Veggie Bake

I decided to throw together a little veggie bake when I had a few different kinds of vegetables on hand and a jar of pasta sauce open.

Veggie Bake

Ingredients:
- Roasted eggplant
- Sliced tomato
- Sliced zucchini
- Spices like basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, smoked paprika
- Pasta sauce
- Nutritional yeast

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil a casserole dish - I used a small one since I wasn't using that many vegetables.  First add the eggplant.

Then the tomatoes.

Then the zucchini.

Woops, blurry picture.

Then sprinkle on each of the spices.

And then pour pasta sauce over the top.

Followed by a very liberal topping of nutritional yeast.  You could definitely use cheese here instead, if you prefer.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the sauce looks set around the edges and the vegetables are tender.

I enjoyed a portion with some delicious figs on the side.

I think it would also be great served with some noodles or rice, or with some crusty bread to soak up any extra sauce!

It reheats well, too.  This recipe is extremely adaptable - just use whatever vegetables you have on hand and as many or as few spices as you prefer.

I hope you're having a good weekend!  Here's some pictures from mine.

On Friday I had a rare day with no set obligations, so I decided to spend some time at the mall.  I had a coupon for free underwear (gotta love Victoria's Secret) and a coupon for a free tea from Teavana.  Other than that I just browsed and got in some mall cardio.  Oh and I treated myself to my favorite lunch - a chicken pesto crepe and some Perrier!  So good.

Last night I went out to dinner with some friends to a great place called Happy Dog.  It's pretty incredible - you choose whether you want a beef or vegan hot dog, and then you can choose AS MANY toppings as you want, and it all costs $5.  And you can also get French fries or tater tots with unlimited sauces for $3.  Um, yes please.  I got a beef hot dog with marinated cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions, sun dried tomato tapenade, and applewood smoked bacon.  I also got an order of delicious tots with homemade ketchup.  And an extremely delicious beer per my friend Laura's enthusiastic recommendation - Willoughby Brewing Co. peanut butter cup coffee porter.  Yes, you read that right - peanut butter cup coffee!!  Tasty.

In addition to delicious and affordable food, Happy Dog has live music, so it's basically my idea of a perfect hangout spot.

I got to hang out with some great friends, too - pretty good weekend in my book.

And here's a sunset picture because I can't resist.  Especially these days when anything other than a gray sky is a rarity!

Song of the day:

"Heartbeat" by Kopecky Family Band.  I'm going to see their concert next week and I'm so excited!

And That's a Very Good Thing

I tried out a new recipe the other night and just have to share the results.  I present to you:  dark chocolate avocado mousse, created by the very ingenious Julie of Peanut Butter Fingers.

Feast your eyes on what happened when I combined 3 simple ingredients in my food processor:

Come a little closer...

Just a little bit closer...

Judging by the name of the recipe, you probably guessed the "secret" ingredient - avocado.  The other 2 ingredients are honey and cocoa powder.  That's it!  Magical.  Truly magical.  I could not believe how light and fluffy it was - just like you would expect of mousse!  I even used an avocado which I had frozen, and it still turned out this light and fluffy.  I ate half of the recipe one night and stuck the other half in the fridge for later - I wasn't sure how it would keep with the avocado in it, but it tasted just as good the next night!

So chocolate mousse is good.  You know what else is good?  Yoga.  Awhile back I bought a Groupon for a 10-class pass to a studio called Anytime Nirvana Yoga.  

Yesterday morning I finally redeemed my Groupon and went to a Power Yoga Basics class.  I was a little nervous at first because I was one of only two students in the entire class, but that actually turned out to be amazing; it was practically like a private lesson.  I've only ever taken yoga at fitness centers and gyms before,  so I'm used to having mirrors lining the walls.  It was kind of nice to focus on how my body felt in a pose rather than how it looked in a pose.  And it was really nice that the teacher could help me to adjust and get deeper into the poses.  Great start to the weekend!  I even feel a little sore this morning, especially in my shoulders and upper back - lots of low planks/ chaturanga dandasana.

This past week I also officially joined the gym associated with my school.  They had a "guest week" for non-members to try out the gym and the classes for free, and I went to about 5 group exercise classes that week (Caribbean cardio, an abs class, a spin class, and a couple of Zumba classes - so fun!) and absolutely loved them.  Even though my semester is really busy, I feel SO much better when I take time to exercise, and I absolutely love group exercise classes.  I can't wait to try out even more!

