Italian Spaghetti Squash and Lentil Soup
Posted: October 11, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: farmers market, lentils, soup, spaghetti squash Leave a comment »Finally I am back with an edition of Farmer’s Market Tuesday!
It has been really warm in Maryland lately but we have a lot of rain in forecast and Fall + rain = soup in my book.
I love all squash in the fall and I usually make the spaghetti variety as yep, spaghetti. Tonight I wanted to try something different and man did it work out!
What you will need:
- 1 small to medium spaghetti squash
- 1 large can of fire roasted tomatoes
- 2 cups veggie broth (or chicken/beef)
- 1 onion diced
- 1 clove of garlic pressed
- 2 tsp dried thyme or fresh to your taste
- 2 sprigs of rosemary de-stemmed or 1 tbsp dried
- dash of hot pepper flakes
- 1/2 bunch kale
- 1/2 cup uncooked lentils
- pepper (no salt needed due to tomatoes and veggie broth)
I started by cutting the squash in half lengthwise and roasting it for 45min in the oven. While it was roasting I cooked down the onion and garlic then added everything but the rosemary, thyme and kale. 45min late pull out the squash to cool and add the herbs and kale to the pot to cook for a few min while you pull out the spaghetti.
Now, the squash can be really hot and I don’t like waiting so I usually wear an oven mitt to get things going. Add the squash to the lentils and stir before serving.
I seriously have not made something this good since I made butternut chili before the wedding.
The herbs really came out in this and I loved the addition of a different squash.
I just wish I could have slurped up some of these “spaghetti” noodles!
What is your favorite way to eat spaghetti squash?
Curry and Coconut
Posted: April 7, 2011 Filed under: dinner, recipe | Tags: coconut milk, collard greens, curry, recipe, soup Leave a comment »When I read about KERF’s coconut shrimp and kale soup I knew exactly what I wanted to make for dinner! I switched up her recipe a little and made it vegetarian, but I think it would be equally delicious. I haven’t met anything that mixes coconut and curry that I didn’t like.
I had a can of coconut milk hanging around just begging to be used so she went into the pot!
Along with the coconut milk:
- 1 carton of veggie broth
- 1 bag of frozen mixed greens or one head of kale/mustard greens/collards
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 can coconut milk
- shake of nutmeg
- 1 clove of garlic pressed
- small dash of salt – already sodium in the broth!
- 1 can of chickpeas drained
Throw everything in a pot and let simmer for 30min. Serve with delicious bread aka Great Harvest Dakota bread!
Time to get back to cleaning!
Soft and Mushy
Posted: December 6, 2010 Filed under: food | Tags: dinner, eggs, field roast, soup, wisdom teeth 2 Comments »No, I am not talking about one of my mom’s favorite cheesy lines “Say something soft and mushy Henry”, I am talking about my food!
One thing I have found out is that blue cheese + sweet potato is amazing.
Another awesome combo that I would have never tried if I didn’t lose my teeth was scrambled eggs in soup.
Scrambled eggs with chili powder, garlic powder, S&P and goat cheese. Placed on top of the last of the tomato bisque soup.
Delicious! I would have never done this if I could chew solid foods!
Next I stepped up my game and went into the chew foods all steamed so there was no crunch and things that could POKE. (My antibiotic pack fell out today and I really freaked out thinking it was the blood clot!)
To much so lets move onto the food…
One soft tortilla to wrap up some of the goodness.
I started sautéing an onion then added garlic, red wine vinegar, mustard powder, S&P. Then I chopped up some brussel sprouts and kale extra fine and threw them in. Once those were going I chopped up a sausage link from this new product I saw flying around the blogshere.
I am always looking for protein alternatives to tofu. This was actually pretty good and the ingredients are decent. It added a nice flavor to the meal.
I also browns, which is a plus!
This was a little hard to chew and sort of hurt my jaw to grind the food up 
I guess I need to head back to the soups, banana bread, smoothies and pudding.
Speaking of pudding, why did I ever stop eating this stuff??? Nick brought me back chocolate vanilla swirl pudding cups when he went out on Sunday and I love them! I eat them layer by layer.
No sugar free anyone! Honestly it is 50 calories and for real sugar I will take it! I know Jello brand might not be the best ingredient puddings but I am going to look into Whole Foods. I think there is a local dairy that makes pudding…could be dangerous.
