Healthy Living

I turned a page a few weeks ago to focus on what’s best for me. I kicked this off with a whole house cleaning. Since I’ve started running a lot more – with the plan to do an 8K in December. Seeing friends and branching out. Playing music loudly. Starting a new painting for my room. And now, eating healthfully. Though I consider myself a pretty healthy eater, my weakness is sugar. The three candy bowls at work don’t help. At all. So I’ve decided to kick that addiction, and have desserts when they’re actually worth it.

After a trip to Target and A.C. Moore, I threw everything but the kitchen sink into my salad. Spinach, sliced apple, sugar snap peas, red onion, cucumber, avocado, craisins, and feta topped with homemade vinaigrette. Carrots and celery with sunflower seed butter on the side.

As for the painting, I’m recreating Monet’s Water Lilies.

For dinner, I made a batch of hummus. It’s cheaper than buying it and it makes a ton.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 16 ounce can garbanzo beans
Juice from one small lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
3-4 large chunks roasted red peppers
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Turn food processor on and stream in olive oil through the spout, blend until creamy. Taste to make sure it doesn’t need anything!

The hummus and veggie sticks accompanied the main dish, quinoa with vegetables and fried tofu in balsamic vinaigrette.

Red Quinoa with Tofu & Vegetables in Balsamic Dressing

1 cup red quinoa
2 ounces firm tofu, cubed
Garlic salt
Cayenne pepper
Basil flakes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large carrot, grated to ribbons
Handful sugar snap peas, quartered
1/2 cucumber, sliced
Feta cheese
Balsamic vinaigrette
Salt and pepper
Avocado slices (if you happen to have it around)

In a small pot, add quinoa and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

In a skillet, heat olive oil and add tofu. Fry for 4-5 minutes, dusting with the garlic salt, cayenne pepper, basil flakes. salt and pepper to taste. Combine all the chopped vegetables, tofu and cooked quinoa in a bowl. Add feta and drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette. If it needs more punch, add a little balsamic vinegar. Top with avocado.

YUM.

Being self centered can actually feel pretty damn good.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce

If you've ever wanted to make pasta without really making pasta, this recipe is a must. It looks impressive - and tastes great - but isn't that difficult or expensive. Not to mention, you will be left with lots of leftover wanton wrappers which opens doors to homemade pot stickers, fried banana nutella wontons, dumpling soup...

I found this recipe on Cooking Lights website, so I'm pretty sure that means it's healthy. The only time consuming part is stuffing and sealing the wontons, and this recipe yields about 30 to 35 ravioli. And the gorgonzola cream sauce? I was scraping my plate clean (after both servings). 

Therefore, I'm going to make a strong suggestion that you just make it. To make it lighter just replace the sauce with Parmesan and olive oil like i did with these leftovers, it’s still fabulous.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh sage (I used dried)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
30ish round (I used square) wonton wrappers
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
3 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Add pumpkin, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt, sage, pepper and nutmeg to a bowl and mix. One by one, spoon 2 teaspoons pumpkin mixture into the center of the wrapper. Brush the edges of the wrapper with a damp paper towel and fold in half, pressing edges firmly to create a triangle or half moon. Place on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch. Repeat with remaining wrappers. 

In a large pot of lightly boiling water, add ravioli in batches and cook for about 4 minutes or until done. Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm in serving bowls while the others cook. 

Meanwhile, make a roux by melting butter in a skillet and adding flour. Whisk flour and butter together for about a minute to cook out raw flour taste, then slowly add the milk while constantly whisking. Continue whisking for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until sauce starts to thicken (be patient!). Add the Gorgonzola and stir until melted. 

Fall Feast with Apple Tarts

What was supposed to be our book club meeting turned into a fall feast for two. I had planned to bring easy apple tarts and Molly had stocked up at Trader Joe's with crackers, cheeses, butternut squash soup, and wine. Tonight was much more my speed, especially since I had only scanned the SparkNotes once again... In my defense, I've read 1984 before, so I was hoping to pull from previous knowledge from 9th grade English.

I threw together the apple puff pastry desserts at Molly's and sat down to our spread.  