Some more good things:  these sunsets that I've seen from my window recently.   

And one last good thing: my very first CSA share!

I got kale, zucchini, a red bell pepper, beets, an onion, broccoli, a hot pepper, 2 tomatoes, carrots, an acorn squash, and 2 apples.  So good!  I made "cheesy" kale chips with the kale and red bell pepper, and I made a stir fry with the zucchini, broccoli, hot pepper, and one of the tomatoes.  Everything was really tasty!  I ordered another share which I get to pick up on Tuesday - can't wait!

So those are my good things recently.  Hope you've got some very good things of your own going on!

Song of the day:

"Stubborn Love" by The Lumineers.  Basically, I just love their entire self-titled album.  

Cookie Pick-Me-Up

I had my last final this morning, so I am finished with my second year of law school!  Phew.  Two down, one to go.  Let the summer begin!

Exam time can be pretty stressful and draining, to say the least.  But something always manages to perk me up:  cookies!  I made these single-serving peanut butter cookies twice this past week.  I've mentioned before that I don't like to keep sweets or junk food around because I could easily eat everything in one sitting.  Making a single-serving dessert is a great option for me - it limits my portion, and it forces me to decide if I really want a treat because I have to spend a little bit more time making it.

For the peanut butter cookies, I used whole wheat pastry flour, natural peanut butter, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, 3/4 T brown sugar, 3/4 T white sugar, and unsweetened applesauce.

Mix everything together.  (And don't forget to sample some dough!  Yum.)

Form into 2 cookies on a baking sheet (they look so lonely - I need a mini baking sheet) and bake in the oven.

And that's it!  2 perfectly gooey, warm peanut butter cookies all to yourself.  Yum.  The second time I made them I used agave instead of brown and white sugar, and I also added some chocolate chips and sprinkled some sea salt on top.  Both variations were delicious and satisfied my sweet tooth!

I'm feeling a little under the weather today and I haven't gotten a workout in.  I'd like to take it easy and go for a walk after dinner, but it's storming right now so I'm not sure if that's going to happen.  

As you might remember, I was supposed to be on the way to Florida with my mom, sister, and grandma right now, but due to some family things we had to cancel our trip.  I'm glad to be finished with school for the time being so that I can spend time with my family right now.

I packed up my plants to take to my parents' house with me, haha.

Song of the day:

"Bad Kids" by The Black Lips.  I'd really like to see them live sometime - I have a feeling they'd put on a good show.

Gettin' Sloppy

Friday night I took a break from studying and made a real dinner - it had been awhile!  I was excited to try out a new recipe:  Snobby Joe's.

In keeping with my effort to be thrifty, this recipe calls for fairly inexpensive ingredients, many of which I already had on hand.

You'll need dry lentils, water, olive, oil, an onion (the recipe calls for a medium yellow onion, but I used 1/2 a white onion because I already had one), a green bell pepper, garlic cloves, chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato sauce, tomato paste, maple syrup, and prepared yellow mustard (which I omitted).

First, you cook the lentils.

While the lentils were cooking, I prepped some of the other ingredients by dicing the onion and green pepper, and mincing the garlic.

Then it was time to saute the onion, pepper, and garlic in some olive oil.

Once those have softened, you just add the rest of the ingredients.

Let that cook for a few minutes, and you're done!  Pretty simple, and it looks a lot like real Sloppy Joe's.

I was definitely a big fan of this recipe.  While it doesn't taste exactly like traditional Sloppy Joe's, the texture is spot-on.  The lentils are a perfect substitute for ground meat - it was a hearty and comforting meal.

And the best part (in my opinion):

Lots o' leftovers!!  This should get me through finals.

It was nice to take some time away from studying and relax in the kitchen.  I listened to a podcast of This American Life while I made my dinner.  I am really loving podcasts these days.  I've had the NPR app on my phone for awhile, and I absolutely love listening to Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me (this actually makes me laugh out loud to myself), Car Talk (also elicits a few chuckles), and Weekends on All Things Considered.  I usually bribe myself to wash dishes or do other chores with the promise of being able to listen to a podcast <-- nerd alert :)

I enjoyed my Snobby Joe's with a bowl of amazing fruit - strawberries and a perfect peach.

