enjoyed in the past – but with better pictures

“Old” tomato goat cheese strata (yikes!). Visually improved tomato goat cheese strata:

Same delicious recipe from Cooking Light. Now hopefully you’d actually want to make it

How is your week going so far?? Mine is flying by and I’m not too happy about it. I have things to accomplish!! Although now that I think about it, this weekend I’m going to NY to go wedding dress shopping with my sister (and hopefully celebrating my best friend’s 30th birthday… if I can get a hold of her!) so it’s going to be a good one. So I guess it’s ok that it’s coming so soon.

As I mentioned in the my previous post, my sister’s wedding is definitely motivating me to get a little more serious about healthy eating. I’m not going on any crazy diets but I am being a little more mindful about what I’m eating. I put up a big calendar on the fridge reminding me of the “big day” (sort of funny saying that since it’s not my wedding) and a few pictures of myself at a lower weight for motivation. It’s only been 1 day, but I feel like I’m approaching this in the right way and feel good about weight loss results that are sure to follow!

The best part? I have a few old favorites to ensure I’m eating satisfying healthy meals. Like this strata. It comes together quite quickly, uses ingredients I always have on hand (well, I happened to have fresh sage on hand this time, but I’d just use dried if I didn’t) and it’s so warm and comforting. It has (whole wheat) sourdough bread and goat cheese. You can eat it for breakfast or dinner. And one quarter of the pan is a serving. Really, what’s not to love?!

Diets, shmiets. I’ll stick to this!

What are your favorite healthy and satisfying recipes? Please share with me in the comments!

I wonder how many people really wake up on January 1 and find themselves with a list of resolutions that require immediate action. Do they have a clear plan? Are they overwhelmed? Do they have a good support system to help them? I hope so!

I’m the kind of person that attacks goals with intensity. I research, I plan, I write out mile-long to-do lists and schedules and then I go at it. This is how I’m approaching my new business (I promise to share the details with you – very soon!) and it’s been exhilarating (so exhilarating in fact that I am having trouble falling asleep thinking of a million different things I could offer and cute little touches that would make me unique). The best part? I get to eat my “research.” [Ok some of it, unfortunately my extensive research in the logo design process has been inedible, and more expensive than originally anticipated. If only I could pay designers in cookies… or mussels. Ha!]

Coconut and basil steamed mussels is a Cooking Light recipe I’ve had bookmarked since June 2009. Mussels are such a fun protein to make and healthy to boot! It’s high in protein, low in fat and calories and when made right – so juicy, plump and delicious. I also love how these little guys absorb whatever broth you cook them in. They turn into little sponges of flavor. Yum!!

I doubled the amount of mussels the recipe called for (they normally come in 2lb bags – why not cook the whole thing?) and added a few good handfuls of fresh baby spinach (together with the basil) for good measure. Adding baby spinach to pretty much everything is one of my favorite ways to sneak extra veggies in! The spinach soaked up some of the yummy broth as well. Awesome!

This broth was creamy and slightly spicy and had a bit of Thai flare. We loved it with big hunks of bread to soak up more broth. A quick, restaurant-worthy, healthy meal right at home!

Those white dots, by the way, are salt. I guess I got really up close and personal with the mussels

Do you feel the effects of the new year? Are you overwhelmed, excited or just indifferent?

Now onto more relevant things…

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you host this year or traveled to see family or friends? Did you make anything delicious? I stuck to my plan and made an apple pie and roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranates and vanilla-pecan butter. I popped the pie out of the oven right before heading on a drive to my sister-in-law’s for dinner… the hot pie smelled SO incredible the whole way there. I looked pretty ridiculous sitting there with oven mitts and hugging a pie but I’d do it all over again just for the smell.

The pie recipe came from the Joy of Cookingcookbook – I made the flaky pie dough recipe using 100% butter (shortening freaks me out) and “Apple Pie II” recipe to be able to do a lattice top. I just think it looks prettier and it gives the apples a chance to steam through the holes. Oh and since I made this pie last week as well I learned that I didn’t like their recommendation of refrigerating the strips first. They became too hard to maneuver. Just cut them up right before topping the pie. Worked for me!

