Chunky Minestrone

I have become besotted with this. I mean, how can I not be? The cover is lime green and the pictures inside are almost painfully pretty. Added bonus is that all the recipes are vegan, something I have found myself more and more interested in. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon exploring this cookbook. In honor, of Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan I bring you a completely non-vegan recipe. Baby steps, my friends...

Chunky Minestrone

1tbsp olive oil

1 onion

1 cup carrots

1 cup celery

handful of spinach

a can of beans (I used garbanzo)

4 cups chicken stock

Parmesan Cheese

Salt/Pepper

In a high-sided sauce pan or dutch oven heat up the olive oil. Put in the chopped onion and saute until it becomes translucent. Add chopped carrots and celery and cook until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Cover with the stock and add the beans. Let the soup simmer for about an hour, adding the spinach right before you take it off the heat. Add parmesan cheese to taste.

In light of the first part of my post, feel free to make this vegetarian by using vegetable stock. Nix the cheese to make vegan.

One of the things that I love about minestrone is that you can pretty much throw anything in your fridge into the soup. So, feel free to make this an improvise where you feel necessary. Odds are, it will turn out wonderfully!

Banana Walnut Oatmeal

Hi all, Jen here!

Despite the weather being ridiculously hot, that did not stop me from having a bowl of oatmeal this morning. Usually I'd prefer having just cereal or something light when I know I will be outside in the heat for awhile and will be walking around a lot. I tend to feel weighed down otherwise.

Like I said though, today was a bit unusual but it was totally worth it. On my oatmeal I threw on some walnuts, bananas and then some chia seeds. It was the perfect combination because the bananas became a little soft, almost melting into the oatmeal while the walnuts and chia seeds gave it some great texture. I am going to try this combination with some Overnight Oats because then I can get the best of both worlds: oatmeal and banana-walnut!

I'm making myself hungry.

Even though I just had something to ea which consisted on a green apple with a a side of vanilla yogurt with granola!

I don't know what's with my love for things resembling oatmeal lately, oh well!

But I will guarantee I won't have anything that resembles oatmeal for dinner so expect to see something quite tasty for dinner after that is, once I go grocery shopping to get some staple items.

What is the one item you always buy when grocery shopping?

Perhaps there will be pictures taken of that too. :)

Have a great rest of your day!

Sunday Bumday

Today is Sunday Bumday, in the words of my friend Kirstin.

Last year when we were living in the dorms together, Sunday was the day that we would simply lay around in the common room in sweats and complain about how much homework we had. Somehow Sunday Bumday never really stuck true to its name.

Today is no different with the one exception that I am in my sweats still. I was productive today however, getting many of my lengthy reading assignments completed but alas there still are more.

I am going to skip the workout today because yesterday was very workout heavy, cardio wise anyway. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill at an average pace of 9:22 which is pretty good considering I don't feel super in shape still. I also walked there and back to the fitness center which is a mile there and back.

So today is just going to be a light Pilates video followed by some Yoga.

For some reason today I am feeling very energized, perhaps it is because of the delicious lunch I had?

Mixed greens with light balsamic vinaigrette dressing with a side of Wasa crackers. Wasa crackers were topped with a mozzarella cheese stick and then topped with mango salsa.

I really didn't think it would keep me full but turns out it hit the spot!

I think I also found a new favorite combo with the Wasa crackers because the melted cheese on top was the perfect way to spice those babies up.

My roommate thinks the Wasa crackers taste like cardboard, if you've tried them what did you think?

Anywho, for dinner tonight I think I will be making pasta but that depends on how stuff I have to do until the chapter meeting for my sorority but whatever it does wind up being, there will be pictures. (Unless it is a lean cuisine and then I made no promises ;) )

Hope your Sunday Bumday is great :)

Eat, Pray, Love

Hello everyone! Liz here :D

I saw Eat, Pray, Love last night and despite hearing mixed reviews I absolutely loved it! I thought all of the actors did an amazing job and my man Ryan Murphy adapted the book to screen beautifully. The thing that I have to talk about, though, is of course the food. I want to go to Italy. And only eat. Forget culture. Forget history. All I want to do is sit in a café with my carafe of wine and bite into a piece of pizza with crust so thin it's like a chip. That's what I want.

