Day 49: Muscles and Mussels...LOL

Hey yall!

Hope you have been keeping active and eating right!!!!

Today has been a pretty good day.  Had a great dinner that I want to share with you.  But first, YES, I did my workout for today PLYO max with Insanity and it was tough as always but it was good.  I am on my second to last week so I am pretty happy!  I have been getting stronger and I have noticed that my muscles are stronger and harder when I flex lol although you can't seem them all the way lol...they are coming!!!!  So keep at your workout regime and keep it new and fresh.  I am excited to go to the yoga studio more and start my boxing classes at a boxing gym!!!

I wanted to share a great recipe my sister Wylisha shared with me that was SOOOOOOOOOOO good but that is if you like MUSSELS!!!!  Mussels have many health benefits and can be made in so many different ways.  I may try this with clams soon too.  They are often on appetizer menus at Italians dining locations or found in pastas.  They can be steamed, baked, broiled and cooked in many ways.  They are low in fat and high in nutrients like Omega 3 and Iron.  They are HIGH IN PROTEIN and LOW IN CALORIES.  It has more protein than beef.  They also have B12 and selenium which is a micro-nutrient. I read this in an article on fitday.com so I am telling you the truth!! So time for the recipes!

SIMPLE AND EASY!!!

Mussels de la Salsa  (I made that name up didn't know the real name lol)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of Mussels
• 1 - 16oz Jar of Salsa
• 1/4 cup of water

1. Rinse your mussels and let them sit in a colander.  They should come with ice when you bring them home since they are alive.  Check and make sure there are no open mussels.  That means it is dead and you should not eat it due to bacteria.

2. Pour the water and salsa in a large pot. Turn in on med high to get the water boiling enough to create steam and be very hot.  Put your mussels in the pot with a lid on top slightly cracker to let steam out or you can try putting it on completely

3. Let the mussels steam for about 5 minutes.  I like to stir it atleast once while it steams to make sure sauce gets inside of mussels!

4. Put it in a nice serving dish or large bowl.  Sit down and enjoy!!!!

I ate this with a homemade corn tortilla and refried black beans.  My sister had rinsed black beans mixed with corn and cornbread with her meal.  Whatever you serve with it, it is a great meal!!!!

I also tried a recipe that was told to me by the seafood department worker.

This is about what it should look like when you add your salsa and water.

Wine Steamed Mussels

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Mussels
• 1-2 shallots
• 5-7 cloves of fresh garlic
• 2 T minced fresh parsley
• 1 Cup white wine or white cooking wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 T sea salt

The flavor is more mild than the recipe above but also very delicious.

Directions:

1. Rinse and check your mussels.  Make sure none of them are open.  If so, discard. Set aside.
2. Chop parsley, shallots, garlic and measure your white wine, water and salt.
3. Add the white wine, water, salt, garlic, shallots, and parsley into a large pot.
4. Turn on med high heat and let it begin to boil.  
5. Add the mussels and cook for about 5 minutes and pour into a serving dish.
6. Enjoy!!!  These would be good with a whole wheat pasta drizzled in olive oil, fresh parmesean, sprinkle of sea salt and cracked black pepper and a veggie of your choice.  Maybe roasted kale or sauteed spinach.

The ingredients

Chopped parsley, garlic and shallots

Yumminess in the bowl!!! So good I forgot to take a picture in the pot because I wanted to hurry and eat them! :)

If you try them please let me know!  After I ate these for the first time this weekend I had to call my sister and say THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY STOMACH HAPPY! Lol! It was that good!  If you are scared maybe try these recipes with regular clams.

Pan Seared Trout

Ingredients:

• Trout (1 or 2 fillets)
• Sea Salt
• 1 Lemon
• Cracked Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Sprinkle slice of lemon, sea salt and cracked black pepper lightly onto the fillet.  They usually have skin on them so I just leave it and as you eat it the fish peels off of it.
2. Add 1/2 tsp of olive oil to your pan.  Heat on medium heat and place the fillet with flesh hitting the skillet and skin side up.  It takes about 4-5 minutes on that side and 4 minutes on the other side depending on thickness.  It should be golden brown and look cooked through.
3. Enjoy and serve with any side you would like.  A few ideas would be sweet potato and veggies, wild rice, brown rice, spaghetti squash, etc.

Until next time....keep working out and eating right!!! Also, I already packed my snacks and lunch for tomorrow.  Cooked my chicken sausage and have my blender out for my first GREEN SMOOTHIE!  I will post on my smoothie tomorrow!!!!

Happy reading and feel free to share this with the many like and share buttons that I have on this page! Thanks!