Looks better than my first pie, right? I’m happy to say I’m pretty comfortable making a pie now… and just like the recipe said – the dough was nice and flaky. Very exciting! The recipe happens to pre-cook the apples as well so you can make the dough and apples the day before and then assemble and bake the whole thing the day of your party. Nice and easy!

Bobby Flay’s brussels sprouts recipe was also a hit with everyone, including brussels sprouts haters. Yay! Although Adam and I preferred the more savory version with capers and anchovies.

Ok, ok, so this post actually has a point (more Thanksgiving pictures of all the fair and puppies and kids will go up today on the Healthy and Sane Facebook page, so check it out if you want more!). I wanted to share a quick and cheap recipe with you that may utilize ingredients you already have at home. Maybe you’re too tired to cook anything elaborate after last week’s feast. Maybe you just got home from your travels and haven’t gone grocery shopping yet…or maybe – like me- you try to avoid all stores at all cost during this holiday weekend so now that your Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, your fridge is looking a little bare. This recipe from Cooking Light for loaded potato soup is for you then! It’s creamy, hearty, healthy; it comes together in a cinch… and it’s delicious. Very delicious!

I made this soup a few weeks ago. It was supposed to be a quick dinner. I had no plans of blogging about it… until I had the first sip. I knew it was a winner and I just had to share. The potatoes are “baked” in the microwave while the bacon is fried. I of course omitted the onions but instead of adding oil, I left a little bacon grease in the pan before adding the broth, milk and the rest of the ingredients. I think this is what gave it that extra smoky flavor that provided a lot of depth to an otherwise simple dish. Seriously, make this soup this winter. I promise you’ll love it!

What other healthy, quick, cheap and delicious recipes would you recommend? I’d like to make it a regular feature on Healthy and Sane.

I am, however, very much aware of the fact that summer is going to end very soon (partially because I keep seeing everything-fall). I wish it was summer all year long (clearly I should have thought of that before buying a condo in New England!)… but since it won’t be the case, I’m savoring every last moment of it. I try to spend as much time as possible outside when things like rain and/or hurricane don’t get in the way. And I’m eating fresh summer produce like it’s going out of style… err season.

I save hundreds of new recipes every week and it’s always so exciting when I finally make one of them (instead of finding a brand new one right before grocery shopping… I know, that’s just silly yet I do it far too often). This recipe from the July 2009 issue of Cooking Light for berry-peach cobbler with sugared almonds I’ve had saved since… well, July 2009. I’m sorry I’ve waited this long because I’m honestly obsessed. It’s the best summer dessert a girl could ask for. And it’s easy. And light. I don’t even want chocolate after eating it. Yes, that good!

I made this last night, right before getting an email from my girl Kelsey at Stonyfield, reminding me to host a giveaway for you guys since summer is about to end (here we go again…). And what do you know, I just happened to be eating this cobbler with Stonyfield fat free frozen yogurt…

It’s good stuff. Super creamy. Honestly I would have never guessed it was fat free (I actually hesitated before buying it because I saw that it was fat free, but decided to give it a god anyway because I love Stonyfield products). Of course I did have it with this sick cobbler… mmm.

So quickly about this recipe. I used half the sugar the recipe called for and it was still very sweet (my fruit was incredibly sweet – so that was probably why)… I would even use less sugar next time if my fruit is at its prime again. I also used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I would do this again – the topping was buttery and flawless. Loved the candied almonds too. Seriously, I need to stop talking about this cobbler before I go back to the kitchen for more…

Mmm, I love when the ice cream froyo gets all melty…

I’m drooling over my own pictures right now. Hope you don’t mind

Now on to the giveaway! Stonyfield recently launched their organic frozen yogurt bars – (vanilla or chocolate, covered in chocolate) – just in time for the summer. Unfortunately I was unable to find them near me (supposedly they should be available at Whole Foods now) but I still enjoyed the rest of the loot in my “summer in a box.”

