Tag Archives: leftovers

Tuna Melt Zucchini Boats

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Last night I was craving something warm, fresh, and different. I wasn’t in the mood for a salad or a grain dish and I had some zucchini that I needed to use sooner rather than later. I turned to blogland and searched for a zucchini recipe and stumbled upon Angela‘s recipe for zucchini boats. I didn’t have salsa or fake beef crumbles on hand so I improvised and came up with these babies. They turned out exactly as I wanted and really hit the spot- enjoy!

Tuna Melt Zucchini Boats (inspired by this recipe)
(serves 1)

1 zucchini
1 can of tuna
whatever you want to use to make tuna salad (I used raita and relish)
shredded cheese (I used mozzerella)

Preheat oven to 350. Slice zucchini in half the long way and then scoop out insides with a spoon. Save insides. Open can of tuna and drain. Mix with raita, relish (or mayo, mustard, hummus, etc.), and insides of zucchini. Fill zucchini boats with tuna salad and then cover with shredded cheese. Place on non-stick pan and bake for 25 minutes.

This recipe is super easy and taste delicious- I bet it would also be really good with bread crumbs sprinkled on top of the cheese. Yum!

But enough about my dinner last night, lets move on! Yesterday was only a running day (no swimming or biking) so I slept in a little bit and then woke up and got ready to run. I knew it was going to be tough when I just couldn’t get my butt out the door. Do you ever have those mornings? I had the usual date w/ pb and some kefir and then kept grabbing little handfuls of cereal. It was like my body needed just a little more energy to get going.

I ran 5 miles and felt okay for the first 4.5 but then my hamstring/thigh started acting up. I didn’t feel any pain but I did feel some weird fluttering back there. I really have no idea what caused it but after walking a block I was able to run the rest of the way home at a slower pace. Please body just heal already!

When I got back from my run I couldn’t find Sonic. Ian hadn’t seen him in awhile so we spent a few minutes searching for him under the bed, in closets, and under the couch. Guess where we ended up finding him?

Looks like the furball found a new bed!

Breakfast was a really simple version of overnight oats in a fig jam jar (1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/3 banana, 2/3 almond milk) topped with crumbled pistachio chai muffin.

Lunch was leftovers from the other night topped with tempeh. The tempeh went really well with the farro, goat cheese, and strawberries!

I also had an apple and then a mini carrot cake Larabar that I scrounged from my purse when mid-afternoon hunger struck.

The highlight of my afternoon was receiving an e-mail from one of my professors. He thinks that one of my final papers might be publishable and wants to work with me to clean it up and submit it to a journal. I’m pretty psyched! Even if it doesn’t get published, the process will be a great learning experience :)

Dinner was my tuna melt zucchini boats

And then dessert was another rice cake with sunflower butter and cottage cheese. I just can’t get enough of that combo!

I also tried a square of this new chocolate bar that I found at TJ’s awhile ago and have been saving for a rainy day.

What can I say, I was CRAVING chocolate :P . (P.S. the bar is awesome!)

I also did plenty of relaxing because Thursday is a run + swim day which means EARLY wake up call!

Have a great day- remember only two more days until the weekend!

Do you watch Mad Men? If so what do you think? Ian and I just started watching it (maybe 4 episodes in) and I’m really enjoying it!

When to Work Out and When to Take a Break

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Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates! I hope you have a wonderful day doing whatever you choose :)

Yesterday was a long day for me. I was exhausted, crabby, and ran into some major problems with my thesis that left me frustrated and stressed out. All I wanted to do was lace up my running shoes and head out for a quick run. I actually almost did, but I eventually reasoned with myself that it would not be smart. I would run too fast or too far and reinjure myself, all so I could burn off some steam.

I debated going to the gym but after 4 days of ellipticalling I’m not sure you could have paid me to use that machine. I also don’t like to swim when I’m stressed out. Swimming is relaxing for me and not a very good stress outlet and when I feel pressed for time or stressed out I spend the entire time in the pool counting down the laps.

So what was I to do? I could have easily forced myself to go to the gym and hoped that I would feel better afterwards but I knew that being at the gym would have felt miserable.

I decided to put on my running shoes and go for a WALK to clear my head. I walked for about 40 minutes and felt a lot better afterwards The walk is all the exercise I did yesterday AND I’m okay with it. As you all know I’m a huge cardio junkie, but every so often everyone needs a spontaneous rest day for mental health, clarity or whatever.  I tend to forget that walking is exercise too!

Do you ever have days like that? Do you still go to the gym or do you look for alternative forms of exercise?

Anyway, yesterday morning I woke up craving oatmeal so I made a serving of strawberry couscous oatmeal.

I heated 1/4 cup couscous (cooked), 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 T flax-seed, and 1/2 scoop protein powder on the stove. When it started to bubble I stirred in 1/2 smushed banana and 2 large sliced strawberries. It was delicious :)

Lunch was my leftovers from Friday mixed with some brussels sprouts and bone suckin’ sauce.

