The eats!

Okay, if you don't like food, you won't like this post. Because I love food. And I take pictures of it. And I blog about it occasionally all the time. This time I even have a recipe!

Aside from the fact that I have a problem buying too much food sometimes, particularly veggies because they look especially lush and delicious, I often have one or many ingredients in my fridge that I need to use up. I hate throwing away food, and sometimes (*shameful confession time*) I've even thrown away something amazing because we literally cannot eat any more...only to stick my fingers in the trash and dig out one more bite, a la Paul Rudd in This Is 40. Sigh. I'm so classy.

Anyway. Last week I bought way too much asparagus and broccolini, and we tried some new restaurants and didn't end up eating at home, blah blah blah. So I had to use it up. So I made something new! And oh, it was tasty. I called it:

Green Quinoa Bake.

Creative, no? Okay fine. But it was delicious, and oh so good for you. And here is how I did it:

I steamed a big bunch of asparagus, and a big bunch of broccolini, and let them cool and dry in a colander. Meanwhile, I boiled 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup water until it was nice and soft. Then I cooked up 2 pieces of turkey bacon, chopped it up, set it aside, and sauteed 1/4 - 1/2 cup raw cashews (halved) in the drippings. I stirred in some garlic, salt and pepper, and I think a little chili powder in with the quinoa, and a tiny bit of almond milk to fluff it. Then I layered the asparagus and broccolini in the bottom of an 8x8 pan, covered it with the quinoa mixture, and evenly sprinkled the chopped up bacon pieces and cashews over the top. I then sprinkled just about 1/4 cup parmesan over all of that and patted it all down and stuck it under the broiler until the cheese was melted and browning. That 8x8 pan made a good 4 servings, with just about 255 calories and 14 grams of protein each. Tasty! It's not the prettiest thing out there, but it's delicious, nutritious, and has an excellent crunch to it!

This weekend we checked off more items from our bucket list. I had a pretty fabulous weekend overall, including the longest run I've done since injuring my knee years ago. It was great. We spent time with friends, went to a BBQ, had waffles and played chess, and just relaxed. Sunday after the bbq with friends, we drove up to the city, had an EARLY dinner at Katana-ya for ramen (tasty, even though I'm not a big ramen fan!):

And then we headed over to Club Fugazi and saw Beach Blanket Babylon. Entertaining? Check. Unique? Check. A San Francisco staple? Double check. And that's another item off of our bay area bucket list. 

Friday I did rope climbs as part of my WOD, and forgot to invest in some good, high socks. Do you wonder why CrossFitters wear high socks? Here is your answer:

Because welts and burns hurt. And between box jumps, rope climbs, and double-unders, the shins can take a beating :(

Saturday night I made us a nice, light Israeli meal. We just happened to be craving Falafel, so I baked (not fried!) up a delicious batch, made a little Israeli cucumber salad, a cold artichoke, and homemade yogurt dill sauce. The bowl of yellow stuff is homemade mayonnaise and...I used non-light tasting olive oil. Note to self - that will make it taste like olives. Igh.

As we speak, I have a yogurt and cheese starter set in the mail, and I'm making mozzarella and yogurt this weekend at home (yay!).  So that means more pictures of food to come.

Speaking of which:

Did I mention I made homemade vegan oreos tonight? This was my second time making them, and they were infinitely better looking than the first batch. I made a healthy oreo cookie pie for dessert with a friend tomorrow, and of course had to whip up homemade oreos to make it with. Too bad, I guess Nolan will have to eat some healthy and delicious oreos for a snack tomorrow!

WOD tomorrow morning is rowing 21k. wtf. So we'll see if I can sit at that stupid machine at 5am tomorrow at the gym and row for 1.5-2 hours or however long it takes me to row half a marathon. If I'm not as sweaty as I think I am, I packed an extra pair of workout clothes to run in at lunch since I missed my run today in lieu of the lunchtime workout. That and the fact that I took a day off from running (but not the gym!) today because I may or may not be coming down with strep throat. Salud!