WIAW: Following Recipes is Overrated & Some Links

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Well, hello there!

It's already Wednesday!!  Oh, how I love a short week.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day.  Mine was quite relaxing.  No labor for this gal ;)

Nothing too exciting today for What I Ate Wednesday, but I did try some new things.  So, let's get to it.

Breakfast: Honey & Ricotta English Muffin with Fruit

I saw this Ricotta Toast at A Beautiful Mess blog and thought it sounded interesting.  I did my own version on a toasted whole wheat English muffin.  I added skim ricotta, sliced strawberries and honey.  Pretty tasty!  Coffee on the side.

 A.M. Snack: Watermelon & Cereal

I originally packed watermelon for my snack, but at the last minute decided I needed to eat some Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which was on sale at the grocery this week!).  I put about 1/2 cup in a Ziploc.  It was very tasty, indeed.

Lunch: Mixed Veggie Salad with Meat & Cheese

After a quick walk with the dogs, I made some salads containing: baby romaine mixed lettuce, broccoli, fresh corn (sliced off the cob), cajun deli turkey, colby cheese and greek yogurt ranch dressing.
Such a perfect end of summer lunch!

My guy brought us some cake to share, too.
Mostly because I heavily suggested it ;)
I made this Texas Sheet Cake for the holiday weekend, but I made it in a 9x13 pan (and baked it about 10 minutes longer) and it was perfection.  Best cake ever.

Not the best picture ever, but trust me.  This is the cake you want to make...for every event.  Forever and ever.  Amen.

P.M. Snack: PB Toast

I did pack an apple to eat for afternoon snack, but I didn't get to it, so I had some whole wheat toast with natural crunchy peanut butter before heading to boot camp class.

Dinner: Ratatouille Pasta 

Remember last week, I was talking about my Food Network magazine?  This was a recipe I wanted to make from it.  So I did....and it was pretty good, though not very photogenic.
My first inclination with any recipe is to simply be inspired by it and not follow it.
I tried my darndest to follow this one, though.
Here's the recipe if you want to check it out: Ratatouille Pasta
I added mushrooms, red onion and subbed wheat lasagna noodles.
Anyways, next time I think I'll use a rotini veggie pasta and roast the veggies instead of grilling them.  Maybe I'll make my own recipe.
Following the recipe is sometimes overrated ;)

For dessert I had some Moose Tracks froyo, this brand.  I did not take a picture.

I'll leave you with some pictures of my sweet fur babies (well, Reggie is not technically my fur baby, but I love him like he is) and some fun links!

Bizzy the dog, Baby the cat, Boscoe, Reggie

A Few Links I must Share:
20 Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipes-I sent this link to my boyfriend, and he is very excited to try all of them!
Crockpot Stuffed Pepper Soup-I cannot wait to try this recipe--yum!
Butterscotch Banana Bread Oatmeal Bites-I tried these over the weekend.  So good!!  I will definitely be making them again.

Have a great rest of the week!!

WIAW: Cajun "Alfredo" Pasta

Happy First Day of Springggggg!  I'm so glad it's finally here :)
Flowers are blooming, birds are singing.
This is definitely my favorite season!

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Can you believe it's Wednesday already?  Where does the time go?

Well, I stuck to my plan from last week to have all new foods to show you today.

Wanna see??

Breakfast, Part I: PB Waffle

I might have gotten by on a technicality with this one.  You know I usually have some sort of carb smeared with peanut butter..but today it was a low fat Nutrigrain Eggo waffle.  Which is different.  So, there.  Ha!  Anyways, this was my workout fuel as I headed out the door for an early morning boot camp class.

Breakfast, Part II: Breakfast Quesadilla

I have no idea why it's been so long since I've made a breakfast quesadilla.  They are like the best breakfast ever!

These low carb taco sized tortillas are stuffed with an egg & egg white, 2 strips of bacon, 1/4 of an avocado, a drizzle of salsa and a sprinkling of cheese.

 Breakfast of champions!

