Blackened Cilantro Lime Chicken with Chunky Guacamole

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Hallo friends,

Tonight's dinner was a double whammy. Delicious and healthy. Good mexican food is very hard to find in Germany. In my entire 3 years in Germany I've only eaten at one legitimate mexican restaurant, Tortuga, in  Grafenwöhr. Though this recipe may not be considered authentic Mexican, it utilizes the ingredients (cilantro, lime, garlic) and flavors found in Mexican dishes.


Ingredients for Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup honey (more or less to taste)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
About 1/3 cup of finely chopped cilantro (more or less depending on your love for cilantro)
juice of 1 lime squeezed
Cumin (I eyeball it. Just sprinkle some in and adjust to your liking)
Salt to taste

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Serving size :4-6

Directions
1) Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Adjust flavors to your liking.
2) Place chicken in a non reactive glass bowl or dish. (I prefer to not use gallon ziplocks for marinade because I think it affects the flavor). Poke the chicken breast in various places with a fork. Maybe 3-4 stabs on each side. (don't stab all the way through) This will allow the marinade to really soak into the chicken. Season each breast on both sides with salt and pepper.
3) Pour the marinade over the chicken, cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4) Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and drizzle some olive oil in the pan. Once the pan is hot(I usually let it sit for 5min), add the chicken. Cook each side until blackened on the outside on cooked on the inside (about 8-10 min each side).
5) Let the chicken rest for 5-10 min before cutting.

I love that this recipe is versatile. You can adjust the marinade, cook on a grill instead, and even experiment with different meats. In the past I've done this with flank steak and it's delicious! I'd like to try it next time with shrimp and maybe even fish. Not sure if it would be too soggy for fish though. It can also be prepped ahead of time which is always nice.

Chunky Guacamole
1 white onion diced
3 tomatoes diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno diced (optional)
sprinkle of cumin
handful of cilantro chopped
juice of 1 lime
3 haas avocados

Serving size:4-6


Directions
1) Mix together in a bowl. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, but no more than 24.
2) Before serving, add diced avocados. Mix well. Add salt to taste.
The recipe above I would call the skinny version. But if you want to be a little naughty....

Fry up some corn tortillas and add some freshly grated cheese.


To. Die. For.


Whether you go for the skinny version or decide to indulge, definitely squirt some siracha sauce all over!
Enjoy!
xoxo


Frau Wright

Health the DIY Way

Pin It Now! Guten Morgan!


Hope everyone has a lazy and peaceful Sunday to look forward to today. I had some girlfriends over last night and one of the many topics we discussed was health and finding the motivation and time to work out and eat healthier.  We need a reason to WANT to workout and everyone has their own reasons. For many of us finding the time in a day to commit an hour or even just 45min to working out is so unappealing. The other thing is boredom. Not all of us can get to the gym and doing the same workout videos can get boring quick. 


Last month I was searching for online pilates workout and came across the site Blogilates. The first workout I did by Cassey was the Pop Pilates Bikini workout. 


It's less than 15 minutes, but holy cow does she work ya!! She suggests doing her video 2-3 more times for a full 45-60min workout. But what I really love is the flexibility. If I only feel like doing 15 min one day, I can do just 15min. I believe doing something is better than nothing and it keeps you going and not stagnant. I also love that I can mix and match videos. I can do an arms workout for 5 min and then do an abs workout for 15min and then a leg workout for 10minutes. My inner control freak loves this woman! Each of her workouts are challenging so I always feel good no matter what and best of all her videos are FREE!! 


The other thing we talked about was eating. I love eating raw at least 50% of the day. Raw meaning not cooked and not processed food. Raw fruits and veggies for the most part. I'm tellin' ya, eating a bowl of cut up, cold cucumbers, tomatoes, red bell peppers and some diced avocados is one of the yummiest meals ever. And it fills you up completely without any guilt. Juicing fruits and vegetables is also an excellent way to get tons of fruits and vegetables in one sitting. I recommend Kimberly Snyder's website and blog for more information about raw and clean eating and juicing.


I have a lot of healthy recipes that I'll be sharing on here in the future and today I want to share one of my favorite smoothie recipes. I just call this a Triple Berry Smoothie.

Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen Blueberries
1/2 cup Raspberries
1/2 cup Strawberries
1/2 cup Spinach,
1/2 cup Plain Greek yogurt 
8oz water
1 scoop plant based protein powder

Place everything in a blender (I use a Vitamix) and blend until smooth.


