Book Review, New Recipe, 10K Training

Thanks you guys! Hehe We love our jam-packed weekends for sure - so fun to celebrate with our friends whether it be a wedding, birthday, new home, baby, holiday or whateva! Such a fun time and really, there are only 52 weekends in a year - must make the most of them. :) Thanks for your sweet comments - we really did have such a fun weekend although Monday was a bit rough. I got up, got to work and just felt off. Oh well. I walked 4 miles during lunch while reading more of The Help. It's just so good. After work I headed towards home and hit up the gym by the casa - did a 3-mile run and a 1/4 mile cool-down walk - great workout. Then I headed home to make another new recipe - yay! I made spicy sesame noodles and chicken tamale casserole - i'll post these later this week - YUM! (Austin had the tamale; me the sesame!). Then I just had family time and read more of my book - great, productive Monday! I ended up at 1,783 calories, 207 carbs, 52 fat grams and 114 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

One more thing - my book review!! Nancy Werlin's Impossible follows a 17-year-old girl, Lucy, with a mysterious past. You quickly learn a few things: that she has wonderful foster parents and a mother who has gone crazy. Like is now homeless she's so crazy. The book has no jacket, so I just read and read and am glad that's all I knew about it. I didn't know where it was going, but I enjoyed following it. If you don't like, let's say, mythical books you may not like it- but it's a fun read if you can suspend reality and/or rely on your imagination! I give it a 4/5 - I raced through it dying to know what would happen which to me is always the best book, and I liked the ending and thought it tied up all of the ends nicely. What would have made it a 5? Honestly, the plot being that it was mythical kept it down a bit for me. That's it though - loved the characters, the plot and truly seeing what would happen to Lucy next.

And one last thing: New Recipe I made on Sunday night: Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomato and Cheese

My Serving!

Whole dish - 8 servings

Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 8 servings

12 oz. uncooked ziti
1 pound Italian Jimmy Dean Sausage
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 14.5-ounce cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
½ cup chopped fresh basil
Cooking spray
100 grams shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
4 tbsp parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta, and set aside. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture and basil. Place pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with Parmesan, and then mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Nutritional Information: 382 calories, 43 carbs, 17 fat grams and 16 protein grams.

Review: LOVED it! The sausage was so flavorful and while the portions looked a bit smaller than my usual portions, it was more than enough food and very filling. I loved all of the flavors and the fact that this recipe had real sausage and mozzarella - nice! I will definitely make this again but may consider using half turkey sausage mixed in so that the portions can be a bit more sizable. I still eat with my eyes a bit so that would be good for me until I become a more intuitive eater! hehe

Q: Real sausage, turkey sausage, chicken sausage, soysage OR no sausage for you? I like all of the above. Morningstar farms is my favorite soysage - going to start cooking with it more again - it really tastes like the real thing to me!

Q: Mythical books and/or movies: sure, I can suspend reality OR nah - not for me?

Q: Jam-packed weekends: 'duh, love 'em' OR 'pass, love my free time'?