Eat Your Veggies

This post was carefully written under the watchful eye of Blitzie- who is feeling so much better after a 1 1/2 weeks of being sickly!!!


We love all kinds of foods! I've never been one to turn down a juicy burger, or perfectly pulled pork platter, but recently veggies have been coming in 1st place on my plate. This could be due to a number of factors-
1. I hate throwing away food- such a waste! After vacay all I wanted was salad, so I bought WAY to many veggies and we've been veg eating machines!
2. It's summer time and slowly people are sharing the fruits of their labor with us (as well as our surplus of cucumbers).
3. After a sweaty workout, I really crave something light- veggies typically fit the bill. The downside is realizing you've started to get hungry again when trying to fall asleep!

Whatever the case may be I present 3 super fun ways to squeeze extra vegetables into your diet.

Spinach and White Bean Dip

When hubs came home from an EXCEPTIONALLY long stretch of work, I new he'd be ready to nosh. Usually tortilla chips and salsa, or cheese and crackers will do-but I wanted something a little different (and we are totally out of snackie foods)! Into the food processor went 1 can of rinsed cannellini beans, 1 clove roasted garlic (and the Olive oil I roasted the garlic with (maybe 2 Tablespoons), handful of baby spinach, lots of fresh basil, sea salt and pepper! It needed some help with its 'smooth-ification' so a tad more olive oil was added! The dip was a hit- the leftovers will make an appearance in a wrap today for lunch!

Gazpacho Accessories

Somewhere on my despised treadmill run- hate running on a treadmill, especially when I forget headphones and can't get my GaGa on- I started thinking about Gazpacho! I wanted it to have roasted garlic and basil accents.

So into the blender when 1 carrot, 3 tomatoes, 2 cloves of roasted garlic, 1 cucumber (15 inch cuke), a couple of splashes of white vinegar, a bunch of fresh basil, and salt/pepper.

After the soup pureed for a bit, I topped it with the diced fresh veg-accessories. We had cherry tomatoes, green/red peppers, onion, basil, zucchini, and cucumber.

Gazpacho with Roasted Garlic and Basil

The third way to sneak them in is to make a salad-not so sneaky! This one included spinach, arugula, grilled endive, onion, and sun dried tomatoes- drizzled with balsamic vinegar!

These 3 options made the perfect dinner for me! Knowing my hubs would want something a bit more substantial, he had an unpictured Chicken Parm and left his salad (for me to devour with lunch I assume)! I will be sure to post this recipe in the future, it was the best one yet!!!

I am sure there will be grilled carnivore action this weekend- and I'm okay with that!

On that note, I am off to get my Pilates on- only a couple more weeks of AM gym classes before I head back to the classroom! I wonder if I can teach reading groups while holding a plank?!