I also tried out a chocolate peanut butter banana pudding recipe I wanted to put on the blog but it flopped. Whoops! I’ll keep tweaking it and post it when its ready.

Ian and I both were feeling drained around dinnertime and were anxious to get out of the apartment so we headed out to try a nearby restaurant Flo & Santos.

I wasn’t planning on drinking but after I saw that they had house red wine on tap, I had to try some!

Flo & Santos is known for their pizza but neither of us were in the mood so we started with a pierogi sampler (2 of each: potato and cheese, meat, and sauerkraut and mushroom).

And I had a panzanella salad.

It was good but I shouldn’t have ordered the dressing on the side. Drenched croutons are what makes a panzanella salad so tasty!

Ian ordered the polish sampler and it was HUGE.

We couldn’t believe a restaurant would serve that much food for only $11 in Chicago. That is basically unheard of in the city!

We finished the night on the couch watching Friends and I was happily in bed by 11 p.m. When did 11 p.m. become late to me??

I’m off to enjoy the day, I’ll be back later with a workout recap. Have a good one!

The Bristol and a Busy Weekend

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This weekend was one of those unexpectedly busy weekends that was filled with lots of fun but little productivity. *Sigh*. Hopefully the break from homework will serve me well and I’ll be incredibly productive this week :)

On Saturday night Ian and I went out to dinner to The Bristol, a restaurant that boasts a locally-sourced and seasonal menu with mediterranean roots. The dinner was actually a gift and we were told to try as many menu items as possible. Obviously we were incredibly excited!

I started with a handcrafted dark and stormy. It was definitely one of the better cocktails that I’ve had.

We also split their monkey bread, pull apart bread with dill butter and sea salt, and Ian ordered some scotch olives. At first I did not realize these had meat in them!

Next we ordered salads, Ian had a salad with shaved beef and I enjoyed the salad of chicories, sunchoke, and crispy cheddar. Unfortunately, at this point my stomach started to hurt and I was only able to eat about half of the salad. Too bad because although it was bitter, it was really refreshing!

For my main I tried the handmade raviolo, ricotta, egg yolk, and brown butter. It was absolutely fabulous but I hardly made a dent in it due to my stomach ache.

Even a stomach ache can’t stop me from trying dessert so Ian and I ordered a carrot cake (carrot cake, more carrot, tonka beans, and pecans) to split and then asked them to pack-up a basque cake (poached apple, cider sabayon, and cinnamon walnuts) to go.

After dinner we walked awhile and then headed back to the apartment to watch more X-files :)

I wanted to sleep-in Sunday morning but the furball had other plans and I was up and out of bed by 7:30. Geeeze, thanks Sonic. It ended up not being too awful and I took full advantage of being up early to make egg white pumpkin oats for breakfast.

I ate them with a furball purring in my lap, apparently someone was feeling a little guilty about waking me up so early.

After running 16 miles yesterday my legs were pretty sore, so after studying, I headed over to my new gym to check out their salt water pool.

Oh my gosh salt water is sooo much better than chlorine! I felt so much faster and better swimming than I ever have before. Plus, salt water is supposedly good for your skin, hair, and muscles. Can’t beat that :) I intended on only swimming a few laps to stretch out my legs but I didn’t want to stop and before I knew it, I’d knocked out 1,000 yards.

The rest of my Sunday included a quick lunch of leftover pasta on top of corn with a side of carrot fries, coffee with an old friend at Argotea, grocery shopping, dinner at The Slurping Turtle with one of Ian’s friends who just moved to Chicago, and more homework.

When we got home from dinner, we dug into the leftover basque cake from The Bristol. Delicious!

Today is a complete and much needed rest day, so I slept in a little bit and then enjoyed a pumpkin breakfast cookie for breakfast.

I think I must have added too much pumpkin and my cookie never really set but it still tasted delicious. I topped it with greek yogurt mixed with peanut flour and a few drops of maple syrup, banana slices, and walnuts. Yum!

I’m off to start my busy day of work, school, and a sports med doctors appointment. Have a good one!

Spring “Break”

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While my spring break hasn’t quite been the break most students look forward to, I have been enjoying not having class (one less place I have to be) and having more time for workouts and cooking!

Yesterday’s Workout
I woke up bright and early and went to the 5:45 a.m. spin class. It’s a great class with an instructor that imitates outdoor riding conditions and pushes the class with lots of sprints. I’m always a sweaty mess when I leave but it feels so good! After cycling, I jumped into the pool for a mile swim and for the first time in a long time ever I felt really fast :) It was great to actually be able to keep my heart rate elevated for more than a couple hundred yards. I’m looking forward to tri season already!

