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.

What I Ate Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

I made some really great recipes this week, so I'm going to cut the chit chat short and get right to all my yummy eats.......

Breakie

Greek Yogourt sweetened with honey and topped with Pumpkin Harvest Granola

Lunch

Loaded baked potato soup. This is a crockpot recipe that will be coming very, very soon! We think it tastes even better the second day, so we've had this for a couple of lunches now :-)

Dinner

Honey mustard roasted veggies over quinoa (recipe by Kris). Best veggie recipe I've tried lately!!! If you love honey mustard, you will LOVE this recipe --- I took the leftovers to work the next day and had them in a wrap for lunch. SO. GOOD!

So there you have it! Short and sweet and sooooooo delicious! If you're looking for more meal inspiration, head on over and check out Miss Jenn's What I Ate Wednesday page.




I suspect we might even find some awesome recipes for the holidays over there!!!

What have you been munching on this week?

Have an awesome day,

Andrea

Roasted Veggie Pasta

Happy Monday! I'm happy to announce that I'm no longer a sick-o and am feeling completely back to myself!! That stomach bug kicked my in the boo-tay!!! I never get sick and there is nothing worse than being sick in the middle of the summer. Obviously someone missed the memo that summer's almost over and I have zero time to be wasting in bed! Social butterflies like myself have no time to spare :-D

I missed a couple days of good eats last week and when I finally got my appetite back I was HUNGRY! In fact, I think I went a little overboard on the weekend (I was making up for my lost meals!), so this week I'm getting back to healthy, reasonably portioned meals.

Yesterday we stopped at a veggie stand and I picked up some fresh tomatoes. Nothing says summer like tomatoes fresh off the vine!! Last night we had grilled tomato and cheese sammies (HEAVEN!) and tonight I was craving some seriously fresh and delicious tomato pasta. I whipped up a roasted veggie and tomato pasta that is going to absolutely knock your socks off! It was so easy to make and when you have fresh veggies, you really don't need much more to amp up the flavour. The veggies do all the work themselves.

Roasted Veggie Pasta
Serves 4

4 c cooked pasta (I used brown rice pasta)
3 c chopped tomatoes
 4 - 5 c chopped veggies (I used sweet onion, mushrooms, yellow pepper, zucchini)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp finely sliced fresh basil
sea salt & pepper to taste
1 c mixed baby greens (spinach and arugula work awesome in this)
2 - 3 tbsp olive oil
crumbled feta (freshly grated parm would be awesome as well!)

Preheat your oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet or use your favourite baking mat. Make sure your pan has sides. I used a flat baking sheet and lets just say the bottom of my oven is now covered in lovely blackened tomato juice. Oops!

Cook your pasta according to the directions. Drain, rinse and set aside.

Throw your tomatoes, veggies and garlic into a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add sea salt and pepper. Toss to evenly coat.

Spread the tomato/veggie mixture evenly out onto the cookie sheet.

Roast the veggies for 20 minutes, making sure to flip about halfway through for even roasting.

Remove from oven.

Combine the veggie mixture, pasta, greens and basil in a large bowl.

Top with feta when serving. Delicious!!!!

This would make a greal meal to enjoy with a pal (or a sweetie) on a

warm summer night paired with a nice glass of cabernet.

What is your fave veggie to pick up from a roadside veggie stand?
Any oven cleaning hints? Mine is A HUGE MESS!!!! <sigh>

Have a great evening!

Andrea

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Happy Hump Day!!

So, I am having a little problem. I am starting to get myself psyched up and ready to start the 21 day cleanse this weekend, but instead of weaning off caffeine, sweets and processed foods, that seems to be all I am craving. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me to eat as much of the "bad" stuff as I can before I start the cleanse, but my logical sensible voice is saying that I am really going to regret it when I have my first sugar and caffeine withdrawal!!

Derek is not helping matters. Today he bought me a Cadbury Cream Egg. I love cream eggs. I spied them in the store a few weeks ago and they have been on my mind since, but I have held strong and kept them out of my cart....until today. Derek has good intentions, but really he is becoming my "enabler".

In order to be able to eat my cream egg, I have made a deal with myself. I have to have a healthy dinner first and no other snacking. So, the question is...what am I going to eat that will be satisfying yet very healthy?? I've got it!!

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad w/ Cranberries & Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
2 c sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp sea salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp rosemary (I used dried, but I think fresh would be even better)
1/4 c raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 c dried cranberries

Dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
pinch of pepper
additional pinch of rosemary (if you love it as much as I do)

Mix cubed sweet potatoes, coconut oil, sea salt, garlic and rosemary.

Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes (make sure you flip halfway through). I like my sweet taters dark and crispy, so I left them the entire 30 minutes.

