I’m going to tell you a little story about one of the great loves of my life. I want to talk to you about a relationship that doesn’t involve kissing, cuddling or dates to Kate Hudson’s latest rom com. Let’s talk about food.
I love to eat. Truthfully, I look forward to meal time more than anything. In the morning, it’s the way I literally get my body going. In the middle of the day it can be a chance to catch up with co-workers or a break from stress. At night it’s a chance to reunite with my favorite guy and recount the day. Food also has become the way I fuel up before a long run. So what do I eat? The answer: a lot.
I’m not a dietician. I don’t always eat well. I don’t even always finish my vegetables. In fact, I am prone to just as many french fry and big gooey chocolate chip cookie cravings as the next girl. What works for me is the other other golden rule: keep everything in moderation.
This is probably a great time to say again that I am not a dietician. I can’t even remember all of the parts of the food pyramid (or wheel … I think it’s a wheel now. My mom actually printed it out for me once. No joke.) I can tell you that I know when I’ve been bad. I feel bad mentally, and I’ve even started to feel bad physically.
Tonight I got off of work earlier than usual and I decided I’d wing something. It’s fall here and I’m already missing tomatoes so I decided whatever I made had to have roasted tomatoes.
I just drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and sprinkled them with a healthy dose of salt and pepper. I popped them in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes until they were lightly browned and shriveled. Shriveled is not an appetizing adjective for food, but trust me these ‘maters are goooood.
I basically grabbed other stuff that was lingering in my fridge. (Lingering is also not an appetizing adjective. Thank goodness I don’t write about food for a living.) Here’s what I came up with:
I had a little smoked chicken and turkey sausage, some fresh basil, a little mozzarella cheese (I added some olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, salt and pepper just to liven it up), some chopped garlic and some gluten free pasta. (I know, gluten free? What? Trust me, every now and then we all need to step away from the bread.)
I cooked the pasta and heated the garlic in a pan with a teensy bit (technical term) of olive oil and then added everything into a big bowl and mixed it together. It was pretty darn tasty.
It got high marks from Josh (who I might add is doing the dishes as I type this – he’s a keeper) and I think there are some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Now I have a confession – when I was training for my last marathon (which I ran less than two weeks ago) I ate out a lot. Sure, I ate some salads, but I also ate sandwiches and occasionally “worse than sandwiches” (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). I am not proud of this, but I put it out there in the interest of honesty. What I loved about this meal was it reminded me that a meal doesn’t have to be piled high with sauces, three kinds of cheese, and come with a loaf of bread to be delicious. I also remembered how fun it can be to cook.
Happy Wednesday night everyone! What did you cook tonight?
Fit For The Finish Line 