Did you enjoy pudding as a child? I surely did, chocolate vanilla swirls all the way!
Soup’s On!
Posted: September 2, 2010 Filed under: dinner | Tags: dinner, soup 1 Comment »When life gives you sickness, make soup.
I have been feeling under the weather lately (my glands are the size of golf balls) so instead of the beef burgers I had planned, I went with semi-homemade soup.
I bought the Bob’s Red Mill mix awhile ago and finally pulled it out and made half the bag. Note: I have not met a BRM product I do not love!
I started off sautéing an onion in some EVOO then added three chopped carrots,1 clove garlic, 6 cups of water, 2 cups of veggie broth, 2 cups of soup mix, a whole bunch of fresh herbs from the garden, salt, pepper, cayenne and ginger.
One hour later…
I also baked up some eggplant chips to go along with and a GREEN salad.
garlic powder, S&P
Green heirlooms, avocado and basil.
Number 8! That is me!
Just what the doctor ordered!
Now I have about 6 more cups of soup to eat 
At least it freezes well!
Off to the movies with the boy!
Beans and Bread
Posted: February 28, 2010 Filed under: Sunday | Tags: Abbey Burger Bistro, beans, cornbread, pancakes, salad, soup Leave a comment »Another weekend has some to a close and I am getting ready to go read in bed. Before I can get there let me give you a little run down of about 2pm yesterday until today.
My lunch did not completely fill me up so I went back for a small bowl of Kashi H2H Warm Cinnamon and vanilla rice milk.
New bowl! That is a huge vat of chocolate in the background on the Food Network.
For dinner Nick and I met up with friends for a burger bash in Federal Hill. I had heard that the burgers at The Abbey Burger Bistro were amazing so I really wanted to try them out!
They have a build your own burger sheet and that is what I went with.
I ordered a bison burger with local cheddar, caramelized onions, pickles, tomato, stone ground mustard and lettuce on a classic roll with sweet potato fries. I contemplating getting the veggie burger and the lettuce bun, but this was a burger place and I felt like my first time needed to be a real burger with a real bun.
This was great! 100x better than Five Guys. I found that place very unoriginal and greasy. Along with my burger I got an Abbey Ale (dark with tons of fruit undertones). They have tons of beer here and their draft selection changes all of the time.
After dinner Nick and I met up with some other friends to hangout for a bit before heading home. It was a late night!
I slept in this morning until 10AM!!! Sissy was not happy to wait that long, but she was patient and only bothered me when I moved.
For breakfast I set to work making pancakes and I changed my mind on them about 10 times. At first I was going to make banana blueberry pancakes and then they because blueberry with pb and blueberry jam. A few more things went through my head and I finally ended on plain blueberry pancakes with a little real maple syrup.
I just really wanted authentic pancakes this morning. Of course I added flax, chia seeds, vanilla and cinnamon. I found that cooked blueberries because really sweet and that is why I skipped the jam.
I had the banana and pb already out so I made a few pb and banana sandwiches while the cakes cooked.
Finally enjoyed with some French press coffee.
After breakfast I did a few loads of laundry and contemplating running some errands but instead I chilled on the couch with Sissy and my book until lunch time.
I decided to make 16 bean soup and cornbread thanks to Jen. I had the beans in my cupboard for a really long time and finally remembered to soak them last night. I cooked up my Oikos cornbread to go along with my soup and to have a little bit more with my lunch
Big salad with tomatoes, carrots and mixed greens.
Multiply this by 4 and you have the amount of cornbread I ate today!
After lunch I started cooking my bean soup with a large can of diced tomatoes, 1 box of low sodium veggie broth, carrots, celery, S&P, bay leaves and garlic. Simple because I wanted the beans to really stand out. I set this on high and headed out to Bikram yoga.
It was once again ridiculously hard. So hot!!!! It is seriously challenging both physically and mentally. I definitely did not hydrate enough before class and I had a few moments of lightheadedness. I wasn’t really a fan of the teacher, but now I know not to attend her classes.
I came home showered, iced my knee and went diving into some beans and bagel.
Big bowl of beans and a everything bagel thin with real butter.
