks like before...

Then you just put them in the microwave for about a minute, or until they get a little brown.  Let them cool for a minute and enjoy!  Very yummy!  Oh, and that entire lunch was only about 280 calories!

My afternoon snack was my Microwavable Chocolate Cake that I love so much!!!  I didn’t take a picture, but I made it without chocolate chips and I topped it with a little whipped cream in a can!  It was about 145 calories and just what I needed!  Yum!

I also had another small snack later on…

I had 1/2 of one of these (100 calories). These are yummy. This kind is my fav (Toasted Coconut). I've also tried Peanut Butter, but I don't like it as well.

Dinner was Grilled Chicken, Salad and fruit.  I had a busy night and Grilled Chicken is always my go-to meal when I want something healthy, but I don’t have a lot of time.  I also used the easiest marinade on the planet…

Ta Da!! Salad Dressing. I really like to use light Italian dressing, but this is what I had on hand. It was yummy too!

I just threw the chicken in a giant Ziploc, poured some vinaigrette in the bag and let it marinate for a few hours.

Chicken and marinade in the bag!

Getting ready to put it in the fridge...

When Kev got home from work, he grilled it up and I made a quick salad to go with it (Romaine, Iceberg, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Cheddar and almonds!)  We also had some strawberries and watermelon on the side.  Light, healthy and yummy!

Here's my plate...I topped the salad with a little lite Ranch.

Well…that is all.  I felt really good about my diet today.  I did feel a little hungry at times, but never too bad.  It actually wasn’t too hard.  I may eat a lot of these same things tomorrow!  I really don’t think eating healthy is hard if you plan ahead and choose yummy things to eat!