Roasted Spaghetti Squash With Garlicky Tomatoes & Mushrooms

Good morning and Happy Monday to you!

Did you have yet another beautiful weekend? Saturday was cool and rainy here, but Sunday was right back to the sunshine and warmer temperatures that we've been enjoying!

Did you do anything exciting? My friend, Lisa, and I headed off to the Women's Lifestyle Show on Saturday. The show opened at 9 a.m. and we thought we'd go early and arrived at 9:15 a.m. Apparently everyone else was thinking the same thing because I'd guess there were about 500 women there already! It was a fantastic morning where we checked out tons of local vendors, tasted lots of delicious samples and came home with some super fab swag. I was stoked to get a new Tupperware orange peeler, some new fridge magnets, some soap & lotion samples, magazine samples and lots of brochures and coupons to use this Spring and Summer!? Have you ever been to a trade show that focuses on all things girlie? If you get the opportunity, you should definitely go; it's a lot of fun!!!!

On Saturday night we headed out to support our local hockey team in the semi-final games. It took 2 overtimes and 4 1/4 hours, but WE WON!!! We Canadians love our hockey and can't wait to cheer on our team in the finals.

Yesterday I could barely move when I got up. I was on my feet on cement for soooooo long on Saturday that I was sore, so I decided to take a rest day and skip the gym. It felt nice to have a day at home and my body definitely appreciated the break.

Derek had pizza plans on Sunday for dinner, so I was on my own and I made this awesome spaghetti squash 'pasta'. My squash was teensy weeny and was the perfect size for just me. You could easily double this recipe to make it a meal for your entire family. I loved this because it was such a healthy, fresh AND low fat dinner!

Roasted Spaghetti with Garlicky Tomatoes & Mushrooms

Serves 1 or 2

1 small spaghetti squash

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

pinch sea salt & black pepper

2 1/2 c chopped tomatoes

1 c sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 - 3 tbsp extra virgin oil

3 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to 375.

Cut your spaghetti squash in half. Scrape out the seeds and then brush the squash with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt & pepper. Roast for 50 minutes. (the cooking time might vary depending on the size of your squash)

While your squash is roasting, mix together the tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp of olive oil and another pinch of sea salt & pepper. Pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for 30 minutes.

Once the squash is done roasting, remove from the oven and scrape out the spaghetti strands of squash using a fork.

Once the tomato mixture has finished roasting, stir in your fresh basil. Then top the spaghetti squash with the tomatoes. Drizzle with a splash of olive oil and garnish with a sprig of fresh basil. Serve!

This was the cutest l'il baby squash you ever did see!

I froze some fresh tomatoes last summer and these were the last of them.

The taste is still so fresh and fabulous!

...and fresh basil?! Oh heaven!

Perfect meal :)

What is your favourite sport to watch?

Best meal you ate this weekend?

Have a great Monday!

Andrea

What I Ate Wednesday

Welcome to Wednesday! It's come especially fast for me because Monday was  Family Day and I was lucky enough to have the day off. I love long weekends, don't you?!

Thank you once again to Jenn for hosting our What I Ate Wednesday shindig week after week. It's become a tradition that I love forward to each and every Wednesday.





We've been loving our veggies this month and as usual I've had absolutely no problems filling my meals with lots of produce. I even got a little crazy this week with a little 'restaurant recreation'.

Check out my eats:

Breakfast
I've been really sticking to my warm lemon water ritual every single morning. It's a nice clean way to start my morning and get my system revving for the day.

Instead of the usual green smoothie, I made myself a chocolate banana one for a change. 1 1/2 cups of original unsweetened almond milk, one large banana, 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa and a Body by Vi smoothie mix all went into the blender for a sinfully sweet and delish breakfast!

Yay! It's the return of my pink travel cup :)

Lunch
Ah...now here is where my restaurant recreation comes in. Last week my friend, Lisa, and I met at a fabulous little lunch place that's about halfway between our two offices. I was planning to go for a salad, but I couldn't turn down their soup of the day: Sweet Potato with Kale. It was a strange-sounding combo, but somehow these two veggies went together perfectly.