Mmmmm beans! I love beans! To list a few that were in here…mung, pinto, black eyed, lima, pinto, white and chickpeas. That covers half!
Time to get in bed with these guys and fall asleep reading my book!
Night Everyone!
1.2!
Posted: February 22, 2010 Filed under: Monday | Tags: adora, burrito, Meatless Monday, salad, soup, tea 1 Comment »I walked/jogged 1.2 miles today without any pain! I know 1.2 miles doesn’t seem like that much, but it was so nice to walk off the treadmill after 20min and not have knee pain!
I took it very slow and easy:
- 5min walk @ 3.5
- 5min incline walk on 10.6 @ 3.6
- 5min jog @5.0
- 5min walk @3.5
I felt like I could keep going with my jog, but I don’t want to push my knee and was just happy I could keep moving! After my t-mill I did some arms (ouch!) and all of my PT exercises. I also did a bunch of core work and some foam roller.
Anywho I am currently icing because it can’t hurt, but so far so good!
Leading up to my moment of running I had to fuel myself through the day!
Butternut squash soup that I split with Nick, spinach salad with carrots, maters, balsamic and mustard. I also had some kashi crackers.
Nick ended up having to go home early from work because he was so sick 
I once again forgot a pre-gym snack and had to rely on my almonds. It really wasn’t what I was craving, but I had to eat something and the options in our building are awful.
I was riding high when I got home from the gym and in honor of Meatless Monday I made Nick and I tofu tacos, or tofacos as he likes to call them. They actually because tofu burritos.
Nick actually said this was way better than he thought it was going to taste when I told him we were having tofu for dinner. I think it helped that I had avocado and cilantro in there 
I coated the tofu cubes in chili powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin and oregano. I then tossed them into a pan with some mushrooms and then wilted some spinach in. This was stuffed into a tortilla shell with avocado, cilantro, salsa and a small amount of cheese (we are trying to keep phlegm down around here). I also had 1/2 of a sweet potato on the side.
Nick requested another blueberry smoothie for dessert and this time I added some greens in without with knowing!
He needs to get better and didn’t say a thing
I had a cup of green tea and an Adora disk.
Now I am going to finish up jeopardy and probably get into bed early! I do not want to get sick!
Ya Monday is over!
Super Bowl Snow
Posted: February 7, 2010 Filed under: weekend | Tags: cake, chicken, french toast, snow, soup 1 Comment »We made it through the snow! It is nice and sunny out now, and I am dreading digging out my car today.
Here are some pictures from yesterdays snow.
The wind covered our window in snow.
Sissy’s entertainment of the day.
Walkway and yes those mounds are cars.
Nick and I went for a walk before digging out his car.
This snow mound was almost up to my arm pit. When we dug the car out it came up to my waist. We got 27in, the most amount of snow on record.
To warm me through the day I had Sissy.
She doesn’t look happy, but she really does like napping like this.
Amy’s soup and toast with cheese.
The best thing I made yesterday was Brandi’s Applesauce Chocolate Ginger Cake
This cake was so delicious! I was worried Nick would not like it because of the ginger but he ate a giant piece and gave me 2 thumbs up! I am glad I got a chance to use the crystallized ginger my grandmother had given me for Christmas, I had been raking my brain for a good recipe!
I loved the crunchy crust with the warm moist bread. I had two pieces throughout the afternoon.
After Nick and I went for out walk and digging adventure, I didn’t want to make anything for dinner. I had a grilled chicken breast from earlier in the week and I just made a simple chicken salad. with Greek Yogurt.
Chicken salad:
- cumin lemon grilled chicken breast
- cumin
- lemon juice
- Greek yogurt
- celery
- tomatoes
- S&P
I also had a glass of my favorite brew. I took me forever to drink it because I was still thawing out!
I passed out on the couch watching Mean Girls and would not move when Nick tried to get me to play Scene It. I think I am fighting some sort of cold coming on. I have been really sleepy lately.
This morning I had no idea what to make for breakfast, I was still feeling a little off. I just went with French toast.
regular french toasted topped with a microwaved apple with cinnamon and maple syrup and a quinoa crunch bar.
It was good, but I am just not feeling anything today.
I need to plan my super bowl menu for this afternoon. It is going to be simple because I don’t know how many people are going to be able to make it. Chili, cornbread, the rest of my ginger chocolate cake, chips and guac, mixed nuts and a veggie plate.
