Tasty Tidbits

Isn't she beautiful in this light? This was at the very beginning of our painting, so she looks relatively clean. Now, a few days later, she has paint on her one leg & lots of little carpet pad fuzzies everywhere. We've been trying to keep the floors swept, but the pieces just keep flaking off. And then she drags it everywhere! I can't wait to get the carpet in (scheduled for Sept. 4 & 5!!!!) & then to clean the whole house.

So August is over...where did it go? I love fall so much, but it just seems like summer went by before I realized it was happening. I'm excited for all things fall, but also not ready to give up fresh peaches & zucchini & gorgeous tomatoes.

Enjoy the long weekend!! Happy Labor Day!

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

Breakfasts

• Tina's Paleo Granola made un-paleo by the addition of rolled oats. For mix-ins, I used flaked coconut (my newest obsession!) & raw sunflower seeds. - I love this SO much! I don't think it was W's favorite of the granola's I've made, but he does like it too.
• Crumbled Cookin' Canuck's No-bake Zucchini Bread Granola Bites with almond milk
• Zucchini Baked Oatmeal with pb
• Lisa's Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes - This is our favorite pancake recipe to date, aside from these whole wheat sourdough ones, which I can't currently make because my starter died. They're light & fluffy, just like they should be! I usually double the batch because it makes so few. Better to have leftovers than not enough! 
• Ashley's Basic Vegan Buckwheat Waffles - These were denser than many waffles (probably partly because I should have ground the buckwheat finer), but they had the perfect crisp outside & soft inside. We topped them with apple butter & banana pb sauce. Yum!
• Bananas, fresh figs, & peaches

Lunches

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Shredded Brussels sprouts, sauteed
• Sweet potato tortilla chips with salsa
• Carrots
• Pesto hummus
• Canteloupe, apples, & watermelon

Dinners

Saturday:
Picnic Dinner with Church Friends

• Easy Three Bean Salad
• Italian seasoned pasta salad
• Fresh veggies with dip
• Pretzels
• Stuffed hot peppers (man these were HOT!)

Sunday:
Dinner with Mom & Pops, grandparents, & aunt

• Whole wheat spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce
• Stuffed hot peppers - Dad made these (same kind as on Sat. night). They are SO HOT! But also delicious. No one in my family ever thought I'd start enjoying spicy food, but here I am. Lips.on.fire.
• Green salad

Monday:

• Nourished Kitchen's Tomato Provencale - The flavors in this are fantastic! It's so simple, but seems fancy. It was perfect with pasta because it was very juicy.
• Whole wheat angel hair pasta with basil pesto (I used pumpkin seeds instead of almonds & nutritional yeast instead of parmesan)

Tuesday:

• Jessica's Grilled Corn Summer Breakfast Hash - I made a few changes by removing the bacon (I used cocont oil for the cooking), adding a minced jalapeno, & using half white potato/half sweet potato. Also, we put guacamole on top instead of egg. Aside from the chopping, it was a super easy meal & it was SO flavorful! Plus it made great lunch leftovers.

Wednesday:

• Whole wheat spaghetti with sauteed greens & peppers
• Carrots & cucumbers with pesto hummus

Thursday:

• Pizza with this crust, three ways:
• 1. Carmelized onion & fig with olive oil & garlic
• 2. BBQ sauce with thinly sliced zucchini, mushrooms, baby cherry tomatoes, & pepper
• 3. Fresh tomato sauce with diced zucchini, mushrooms, & fresh basil

Friday:

• Dinner out on the way to the cabin

Treats

• Minimalist Baker's Vegan Brownie Chocolate Ice Cream - I can't stop making this. It's so good!
• Joy's Fresh Fig & Almond Breakfast Cake (made by my mom) - She varied it slightly, using whole wheat flour, unrefined sugar, & some applesauce for some of the oil. It was really good! My only wish was for more figs in it.

Still Under Construction

We're getting there! Saturday was priming day.

Somehow this photo merged itself & when I was sorting through what I had, I was really confused. It's kinda cool though. W watching himself work...

Sunday was ceiling day.

Tuesday evening was living room walls. I was so excited to paint the gray! We love it!

There was a crazy grasshopper that kept leaping up at the windows. It hit the top ones! Tink loved watching, and it kept her occupied instead of being underfoot. She thinks she's helping, but she's wrong! :-)

It's cool to watch it dry. You can see the different shades here. I was edging while W followed behind with the roller.

One wall finished! Actually, the whole room is painting now. We have the baseboards & wood-work for the other windows painted & ready to hang. Then we'll finish painting the den. Whew!

