weekend review: polenta fail & spinach pie win

Figure 1. Friday night's dinner: sausage, tomato, and arugula fettuccine alongside roasted Brussels sprouts. I roasted these sprouts (1 lb tossed in 1 T of coconut oil, salt, and pepper) at 400 degrees for 25 minutes tossing halfway through.

Figure 2. Saturday night's dinner: salmon with red pepper pesto, pepper-spiked polenta, and an arugula and mushroom salad. This salmon is one of my favorites and I love the idea of making my own pesto. This polenta, however, was a fail - the recipe instructed me to make it in the microwave - and it was so runny I had to serve it in a bowl.

Figure 3. Sunday night's dinner: roasted Sriracha butternut squash (inspired by this recipe), easy crust-less spinach and feta pie from Skinnytaste, and a fried egg. I may be obsessed with this spinach pie - you can eat 1/4 of it for ~180 calories and it is fantastic. I recommend splurging on the fresh dill.

weekend review: better late than never

I usually post my 'weekend reviews', which document my weekend culinary creations, on Monday. Looks like this week I forgot. Here they are, better late than never...

Figure 1. Spring Break baking: banana nutella bread. Holy freakin' crap. I ate this for breakfast, lunch dessert, and real dessert over ice cream and then left the remainder at my parents house before I decided I wanted to live my life eating this bread and this bread alone.

Figure 2. Friday night's dinner: Dijon almond crusted tilapia, roasted asparagus with Dijon-lemon sauce, and rice pilaf (Near East). This tilapia is a must make.

Figure 3. Saturday night's dinner: sesame soba noodles with slivered Brussels sprouts and shrimp. Amazing.

Figure 4. Egg casserole with cottage cheese, bacon, feta, and green onions, toast and Earth balance, and an arugula and mushroom salad.

what i ate wednesday: issue 73

 Figure 1. Breakfast: puffed wheat + All Bran + cocoa powder + banana + milk.

Figure 2. Morning snack #1: a sliced Gala apple sprinkled with cinnamon.

Figure 3. Morning snack #2: one of Chobani's new Flips. Yum!

Figure 4. Lunch: a spinach salad topped with leftover baked eggs and ketchup (baked with cottage cheese, feta, bacon, and green onion).

Figure 5. Dinner: a Quorn 'chicken' patty, leftover rice pilaf, and roasted broccoli.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Monday, March 18).

a serious interjection: on solitude

I found myself craving their voices, laughter. I wanted to be in a room and know someone was near me. I wanted my nephew's loud, yet shockingly beautiful voice to fill my ears. I wanted my mom in the kitchen and the smell of her cooking to fill the house. I spent a week surrounded by my family and I loved it.

But then I get this ache. This ache in myself of which part of me feels ashamed. I lovelovelove my family, but after a few days, a piece of me starts to need solitude. This is who I am.

So I bid farewell to my favorite people in the world and said I had to leave for no other reason than to relax, alone. They love and know me well enough to understand and let me go.

 (image)

I drove home and entered my beautifully quiet house. I threw my bags on the ground and laced up my running shoes and clocked 4 easy, sunny, relaxing miles. I didn't have to explain to anyone how I needed these miles - I just did them. I planned 3 ambitious (but not too ambitious) and healthy (but not too healthy) meals for myself. I headed to my favorite food stores where I took an obscene amount of time to browse the produce aisles and comment to complete strangers on the beauty of the apples. They agreed.

I chatted with the man at the fish counter and told him I needed tilapia for one. He picked out the best filet for me. I know the folks at the bakery. They laughed when I told them how much I enjoyed the last cupcake I bought there and offered me free samples of Irish Soda bread drowned in butter while we decided what cupcake I needed tonight. Double chocolate for the win. I lingered, picked out a nice bottle of wine, and headed home alone. I showered, threw on my rattiest and comfiest pajamas, and turned on HGTV. 