Those look so amazing; why they look good enough to eat .... hehe

Meanwhile, toast your pumpkin seeds. Place them in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Stir constantly for approximately 3 minutes until the seeds are golden brown. Do not let them burn!

Also, you can whip up your dressing while the potatoes are cooking. Add all ingredients and whisk together.

Once the potatoes are cooked, place them in a large bowl and let cool for approximately 10 minutes. Add pumpkin seeds and cranberries.

Toss with dressing and serve.

This salad is really delish!!  I enjoyed it warm, but I think it would also be really good when chilled.

It is pretty and festive and would be a nice side to serve your guests. I think you could really spruce it up and make it look fantastic if you had fresh rosemary for garnish.

Hope you have a wonderful evening ~ I am off to watch Survivor (I am team Rob all the way!!)

Andrea

Note: I drizzled just 1 1/2 tbsp of the dressing over the entire salad. I was afraid it would be too overpowering and take away from the taste of the salad ingredients. Next time I might add a splash of honey to the dressing to mellow out the taste of the vinegar.

Balsamic Gnocchi with Garlic Butter & Roasted Butternut Squash

Have you ever eaten gnocchi before?

If your answer is no, you better go out to the grocery store right now and pick some up - it's the bombdigity!

I hadn't had gnocchi until recently. I've seen it and always thought the cute little potato dumplings looked appealing, but never got around to trying them. That was until the day I saw a recipe on How Sweet It Is for Balsamic Gnocchi.  This recipe is easy, delicious and Derek said that he would eat this meal every single day ~ this says alot considering no meat was involved.

I am not going reiterate the recipe for Balsamic Gnocchi because I pretty much stuck right to Jessica's recipe. The only changes I made were that I added lots more veggies (sorry Jessica, that might ruin the recipe for you).  I used one pepper, 4 green onions, 1 small zucchini and a handful of crimini mushrooms and I used Earth Balance instead of butter for the basil garlic butter.

This recipe is to die for. It only takes 20 minutes to whip up and would be a great meal to wow your guests with.

As a side, I decided to roast a butternut squash (ok, I admit it....I cheated and I bought a pre-cut squash). Squash is one of my all-time favourite foods in the winter and there is no other way to make it other than slow roasting in the oven. I just wish they would peel like an orange - my wrists are so sore by the time I finish the peeling and chopping, I can hardly use my stirring hand to finish the meal! I could eat a whole roasted squash myself....in fact I probably have :-) At least squash is good for you; that's better than eating a whole cheesecake by yourself .. er, not that I would know or anything.

Roasted Butternut Squash

1 butternut squash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 - 2 tsp sea salt

sprinkle of pepper

Peel and cut the butternut squash into bite size pieces. Place in large bowl. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper and stir to evenly coat the squash. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 for approximately 15 minutes.

 Flip the squash pieces and cook for an additional 15 minutes. I like my squash to come out crispy and starting to brown - the pieces are so sticky and sweet you will understand why I could eat the entire squash myself. If you are like me and you don't time all the components of your meal quite right, you can speed up the baking time by putting the broiler on for just a few minutes per side.

Perfection!

...and in as easy as 1, 2, 3 you have an amazing meal that will wow your family and  friends and even your meat lovin' husband.

Right about now you're wishing you were my friend aren't ya?? :-)

What's your favourite type of squash?

Do you have an awesome recipe of gnocchi you'd like to share?

I hope you all have a relaxing Sunday evening and to my Canadian friends, Happy Family Day tomorrow....and to my American buddies, Happy President's Day! I hope your day off is filled with family, friends and lots of good eats.

Andrea

"Organic" Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!! I love Wednesdays because that is the day my organic produce order comes in. There is an awesome service in my area that delivers organic produce to your doorstep. Express Organics provides service to London, Sarnia, Chatham and surrounding areas and I must say their produce is fantastic. Check out the loot that arrived today:

Spinach and bananas for my morning smoothies, avocado, oranges, baby bok choy, rainbow chard,onions, potatoes, garlic, sweet potatoes, mango, lemons, etc. etc.  Who knew I'd be so excited to have fresh and delicious produce in the middle of February!! I am easily amused and excited these days ... especially when it comes to food :-)

After I got all my fruits and veggies put away, I knew just what I was going to make for dinner....I saw a great dinner idea by Kris at i heart wellness a few days ago that I have been wanting to try:  Pesto over Roasted Veggies. I just chopped a bunch of veggies (2 peppers, 2 onions, zucchini & mushrooms), lightly tossed them in olive oil and roasted them in the oven. Once roasted, I tossed them in a delicious basil pesto (I used a store bought basil pesto which worked wonderfully) ~ this meal was easy and delicious!

I could eat just about anything if it was smothered with pesto, couldn't you???

Wishing you all a wonderful evening,

Andrea