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Filtering by Tag: veggie

"healthified" lasagna!

Andrea

Yay Wednesday!  Whew, I'm tired tonight bloggies!  I'm going to try to keep my writing short and sweet tonight...but I apologize in advance if its not.  You know me, I love talkin' about my food!  :) Breakfast:  Ezekiel plain english muffin (so good!), 1 tsp whipped Earth Balance, 2 egg whites scrambled with spinach and a small slice of pepper jack cheese.  Also, 1/2 an apple.  Yum!  The pepper jack cheese was the perfect spicy touch on my egg sandwich...loved it! [349 cal] 090204-b1 Lunch: a salmon spinach salad.  I had about 2.5oz of salmon leftover from last night, 1/2 cup of TJ's Harvest Blends and 2 cups of fresh spinach.  I also crumbled 4 walnut halves on top and squeezed blood orange juice all over it.  SO TASTY!!!  I'm usually a little weary of leftover fish, but I actually really loved the salmon icy cold on top of a salad.  Also, a blood orange. [340 cal] 090204-l1 Snacks:  I forgot to take pictures!  :(  I had a single-serve Oikos, blueberry flavor, at 3:30 and a Quaker True Delights granola bar at 5:00.  Both were delicious and kept me fueled for yoga. [250 cal] Exercise:  YOGA!!!  Oh how I love going to classes.  Tonight I tried out a new studio that several friends have recommended numerous times.  They are running a special right now that all new students can sign up for unlimited classes for one month for only $50!!!  I jumped on that, so you'll be seeing lots of yoga workouts popping up on the blog for the next 4 weeks.  WooHoo!  :)  I'm excited to improve my balancing and upper body strength...I am majorly lacking in that area of yoga.  Tonight's class was a 90 minute Intro to Ashtanga.  I've always gone to Vinyasa classes, which are very similar to Ashtanga, but I think Ashtanga has the potential to be more strenuous.  Both are considered to be power yoga, and both leave me dripping with sweat.  I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to trying out more classes at the studio!  :) I wasn't sure how to count my calories...myfooddiary isn't too specific.  They just break up yoga into "power" and "stretching".  So I counted 60 minutes of "power" and 30 minutes of "stretching", figuring I was REALLY working for at least 2/3's the class, and the other 1/3 was warm-up and cool-down.  Anybody have any other suggestions? [-400 calories] My hubb and I cooked dinner together tonight.  I love that!  We made a healthier version of lasagna, inspired by the Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook, one of my faves. Dinner:  "healthified" veggie lasagna and a small glass of cabernet [about 550 cal] 090204-d7 090204-d6 090204-d5 This lasagna was SO good, and while we couldn't eat it every night, it is so much healthier than my old meaty, cheesy, creamy versions from the past.   Healthified Veggie Lasagna [inspired by the Moosewood Cafe Low-Fat Favorites Cookbook] 8 servings 443 calories, 11.9g fat, 4.9g sat fat, 59.6g carbs, 6.3g fiber, 21.5g protein Ingredients:
  • 16oz brown rice lasagna noodles, cooked until al dente'
  • one jar of marinara sauce, about 3 cups
  • 2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
  • 1-1/2 cups part-skim shredded mozzarella, divided
  • 1/4 cup parmesan
  • 4 cups fresh spinach
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 bell peppers, sliced
  • 3 portobello mushroom caps, sliced
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 small jar of sliced olives
  • salt + pepper
Method:
  1. Boil lasagna noodles until al dente, set aside.  Preheat oven to 350*.
  2. Heat oil in saute pan over medium heat.  Saute garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms for 2-3 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of wine and stir well.  Add tomatoes and bring back to a boil.  Reduce heat and cover pan.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.
  3. Rinse spinach and drain.  Place in sauce pan and cover, turning heat to medium high.  Stir occasionally, until spinach is wilted. (Should cook with just water clinging to leaves after rinsing).  Chop spinach and mix together with cottage cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella and parmesan.
  4. Spoon 1/2 cup of marinara sauce into bottom of 9x13 glass pan.  Add one layer of noodles.  Spoon 1/3 of veggies (use slotted spoon) on top of noodles.  Add 1/3 of cheese/spinach mixture.  Sprinkle 1/3 of olives on top.  Add another layer of noodles.  Spoon 1/2 cup of sauce on top of noodles, then veggies, cheese mixture and olives.  Repeat.  Add one final layer of noodles and last of sauce on top.  Sprinkle last 1/2 cup of mozzarella across top.
  5. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.
090204-d1 090204-d2 090204-d3 090204-d4 Must. Go. To. Bed.  G'night!  :) Edited to Add Daily Total:
  • calories consumed = 1492
  • calories expelled = 400
  • net calories = 1092
Light again!  I'm really not meaning too...I'll grab a date before bed.  Promise.  :)
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BSI disaster + groceries

