you know you’re a health nut when…

…your dinner looks like this:

It’s Kath’s Orangey Bean Salad, only with pintos instead of navy beans (it’s what I had). Actually, it worked out perfectly because I used half the can of beans for Ellie’s sloppy joes, and planned on using the other half for this. I also had an avocado from the Southwestern Barley Salad I made a few nights ago, so it worked out quite well. I put it in my tracker and it was 350 calories.

If you hadn’t guessed already, Andrew was on his own for dinner tonight; he and his dad drove THREE HOURS to go look at tractors today. He would have had a cow if I’d put this in front of him on the table. Seriously. A cow. I’m pretty adamant about serving good, healthy food here in this house and making him (occasionally) eat things he doesn’t like, but even I wouldn’t make him eat this. He would have died.

I also brought these yummy treats to the table:

Strawberries, a bit of honey, cinnamon and some shredded coconut. I took a bite or two, but alas, was too full of beans to eat it! Blame it on this new thing I’m trying, it’s called “stop-eating-before-you’re-uncomfortably-full.”

Guess I’ll just have to save them for later tonight!

dinner x 2

I didn’t get a chance to post this last night, and my breakfast wasn’t anything worth taking photos of (although I did add frozen cranberries to my smoothie this morning–a first for me), so I figured I’d lump the photos in with tonight’s dinner.

I’ve been on what seems like a constant quest to empty out our tiny freezer here, which is filled with my stash of nuts and frozen fruits, among other things. I had one pound of beef remaining, and I didn’t want to make burgers. Sloppy Joes it was! I found Ellie Krieger’s recipe in the cookbook of hers’ that I brought with me to the hotel.

It’s made with lean ground beef, the usual ingredients (red pepper, tomato sauce), flavorings (molasses, Worcestershire sauce, etc..) and one from left field: pinto beans. As per my usual modus operandi with beans as an ingredient, I added half what the recipe called for. I do this because Andrew isn’t a huge fan of beans (who am I kidding? He doesn’t like them.), but I feel the need to at least try to stick to the integrity of the recipe, so I just use less. Or another variety altogether. Neither Andrew nor I like kidney beans, so I’ll sub pinto or white beans sometimes.

Beans fall into the “try them until you like them” category for me. There are so many things I hated as a kid that I now like (or at least don’t hate) as an adult because I’ve continued to eat them. I mean, I don’t LOVE beans, but I know they’re good for me and that they can be wonderful in certain dishes, so I eat them. And come on. How old are we? We can’t always eat only what we like.

I served Andrew’s sloppy joe on four leftover hawaiian sweet rolls that I kept intact and then sliced down the middle. They created a nice, large bun for his sandwich. I used some leftover dressing from the quinoa for a spinach salad I whipped up. It was all green (spinach, celery, green onions and cucumbers) with some dried cranberries for color and sweetness. Apparently, Andrew didn’t like the dressing (although he didn’t complain about it on the quinoa), so he pretty much turned up his nose at the salad. Oh well.

I do have another recipe for sloppy joes I’ve used before that he said he prefers, so I’ll either use that next time, or maybe I’ll come up with my own. I don’t normally do that (I really like using recipes from my cookbooks–it’s like crossing things off a list), but I really would like to make a healthy, from-scratch version that tastes like the canned stuff you get in the grocery store (because that’s what Andrew wants).

Anyone have any recommendations?

Tonight I made another of Ellie’s recipes, this time her Curried Butternut Squash Soup. Yet another meal driven by freezer contents, this one used up a bag of frozen squash puree.

Barefoot Contessa has multiple butternut squash soups, to include a curry version, so I’ll have to do a “butternut squash soup cook-off” sometime this fall to determine our “go-to” soup. I love doing cook-offs with recipes I have in cookbooks. There is just something about having made all the different versions and definitively picking a winner that gives me such satisfaction.

Both Andrew and I really liked it. It definitely had a strong curry flavor, with just a hint of sweetness. And so easy to make (especially when the squash is already cooked and pureed!); you basically saute some onions and garlic, add chicken stock, curry and squash and boil. I pureed it in two batches in my blender since the onions were still in chunks.

