Watermelons and Beets

Back in the beginning of August, John's dad threw a bunch of watermelon seeds into the yard to see if they would grow. Of all the seeds, one took and produced one cute baby watermelon.
We thought it might not be edible, but we cut it open anyway!


It was red!!
Of course I ate it... It was so cute!

Just for the record, I had been at work all day AND it was super humid. Please excuse the hair!


This weekend my eating habits were... less than stellar. I really wanted a cleansing smoothie to start the week. I read about beet smoothies here and decided THAT would be the way to go.
1 beet
a few beet green leaves
cantaloupe
1 tiny frozen banana
1 green apple
almond milk
ground flax seeds

I packed a tupperware for breakfast...
and poured the rest into an ice pop mold!
(The yellow and purple ones hold the ghosts of smoothies past)
And this was dessert!

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Smoothies and Shopping, with a side of Green Beans!

Before I talk about today, I MUST mention last night's dinner. John took me out to eat and I had this incredible BUTTERNUT SQUASH ravioli. It was in a VERY light basil Parmesan sauce. Normally I like to sop up a ton of sauce, but this was only a touch and it was prrrrr-fect.


Back to today. Smoothie= peach pie.
Actually, it is 2 peaches, cinnamon, soy milk, swiss chard, some dried coconut, and some ground flax seeds. But it TASTED like Peach Pie.

Lunchtime was a green bean concoction that I have been making since I first moved out of my parents' house. Orange-Balsamic Green Beans.

Boil Water

While the water boils, peel some garlic...

And smash it up!

When the water boils, throw in the green beans

As soon as the green beans change in color and float, scoop them out and plunge them in ice water.
Mix the green beans with the smashed garlic, balsamic vinegar, oil, and a few splashes of orange juice and let it sit in the fridge for a while (the longer the better, within reason).
ENJOY!

As for the shopping, we went to Christmas Tree Shop and saw Jackfruit Chips. The last time I saw anything Jackfruit was when we were in Disney World, so I was so excited. The only ingredients were Jackfruit and Palm Oil. Not bad! The price? $1.99. The taste? So cool!

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Delicious Day

My car was in the shop so I didn't go to work this morning. BAD idea. I ate my way through the morning. It started out okay with a smoothie, but then progressed into Nutella covered cannolis. It was bad. REAL bad.

I tried to get it back on track with lunch.

Leftover macaroni

PLUS TomatoPlus some balsamic onions and Parmesan Cheese.....

EQUALS



After I got home from work at night I was hungry. I don't know how this is possible after all I ate, but I was. I decided to join the Banana Butter Band. 1 frozen banana plus a few scoops of peanut butter equaled WOW!


Mmmmmmm!

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Jackie Cooks Again!

Whew! It's been a while since I made a nice meal. For dinner last night I made spaghetti in clam sauce with roasted broccoli.

The spaghetti sauce recipe is from John's mom, although I do lower the salt content in it to just a sprinkle.

• Crush lots of garlic (almost a whole bulb) and warm it in olive oil
• Add 2 cans of chopped clams (1 with liquid, 1 without)
• Add lots of parsley
• Add breadcrumbs to thicken it up
• Sprinkle Salt and pepper to taste
• Combine with Whole Wheat Spaghetti

I was so excited to have roasted broccoli after reading this that I made sure to buy lots of broccoli and do it with this!

The end result? A meal of beauty that even JOHN had seconds of. And that's really saying something.

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Food Shopping

As I mentioned here, our fridge had seen better days food-wise (We are trying to save as much money as possible, and so we try to go as long as possible between food shopping). Today, it was re-stocked. Re-stocked so well that the door barely closes. I am in food heaven!

With all that delicious food, what did I choose to have for lunch?


A hummus/baby greens sandwich. And let me tell you, it was delicious. Exactly what I wanted. It turned out to be a good thing I ate so lightly because John went to town on dinner.

Coconut baked chicken cutlets, mashed cauliflower, and tomato-cucumber salad. WOW!

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Bananarama!!!

I just wanted to pop in a quick post regarding the AMAZING deal on bananas I just got at the farmers' market.

All of those bananas (over 28!) for..........

99 cents!

Yes, you read that correctly. Nearly 30 bananas for a total of 99 cents. They are already ripe, so I had to freeze them, but I usually freeze them ANYWAY, so what' s the difference?!

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Pizza Friday! (with a sprinkle of last minute inspiration)

..... Hello, and welcome back, to another episode of Pizza Friday!

No, really, it is Friday and we had pizza. Since it is Pizza Friday, you know.

We are heading to the farmers' market this weekend, so right now our refrigerator is bare. There was one yellow pepper, some radishes, ricotta cheese, a tiiiiiny bit of hummus, and various condiments left in it. That's it. John decided to make his pizza into mankoushe because of the lack of... other food. I was planning on making a simple ricotta pie.
Just as I had given up all hope of an interesting dinner, I thought of something. the FREEZER!

I sauteed some onions and garlic (of course), added some frozen arugula, and some PIEROGIES!! Genious!



And so ends another delightfully boring episode of PIZZA FRIDAYYYYYYYY

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It's Tuesday and My Tummy's Full!

So I like alliteration, what can I say?

I started the day off today with another swiss chard smoothie. It had 2 leaves (no stems), a frozen banana, some frozen strawberries, a sprinkling of flax seeds, and a BIG spoonful of peanut butter! It was so good, it tasted sinful!
I had a simple salad lunch with a side of leftovers and a super duper dinner!

Cut up beets, onions, and potatoes and tossed them with olive oil and seasonings

I cooked them all for a different amount of time. I started with 15 minutes of beets, then added the potatoes for 15 minutes, then added the onions for 20 minutes.
What had started out to be a side dish became our whole dinner! We ate all of it and wished there was more!

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Greens and Smoothies and MACARONI MONDAY!

We got back from the farmers market with beets and swiss chard, among other things. I used the swiss chard in another attempt at a green smoothie.

Success!!!!! It was apples, oranges, swiss chard, a date, and some bananas. Wow.

The beets were destined for roasting (post to follow), but those greens and the swiss chard were an awesome side dish for macaroni and fake cream sauce.
Of course, they are sauteed with onions, garlic, and oil. I'm sure I've made my feelings toward greens cook this way here and here.

The cream sauce is something I am really proud of. I used to love alfredo-cream-cheesy sauces, but they NEVER agreed with my very sensitive tummy. I have developed this version with soy milk and it is delish! Even my alfredo-sauce-loving-soy-milk-hating-fiance approves!

1. Melt a spoonful of smart balance buttery spread in saucepan.
2. Add in soy milk (as much as you want, since this is the bulk of the sauce. Add a little more than you need because you will thicken it later)

3. Add in LOTS of parmesean cheese.
4. Thicken with whole wheat flour as needed
5. Bring to a light boil
6. Add to macaroni and enjoy!

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Birthday! Again!

See? I promised I would show you something from the multitude of birthday dinners I was having!

This is from Greenhouse 36 in NYC
It is the cutest place on the bottom floor of the Wyndham Hotel and it was empty when we went. We shared fried calamari and bruschetta to start...
For my dinner I had a wrap! A Grilled Vegetable and Hummus Wrap. It was filled with Grilled Organic Zucchini, Eggplant, Roasted Red Peppers, Roasted Garlic Hummus, on a Cheddar Jalapeño Wrap... but I had it on a Spinach Tortilla and the peppers on the side for John to share (roasted peppers don't always like me)

I couldn't get enough!

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