Weekend

This past weekend I dusted off my bike and took her for 30 mile bike ride around Lake Mead. It's been awhile since my bike and I hungout but we had a great trip and plan to do it again soon.

And here are my weekend EATS!

Found It!

It was plugged in my kitchen right where I left it a month ago. Totally normal place to keep a camera charger, right?! Here's my deliciously filling lunch who should have made a debut earlier.

This bad boy was super quick and easy and extremely filling. First I steamed a bed of spinach and place on the bottom of the bowl. I then added a big scoop of cottage cheese and added 2/3 cup whole wheat pasta on top. For the sauce I heated some roasted eggplant with marinara and added capers and kalmata olives to make a tasty puttanesca sauce. Dumped the sauce over the noodles, added more cheese, mix, and YUM! I actually wasn't even able to finish all the pasta!

Adding lots of veggies to your pasta is a great way to fill up on less carbs. And adding cottage cheese may seem a little odd to some, but cottage cheese is just like ricotta's brother, except lower fat. It actually melts and gets really creamy and delicious in pasta plus adds a big punch of protein. I highly recommend it!

Come out, come out where ever you are!

One of the important parts of being a blogger is having good photos. I can tell you how tasty my last meal was but as the old saying goes, a pictures says a 1000 words. Photography definitely adds that special ump to any health/food blog. Sadly my camera is dead and my charger is missing. Come out, come out where ever you are! I was trying to think back to when I last had my charger... and I think I had it last right before my 3 week whirlwind traveling escapade. I have unpacked, cleaned house, and organized since my return but don't recall seeing a camera charger. So bare with me and my iPhone while I put out a search party for the missing charger, in the meantime...

In the news!

Seven Myths about Vegetables  - Some pretty interesting info here

50 Healthy Foods for under $1 a Pound - Trying to save on your food budget? Check out these foods.

Rethink Your Fridge - Ever wonder why you eat certain things and avoid others? Maybe it all has to do with your fridge.

And has nothing to do with nutrition or health, but entertaining none-the-less - Big cats love, love love Calvin Klein Cologne. Just in case you plan on becoming a cougar one day.

Now for some EATS!

I'm love when I'm in the office and can swing home for lunch. Being in the office is rather boring at my job, but having a fresh made homemade meal is a special treat for someone who is on the go and travels as much as me. Yesterday I threw together this salad and some ravioli. These spinach and cheese ravioli are perfect for a quick meal.

I also threw together a quick salad of spinach, field greens, a fresh tomato from my garden (yum!), red onion, 1/4 avocado, feta and a light drizzle of balsamic and evoo.

I swear I normally am much more organized about my life! I'm usually the person who knows exactly where/when I saw that last but lately it's been chaos. I'll blame it on the travel. How do you stay organized? Does everything have a certain place in your home?

Veggie Lover

There's something about summer that just makes me crave vegetables. Okay, maybe I just about always crave veggies, but summer puts me in the veggie mood even more. Everything is fresh and my body just craves the extra hydration on hot summer days. Here's how I've been keeping my body plump and from shivering up in this heat wave.

Here are some of my cool summer EATS!

Heirloom tomatoes with low fat feta, basil and balsamic make the perfect afternoon snack.

I've been eating mainly vegetarian the past week, by my body had a mega Omega-3 craving last night. Caesar salad with anchovies and wild Alaskan salmon.

And one of my favorite combos of all time, roasted veggies & goat cheese. This is a baguette with toasted goat cheese, grilled eggplant & zucchini and topped with avocado.

What are some of your favorite summertime foods?

R&R

After a fully-packed busy three weeks, I was highly in need of some rest & relaxation this weekend and that's exactly what I got. We are have a a heat wave here in Las Vegas with temperatures as high as 109. While I'm sure come June that will be the average temperature, right now it's keeping everyone on the low locked inside their air conditioned house. I did try adventuring to the pool this weekend but after only an hour headed back to the house! I spent most my weekend cleaning house, catching up on sleep missed over past couple weeks and hanging out with friends. Good weekend!

Remember my plant Hope? Well look how big she's become! I ate my first fresh off-the-vine organic tomato yesterday and it was delicious! I now just don't have Hope in my little tomato plant, I have lots of faith. Look at all the green tomatoes ready to ripen.