Ta Ta for now!
Who are you cheering for this afternoon?
I know it shouldn’t, but I will be cheering for the Colts. I really just like Payton Manning.
See ya later gators!
Blizzard
Posted: February 6, 2010 Filed under: snow, weekend | Tags: cereal, cookies, pancakes, snow, soup Leave a comment »Helllooooo from the snow storm!
Currently Outside my window…
This all started yesterday when I got home from work. I stopped by The Natural food store on my way home to get some Greek yogurt and I was enticed by their mung bean soup for lunch!
Along with my soup I had a bowl of cereal, which tasted sooooo good, and a giant cookie!
The soup was really good, and this cookie was a monster but greatly enjoyed it for cookie Friday!
I spent the afternoon doing a little work I brought home and then once Nick got home we watched Finding Nemo and look a nice long nap.
The snow really started sticking around 4pm and hasn’t stopped since. The plows have been out there all night, I feel really bad for them right now, but I am sure they are getting paid well.
Due to our late lunches Nick and I had a pretty late dinner.
This was another one of Ellie Krieger’s recipes, but again I couldn’t find it online. It called for pork chops, but I stuck to tofu and Nick got the pork. Both were browned with and then I made a red wine scaloppini sauce because I didn’t want to open my bottle of while and it came out really well!
I always say, anything with lemon tastes amazing!
Along side by tofu scaloppini I made mashed sweet potatoes with garlic and rosemary and Spinach with mustard vinaigrette. This was the first time in a long time I used frozen spinach, I really missed the fresh stuff.
After dinner Doug and Ray came over to play Risk, Scene It Disney and Bop It! I can’t believe they went out on the snow, but they just live down the street and I guess they were ok getting home at the end of the night. I had a black Russian and caramel filled chocolate chip cookie while we played.
This morning I first woke up at 7:00AM and when I looked out the window it still looked like it was 3AM! So dark, windy and snowy! I went back to sleep until 8:30AM and had to feed the kitty. She was staring me down.
I decided to make some tropical pancakes to combat the winter wonderland outside.
Silver dollar strawberry kiwi coconut pancakes!
My usual pancake mix with 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tbs flax and vanilla.
Pressed with kiwi, strawberries, coconut and a little maple syrup.
I would like to go for a walk in this snow, but if the wind is still crazy I don’t really want to get snowy wind burn.
I have plans to make some ginger chocolate chip bread and that is about it. We’ll see if Nick had some ideas when he wakes up!
Going to cuddle with Sissy and start looking at vacation spots!
Month Off Plan
Posted: January 21, 2010 Filed under: Thursday | Tags: clementines, cookie, curry, knee, soup, Stonyfield Leave a comment »Hello! How was your Thursday? Mine was well, sedated. I have come up with a list of things I am going to try and get done within the month of sitting on my butt. Here is what I have come up with so far:
- Taxes – Federal and MD
- Organize my bills – I currently have a large amount of bill and pay stubs sitting in a pile that I would like to file
- Add $$$ to my IRA
- Figure out how to add more $$$ to my ING account without cutting it too close
- Figure out my monthly expenses – phone, car insurance, cable, electric – I have a Google doc for this, but I need Nick to participate in it!
- Clean and organize bookshelf that has just become a place to put things
- Figure out a plan for Nick’s birthday!
- Volunteer at BARCS
I am hoping to tackle most of this list by Feb 20th.
On the food front today…
Lunch
Amy’s reduced sodium minestrone with avocado added, carrots and maters, crackers. Plus one dose of daily calcium!
I really enjoyed the avocado in this soup!
The reason they have been in almost every meal is that they were on sale for $1 each last week, and for those who don’t know, that is an amazing deal on avocados!
My afternoon snack was another two clems + seltzer.
About an hour later when I was driving home, I could feel hunger sneaking up on me again. I knew I needed to avoid the cereal box attack of yesterday so I planned out a small snack for when I got home. I served myself a cup of non-fat plain Stonyfield yogurt. The protein filled me up to a perfect level!
I cleaned up the disaster of a kitchen, fed Sissy and sat down to watch Gilmore Girls. I feel like Gilmore Girls is going to be a regular 5pm activity. I am going to try to come up with an upper body and core workout that I can do, but it seems so pointless to me.
