Today, I had every intention of waking up early and making it to the gym, as I have a busy day of meetings and appointments.
At 6:15am when my alarm went off, I jumped out of bed. My sister was even ready to go, but I took one look outside at this muggy, rainy, dismal day and what did I do? Crawled back into bed.
Morning gym fail, that’s what I call that. Let’s just say, June, get allllll the rain out now, because come June 20th, you better give me nothing but sunshine!
Speaking of the wedding, today, I’m going into the city for a couple of meetings and to (hopefully) pick up my wedding dress at Kleinfeld’s!
This wedding dress has been somewhat troublesome. I’m tough, because I have a larger bust but I didn’t want any cleavage on my wedding day, so it has been a struggle to a) fit my girls into a dress that doesn’t make me look like I’m draped in a burlap sack and b) find the right ehem-undergarments-ehem to support said girls.
If you’re a guy and reading this blog post, I apologize – just skip right down to the good stuff (the recipe!)
I’ve always had problems buying bras, bathing suits, dresses, button-down shirts. Girls with larger chests get me. So, when I went shopping for my wedding dress, I knew it would be a struggle.
Long story short, last week was supposed to be my last fitting, but we had an issue with the way the seamstress had sown my bra into the dress, so she had to pull the stitching out and now, she’s going to retry.
Fingers crossed for me, y’all.
Other than that, I have a lunch meeting with my editor (eek!!) and a meeting with my wedding consultant from EVJ Wedding Co, a wedding planning company based in Hoboken, started by this sweet girl Jacquelyn.
In the eleventh hour, I ended up hiring someone to be there for my wedding weekend to take care of any last-minute details and so I could truly enjoy that day. I tend to micro-manage and take on too much (I’m not a good delegator), so I figured this would force me to sit back, relax and enjoy my wedding weekend.
But today’s not about all that, today’s about this carrot salad with spiced lamb I adapted from this Jamie Oliver recipe. I took it a step further and made the shaved carrot salad into more of a pasta/side dish, making the meal as a whole more “complete.”
Blade D on the Inspiralizer is the key here – it makes such perfect carrot noodles that aren’t too thick, so they cook in a pinch and their flavor isn’t too overbearingly carrot-y.
The spiced lamb is simply seasoned with garam masala, salt and pepper, but you’ll be amazed at the flavor that creates with a quality ground lamb.
What really puts the cherry on top here is the fresh cilantro (err – coriander) and fresh mint, along with the ginger-lemon dressing. Altogether, the freshness of the dressed carrot noodles with the warm, crispy lamb is sensational and gorgeous – it’s definitely an impressive dish that comes together in one skillet, in 30 minutes!
Alright, time to fit in a quick sweat session before this fitting – I can’t believe we’re 11 days away to me becoming Mrs. Cerda. Now, if I could only start writing the vows….
Nutritional Information & Recipe
Weight Watchers SmartPoints*: 12 points
Indian Carrot Noodle Salad with Spiced Lamb
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground lamb lean
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- salt to taste
- 3 large carrots peeled, Blade D, noodles trimmed
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh mint
- For the dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
- 1 small red onion peeled and sliced thinly
- juice of 1 lemon + its zest
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and once heated, add in the lamb, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until all the fat releases into the pan. Add the garam masala and season with salt and pepper. Cook the lamb until its crispy, about 7 minutes.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing into a bowl and whisk together. In a large mixing bowl, add in the carrot noodles, mint and cilantro. Pour over the dressing and toss to combine.
- Divide the lamb mince between four plates and top with the carrot noodles.
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