Big thanks to my parents who came over twice each to help paint. We'd still be painting the living room if it weren't for their help.

Vegan Cuts Beauty Box

So you may have missed it, but last week I posted on Facebook about this really great lip gloss that came in my Vegan Cuts beauty box.

I discovered the beauty box because I'd previously gotten their Snack Box for 2 months. That was delicious & I'll share more about that in another post.

Let me preface all this by saying that I'm not a fancy person. I don't wear lots of makeup & I don't really want to start. I just want to change some of the normal routine (read shampoo, conditioner, lotions, etc.) items that I use to make them better for both myself & the planet.

I signed up for the box 2 months ago to start trying more natural beauty products. Not only are these natural, they're also all vegan, meaning totally cruelty free! I've been very impressed with the contents! At first, I thought I'd try it once & then maybe again in a few months. But then I couldn't help it & had to get it again!

They've since asked me to become an ambassador for them! I'm really excited, because that means that I can promote something that I truly love. I look forward to getting surprise mail each month. It's also nice to know that I'm not locked into anything. If I'll be away when the box is going to be delivered, or I just want a month off, it's easy to cancel & then return to it when it's a better month.

Some cool stuff I tried so far:

Schmidt's Lavendar & Sage Natural Deodorant - You apply this with your fingers, so it's not great for reapplication later, but right after a shower it's really nice! I love the scent & it holds up well. I've tried a lot of natural deodorants that don't!

LVX Nail Lacquer in Deco - This stayed on for a long time! I have trouble with nail polish chipping & was very pleased. Plus, the colors are gorgeous! They have a line of fall colors, just out.

Lippy Girl Extra Virgin Lip Gloss - In addition to the Fanciful Fox lip tint, I got this lip gloss (it was actually in my first box). It goes on smooth, gives a nice shine, & isn't sticky like a lot of glosses I've tried. I don't usually like shiny lips for myself, but this is a good one!

If you want to sign up, you can use this link.  If you don't want to sign up for a box, but want to purchase something, you can do that too!

Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link. That means that if you choose to purchase a box or an item, I will make a small amount due to your purchase. Thanks for the support to both Vegan Cuts & me.

Tasty Tidbits

I got a green juice last weekend & it was the best I've ever tried! I wish I had noted what they put in it - it was on their specials menu, so I can't look it up now. I think it had kale, lemon, ginger, apple, & 1 or 2 other things. Yum!

We shopped at Nest, which is part of the complex that is called Concious Corner. I love all the stores there, especially because of the lifestyle they help promote. They have really neat stuff!

I found these neat snack bags. I almost got some, but since I mostly use containers for packing my lunch, I decided not to get them now. They'd be great for packing snacks or kid's lunches! They had regular sandwich bag sized ones, too.

This weekend we're planning to visit with family, paint, & paint some more! I can't believe summer is just about over! This is the last weekend before Labor Day & then it's fall. It went by way too fast!

Enjoy the weekend!!

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

Breakfasts

• Quinoa & Oat Granola with blueberries
• Mama Pea's Blueberry Orange Muffins with pb & almond butter (me) & hazelnut butter (W)
• Brunch at Great Sage: Chocolate Coconut Pancakes + Green Juice (me) & Mediterranean Flatbread topped with a sundried tomato & olive spread, artichokes, red peppers, onions, & fresh arugula + herbal tea (W)
• Puffed rice and crumbled Cookin' Canuck's No-bake Zucchini Bread Granola Bites with almond milk - I actually made these bites into bars, for simplicity's sake. Then I froze them for quick breakfasts/snacks. I love that they have nut butter in them - it really adds to the flavor!
• Savvy Saving Couple's Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread - I thought this looked fantastic - it's gluten free, made with almond meal, & it's chocolate! What's not to love? However, it was VERY wet. The recipe said it would be super moist, but this was beyond that. I baked it much longer than it said to & it just wouldn't cook through. I think maybe it would've been better in bar form, so it could bake more easily. Anyway, it does still taste good, so we didn't have to waste it!
• Bananas, blueberries

Lunches

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Carrots & cucumbers with hummus
• Plums, apples, & watermelon

Dinners

Saturday:
Out to Mango Grove (Pure Vegetarian Indian Cuisine)

• Assorted Appetizer Platter: 2 samosas, mysore vadai, 2 vegetable pakoras, & aloo tikki
• Masala Dosai (me) - This was a MASSIVE crepe-like thing filled with a potato & onion mixture, as well as some veggies. It came with 3 dipping sauces & was super delicious!
• Manglorian Eggplant Curry (W)
• Vegetable Biriyani (Aunt C.)

