Monday Recipe - Food for Exhaustion

So Boston Mania was this weekend. More details to come on that (I may expand Exercise Wednesday to Tuesday and Wednesday this week). One of the by products, apart from excitement over all the new stuff I learned, is absolute exhaustion.

I took it easy on Friday, but then over Saturday and Sunday I went to enough Step (I can't take it easy in step) and boot camp and bosu strength classes that by the time this morning rolled around, my gluts were seriously complaining about climbing any stairs at all. A good kind of pain though!

Saturday night, I got home around 7:30. I didn't feel like cooking, but I didn't have anything defrosted and ready to go in my fridge (thinking ahead? Ahem...not so much this weekend). So this was my dinner:

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Pork chops with sweet potato fries and brussels sprouts
1 pork chop, fat cut off
dash of salt, pepper, ginger powder, and red pepper flakes
1 sweet potato, cut into thick fry-shapes
2 handfuls of brussels sprouts, cut in half
olive oil
salt and pepper

I put all the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts in a bowl, sprinkled olive oil, salt and pepper over them until fairly well covered (but not slathered), and then spread them out on a baking tray. On another tray (I use a glass pie-plate), I put the pork sprinkled with spices. Pop all of it in the oven at the same time and jump in the shower while it cooks. The only thing I'd do differently would be to not cook the sprouts as much, because by the time the fries and pork were cooked, the sprouts were fairly mushy.

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Sunday, I was even more tired (as you can imagine, since my first workshop (at 7a) was Group Xtreme). I got home around 2. Made some pasta with butter, grated asiago (no, I didn't grate it myself), and some jalapeno chicken sausage.

By the time dinner rolled around, I just didn't have the energy to cook up some protein on the stove. Some I made some kale, then I had some steamed edamame (I just put frozen edamame in a bowl with some water, cover with paper towel, and then cook in the microwave for 2-3 minutes). Then I had some cherry apple crisp for dessert (I did defrost this the other day, so it was good to go).

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Wilted Kale
1 bunch of kale, stems removed, and ripped into bite-sized pieces
olive/grapeseed oil
garlic
lemon juice
red pepper flakes

Put all the kale in a pot and add oil (I used olive oil steeped in garlic, but you could just put the oil with a couple cloves separately). Wilt down a bit. Add lemon juice (a couple squirts), red pepper flakes, and then salt and pepper if desired.

I ate the whole thing, but it could easily be 2 or 3 servings if you're eating it as a side dish. It makes about one heaping bowl of kale.