When alone, I do these things without thinking. They bring me joy, despite their ridiculousness. When I'm around other people I worry about what they would think that I wear my PJ's and pour myself a glass of wine at 5 in the afternoon. Alone, I do it and I am happy.

After an hour on the couch I rise to start the slow and therapeutic process of cooking myself dinner. There will be too much food and most people would probably just get take out, but I love this process. Chopping and whisking. Transforming separate ingredients into something wonderful. I have a chocolate cupcake waiting for me and I don't have to share it. This is the perfect evening. I need this.

A Serious Interjection: there is nothing wrong or shameful about needing moments alone. They refuel me, refresh me, and most importantly, make me happy. As I write this post I am still reveling in my alone-ness. And, when I turn on the TV to watch the Pioneer Woman at 10 on a Saturday morning while baking unnecessary treats and drinking too much black coffee I will not feel ashamed or guilty - I will simply feel happy.


 --
Previous serious interjections:
on perfection 
on disappointment 
on persistence

what i ate wednesday: issue 72

 Figure 1. Breakfast: puffed wheat + All Bran + cocoa powder + banana + milk. My snack (un-pictured) was a sliced Gala apple sprinkled with cinnamon.

Figure 2. Lunch: a version of my favorite green smoothie without the peanut butter and with a little added xanthan gum for thickening power (~1/4 tsp) with a side of carrots and peanut butter.

Figure 3. Afternoon snack: pretzel sticks and an (un-pictured) Red Gala apple.

Figure 4. Pre-dinner munchies: my favorite beer (Sierra Nevada pale ale) with a handful of blue corn chips and salsa. I am on Spring Break, after all, and that calls for beer on a Tuesday....

Figure 5. Dinner: shredded chicken tacos in a whole wheat tortilla topped with cheese, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, onions, salsa, and Greek yogurt alongside roasted broccoli. I also had chocolate-peanut butter Arctic Zero (un-pictured) for dessert.

And that concludes another What I Ate Wednesday (featuring what I ate Tuesday, March 11).

weekend review: the zero calorie margarita

Figure 1. Friday night's dinner: balsamic salmon, roasted butternut squash with rosemary and balsamic vinegar, and roasted broccoli with Parmesan.

Figure 2. Sunday night's cocktail: a margarita made with this Stevia-sweetened zero calories mix. I was skeptical, but this was delicious!

Figure 3. Out of the oven: a ham, cheese, and green onion quiche with a hash brown crust courtesy of mom.

Figure 4. Sunday night's dinner (please excuse the awkward half-eaten extreme closeup): ham and cheese quiche, a salad with homemade tarragon-mustard vinaigrette, and a french baguette dipped in olive oil and spices.

my current blog crushes

I have this list of blogs that I visit everyday. My favorite part of the day, in fact, is a quiet morning spent reading blog posts over black coffee and cereal. At any given point in time, however, I have a handful of blogs with which I am completely obsessed and quietly stalk from the comfort of my laptop. Here are my current blog crushes....

{never} homemaker

healthy + balance + whole living

This lovely blog includes delicious recipes (always vegan, always healthy, sometimes indulgent) that are creative and practical and healthy living and running advice from a seasoned and self-made marathon runner, Ashely.

Back to Her Roots

This blog is so real I can't get over it. Its author, Cassie, lost a remarkable amount of weight through healthy living and started this blog to document her journey. Back to Her Roots includes healthy recipes (which I make regularly), Cassie's weekly accountability updates, hilarious confessions, words of inspiration, and beautiful photography.

How Sweet It Is

for people who, like, totally love food

Jessica of How Sweet It Is is a genius. I secretly wish I had her life, which consists of creating extravagant and creative dishes and desserts and documenting them daily in her blog. Her recipes aren't always the 'healthiest', but they are always (always) absolutely delicious. I mean just look at these cupcakes....

Pinch of Yum

Pinch of Yum is a fairly new blog love of mine. This blog is created by Jessica, who lives in the Philippines with her husband and shares her healthy and creative, easy, and delicious creations. Not to mention her kick ass photography and intermittent stories of her international journey.