I am so immersed in researching Bali I am finding it hard to focus on much else right now! I keep forgetting that I have a final next week in one of my yoga classes and some papers due. I really need to get on top of that. I guess that’s what I will be doing this weekend.

You know what else I’m doing this weekend?

Trying on wedding dresses! 🙂

I also found pug wedding dresses. Look at these two chunky little love birds! They can hardly open their eyes!

Man I love pugs!

This weekend I am also going to do quite a bit of cooking. I am really excited because thanks to Pinterest, I found a recipe for “starbucks gingerbread loaf”. I love that stuff and I have been trying to copy their gingerbread for years. I hope it goes well this weekend and I have a good recipe to share Monday!

Here is some straight up comfort health food. I know it’s not the most beautiful dish in the world, but it is so simple to make and so easy on the stomach. Warming spices are really nice to eat this time of year and lentils are really high in protein. What is a lentil you might be wondering. A lentil is a legume and it is similar to a bean but less starchy. They take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked in which makes them really versatile in veggie burgers and soups. As I mentioned, they are a great source of protein! As a bonus, this is really fast and easy to make and it will give you lunch for a week. At least.

Red Lentil Dal

2 cups red lentils (dried)
5 cups water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Rinse the lentils several times to get them cleaned up. Boil the lentils in the water for about 30-45 minutes or until they reach desired consistency. Set aside, do not drain.
In a medium size pot or deep skillet, heat the olive oil and garlic over medium heat until the garlic starts to sizzle.
Add the cumin, garam masala, cayenne and salt and sizzle one more minute. Add the cooked lentils and stir. If you want to make your Dal a little thinner just add some more water. Mmmm, delish!
Serve with brown rice.

A few weeks ago I was browsing the bulk bins in Whole Foods and came across some Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate covered almonds. Yes please, sign me up! But upon taking a closer look I saw they were $8/pound and some of the ingredients looked pretty mysterious. I never really thought about what it takes to get that hard candy coating on chocolate covered goods. Best not to think about that I guess. 🙂

Then one night I was waiting for some pasta to boil. Saw almonds. Saw chocolate chips. Saw peanut butter. 3 minutes later I had peanut butter chocolate covered almonds. Boom.

I buy my almonds at Costco in the baking aisle. It’s about $9 for a 3 pound bag. I used dark chocolate chips but milk chocolate or semi-sweet would be fine to use too. The dark chocolate did overshadow the peanut butter flavor a little.

Chocolate Peanut Butter covered Almonds

1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups plain almonds

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for 1.5-2 minutes, being careful not to over cook them. Just melt them. Stir in the peanut butter. Then stir in the almonds to coat them. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the almonds evenly on the parchment paper. Or you could make almond clusters. The choice is yours really! Go wild, add some raisins if you want! Put the baking sheet in the fridge and once they are cool break them into chunks and store in a baggie.

Here is a Lilly story.

My mom, Lilly’s Grandmother, is Lilly’s all time favorite person in the entire world. If I say “Grandma’s here”, Lilly goes bananas. She runs to the door and freaks out. I have learned to say this only if Grandma really is here.

A few weeks ago my parents were visiting and Lilly got absolutely spoiled. Grandma lets her sit on the couch and gives her TONS of attention.

Wud up? Grandma said this is ok. I don’t have to listen to you.

On the morning my parents packed up to go home Lilly got very upset. She hates luggage anyway, but she really hates grandmas luggage 😦
Here she is sitting by my moms luggage giving my dad the evil stare down since obviously it’s his fault my mom was leaving. Somehow Lilly knows he drives?? Hmm.

Better watch your back Dad!

Hi! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving break! I know I personally enjoyed having 5 days off of work to relax, run, practice yoga and hang out with my fiancé! We have been having so much fun planning our wedding which will take place this summer in Bali (Indonesia). We are also having fun figuring out where we are going to put all of our combined “stuff” and how we will organize the kitchen. We are so excited and it feels soooo good!

I have cooked a ton of food lately so I have enough new recipes to take us into the new year!

I sense people might be tired of thinking about food or looking at food though.

So here is something for you to try if you overindulged a little too much over the holiday and want to get back on track LIKE NOW.

Pour a glass of water and put some lemon juice in it. Either from a fresh lemon or from lemon juice that comes in a bottle (not sweetened). Lemon water, although it is acidic, makes the body more alkaline which is a good thing. It helps bring blood sugar down after eating too much food, makes the tummy feel better and my esthetician says it’s really good for the skin!

In case you wondering, Lilly had a great vacation too. Over the weekend we took her for a hike up Millcreek Canyon. Even though we probably only hiked about 2.5 miles round trip it was probably the equivalent of a 45 day expedition for Lilly!
Here she is at the summit. 🙂

She did really well and walked on her own the whole way. I didn’t have to carry her at all. Pretty good for a 9 year old pug! She slept like a rock the rest of the day!

Have a great week!

I must admit, I did not feel like cooking this weekend. It was such nice fall weather outside, plus I had other stuff going on, like trail running, yoga, getting a facial, learning how to make a sock bun (so cool!!) and taking Lilly to the park.

Sock bun!

So by Sunday afternoon when it was time to cook, I just wasn’t feeling it. I just wanted to make something healthy and filling and awesome to last me for the week and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time or dirty dishes to make it.

I was planning on making a raw soup for my Scary Food challenge. But the recipe called for Irish Moss Gel (??) and at that point I lost interest. I have no idea where to get Irish Moss Gel and isn’t a raw vegetable soup just a vegetable smoothie?

Pass.

I happened to have a bulb of garlic, a bunch of cooked quinoa and black beans on hand so I only had to buy an onion and a can of roasted tomatoes to make this magic happen. I spent like $3 on this recipe that will feed me for the week.

This was my first time roasting garlic, but it was quite rewarding. Roasted garlic is delicious, plus now my whole house smells like an italian restaurant! Roasting the garlic takes about 40 minutes but you can spend all that time taking a nap if you like. After that, this soup throws together in a matter of minutes. If you don’t want to roast garlic just use minced garlic and put it in with the onion. It will still be good.

Quinoa Black Bean Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic
serves 5-6

1 bulb garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced small
4 cups cooked quinoa
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
1 28 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
2 15 oz cans black beans

Heat the oven to 375˚. Take the bulb of garlic and slice off just the top part a little to expose the garlic cloves. Dip the exposed end into some olive oil and place the bulb on to a piece of aluminum foil. Wrap the bulb up tight in foil and place it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until soft and browned. Once soft and browned, remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Then add the spices and cook for 2 more minutes.
While all that is cooking, place the tomatoes into a food processor or blender. Take the cooked garlic and squeeze the cloves out of the husk. Place all the garlic in the food processor along with the tomatoes. Blend. Add the tomatoes & garlic to the onion mixture. Fill up the 28oz can with water and add to the pot. Bring it to a boil then add the cooked quinoa and black beans. Taste for salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf before eating.

I had used a few of my cloves so many of my cloves were already broken off. It didn’t matter.

Foil package.

Hearty and healthy Quinoa Black Bean Tomato Soup!

And of course I can’t not include a picture of our favorite pug dog.

This face melts my heart.