The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

Boylan Brunch again on Sunday. Clay, Andy, Ryan, Katie, and I went, and I got the Garden Benedict: an English muffin topped with spinach, corn and black bean salsa, mushrooms, poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce, with housebrowns. It was yummy, but Clay and I agreed we need to take a break from brunch for a while - every time we go, we eat so much and feel so full and gross the rest of the day!

 My new basil plant!

My (half-eaten) fruit I bought from Whole Foods. Expensive, but totally worth it. This little container includes: canteloupe, pineapple, mango, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and kiwi. I'm trying to ration it, but it's such a struggle to stop after a few bites whenever I snack on it!

The Bad:

Oh dear, this meal. Last night Clay and I decided to cook what was supposed to be a 30-Minute Meal - mini meat loaves with mac and cheese and roasted broccoli. It ended up taking almost 2 HOURS! :( I don't even know how it happened. It was a series of fails: having to wait to defrost the meat, not prepping things efficiently, needing different oven temperatures for each dish, just being slow... I got really frustrated during, and it kind of ruined what is usually a really fun process. I also didn't love the food.

I wanted to try meatloaf again to see if I liked it... I just really don't. It's kind of a texture thing. And I can be kind of weird about meat, especially red meat...

Baked mac was a little too crispy and not cheesy enough...

The broccoli was pretty good. Roasting brings out a deep flavor in veggies you can't get from any other method of cooking. We topped it off with lots of fresh parmesan cheese.

It was a perfectly good meal, just not my fave. And the whole cooking time thing made it rough from the start. Oh, well. You win some, you lose some.

The Ugly:

I am doing a good job of cooking a lot more than I used to, and I've been eating a lot of good tasting food, but I'm not doing a very good job of eating food that is good for me. My dinner started looking like this:

Romaine with feta and pomegranate seeds (!!!)(another treat I got from Whole Foods that I am LOVING) and leftover string beans.

My dinner ended looking like this:

 Leftover mac and cheese, topped with leftover sauce from my Everything But the Kitchen Sink pasta, along with a hunk of Cheddar Garlic. :( In my defense, the reason I didn't eat the salad was because I didn't have a suitable dressing and didn't want to eat it plain, but still. I could have found a healthier solution than carbs, which is what I have been eating alllll day long. Dang it.

Willpower has always been something that I have struggled with when it comes to eating healthy and exercising. I've done really well sticking to my exercise goals, but I feel like I haven't been watching my food closely enough. Today completes week four of my blog and my attempts to do better! I will definitely be kicking it up a notch in Month 2, starting tomorrow!!

I Love Saturdays

Even when I have to work Saturdays like I did today, I'm always in such a bright and cheery mood, just because I KNOW it's the weekend, and somehow that makes everything happy. Today I worked sandwich again. I ate an apple crunch roll for breakfast, and half a turkey sandwich for lunch.

When I got off of work, I declared to Clay that I felt like going out to eat tonight. Whenever I have a free night after a long work week, there's nothing I would rather do than go out for a change and have some good food cooked and served to me, rather than having to make it myself (as much as I do love cooking). Clay immediately agreed and suggested Lemongrass, one of our date night staples that's literally right around the corner from my apartment.

I allllways get Pad Thai at Lemongrass, but tonight I finally broke a long streak by ordering something different! I just wasn't feeling a heavy meal of a plate full of noodles! So this is what we ended up with:

Our chicken satay appetizer - grilled and marinated chicken skewers, served with a sweet and sour sauce, a peanut sauce, and a little pile of carrots. Very tasty!

Clay's Thai Spicy Beef - beef, green beans, peppers, and basil in a chili/soy-based sauce. At Lemongrass they ask you how spicy you'd prefer your entree on a scale of 1-10. Clay's was a 7, and the heat definitely crept into your mouth a few seconds after a taking a bite! This was also a departure for him from his standard Sesame Chicken. :)

And my amazing pick - their Essan Steak (apparently Esan is a region in Thailand). Its menu description: Grilled marinated flank steak Northern Thailand style with roasted rice powder. Served with chili sauce, green papaya salad and sticky rice. I tried my best to get a little taste of everything in each bite, and it was just an explosion of flavor. The cool papaya salad (green papaya, daikon, carrot, and toasted peanuts) was a great contrast to the slightly spicy beef. I only got a 4 on the heat scale, but that's the perfect number for me. I loved my meal, and will definitely continue to try new things on the menu!

On the way home, Clay said "don't you love that you have a boyfriend that, when you say that you feel like going out to dinner, will just take you and treat you to dinner?" I really do. I am so lucky to have a boyfriend like that, and I never forget it. Thanks for dinner, Clay! <3

After Lemongrass, I went to the gym, and we met up with some friends to celebrate our good friend Andy's birthday! Now we're back at Clay's, both blogging away. Oh, yeah, Clay now has a blog!!! It's all about his musical endeavors, which are all very impressive. Check it out!

Double Shift = Worthless Day

I have pretty much nothing to report from Friday because I worked a double whammy - sandwich at GH from 9-3, then hostessing at Petit Pois 5-10:30. I was also SO TIRED from HP the night before (we got back at 3:30 a.m.), so I was really just hating life the whole day. These days leave me no time to cook or exercise.

I ate a quick sandwich at 3:30 when I got home - cashew butter, banana, Cville Cluster, and honey on Dakota. Then I ate a little at Petit Pois - standards that we have every week - fresh greens and rice with veggies, along with fresh watermelon and peaches! Yum!

I also kinda ruined my day by eating late night mac and cheese. :( In my defense, I hadn't eaten regular meals all day, and I also had the worst migraine of my life when I got home from work. No excuses, though. Gotta stop the late night eating!!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

When I went to make dinner on Thursday, I really hadn't planned ahead at all, or had time to go to the grocery store. All I knew was that I needed to use up the fresh vegetables we had bought at the Farmer's Market, because we probably weren't going to be doing much cooking over the weekend.

