hungry no more!

Since we have been really busy over the last several weeks, we haven't taken a lot of time to stock our kitchen with the foods that we normally have on hand. Our grocery trips have been quick and short lately, getting just enough to get us through until the next week. We are still getting the weekly produce delivery, and without that, I think we would be living on take out or eggs. Because of this, our breakfasts and lunches have seriously sucked... like I mean peanut butter and jellies and granny smith apples.  Who eats granny smith apples for lunch? ugh.. not this girl.

Each evening, as we are driving home from work, I am STARVING. Like, I mean, I can't even focus I am so hungry. I know it is because I haven't been eating a solid breakfast and lunch, leaving me starved by 5 pm. Last night, I decided that I had had enough.

We stopped by a friend's house on the way home from work and I raided their pantry. I sampled several different chips, crackers, and chocolates as soon as we got there. I thought about what to make for dinner the entire time we were there and couldn't wait to get home to start cooking. Even though we didn't get home until almost 8, I went ahead and made what was on my mind.

My sister and I are always sharing recipe ideas and last week, she sent me a message with a picture of her leftovers that said; "I think my new favorite meal is roasted veggies, pasta, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and garlic." Ever since I got that message, that combination would not leave my brain.

I know that my sis just uses what ever veggies she has on hand, so I decided to do the same, even though I have some really random vegetables right now, thanks to GoLocal.  So, no matter what veggies you have on hand, here is a recipe for Jaime's Roasted Veggie Pasta. Don't mind the massive amount of olive oil in the recipe, I got 8 servings out of this dish, so per serving, it is just right. 

Jaime's Roasted Veggie Pasta

1 sweet onion, chopped
Vegetables, cubed (last night I used an ivory eggplant, garden carrots, and an acorn squash. Jaime has used broccoli, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, etc. so have fun with it!)
4 garlic cloves, left whole
5 tablespoons EVOO
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 lemons
Sea Salt, to taste
Red Pepper Flakes, to taste
1 package of whole wheat penne pasta (or whatever pasta you like)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place your cubed vegetables, garlic, and onion into a baking dish (I always use parchment paper to reduce clean up). Add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil to the veggies, along with sea salt and red pepper flakes. Mix with hands and rub the veggies with the EVOO. Roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes, depending on the type of veggies you have, until soft. While your veggies are roasting, cook pasta according to package directions.

Last night, I decided to also use up some of the red and green peppers we had, so I sauteed those in olive oil while everything was cooking. I also threw in some chopped tomatoes at the end of the roasting so that they would still be crisp.

Once the vegetables and pasta is done cooking, mix them all together in a large serving bowl, along with the last 2 tablespoons of EVOO, parmesan cheese, and squeeze the juice from the lemons onto the mix. Stir together and serve! I had some avocado that I was afraid would go bad, so I diced it up and threw it on top of our servings for last night.

By the way... ivory eggplant is delicious! The skin is not bitter like purple eggplant and is so good!

I am currently eating my leftovers for lunch and am sooo happy I made plenty. We will be eating this for lunch all week!

--

Mike and I got up a little early today so we could run together. The weather was perfect for a morning run, considering lately it has been so humid and miserable before 8 am. We did the normal path by his work, a quick 3 miles.

When we got to 3 miles, we were both done! We went our separate ways and headed to the gym/work to get ready for our day.

I had packed myself some overnight oats for breakfast this morning and they were AWESOME. I don't know what I really did differently, but they were amazing. Here is what I threw in: old fashioned oats, skim milk, chocolate protein powder, 1 teaspoon peanut butter, a little sprinkling of shredded coconut, and a few squares of dark chocolate.

It was like heaven. Seriously, try this combo today.

Look at me, 2 posts this week?? Whaaat?!