One lucky winner can have a box just like this!

Here is what’s in it:

• Two coupons for Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Bars in two delicious flavors: Gotta Have Vanilla, and After Dark Chocolate.  These bars, made with organic milk, are dipped in rich dark chocolate, and contain four live and active cultures.
• Badger After-Sun Balm: A certified organic treat for sun-parched skin. Made with moisturizing plant butters and infused with soothing Blue Tansy and Lavender to make your skin feel smooth and leave you feeling calm.
• Dr. Hauschka Melissa Day Cream: This new 100% natural moisturizer is perfect for combination skin.  Formulated with extracts of melissa (lemon balm), it smells like fresh squeezed lemonade.  Additionally, extracts of anthyllis, carrot, witch hazel and English daisy soothe, soften and even the complexion so shine is controlled and skin is moisturized.
• Tom’s of Maine: Simply White, the first and only clinically proven natural whitening toothpaste to earn an ADA seal, helps bring back the natural beauty of your smile.  The Daily Moisture Body Bar has an ultra-rich bar soap formula that contains premium moisturizing olive oil, natural vitamin E and leaves your skin clean and fresh. Beautiful Earth Deodorant works to inhibit the growth of odor-causing bacteria and its natural, refreshing fragrance helps mask odor
• Uncle Matt’s Organic Lemonade and Juices: By buying Uncle Matt’s fresh fruit and juice you’re helping more than 20 small growers that make up their family of farms. That’s one of the reasons they’re proud to be family owned and organically grown. Use this free coupon to pick up your choice of organic juice or lemonade and quench your thirst for summer!

I was waiting to review the products until I found the froyo bars, but since summer is ending – I’m hosting this giveaway now. I’ve only tried the deodorant so far and I LOVE it. It smells incredible; it’s clear and natural. What more can you want? I will be buying it again and again after I run out of this one. Can’t wait to try the rest of the products and of course the froyo bars once I find them.

Ready to win? Here are the rules: there are 7 ways to enter.

1) Leave a comment on this post – I would love to hear about way you’re savoring summer or about natural/organic products or foods you’ve been enjoying lately.

2) Follow me on Twitter (please include your twitter handle in the comments section so that I can confirm your entry).

3) For an additional entry, you can also tweet about this giveaway (my twitter handle @elinaholbrook and a link to this post must be included to qualify)

4) Subscribe to Healthy and Sane by email

5) Like Healthy and Sane on Facebook.

6) Add Healthy and Sane to your blogroll.

7) Link to this post on your blog, if you have one. If you don’t, let someone else know about this giveaway and tell me so in the comments section after they’ve entered the giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry. This giveaway ends at 8am EST on August 31 (just in a little over 24 hours!). I will randomly choose 1 winner using random.org and announce him/her that morning. Good luck!

My favorite thing about the final product (which I guess is not even final yet) is that all the pretty food pictures of recipes that look appealing to me are right there, in the format that’s enjoyable to browse through (as opposed to before, where a few nice recipes were either buried between useless articles or worse – shoved into a big folder also known as the black hole for recipes).

So the other day, I was doing my thing, gluing away, and Adam spotted a picture of the spicy chicken shawarma recipe from Cooking Light… and said: “You need to make this asap!” The good wife that I am, I put it on next week’s menu… and decided to take it up a notch by making my own whole wheat pitas. Why not!

I used the whole wheat pita bread recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook, which looked easy enough.

I  my Kitchen Aid.

My dough was seriously sticky. I think I added a bit more flour and definitely let the mixer go for longer than the book specified.

Eventually I stopped it and hoped that once the yeast does it’s thing, everything will turn out fine

Why hello, Mr. Yeast… looks like you’ve been hungry!

