Tag Archives: greens

Preppy Provisions

by

As promised, as soon as I published my last post I found myself some fruit and carbs.

The very last serving of the spinach pesto pasta,

and some watermelon cubes.

This combination was surprisingly delicious.

And since my carb was very green and my fruit was very pink, this combination was a Lilly Pulitzer approved lunch.

Sometimes I wish I dressed preppier but I wore Doc Martins in high school so I’m not sure it’s allowed.

The gym did not happen but I think that was a good thing since dinner didn’t happen either.  Adam and I had some exciting and expensive errands to run (hopefully I have some news to share this weekend) and the night got away from us.  Plus we had a gigantic pointless fight.  We suck.

But to end this post on a positive note; do you know what doesn’t suck?  This sky –

What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever fought with a significant other about?  One time in high school Adam and I almost broke up over a hair crimper.

Pizza Powered

by

As planned, we ordered a pie from Just Pizza last night and it was fabulous.

We got a Laura’s Old Fashioned – “The way our Mother used to make it. Made with Extra Thick Dough, a special Sweet Pizza Sauce (fresh sliced Onions in the sauce), Mozzarella & Romano Cheese, topped with Mushrooms.”

Not so fabulous was the way I felt after eating 5 slices this size.

Fat, ill, and irritated with myself for noting getting up an eating a salad.  On the plus side though, it’s sort of like Adam and I were carbo-loading for our run this morning!  If nothing else, our glycogen stores were nice and prepared.

Actually we were prepped all around, this is the run I got to test out my new shoes on.

I’m 90% sure I like them, but I’m going to run in them once more to be sure since my most recent pair sucked so badly.

I also tested out my new favorite shirt;

handmade by ME at last week’s tie dye party.

I think it’s pretty darn cute.

It was a good run to feel cute on, because I was mostly feeling like a jackass that I haven’t worked out all summer.  My planned 3.5 miles were tough.  We had two 1.75 mile loops around Delaware Park and I’m just glad I finished.  I had to take a few walking breaks, but I made sure to run for a least five minutes each time and walk for no more than 2 minutes at a time.  3.5 miles in 40 minutes and 20 seconds.  Followed by a 10 minute walk.

The rest of the agenda was shower ~ ice ~ grocery ~ clean the dirty apartment ~ dinner.  Thankfully our grocery trip was made much more exciting by our plan to sit in the cafe for a few hours so Adam could study.  I got cozy reading Nancy.

Sidenote – I am completely and utterly obsessed with the Nancy Drew books.

And got exciting lunch from the hot bar.

In an effort to save a bit of money, we also supplemented with salads from home.

In the end my meal ended up being arugula topped with carrots, 2 Tbsp of wheat germ, 1/4 cup of roasted chick peas, and 2 Tbsp of tarragon vinaigrette.

Plus roasted veggies, chili garlic eggplant, and veggies picked out of the cashew chicken,

and a few pieces of pineapple and berries.

Delish.  I read my first Nancy and munched and was in absolute bliss.

Unfortunately, the grocery took longer than anticipated and once I added in a last-minute walk to the co-op and the task of packing Adam’s lunches, I plain ran out of time to clean the house.  Tomorrow.  And at least I’m a good wife.

Adam has one rice bowl for each day of the work week.  And I took a good many nibbles that escaped the camera while I cooked.

I also made dinner.

Polenta that turned into a fairly intimidating, but tasty solid,

and huevos rancheros inspired tacos.

I scrambled 5 eggs (with skim milk, salt, and pepper) into sautéed chopped onions and green pepper, and then stuffed them into blue corn taco shells with a bit of sharp cheddar.  I served Adam and myself 3/5 and 2/5 accordingly.

Dessert was 2/3 to 1/3 in my favor though.

A gigantic cowboy cookie I picked up at the co-op.

My entire right side of my body has ached ever since yesterday’s tennis game, so I’m going to go curl up with a book.

Out Of The Pan

by

Yucky!  The olives and the cheese in this morning’s breakfast were both a little bit old and one of the two (or something!) made me feel sick all afternoon.  When Adam stopped by the apartment after his final he told me I looked dead.  Thanks, hun.  All I know is all of a sudden it was 3 pm and I still hadn’t eaten or left the house.

