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Post of the Day! Yummy well rounded lunch

So I am on a comfort food kick and for me grilled cheese really hits the spot but we can make it just and little better and healthier than the childhood snack we all loved…we have the technology!

Here is the breakdown of this lunch

Butter two slices of your favorite whole wheat bread and lay one of the slices butter side down in the pan (if your using cold butter hold your knife under some hot water for ten seconds at the sink and it will cut like…well like a hot knife through butter!) You are going to stack your ingredients on this slice.

For this particular grilled cheese I used Dubliner Kerrygold cheddar, but use what ever cheese you think you’ll like best (but not kraft singles use real cheese!). Cut the slices really thin and put down one layer on the bread in the pan.

So to give my grilled cheese a real boost I added left over thin sliced BBQ chicken (any precook meat (and by precooked I don’t mean packaged lunch meat too much salt) will do and if your going vegitarian nothing beats some nice cooked portabello slices). 

On top of that I put really thin sliced tomatoes (which makes it a little more like a pannini but I had tomatoes that really needed to be used up) If you like panninis feel free to add fresh basil bell peppers what ever floats your boat but don’t make it too think or the cheese wont be properly melted.

Add another layer of thin sliced cheese and the other bread butter side away from the filling and turn on the pan to about medium heat. 

Meanwhile you can fry up an egg if you like. I like to dip my sandwich in the yolk. I generally fry eggs in coconut oil and put a dash of pepper, salt and cayenne.

Flip the sandwich and make a salad…I like:

spinach

handful of arrugala 

broccoli

bellpepper 

avacado

feta

and tomato

a splash of balsamic and oil and a dollop of hummus if you have it (to dip your brocolli and bellpepper) and your salad is done.

Just slice the sandwich, slide the egg in the middle and you have a real honest to goodness meal that tastes sssooooo good!

So we all know that stretching is good…but there are tons of studies out there telling us that if you do it at the wrong time your more likely to hurt yourself.

Once and for all to clarify - Stretching in the traditional static sense (as in your sitting in a stretch with relaxed muscles for more than ten seconds) should only be done after exercise. Stretching before exercise can negatively affect your coordination and muscle responsiveness. It basically stretches out a cold muscle too far telling your body to respond by tightening, making it more likely that you will pull something.

So when is the best time to stretch…experts say at the end of the day or after exercise or else you run the risk of being slower and more prone to injury. Instead before exercise you should do active stretching like leg swings.

Just a tip to keep us all healthy!

There are times when I just want some good greasy food and for me this normally translates into wanting BBQ, but I don’t actually have a BBQ so here is my quick fix for all the illusion of BBQ with none of the fire.

Bacon Wrapped Broccoli:

Mesquite smoked bacon (preferable thick cut with none of the nasty additives)

1 Head of Broccoli florets

1/2 cup olive oil

Tbsp of soy sauce

Tbsp of lemon juice

2 pinches of pepper

1 pinch of ginger

1 pinch of cayenne 

Pre Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl whisk olive oil, lemon, pepper, ginger, cayenne, and soy (adjust the soy if your bacon is super salty) till blended. Dip each broccoli floret in the mix and wrap a bacon around the leafy part, then poke a toothpick through. Lay them all out in a pan bake for twenty min broil for 5 (my oven is really old so use your best judgment for the cook time) and serve. Garnish with fresh rosemary sprigs and let everyone think you BBQed that mesquite flavored bacon to perfection.