I took advantage of our holiday Monday and did a little bit of experimenting. What I came up with was a thick and creamy Roasted Sweet Potato & Kale soup that was delicious! I topped it with shredded coconut - DEE--VINE!!!! I promise that the recipe will be posted very, very soon.

Snack
As you know, I have been tasting and testing a variety of Pure Bars. I have been in love with Pure's Superfruit Nutty Crunch bar. How can you resist something so fabulous looking! You can literally see every nut, dried fruit and even the odd chia seed. IN LOVE. It was the perfect mid-afternoon snack before my evening workout.

Dinner
I've been satisfying my love of dijon alot lately by adding it to some veggies (along with some EVOO and a little unpasteurized honey) and roasting them in the oven. It doesn't seem to matter what veggies I have on hand because this  is a combo that tastes amazing on everything! In addition to my veggies, I treated myself to some VeggiePatch Spinach Bites with Cheese. These are a treat that I only buy while on sale. They are a GREAT addition to any veggie-filled meal.

So how'd I do?? I think I do a pretty great job at incorporating fruits and veggies into every meal.

Do you like to amp up the amount of veggies you consume at each meal?
What was the best thing you ate last week?

Make sure you stop over at Peas & Crayons to get lots more veggie-filled inspiration.

I hope your day is fabulous,
Andrea

P.S. - Make sure you enter my Pure Bar giveaway. Entries close on Saturday.

The Breakfast Cookie

Happy Sunday! Are you enjoying the last few hours of your weekend? I know I am. I'm finally home for good after a very busy weekend and I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and relaxing tonight. The temperatures have dropped quite a bit over the past few days, so I think we'll be cuddling up on the couch and hopefully catching a good flick. The perfect ending to the weekend if you ask me!

I discovered a fabulous breakfast creation last week and I've been dying to share it with you. I'm sure to some of my foodie friends, this breakfast is old news, but to me it's new and it's utterly amazing! I have totally fallen in love with The Breakfast Cookie. I was checking out some new blogs (because I don't follow near enough these days ;-) and I stumbled across The Fitnessista.This girl's rocks! I'm loving her workout ideas and so far this is the only recipe of hers I've tried and it is amazing! 

The Breakfast Cookie
Makes 1 cookie

This is a great make ahead breakfast if you're like me and you're always running late for work. You make your cookie the night before (it only takes a few minutes!) and all you've got to do is eat it up in the morning! This is also one of those breakies that can be customized by using all sorts of mix ins to make it perfectly suited to your taste buds. I have so many combo ideas ~ I think it's safe to say you're going to be seeing The Breakfast Cookie mentioned on my blog alot!!!

1/3 c oats
1 tbsp your fave nut butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful in this one)
1/2 scoop of protein powder (I used Vega Vanilla Almondilla - you can use anything you like or sub in cocoa powder)
1/3 c milk (I used soy - you can use your fave milk)
Mix ins: I used 1/2 mashed banana and 1 - 2 tbsp coconut

In a small mixing bowl, add your oats, nut butter and protein powder. Stir until mixture is crumbly.

Add your milk and mix until moistened.

Add your mix-ins and stir until well combined.  I used 1/2 a banana and coconut with this one.

Other mix-ins could be chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, honey if you wanted your cookie to be a little sweeter and cinnamon.

Dump the oat mixture onto a small appetizer-sized plate and flatten.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Presto! When you get up, your cookie is ready and waiting for you.

DELISH! Great fuel to start your morning off on the right foot!
I was a little skeptical about this at first because I'm not into cold oats in the morning, but this was fantastic!!

....and yes, my cookie is on a Christmas plate ;-) I love this dish set and I rarely ever pack them away after the holidays! We have a really nice set of everyday dishes that haven't seen the light of day in 18 months ;-)

What would be your #1 mix in for a breakfast cookie?
Best thing you did this weekend - please share :-)!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Andrea