The dough was still slightly goopy (see top right in the picture above) but a slight toss in some flour produced perfect little dough balls.

Hi cuties! [Ok, I really need to stop this whole talking-to-my-food thing.]

Roll ‘em out…

And into the oven (on a pizza stone) they go!

OMG, OMG, OMG – they’re actually ballooning up!!!! [Yes, I was that excited.]

Actually, most of them looked like the ones below – at best. Spraying some water into the oven seemed to help a bit (thanks, Emily for this tip on twitter… Btw, I changed my twitter handle to @elinaholbrook… follow me if you love me!!)

Dinner time!

My first pita opened up so easily and perfectly, I was excited about “nailing it”!

The ones that followed definitely put up a fight (after this dinner I pretty much used them as flatbreads). They were really pillowy and doughy though so I enjoyed the texture.

I hate how store bought whole wheat pitas taste like cardboard so I’d love to find the perfect homemade (fool-proof) recipe that I can make over and over. It’d be cheaper too!

Have you ever made pitas? Any tips for me on technique, or maybe a link to a better recipe? Thanks!

PS – The chicken recipe was quick and easy but nothing earth shattering taste-wise. The pitas were definitely the highlight of the meal for me!

SO, if you’ve seen my post on Russian Bites, or my facebook/twitter you may have known that I had my parents and parents in law over for dinner last night. It’s been long overdue and I’m really excited that we finally had a change to do it. It was really fun! So fun, in fact, that I totally forgot to take pictures of all the food (namely the appetizers) so I’ll you’ll have to use your imagination if you’d like to pretend you were at the Healthy and Sane household last night.

This was the smoothest and least stressful dinner party I’ve ever had. Here is why!

• I took shortcuts! Pre-dinner nibbles included green olives marinated with lemons and garlic (purchased from the Whole Foods deli department), aged gouda (just cut up), mozzarella/grape tomato skewers (super simple – Adam assembled them!) and hummus with baby carrots and crackers (hummus was the only thing I made from scratch for the apps).
• I made dessert the night before (I had to given the recipe, but I just LOVED not worrying about that course at all the day of the dinner).
• Despite my overambitious self, I stuck to “just” one main course (which I’ve made before <- I knew what to expect!!). I did make a side of greens, although I accepted help (my mom washed the escarole and helped me with dessert the night prior; Adam made the mozzarella/tomato skewers). Thanks guys!
• I invited guests a few hours prior to dinner being served. This gave everyone time to chat, drink and munch… and gave me more time to prep (I always stress about having everything ready when people arrive! No need this time!!).

With all the wine our guests brought in and additional desserts (see below), we certainly had no shortage of food and drinks. So here we go, last night’s (pictured) eats!

My father in law LOVES Italian and happens to be the pickiest eater of the bunch (although I think my mom sometimes tries to give him a run for his money ) so choosing an Italian main entrée was the easy choice. I decided that spinach, artichoke and feta stuffed shells was a fun and impressive enough dish for a family dinner. It fed a crowd too! I made 1.5 times the recipe and it made two large pans (we hardly finished one of them so there were plenty of leftovers… not complaining here ).

This was carby, cheesy and comforting. A simple side dish of escarole and pine nuts (doubled) nicely broke out the richness of the main course.

There was also garlic bread which apparently broils within seconds (ok, more like 2 minutes… but still) – hey, fire and smoke with the price of admission

My mom saved the day (scrapes them off and I reapplied the garlic/EVOO paste – crisis averted!).

See, all good!

I think I can safely say everyone really enjoyed the main course!!

I left plenty of room for DESSERT!

My mom brought granny smith apples wrapped in puff pastry dough (like a lazy apple pie) – yum!

Jane, my mother in law, made chocolate covered strawberries. Just in time for Valentine’s day!

And I, with the help of my mom, made my very first gorka cake!!!! Check out Russian Bites for the recipe. You’ve been asking me for it for years, so now it’s your turn to make it. SOOOOOO good.

