God, It Feels Great To Eat Good Food Again!

Yesterday for breakfast, I was craving EGGS. Does this happen to anyone else? You wake up and just have to have something, and it’s like you’ll just die if you can’t. Lucky for me, we had eggs, and my craving was satisfied.

I was starving and couldn’t wait, so I started with a bowl of vanilla Chobani with chia seeds for crunch.

Starvation avoided, I set to work making my eggs. I decided to poach them. Do you poach eggs? I always thought it was really hard to do, but it turns out it’s super easy! This was a thrilling (and somewhat recent) discovery for me, since poached is one of my favorite ways to enjoy eggs.

So, I poached them up and enjoyed them with a slice of whole wheat toast, butter, and blueberry jam. Delish!

Last night, my husband went to the round 3 March Madness games at the Verizon Center, so I was a single mama. After getting the kids to bed, I set about making my own dinner. I opted for a Boca burger on pita with ketchup, bell pepper, and avocado. On the side, leftover mashed sweet potatoes with coconut butter. Everything was delicious, and I polished it off!

*** Word of advice for all you novice chefs out there… When your food is finished cooking, and you have removed it from the skillet, it’s a good idea to turn off the stove!!!

I was taking my food photos and was like “ew, what is that horrible smell?”  It took Barkeeper’s Friend, steel wool, and a lot of elbow grease to clean up this skillet!!!

We took a trip to Whole Foods yesterday, so of course I went to bed last night dreaming about my stocked refrigerator and pantry, and planning all the things I was going to make today. The day started with vanilla Chobani topped with granola and fresh fruit.

Whole Foods has the BEST fruit.

We went for brunch today at Old Ebbitt Grill, and I was wishing I hadn’t lost my iPhone (um, duh?) because I couldn’t take a picture of my meal (yeah, great reason!).  I had the Stuffed Roasted Acorn Squash with barley, wild rice, dried cranberries, almonds, mushrooms and curried butternut sauce. It was outstanding! I practically licked my plate to get all the butternut sauce. OMG.

Back at the house, March Madness ensued (Go Duke!) and I set about Sunday cooking. I started by making Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins from Carrots ‘n’ Cake. Here’s my adapted recipe:

Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 4 tbsp coconut oil (in lieu of the same amt. of butter)
• 1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup raisins (omitted)
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with muffins cups.
• Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl; blend well (I just used a wooden spoon)
• Pour batter evenly into muffin tins.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes until muffins are cooked through. (Took me about 25 minutes)
• Allow to cool before enjoying.

Makes 12 (really small) muffins. Next time I will make 9 instead.

These muffins turned out really good. I ate two while they were still warm. Mmm. Here is an abundant amount of photos of them. Try not to lick your monitor.

Once the muffins were done, I moved on to Edamame, Mushroom, and Kale Soup from Clare at Fitting It All In. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except I used 8 oz. sliced white mushrooms and 8 oz. of a baby bella, shiitaki, oyster blend. Oh, and I used two quarts of chicken broth.

Saute the mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

Add the edamame, squash, pepper, and broth.

Bring to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes, add kale, simmer 5 more minutes, enjoy!

I like this soup a lot and plan to make it again. My only problem is the broth is too bland. Would it have a stronger taste if I’d used Chicken Stock instead of broth? How do you liven up a bland broth?

We had the soup with dinner along with pita pizzas. These are crazy easy. Spoon some tomato sauce onto pita bread, top with shredded mozzarella and whatever else you want. I had mine with bell peppers, spinach, and avocado. Husband had salami on his. The preschooler wanted plain cheese of course!

Mine…

Husband’s.

Mine cooked…

Okay, people, it’s 9:37 PM. I have to be in bed with my eyes closed by 10 PM. No time to read blogs tonight, I’m sorry! I will read them tomorrow, I promise. xo!