Do You Want Fries With That Shake?

Yes please, and make them of the sweet potato variety.

Last night I had a burger and fries, healthified.  I heated up a veggie burger I made a couple of weeks ago and had frozen.  I followed this recipe and loved the result!  In the past I had always thought veggie burgers would be complicated to make myself, but they were very simple, and it was nice to be able to freeze some of the burgers to have on hand for quick dinners.  I just thawed the burger in the fridge during the day, sprayed a pan with olive oil from my misto, and heated it up for about 6 minute over medium heat, turning halfway through. 

For the sweet potato fries, I scrubbed the sweet potato with a stiff brush, then cut it up into fries.  Make sure to leave the skin on - it has good nutrients, plus tastes wonderful when it crisps up in the oven.  Then pour some olive oil and cinnamon on the fries and make sure they're evenly coated.  (I just use my hands to spread it all around.)  It's important to use enough olive oil to cover them, or else they will dry out in the oven; but don't use too much or they will be soggy.  Just enough to coat them.  (The amount will depend on the size of your sweet potato.)  And use lots of cinnamon :)  You could also experiment with other seasonings such as sea salt, chili powder, nutmeg... the possibilities are endless.  Pop them in the oven at 350* for about 35 - 40 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. 

I forgot to take a before picture, so this is after 20 minutes in the oven, before I flipped them. 

After 35 minutes, they're finished (and smell amazing).  You can also put them under the broiler for a couple of minutes to crisp them up a bit more, if you like.

I put the veggie burger on wheat sandwich thins and added some ketchup, sweet potato fries on the side. 

Close-up!  A very delicious and satisfying meal.  Not much color, but I considered my green monster smoothie my salad :)

A clear view of all the fun salad fixin's.

And for a real salad, I had this baby for lunch today.  It was absolutely packed full of goodies: spinach, broccoli, grape tomatoes, edamame, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts (divine!), a hard-boiled egg, roasted red pepper hummus, balsamic vinegar, sunflower seeds, and couscous.  Yummm.

Topped with multi-colored couscous.

This morning I went to the gym for cardio (elliptical and stairstepper), and when I turned to Live! with Kelly, there was a breaking news segment on instead of the show.  There was a very tragic school shooting this morning in Chardon, Ohio, which is about 40 minutes east of where I live.  The most recent reports say that 1 student was killed and 4 students were injured.  I just wanted to say that I'm thinking and praying for the students, their families, and friends.  I can't imagine having to go through something like that.

As Ellen says after all of her shows, "be kind to one another."  Simple words, but something that we can constantly improve upon.

Clearly a lot of my inspiration and knowledge comes from watching TV... on that note, 2 Broke Girls and Hart of Dixie make me glad it's Monday.  Time for some TV, and working on an assignment that's due tomorrow.  

Song of the day:

"Junebug" by Robert Francis.  I've seen him perform a couple of times with his band and really love his intensity and the emotion in his songs.