Breakfast
I’m always embarrassingly hungry after biking and swimming. My stomach growls extremely loud and I could run someone over for some food, so quick, pre-made breakfasts are always preferred.

Yesterday, I tried Epicurean Mom’s Cinnamon Apple Quinoa Parfait. It was good but I didn’t love the texture of quinoa and greek yogurt, maybe it was because I used plain yogurt instead of vanilla?

I spent my morning working on my capstone (thesis project) while having Felicity on in the background. I forgot how good Felicity is! If you remember, I was hooked on it back in January but haven’t really watched it since then. I watched a zillion episodes yesterday through and I’m almost finished with season 2!

Lunch
I kept it simple and protein-heavy for lunch and mixed a can of tuna in the last of the spinach, kale, and greek yogurt dip from Trader Joe’s. I threw the “tuna salad” on top of some raw kale and dug in.

I also had a corn tortilla with peanut butter and banana but it seemed to have escaped the camera ;)

My afternoon entailed more Felicity and more capstone work. While its miserable using my break time to catch up on school work, I just keep reminding myself how much easier my life will be in April because I got stuff done ahead of time. It’ll be worth it, right?

Dinner
Dinner was a slew of leftovers. Ian had pasta from Sunday night and I had the other half of my calzone with microwaved frozen broccoli.

I made good headway with my capstone and wanted to celebrate/ get out of the apartment, so after dinner Ian and I met a friend and his girlfriend at Lickity Split for some frozen custard.

I wasn’t in the mood for any crazy concoctions (they will actually blend an entire cupcake into custard if you order their “crazy cake”), so I had a small vanilla cone with sprinkles.

Their candy jars also caught my eye, and I just haaad to pick up a small bag of red velvet covered raisins, double dipped peanuts, and dark chocolate covered pretzels. Yum!

I started to feel sick (sore throat, headachey), so I hit the sack almost immediately after we got home. The extra sleep must have worked some magic because I feel a million times better today!

Today’s Workout
I’m planning on going to a cycling class this evening but I like breaking a sweat in the morning so I went to the gym and used the elliptical for 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, I started to get a weird feeling in my shoulder-chest area (I think it was from using the arm part of the elliptical). I got off the machine I was on and switched to a different one without arms. It stopped hurting so I finished out the 45 minutes.

Breakfast
The extra time this morning allowed me to finally try something that I’ve been meaning to make for a long time, a waffle sandwich!

I toasted two gluten-free waffles (one had sliced mozzarella cheese on top) while I cooked two egg whites. I spread fig jam on one of the waffles, topped the other with the egg whites and then put the sandwich on my foreman grill for a couple of minutes until it was pressed.

Yum! My only complaint was that the cheese was too subtle, next time I’ll go for something with more flavor!

I’m off to do some more homework, get laundry done, and then clean because my mom’s coming to visit this weekend!! Have a great day!

Also, has anyone else heard about this? How creepy!

Things I Did Thursday ~ 01-12-2012

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(1) Found the “hill” option on the treadmill. This is just what I need,. I’m very nervous about training for a hilly race in a flat city and I’ve heard Boston’s hills are KILLER so while the treadmill’s hills were nothing like running hills outdoors, it can’t hurt right?

(source)

I warmed up for a mile and then ran 4 miles with the hill setting at various speeds. Quick, easy, and sweaty!

(2) Brought back overnight oats. It feels like forever since I’ve last had them!

In the mix: oats, greek yogurt, unsweetened almond milk, chia seeds, cinnamon, 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder, and a few cashews.

This morning I added some pumpkin seed granola, you know for crunch? ;)

It was so delicious, I’d forgotten how much I love overnight oats!

(3) Saw some of the most disgusting pictures in my Epidemiology of Injury class. Lets just say crush injuries are NEVER pretty…. and moving on.

(4) Went into a class at 9 am with no snow in sight. When I walked outdoors 2.5 hours later, I was in a winter wonderland. Talk about weather shock!

Also, have I mentioned before how much I dislike snow?

(5) Dug into some of the most delicious leftovers for lunch (from last night).

Come to mama!

(6) Tried this new bar from Larabar.

I’m notorious for breaking little pieces off of a granola bar when I feel snack-y and then keeping the bar in my purse/bag in a ziplock. I have no shame, this bar was uber-delicious :P

(7) Found this race that I want to run. I don’t care that it isn’t until next June, it looks awesome and I’m already excited.

(8) Ate dinner really really early (I was hungry!).

I’m one of those crazy people who HATES wasting food so I often mix everything together to create new meals. This crazy mixture is brown rice, broccoli slaw, cucumber, cilantro, red onion, and tofu tossed with the leftover tofu marinade from last night.

It was really good but I will probably smell like cilantro for the rest of the night days.

Time to pack my lunch for tomorrow and get cracking on homework.

What did you do today?