Dutch Oven

I want one.

Tee hee!

Wish lists aside, here are three tasty dishes I've made over the past four days :)

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili:

Jamie Oliver's Good Ol' Chili con Carne:

and finally, Sweet Potato and Carrot Curried Lentils:

YUM.

Holy Wow Make This Now

Remember last night's salad that was just okay?

This is that exact same recipe, sans the too spicy fish. It's amazing. It's a bunch of spinach, a scant 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1 Tbs of the dressing, and one avocado smashed with lemon, cilantro, salt and pepper.

I devoured this after Saturday morning Zumba, and it tasted soooo good.

Avocados + Me {A love story}

It is impressive how much my taste buds have matured these past few months. Seriously. Some of my new favorite foods (that I wouldn't touch before) include

-onions
-AVOCADOS!!
-broccoli
-peppers!
-cream cheese
-cottage cheese
-fish

and so on and so forth. wow.

Speaking of avocados, I got one from a hall spa day! We made avocado face masks, and there were some leftover avocados that hadn't been cut up yet. I grabbed one and ran. Okay, no, they gave me one, but still!

I sliced it on top of the last piece of egg casserole for dinner last night and saved the other half for today's lunch. Amazing!

Today's Breakfast Mission: use more pumpkin! I made a packet of instant oatmeal with 1/4 cup pumpkin, 10 chocolate chips, cinnamon, and a spoonful of almond butter. It was okay, not amazing, but not bad. It only came in at about 250-300 calories though, and I knew I'd need more than that to hold me through all of my morning classes. So I had a TINY bowl of cereal with milk!

Oatmeal! pretty.

Detail on the oatmeal. Now that I think about it, it was actually pretty good.

Lunch with leftover avocado is my favorite. I brought the avocado and my bread to lunch, and loaded my sandwich up with two small pieces of chicken (very small- for flavor), and a bunch of spinach and mushrooms for bulk and nutrients, but not too many calories! I also had some broccoli. 

The sandwich in process: note the layer of avocado, then mushrooms and chicken, then I add the spinach on top!

Ahh. Snack: mahi mahi fish tacos from Carlita's in the CUB. Apparently they're only 260 calories, so a good snack size, plus it helps get in fish for the week. They were packed full of lettuce, onions, and tomato pico de gallo with hot fish in the bottom and just a sprinkle of cheese on top. YUM.

And finally... Dinner! I'm rocking the apple with a muffin and cream cheese again. This is well on its way to becoming a favorite meal.

Finally Friday!

This week has gone by so fast. I think it should win some award. Maybe the best week of 2010? Most year-changing? Craziest?? Either of these would fit. 

Why the best?

I started shadowing a gravity class at the rec, and the instructor I'm shadowing is really cool and so helpful.

My mother helped me register for the Zumba® workshop in Spokane at the end of March.

I found some amazing fiesta dishes (can you believe that was just Monday?)

Greek Yogurt is no longer in short supply. 

The grandparents sent me an awesome care package full of organic goodies and on-the-go healthy bars.

My new printer ink arrived, so I no longer have to turn in assignments that are printed in green, blue, or purple ink.

Applied and was accepted to our apartments for next year!

I bought a tangerine Kitchenaid Mixer!! egads I'm pumped. 

That's all I can think of now!

Most year-changing?

I found out that I will be getting scholarship help from the Honors College so I can go to Ecuador this summer. For 10 weeks. To speak Spanish. Oh. My. Gosh. I wish someone would have recorded me reading the email because I was FREAKING out. Close to tears. Embarrassing as hell. So exciting none the less. I pray this works out.

We have an apartment!!

Craziest?

I'm at the rec every single night of the week. Tuesdays/Thursdays for Zumba, MWF for Gravity, and Thursday nights for Belly dancing!

Biology exam- midterms already!

Chem quiz bleugh

Apartment application and dealings.

Other random homework.

Focusing on food! planning and packing as needed (this is fun though :) )

So yeah. This week went so quickly! It's hard to believe that we're through the fourth week of the semester already and into February. Where is this year going already? It's hard to believe that I'll be headed home for spring break five weeks from now. That seems so soon! 

Ahh! And now onto the food from today..

Breakfast: Maybe it's just me, but I always hop right out of bed when I know breakfast is going to be good. Sometimes I think that's a little bit too food-motivated, but it's healthy and you're supposed to eat breakfast so there. 

Overnight oats! In the mix today was 1/3 cup skim milk, 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, and a banana all soaked overnight. I added sliced toasted almonds this morning for a bit more protein and crunch! 

It's weird, I never thought I would like this color of Fiesta, but it's so much fun. Heck they all are! Eating is more fun with Fiesta, no doubt. Plus these bowls are super shallow so it looks like I have more to eat haha.

Yum yum almonds!

Lunch: I had leftover avocado from yesterday so I put it in a sandwich bag, smushed them up, and then spread it on my bread like butter! I packed two pieces of bread and avocado, and then bought spinach, a couple pieces of chicken, and mushrooms at the dining center, and made a huge sandwich! 

I also had a glass of milk. This was so good. The avocado made a very nice butter, the chicken added flavor, and the mushrooms and spinach added bulk and overall amazingness. 

Mmm! 

Adventures with Avocado

I picked up an avocado when I went to the Co-op on Monday, and didn't expect it to ripen so soon! It definitely could not have waited another day. My initial plan was to have toast with my avocado, but some PITA (pain in the, um, arse) STOLE it from the second floor lounge! Not cool. So I just used normal bread.

This was pretty good, I won't say amazing though. Next time I want to make more of an avocado salad with maybe some egg and definitely more than just salt for flavor. Still, it was very filling! I didn't finish all the avocado, I ended up saving some in a plastic bag for later, and had an apple for some more crunch. 

I got this apple at the Co-op also, but didn't like it as much either! Ah! I like the organic Fuji apples from Dismore's way better than this one. They're much sweeter!