I have a weakness for Mexican food. I was really craving something spicy but didnt have a lot of time to make something.  I rooted through my pantry and found a packet of taco seasoning, a can of garbanzo beans, and a package of tostata shells.
I drained half the can of beans and poured them in a skillet after cooking for a minute or so I started mashing them with the back of a spoon and then added about half the packet of seasoning. I continued smashing to mix it all really good. I did have to add a splash of water towards the end because it was beginning to stick a bit. I heated up the shells spooned the mixture on and topped it off with some cheese and salsa - thats all I had on hand - otherwise I would of used all the good taco toppings. This picture is pretty sad looking as I took it with my phone.

I also decided to try a new breakfast recipe. Monday's and Friday's are my long days at work so I like to have a heartier breakfast those days, yet I dont like to wake up earlier than needed. I had heard of overnight oats so thought I would give that a try.

I combined in a bowl

 -1/2 cup of oats

-1/2 cup skim milk (next time I will use less, I like my oatmeal to be thicker than most)

-dash of cinnamon 

-teaspoon (about) of flaxseed meal

I mixed all that together, covered the bowl and placed in the fridge. 

In a baggie I combined sliced strawberries, a handful of blueberries and some chopped walnuts

I placed all that in the fridge and went to bed! When I woke up I stirred the bowl up and added my baggie of fruit and nuts. After a taste test I added more cinnamon and tiny bit of sugar. Like I said next time I wont use as much milk it was just too watery for my liking. Other than that, very tasty and filling. I also had a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter. 

Back on Track

This past week I have been slacking. My best friend was in town for a week so I tried to see her as much as possible since it had been months and will be months again until I see her. Which means, I did slacked. 

I slacked on healthy eating, I slacked on cooking. I dont think I cooked all week actually! However, it was the best week Ive had in a very long time. I needed it, I needed a boost. 

So tomorrow starts a new week, and that means getting back on track. I started this blog with intentions of it being just basically documenting cooking. However I feel that maybe it will be more, more about trying to document healthy living - of sorts. I know I am not the healthiest of people, I dont claim to be. I am however trying to become healthier and happier with myself. I feel that maybe Ill stay better "on track" if I document it. 

Goal for this week:  to find more recipes to make so I can have more of a variety of good, healthy, easy food to make. Another goal: work out more! - thats the tough one for me. 

Planning ahead!

I have decided that I think I really need to start sitting down every few days and planning ahead on what I am going to cook. Then make out a grocery list of what I need that I dont currently have so I am prepared and can make better planned meals. I cant really do a week plan because I am the type of person who some days nothing but spicy (for example) sounds good. Or maybe its nothing but pasta, no matter what some days I want nothing else but whatever Im in the mood for. Basically making far ahead planning pointless.
Then I have the problem of some days I just dont want to cook! So then how do I make a healthy quick and I mean quick meal?!

I really dont have much else to say, other than - I am going to TRY to plan ahead.

Also I found my new favorite breakfast. Im not big on breakfasts foods, but I have to eat breakfast. I get tired of the same thing every morning and  I need quick things so I dont have to wake up any earlier than I already do. Yoplait now makes greek yogurt, Im in love with their vanilla honey one. My new breakfast is putting one of those cups into a bowl with some Kashi granola and fresh berries YUMMM. I make a slice of toast to go with it and wallah. Delish

Pasta ala creme

Have you seen those new Philadelphia Cooking Creme? They are probably not the most healthy of items, but hey sometimes a little "bad" is ok, right? I say so anyway! The creams come in a few different flavors, Santa Fe, Original, Savory Garlic, and Italian Cheese and Herbs. I bought the Cheese and Herbs one a while back put it in the fridge and kind of forgot about it, since I wasn't sure how I wanted to use it.

I got home from work last night and wanted something relatively quick and easy and pasta sounded good. After taking a look in the fridge I saw I had some yellow and green zucchini that needed to get used up soon, I had done a pasta with that before but decided to use the creme for it this time.

I started out by boiling a pot of water and in a skillet sautéing some onion and green pepper in olive oil. I LOVE caramelized onion so I really cooked the onion for a while to get that yummy caramelized flavor - plus the kitchen smelled delicious!

While the onion and pepper was cooking I sliced up some of the zucchini. For pastas I like first slicing the zucchini in half length wise then making sliced at whatever thickness you like (they will look like half moons) I used both yellow and green zucchini because I love my food to have color! After I added the pasta into the boiling water is when I added the zucchini, they dont need as much time to cook as the onion and pepper. 

Once the noodles were done I drained them and then put the pasta onto the vegetable mixture in the skillet skill with the heat on low. I tossed it all together really well and then added the cooking creme and tossed until it was mixed really well and covering all the pasta. I then plated and topped with some fresh ground pepper! And here is the final product! (ok the picture makes it look not-so appetizing)

I thought it tasted pretty yummy and when my mom came home from a meeting she said it smelled delicious and she enjoyed it as well. In fact Im going to have leftovers for lunch today.  

  

Moroccan-Style Chickpeas with Couscous

I love spices, I love chickpeas, and I love couscous! So needless to say, I was very excited when I found this recipe in a magazine for a Moroccan style dish with chickpeas and couscous. The ingredient list might scare you at first, but really it was quit simple to make and I really didnt have to go out and buy much to make it. I found the recipe in a magazine called 'Delicious Living'. To make it easier on me Im just going to link the recipe from their website onto here. It would take me far too long to type out!
Recipe for Moroccan Style Chickpeas with Couscous! 

Here is a picture of how mine looked when it was all done!

Veggies on Pita

I went to the store yesterday and stocked up on lots of yummy things to cook with for the week. I had NO idea what to make for lunch today, opened the fridge and saw gorgeous sliced mushrooms, bright green and yellow squash and some pita bread. I decided to make an open face sandwich; I guess that is what it would be considered.

I used the following veggies, but really whatever you have on hand would work great.
    - zucchini
    - squash
    -sliced mushrooms
    - bell pepper
    - shredded carrots

I drizzled some olive oil in the pan and added some black pepper and Italian seasonings - again really any seasonings would work, I just love Italian seasonings! I then added the sliced veggies in the pan and let them sauté for a few minutes while I heated up my pita bread. I wanted pita pockets, but the store was out of whole wheat pockets so I just had to get the whole wheat pita bread, which is why Im calling it more of an open faced sandwich.
When the veggies were almost done I tossed in the shredded carrots and sprinkled on some feta cheese. Turned the heat off and let it just simmer in its own heat. You can spread some hummus if you like on the pita, I used roasted red pepper hummus -YUM! Then pile on the veggies!

This was incredibly filling, I couldnt finish it all even. A very satisfying and relatively quick meal. Easy clean up too! My kind of meal.

Hello Blog World!

I have been thinking about blogging for a while now, and finally am joining the evil masses of the blog world.
While I am creating this blog as a way for me to share my cooking adventures who knows what this will really turn into. January of this year (no, it was not a New Years resolution!) I made the switch to vegetarian - for many reasons. I am also trying to limit my consumption of processed and packaged foods. As a college graduate without a job, this is not a cheap way to eat! However I believe the long term benefits will outweigh the higher cost Im experiencing now.
Hopefully through this blog I can find other like minded people to share recipes with and see how and what they cook.

I sadly did not cook today! oops! Tomorrow though I will be and its a new recipe so I will be back!