Morning Snack: Fruit Smoothie

I took an extra five minutes this morning and blended some fruit in a mason jar.  It was worth the time.  This jar is filled with 1 frozen banana, 5 frozen strawberries, a handful of blueberries and 1 cup of Trop 50 orange juice.  So good!  Can you tell my blender does not do well with blueberries?  I don't know what the deal is with that..

Before eating lunch today, I went on a walk..spotting spring colors along the way.

I <3 pansies!

Lunch: Tuna Sandwich & Carrots

Easy peasy lunch today of Starkist premade tuna salad (100 calorie pouch) on Target's multigrain seeded bread with tomato & lettuce.  Served with stupid carrots.

Ok, they weren't stupid.  I'm just going through a baby carrot rut.  I should have packed a different vegetable.  Oh well ;)

Lunch dessert happened:

These are definitely my favorite Easter candy.  I really prefer the dark chocolate ones, but these will do in a pinch.  At least they are in mini bags, right?

Afternoon Snack: Apple Rings

Things got a little weird for snack time..  I cut some shoddy looking apple rings and smeared them with dark chocolate peanut butter.  My boss thought I was eating donuts and did a double take.  It was kind of funny.

Dinner: Cajun Alfredo Pasta with Brussels 

This picture does not do this sauce justice.  I threw together some Alfredo like sauce last week with stuff I had on hand and decided to repeat it for WIAW.  I was actually going to use spaghetti squash as the pasta, but my store had none :-(

So, atop my roasted Brussels I had angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce and Cajun spiced shrimp and turkey sausage.  Want a recipe?  

Cajun "Alfredo" Pasta

serves 4

1 bag of thawed medium shrimp, deveined, peeled, tail off

1 turkey sausage link (I used Butterball brand), cut in quarters

1/2 tsp-1 tsp Cajun spice mix

Angel hair pasta (I used 1/3 of a box of Smart Taste pasta), cooked per box instructions

"Alfredo" sauce (below)

Roasted Brussels sprouts

Season the shrimp and sausage pieces with spice mix and cook in a skillet until shrimp are pinkish and everything starts to get a nice color.

In the skillet with the meat, add the cooked pasta and half of the sauce and stir it up.  Add more sauce to your liking.

Serve over roasted Brussels. 

For the sauce:

2 tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light spread

1 tbsp flour

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup chicken broth

2 Laughing Cow Swiss Light cheese wedges

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

pasta water (for thinning out the sauce)

sprinkle of Cajun spice mix

Melt the "butter" in a sauce pan and add in the flour and garlic.  Stir it up and add the chicken broth.  Whisk it all together and simmer on low-med heat until it looks smooth and creamy.  Throw in the cheese wedges and parmesan and whisk until combined.  Add seasoning to taste.  If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add hot pasta water (from the noodles you boiled) or more broth to thin it out.

Such a quick and easy meal!  And Alfredo with no cream or butter? Awesome!

For dessert I made a strawberry shortcake inspired parfait.

I layered fresh sliced strawberries with low fat (homemade) angel food cake and light whipped cream.  Yum!

Well, that's it for me today.  Hope everyone is having a super spring-y day!

Last Taste of Summer Pasta

Well, everyone is talking about pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin flavored everything.  It seems as though the world was collectively bitten by the "Fall" bug and there is not turning back.

I bet people already have ideas in their minds about what costume they'll wear for Halloween and what sides would be good for Thanksgiving.

To all this malarkey, I say, "Slow down, people.  Let's live in the present."  

Presently, zucchini is still affordable at the grocery store.  We all know how I love me some zucchini.  It screams "Summer!" and is healthy to boot.

So, I created a last taste of summer in the form of pasta, so that I can cling to the hot days by the pool, the fair corn dogs and the pile of flip flops littering my closet floor.

Let's have one last hurrah, shall we?

Last Taste of Summer Pasta

serves like a million (ok, more like 8-10 people--it makes alot!)