So, I decided to use a classic method that Clay and I are known for in this situation. When we have a lot of vegetables that we need to use and don't know what to do with, we make either pasta, or rice, and throw all those veggies (and usually chicken) in some sort of sauce or spice blend, and serve it over the starch. This time I went with pasta. The sauce that I made truly did turn out to be one of those "everything but the kitchen sink" kind of deals. I don't usually cook like that (I always like having a more concrete plan), but it worked out, which was exciting! Here's what went into it:

 veggies galore! Baby squash and zucchini and cherry tomatoes from the Farmer's Market, as well as a little pile of leftover peppers and onions from Fiestita night. Plus two cloves of garlic.

 It all went into the pan (how wonderful and colorful does that look?!), seasoned with salt, pepper, vegetable blend, and Italian seasoning.

The sauce midway through (it actually ended up looking a little different than this). 

I started out thinking that I would just pour the jar of vodka sauce I had over all the veggies, until I poured a little out and realized that vodka sauce was something I had tried once before and not liked!!! Oh no! I quickly started making a plan to salvage the situation. I needed more sauce, and I needed it to not taste like the vodka sauce I didn't like. I added a hodgepodge of things I found in my kitchen: diced tomatoes, with their juices, the leftover ricotta mixture from my Stuffed Chicken, leftover cream cheese from Guac #7, olive oil, parmesan, and lots of crushed red pepper. Let me tell you... it totally worked!! I salvaged the sauce and made it into something that I was excited to eat and tasted really yummy!

 My little bowl! I wasn't that hungry after snacking at the bakery. My favorite part was the squash/zucchini! I love them, but don't eat them enough!

Look who decided to join me at the table so I didn't have to eat alone! :) :) :)

I packed Clay a feast! The pasta, leftover beans from our makeshift frozen pizza meal, leftover potatoes from dinner at Nicole's, Cheddar Garlic, and a few sweets I got take when I closed up shop for the night! Not too shabby for a dinner on the run in a car!

I have to be honest and confess that I kind of ruined my good efforts of the evening. We got to Harrisonburg with plenty of time to spare, and spent our extra time at IHOP. :( It made sense, and everyone wanted to, but I was upset about ruining my eating for the day. I tried to at least be a little good by ordering an egg and cheese sandwich rather than a huge stack of pancakes slathered in butter and syrup. It still probably wasn't good for me at all. Oh, well. Gotta brush it off and keep working!

HARRY!!

To start the few posts that will get everyone caught up from the last few days, I will write a bit about Thursday, which was dominated by the knowledge that at 12:08 a.m., Friday morning, I would be viewing the final installment of Harry Potter. It pains me to even type it. As nerdy as it sounds, I can't explain how much I love it and how much I will miss that feeling of anticipation, waiting for a new book or movie to come out.

Anyway, before I get to the movie. I have to start with BREAKFAST!!

Why, yes, that IS Cinnamon Chip French Toast!!!

I worked the late closing shift again, so I was able to sleep in as late as I wanted, and was inspired to make an awesome breakfast with all my extra time. Clay helped, and we made amazing French toast out of the Cinnamon Chip loaf I had brought home the day before.

Sliced up some bread with my good ole GH bread knife!

 Dipped the bread in a mixture of eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. A little too eggy for just those four pieces - will remember for next time!

I paired mine with my go-to breakfast staple nowadays: a bowl of yogurt with Cville Cluster and a swirl of honey. It was truly delicious, and I can't wait to make French Toast with GH bread again!

Breakfast was followed by apartment chores, gym, and work. I then came home and made dinner, even though Clay was working. I was picking him up from work, with Andy, Katie, and Nicole in tow so we could get on the road to Harrisonburg to see HP (Charlottesville was sold out!). I didn't want to buy dinner/eat fast food just because Clay wasn't with me, and I figured I could bring his dinner to him like a good little housewife/girlfriend, so I cooked by myself. Anddd I think I'll go ahead and switch to a new post to talk about that one, since this one's already long. :)

P.S. HP was perfect in every way. I cried a lot. Can't wait to watch it again.

Guac #9

Salsa-style guac tonight! Avocado, serrano chiles, garlic, red onion, lime, roasted poblano pepper, and chili powder. Wasn't a "blow you away" kind of guacamole, but was good in a very classic way.

Sleeeeeepy

Is what I have been all day long since I woke up at 5:30 to open at the bakery. Usually I perk up once I get started, but that was not the case today. Not even a whole wheat cinnamon chip scuffin and a huge mug of creamy Earl Grey tea could perk me up. :-/

I finished work at 12:00 and spent a lazy afternoon at Clay's playing Wii, hanging out, and taking a nice long nap with the kitty. We also had lunch together.

Hers: leftover salad from last night, yogurt, cashew butter/Cville Cluster granola/banana/honey on Dakota bread ends, water.

His: a double decker sandwich with ham, turkey, pepperjack and mozzarella cheese, spinach, roasted red pepper hummus, and sriracha on toasted Farmhouse White, Jack's (aka the best salsa ever) and chips, and a tall mug of milk. - It's sandwiches like these that make me wish I liked hummus! :-\

By the time I woke up from my nap, we didn't have much time to make dinner before Clay had to go to work. Instead of making a full dinner, we popped a frozen pizza in the oven - a margherita pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. We made it our own by adding the last of my huge bag of mini peppers! On the side, we boiled the string beans we bought at the Farmer's Market over the weekend, and I whipped up a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, vegetable blend, and sesame seeds to drizzle over them. I love fresh beans sooooo much! It was a solid quick-fix meal.