Andrea

Thank you ladies for your kind thoughts regarding my BSI and your faith in me in the kitchen!  I hope I don't disappoint you but, BSI pumpkin attempt #1 was definitely a disaster.  However, my goal for myself with these BSI entries is to try something new for me, which I did, and I feel like I learned something, which is good.  So that is why I am still going to share the recipe + experience with you all (but Lindsay, please don't submit it!  I have another recipe that I am going to post in the morning...).  So, here goes. bsia-5 Pumpkin Creme "Disasters" Ingredients: Pumpkin Cream
  • 8 oz of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
  • 1 cup pureed pumpkin
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 roll of frozen phyllo dough, thawed
Apples
  • 2 apples, cored and sliced thinly
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp turbinado sugar
Steps:
  1. Combine all pumpkin cream ingredients together.
  2. Combine apples with cinnamon and turbinado sugar in separate bowl.
  3. (this step has many modifications as evidenced by the photo above, but this is what seemed to work best...) Unroll phyllo dough.  Take two sheets and lay them on cutting board.  Cut in 1/2 down the length of the sheets.  Spread pumpkin cream across one of the strips of dough.  Pile a couple of spoonfuls of apple mixture at one end, and roll phyllo dough to form a little packet.
  4. Place packets on greased cookie sheet.  Brush with egg white (I used butter, which was not good.  I think an egg white would be better.) and sprinkle with cinnamon.
  5. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
pumpkin cream pumpkin cream cinnamon apples cinnamon apples  bsia-4 bsia-51 They all look different because I was having a lot of trouble with the phyllo dough and was trying different methods of wrapping/rolling.  I realized that what I really needed was puff pastry (lesson #1) and that phyllo dough doesn't work well with more liquid fillings because it gets soggy and the filling seeps through (lesson #2).  I was pretty bummed because the flavor was good, the form however was not.  This photo pretty much sums it up... bsia-6 Oh well.  I'm over it now and have moved on to a new BSI recipe which I will post tomorrow.  It satisfies another goal of mine, the "healthify classic favorites" challenge I set up for myself last weekend, so I'm pretty excited about it.   On to the food diary. Dinner: Brian and I met a friend at our favorite Indian cuisine restaurant in town, Maharaja (sorry, no website).  I LOVE Indian food.  This restaurant gets me so excited because I know I am always going to have a great meal there with plenty of leftovers for the next day.  Our meal tonight definitely brought the food dance out of me (reserved only for stellar eating experiences.)  Sadly, the pictures are pretty awful (iphone + dark restaurant = grainy photos).  I'll have better ones tomorrow when I eat my leftovers for lunch. I had the Dal Saag (lentils and spinach in a cream-based sauce) and Vegetable Masala (veggies and chickpeas in a spicy tomato sauce) along with 2 pieces of naan (nobody can resist the naan!) and some white rice. 081122-d1 I had double what you see on my plate below, about 1/2 the total entree you see in the picture above. 081122-d2 And 1/2 this glass of wine.  Brian finished the rest for me... 081122-d31 We went to Whole Foods afterwards, nice and full so we didn't buy the whole store.  We did manage to spend a stupid amount of money per usual...  It really got me thinking about all of you bloggies that are participating in the Thanksgiving Challenge.  I am SO IMPRESSED with all of you and can't wait to see your final numbers.  When we got home I looked through our freezer and pantry and realized that we have A LOT of food.  I am hoping to next month adopt a similar challenge for Brian and I, even if just to cut our grocery bill in 1/2 for the month.  It seems like great timing to clean out the fridge, freezer and pantry before going home to Florida for Christmas, and the perfect time of year to be saving money and giving thanks for what we have. Here's our loot for the trip.  We decided to do a separate Thanksgiving trip on Tuesday (hello crowds!!!) to get the veggies and other miscellaneous items we need for the big dinner. groceries-11
  • whole wheat bread for bri's lunches
  • whole wheat pizza dough (should be in the newbies)
  • coffee
  • clif mojo and clif z-bars (we got clif builders for Brian b/c he LOVES them)
  • fancy cheese for fancy grilled cheese sandwiches one night
  • eggs
  • soymilk
  • oikos
  • maple syrup
  • tuna
  • canned beans for chili
  • canned tomatoes for tomato soup
  • pasta sauce
  • vino
groceries-21
  • bell peppers
  • onions
  • garlic
  • pears
  • fennel 
  • bananas
  • raspberries (not in season here, but 2 for 1...can't resist that!!!)
  • frozen berries
  • celery
The newbies!!! groceries-31
  • whole wheat pizza dough
  • cinnamon roll Larabar! (still no pb cookie or coconut!!!)
  • dates!!!
  • adriatic fig spread!!!
  • new tea - honey vanilla chamomile for night time and nutcracker sweet for work
I'm sipping on the honey vanilla chamomile right now and it is yummy!  It also means that I'm about ready for bed...chamomile is the perfect evening relaxer for me.  I will post my official BSI entry in the morning, along with some preliminary Thanksgiving plans!  I can't wait to hear what you all are doing for Thanksgiving!   G'night!  :)
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freezing friday

