White Bean & Spinach Pizza

Hey guys! Happy Saturday! How are you? Things are going well here.  There was some major apartment cleaning this morning and it feels great to have a spotless home. 

Before getting to it, I made some steel cut oats with nanner, nutmeg, cinnamon and topped with blueberries and almond butter.  With some coffee. 

After cleaning up, I went out for a long walk.  It was pretty chilly and drizzling out there but it still felt nice to get some fresh air.  I walked 5 miles around the lake in about an hour and twenty minutes.

When I got home, I did a pilates video from exercise tv.  It was absolutely the hardest 20 minutes ever.  Yikes.

Lunch was a mug of Amy’s black bean soup and some blue corn chips.

After a shower, it was off on some errands culminating in a huge shop at Trader Joes.  I couldn’t wait for a snack when I got home and so had some defrosted mixed TJ’s berries with TJ’s cottage cheese on top and some cinnamon.  I had to eat it out of a little tupperware, so no pic! :)

I was pretty excited for dinner today.  We had a whole wheat TJ’s pizza dough in the freezer that I took out to thaw.  I decided that I wanted a “white” pizza and so was born my “white bean and spinach pizza.” 

For the “sauce” I used a can of white kidney beans and blended it with 3 garlic cloves, red pepper flake, salt, pepper and basil until it was the consistency of hummus.  Then, I caramelized one whole white onion just in some olive oil and added two chopped veggie italian sausages once they were near done.

On the laid out dough, I spread the white bean mash, topped it with the onion and sausage mixture as well as frozen spinach.  (My half was without cheese, Brian’s was with.)

During the baking time (about 15 minutes at 425), we enjoyed a spinach salad with red bell pepper, half an avocado, red wine vinegar, olive oil, red pepper flake, salt and pepper.

Then it was time to eat! The pizza came out great. It has a higher amount of protein than traditional pizzas and tastes amazing.  I hope you try this.  Its so tasty!

 
Its looking like another low-key night around here. I’m hoping some Rock Band will be involved. What are you guys up to?

Em

Drogging? Perhaps…

Hey guys! Happy Friday! We made it. I know I’ve said this a ton, but this week absolutely flew by for me.  By the way, thanks so much for all of the good luck wishes regarding my quiz and presentation on Wednesday.  They both went really well and I’m so relieved they’re over.  Also, because we had so much work over the Thanksgiving break, we have NO homework and NO quiz for this upcoming week. Can I get a yeee-haw!? :)

Anywho, today started out with a solid breakfast of an egg, spinach and cheese sandwich on whole wheat flax bread.

 
Lunch was yummy – a whole wheat pita n’nut butter pizza.  I couldn’t decide on almond butter or peanut butter so I put PB on one half and AB on the other.  Topped with raisins and cinnamon and served with some crunchy carrots = yum!

Snack number one (I was a starvin’ marvin today) was plain greek with nanner.

And snack number two was some honey wheat pretzels.

After work, I walked some hills on the treadmill for about an hour.  It felt really good to get some low impact cardio in.  :)

Upon getting home, I started right on dinner (and a glass of wine).  I steamed some fresh broccoli and spinach, heated up some newman’s own garlic veggie sauce and some eggplant meatballs, toasted a piece of bread and topped it with smart balance and garlic powder and called it dinner.  It was delicious! 
 

Now its time to chillax and enjoy NBC tv on DVR (the Celtics were watched last night instead). I may be consuming another glass of wine as well. :)

Have a great night my friends.  Happy Weekend!

Love ya!

Em

Vegan by Mistake

Hey guys! Happy Tuesday! How are ya? Today flew by just like yesterday.  I’m pretty pumped about it, but not looking forward to class tomorrow – we have a quiz AND a presentation.  Gulp.

Anywho, I started my day out with a hearty bowl of oats made with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup soy milk and topped with a nanner and almond butter. Yummers.

For lunch, I couldn’t resist another run to the salad bar as well as a taste of the vegan carrot, squash and wild rice soup (which was so delicious!).  My salad contained mixed greens, cucs, carrots, sprouts, red onion, a couple artichoke hearts, kidney beans, chick peas, edamame and some croutons.  I topped it all with some vinegar, olive oil, pepper and hot sauce.  Yum.

 
Snack wasn’t very photogenic, but it was quite tasty.  I had some blue corn chips with roasted red pepper hummus.

 
After work, I took my study materials to the gym and did 45 tough minutes on the elliptical.  I chose to do a hill route which was really intense. 

After my workout, I was more than ready for dinner.  I baked a sweet tater that was cubed and tossed in some olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and chili powder.  Along with that gloriousness, I made a stir fry with bell pepper, broccoli, peas, spinach and a quorn chik’n cutlet with some chili sauce.  Spicy deliciousness. :)

So, I got to dinner and realized that I had a vegan day! Weird huh? While it just happened naturally today, I could see tomorrow being just as naturally not vegan, if that makes sense. :)

Ok, now I’m off to study and relax some.  Have a great night my friends! 

Annnnddd….more music….

Back to the Grindstone

Hey guys! Happy Monday! I hope that you had a good day back to the schedule.  Even though I had an amazing holiday weekend, it felt good to get back into the routine.  Work was busy, which I didn’t really expect, so the day flew by.

I started out with an egg sammich on whole grain and flax bread with a slice of provolone and spinach. Mmmmm….

I had a lunch meeting today, so my delicious salad bar salad was free (to me!).  I couldn’t take a picture, but it looked a LOT like this one…

Snack was consumed in a flurry of work and emails.  I had some honey wheat pretzels dipped in PB.  I’ve been all about the salty snacks lately. Yum.

After work, I got a killer workout in while reading a surprisingly good Women’s Health magazine. I did 40 minutes on the stairclimber, and boy was it tiring! Afterward, I walked briskly on an incline for a mile (about 16 minutes).  Phew!

I was more than ready for dinner and a delicious one it was! Blueberry pumpkin whole wheat pancakes with a veggie sausage patty. I drizzled some real maple syrup on top and sprinkled with a hefty dose of cinnamon. :)

Now its time for some homework and football.  Let’s go Pats!

Have a great night guys!

Em

Oh yeah…check out THIS video. :)