Saturday, May 21, 2011

it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fiiiiine

OK that's the last reference to The Rapture. I love REM and I just had to make the reference... plus I'm feeling so happy and sunny today because of the weather that it goes well with my mood!

This morning was the GOTR practice 5K. It turned out to be a beautiful day- sunny but cool enough to run. The race today served as a dry run for the 5K in three weeks which includes hundreds of Girls on the Run. The practice 5K is my favorite GOTR day because it is the first time many of the girls run 3.1 miles and they are SO proud of themselves after. Each one gets to run through their own finish line (pink crepe paper) and then they wear it on their neck and cheer each other on as each girl finishes. The girls today were pretty nervous when they arrived, but each one pushed herself and finished...  and all in under an hour! I ran a mile with two different girls who needed some encouragement. Seeing all of our hard work as a team pay off made my day. :)

And they're off!!! SO proud of these girls

After GOTR it was iced coffee time from Dunkin Donuts before hitting the library to take out IN Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Will have to let you know how it is. I've read food rules by Michael Pollan and it pushed me in the direction of eating how I do, so I figured I'd read another.

Then it was on to plant the herbs I've had sitting in the garage all week. I wanted to make a full veggie garden this summer and tart with seeds, but I never got myself lined up for it, so I had to buy herbs that could just be potted and skip the veggies all together

Goal this summer: keep herbs alive.

Goal next summer: grow herbs and lettuces from seeds.

Rosemary + Sweet Mint

Cilantro, Greek Oregano, Italian Parsley

Sweet Italian Basil

For lunch, I was looking for something grilled and figured I'd cook some of the local asparagus I bought yesterday (on sale!) and the last of the Apricot-Rosemary Chicken Sausages on the grill. However, I went out and found this...


So it was on to plan B... the panini grill.



The asparagus cooked in two minutes flat with just some cooking spray.


I heated the sausage in the microwave and then threw it on the grill just for some crispness on the outside. It would have burned if I tried to cook it through. On the side it was toasted Seedy Whole Grain Bread slathered with some Green Olive Tapenade from TJ's.  Tasty, fast, and pretty to look at.

Lunchtime
After lunch it was some serious cooking. I cooked French lentils, dried chickpeas, and wheatberries while I worked on the herbs. It was perfect timing. The menu this week: Italian lentil + tofu  salad, Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, and Babaganoush. It was my first venture into babaganoush and it actually came out pretty good! I like to leave the skin on and puree until very smooth, but you can remove the skin if you prefer. Honestly though, you don't get big pieces of skin and it makes it a lot easier to make. Here it is: 

Babaganoush

1 large eggplant 
1 large lemon or 2 small lemons 
1 clove garlic 
2 spring onions (white and green parts) 
2 T tahini paste 
salt + pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
  2. Wash and slice eggplant into rounds with skin on. Spray pan with cooking spray and make one layer of eggplant. Spray rounds and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano (or TJ 21 seasoning salute... like I did). Bake for 35 - 45 minutes, flip once in the middle of cooking. 
  3. Allow eggplant to cool until warm enough to hold in your hand.
  4. Put eggplant, juice of lemon, garlic, green onions, tahini, salt, and pepper into food processor and blend until desired consistency. I like mine really smooth. 
  5. Serve with pita chips, veggies, on a sandwich, or any you would use hummus. I'm going to use mine on TJ's whole wheat flatbreads for lunch at work.

Babaganoush: It tastes better than it looks!

The other recipes will come tomorrow, as right now I am off to swim. Have to make my last gym days count! Then its off to hang out with Liz for the night.

Before I go, if you haven't seen this proposal via movie trailer please watch. 3304 girls this is really for you...

Have a lovely Saturday. :)

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