I served the soup with an eggplant and yogurt dish I’d torn out of a Food Network magazine forever ago. Another easy one, you just cut up eggplant, roast with shallots and garlic, then dress with yogurt and dill and toasted walnuts. YUM. Unfortunately, Andrew took one bite and declared he wouldn’t eat it, so I ate his, too. (I’d anticipated something like this, so I wisely divided up the two servings of eggplant into three smaller ones, so I really didn’t end up eating that much.)

They may not have all been home runs, but I enjoyed making them all and writing notes down in my cookbooks. I’ll be feasting on leftovers tomorrow!

“beach” day

Andrew, Abigail and I joined some of Andrew’s friends from work Sunday at Ontario “Beach.” I use quotation marks here because, as someone who grew up vacationing in Florida and North Carolina’s Outer Banks, I find it extremely difficult to call anything other than the sand along a bona fide ocean, a beach. I mean, just because the Great Lakes are all huge and beach-like, they still aren’t oceans. There are no waves, no crabs, no salty sea air.

I digress.

This is Ontario Beach. As you can see, it is pretty much like a beach. What you see on the right is a jetty and on the other side of that were a bunch of sailboats. We didn’t have the best weather; it was pretty overcast much of the morning, but warm and even a bit humid (for here). Ontario Beach is about an hour and a half northeast of East Aurora. There are “beaches” closer to EA, but they’re on Lake Erie.

We were invited by one of Andrew’s friends from work, who apparently gathers with some of his family and friends here each summer for some (relatively) intense volleyball.

Andrew joined right in for the volleyball.

Abigail and I aren’t volleyballers; in fact, we’re the kind of players you want on the OTHER team. So, Abigail did what she does best: laid out, soaking up the sun. I enjoy lying out as well, especially since I have a sports bra and shorts tan, but I get bored easily if I’m not reading, so I mingled and took photos of Andrew playing volleyball.

Before too long some light rain drove us all inside, so we headed to this joint (apparently a favorite of the group who came out last summer) for some lunch:

I didn’t bring my camera (wish I had!), but it was just as shady on the inside as it looks on the outside. They’re known for their steak sandwiches, but it was the bun that really did it for me. Again, I wish I’d had the camera. (There wouldn’t have been anywhere to put it; we were swished like sardines into booths.) Anyway, imagine a really thin steak on a bun that was a cross between a potato roll and a croissant. YUM. It was a bit flaky and buttery and kinda smooshed when you grasped it. I made mine into a cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard and pickles. Andrew had his with grilled peppers and onions, and Abigail ate hers’ plain. The three of us shared a vanilla milkshake with a splash of root beer.

Once we all finished lunch, we piled into our vehicles and headed to Andrew’s friend’s uncle’s house. Hi Uncle Al!

Al has lived just off of Lake Ontario for the last 25 years. He took the 11 of us out on the lake for tubing and water skiing for the next few hours. The weather gradually improved until it was beautiful around 4 p.m. I haven’t been tubing for three years, since last vacationing with Andrew’s family on Lake Tippecanoe in Indiana. I thought I was getting too old, but apparently not. I had a great time yesterday and escaped without a bruise.

Bart, Andrew’s friend from work and who has made an appearance on the blog before, drove us up for the event. Thanks Bart!

After boating we gathered on the deck before grilling hamburgers for dinner. Check out my suit! This is the one Andrew and I scored last-minute at JC Penney’s. LOVE IT.

Andrew lost his contact in the water…must have been all that aggressive tubing! For those who don’t know, the only appropriate way to tube when there are multiple people out there at once, is to fight to the death until someone falls off. You’d think adults would be past this; sadly, they aren’t. (I, on the other hand, am completely content to have a wild ride in which I have to work to hang on, but don’t need to worry that someone from another tube might jump on top of me or kick me off. Just saying.)

So THAT’S what my hair looks like from the back! I’ve always wondered… It’s more reddish-brown than I thought. And flippy. Obviously, this is an “un-styled” look since I’d been in the water, but good to know.

We left around 8 p.m. for our long drive home. Miraculously, no one in the car fell asleep! I have heard, however, that everyone had a hard time getting going this morning…