The Best Day

I have had the best day ever. Well, kind of. But it does really seem like things are going my way today.

I started my day off right with some fun and delicious Choconut Oatmeal.

For lunch, I made linguini with my homemade tomato sauce and lentil balls, with a salad consisting of baby greens, grapefruit segments, raisins, sunflower seeds, and a raspberry-lime-coconut vinaigrette.

In the afternoon, I dragged myself to the wellness center. I really didn't want to be there. But after just 2 laps of running, I suddenly felt great. I knew I was going to run more than a mile. Gleefully, I ran a mile and a half...which sounds anticlimactic, but not if you consider that I haven't run more than a mile at a time since high school. I was considering continuing to two miles, but then my lungs really started hurting, so I wimped out. :)

Then I went to my beloved grocery store, which I actually haven't been to for nearly two weeks! And wouldn't you know it? They've expanded the health market section. And guess what one of the many new products is? A blend of almond milk and coconut milk. I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP. I was so excited that I opened it up as soon as I got to the car and took a swig. Such an interesting flavor! It begins with that typical nutty flavor I know and love, but then it hits you with the coconut. Bam!

Soon, it was time to make dinner. I had purchased all the ingredients to make this fantastic shredded brussels sprouts and apple salad...including the tofu. I really hate tofu. Or at least I thought I did. But then I read somewhere that if you tried tofu and didn't like it, it's because it wasn't prepared right. So I decided to give it another chance.

Um, this salad is possibly the best thing I have ever made (although I'm not sure it could beat my chili...or roasted butternut squash and kale pizza). I have been allllll about interesting salads lately (check out my Pinterest board!), but this one just blew me away. Charred, flavorful, sweet from the apples, crunchy from the almonds (I used sliced almonds instead of pine nuts), and.....that TOFU. I caramelized mine by sauteing it with olive oil, salt, garlic, and blackstrap molasses. It was crisp and sweet and smokey and wonderful...and it didn't taste anything like that dreadful sponge in the package!

Let me make this clear: if you've tried tofu and didn't like it, it's because it wasn't prepared right.

And then, just because I was so delighted with the world and needed some dessert, I made a glass of pina colada soft serve, with just three beautiful ingredients: frozen bananas, frozen pineapple, and coconut milk. And gosh darn it, it was the perfect ending to a great day. It was super healthy, yet it tasted far more rich and decadent than a brownie, or my mother's amazing baked cheesecake.

I tell you, my friends: clean eating is a blast and a half.

Easy Greek Pizza

On Wednesday night, I once again proved myself as a Kitchen Debutante when I made a failure of a pizza. I mean, it wasn't a total failure. I enjoyed eating it, and the flavors were good.

The problem was the crust. You might remember the last time I made homemade pizza--at the beginning of October. That crust recipe was enough for two pizzas, so I put the second ball of dough in the freezer. And finally, almost three months later, I got it out to thaw this week.

It probably could have been fine. Unfortunately, I'm dumb, and I only let it thaw in the fridge for a day. I should have let it sit out on the counter or a couple hours. Maybe? I don't know. :) I'm new to this.

By the time I started rolling it out, it wasn't frozen at all, but cold. It would not stretch. I would roll it out, and it would immediately spring back to its smaller shape. I tried "tossing" it on my fists, dangling it and letting it stretch itself, and using some good, ol' fashioned elbow grease, but nothing worked. I couldn't get it any bigger than a 10" diameter, and it was nearly half an inch thick.

Instead of perservering, I merely continued. The result? A doughy pan crust. It tasted good, and the toppings were great, but the texture of the crust.... *shudder*

Anyway, I wanted to make a Greek-flavored pizza, so I topped my whole wheat crust with an olive oil glaze, kale sauteed with garlic, black olives, feta, and a TINY bit of mozzarella and cheddar (as in one handful of each around the entire pizza). I also sprinkled on some nutritional yeast, just for good measure.

Pizza. Y'know, the healthier kind.

How's THIS for gorgeous?

