Greens and Beans with Mushrooms

This recipe mimics a great Italian dish called "Greens and Beans" which gets very heavy. Too heavy for me! Here I have lightened the load by using swiss chard greens, with spinach, mushrooms, and leeks- and last but not least- beans!
Ingredients:
2 large bunches of rinsed swiss chard, de-veined and loosely chopped
3-4 cups of baby spinach, washed
2-3 leeks, rinsed well and chopped (see here to learn how to chop leeks)
1 container baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1 can of white northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 lemon juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1/3 cup grated parmesean cheese
Begin by rinsing the mushrooms you have and giving them a rough chop, set aside. Next rinse the chard and remove the veins. I wash the leaves as I remove them from the stalks and pat dry on a towel. Repeat with spinach, but there is no need to remove stems, unless you really want to! While the greens are drying, remove all the dark portion of the leeks, and slice them down the center, lengthwise. Rinse each half really well with water and slice into half-rings. Place all things green aside, while you begin to mince garlic and heat oil in the LARGEST skillet you have. Make sure you also have a lid for said skillet. Once oil is heated, on medium to high, add the leeks and sautee about 3-4 minutes before adding the garlic and chopped mushrooms. Continue to sautee until they begin to soften, another 3-4 minutes. Now you want to add the beans, 1/2 of the juiced lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes, I add a few pinches of red pepper flakes OR even some cumin, depending on how spicy you like things. Options are limitless with seasoning, but often I prefer the tang of lemon and parmesean cheese. Finally, add all of the green leaves to the pan. Just go ahead and pile them on there and turn down the heat to low and cover. You will need to leave the pan alone for at least 4-5 minutes before you remove and give it a good toss. If the leaves don't look completely wilted, re-cover and continue to cook. BUT if they are all wilted down, add the last of the lemon and toss to coat while in the pan. The beans, yeah, they might stick a little, and that's OK. Serve with rice, bread, or any type of meat, and top with shredded parm.

Curried Red Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Tofu

Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato- cut into cubes
1 medium onion- large dice
1/2 block firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, rough mince
3 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups red lentils
2-3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
Start by heating oil over medium heat in large, deep skillet. While oil is heating, put 3 1/2 cups of water into kettle or pan to boil. Begin to sautee onions, adding salt. Once onions have softened, add garlic, and tofu. Let tofu get a little brown and then add sweet potatoes and curry. Cook all ingredients together an additional minute, until fragrant. Now add 1 1/2 cups lentils, boiling water, and tomato paste. Cover and turn down to simmer for at least 20 minutes. At the end of twenty minutes, add 1/4 cup of coconut milk and taste for seasoning. Add more salt if needed. Serve with rice and/or warm pitas.

New post- New year!

Time flies when you're...busy living life. Hi, 2011, I'm Julie. It's nice to meet you! Some resolutions/goals I have made for myself and you include:

• Being more resourceful with my clothes- creating, re-mixing outfits out of what is in my closet, rather than buying something new, on an impulse, because I haven't done laundry. (I blame Target clearance racks for this bad habit!)
• Being more resourceful with my food- fridge AND pantry combined. I tend to over-buy in the produce department and then waste food. I am going to be more reserved when it comes to shopping and try to cook through most of my dry/canned goods, while adding the fresh produce in for extra zing! Also, not eating out for lunch at work more than once or twice a week. MAX!
• Not eating any kind of processed sugar (candy, cookies, treats, etc.) or processed snacks (doritos- you know you are guilty!) and continue to never, ever, under any circumstance, eat fast food. So far so good, but work is my main enemy here, but I have combatted crappy-snack time with my own drawer, in my own desk, that is stocked with luna bars, nuts, dried fruits and rice cakes!
• Thrifting furniture (yes, I am committing to find side tables and other interesting pieces online or at tag/yard sales) and household decor. This also includes a couple of DIY projects this year: curtains for bedroom, wall art for above our mantle, framing prints from a calendar for kitchen, a picture frame chalkboard, turning my old desk into a vanity, and much more!
• Keeping in better touch with friends and family. Let's face it together here folks, I am a solitary person by nature. I can tolerate handle a husband :) because, as a rule, I prefer one-on-one interactions to large groups of people. I hate.hate.hate. talking on the phone for any amount of time exceeding 15 minutes. I try to email everyone, as much as I can, but I tend to read an email/FB message and then make a mental note to reply, and then forget to. This year is going to be hard enough with all of the family issues surrounding me, I need to reach out more and more consistently to lean on those I know will support me.
• Add 2 days of cardio to my weekly workouts. Luckily, I am bound to three days a week of hot yoga due to the work-exchange program I participate in. This is great, because I hate breaking commitments to things like volunteer work, etc. AND I get to practice for free! However, I MUST add some cardio! My heart will thank me. So far, 10 days in to 2011, I have only added one day, and have even missed 2 days of yoga! I have actually been sick- with cold AND stomach flu simultaneously. BAH!
• Last but not least- I am committing to pay off my credit card debt by the end of the year, as well as,save enough money for hubster and I to take a trip to Costa Rica. This.Will.Happen.