Happy bellies = happy guests… and a happy hostess.

Do you have any dinner party tricks? I’m really happy with how smoothly everything went last night. And now, if you excuse me, I have gorka leftovers to devour (ok, that’s a joke… I already had some after breakfast )

I joined WW 3 months ago for the group support and the weekly weigh-ins. I never followed their actual program because I thought that counting points was a less accurate way of counting calories; so on-and-off I’d toy with the idea of going back to calorie counting instead, lasting maybe a day or 2 at a time.

And then I went to a meeting last week. The new program encompasses all the nutritional research that has been done over the past 13 years (since WW launched their original points system). The Points Plus program focuses on how each macro-nutrient is used by our bodies (with protein being much harder to use for energy and carbs and fat processed easily). The bottom line is not all calories are created equal and I’ve been a strong supporter of this system. The program also encourages you to eat as many fruits and vegetables (the fiber in these is what makes them power foods); lean meats and low fat dairy are next on the list and carbs + fat are the most “expensive” points plus wise.

I would really like to be able to eat intuitively one day and not count anything. However, at this point of my life I need to do something structured and this program encompasses everything I was already aiming to do… just adding that structural component that I need.

I’m dealing with my emotional eating issue as well. This is my biggest obstacle that no diet can fix. I’ve been questioning the reasons for eating outside of hunger. In situations where I can’t deal with the discomfort/anxiety/whatever I’m feeling at the moment, I’ve been grabbing fruit (zero points, baby!). And I’m seeing results so far. It’s only been a few days since I followed the program to the T and I’m very encouraged to keep going. I think this is really going to work!!

With my new focus back, I’ve been really focusing on nutrition and enjoying some really wonderful meals lately. Let’s check out dinners from the past 3 days…

Savory Mexican pancakes

I used TJ’s pancake mix and loaded these babies up with corn, baby spinach, black beans and tomatoes.  A little salsa and low fat sour cream on top are a must!

Adam has a mild obsession with black beans so he was a very happy camper. I loved how quick and versatile this recipe is.

Moroccan spicy chickpeas with whole wheat couscous

I didn’t have ras el hanout (traditional Moroccan spice blend) so I used garam masala, so this was kind of an Moroccan/Indian dish. The sweetness of the dried apricots and the crunch of the almonds added a lot of complexity to this simple entree.

Today’s kick-ass lunch was the leftover chickpeas served over salad greens, tomatoes, hot peppers and cottage cheese. MmmMmmM.

Beer-battered fish tacos with tomato avocado salsa

One of the star ingredients (Adam really wanted me to show it to you )

I always have some kind of fish in my freezer. Last night I dug out a few mahi-mahi fillets and tonight the rest of the meal came together in about 10 minutes. Fresh, light, just the way I love my meals. Yum, yum, yum

My clothes are starting to fit a bit better, I’m having more homemade meals, and my focus is back. I’m feeling GOOD.

PS – I’m going to be visiting my sister in NYC this weekend and I’m meeting Joanne on Saturday night for dinner. Anyone would like to join us? I’d love to meet some of my readers!!

PPS – In case you missed it, check out my Real Food Diet cookbook review and giveaway.

See you tomorrow!

So let’s see, what have you missed…

Eggplant “meatball” subs (it tasted like eggplant parm in a baguette!)

Dover sole picatta (I used this recipe, originally found through Meals & Moves, but of course subbed fish for chicken).

I actually made the chicken version first and it was so amazing (quick and incredibly flavorful and healthy!) that I wanted to try it with other proteins. Fantastic recipe! It’s definitely going to make the best of 2010 list! Saucy…

After over a year, I finally made the brussels sprouts recipe everyone raved about after the 2009 Foodbuzz festival. I know I’m late to the party but it was worth it! No leftovers here…

Thank you, Shannon, for all the weirdo ingredients! I used pancetta instead of guanciale.