Sunday:

• Shredded Brussels sprouts sauteed with sliced onions
• Ashley's Beer-bread Cornbread - Definitely our new go-to cornbread. We've had it twice now & I don't think I'll be trying anything else!

Monday:

• Vegan Ravioli with Zucchini, Onions, & Mushrooms

Tuesday:

• Grilled vegetable pita pockets with guacamole - W grilled zucchini, green bell pepper, & 2 hot peppers with some lemon juice, garlic powder, salt & pepper. We used the small whole wheat pitas from Trader Joe's & topped them with guac. I don't usually use guac in non-Mexican meals, but it was perfect with this! The creaminess paired so well with the heat of the peppers & the various textures. What doesn't guac go with, really?? :-)

Wednesday:

• Mama Pea's Sloppy Josephines - I've made these before & we really like them. This time, I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned sauce & I added chopped mushrooms. They were really good!
• Mama Pea's Kale Sunshine Salad with chopped almonds - I love the Italian kale vs. curly kale, but it's really hard to find around here. I bought a bunch when we were shopping in Maryland. I've been really wanting kale salad, but our kale was invaded by some kind of insect. I'm mad!

Thursday:
Dinner with Mom & Pops

• Whole wheat linguini with broccoli in a light tomato sauce
• Green salad

Friday:

• Dinner with grandparents, parents, & aunt

Treats

• Minimalist Baker's Vegan Brownie Chocolate Ice Cream - I can't stop making this. It's so good!
• Ice cream treats from the Camp Meeting snack stand - We go to W's family's church camp meeting for at least 1 evening each year. It's a tradition to order a treat after the service is over. They only have the fresh made chocolate ice cream 2 nights out of the week, & this time we missed it, so we got other treats instead.

Under Construction

For the past several days, when I walk into the house from the garage, this is the view. Very barren & kind dusty...

Here's a view from the top of the ladder. You can sort of see the light that's in the top of the beam. All of the wooden beams have that. Once we paint, we're going to stain them a darker brown to match the fireplace.

This is the far corner, above the fireplace. W is going to put up stone on the plywood, then our tv hangs there. I'm super excited to see the stone up! It'll look like a real fireplace.

Here's the living room from the opposite end. I like seeing all the light that comes in through the windows in the back half. We're painting the room a light gray & I think that'll make it even more bright & airy.

Once you go through the doorway (in the first picture, it has a sheet hanging on it) into the rest of the house, you can see that the next room is also under construction! After all the painting, we're having a new carpet put in, so W ripped out all the old carpet. This floor used to be hardwood! It's covered in a gluey tar though, so we aren't trying to refinish it.

We are refinishing the wood floor in the hall, which is just outside this room. Right now, it's bare floor that W has sanded down. It's ready for the varnish, but we have to stay off of it when he does that. That will be tricky enough, since we can't get to the bedroom or bathroom without using that hall, but it'll be even more tricky to keep the cat off of it! She's crazy!

I can't wait for all of this to be done! We're in the final stages, but living in this film of dust isn't fun. It does make cleaning easier...I just don't do much of it! Why dust when in a few hours it'll need to be dusted again? :-)

Ravioli with Zucchini, Onions, & Mushrooms

We're still stuffing ourselves with zucchini over here! My parents did a mega-sized zucchini drop off last week, which we shredded for baking & freezing. We also had one from our garden & another one from them, so it was time to start cooking!

Last weekend, we shopped at Roots Market in Maryland while we were down there. I love that store!!! They had this ravioli on sale. It was SO GOOD!! We both liked it better than just about any ravioli we've had. The raviolis were the perfect size with exactly the right amount of flavorful vegan filling. It was slightly less mushy than ravioli filling typically tends to be, which we preferred. I hope to see it for sale in more stores!

That said, this recipe will easily work with any ravioli, vegan or not. We've also cooked perogies the same way.

I like a good veggie-to-pasta ratio, so this is chock full of veggies in every bite. The amount you have really depends on the size of your zucchini, so if you like more or less, use a larger or smaller zucchini.

This meal comes together in less than half an hour. It's a perfect week night meal! My only regret is that there weren't leftovers. :-)

Ravioli with Zucchini, Onions, & Mushrooms

Serves 2-3

1 red onion, sliced

5-6 white mushrooms, sliced

1 medium zucchini, sliced & cut into half moons

1/2 c dry white wine

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. black pepper (to taste)

1/2-1 tsp. sea salt (to taste)

1 9 oz. package fresh* ravioli (I used La Pasta Vegan Cheese Ravioli)

In a large non-stick pan or wok, cook onion over medium-low heat until softened, about 6 minutes. Add mushrooms & cook another 3-4 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Add zucchini, white wine, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, pepper, & salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until zucchini starts to soften & wine reduces slightly. Gently stir in ravioli, cooking over medium heat for about 6 minutes, or until ravioli is done. If pan gets too dry, add in either a splash of wine or water. Serve immediately.