My favorite part of the movie was probably the Italy portion primarily because there was so much food loving going on that I could barely contain myself. That pasta scene? I'd read about its controversial nature (how dare an actress eat and enjoy herself!) and thought every second of it was fantastic.

And then there was Javier, of course, and he thankfully was not sporting anything resembling his No Country For Old Men haircut so I was a happy, happy girl.

I really can't say that there was anything about the film I did not like. I loved the food. I loved the spiritual aspect. And I LOVED Ketut. My only complaint was that I saw it at 10:00 at night which meant I couldn't eat a huge bowl of pasta afterwards.

Have you all seen Eat, Pray, Love? How did you like it?

Sweet Sixteen

So you know how I said I was going to work on getting all of my homework done this morning? Well...that didn't exactly happen because I got distracted by MTV.

Normally I do not like the channel in the slightest but something got over me when I saw the show 'Sweet Sixteen'. I was shocked how much these teens spent.

Maybe it is because I am older and wiser now and $300,000 seems like way too much to spend on a party. If I had that kind of money lying around I would definitely be using it for something more long-term. A little shopping of course would be included but not that much. I am a girl of course. You do the math.

Which prompts me to my next question; Did you have a sweet sixteen and if you did what was your favorite part of it?

As I was watching the show I ate my lunch which was an Insalata Caprese with spinach leaves instead of basil. I didn't have homemade Mozzarella so I just cut up a low-fat cheese stick and melted it on top of the tomatoes.

Seeing as I had just gotten back from my hour workout or running two hours and doing weights, I was still starving. It felt more like a snack and less like part of a meal. So I also had a cup of yogurt which I added a tbs of chocolate protein powder topped with Special K Almond cereal.

Now it may have been because I just got back from working out or the fact I just was starving, but I was hungry about two hours later so there is an unpictured apple.

Fortunately the apple filled me up aftwerward so I managed to complete one homework assignment while staying full and focused.

A Time of Relaxation

Hello all, Jen here bright and early this morning.

I can not tell you how happy I am that it is Friday. Like many people it is one of my favorite days of the week because I do not have class and that means I can bum around my apartment until I decide what I feel like doing with myself today.

Well of course while deciding what to do this morning I poured myself a big ol' bowl of Blueberry Muesli courtesy of Trader Joe's. I topped the bowl off with a sliced banana and a side of coffee. Despite the fact I slept in, I still felt the need for have a cup of that wonderful brew.

On a sad note, I have very little of the deliciousness left so I will have to find a replacement muesli.

Any suggestions?

After eating my breakfast, I finally deciding that although it is my day off, I should be productive. At least for a little bit.

So after I finish blogging, and clean up my room I will be completing some homework and then take the walk over to the gym with a friend, hit up the weights and then walk back. Today is probably going to be a light gym day because I ran around 3 miles yesterday. I always like to have a day or so in the week to recover.

I will be back later after my workout and lunch.

Have a great day :)

Rigatoni with Sausage, Spinach, and Sun-dried Tomatoes, and

Hello!

I started off my Giada experiment by making a pasta dish of hers and then changing half of the ingredients. Typical. haha So, I guess I sort of made my own recipe.

Rigatoni with Sausage, Spinach, and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Rigatoni Pasta (or anything tubular)

Sausage (I used vegetarian!! SO GOOD)

Spinach

Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Basil

Parmesan Cheese

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Boil the pasta and prepare the sausage. If you are using a vegetarian one you can just zap it in the microwave. Meat eaters? You're gonna have to remove it from the casing and brown the meat. In a sautee pan heat oil and then add the spinach. Once it is wilted add the sun-dried tomatoes. Next, add the boiled pasta and toss with the spinach and sun-dried tomato. Combine with the sausage and then add basil and cheese to your liking.

I was super impressed by this dish because the veggie sausage tasted JUST like Italian sausage. Now, I am an Italian girl and I know what good Italian sausage tastes like. I swear this tasted just like it! My only complaint would be that the texture was a bit soft. Overall, though, I really liked it! I'm excited to try out different meatless meats. I bought some veggie protein crumbles and am excited to try that!

Anyhoo, I hope you all have a wonderful night! I will see you tomorrow with the next recipe :D