There was one baking disaster – protein banana muffins, aka banana flavored rubber in muffin form [I won't link to the recipe I modified... and clearly screwed up.]

There were definitely baking successes. Oooh yeah. In cupcake form. Namely oreo cupcake and margarita cupcake form. Yes, you read that right and you should really find an excuse to make them right away. Especially the margarita ones. Tiffany, you are a genius for setting up a cupcake party!

I also met one of my baking idols – Joanne Chang, the owner of Flour bakery. But you probably already know this if you like me on Facebook (you do, don’t you?).

I spy someone on the right

I already bought all the ingredients for the granola bars. Can’t believe I get to make them myself!!

Ok, looks like there were even more sweets. Chocolate sausage:

… and FRIED food? Say what? Hey it was for the blog! Chicken Kiev:

… and I did have salad with it!

In fact, based on what’s on my camera, there were a few salads…

Mixed greens, grapes, grape tomatoes, goat cheese, pecans and rotisserie chicken (my new favorite thing… I get 1/2 a chicken at Whole Foods for just $5 and it lasts a few days!!)

Mixed greens, strawberries, tofu, pecans and goat cheese

And here is that chicken again in a chicken salad with dried cherries, walnuts and greek yogurt

Aside from the food, there were a few workouts. But not nearly as many as I wish there were. I’ll talk more about my lifting program in a separate post. Gotta give you something to come back to.

How have you been? Did you miss me?

I missed you, although not blogging didn’t really free up my schedule as much as I thought it would. Watching tv is extremely time consuming.

If you have a food blog, do you think you’d eat differently if you took a break for 2 weeks?

For this post, I decided to group all of my recent favorite meatless meals. Really, that’s the majority of my cooking these days. We signed up for a meat CSA and get 5lbs of meat per month, and I’m trying to limit any additional meat purchasing. So far so good. I’m sure my vegetarian readers will appreciate the links to some of the recipes I’ll share below (you really should try them!!) but to my omnivore friends (or those with hardcore omnivore significant others), I want to tell you that these were all Adam approved. These meals were not only meatless but also incredibly satisfying. A winning combo in my book. Without further adieu, let’s get to it!

ELOTE + TOMATO BASIL TOPPED GRILLED AVOCADO

I have been seriously obsessed with fresh corn lately and could be happy eating it every day of the week this summer (prepared different ways of course… variety is the spice of life ). With that said, this first recipe was inspired by our brunch at Toro a few weeks back. Adam LOVED their maiz asado (claiming this was the best corn on the cob of his life!) so when I saw Chels post a recipe for elote (which looked very similar to it) I couldn’t take it off my mind until I finally recreated it. Feast your eyes on this beauty:

I used nonfat greek yogurt instead of sour cream and scaled down a bit on the mayo so as you can see my corn is not completely covered in the cheese mixture. I enjoyed the creaminess of the mayo/yogurt, the mild bite of the cotija cheese (if you’ve never had it, it tastes similar to ricotta salada if you’re familiar with that… or a much milder feta) and of course the sweetness of the corn. Oh corn. <3 Adam said it wasn’t quite as good as Toro’s (I’m sure copious amounts of butter were involved there) but satisfied his craving for it nonetheless. I’ll take it!

Since corn (even cheesy corn) does not make dinner, we also grilled some avocado on the side. For that, just brush the halves with a bit of EVOO and brown them on the grill. Easy!

To cut the creaminess, I topped these with some leftover tomato/basil bruschetta topping, which was a fabulous move. The tomatoes added so much freshness to this dish! Let’s get closer…

Mmm. Great dinner!

