Happiness is not a fish you can catch.

First and foremost, you guys are amazing. Your comments on the post about my foot injury cheered me up more than words can properly express.

I did a lot of thinking and I have decided that getting a second opinion about my injury wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. I am going to try to see a sports medicine doctor/physical therapist who can help me strengthen the weak muscles around my ankles and calves. Hopefully with some help and TLC, I'll feel stronger and healthier. (And be able to train for more races like I want, only pain-free!)

I'm not going to stop working out but I am going to change the way I look at exercise. I will not exercise to lose weight anymore. I will exercise to keep my body healthy, to boost energy levels and to reduce my stress. I've been too hard on myself with this weight loss thing and it's not healthy. It's more important to me to be healthy and happy. If I obsess over calories in and calories out, I will be unhappy.

Your support is more than I could ever ask for. Thanks for being here for me. It will be a process. I don't expect to change my thinking overnight but I do hope to be a positive example to my four younger siblings and my future children. I want to be proud of what my body can do and not what it CAN'T do.



Let's move on. The other night I made some bruschetta with organic tomatoes, a balsamic glaze, a spritz of olive oil, buffalo mozzarella and some delicious crusty bread. I missed the fresh basil but we didn't have any on hand.



I toasted the bread in the oven at 400. I simply cut the bread into slices, sprayed with olive oil using my misto and topped half of the bread with cheese. I couldn't decide if I preferred the cheese melted or not.



The melted cheese won.

For the tomatoes, I diced them and tossed them in salt & pepper before throwing them on top of the bread slices.

The balsamic glaze was easier than I thought it would be. I boiled 1/2 of a cup of balsamic vinegar, reduced to low until it thickened. I got about 1/4 cup of glaze. I used a turkey baster to glaze the bread.

YUM! Makes me miss lazy days in Italy.

Next, I might try bruschette with chopped tomatoes, balsamic glaze, chopped avocado and asiago. What other combinations would be good?

Good Friday and our summer vacation!

Spring Break has officially begun!



Yesterday I used a packet of Jay Robb pina colada whey protein powder to make a tropical smoothie. I figured a tropical smoothie would get me in the mood for our summer vacation.



Ingredients:

1 packet Jay Robb Whey Protein (Pina colada)
1 can Dole Pineapple Juice (8oz)
1 frozen banana
8 frozen strawberries
1/2 unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup frozen diced mango

Into the blender until smooth and creamy. This was like soft serve frozen yogurt!



And it tasted like...





Paradise. That's right! We're going to spend our one year wedding anniversary in Hawaii! Specifically Kauai!

We're totally stoked. I'm not excited about buying a bathing suit but what else is new?

I just want to lay on the beach, hike, snorkel, drink tropical drinks and spend some quality time with my husband. Have any of you been to Kauai? And trip advice for us?



I also made a lasagna without using a recipe for the first time! I was impressed with myself.

It's just no-boil lasagna noodles, TJ's vodka sauce, spinach (3 cups worth!), ricotta, seasonings, mozzarella, chicken meatballs, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli and parmesan all layered in a pan. I love when my kitchen experiments work out!

Do you have any summer plans yet? How about Spring break plans?

You already know our summer plans. We're going to Las Vegas on Monday for Spring Break. Bouchon, here we come!

Quick & Easy tomato sauce recipe

Thanks to everyone who entered my Chobani Champions Giveaway! The winner is...

#8 brandi said...
oh, and you're in my reader!

February 24, 2010 11:12 AM

Congrats Brandi!

(My next giveaway will be soon! You will all love it, I promise!)




My friend Charlene recently added me a paper bag full of fresh tomatoes from her garden. I was thrilled! I made pasta sauce with them, naturally.

(Excuse how messy my stove top is. Sauce bubbling makes quite a mess.)

Ingredients:

8 medium sized tomatoes, 4-5 small tomatoes quartered.
2 zucchini chopped up fine
half a brown onion diced
2 tbsp butter
salt to taste
dried garlic flakes
1 tbsp olive oil

I started by heating the EVOO (RR!) and the diced onion until the onion was clear. Then I added in the chopped zucchini and tomatoes and cooked them down for 30 minutes. The butter, salt, & garlic flakes (& 1 tbsp of Italian seasonings) were added last. I used my immersion blender to make the sauce creamy. I loved how it turned out orange!