I like to use frozen blueberries because it makes the drink really cold.
This yields enough for one serving. I'm part of a juicing group on facebook and one of the people suggesting serving juice or smoothies in a wine glass. It does make it a little more fun to drink :)

Eating healthy can easily be a DIY method. Make your own food. From scratch. Fresh, wholesome ingredients. Our bodies don't need all the extra nonsense. Working out to get great results doesn't have to involve a personal trainer or fancy gym. You can do it yourself!

I'd love to hear about recipes and workout others do, so please share in the comments!

Tschüs,

xoxo Frau Wright

DIY Canvas Art for Boy Room

Pin It Now! Since we will be moving in a week and  I can't start any projects yet (it's driving me crazy to just sit patiently, I can't wait to get tools in my hands!) I'd like to share some of the things I've created within the last few months.

My little guy recently turned 2 and we moved him out of the crib to a big boy bed. We decided to adopt a montessori based room for him so he can explore and learn to be a DIYer too. Gotta start em' young :)

I wanted his room to be fun and to express his budding personality. He is a typical little boy who loves loud noises, getting his hands dirty and being a bit mischevious. He loves tractors and airplanes and cars. Whenever we are out, these things always catch his eye. So I went with a transportation theme.

His room is still in progress and I'll share more pictures after we move and get set up, but for now here's some of the artwork I made for the little fella:

For this project I used:

Cheap white canvas

Masking tape

Gray spray paint

Card stock

Stock images from mygrafico.com

1) First I evenly spaced some masking tape on two of the canvases. I spaced the masking tape about 2 inches apart. So on the canvas where you see white stripes is where I had the masking tape. 

2) I then spray painted the canvas in gray. I let it sit until completely dry. I waited a day just to be safe, but I don't think it has to take that long. After the paint had dried, I removed the tape.

3) I then printed some graphics I found from mygrafico.com onto a heavy cardstock. (The graphics I used came from Stockberry Studio). 

There are tons of really cute graphics on this site! I changed the colors a little bit in photoshop.

4) After printing the images (BTW on my printer settings I selected "best quality". I know all printers are different, but if you have options it can change the depth of color) I cut them out and sprayed the back with a spray adhesive to keep them smooth on the canvas.

And voila! That's all.

For a bit of contrast I drew circles on one canvas. After I painted it, I drew circles as best as I could freehand with a pencil and then painted them in.

I really like how they came together. Can't wait to share his finished room.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

xoxo

Frau Wright

Pin It Now! I've decided to move. My former blog, Living Wright Home, just doesn't fit me anymore. I'm actually not sure it ever really fit right. I think when I first started that blog I wasn't doing it from the heart. I was doing it just to have something to do. A lot of what I wrote wasn't in my own voice. Many of my posts were written under my pretense of what I thought other people wanted to hear because when you present your ideas and thoughts to the world you want people to like you or at least I did. And as a result I kind of held back my personality.

Not every post was like that, but I was a lot more insecure with exposing myself in a lot of ways. But I did learn a lot through that blog and even met some neat people. A large part of that blog was me navigating through my many different interests. I used to think photography was my thing. And then I explored cooking for awhile and thought that would be my thing. While I do still love photography and cooking very much, I don't love them so much that I'm passionate about either hobby if that makes sense.

So how did I decide on this blog and it's name? Well we are moving this month

(AGAIN!)

for the third time in 3 years. As I've been preparing for our move I've become even more interested in refinishing furniture. I just recently bought an orbital sander and CAN NOT WAIT to get to work. I have so many ideas and projects I want to do. Creating is something that is woven into my soul and it is something that makes me truly happy. Whether it's creating a wonderful event, a delicious meal, a cute outfit or a new home, I am in my element when I can create. The unfortunate part is that in Germany there isn't a Hobby Lobby or a Michaels or a Dollar Store. There isn't a Home Depot or a Lowe's. There are hardware stores, like Obi, but the challenge is the language barrier. Over the last few years I have discovered ways and places to get the materials I need for my projects.

And then I had an idea....

I bet there are a lot of Americans and/or expats living in Germany with the same interests and the same problems of finding things and thus I came up with The DIY Frau.

 I want this blog to be a place I share my projects, my triumphs and my failures. I want to share the things I learn as I create and re-create new things. And every now and then I'd like to share what life is like in Germany. It is my hope I will inspire others and also meet others who will inspire me. Whether I already know you, just met you or have no idea who you are, I hope you'll follow me along on my new adventure!

Bis zum nächstes mal (until next time),
Frau Wright