GRILLED EGGPLANT AND TOFU WRAPS

I subscribe to Cooking Light and love browsing through the magazines I receive in the mail on a monthly basis. I always mark the recipes that sound good… and then promptly forget about most of them. What a shame! Last July (that’s July 2009!) I was feeling particularly organized and input all the names of the marked recipes into a spreadsheet with their respective page numbers. For some reason the past few weeks I’ve decided to finally take a stab at going through that list. It’s been a great move because otherwise I’d never taste the amazingness (is that a word?) of the phyllo pizza with tomatoes, feta and basil or the next 2 dishes. Let’s start with this recipe for grilled eggplant pita sandwiches with yogurt-garlic spread. I decided to convert it into a wrap, replace the onions with tomatoes and added some zaatar rubbed pan fried tofu for some staying power (and deliciousness!). Here are the wrap insides:

Quick side note – I still get quite a few questions about pressing tofu so I took some photos for you. Here is what the process looks like…

Slice the tofu block down the side so you get 2-3 thinner blocks. Lay them flat over some paper towels.

Top with another layer of paper towels and a protective layer (I use another cutting board).

Top with something heavy, like a cast iron grilling pan (a few heavy books or cans of beans works too).

Let it do its thing for at least 30 minutes. Your paper towels will be soaking wet by the end and the tofu should be a lot more dry (great for getting that nice crust on the outside!). As mentioned, I rubbed mine with some zaatar thereafter and pan fried it with maybe 1t of EVOO. Enjoy in your favorite sandwich. This wrap was pretty awesome (the garlic yogurt spread was fantastic – cool, creamy, very flavorful).

SPINACH, RICOTTA, TOMATO PIZZA

This was another gem from the same July 2009 issue (recipe here).  both Adam and I agreed it was out of this world. I’ve been a fan of ricotta in my pizza for a while but this was the recipe that finally made Adam a convert too. I used TJ’s pizza dough (I always use 2/3 of it and freeze the rest), 4oz of organic skim mozzarella but whole milk ricotta instead of part-skim – the two cheeses worked so beautifully together. The mozzarella melted into the crust while the ricotta added that creamy feel. I prebaked the crust before adding the toppings for a few minutes, then baked the pie with the cheeses for another 8 minutes or so and finally topped the pizza with the tomatoes and let them bake into the cheese for a few more minutes. The result:

That’s a meatless meal my husband will never complain about! (He said to give this recipe an “unlimited number of smiley faces” lol)

I had some lightly dressed greens with pine nuts on the side for some brightness and bulk.

So much good stuff, I want to have all these again this week. What are your favorite meatless meals?

Highlights:

- I can’t stay out of the kitchen for too long. Last night I made a recipe that’s been on my list for a whole year. Yes, this one is from July 2009 Cooking Light issue – phyllo pizza with feta, basil and tomatoes (recipe here). It sounded (and looked!) delicious so I thought this would be a perfect dinner to make on a meatless Monday. Now here is the kicker – have you ever worked with phyllo? It was crazy. The sheets of dough were SO thin and they were definitely sticking together and breaking the second I touched them. The recipe said to use one sheet at a time and spray it with EVOO spray (layering it with the cheese mixture every 3 sheets). I fought it for a few rounds and then started grabbing 2-3 at a time. I was nervous that it would result in a rubbery final product but it was one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. So flaky and light, the cheese melted beautifully between all the layers and the super fresh tomatoes enhanced the dish even further. It tasted like a cheat meal but it wasn’t! I will never attempt to make something like this on a weeknight again (especially since work was waiting!) but I think I need to give phyllo another go. It’s too delicious not to.

- The chocolate chip cookies from yesterday’s post were from The Best Light Recipe cookbook. I made them as a thank-you for our neighbors but we never saw them so I brought them to work instead. This cookbook is amazing but I have to say this recipe was just okay. The cookies were a little too crunchy and actually got rock hard after a few hours on a plate. I had to warm them up to bring them to life. Warm cookies are always better!

- No gym today. I get too overwhelmed on Mondays. I feel like I’ll never meet my deadline. Hopefully it will all come together soon (I definitely made a lot of progress over the weekend).

That’s all I’ve got for today. Here is yesterday’s breakfast and lunch (snacks were unphotographed – imagine a breakfast cookie, a serving of almonds and 1 plum).

Cya tonight!