The Perfect Sunday Dinner: Veggie Chili & Corn Muffins

Weekend Recap 

Yesterday I got to see my awesome friend Angi at her baby shower. I met her when I first moved out to San Diego, and she became my partner in crime when our Marines were deployed together. Last year her and her hubby moved to Arizona and I miss her horribly! It was great seeing her and getting to catch up a bit (and inappropriately touch her baby bump more than once!).

Did you know that it’s National Park Week?

Harley and I went for a long hike this afternoon at our nearby regional park. Usually it’s pretty busy there on a Sunday, but today, there was barely anyone around. Kind of nice, slightly creepy. My legs are still sore from my workout last Friday, and they were feeling seriously fatigued a bit into our hike. But we made it to the top! The puppy seemed pretty pooped (but happy) by the time we got up there:

awesome shadow shot!

I even saw a hummingbird on my way down the mountain. The best pic my iPhone could get:

Onto food… 

This evening I made a hearty & healthy meal that seemed perfect for a Sunday dinner – homemade chili and corn muffins! I mixed the cornbread batter up first, threw it in the oven, and then made the chili while the muffins were cooking.

Veggie Chili, adapted from this recipe for Insanely Easy Vegetarian Chili

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped 
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• A few TBSPs of water to sauté veggies
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 stalk of celery, sliced
• 2 c of Morning Star Grillers recipe veggie crumbles
• 1 TSP chili powder
• 1 15-oz can of whole peeled plum tomatoes, with liquid, chopped
• 1 15-oz can of kidney beans with liquid
• 1 c whole kernel corn (I used canned)
• Vegetable stock to thin out mixture, optional (I used 1/2 cup)
• Pepper, oregano, dried basil to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onions, carrots, and garlic in a bit of water until tender. Add in bell peppers, celery,  and chili powder, and cook for a few minutes until tender.

Stir in tomatoes, beans, “meat” crumbles and corn. Add vegetable stock if you’d like, then season with pepper, oregano, and dried basil. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Nutrition stats: 230 calories, 3 g fat, 16 g protein, 42 g carbs

To eat with my chili, I made the cornbread recipe from The Kind Diet. This cookbook has been getting some use lately! I made a few substitutions to the original recipe. One thing to note: the cookbook said to bake for around 25-30 minutes. When I checked on the muffins after 15 minutes, this is what they looked like:

Whoopsies. They were a little bit on the “well done” side, but still tasted yummy! Funny enough, the recipe notes that you shouldn’t peek on the muffins until the end of the recommended cooking time… well it’s a good thing I did! I think it had less to do with my subbing ingredients and more to do with my nutty oven. Nonetheless, I really like how they turned out a bit on the sweeter side, and they’re crazy easy to make.

Corn Muffins

Makes 6

What you need:

• 1/4 c molasses
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
• 2 TBSP safflower oil
• 3/4 c cornmeal
• 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 TSP baking soda
• 1/4 TSP salt

Preheat the oven to 400. Line muffin tin with 6 muffin cups.

Combine the molasses, syrup, milk, and oil in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry mix to the wet mix, and stir just until well combined.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups evenly, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (for me, this would have been probably about 12 minutes, in the cookbook they recommend 25-30 mins).

Facts per muffin: 175 calories, 5 g fat, 2 g protein, 31 g carbs

Zucchini “Pasta” & Peanut Butter Cups

[Blog Update: I’ve created a Foodie Meets Fitness Twitter account. There’s now a “Follow me” button on the sidebar here! Also, I just updated my recipe page.]

Earlier, I had a pretty good headache. It probably had something to do with my day’s happenings: after a night of tossing and turning, my super early wake-up call from my bank notifying me of fraudulent activity on my account once again (thanks, asshole!), concentrating a little too hard at my laptop screen and confusing the heck out of myself working on a project, and getting my taxes done this afternoon (woohoo, check that off my to-do list!). The solution to get my head feeling better and to kick off my 3-day weekend right?

Firstly, forgoing the gym to instead go for an hour hike with Harley at the park. The fresh air felt glorious, and the park was nearly empty, which is ideal when you have a wild puppy who zigzags from one side to another and has a minor conniption every time she sees another human being or dog (or bird or lizard for that matter). The low-key workout was also perfect since my strength training sess yesterday has my legs feeling nice and sore.

Second solution, one word – DESSERT. Trying out a new sweet recipe somehow makes stress nearly melt away! I didn’t want to completely skip over dinner, but since I knew I was going to indulge in dessert, I wanted to make something on the lighter side. I saw a recipe on Pinterest last night for zucchini “pasta” from The Daily Meal, and it turned out to be a great dish that I will most certainly be making again. I take no credit for it, and this was one of the rare instances that I didn’t alter a recipe I found. It was already as simple and delicious of a dish as it could be. You can find the original here, but I made it as a one person serving:

Lemony Zucchini “Pasta” with Goat Cheese & Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini
• 2 TBSP pine nuts
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus zest
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 oz goat cheese
• Salt & red pepper flakes

Boil a pot of water. Meanwhile, shave zucchini into thin strips with a vegetable peeler (or cheese slicer or mandoline). Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Place zucchini in boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Drain pot, and immediately put zucchini in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain, and place on a towel-lined plate to dry.

In a large bowl, toss zucchini with olive oil and lemon juice. Add the pine nuts and pieces of goat cheese. Zest some lemon on top, season with salt and pepper, and mix well.

Nutrition stats: 275 calories, 21 g fat, 13 g protein, 16 g carbs

If you’re looking for an awesome dessert to make for any occasion, seriously, this is it. They’re certainly not the healthiest dessert I’ve ever made, but they’re a perfect treat to satisfy a serious peanut butter craving! The recipe comes from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet (which is a really interesting book by the way!). Honestly, I’ve made a few of her meal recipes and have not been a big fan, but the desserts of hers that I’ve tried so far are delicious. I used the ingredients I had on hand, so although her book is all vegan eats, the way I made the recipe includes dairy. I also halved it, because I don’t really need/want 12 of these bad boys around! You can view her exact recipe here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Makes 6

• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (Side note: I would have preferred to use natural graham crackers as the recipe calls for, but I had these in my cabinet from when I made cheesecake strawberries for the Superbowl)
• 1/4 cup light butter
• 6 TBSP peanut butter (Peter Pan reduced fat)
• 2 TBSP brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 2 TBSP almond milk
• 2 TBSP chopped pecans

Line a muffin tin with 6 paper liners. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the PB, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar, and mix well. Remove the mixture from heat and spoon into the muffin cups evenly.

Combine the chocolate and milk in another pan and stir over medium heat until chocolate has melted. Spoon the chocolate evenly over the PB mixture, and top with nuts. Stick in the fridge to set for at least an hour or so before serving.

Facts per cup: 300 calories, 19 g fat, 6 g protein, 33 g carbs

Off to bed, goodnight!