Getting Back in the Kitchen

I finally spent some quality time in the kitchen making delicious food - it had been too long since I had done much more than put together bowls of yogurt and salads.

First up:  guacamole!

I had a perfectly ripe avocado, to which I added some chopped red bell pepper, a diced onion, about a tablespoon of lime juice, a sprinkle of cayenne, and a dash of salt.  So good!

I snacked on the guacamole as I made my main course - pizza!  I followed this recipe, using 2 cups white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup regular all-purpose flour, sans rosemary.

I topped it with some homemade pesto.  When I make pesto for myself, I just eyeball the ingredients depending on how much basil I have on hand.  I added basil, skim milk, olive oil, parmesan cheese, walnuts, salt, and pepper to a food processor and voila, pesto!  I had a pineapple begging to be cut up and enjoyed, so I decided to put some fresh pineapple on my pizza.

I was excited to use my mom's pizza stone this time, and it definitely made the bottom of the crust turn out softer and tastier.  I baked this at 500* for about 12 - 14 minutes.

After dinner, I had one thing in mind:  Mama Pea's hot apple pie smoothie!

I used an apple (which I didn't peel, even though I used a normal blender and not a high-speed one, and it turned out fine - I can't stand wasting that super nutritious apple peel!), cottage cheese, skim milk, almond butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey (I didn't have maple syrup or stevia), salt, and 10 ice cubes.  I left out the protein powder since this was an after-dinner treat, but I would have added it if I were eating this after a workout or as a meal.

This morning I kept the momentum going and prepared a delicious brunch:

I had a fried egg sandwich, fresh fruit, and a cappuccino.  SO good.  For the egg sandwich, I toasted whole wheat sandwich thins, spread some leftover guacamole on one half, and added a fried egg (cooked in a bit of olive oil).

I had some more fresh pineapple, along with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.  Summer fruit is the best!!

I also made myself a cappuccino by heating up 6 oz. of skim milk in the microwave, using my little frother to whip it up, and then adding it to 2 shots of espresso which I used my dad's coffee machine to make.

It definitely felt nice to get back in the kitchen and spend some time preparing good food.  Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Song of the day:

"Shadow Days" by John Mayer, off his new album Born and Raised.  I heard a radio interview with John Mayer recently, and I didn't realize that he had been off the scene for about 2 years.  Apparently he gave a couple of scandalous interviews and received a lot of criticism, so he had been lying low.  I did hear a radio DJ (on a college station) pronounce his name as John My-er instead of May-er recently, so maybe he totally fell off of some people's radars, haha.