Yesterday morning I went to the gym and did my circuit workout, followed by some speed and incline intervals on the treadmill.  And then it was time for a protein smooooothie.

Into the blender went:  1 cup almond milk, 1 T ground flax seeds, 1 T natural peanut butter, 1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder, lots of spinach, 1 frozen banana, and 1/2 cup frozen blueberries.

I might have been thinking about this smoothie while pushing myself through my workout.  I'm all about the self-incentives, can ya tell?

I've got my first final tomorrow - it'll be my first completely closed book, handwritten exam in law school.  Wish me luck!

Song of the day:

"Janglin" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.  I got to see them perform at a music festival a couple of years ago, and they were really fun to see.  I imagine this is what the 1970s were like, free love and all.

Playing Doctor

Hey guys, how's your day going?  The wind has been cuh-razy here lately.  My apartment has been chilly these past couple of days, but I need to stop dressing for the weather based on the temperature of my apartment.  In the winter it would be so hot (because I live on the 3rd floor and can't control my heat) that I would accidentally leave with just a t-shirt on, and then today I was so cold that I put my winter coat on... only to realize it was around 60 out.  Oops.

I hit up the gym and did my circuit workout followed by some incline and speed intervals on the treadmill, plus stretching.  Since classes are over, I don't have much structure to my days.  For me, it's helpful to plan out a schedule for myself ahead of time (via my extensive to-do lists), and getting up and going to the gym really helps me to get moving and be productive, rather than just wasting time.

Post workout smoothie:  1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cup water, 1 T ground flax seeds, 1 T natural peanut butter, 1 scoop vanilla Sun Warrior protein powder, lots of spinach, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 2 ice cubes.

Delish.

Since I haven't done a big grocery shopping trip for awhile, I've been looking through my cupboards to see what I have on hand for meals.  I was in the mood for pasta the other night, but I wanted to doctor it up a little to make it more exciting.

While I cooked some whole wheat penne pasta, I heated up some jarred pasta sauce and mixed in a few veggies I had on hand - grated carrots, grape tomatoes, and frozen broccoli.  I also added in some fresh basil.

It was a great way to pack in some extra veggies and to add more flavors to the pasta sauce (which already contained mushrooms).  I wanted to add some spinach, too, and tried out a trick I saw on Peanut Butter Fingers recently:

In order to wilt the spinach, you just put it in a colander,

and then go ahead and drain your pasta over the spinach.

And you get perfectly wilted spinach!

I added about 1/3 of the cooked pasta and all of the wilted spinach to my plate and saved the rest of the pasta for future meals.

Then I topped the pasta and spinach with 1/2 of the doctored pasta sauce, some nutritional yeast, and some more fresh basil ('cause I'm fancy like that).

For dessert, I tried a new spin on banana "ice cream":

I added 1.5 bananas and 2/3 cup frozen mixed berries to my food processor to make berry "sorbet."

I think I should have stuck to 1 banana and 1/2 cup berries, because it made a TON!!  But it was very delicious :)

Random sidenote - has anyone seen the movie In Time?  I don't remember hearing much about it when it came out, but I recently got it from the library and watched it this past weekend.  I thought the premise was really interesting - basically, commerce is in the form of time (instead of money), so everything you need to buy (food, transportation, etc.), you pay for in time.  And if your "watch" ever goes down to 0, you die.  Everyone's watch starts counting down at the age of 25, and you also never look any older than 25, which means that grandparents/ parents/ children, etc. can all look the same age.  It had a lot of social policy undertones (i.e. there were very expensive tolls to cross into wealthy zones, which kept the poor people who lived day-to-day in the slums).  I'm still kind of undecided as to what I thought of the movie, though - I don't think it had a very satisfying ending.  I'm curious if anyone saw it, and if so, what you thought.

That's all for now, folks - back to studying.  Have a good night!

I thought the clouds kind of looked like a curtain lifting up as the sun went down.

Interesting Articles:

How to Prevent Iliotibial Band Syndrome When Running (I'm still having some issues with my IT band)
25 Amazing Yoga Poses (um WHOA, these are so crazy and impressive!)
How To Do the Splits (I think I have a better chance of working towards doing the splits than those intense yoga poses!)

Song of the Day:

"Shadowboxer" by Fiona Apple.  One of her songs popped up when I had my iTunes on random today, and  I remembered how much I loved her first album, Tidal.  It's incredible.