Leftover Pesto Pasta Casserole made with Healthy Spinach Pesto to the rescue!

I ate a little less than a serving, straight from the casserole.  If eating out of the serving dish occasionally is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

Dessert was straight out of Compton from the container as well.

I love afternoon baking projects.

I made a mini blondie (technically 2 servings) with butterscotch chips and shredded coconut.

I’m not going to share the recipe yet because it was a little too spongy.  Though it was pretty darn good topped with a scoop of vanilla bean frozen yogurt.

I really should be done with indulgences for the day, but nonetheless we’re headed to Brewfest!  20 samples of 3 ounce pours, here I come!

Stick The Finish

by

I stuck the finish!  I continued my first day in weeks as a healthy, productive human being by whipping up a tasty, nutritious dinner.  Back off, Martha.

Earlier in the afternoon Adam and I took a quick walk down Elmwood.  We were both feeling twitchy and needed a chance to stretch our legs.  Walking was good for our extra energy, and splitting a Java Twix Bar was good for our souls.

It’s been years since I’ve eaten a traditional Twix, but man this was good.  The coffee undertones totally made it.

When we got home it was time to slave over a hot stove whirring food processor.  Just kidding, this recipe came together in a flash.  Meet your new go-to pesto:

Healthy Spinach Pesto, yields 11 ounces

  • 8 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  1. Working in small batches, pulse spinach and oil in a food processor until.  Be sure to process until smooth, don’t stop when you’ve reached the grass cuttings consistency.
  2. Add parmesan and pine nuts and continue to process until well-combined.
  3. Can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I love pesto, but store-bought varieties are anything but low-calorie and basil is so darn expensive that it’s not exactly cheap to make at home.  I’ve been curious about trying a spinach based pesto for a while and I think this totally worked.  The flavor is rich and nutty and not at all “healthy.”  Tastes can be deceiving though, here are the nutrition stats I calculated for a 1 oz serving –

I wanted to test the recipe in a dish I already knew was good so I turned to my Pesto Pasta Casserole.

I doubled the recipe, and switched penne for spirals but other than I stuck with the original.

And it’s official, we love this new pesto!

If when you make it yourself I recommend trying out my Pesto Pasta Casserole too.  It’s about the simplest recipe ever – just bake together pasta, pesto, arugula, and mushrooms – and it tastes delicious.  Make it, make it, make it!

What’s your favorite way to eat pesto?  I’m a big fan of cheeseless pizza with pesto and chicken.

Pizza Party

by

We had a mini pizza party for dinner but the rest of the day was sort of … strange.  I had a teaching nightmare last night and it left me feeling funky.  I basically never have nightmares, like ever, unless they are about teaching.  In fact, other than night-terrors that I had as a really young child, I had never even had a nightmare before I became a teacher.  I don’t get them often now, but when I do I’m always in a rowdy classroom (or fighting with Adam!).

I have no idea where my nightmare came from, maybe anxiety about going back to school or churning thoughts from not being that busy recently.  I’d like to pin it on “No Strings Attached,” but I guess being the worst movie ever (seriously) still doesn’t make it to blame for my bad dreams.

Breakfast was mocha(ish) smoothies.

For two, I blended – 2 packets of instant coffee, 2 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder, 1 frozen banana, 7 ice cubes, and 1.5 cups of skim milk.

Bleck; I’m not sure what was off about these but something sure was!  I drank about half and then passed the rest to Adam, the human trash compactor.

My snack to make up for breakfast was trail mix.

That bag was actually half spicy mix and half sweet mix; I like to mix things up.

Lunch was veggies from the hot bar,

and a buffalo chicken slice from Zettis.

Dinner was actually more pizza, ie (or ige!) Iowa Girl Eats Homemade Pizza Rolls.

Kristen wrote another recipe winner!  For our filling we chopped together spinach, mushrooms, extra sharp cheddar, black olives, and marinara sauce.

Pizza perfection.

Plus a side of roasted green beans.

At least I won’t be having nightmares about dinner.

Do you ever get nightmares about your job (or jobs past)?