All in all, a pretty reasonable list, no? I'm glad I posted this, because now I can come back and check on it as needed.

So, what's going on with me right now, this very second, you ask??

Well, I am off today and am going to continue my cleaning of the house- yesterday I tackled the bathroom GAH (it almost won!) and today I will continue dusting and sweeping and doing kitty boxes. I have returns to make to Ann Taylor LOFT and hopefully the coat I ordered from Macy's for my trip to NYC with cousin Camille will arrive!

Last night I made a wonderful vegan curried red lentil dish with sweet potatoes and tofu (see recipes). The sweet potatoes had been in my fridge for at least 2 weeks and I still have some to go through. I also need to cook my way through about 2-3 pounds of yukon potatoes. Soup, soup and homefries!

This weeks menu:

- Sweet potato fries with spicy salt

- Potato leek soup

- Homefries with scallions

-Leftovers!

See y'inz later! Tonight is Oregon v. Auburn and I never EVER thought I would be looking forward to a non-Steelers football game, but I am and I am proudly posting about it! GO DUCKS!

Not much to report

So today I made it to the gym for the first time in weeeeeks! Who am I kidding: mooooonnnnntttthhhss! I really don't mind my gym, it's cheap and relatively close to my home, it's just not convenient b/c it is located right downtown in the middle of alllllll the horrible construction. I managed to get in 30 minutes on the cybex arc trainer which is my favorite piece of equipment and *wish* I had the space and money to have this at home!

Then I did 5 minute intervals of walking, walking up-hill and running at a fast pace for 15 minutes (this portion I hope to extend) and ended with 15 minutes on a bike, which I hated! I love riding bikes outdoors, but the gym bikes are really uncomfy and hurt my lower back so I won't be doing that again. I ended up doing 60 minutes of cardio, which was my goal and I warmed up with a few sun salutations in one of the empty group work out rooms. I ended up being 20 minutes late to work ( I can't believe I even have to work this Sunday)

Last night hubster and I had dinner out at one of our favorite places that is byob and right down the street: Nicky's Thai Kitchen! To our utter amazement, we were asked if we had reservations (what?!) and if we didn't it would be a 20 minute wait. So we gave our phone number and headed over to the bar that is on the first floor of the building we used to live in Cassis. This place is now owned by someone else since we have lived in the building and was recently revamped. To be honest, the menu looks "fancy-schmancy" and overpriced and yet they have bar specials for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Steelers games, but it looks like some sort of show lounge with a piano! Weird! We were only there for a glass of wine before my phone rang and it was time for Nicky's! It was really busy there and we ordered a vegetarian sampler for an appetizer and as I was perusing the menu, my adventurous side (which always steers me wrong) came out. I asked the waitress about the "Wild Curry" and she said it was the same as the other curries except it didn't have coconut milk so it wasn't creamy. It sounded good on the menu, with lots of veggies so I ordered mine with tofu and brown rice. Boy- was this the biggest mistake I have ever ordered! It was awful! It smelled SO BAD and I guess the waitress forgot to tell me that it was basically made with fish sauce b/c that's all it tasted like. And to boot, no one came back to our table the whole night and when they asked me if I wanted it wrapped when we had to ask for the check I said "no way!" and still they said nothing. How SHOULD you handle getting a dish that you completely can't eat at a restaurant?

Anyways, today after work I will be heading to Whole Foods to start my first week on the new budget! Hubster and I are starting to save for a trip to Europe this time next year (maybe sooner) as well as preparing our bank accounts to start a family! I really need to be disciplined when it comes to spending money on groceries and cooking ALL of the food I purchase! Will keep you posted on our budget challenge!

Off to work and pay bills- my two least favorite things! :)

Making a comeback (again!)

I don't know how people do it! How do the bloggers that I follow post daily (some post 2-3 times daily) work full time, cook, bake, make time for exercise and friends and family?! The only time I have to blog is at work and I am *sure* that is not listed in my job description!

Anyways, this is my comeback post where I am going to make a few declarations about this blog:

1. I plan to post every other day.
2. I want to document my yoga practice to stay on track with that and maybe garner some feedback from (any) readers (of which there are none, but that's OK!)
3. Begin to work in cardio workouts to my week and hopefully by documenting them, I will strive to actually do them! LOL!
4. Post more of the food that I make, because I can cook up a storm when I have the time.
5. Reflect on my art docent classes, because a lot of the material we discuss is pretty heavy.

So today I have my Friday evening yoga class with Lisa. She's a great teacher b/c her voice is so calming, even and relaxing and she really mixes up her classes by creating different transitions to poses. I truly believe that this helps my brain stay alert and young! Instead of always doing the same series of poses, the challenge is to get somewhere familiar from somewhere unfamiliar and working your brain and body simultaneously! It really helps you to stay focused on the mat and your body by not going into yoga-auto-pilot!

This weekend I have to work Saturday AND Sunday and hopefully I will be posting again on Sunday with some reports of a run or other cardio workout!