This recipe was a huge risk for me. I've never even TASTED butternut squash, let alone worked with it. I've never sauteed kale, or done anything with it besides bake them into chips. I've never made a successful pizza crust. I've tried and failed twice. 

But this was glorious, and it all came together so unbelievably well. I tried a different crust recipe, and it was perfection. And the yeast worked! The dough "doubled in size" like it's supposed to. That's always where my crust usually fails. It also fails when I cook it. It would be too thick, and it would never get "crusty" enough. It would just be like...bread.

And the pizza itself...wow. I didn't know what a pizza with very minimal cheese would taste like, but this blew my mind. It didn't taste like something I made. It felt...better than me. Like it came from a restaurant or something.

To say I'm proud would be an understatement. :)

Summer Lunches

Once I knew I was going to be working at the library again this summer, I knew I had to make some changes. Last summer, the utter misery of that place took me to a pretty awful mental state. But this summer, I was determined to enjoy myself. One of the ways I was going to try to keep a positive attitude was with food. My hope was that being able to look forward to awesome lunches would keep me in a positive mood all morning. :)

I suppose I was highly inspired by Mrs. Q. She posts photos of her son's lunches, as well as her own lunches, every week. I loved seeing how she could pull together such enticing, well-balanced meals to send in a lunchbox. I wanted to do the same thing.

So I purchased my BPA-free Laptop Lunch bento boxes. And I got creative. Well, sometimes. By the end of the summer, I was getting pretty redundant. And I didn't take photos every day. In fact, despite working five days a week for nearly four months, I ended the summer with a total of ELEVEN pictures. Fail? Well...eleven is more than zero. :)

Items are listed clockwise from the top left corner.

• half a (very ripe) banana and trail mix (for mid-morning snack)
• watermelon cubes
• mashed sweet potatoes
• PB&J&banana sandwich

And you're probably thinking, what's exciting about PB&J? Um...have you had a PB&J&banana sandwich? If you haven't...don't judge. Because it's fantastic. You will quickly notice in these pictures that I'm obsessed.

• Oven-roasted cauliflower
• orange
• seasoned sweet potato puree for dipping the cauliflower
• PB&J sandwich (no banana...but still wonderful)

• Broccoli and rice
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Diced mango
• Organic yellow carrots; hard-boiled egg

Falafel day!

• Spinach, mozzarella cheese, and julienned yellow carrots for stuffing in my pitas!
• Diced mango
• Baked falafel
• Pita pockets

Enough materials to make two falafel pitas.

• Orange wedges
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Yellow carrots
• Vegan banana-oatmeal waffles with homemade strawberry syrup

I would just like to say that these waffles ROCK. Whenever I make them, my apartment smells like banana bread. It's an absolutely divine recipe.

• Broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and hard-boiled egg
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Diced mango
• PB&J&banana :)

• Diced mango (again)
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Yellow carrots (again)
• Tuna noodle casserole with broccoli

Yes, that's tuna noodle. I used angel hair pasta (because it was all I had on hand), and the thickness of the casserole made the pasta break up into rice-sized pieces. I make this from scratch, using this concoction to replace the traditional Cream of Chicken/Mushroom monstrosity.

• Vegan quinoa and pinto bean salad (which I chose to eat warm, not cold)
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Yellow carrots (I got SO sick of these frickin' carrots! I've barely touched a carrot since.)
• Apple and peanut butter

• Baked kale chips
• Trail mix (mid-morning snack)
• Hard-boiled egg
• Pizza on pita bread with homemade pizza sauce, broccoli, and chickpeas

• Cantaloupe and raspberries from the farmers market :)
• Leftover Hawaiian pizza

• Sweet corn from the farmers market; grilled brussel sprouts
• Cantaloupe and raspberries
• Pinto beans with homemade taco seasoning
• Whole wheat tortilla with spinach, avocado, and cheese

I heated up the bean mixture separately, then added it to the tortilla.

And that's it. And I'm a little disappointed in myself, because I know I had some cooler lunches that I just didn't have the ambition to take a picture of. ;) But that's a glimpse of what I was eating this summer.

Buon appetito!