Then I made a baked pasta dish using whole wheat pasta noodles, fontina cheese, my homemade sauce, chicken meatballs and parmesan cheese.



And heated up some garlic asiago bread.



And just heated until the cheese melted. (In the stove @350 for 5-6 mins)





DELICIOUS! I'm glad I tried making my own sauce. All of the recipes I found online took 2-4 hours and I just wasn't having it. The quick recipes used peeled & canned tomatoes which I obviously didn't have. So I got creative and just did my own thang. Turned out beautifully. Leftovers for lunch!

I'm not feeling so hot this am. I ended up running 1.5 miles yesterday with Andy and it irritated my knee. I knew I should have taken the day off but...I am dumb. I was up all night tossing & turning in pain as a result. I'm going to take today off running and start Week 7 of Couch to 5k tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I caught Andy's cold!

Thanks for your support and sweet comments on my Almost Famous Chef entry. You guys are the best!

Yesterday, I subbed a kindergarten/first grade class and then had 6 hours of class. So I just didn't have the time for a normal blog. I have 150 blog posts to read on my google reader! (CRAZY!) I hate Mondays and Wednesdays when I work and have 2 long classes. If it was up to me, I'd get sub jobs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays only. Working on days with short classes isn't a problem. At this point, I'll take what jobs I can get though.

I started to feel really sick yesterday so I'm pretty sure I caught Andy's cold. My eyes are watery, my nose is stuffed up, I feel light-headed and my head hurts so bad. Blah. I'm going to have to leave the apartment soon to get some cold meds in me. (Andy is still not 100% either.)



Breakfast tuesday morning was half a grapefruit with a teeny bit of sugar. Honestly, I like grapefruit without sugar, it's just a bad habit of mine!



I should probably have grapefruit this morning too. Vitamin C to the rescue!



And I had a pom chobani. This was my 2nd time having it and I really enjoyed it this time. At first I didn't like the texture of the arils on the bottom but this time? Loved it!



While enjoying breakfast, I iced my knee with my new friend.



Peas cold therapy! My dad is a marathon runner and has always used a bag of actual frozen peas to ice after long runs so I thought imitation peas would be good for me!



Later, I had the urge to make cookies. So I brought out the silpat from Andy's mom and tried it out.



Oatmeal chocolate chip goodness! My cookies never turn out actually looking like cookies, I am so impressed! Thanks again Josie!



After the cookies, I decided to make dinner because I am backwards like that. I made dinner at 5 and left for class at 6. So I didn't have much time. I roasted corn.



With 1 tbsp dijonnaise, 1/2 tbsp light olive oil mayo, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt and a dab of butter. Yes, a dab.



Slathered it on the corn, wrapped the corn in foil and baked in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.



Ignore my messy kitchen. I put some asiago cheese on the corn afterwards. It was so delicious and spicy! We had some chicken sausage and peppers n onions with it.



But the corn was the star of the show. I can't wait until corn is actually in season so I can recreate this again.

Right now, I'm icing my knee and preparing to run my last day of Week 3 for Couch to 5k. My knees are definitely not enjoying the runs but the rest of me does. I am hoping to do 3 miles in 30 minutes by the end of March. But if my knee continues to feel this way, it will probably be more like 35-40 minutes. And that is okay. Slow and steady finishes the race!

Potato & Kale Soup with Oikos Greek Yogurt

This afternoon, I had an idea. Why not try to recreate one of my favorite soups of all time?

I love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana but don't love waiting in line for hours to eat it. No thanks.

So I grabbed my ingredients and got started.

Potato & Kale soup recipe
5 potatos (I used yukon gold and I did not peel them.)
2 cups of chopped kale
1/2 cup non-fat milk
1 can chicken or veggie broth
1/4 cup Oikos plain non-fat greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely grated asiago cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in water until ready to mash
drain potatoes add remaining ingredients
Mash ingredients together. (I purposely left the potatoes a little chunky)

*I really think this soup would taste fantastic with smoky, crumbled bacon on top. But alas, we did not have any.

heat for 15 minutes (just so the kale isn't so bitter tasting!)



