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?!

roasted veggie and basil chicken

Mike and I have been having a hard time coming up with meals lately. Usually, I have plenty of time to research and make up ideas during the day, but lately, I haven't had a plan before the drive home.

Yesterday, I had taken out some chicken so that we could make something with that, but I wasn't in the mood for a simple piece of grilled chicken with veggies and a starch on the side. After a quick survey of our fridge and pantry, I just started throwing some stuff together that actually turned out really awesome.

After chopping up some veggies, I threw the onions and a few cloves of garlic in a pan along with some olive oil. I let each of those soften up a bit before I added the chicken until it was cooked through.

While that was all going, I coated the rest of the veggies in olive oil and sea salt, and roasted them in the oven for about 30 minutes until they were tender.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added a little sea salt, pepper, chopped sweet basil (from Mike's garden), 2 tablespoons of skim milk, 1 oz of cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of plain greek yogurt, and about a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese to the chicken and allowed to simmer and thicken up.

After everything was finished, I put the chicken over some cooked quinoa and added the veggies.

It was really rich and creamy with a ton of flavor. I had the rest for lunch today and it was just as good as last night. I love when a meal comes together well!

--

I didn't get a run in today, since I woke up to pouring rain outside. I have absolutely zero interest in running on a treadmill these days, so I will try again for tomorrow morning. I really need to get on it, since I ate pretty awful last weekend and am still feeling heavy from it.

Hope everyone had a good day!

a long hilly run

So, remember how I was going to run 6 miles last night, then a few miles tonight, then a long walk on Friday?  Well, after 6 miles last night, I will be doing a whole lot of nothing tonight. My legs still feel like jello.

I really just wanted to make sure I could do 6 miles, so now that I know I can, I feel good about resting the next few days. My time is not the best, but I am really not trying to finish in any amount, just as long as I finish.

As soon as I hit the 6 mile mark, I stopped running, gagged a little, and then immediately felt sore in my legs. My knees felt tired and my hips felt like they were going to collapse at any second. Mike and I did a short cool down walk before heading inside to stretch.

Gotta love the post run pic!

Speaking of Mike... that guy is going to smoke me on Saturday. He is doing such a great job with running lately, and I am normally trailing behind him by a few hundred yards. It is funny that a few months ago, he was the one trailing behind me.

In case you didn't believe me when I said that my neighborhood is super hilly, I took some pictures for proof (which could be the reason my times aren't the best...).

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

See??? It is like a mini San Fran route! Slight exaggeration.

It was also a little chillier than normal last night. So I was wearing pants, long sleeves, gloves, and an ear band. Come back spring weather!

As soon as we got home, we threw some veggies in the oven. Mike had already prepped them, so all we had to do was coat them in EVOO and sea salt, and stick them in the oven.

They turned out amazing. They were perfectly cooked. We thought this wouldn't fill us up enough, but since it was almost 9 pm before we started eating, we didn't end up making anything else. 

Today I got up a little early so that Mike and I could ride together, and I could get some errands ran. We actually got up in time to make breakfast at home and we left a little early. Mike had some cereal, while I made a smoothie.

I added a handful of spinach, 4 frozen strawberries, 1 banana, 1 scoop of chocolate Sun Warrior, and 8 oz of skim milk. Spin away!

It turned out really good! I thought it would be greener, but I guess the chocolate protein powder kept it nice and brown. It was exactly what I was thinking about for the past few days, and I hope it amps up my nutrients some.

Tonight we have a list of things to get done before the weekend, and I plan on trying out that acorn squash I got last week in our produce box. I just can't decide if I want to stuff it with quinoa and veggies, or try it with butter and brown sugar. I have seen both recipes floating around, now I just have to decide... Any recommendations?

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 247
Sodium (+) 86
Protein (-) 14

My Nephew Jumps for Nut Butter

For Christmas, I made my sister a big batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Almond Butter. I knew she would love it, but I had no idea her whole family would become a fan. While they were visiting me, I gave her kids each a spoonful and they came back for more at least 10 times. Her husband even enjoyed the health(ier) nut butter, so I think the gift was a win-win. 

Yesterday, my brother in law sent me this video of my niece and nephew begging for more nut butter. So. freaking. adorable. My sister says their stash is getting low, so it looks like "Aunt Dee Dee" (that is what they call me) will be whipping up a few more batches here soon. 

 

Dinner Last Night

My cousin is coming to stay with us this weekend, so Mike and I spent last night cleaning up the house while waiting for our dinner to cook. Dinner was amazing. I love roasted vegetables, so I found a new roasted veggie recipe in Tosca Reno's cookbook: The Eat Clean Diet. We are using up our veggies from our produce box and it makes me really happy. I decided to make a few variations to the cookbook's recipe, since I didn't have some of the ingredients, but it still turned out fantastic.  

Oven Roasted Vegetables

adapted from The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

8 small potatoes cut in quarters (I used *red potatoes and yukon gold potatoes, since that is what I had on hand)

3 *beets, peeled and cut in quarters

4 large *carrots, cut in long chunks, quartered

1/4 of a large *onion

1 bag Brussels Sprouts, stems and outer layer of leaves removed (to reduce bitterness), cut in half

4 tbsp EVOO

Sea Salt and Pepper (to taste)

2 tsp dried rosemary

* denotes items from our GoLocal Produce Box

Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss veggies with EVOO, S&P, and Rosemary and arrange in a baking dish (we used 2). Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 35 minutes, remove foil, stir and then bake for another 20-30 minutes until carrots and potatoes are soft.

We had our veggies with some Trader Joe's Spicy Jalapeno Chicken Sausage and it was a great meal. I just cut up the sausage for myself and ate it with the veggies, while Mike had his on a bun. 

We both love the TJ's Chicken Sausage. I would say that Sweet Apple is my favorite, but the Jalapeno comes in at a close second. For us, they are a good replacement of hot dogs, only 100 calories per link and no nitrates.

I finished my meal off with a chunk of dark chocolate, the perfect sweet treat. :) 

Rest Day

Since we went to the gym every day this past weekend, I took today off to finish cleaning up the house. I am working at the hospital tonight for a few hours, so I won't be able to do anything tonight. I don't even want to take rest days right now, but I know they are needed and helpful when I have other things going on in life. 

I am feeling great about my work outs lately and feel like I am putting in real, quality work each time. Yesterday, I worked my chest and abs, and then did 30 minutes on the treadmill doing interval running. Tomorrow, I think I will do legs, since I haven't done them since last Thursday. Speaking of legs, I did not get nearly as sore last week after doing a good 10 minute stretch after my leg work out. I did a lot of different leg exercises too, so I hope the stretching is making the big difference. It is so much nicer to be able to walk up and down steps after a leg work out.

Hope y'all have a good day! 

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (+) 73

Sodium (-) 211

Protein (+) 7

Days like yesterday make me realize that I am definitely on the right track. Only over my calories by 73 and then staying below on my sodium and above on my protein! Yeah!