Cooking up a storm!

Happy Sunday evening! Wow, has it been a jam-packed day! I went for a run this morning in the glorious heat. I usually don’t love it, but I think we were so deprived early in the summer that I am soaking it in now! The run was followed by a Green Monster and my Healthy Living Summit swag bag Glo bar. Yum yum yum! So chewy and delicious! It sort of reminded me in a really good way of a rice krispies treat. My mom always makes them with a ton of peanut butter.

After I recovered, I headed to the MSPCA to visit my 4 legged friends. I walked several great dogs including a pretty little while pit bull lady named Sully. She is a strong girl, and holding onto the leash in the “water skiing” style that I learned really worked my arms and abs! All of the dogs enjoyed the all natural Trader Joe’s peanut butter dog biscuits that I brought!

On our way to my brother in law’s house, we stopped at a Starbucks in Woburn to grab a shaken black tea lemonade. It was the perfect, refreshing drink for a summer day, and the staff was the friendliest I have ever met! Everyone was so nice and clamoring to help me. It was definitely appreciated!

The rest of the day was spent playing and hanging out at my brother in law’s house. It was my niece’s birthday party, and the house was full of family from Ireland and Italy as well as Boston. We spent a lot of time outside and had some great food. Unfortunately all of the good photos of food also have kids in them, so I won’t be posting. I had a chicken/basil/sun dried tomato sausage on a bun plus 3 ears of sweet corn, a plate of salad, and 2 servings of fruit salad! When I run in the morning I am famished all day!

We are finally home now and I am cooking up a storm! I am currently roasting a butternut squash for a Moroccan squash salad recipe that I found at the grocery store, whipping up a lunch curry for us for the week, and making the toffee for my banoffee pie which will be the star of tomorrow’s post.

While I was at the summit, hubs did the grocery shopping! He got quite the haul at Trader Joe’s:

He loves his organic Weetabix! And I love that he surprised me with Erath Pinot Noir, a great wine from one of the vineyards I visited last summer in Portland, Oregon’s wine country. It’s delicious, and I was under the impression that we couldn’t get it in MA so I carried a case back on the plane. Stressful and heavy! I was so expecting my box to come down the luggage belt with wine pouring out the side. . .

And at our local corner produce store, the Newmarket farm stand:

For lunch this week I am throwing together a really easy curry: red bell pepper, zucchini, red onion, and bananas, all chopped and sautéed with some water, a LOT of crushed red pepper, and curry powder. At the end I threw in chopped tomatoes and black beans. This should last us for about 4 lunches each. Its easy, delicious, and healthy. I really strive to make lunches that are good for us but that we will also look forward to. Its no fun working all morning only to find a lunch you don’t want to eat! Plus it makes it a lot less tempting to buy.

Do you make lunch for work/school or buy it? Do you have any go-to recipes or meals that you like to make?

Our meals vary, but I really love doing one pot things like curries or chili. Another easy one is some whole wheat couscous, veggies, chickpeas, and whatever herbs or spices you like, maybe some lemon and olive oil? On nice days I also like to go to the Copley Farmer’s Market to get heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese. THAT is probably my favorite lunch!

I am off again to spend some time updating my blog roll, then crashing! The heat has definitely gotten to me!

I am looking forward to Monday because I have all sorts of fun snacks from the summit. It doesn’t get any better than a good lunch AND good snacks. Good night everyone!

PS- I have been having TONS of trouble commenting on Blogspot blogs. I have had to try 10 times and still have no luck. Arrrgggh! Anyone else?