tiny sweet potato

This is what happens when I’m on my own for dinner:

Or leftovers.

Heaving dinner together this semester has been tough. I’m a firm believer in sitting down together regularly to meals, making that time quality time together. However, between Andrew’s twice weekly post-work engineering classes, his new workout schedule (hard to complain about, but still) and basketball, as well as my bi-monthly Bible study and Thursday evening class, we basically only sit down together on Fridays and Mondays, if we’re lucky. (I leave Sat and Sun out of the equation since our schedule is always up in the air but we’re generally together.) It’s been so frustrating for me to plan recipes and then have Andrew change things up at the last minute–I feel like I can’t win! I either plan and buy ingredients and then something comes up, or I don’t get anything and we’re stuck ordering pizza (JUST what I need) or going out to eat (which gets expensive).

You don’t know how much I’m looking forward to basketball, his professional classes and my night class to end!

Anyway, I made a brussels sprout salad the other night when the Layers were over for dinner. Basically, it was brussels sprout leaves, dried cranberries and blueberries, smoked almonds and manchego cheese. It was awesome, but separating the b.s. leaves was time-consuming–for leftovers, I steamed them like regular, then mixed them with the salad ingredients–yum!

I love sweet potatoes and am planning to make sweet potato fries with cranberry ketchup later this week, and when I found a bag of small organic ones at Wegmans, I knew I had to get it! Sweet potatoes are the best! It took 5 minutes to cook this one in the microwave and I sprinkled it with a mix of cumin, paprika and red pepper. It was just warm enough to wake up my taste buds. I did use about half a tablespoon of butter, too. Although olive oil would have worked in this flavor pairing, too.

These little orange babies are awesome; they’re perfect for lunches at home or at school. Of course, I’ll have to resist using too much sugar on the ones I sprinkle with cinnamon…

And lastly, half a pear and one serving of Cabot’s sharp cheddar for protein. Pears are fantastic right now! Although, this is the second time I’ve gotten a bag and they all ripen at the same time! We go from not eating them to eating them with every meal!

my chef/cobb salad

It feels like early fall here today. I guess that might be because it IS ‘early fall’ since there is snow by Halloween here. It’s not even the middle of August yet…

My run this morning was fantastic. Blue skies, enough of a breeze to give you goose bumps… I even wore a t-shirt, which for this tank-top-only girl, means it was cool. Running in the park here this morning reminded me on Montreal. I can’t wait to visit Quebec again.

We had just about a serving of honey ham left in the fridge, plus all the fixings for a great salad, so I decided that’s what I would have for lunch today. (I sent Andrew to work with a yogurt, fruit and chips so I could have the meat!)

While I love all the flavors that go into your typical chef or cobb salad (avocado, deli meat, bacon, bleu cheese, egg), it’s not often I have everything on-hand at home and they are pretty dangerous menu items at restaurants, so I don’t eat them much.

My lunch was absolutely BRIMMING with goodness! The bottom was 100% spinach (not baby, the kind you have to stem–it lasts way longer in the fridge) and the toppings included: 1 oz. cheddar cheese and 1 hard-boiled egg (both nabbed from the breakfast bar this morning), 1/4 avocado, cucumber, carrots, celery, green onion and about 2.5 oz. deli ham.

I topped it with a serving (2 tbsp) of Wegmans Yogurt Ranch dressing, which is only 80 calories–SWEET!

Actually, that’s what the salad was: sweet. The honey ham was sweeter than I anticipated, so the whole salad took on a less-than-salad-y flavor. The total calorie count for the salad was 460, which is somewhat high (for a salad) but since this was FULL of protein, it should keep me full for quite a while.

And because I like my salads fully mixed before eating them, I dumped it all into a large bowl, topped with dressing (1 tbsp at a time to see if I needed both–I did) and stirred.

Voila! Can you tell I’m using Andrew’s un-ironed shirts as tablecloths?

lunch, etc…

This was my lunch today:

Pretty good for a hotel kitchenette, huh? (Although I guess none of this required ACTUAL cooking, but still.)

I used the strawberries and red lettuce greens I got at the farmer’s market yesterday to make my strawberry balsamic salad. I added some gorgonzola cheese crumbles (still getting used to it–I so want to like blue cheese!), toasted pecans (I was too lazy to caramelize them) and red onion into the mix as well. I topped it with a drizzle of sunflower seed oil and some swirls of this balsamic syrup my mom brought back from one of her trips. The label is all in Italian…

I burned a couple corners of my GH Cinnamon Swirl bread (boo!) and added a dollop of hummus and some cucumber. I like the hummus from Patricia Wells’ Salad as a Meal cookbook. It’s garlicky and fresh as opposed to most that have cumin in them. Her version includes cilantro, something I’d never thought to add but is actually very good.

Today is the first day I can say that I’m actually bored. Like, seriously bored. Part of it’s the weather. It’s one of those ‘overcast one minute, sunny the next’ kind of days. I tried to go outside to read with Hadrian and wouldn’t you know we got all the way to the sitting area and it started to sprinkle. Grrr. I’ve tried alternating reading (just started Steve Martin’s ‘Shopgirl’), computering and taking Hadrian outside. Oh, and getting coffee (see below).

I thought running with Hadrian would completely tire him out, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m looking forward to upping our mileage together, both for him and me. Right now, I take him out for one mile (which provides a nice warm-up for me), then bring him back, give him a couple ice cubes in his crate (a great way to help cool him down without allowing him to slurp up too much water at once), then head out for my “real” run. I really like the companionship he provides, especially in unfamiliar territory, but it does add a bit to the morning routine.

Our hotel has coffee (regular, dark roast and decaf) available 24-7. This is bad. I find myself wandering to the lobby WAY too often to grab a bit here and there. I do try to mix the decaf with regular in the afternoons, but still.

I’m completely unmotivated to count my calories right now. I should be, since I only have a couple stubborn pounds left, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Maybe I just need a couple more days to get motivated again.

I’m planning on making a pretty ambitious meal tonight in our kitchenette–steaks, asparagus and barley–if I remember, I’ll take a photo!