Hard Up

Sheesh! This blogging thing gets away from you (me)! Although, in my defense, I just came back from my wedding/vacation and haven't had a day off since! Somehow I agreed to work back to back weekends and have been really, really regretting it! I once read in Glamour mag that if you become the "indespensible" person at work that you won't risk losing your job and you will be more likely to get promoted. What it didn't mention that by becoming and being indespensible, you also have to work. A lot.

Here at work, since my staff mainly consists of 20-somethings just out of college, everyone is sick. I managed to stave off the sickness for now but I just heard another victim (sick staff member) come into the office! Hello, hand santizer, my name is Julie!

Before I started feeling sick this endless week, I did manage to leave a bit early on Tuesday and have lunch with my hubbies and do some shopping and cooking. We drove over to Shadyside and at this little hole-in-the-wall crepes place. I had a savory crepe filled with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes and some sort of tangy, soy sauce. The Hubster had a brown sugar banana which reminded me that I needed to go to the dentist- so sweet!



Afterwards we went to Whole Foods which is where we usually shop, but this time I was able to fully utilize my iphone app for WF. It is a recipe app that allows you to search for recipes based on diets, ingredients, new recipies and favorites. You can add recipes to a short-list so that you can go back to them easily AnnnD is allows you to import the ingredients onto a shopping list! By far the BEST free app I have found. I got ingredients for Curried lentil chickpea stew (in a slow-cooker) and Butternut squash and spinach with a blue-cheese dressing. I made the squash first and prepped the ingredients to go into slow-cooker around 1030pm b/c it needed to cook 8-10 hours overnight.

Post-dinner the Hubster and I still had enough energy for some MORE shopping and we went to Ikea to price out the last few pieces we need to finish our bedroom, bathroom and living room. See here for next to our bed, to lounge on in the bedroom see here and for more bedroom storage see here. For storage in the bathroom see here and we couldn't really find the right pieces of end tables for the living room b/c our couches are so high, but we are thinking of moving the sleeper couch into second bedroom and getting a "cheapie" (not so cheap actually) to replace it for the living room b/c the kitties shed and seem to like to chew on our good couch. However, there aren't really any good colors. You see, our living room is rather dark even though we have three, huge, 13 foot windows. The windows face the back of the apartment building and are heavily shaded and don't get a ton of natural light. The walls are painted a beautiful muted robins egg blue, and the floors are medium brown hardwood. We have a pretty dark rug and a saddle-brown leather couch. We really need to lighten it up, but I am scared to go white/light b/c of the kitties being grey and black. I have to keep looking, for sure! See the fur-culprits below:

Lucy aka Li-Li

Not-so-good pic of Ollie being silly

That's it for now everyone! I am making plans to sit in tonight and order take-out from Nikki's Thai Kitchen which is oh-so conveniently located 1 block down the street and have a glass or two of wine to relax with my beloved. See you later!

I'm back and I'm Married!

So, it has taken me a few days to get around to posting and that would be due to my crazy hectic work schedule, yoga classes and just being plain 'ole busy! The ceremony was amazing and everything turned out really well. Especially the rings! Hopefully, I will be able to post some photos soon!



this photo doesn't do them justice :(



The time we spent on the beach and all the naps we took and dinners we made together, made it a totally relaxing, calm way to get married! I am so lucky to be married to my Hubster! I still haven't found my camera :( and I didn't want to risk taking lots of pics on the beach with my iphone. Really, honestly, I am just bad at taking pictures, in general and it is on my list of "things to get better at"!

We also had a great time in NYC when we went to dinner at Taboon and the Dirty Projectors concert at Terminal 5. It was an awesome show!

No pics of dinner b/c it just didn't seem right to be tkaing pictures when we were trying to have a romantic time! We split a few mezze (appetizers) which came recommended, and we had wonderful hummus and I ordered a salad and Hubster had the lamb. No desserts, but we did have 2 rounds of drinks! We had these amazing cocktails that were made with apricot juice, and I think they were called (spelling?) miche-miche and I am going to do my best to try and recreate these one day!

But, for now, I am going to focus on truly getting my eating and diet (as in my daily food habits) back on track and today was a great start! I plan on really trying to utilize this blog to keep myself accountable for what I eat and if I think about posting my daily eats then maybe I will steer clear of things like this, which is right up the street from my work and also things like this!

This morning, I got the day started off right with a little lo-fat, organic maple yogurt with granola and coffee made by the Hubster! Funny thing is- Hubs doesn't drink coffee, but he sure brews a mean pot!

This Back to Nature granola has some great stats- best I have been able to find for granola- in a half cup you get 3g fat, 4g dietary fiber, 11g sugar (which is nice and low) and 6g protein! I picked it up at Whole Foods and it was a bit pricey but for those numbers, I'll take it!

For lunch, I didn't snap any pics b/c I was out catching up with my friend Haylee, but I had a veggie and hummus sandwich, but I only ate half of the heavy bread they served it with, and small side salad! YUM!

Check back tomorrow for pics of dinner tonight- we are going sushi!