Easy Eats

by

I accomplished so much yesterday that today was actually a bit boring.  I’ll take it though.  And I’ll definitely take the fact that I had to skip today’s workout because my abs were so sore from yesterday’s 90 minute hot yoga session.  Whoop!

Breakfast was easy and summer-y.

1.5 servings of cinnamon Puffins, .5 serving of oats and honey Bear Naked Granola (which is like a Tbsp, seriously?!), chopped plum and white apricot, and skim milk.

For a mid-morning snack I measured out 2 servings of the peanut brittle popcorn my in-laws gave me for my birthday.

This stuff might be dangerous.

Lunch looked borning.

But looks can be deciving.  That’s not pb & j.

That’s a mini kaiser roll topped with Nutty Guys honey roasted peanut butter, crushed up honey wheat pretzels, and a drizzle of honey.

And what goes with a peanut butter (pretzel, honey) sandwich better than milk?

In my fabulous new glass from Anthropologie.

Milk also goes well with cookies.

But those aren’t for me (though I did eat a few cookie’s worth of dough!), I baked them up for The Great Fundraising Act.

Instead of cookies, Adam and I snacked on hummus this afternoon.

Not just any hummus though, Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus that I got to try for free as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers’ Program.

Usually I’m too cheap to buy hummus because you can make it easily at home, but I think it’s time to update my policy!  Adam and I both thought this was delicious; creamy with a great roasted flavor.  The pine nut was a great new twist, though Adam thought it wasn’t as zesty as the garlic variety we used to buy.  Plus at 80 calories per 2 Tbsp serving it’s a nutritional steal.

I ate my serving(s) with some baby carrots.

Keeping up the easy eats theme of the day, dinner was leftovers.

I piled the steamed collard greens, millet, and baingan bharta into one bowl, topped with tons of Sriracha.

Easy, like your mother.  Ba dum ching!

I Did What I Curd

by

Go me; I accomplished so much today!  I would say I crossed 95% of our household to-do’s off of the list this afternoon.  I’m not sure what exactly got into me, but I’ll take it.

One errand took me to the grocery store where I kept my energy levels up with an iced coffee with skim milk.

Sidenote – can I just tell you how much I adore the Wegman’s mini carts with the drink holders?!

I’m definitely choosing my future stroller by the amount of cup holders.

One big accomplishment was making this tasty, healthy dinner.

Can you guess who we are?

I made a batch of Jenna’s Baingan Bharta,

some millet,

and steamed collard greens cooked with maple dill dressing.

This was my first time trying millet and I found it a little dry, but I’m excited to try it again tomorrow with a little plain yogurt stirred in.  The Baingan Bharta – basically pureed eggplant, tomato, and spices – was also new to me and I think I’m a fan.  I thought it was a little bit sweet but I did extra eggplant so I probably should have done extra jalopeno as well.

For dessert I dug into this afternoon’s baking project.

Key lime curd!  Basically key lime pie without the crust.

I dipped a serving of Biscoff cookies into it after dinner.

The ginger and lime combo is a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as I hit publish I’m heading out on a short walk with Adam.  What a good day indeed.

Don’t forget – you have until 10:40 EST to bid on my sugar cookie balls.

Yes, I Want Quesadillas

by

Tonight’s dinner inspiration came from Katie at Yes, I Want Cake.  Layered quesadillas.

YIWC also inspires me to poke holes in all our condoms but Adam says we should have jobs before we have our own adorable baby.  I guess I’ll stick with copying dinner.  Katie’s quesadillas were triple deckers but I went with two layers with extra cheese.

Here’s the breakdown of our ‘dillas –

Plus homemade guacamole.

We made the guac with mashed avocado, mayan onion, tomato, and salt and pepper; it was delicious.  In fact the whole meal was great.

Thanks for the idea, Katie!

Earlier this afternoon, the husband made me a Coke float.

So good.  The adorable glass is from the bar I worked at back home, complete with a drink recipe.

And now I’m actually heading out for another drink, this time coffee.  My friend Katie (the one from last night, not the dinner inspiration with the adorable baby) is moving soon so I’m trying to see her as much as possible.  We are meeting at the Spot before she leaves for a trip tomorrow.