After not even 5 hours of sleep last night, this gal is exhausted! Of course my reliable ol’ body clock woke me up at 9am this morning, and I know those 5 hours are really going to hit me tomorrow. Luckily, us ladies were treated to a nice breakfast after the party last night. I don’t know how I was still hungry from last night, but I had a blueberry waffle with a light drizzle of maple syrup and a cup of coffee with skim milk (not pictured).
I got home a little after lunch and had a little snacky – carrots & apple slices with almond butter :).
Then I headed to the grocery store with two missions, (1) research for tomorrow’s Holly Investigates (don’t forget to check it out!), and (2) purchase FIVE new items/products I’ve never bought before. Since I won’t be eating out the rest of this month, I thought it would be a fabulous time to try out new things. Here are the five items I picked up from the first round of my personal “5 New Things” challenge!
2 mangoes
TJ’s Black Mission figs
TJ’s Rice & Bean Chips
Stonyfield Farms Organic YoCalcium! Yogurt
Cascadian Farms Organic Honey & Oats granola
I’ve definitely tried mangoes and figs before (love them both!) but thought it would be fun to experiment recipes using them. I think I’m most excited for the chips – that might be part of tomorrow night’s dinner! Back from the grocery store, I was a wee bit hungry so I had a small bowl of the granola (about 1/2 cup) with some vanilla soymilk. Verdict: The granola was good, but it was pretty standard honey and oats flavor. I think it will be perfect with yogurt!
Finally, it was time to enjoy the beautiful day! I munched on this little bar as I took over an hour long walk in the neighborhood. Ms. Lara can do no wrong I swear! The Banana Bread flavor, I swear to you, tasted almost exactly like the real thing. YUMMY! I picked up a couple flavors I haven’t tried before, so look for a Larabar rankings list later this week with my faves!
When I got back, I grabbed a beach towel and parked my butt on the deck in the warm, heavenly sun. There was some Riesling wine left in the fridge, so I thought what the hell? Let’s use it up!
Ain’t she pretty? For dinner, I concocted a nice Italian mix, which I hereby title Italian Roasted Eggplant Mozzarella Penne! First, I sliced a large eggplant into 1/2″ slices and sprinkled with salt to let them sweat (it drains the bitterness out of them so when you cook it, all you taste is eggplant deliciousness). Then I lightly coated them with EVOO and popped them in a 450 degree oven to roast. Meanwhile, I boiled some water for the penne pasta and got started on the sauce.
In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tbsp. EVOO and 1 tsp. minced garlic until fragrant. Then I added 1/2 diced yellow onion, and let it sweat for several minutes. Next, I added one 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, one six-ounce can tomato paste, some leftover chopped spinach (from another recipe you will see this week!) and mixed it all together. I seasoned it with 1/4 – 1/8 tsp. each (as desired) dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme and dried sage. Seasoned with salt and pepper, I let it simmer to all mix together.
To serve this delectable dish, I plated a heaping serving of the Barilla Plus penne, 1 cup of the Italian tomato sauce, four slices of the roasted eggplant and topped it with two ounces of fresh mozzarella. Buono!
The best part? I have TONS of leftovers for this week – meal planning well done! Since I had enough dessert yesterday to last me awhile, I had one of my fave Yummy Earth suckers for dessert. This time it was watermelon! I let my food rest for a bit then headed to yoga, which I hadn’t DONE IN MORE THAN A WEEK! Oh man, being back felt good! I go to a yoga/pilates fusion class, and I LOVE the teacher!
Okay, now I’m really tired…off to bed!
