Tasty Tidbits

Update on the living room renovation!

We're getting someone to finish the sanding and spackling so that the walls are paint ready. I'm so proud of all the work my hubby already did & will do! This part was just a little much, between being time consuming, very dusty, & WAY high in the rafters. After we have it finished, then comes priming & painting. We're hoping to have that done & get the new carpet in by Labor Day, or at least before we leave for vacation in September. As you can see, he started pulling out the carpet, so we're living in half the room for a few weeks. No big deal, especially with the gorgeous weather we've been having!

I came home from work this week & went out to pick the tomatoes. I ended up with all of these, plus 2 more baskets full. My mom started the seedlings for us for our tomatoes & then gives us a few plants. She tries so hard to label them all so that we each get a variety, but this year something went wrong. We only got this kind, which turns orangey-green instead of red. I really like them - they're full of flavor & firm but juicy. However, our tomato soup & sauce look a bit green-brown, which is less appealing than red! Still tastes delicious though.

I'm sure we'll be getting many more tomatoes in the next few weeks. We've also been picking zillions of cherry tomatoes, most of which I've been freezing. They're great for getting out & doing a quick sauce with during the winter.

Here's what we've been eating in the last week:

Breakfasts

• Pineapple yogurt with Quinoa & Oat Granola 
• Blueberry kale smoothies
• Zucchini flax oatcakes topped with peanut butter
• Healthy Food for Living's Vegan Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls - We LOVE these! They're really quick to rise for a yeasted dough & they taste delicious!
• Bananas, blueberries & peaches

  

Lunches

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Fresh Tomato Basil Soup
• Green salad with Joy's Mustard Roasted New Potatoes
• Peppered cabbage slaw
• Peaches, canteloupe & watermelon

Dinners

Saturday:
Dinner with friends & family

• Corn on the cob
• Baguette with olive oil for dipping
• Green salads
• Black olives
• Peanuts
• Ice cream pie

Sunday:

• Cooking Light's Rigatoni Mediterranean - I used Trader Joe's Gluten Free Brown Rice Penne instead of rigatoni in this & it turned out beautifully. I also added red pepper flakes, grilled the eggplant & zucchini, & cut back on the cheese significantly. All in all a delicious dish!

Monday:
Campfire

• Pizza mountain pies
• Veggie foil packets

Tuesday:

• Corn on the cob
• Tomato, black bean, cucumber, red onion, jalapeno, & fresh basil salsa
• Watermelon

Wednesday:

• My Food Diary's Mushroom Marinara Sandwiches - I did alter this recipe to use fresh tomatoes & sliced portobella caps. Also, I greatly cut back on the cheese & used a wine-aged cheese for more flavor. Using a flavorful cheese is a great way to make a little go a long way. Mozzarella's not my fave because it doesn't taste like much.

Thursday:

• Broccoli, pepper, & chickpea stir-fry over millet

Friday:

• Dinner at Aunt Connie's

Treats

• Ambitious Kitchen's Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Brownies - I searched & searched for a healthy brownie recipe that wouldn't taste healthy. This is definitely it! You barely notice that these even have zucchini in them. They're fudgy & fantastic! I wish I had made a double batch.
• S'mores
• Minimalist Baker's Vegan Brownie Chocolate Ice Cream - I used the leftover zucchini brownies for this & it was delicious! I forgot how much I love having frozen brownies mixed into ice cream.