Happy St. Patty’s Day, my friends!

Do you guys LOVE celebrating this day by drinking green beer and eating corned beef and cabbage? 

If you do, that’s great and I’m happy for you.  But you guys have seen me – I couldn’t be any less Irish. Ever since I was a kid, I have always thought this day was kind of, well, dumb.  Sorry.  But it’s true.  I have no reason to celebrate being Irish and while I understand Bostonians celebrating it (they are ALL Irish), I’m not really sure I understand the infatuation the rest of the country has with this day.

Nonetheless, I love good beer and my favorite color is green, so today is not all bad.  It certainly was especially fun in college!  But now that I’m getting older, I’m going to use this day to celebrate my nationality.  And, no, I’m not Italian despite your best instincts.  I’m Portuguese and I wanted to share THE BEST recipe with you to give you a lil’ Portuguese flair on the day of green. 

I figure I can give St. Patrick a shout-out on any day by boiling potatoes and serving it with a slab of boiled meat  

RELAX.  I’m only kidding.  My best friend’s last name is Russell, okay?  I *heart* the Irish.

But certainly not as much as I love linguica, or chourico, which is a Portuguese sausage and the rock star of this recipe.  Luckily, I live in an area of MA that has a large Portuguese population, so it’s quite easy for me to find this sausage in the supermarket.  However, just north of here is a whole different ballgame.  In other parts of the country, it’s nearly impossible to find.  So I’ve done a little research for you!   

I found three places that allow you to order it online.  Here, here and here.

Linguica is best described as pork meat (don’t ask what part) in an all-natural casing that has been seasoned with spices, including garlic, paprika and other spices.  Chourico is basically the same, but with a slightly spicier taste.  Both sausages are not the same as Chorizo, which is a Mexican sausage and more readily available throughout the US.

Unfortunately, the Neto Sausage Company does not sell the meat ground, which is what you will need for this recipe.  If you are interested in trying linguica on the grill at your next BBQ, then by all means, buy the links.  Furtado’s and Gaspar’s also offer patties, which are my favorite way to grill them.

Before we move on, I realize this meat is unhealthy and not very KD-approved.  However, since this blog is dedicated to a balance, I think this meal is fine to enjoy in moderation like everything else.  If you’re someone that can’t stomach the thought of eating a sausage then you can skip right to today’s eats.  I grew up eating this meal for special occasions and family get-togethers.  I’m still here and living to tell about out   So just give it a try!

Any friend I’ve ever introduced to it has loved it.  It also makes a great topping on pizza!

I think I’ve talked this up enough now, don’t you?

Linguica and Peppers

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of ground chourico or linguica
• 2 cans of 15 oz. Hunts tomato sauce
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 medium size white onion (optional, but brings great flavor to dish)
• Portuguese rolls (or equivalent…bulkie deli rolls will do)

 Directions:

1. Finely chop pepper and onion
2. Place linguica in medium size crock pot
3. Mix in tomato sauce, pepper and onion

 Cook in crock pot on low until onions and peppers are soft.  Cooking times will vary, depending on the crock pot.  I generally cook 4 – 5 hours on low.  Stir occasionally and enjoy on toasted roll.

This is SO EASY and SO DELICIOUS.  For anyone that’s had mine, you now see how easy it to create your own batch at home.  The recipe above will make A LOT so it’s great for potlucks.  It also freezes very well.  If you end up making this, let me know how it turns out!

Now let’s have confession time.  I am always telling you guys to listen to your bodies and today I did the exact opposite.  I know, I know.  When the alarm went off this morning, I was startled by it.  This almost never happens.  I generally wake up a few minutes prior to the alarm going off and begin to plan my workout.  When this doesn’t happen, I know I’m exhausted.  And I was.  Big time.

I still went to the gym.  This is the complete opposite of everything I say!  Eek!  My reasoning was that Mr. KD was waking up for hockey in half an hour and it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to get sleep anyway.  So I dragged my behind to the gym and busted out 50 minutes on the Arc Trainer and a weight session for shoulders and triceps.

At the end of my workouts, I generally feel ready to tackle the day and am invigorated.  Today, I felt exhausted and even had a slight headache. I blame this on two things.  First, I definitely have a cold and although my runny nose is annoying, I’m not feeling too bad during the day.  Perhaps I’m more run-down than I realize.  Secondly, I’m just getting old.  I realize some of you are rolling your eyes, but let me explain.  I used to have no problem with six days of exercise.  Now I often feel like it’s too much (five days is perfect) and I need more sleep.  Does anyone else feel this way?

If I feel like this tomorrow morning, I’m staying in bed.  Mr. KD doesn’t have hockey so he won’t be waking up as early, so I can get a few more hours of shut-eye.  I plan to go to bed early tonight though and hope for the best tomorrow morning

Today’s breakfast was a delicious bowl of oats!  I used up the last of my pumpkin.  I’ll definitely be buying more at the store this week!

In the mix:

• 1/3 oats
• 1/3 pumpkin
• ¼ unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• Dash of salt
• Dash of vanilla
• Drizzle of agave
• Cinnamon

Toppings:

• Naturally Nutty Chocolate Toffee Butter

Someone asked me recently what the difference was with this nut butter and a plain, all-natural.  This particular brand has added omega-3’s and flaxseed.  Love it!  The Peanut Butter & Co flavor, however, is simply more of a treat.  It’s still all-natural and has no hydrogenated oils or trans fat, but any time you add white chocolate to create a flavor, it’s obviously better for you to eat the plain, all-natural.  I like to think I use all three pretty consistently for different things.

Lunch was leftover Orzo with Chicken Sausage and Sun-dried tomatoes. 

So tasty!

Snack time was met face-to-face with a Strawberry Chobani.

Dinner was an easy one tonight!  CHEESEBURGERS!  Woo hoo!

We didn’t have any sliced cheese, so I decided to do inside-out cheeseburgers!  They’re simple and fun, so why not!?

I originally got this idea from Hungry Girl way back when, but this is completely different than her recipe.  You can search her site for hers.

I wanted to use up the remaining cheddar cheese we had leftover from the Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower, so I sliced some up.  I then mixed 96% lean ground beef with a dash of salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic and paprika.  I then shaped the beef into 8 mini patties.  Place a wedge of cheese onto four of the patties.  Top with the remaining four and pinch to seal edges.  Cook to your liking.  We cooked them right on the George Foreman.

I served this with leftover frozen, mixed veggies that I cooked up on Saturday afternoon.

Obviously, this meal was also served with French fries!  What’s a burger without the fries?  We always –and I mean always – keep a frozen bag of Ore Ida Golden Fries on hand.  Sure, it’s healthier to cut your own potatoes, but sometimes, it’s just easier to have them on hand and frozen.  And for only 120 calories for 14 fries, they are tough to beat! 

That weird little green drizzle is some green Tobasco.  Don’t fret.  It’s nothing gross.  Between the tabasco and pickles, I’m celebrating with a little green.  Give me some credit!

I’m off to relax and hit the hay early!  Hoping to wake up ENERGIZED!

Until we eat again…

Question of the day:  Since we are all about saying nice things to ourselves, what is your favorite physical trait?

Mine is my hair!  While it was a burden when I was a kid, I love it now and can’t imagine having straight hair.  My hair IS me and I wouldn’t change it for the world!