Happy Tuesday, all! I hope you all started off your morning as well as I did 🙂 GREEN MONSTAAAAA!!!
This baby has spinach, bananas, blueberries, lemon juice, soymilk and ice!
Cleaning the blender seems like a big ordeal, but it’s really easy! Just pour a little dish soap and hot water into the blender:
Press LIQUIFY:
Give it a few minutes to whirl, rinse, and you’re done!
After having my massive green fuel-machine (hey, that rhymes! I should get into poetry), I jumped on the trail for another hike up the hill. Today was completely empty and quiet and lovely, and there was marine layer hanging over so the bugs weren’t biting: the PERFECT day for a hike!
I got back and got spoiled by my roomie cooking up a semi-scramble.
We were running low on spinach, so this was made with a little spinach, yellow bell peppers, asparagus and zucchini roasted in herbes de provence. Have I mentioned how much I love herbes de provence? If I ever roast ANY vegetable, I love to cover it in HDP. It just makes everything taste more complex and warmer.
Next came a bunch of thrilling errands that had to be run – Home Depot for chicken wire to keep the rabbits from devouring the new vines, Petsmart to pick up chewies for the spoiled Buddha (nickname for the puppy), the library to pick up a book I requested a few weeks ago, and finally to Trader Joe’s!
I loooove me the TJ’s! For dinner I decided to make Jenna’s (http://eatliverun.com) channa masala recipe. I picked up chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans), canned diced tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, onions, tomato paste and ginger. Every other ingredient I already had at home.
After setting it all up, I chopped, peeled, minced and measured all my ingredients and got them in order. I’m a big fan of mise en place – a French term that means “putting things into place.” It also helps you clean as you go, so there’s not a huge mess in the kitchen waiting to be scrubbed when all you want to do is relax and enjoy your meal.
I caramelized the onions for 15 minutes, then went to the next bowl which contained my chopped garlic, jalapeno and ginger. After stirring that together, the next dish (the tomato paste) went in. I was supposed to pince (cook down) the tomato paste until it had formed a nice crust on the pan, but it somehow came out a little blackened. Next I threw in the seasonings which smoked up the kitchen a bit, then the chickpeas and tomatoes and garam masala.
After letting everything stew for a while to warm through, I squeezed lemon on top (and all over the floor), and plated.
Today I got Trader Joe’s garlic naan! It made the meal complete!
Even though I burned the tomato paste a little, it still tasted A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I only finished about half my plate before I was comfortably full. I’m working on eating until I’m satisfied and not gorging until I’m bursting at the seams: it takes practice! I sipped on a (durr) Fat Tire and enjoyed the evening.
After an hour I got a little sweet craving, so I whipped out the So Delicious mocha ice cream. I’m not a fan of coffee ice cream, so this is perfect to keep me from overdoing it. I scooped about a quarter cup into a mug and ate that, and after was totally content. Just the right amount of sugar in my system, dairy-free, and I didn’t want to go back for more.
Now it’s time for the season finale of “Glee”, so I must leave you all! Happy hiking, biking, and most of all: EATING!