Asparagus and Basmati Rice

Hi Everyone,

You may have noticed that I finally out grew my old, and I mean old Blackberry phone and upgraded to an iPhone!  Yah!  I LOVE it!  Honestly, it’s been a few days and I don’t know what I would do without it.  I have been having fun playing with Instagram and now I can share photos with you throughout my day.  A lot of you ask me, what do you eat as your meals?  Well, now I can show you.  Some of them are repeat recipes, or just recipes that I don’t want to blog about because they are pretty basic, so now I will post them for you, so you can see.  If you would like to follow me on Instagram, you can, by going here.  If you have an Instagram account and want me to follow you back, just link it below.

Since I haven’t really updated you on my eating habits and workouts, I thought I would do that here.  I was doing really good on my eating and then I went to Monterey and blew it all.  Oh man did I eat bad!!  Desserts every night, lots of bread, granola coming out my ears and I couldn’t stop.  By the time I came home from a 4 day trip I gained 3 pounds.  Not good at all.  So last week, I decided to kick myself into gear!   I exercised 5 days last week, by doing spinning, elliptical and weight training.  I only exercised for about 30 – 45 minutes, but pushed myself  hard.  As for eating, I stayed away from bread, except for one day, limited my sweets to the Cannoli’s that I posted on Sunday and ate big salads, protein and lots of vegetables throughout the week and even had a protein shake for breakfast Mon – Fri.  My snacks were snap peas in the morning (I love them), and yogurt with fruit in the afternoon.  I lost the three pounds I gained and two more pounds, so that is a total of 5 pounds last week.  That’s a lot, but my guess is that most of it was water weight.  I know this week, I won’t do as well, but I’m hoping to drop at least 1 – 2 pounds to be practical   It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  My biggest problem is snacking when I get home from work, so I kept myself busy by exercising, blogging and doing housework.  I’m going to try it again this week and see how I do!   One of my side dishes I had last week was my Asparagus and Basmati Rice.

I love asparagus, but my Husband is not a fan of it, unless I wrap it in bacon or prosciutto, so I needed to come up with a dish that I can use it with that I know he would eat to.  I decided to use my asparagus in a rice side dish, since my Husband is a fan of rice.  I sautéed up some onions, garlic, bell pepper, threw in some chicken stock and cut up asparagus, spinach and tomatoes.  It turned out wonderful, and since there is a higher ratio of vegetables to rice it’s pretty low-calorie.

I served this rice with a side of chicken and for me, I topped my rice with a pinch of Parmesan Cheese and Balsamic dressing, my Husband put soy sauce over his.  I left the salad more on the plain side so we could add whatever dressing or toppings we want, if any.  This dish is satisfying, healthy and oh so good!  I had left overs for lunch the next day, I placed the rice of a bed of lettuce and added some leftover chicken from dinner, a drizzle of balsamic dressing and had a nice quick salad.   It didn’t even need to be heated up, it was just right the way it was.  I even nibbled on some leftovers straight from the fridge.  I love healthy, tasty dishes like this and you do know if you have too much leftovers, you can freeze it to.  That’s what I normally do with my rice dishes, but not this one, I had plans to eat it until it was gone!

Asparagus and Basmati Rice

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 5 Cups (4 servings)

• Serving size: 1½ cups

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  12 mins

Total time:  22 mins

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A healthy, vegetarian rice salad loaded with asparagus, tomatoes and bell pepper.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups basmati rice, cooked
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• ¾ cup sweet bell pepper, diced
• ½ cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 cup asparagus, cut into ¼" pieces
• ¼ tsp. ground pepper
• ¾ cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 cups spinach, fresh

Instructions

1. Cook Rice according to directions on package. I used a half cup dry to 1 cup water (add rice and water to a pot, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 12 minutes, fluff with a fork).
2. In a skillet, add olive oil, onions, peppers and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes until slightly soften. Add chicken broth, asparagus and black pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and spinach, stir until spinach is wilted.
3. Stir in rice and serve.

Notes

Calories: 127.8, Fat: 2.2, Cholesterol: 0, Sodium: 25, Potassium: 398, Carbs: 25, Fiber: 2.9, Sugar: .01, Protein: 4.3

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Well my Friends, I have lots of catch up work to be done, like laundry and making dinner and so on.  It seems like chores never end!

Have  a great day!

Toodles,

Jennifer

P.S.  The winner of the 24 Hours of Peanut Butter giveaway is

Nikki
Comment: Favorite peanut butter recipe: my moms peanut butter cookies. I make them whenever I want the kitchen to smell like my childhood. Yumm now I’m craving some.

Please e-mail within 48 hours or I will have to pick another winner!  Congratulations!!!  My e-mail is [email protected]om

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