Balsamic Asparagus and Zuzana Light Workouts

Roses from Mr. Gaunt. Tulips from my mom.

Tuesdays are our eat early nights. Although there is something weirdly nice about eating dinner at 5pm. It just sort of gets that task out of the way, and reduces the likelihood of it getting “too late, and too tired” to make anything. Resulting in eating garbage.  I wish I could convince myself everyday to just come home, straighten my house and make dinner. I’m working on it. So Tuesdays I have yoga and Mr. Gaunt has class at 6:30, so we eat early.

Using what we had on hand I went for easy and classic. The chicken is just breaded with Italian bread crumbs, and the Black Beans and Rice is a boxed thing. The Asparagus though was done Mr. Gaunt’s favorite way, with balsamic!

It’s nothing fancy, just trim, throw on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oi, balsamic, and salt and pepper. Bake for 10-15 minutes on 345. Comes out a little crisp on the edges and very tangy.

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The last couple weeks I’ve been working 9 hour shifts at work to help train new season employees. It’s definitely challenging, but more entertaining than my previous task of doing NOTHING! Our busy season has just started, so the hours may get longer and longer. I need to stay on top of my working out and not use long work days as and excuse to be lazy. I’m continuing to go to the gym right after work at least 3-4 days a week, plus yoga on Tuesdays. Recently I read a post from Emily Martin (The Black Apple) about a great online workout video series that I have decided to try! They are short, like 12 minutes and super intense I guess. Has anyone tried these?

Zuzana Light from bodyrock.tv

Roasted Cabbage and Turkey Burgers

I originally saw this idea on Meghann’s Blog, and it looked really good! I love almost anything roasted, I love the crisp edges and how savory it always is….yum! Cabbage however, is not something I ever thought about roasting. I’ve eaten cabbage raw, and sauteed, and boiled, but never roasted, such a great idea. Mr. Guant also loves cabbage, so it was a win win.

I planned this for tonight because I have Yoga on Tuesdays, and I HATE being too full. We usually eat dinner around 6pm (mind you we work at 5 and 6am respectively) but on Tuesdays Mr. Gaunt has his biology class at 6:30 and I have Yoga at 6:45. I’ve made the mistake of eating too much too close to yoga, and I feel GROSS. So I figured a cabbage dinner would be perfect for tonight.

To prep the cabbage I peeled the outer layers (the yucky ones) sliced it thin (maybe an inch) and drizzled it with olive oil, balsamic, salt n pepper and some generic spices.  Then I roasted them at 400 for about 30 minutes, just watch em for brown edges.

I topped the slices with a red pepper spread I had on hand (although marinara, caprese, bruschetta, anything would do) and topped with a turkey burger patty and shredded Parmesan. You could also top it with a veggie patty, to make it vegetarian.

I’m looking forward to yoga tonight. It’s not fancy yoga, just the free yoga at my gym, but I really like it. It aligns me for the week, helps me stretch and calm. I would really like to maybe go to a real yoga studio some time, but at $15 a class, I will continue to stick it out at my gym.

Pumpkin Gnocchi and PicMonkey

I tend to blog mostly on my iMac, which although it has Photoshop, it doesn’t have a mouse, and I hate using Photoshop with the little pad. So to do little photo edits like frames, text, and simple exposure adjustments, I was using a free online tool called Picnik. Picnik was awesome, and require NO log in, which was so nice to not have ANOTHER account. It had all the basic tools, and even fancier tools if you did want to buy a membership (I never thought this was necessary). Needless to say I was pretty bummed when I found out a couple of months ago that Goolge had purchased it, and was closing Picnik. Sad day.

But then I heard good news! Google had opened up a new free tool PicMonkey (stupid name Google) which appears to be just as good…maybe better. I’ve only used it a few times, but it is super user-friendly, especially if you ever used Picnik. You should check it out!

Moving on. Today was a little crazy at work, we are training new people, which always tests my nerves. I got off work and felt totally annoyed. My job currently involves holding the hand of adults (who may or may not have any computer skills) through a web-based program where they submit artwork to be published. In general I wouldn’t say I’m a very patient or understanding person, so this job is really pushing me. So I used the gym today to really push through my frustrations. I actually did running intervals, which I haven’t done in a long time. I got sweaty, and my feet hurt, but by the end I really didn’t feel annoyed. So that’s good.

Tonight for dinner Mr. Gaunt made (store bought) Pumpkin Gnocchi, and home made sauce. The sauce was homemade tomato sauce, light cream cheese, onions, spinach, red pepper flakes and turkey pepperoni. It was really good, and I don’t even like Gnocchi (It feels like balls of playdough in your mouth).

I’ve also been eating a ton of watermelon! It’s so good, so crunchy, and makes me super full. I highly recommend eating a ton of it, it will make you happy. I think I’m going to go take a walk around my neighborhood as the sun goes down while Mr. Gaunt does math homework.

Fall Harvest and Eats

On Sunday Mr. Gaunt and I tended to our (MUCH) neglected garden. I wont lie, with the hub of wedding and work and schedules and dieting, the garden was the first thing we let go. I’m still processing how I feel about the garden. Next year I wont do quite as big, but I will plan more for what I want to grow (NO LETTUCE!). So Sunday we trimmed things up and picked the ripe tomatoes (sauce will be canned tonight) the acorn squash, a few jalapeno, Zucchini and Cucumbers too.

I bought a beef roast for the Crockpot too. I cut up an onion, a few leftover potatoes from the wedding, a baby acorn squash and threw them in the crockpot and in the fridge. Then in the  morning I got up early and threw the roast in whole, with 2 cups of water and seasoning packet. Set the cooker to low and left for work. 8 hours later the house smelled amazing and dinner was done. Me and the crockpot are going to be good friends this winter. Oh and Pear Cider is the Beer Haters best friend!

Family Friday

While Hula basked in the sunshine of her new kitchen this morning…

Mr Gaunt and I went and picked up my sisters dog Tank and did the 2.6 mile walk around Lake Padden, followed by Pita Pit. Did you know Pita Pita offers a “Resolution Solution” Pita menu, all Pitas under 500 calories. Not bad, not bad at all.

Followed by a LOT of house cleaning/unpacking/hanging art etc. Oh and we also did some major grocery shopping. For dinner Mr. Gaunt and I both ate leftovers. I had a piece of Veggie Pizza and a spinach/Romain salad with tomatoes sliced and diced all over the top! So yummy.

Such a good Friday with my family. Tomorrow I’m going to help my Made of Honor try on wedding dresses for her wedding in March (which I’m the made of honor for too)! And maybe a trip to Ikea too. And Sunday the whole family is coming over to help us lay a patio out back and have a BBQ!

 

 

Use up the Turkey

To use up all our frozen Ground Turkey I made a HUGE batch (like 35-40) of Curry Turkey Meatballs. Recipe Here. These are pretty awesome, and are great on day two, or three. We took them to lunch a couple of days too! I highly recommend them.

The first night we had them I made Asparagus (no butter…don’t ruin delicious Asparagus by coating it in butter) and Tzatsiki (I had leftover from this recipe) sauce to dip them in!  Best random decision I have made in the kitchen.

Night two we had them with Organic Whole Grain Mac n Cheese, which we added sliced Chicken Apple Sausage, onions, and corn too. I don’t even remember the last time I ate plain Mac n Cheese. Usually I add kale or Spinach, or broccoli. If you are “doctoring up your mac” then you are missing out.