*Frozen ravioli will also work, just let it thaw slightly before cooking. It may take a little longer & a little more liquid to completely cook, so test it to be sure it's done.

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.

Tasty Tidbits

Last weekend, we finally did our wine & chocolate pairing. When we were in Vermont in January, we visited Lake Champlain Chocolates & bought 5 dark chocolate squares with the idea that we would do our own wine & chocolate pairing one evening. It only took us 6.5 months to get to it! It was fun sampling the different ones. We had 2 that were 70% cocoa, 1 75%, 1 80% and 1 spicy milk chocolate. For the wine, we had tastes of Malbec, homemade zinfandel, & a blackberry wine. The blackberry went best with the 75% & 80% chocolates because of it's sweeter flavor. It was a fun way to spend an evening!

Has anyone seen Pitch Perfect? Cause you totally should! It was entertaining & impressive at the same time. I think we're going to have to watch Glee now...

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I can't believe it's the 2nd weekend of August already...summer, don't leave us. I haven't had my fill of fresh-from-the-garden produce yet!

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

Breakfasts

• Pineapple yogurt with Cinnamon Spiced Granola 
• Quinoa with fruit, peanut butter, & almond milk
• Ashley's Cinnamon Quinoa Coffee Cake + blueberries - We weren't in love with the texture, but it could have been because I added blueberries. I ended up crumbling it up & rebaking it to make a crumbly mixture, which we had with sliced peaches & blueberries. Yum!
• Zucchini Baked Oatmeal with Fruit & peanut butter
• Bananas, blueberries, & peaches

  

Lunches

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Corn on the cob
• Bon Appetit's Zucchini Fritters topped with Brittany's Coconut Bacon
• Peppered cabbage slaw
• Cucumbers, carrots, & bell peppers with hummus
• Peaches & watermelon

Dinners

Saturday:
Out with friends

• Grilled vegetable panini (me)
• Rigatoni (W)
• Green salads

Sunday:

• Jessica's Black Bean & Cornbread Panzanella Salad - This was delicious! I used Ashley's Beer-bread Cornbread for the cornbread portion. Aside from taking the time to bake that & then bake it again for the bread cubes, this was a very simple & quick recipe. We used fresh corn, cut off the cob, but it'd be even easier with frozen corn like the recipe says. Definitely having this again soon!

Monday:

• Vegetable pizza
• Green salad

Tuesday:

• Eating Well's Provencal Summer Vegetables - We really enjoyed this, but it took a long time to bake for a weeknight meal. It wasn't time consuming, in that while it baked we could do other things, but I was hungry by the time it came out of the oven! In the future, I'd make it ahead of time or on a weekend when I can start it earlier in the day.
• Green salad  
• Watermelon

Wednesday:

• Angela's Rad Rainbow Raw Pad Thai - We had this once before & we're big fans! It makes a mega serving for each person while still being a light & refreshing dish.

Thursday:

• Grilled veggies (hot peppers, vidalia onion, eggplant, zucchini, & tomatoes) over quinoa
• Bean salad

Friday:

• Leftovers

Treats

• S'mores
• Trader Joe's Cacao Nibs
• The Vegan Chickpea's Raw Almond Fig Cake - We had mom & pops over for this & all 4 of us loved it! It's very figgy, in a good way! Plus, it was super easy to make - no baking required!
• Banana soft serve

Zucchini Baked Oatmeal with Fruit

It's zucchini season at last! I look forward to this time of year. I love zucchini pretty much any way it's prepared. This breakfast is a great way to add some vegetables to your breakfast. It's a healthy alternative to zucchini bread & uses a whole zucchini, so if you're not in to eating zucchini in savory recipes, this is a perfect way to use up your surplus.

Since I like to top my oatmeal with fruit & peanut butter, I kept this recipe simple. It doesn't have any sugar, so it's the perfect template for loads of fruit. I topped mine with half a banana, half a peach, a handful of blueberries, & a spoonful of peanut butter. W had the same fruits, but had Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter instead of pb. (I bought him this for his birthday because the boy is obsessed with Nutella, which is pretty unhealthy, whereas the Justin's brand is mostly hazelnuts instead of sugar. He likes it just as much!)