Then it was on to the highlight of the day, dinner. According to Nick this was one of his favorite dinners I have EVER made. Thank you Trader Joe’s thai curry sauce!
In the large pile there is TJs harvest grain mix, sautéed onions, peas and tofu for me shrimp for Nick. We only had 7 shrimp so I let Nick have them. I am nice like that and I had tofu that I needed to eat. I topped the pile with avocado and surrounded it in 1/2 a baked yam.
Every element in one bite! Nick felt that this meal deserved lots of pictures.
For my evening chocolate fix I had a soft baked double chocolate cookie dunked in milk.
Sissy and I are now off to watch Bones while Nick goes to the gym…lucky dog.
Woohoo tomorrow is Friday, but they are calling for rain and ice. Yuckie! Might be late to work.
Good Night All!
Oh almost forgot! Food Rule of the Day by Michael Pollan! Rule #5: Avoid food that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients. This does not include special occasion treats addressed in rule #60. I am guilty of this especially in the nut butter world. I think I am going to stop buying special flavored nut butters because they seriously are a dessert and contain large amounts of sugar. Other than nut butter I do not eat very much sugar except maybe jelly, but that is not avoidable. Did you know some jelly’s first ingredient is sugar, not fruit! Crazy. Read labels.
OK now I am seriously out of here!
New Outside My Window
Posted: January 13, 2010 Filed under: dinner, lunch, Wednesday | Tags: acorn squash, panini, soup 1 Comment »Hello and we are in the downward slope of the week! And a downward slope it has been. Again with me knee, sorry if you are getting sick of it! It seems to kill me at work. I am going to try wearing different shoes tomorrow to see if it makes a difference. I don’t really walk much there, basically sit at my desk aka the least healthy thing you can do. I am a scientist by nature and therefore ran a bunch of tests in my cube including shoes on vs. off and different taping measures.
In between experiments I made time for lunch.
Leftover beef broth from last night mixed with wheat berries (!!!) green beans and okra. I also had a 1/2 of an Ezekiel muffin and an Adora disk. 
I spy a wheat berry! I think I liked this soup better than the beef stewish. I loved the chewy wheat berry texture. I need to make more of them more often!
The rest of my day was pretty uneventful except my stomach wanting my afternoon snack at 1pm! I think it was mainly boredom and I was looking for a an cheer myself up gift on Foodzie. It is a website kind of like Esty for food. I got myself distracted until 3pm before diving into the snack of the week.
Desk shot! Isn’t my particle board amazing! Apple+almonds+seltzer almost equals an apple with almond butter.
I went to find out how much I am going to have to shell out to get MD registration tags and title. $300 smackeroos from a tag and title place. I went to MVA once and I never want to go back again. Plus I have a weird situation with my car and I didn’t want to wait 2 hours to find out I didn’t have the proper paperwork. I have been trying to get one extra thing done every day because I am not going to the gym. Yesterday was get the salt washed off my car and today it was the tag and title. Tomorrow is get a MD state inspection (and shell out more $$$) I guess this is what my car fund is for in my ING account.
I had a nice surprise when I walked in the door. Well besides Sissy!
We had a cardinal at our feeder! I was worried that no birds were coming and then there he was today. It instantly put me in a good mood! Hello Mr. C! I hope to see you around all winter and spring.
After texting mom this event I did 45min of Dave Farmers podcast that everyone has been jazzed about. I actually knew most of the positions so I was impressed. I also did 1/2 of my PT stretches and I am planning to do the rest after dinner digests.
Speaking of dinner…I had Panini and salad on the menu, but I felt like I need something a little more. Acorn squash!
Baked acorn squash with a mini salad of greens and maters with WF balsamic.
And then there was the panini. I need to work on making these!
At least it was cheesy! along with 2 slices of cheese I had thia pesto, hummus, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms. I meant to get in some roasted red peppers but I forgot them Plenty of time! I really want to remake that brie, pear, spinach and honey sandwich I had at Spoon with my dad.
I plan on watching two weeks ago’s Biggest Loser to find out who these peeps are, eating some chocolate, icing the knee, finishing PT sipping some tea and getting to bed early. Sounds like a plan!