Friends are the cheapest therapy :)

Easy Apple Tarts

1 package puff pastry
2-3 granny smith apples, sliced thin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
lemon or orange zest
apricot jam, warmed

Roll out the puff pastry and cut into 2" squares - or use a fluted cutter - and place on lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. While still warm, brush with warmed jam and let cool.

District Commons

I promise I'm not holding out on you, I just haven't been in the mood to cook the past few weeks (so unlike me). I realized that cooking all the time can make you very antisocial. So I decided to shake things up and make more of an effort to see friends during the week and make Monday through Thursday a little more exciting. This definitely hurts the wallet, but who knows how long I'll keep this up once it starts snowing outside.

(Image from website) Anywho, last night Evan and I met up with our friend Molly for dinner at District Commons - a new restaurant in Foggy Bottom. It has a very big city feel, an awesome bar (that actually has 99 bottles of beer on the wall!) and creative food. Not to mention, one of Evan and my favorite beers on draft: Speakeasy's Big Daddy IPA. We discovered it on our trip to San Fran and have searched for it since.

We ordered the Pig Board to share. Velvety prosciutto, marinated cherries, fresh butter and biscuits.

For dinner, I got the smoked salmon flatbread. A base of cool dill marscapone cheese, crumbled hard boiled egg, capers, red onion and chives. I ate it all.

In retrospect that may not have been the best idea, as I didn't feel too good afterwards. But it was a good night!

Upper Crust

I have been a little under the weather this week, so I've had no appetite - hence no posts. Last night, I was ready to eat again but without the fuss of cooking. This is when Groupon saves the day. Evan had one to Upper Crust, a pizza place near the white house, that i'd never been to. We ordered the large (huge!) Washington pizza, which was topped with fresh tomato sauce, mozz, chicken sausage and spinach. The crust was as thin as a potato chip. Love, love the crust. Evan thought it was too "limp" but still tasty. I think I made up for my fasting by polishing off 4 pieces of zza. 4. Woof.

We picked a table in the park across from the big man's house. We also saw him heading out to conduct important business (or grab dinner) with his motorcade, right afterwards.

Dark Chocolate Craisin Oatmeal Cookies

Tonight was the 5th book club meeting for our group. I have been a bad member. This is my second time attending and I didn't read the book. Fail. To redeem myself, I brought a print out of The Bean Tree SparkNotes and baked some cookies. We were told to bring "bean dishes" and since chocolate comes from beans...it counts. 

I found this recipe on the best baking blog ever: Lovin' In The Oven.

Dark Chocolate Craisin Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick (8 Tbls. butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I chopped up a bar of dark chocolate)
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until well mixed. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Once blended, add the oatmeal, chocolate chips and cranberries until just combined.

Refrigerate the dough for at least two hours. Preheat the oven to 350. Scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I quick boxed these up and head to Arlington for book club where I was greeted with multiple delicious bean dishes and wine, of course. 

There was a large pot of chili with fixin's, green beans, chips and hummus, 7 layer bean dip and desserts which were exempt from the bean rule. The Bean Tree was read by few, but still fun to talk about - even if we were pulling up "themes and motifs" on SparkNotes. Next month is 1984, which all of us have vowed to read... and it's Birthday themed, as it falls on a member’s birthday :) 

Vegetable Millet with Feta and Basil

At first glance, millet has a striking resemblance to bird food. It actually is in bird food. But once boiled in water with a little white wine and topped with a fried egg, it's not half bad. This recipe is simply a mixture of what I had around my house, and would be great with just about any other vegetable, cheese or protein. You shouldn't be afraid of millet. It's cheap, easy and good for you. In one cup of millet, it has a ton of manganese, tryptophan, magnesium, and phosphorous. So give millet a shot! 

1/2 cup millet
1 cup water (or chicken stock, or part white wine)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, diced
1 tomato
3 handfuls spinach
broccoli (I used frozen, thawed)
feta
5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
2 eggs
paprika

Add millet to a medium sized pot with water/chicken stock/wine and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover to simmer for 20 minutes. Heat olive oil in a skillet, add shallot and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, spinach and broccoli and sauté until spinach is wilted. Combine cooked millet and vegetables from skillet into a bowl, add feta, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. 

In same skillet heat a little more olive oil. Fry the eggs sunny side up and sprinkle with paprika. Separate millet mixture into bowls and top with egg.