1 box wheat pasta 

turkey sausage (or whatever kind of sausage you fancy), cut in quarters

2 medium zucchini, diced

1 large summer squash (or 2 medium), diced

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 red pepper, diced

2 ears of corn, cooked and cut off the cob

1 cup shredded cheese (I used Gruyere)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt & pepper to taste

4 cloves garlic, minced

Boil your pasta to al dente.  Throw 2 tbsp of butter in a large skillet and melt it.  Toss in the diced peppers and cook for about 2 minutes.  Then add garlic and zucchini & squash.  Cook for about 5 minutes and then add the mushrooms and corn.  Toss it all around.  Season to taste.

Preheat the oven to 425 and spray a 9x13 pan with spray oil.

Throw in the pasta and veggies into the pan.  

Heat the other 2 tbsp of butter until bubbly and turning a little brown.  Throw in the sausage and sear for about 3 minutes.  Pour all of this goodness over the pasta/veggie mixture and stir it to combine.  

Top with grated Parmesan and shredded cheese and heat in the oven until melt-y (about 10 minutes).  Top with additional cheese if you are feeling saucy ;)

Have an awesome weekend.  I'll be back Monday with a craft (say what??!!)!

WIAW: Just Shy of a Bucket of Tea

Do you know what time it is??

It's time for:

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Yay!  So exciting.  

Ok, so I find posting pictures of food that I ate exciting.  It's the little things, folks.

Breakfast, Take 1: Cottage Cheese

I grabbed these individual cottage cheese cups at the store this week & decided to have one before this morning's 5 a.m. boot camp.  I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I wasn't feeling it.  I ate half the cup and tossed the rest.  Maybe I just wasn't in a cottage cheese mood?

Well, after some super intense strength training (ouch) and core work (ouch, again), breakfast redeemed itself.

Breakfast, Take 2: Waffle w/ AB & Mini Smoothie 

I had one of these super yummified (What?  It's a word.) Van's lite waffles toasted, then smeared with almond butter, some coffee & a lil' smoothie.  My smoothie had half of a frozen banana, 4 frozen strawberries, 4 or 5 frozen peach slices, 1 cup almond milk and half a scoop of vanilla protein powder.

Then a few hours later it was one of my favorite times of the day!

Snack time!

Oh, fun fact for you.  I used to have a Garfield wristwatch and instead of the hours, it split the days into breakfast, snacks, lunch & dinner.  I wish I could find that thing!  I'd still rock it.

I tried to open my eyes alot in this picture to look less tired.  I'm not sure it worked.

 Mid Morning Snack: Fruit & Nuts

I had a super shiny Jazz apple (tasted nothing like jazz, though) and some almonds.  I forgot to bring my knife to work (Whoa~what a weird thing to say!  Sounds like I work in a sketchy part of town.) and had to eat my apple whole, instead of slicing it (which is my preference).

Lunch: Salad

It probably looks like I eat alot of salads for lunch.  I kind of do during the hotter months of the year.  If I had started WIAW in the fall or winter, you would have seen a bunch of soups for lunch!

Anyways, this was my lunch salad today & it contained: spring mix, raw broccoli, 2 tomato slices, leftover BBQ from the weekend, banana peppers and guacamole.  Pretty yummy and tangy ;)

No time for an afternoon snack today, but I did manage to swing by and get a black tea from the Starbucks.  I ordered the closest size to bucket-sized that I could get.

trenta unsweetened black tea with 3 Splendas (aka-perfection in a plastic cup)

Before I get to dinner stuff, have you guys heard about the Runners' World challenge?  It is a runner streak challenge where you run 1 mile everyday from Memorial Day to Independence day (which turns out to be 38 days).  I'm not a runner, so I don't know why I'm so excited about it!  I do love a challenge, though ;)

So, I did my mile on Memorial Day and today (I write this post on Tuesday, in case you didn't know) I'm ready to hit the treadmill (too hot to do it outside, today) for my mile.

It's never too late to join in!

* * * * *

Whew!  Ok, now that mile 2 is conquered:  it's dinner time!

Dinner: Chicken, Pasta & Veggies

I felt the need for some pasta tonight.  So I topped this whole wheat rotini pasta with some roasted butternut squash, roasted asparagus and leftover grilled chicken. 

A Laughing Cow Swiss cheese wedge brought it all together.

