Fake It ‘Til You Make ItApril 11, 2011

Spring has sprung. At least for most states and countries above the equator it has. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, we’re happy to get a few minutes of sunshine before the wind starts blowing and the rain starts pelting its tired citizens. But that’s okay, because I’ve taken it upon myself to create spring in my home.

Faking like it’s spring until the sun does decide to come out is a much more reasonable way to beat the crummy weather blues than say, looking up at the sky and screaming obscenities in hopes that it will finally get warm and sunny. I’ve tricked myself into spring using these time-tested techniques:

-Polishing my nails in obnoxiously bright colors
-Taking Clint for short walks while whistling and doing my best to enjoy gray days
-Changing the throw pillows to light, cheery colors
-Going to hot yoga to trick my body into thinking its at a beach in Rio
-Putting bright sheets on the beds
-Spiking my smoothies with frozen ripe strawberries to trick my stomach into thinking it’s summertime
-Whipping up a delicious dinner of fresh “His & Hers Fajitas” to summon some Cinco de Mayo fun in April…

Let's start with a marinade for the chicken and tofu. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and added my own flair to it. Drop 2 tablespoons of safflower oil or olive oil into a medium size bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of worchestershire sauce.

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin. Add another 1/2 tsp if you're into cumin. I'm not.

slice about 3 or 4 limes in half and squeeze their juice into the contents of the bowl with the spices and sauces.

Now take some freshly rinsed cilantro and chop it. Add a few tablespoons to the marinade.

Now pop the cork on some decent white wine that's not sweet and pour about 1/2 cup into the marinade. The original recipe calls for beer, but I so don't do beer. Because beer tastes like stomach bile.

Voila. Now that we're done with the marinade, let's start prepping the items that it will season.

Take a beautiful skinless organic chicken breast. I'm very into the organic and free-range thing when it comes to meat for my man, but it is more expensive. If it's not in your budget, just buy the other stuff, but at some point, try organic meat. This beauty was on sale for $5 and some change at Whole Foods, and yielded a decent amount of meat.

After rinsing and drying thoroughly, slice into strips.

Pour half the marinade over the sliced chicken strips. Cover the dish and put in fridge while prepping the next items. Ideally, it'd be best to let it sit for a few hours in the fridge, but I'm not much of a pre-planner when it comes to stuff like this.

After swaddling a block of extra firm tofu to strain it properly,

slice it up,

Then pour the marinade over it and let it sit in the fridge.

Now for the fun part. Rinse 2 bell peppers. These are organic.

Slice.

Now toss them in a hot saute pan a few times. Don't overcook them or they'll lose a lot of their vitamins and nutrients. These are done enough: slightly charred on the outside, but still crispy on the inside and brightly-colored.

Slice into strips.

Toss.

Slice into strips.

Toss. Anyone see a pattern here?

This would be a good time to toss the tortillas into a warm oven. Just set the oven on Warm.

Now put the marinated chicken into a saute pan and brown.

Then do the same with the tofu.

Now set everything out all pretty like.

And enjoy. This is the view from my side of the table. My husband had already demolished a large portion of his half at this point, so photos weren't going to happen.

Your Healthiest Life: I’ve made it a point lately to go lighter on the salt. Because I don’t measure most of my seasonings, I tend to slowly start to go overboard sometimes and have to be reigned back in. I would normally have salted the sauteed veggies as well as the marinade, but I decided to wait until the food was done to taste and add a bit of it here and there. It’s a good habit to take your salt use into account once in a while when cooking for yourself and loved ones. Less is best.

QUESTION: How do you trick yourself into thinking it’s summertime?

 
  • http://www.justcallmesassy.blogspot.com Lauren @ Sassy Molassy

    Mmm… that looks awesome! And I always love your nail polish color!

  • Flower Petal Blooming

    I am with you on the nail polish – just bought a new Essie coral coloured one – cant wait to put it on!

    As much time in the hot room as possible.

    Weekend trips to see friends (and do yoga).

    Wear shoes (not boots)!

    Appreciate the brighter days every day :)

  • http://missfitbliss.com missfitbliss

    Thank you Sassy! Bright nails keep me in a great mood!

  • http://missfitbliss.com missfitbliss

    yes Flower! Totally with you on that list. Especially the wearing shoes thing – I just broke up with my boots today;)

  • http://www.bloggingoverthyme.com Laura (Blogging Over Thyme)

    This looks delicious! And I love bright springy nail polish too. I am always messing it up because I move to quickly and end up smudging half my fingers right after I paint them–but it’s still fun :)

  • http://twitter.com/NicciNiftyEats Nicci

     Looks great, I love fajitas and bright colored nails always lift my mood. 

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