Baked Tomatoes, Squash and Potatoes

So I opened my new issue of Whole Living Magazine (which used to be A-mazing and now is just sorta so-so but I'm a subscriber so whatever) and found a section on what to do with bumper crops.  Because my CSA gave me a ton of tomatoes and I'm not the biggest fan, I was excited to find this recipe because it incorporated tomatoes with stuff I like much much better.  Here is the recipe:

Whole Living's baked tomatoes, squash, and potatoes

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2-3 small tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 medium yukon gold potato (or 2 smaller potatoes), sliced 1/4-inch thick
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (omitted)
• 2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat oil over medium and cook onion until tender and lightly golden, 6-8 minutes
3. Arrange the onion on the bottom of a 9 x 13 in ch baking dish.  Overlap tomato, squash, and potato on top of the onion.  Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with thyme and parmesan, and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake until golden, 30 minutes more.

I actually used both crookneck yellow squash and zucchini so mine didn't turn out as pretty as the picture they showed.  However, all the tastes really came together in a really delightful way.  (Obviously I also substituted parmesan for Daiya mozzarella.)  I'm not the biggest fan of thyme it turns out so next time I think I would add a bit of garlic.  Oh and I also don't own a casserole dish so instead I used two pie pans.  Oh the fun of kitchen experiments.  Nevertheless, I ate the entire thing in two days, which is cool cuz it's pretty low in cals, and ate it so quickly that I even forgot to take a picture!  Oh well.  Make the recipe; it's good.

Around the world with greens

Ok so I've obviously failed the blog challenge so I'm back to just posting bout food!  So last night I decided to cook, which is bad because it's been awhile.  I made Kenyan Kale and Tomatoes, garlic broccoli and then a tofu shallot salad from Whole Foods.

I know it all looks the same on the plate but all three flavors are distinctive and awesome. The kale and tomatoes were soft and delightful whereas the broccoli was still crispy and pungent and the salad is my favorite one at WF because the dressing is sweet with a tiny hint of spice. Both the dishes I cooked were really easy to make.  I decided to make this meal because I knew that Becca would most likely shrug at mere kale and tomatoes as a full meal.  Though she's basically vegetarian now, she still has a hard time defining a meal as just veggies.  She wants some sort of bread or rice or fake meat to go with it.  I am currently trying to stay as gluten-free as possible so it's been a challenge.

This morning I started the Tracey Anderson Method.  This is a workout series (I'm ignoring the meal plans as even the vegetarian track is dairy-heavy) that has toned the bodies of such celebs as Gwenyth Paltrow, Courtney Cox and Shakira.  So far so good.  I'm not too sore so maybe all that personal training is working out after all!  However, I have 31 days before my wedding so only time will tell!

A year ago

I'm supposed to upload a picture of me from a year ago and talk about how I've changed.  However, since Facebook sucks, it's a pain to pull pics off the site and upload them so I suppose you will have to imagine what I looked like a year ago, i.e. basically the same with slightly longer hair and more weight.

How have I changed?  Well, I've lost about 15 pounds so that's good.  I got engaged to be married so that's a big one.  I went vegan a little over a year ago which was the single most important decision in my life.  Really though I have the same job, same apartment, same gf since last year so there hasn't been a huge shift, except in my perception of things.  I'm actively trying to be positive, something I never would have fathomed a year ago.  I just want to be the change I want to see, as cheesy as that may sound!

Giving Up?

Ok so is it totally lame to give up on a 30 Day Blog Challenge halfway through when I've already missed plenty of days?  Today is supposed to be about goals but honestly I'm so confused about my goals at this point in my life that I don't even know what to say.  My only real goal is to have a wedding without too much drama.  As far as work, I just don't know anymore.  I don't really like my job. It's not challenging at all, but then again I get paid to read celebrity blogs and watch movies on occasion.  There are certainly worse things out there but I just don't feel like I'm contributing to the greater good here.  We make movies, horrible ones at that.  But I mean, do I want to be a nutritionist?  A yoga instructor?  A housewife?  I just don't know and I feel like I'm getting to that age that it's no longer acceptable to not know...

Ok so that's a downer.  I guess here are some of my goals.
1. Lose another 10 pounds. I want to be a skinny person.  There. I said it.
2. Finish my novel.
3. Find a more fulfilling job.
4. Adopt another kitten.
5. Rent a house in the next year or so.
6. If I rent said house, and it has a backyard, I would also love a goat and a bunny!
7. Volunteer more hours at Animal Acres.
8. Meditate more.
9. Work out 5 days a week.
10. Drink less but still be fun!

Alright I think that there is enough goals!  Le sigh.  Looks like I won't be quitting this blog challenge after all; it just means it will take me about twice as long!

I'm so not good at Blog Challenges

Haha as made apparent. I am not so good at blog challenges.  Today has been a toughie.  Not only is it Monday, but I'm exhausted.  Not sure why but I think it's because I worked out super hard over the weekend and just dread coming to work.  Now Becca and I are fighting about our wedding. Of course this is nothing new but we're getting so close that every fight just feels silly.

Ok so the topic for today is what I never leave home without.  That's easy.  My purse, wallet, cards, cell phone, Bobble.

A quote I love

This is a quote that I intend to use during my vows. "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close." - Pablo Neruda


Nice message to leave y'alls on this fine Friday. 

Fears

Ok so obviously I failed this 30 day blog challenge.  However, in my defense, last weekend I flew to Tahoe to finish our final tastings for our upcoming nuptials.  Happy to say we have our vegan cake and entree!  The bad news is that I also got a pretty wicked cold/sinus infection.    So yes, I didn't do any writing.

The good news is I'm feeling much better, albeit a little tired.  Ok a lot tired. All the time.

So today's challenge topic is to talk about something I'm afraid of.  The first and most obvious to anyone that knows me are clowns.  I absolutely hate them.  Even the funny, cute ones  that are supposed to make you laugh.  Not a fan.  The root of all this is of course Stephen King's IT.  When I was about 5 years old, my family watched the movie, but my older sister covered my eyes for all the scary parts.  I really thought it was just a movie about kids and a clown.  So when my friends Cassandra and Kelli said that they had a copy of IT to watch, I boasted I'd already seen it.  They were impressed and we decided to watch it together.  Riddle my little mind blown when I actually watched the gruesome movie. In reality, it's not a very good movie.  Downright cheesy in parts.  But damn it if the opening scene of the little tricycle wheel spinning STILL doesn't make me scream.  Pennywise ruined clowns for me.

I also used to have a little blue clown doll that you wound up.  He would play music and tilt his head from side to side.  My older brother once got mad at me and ripped the clown's head off.  My mother fixed his head but now when you wound him up, the circus song would play and his HEAD WOULD FRIGGIN SPIN ALL THE WAY AROUND. I was terrified, so much so that I couldn't even throw him away.  I thought he would come back and find me so he got a coveted place on the front shelf by my bed to scare me all through the night.  I have no idea why I thought close proximity to my head would appease him...

Next, and also somewhat relating to my fear of clowns, is the fact that I hate the dark.  I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that I'm afraid of the dark per se, more just that I hate it.  I used to sleep with a light or television on constantly.  Now I'm nearly 29 years old so I can stand to turn out the lights.  However, sometimes when I wake up scared, I will still lie extremely still in case there's something bad out there, namely a clown living under my bed.