Enjoy!



The addition of the Oikos plain greek yogurt made this soup creamy without adding tons of fat. Love that!



And made about 4 servings of soup.



And can I just say that I love the kale in this soup? It definitely adds a healthy dimension to this soup and no bitter flavor. YUM!

Do you have a favorite soup? What is it? My other favorite is sweet potato bisque from Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. Heaven in a bowl.

Pasta with Roasted Veggies, Italian Sausage and Pesto Cream Sauce

This morning I tried a Wallaby Australian yogurt for the first time. It was creamy, pineapple-y and smooth. I loved it!



I also had half of my FAVORITE bar ever. I spent $2 on it and it was worth every penny. I ate 1/3 and saved the rest for Andy.



Lunch was my favorite burrito. Amy's Southwestern. I have no idea why it's so good but it is.



Food Should Taste Good Multi-Grain chips with sabra hummus. Look how full our pantry is. This is why I needed the November Challenge. To empty out this darn pantry.

Ok so onto what I really wanted to post about. Dinner.



Tonight I was craving pasta with creamy, cheesy sauce and roasted veggies. I sliced up a butternut squash (cost me $1!!), zucchini, eggplant and an onion.





Roasted with sea salt, black pepper and a little olive oil. I put it in the oven at 400* for 25 minutes.



While I roasted the veggies, I consulted my favorite recipe book.



It didn't have what I was looking for, so I improvised.



I had this asiago cheese and Mezzetta pesto. (The pesto was from the Foodbuzz festival!)



I made a creamy pesto sauce using 1/2 cup half & half, 2 tbsp ricotta cheese, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 3 tbsp pesto, 2 tbsp unsalted butter and a dash of olive oil. Just add each ingredient slowly and whisk quickly until well blended.



Throw the roasted veggies in with the whole wheat pasta.



And then toss in the pesto cream sauce. (Yes, I realize it's a little sinful and high in calories but it's Friday night!) I would also love to try this pasta with balsamic vinegar and olive oil instead of the cream sauce.



We also added in some italian sausage. This pasta made enough for 6 people. Leftovers! YAY!!!



I had a mini pom-tini with dinner. Bliss.

I love meals like these because they taste rich and sinful but have way less calories than your typical meal at a restaurant. I made sure to serve Andy and myself one serving each. I put the rest of the pasta in a tupperware immediately so we didn't overeat. That really helps a lot.

Hope you are having a great Friday night!

Pom-Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Last night Andy and I had a few friends over and made dinner. I made a salad with homemade raspberry vinegarette, raspberries, strawberries, feta cheese and toasted almonds. It was sort of like the delicious salad they served at our wedding!

The chicken was easy to make as well. I used balsamic vinegar, cornstarch and pom juice to make a nice balsamic glaze, added in asparagus and green onions and tossed it on top. The best part? This meal cost us under $30 to make and we have all of the condiments left over to make more meals. These days a meal under $30 for 4 people is really helpful. My best friend Tiffany contributed by making us a flourless chocolate cake which I did not take pictures of! It was fantastic.

This morning I was hungry for a big breakfast. I looked in the fridge and in the cabinets and felt like we had nothing. The lazy side of me wanted to suggest going out but the sensible side of me took over. My new mantra is "make something out of nothing" so I did just that.



I cut up the leftover strawberries from last night and mixed them with grapes and a nectarine.



Then using leftover tomatoes, green onions and fontina cheese, I made a quick omelette to share. It literally cost nothing to make and filled both of us up. Why don't I do this more often? I really need to start saving up money so Andy and I can afford to travel more. I'm hoping that the blog helps motivate me to cook at home more and to save some cash!

What do you do to save money? Do you stop going out to eat altogether? Or just cut back? Andy and I are planning on cutting back to going out for one meal a week.

Pom Wonderful

Rose's Pink Smoothie inspired me today!



I put together half a banana, fresh strawberries, 1/4 cup dry oats, and 1/2 frozen mixed fruit.



Added in 3 tablespoons of plain nonfat yogurt.



And 4oz of Pom Juice courtesy of Pom Wonderful. Thanks for sending me this guys!



And blended until smooth! It tastes amazing! Thanks Rose and Pom!