My friend Stephanie made me this cute little gnome to scare ugly bugs away.

I think so far it is working because I have not found any of these (cross my fingers/knock on wood) this year.

My eggplant got hit twice by these little buggers last year! And yes, they really are that big. And they hiss! I had been out of town a few days and by the time I returned ALL of the leaves had been eaten off my eggplant.

I also received an awesome gift in the mail the other day! A few weeks back I won a Magic Bullet To Go thanks to Run Eat Repeat and the Magic Bullet company.

[Source]

I could think of many uses for my Magic Bullet To Go at home, but at first thought wasn't too sure where I would use it "to go". Luckily Magic Bullet did the thinking for me and gave me a book full of recipes and ideas. Poolside margarita anyone?

 [Source]

Thanks again to Run Eat Repeat and to Magic Bullet! I'm sure I will get a lot of use out of this product!

Now for some EATS!

I had some friends over for dinner the other night and made some Portabella Mushrooms stuffed with Feta and Red Quinoa. I adapted this recipe from The Garden Apartment.

Roasted Portabellas with Feta and Red Quinoa

• 4 large portabella mushrooms
• 2-3 Tbs EVOO
• 3-4 chopped cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 cup crumbled Feta ( I used low fat)
• 1 cup red quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• salt and pepper to taste
• Option: Balsamic Glaze (I forgot to make the glaze but it's a definite MUST for next time!)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Clean mushrooms and lightly coat lightly with evoo. Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile in a sauce pan heat 1/2 tbs of evoo and add garlic. Sautee for a few minutes. Add chopped onion and stir for 1 minute. Add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa. (Note: this made lots of extra quinoa. You may want to reduce portion if you will not use left over). Cook quinoa according to package directions.

Use a little evvo or cooking spray and saute spinach.  (I did not saute mine, I figured it would "wilt", but would have been much better sauteed)

Once portabella are cooked remove from oven and fill cap with 1/4 feta. Top with sauteed spinach and half a cup of quinoa mixture. Top with balsamic glaze and serve.

(Note: I also did not use the roasted cherry tomato or kalamata olives as she did on The Garden Apartment; However next time I think I will use my additions, spinach & feta, plus hers.)

End results, DELICIOUS!

I also roasted some eggplant, brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes on the side.

 I was also able to use the leftovers the next day for a great salad.

My salad had mixed greens, spinach, brussel sprouts, eggplant, sweet potatoes, quinoa and half an avocado. For dressing I took 2 tbs of hummus and mixed it with a dash of vinegar, dribble of evoo and a splash of water till it was of dressing consistency. Perfect summer salad!

That's all for now! How was your weekend? Did you get some R&R? or did you have a busy action packed weekend?

MIA

Misssing. In. Action.

Where have I been?? Where have I not been is the real question! From a week of stay-cation in Vegas to work in San Francisco straight on to work in Denver to play time in LA. It's been a whirlwind 3 weeks! I had a lot of fun in downtown Denver - despite the having to work at 6:30am every morning aspect.

I was even able to fit in a little exercise riding these awesome bikes around town. How cool is this?! They have bike racks all over the city and you just check out a bike using your credit card and return it back to any available bike rack! Great way to see the city and get a little exercise.

I also tried some great food (and beers) while I was in town. I checked out Illegal Pete's. It's similar to Chipotle with the build your own burrito but with a full bar. It was pretty freaking good but I'd have to say my heart will always belong to Chipotle.

I was also able to check out Steuben's one night with my cousin and her husband. This place was great! I had the Cubano sandwich. It was probably the best Cubano I ever had!

We also shared several sides. Habanero Honey Fried Corn on the Cob. I love corn on the cob - but frying it didn't really add any flavor. I was also disappointed the "habanero" flavor came from the butter that wasn't all that habanero. It was still delicious though.

We also shared mac n' cheese and a can of fries!

We ended up finishing work early in Denver so on our last day we rented a car and did a little road trip. Our first stop was at Coors Brewery in Golden, CO. I had wanted to go to some microbreweries but since we got a late start to the day - Coors it was! [Pictures to come]

After the brewery tour we drove up through the mountains on our way to Boulder. We made a wrong turn along the way and ended up in this super cute old mining town turned casino land called Black Hawk. It was such a cool find in the middle of the Rockies.