I don't have the patience to stir a pot of oats, so I love making baked oatmeal instead. This isn't like the baked oatmeal you get at a restaurant, it's more like a hybrid of stove-top & baked. It's firmer than stove-top oats, but has a similar flavor profile. Typical baked oatmeal is often full of sugar, making it a less healthy option. This is flavored mostly by the cinnamon instead of sugar.

If you're baking zucchini bread or roasting some veggies, mix this up & throw it in the oven, too. You'll have breakfast ready for the whole week & you barely lifted a finger.

Seasonal, simple & delicious! Enjoy!

Zucchini Baked Oatmeal with Fruit

Vegan & Gluten Free (if using GF oats)

Serves 6

2 c shredded zucchini (from 1 large zucchini)

2 c rolled oats (gluten free if necessary)

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 T ground flax seed

pinch of salt

2 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)

2 c water

Fruit of choice, such as bananas, blueberries, peaches, strawberries, etc. (optional)

Nut butter of choice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray an 8"x8" baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together zucchini, oats, cinnamon, flax seed, & salt. Add milk & water, stirring to combine. Pour mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until all of the liquid has absorbed & the oatmeal is firm. Allow to cook for 15 minutes before slicing. Top with fruit & nut butter. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Note:

This can be made ahead of time & reheated in the oven, or portioned out & reheated in the toaster oven or microwave. I like to make it over the weekend, then divide it into 6 servings & reheat each day throughout the week for a quick breakfast.

Tasty Tidbits - Birthday Week!

We had a wonderful time at the cabin last weekend. It was sunny all day Saturday, so we got to go for a long hike, do some gardening & stone moving, & enjoy the sunshine. Then it started to drizzle in the evening, followed by a mostly rainy night & day on Sunday. We love hearing the rain on the room & seeing it across the pond, so it was a great mix of the two.

The birthday boy was happy! He was spoiled this week, with 2 cakes (both chocolate with choc-pb icing. of course.), plus several special dinners & time with friends & family. That's the way birthday weeks should be! :-)

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

Breakfasts

• Blueberry yogurt with Cinnamon Spiced Granola 
• Veggie omelets with honey whole wheat toast
• Blueberry buckwheat pancakes
• Whole grain rice krispies with fruit & almond milk
• Oatmeal with peanut butter
• Bananas, blueberries, & peaches

  

Lunches

• Sandwiches
• Leftovers
• Smashed avocado on rice cakes
• Fresh corn chowder
• Peaches, watermelon, canteloupe, & honeydew

Dinners

Saturday:
At Bear Mtn. for W's birthday weekend! This dinner was his choice of menu.

• Grilled Pizza - whole wheat crust with tomato sauce, sauteed onions & peppers, kale, mushrooms, & cherry tomatoes
• Green salad
• W's birthday cake #1: Ashley's Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free) with my Healthy Peanut Butter Frosting & Ashley's Chocolate Cashew Cream Frosting

Sunday:

• Broccoli, mushroom, & onion quesadillas
• Black Bean & Cucumber Salsa Dip with tortilla chips

Monday:

• Baked Bruschetta Pasta - I had a sales dinner at work with a client who I went to college with - small world!! W ate the leftovers I brought home...this was a MEGA bowl of pasta, plenty for 2!
• Green salad

Tuesday:
Potluck picnic at our house with church members

• Grilled bean burgers with whole wheat buns
• Fresh veggies with Eating Well's Classic Hummus
• Others brought: beer-battered zucchini, Asian pasta salad, taco dip & chips, pretzels, bean salad, watermelon fruit salad, red beet eggs, hot dogs & sauerkraut, potato salad  
• W's birthday cake #2: Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

Wednesday:

• Mama Pea's Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna - I made this a couple years ago & kept thinking I should make it again sometime. We have tons of zucchini right now, so I saw it as a sign. It was as good as I remembered!
• Cooking Light's Balsamic Tomatoes - We love these & they're perfect for using up our crop of cherry tomatoes. They were delicious spooned over the lasagna.

Thursday:

• Green salad with mushrooms, onions, dried cherries, cucumber, green pepper, almonds, & Italian Vinaigrette

Friday:

• New potatoes with kale, cherry tomatoes, & garlic

Treats

• May's Drive In - We always stop here on the drive home from the cabin. I got a scoop of chocolate marshmallow ice cream on a cone, W got an Oreo stormer (like a  Blizzard).
• Bruster's for ice cream cones - They had the blood bank there, and I tried to give for the first time, but my iron level was 1 point too low, so I wasn't allowed. I know I'm prone to low iron, so I wasn't surprised. And they were nice enough to give me the free ice cream coupon anyway!