Andrea

Well, so much for the beautiful weather.  I think it has snowed 3 separate times since my post this morning! Just flurries, nothing stuck.  And the wind is whipping so hard that its coming through cracks around my office windows.  My hands are completely frozen and I have the heat set at 76*!  :(  Brian and I braved the cold to walk down the pedestrian mall for a lunch date. Lunch:  We went to one of my favorite restaurants in downtown C'ville, Bizou.  Here is what Food & Wine had to say about my little favorite in May 2004:  "This downtown diner gets packed at lunchtime with University of Virginia faculty. The retro interior features red-leather booths and vintage movie posters. There's roasted chicken and grilled rib eye, but Bizou's specialty is its succulent homemade meat loaf with chipotle ketchup (119 W. Main St.; 434-977-1818)."  Their gourmet down-home cooking is to-die-for, especially on blustery days like today.  They have my favorite summer meal, a golden beet salad with fresh chevre and their house-made honey mustard dressing.  It is SO good.  I was surprised that it was still on the menu today, but I was craving something warm and filling so I got their veggie burrito instead. I'm sorry about the picture quality, I only had my iphone and the restaurant is pretty dark inside. 081121-l1 No cheese or sour cream inside, just wonderful sauteed greens and veggies.  I found lots of spinach, brussels sprout leaves, onions, carrots, corn and diced tomato inside.  And I asked for the creme fraiche on the side...normally they drizzle it all over the top.  The burrito is so good though that I think I only drizzled the spicy, creamy sauce on two bites. 081121-l2 I finished everything on my plate.  Yum. For an afternoon snack I have a Clif Nectar bar, but we typically have wine and cheese in my office on Friday afternoons so I may hold off on snacking on the bar until I know if we're doing that today. 081121-s1 Have a great afternoon!
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