Dessert: Booze & A Cookie Bar

Well, not much of either of those things.  I did finish the night off with a cookie bar leftover from this weekend (oooh, I am big on leftovers today!) and a lite Mike's ;)

I used this Pioneer Woman recipe with a few modifications to make these bars.  Everyone seemed to like them.

Want more?  Check out some more What I Ate Wednesday posts:

WIAW #1

WIAW #2

WIAW #3

WIAW #4

WIAW #5

WIAW #6

WIAW #7 (last week's)

Healthy, Cheesy Veggie Baked Penne

It's true that this dish may not photograph well, but definitely don't judge a book by it's-hastily photographed, in a hurry to eat-cover.

I jam packed this pasta with 2 sheet pans of veggies.  I kid you not.

It's deliciousness is threefold.  1-pasta, no words needed.  Pasta is where it's at.  2-cheese.  Come on, you know cheese makes everything better.  And 3-a gazillion servings of veggies.  Necessary for a healthy lifestyle, but can be made to be more delicious by roasting and combining with pasta and cheese.

I actually like veggies on their own, but if you know someone who doesn't this dish may convert them.

Healthy, Cheesy Veggie Baked Penne
serves 8 

1 bunch of asparagus
container of mushrooms
2 medium zucchini
2 medium yellow squash
2 handfuls fresh spinach
15 oz box of whole wheat penne
1 8 oz container of part skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup part skim shredded mozzarella
spray oil
salt
garlic salt
olive oil

Wash and cut asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini and squash.  Toss in olive oil, season with salt and garlic salt and roast at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Boil your pasta until al dente and drain.

Toss your cooked veggies in a bowl, add in the ricotta and parmesan.  Put the spinach on the top of the heap and pour in the hot pasta.  Mix it all together and season with salt.

Pour into a greased 9x13 dish and top with mozzarella.

Bake for 20 minutes covered loosely with aluminum foil and for 6-7 minutes uncovered.

Forgive my dirty looking fork.  It's dirty with this pasta, only, I assure you.

Oh, on a completely unrelated note, I wanted to talk for a second about comments.  I love comments on the blog!  Whenever I see a comment, I'm like, "I love that person; they are the greatest."  But for some reason I'm unable to respond.  I don't know why, but in certain blogger formats, my comments don't post.  It's kind of frustrating, but I will figure it out.  Please don't let that discourage you from commenting or you can always email me at myrtle918_at_yahoo_dot_com or give me a comment on Facebook.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Crazy Bread for Two

Pasta and bread are like peas and carrots. Except more delicious. And carb-ier.

We always (yes, always) have to have bread with our pasta. I usually have the frozen, light garlic Texas toast in the freezer in case a pasta mood should come about. But, the store I went to last did not have it, so I had to improvise.

This recipe makes the perfect amount for two adults (3 breadsticks for my husband and 2 for me). If you have a family of four, you can easily double it.

The texture is similar to Little Caesar's crazy bread, but better, I think. Sometimes when you get their crazy bread it is underdone and pale. These are golden and perfectly bread-y.

Crazy Bread for Two

1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
Garlic salt
Sea salt
Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
Italian herbs (optional)

Mix flour, yeast, water, sugar and salt in a medium sized bowl. Kind of knead it around for a minute until it is a good looking dough ball. Pick up the ball and spray oil or oil the bowl (so that when you take it out of the bowl it doesn't stick) and put the ball back in there. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise for 30 minutes or so (I left mine for like an hour and a half because I went to exercise class and it was fine).
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and either oil your pan or use parchment paper (that's what I did) & either roll or stretch the dough out to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness on the pan and brush with olive oil & sprinkle on your garlic salt, salt & parmesan (and herbs if using). Use pizza cutter or knife to mark the width of your breadsticks and bake for 16 minutes.

Recipe adapted from See Jane in the Kitchen

Oh, they were so lovely.



We enjoyed our crazy breadsticks with whole wheat pasta with lemon chicken and veggies. Yum.



These would be really stellar as dessert breadsticks, too, just replace the garlic salt, salt & parmesan (and herbs) with cinnamon sugar and make a quick glaze while they are in the oven. I kind of want to go home and make these now!