Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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'?

14 comments:

Erica said...

Hey gfriend. How are you? Hope you're feeling better this morning. spicy sesame noodles? Sounds awesome! I just book marked a recipe for something similar from pioneer woman- so I can't wait to see the version you made. Pasta bakes are always fantastic. I'm a no sausage kind of girl. AND I like a good mix of super busy and super free weekends (I think it makes you appreciate both).

Anonymous said...

Girl, your food pictures always make me super duper hungry in the morning. Body: Mmm, that looks good! [Me: Body, it's not even 9:30 yet. We can't oogle pasta dishes.] Body: Don't care! yum!

I love busy weekends, as long as I get an off weekend at least once a month. I love getting out and doing things (especially in the fall) but I also really relish sleeping in and taking it easy every now and then.

What's up next for you after The Help?

Anonymous said...

I'm all about that baked pasta dish! I love jam-packed weekends on occasion, but I enjoy my free weekends even more :)

Unknown said...

I've heard such great things about The Help and I have it. I just haven't been able to read it. :(

I agree that recipe sounds YUMMY. I'd like to try that one!

haute.teapot said...

Haha, ok for this one I'd say Morningstar for me! Mythical movies are good...sometimes. But overall if the story and characters are good, then so am I. And jam packed weekends are my favorite...but I think I'm just used to it and I feel 'productive'...weird, I know!

p.s. I'm so impressed you can get home and still cook so much! And so many miles in one day, you are such a runner and it shows, you look fabulous in all of your photos from your weekend, thank you for sharing! <--Sorry that's the longest run-on sentence ever.

Kacy said...

I'm not a huge fan of sausage, but I like chicken and soysauge ok.

The only fantasy books/movies I've ever really cared for were the Lord of the Rings books/films.

I like a mix of packed and relaxing weekends.

Tyler said...

I don't really discriminate when it comes to sausage! I love Morningstar Farms-it really does taste like the real deal and it's super fast! If I have my sausage choice when cooking with the hubs, it would be turkey or chicken. It's a little less fatty (haha I typed farty first!) and I can't taste a huge difference.

Diane Fit to the Finish said...

Sounds wonderful! We actually had a busy weekend for a change, as ours are usually pretty boring. That book sounds interesting. I'm reading a book by Wendell Barry right now - not my usual type but very well-written.

april said...

That ziti looks yummy! No sausage for me...heartburn.

I like my free time!

Unknown said...

Sausage is hit or miss for me. I have to be in the mood. My husband doesn't eat sausage of any sort so I rarely cook with it.

Mica said...

The sausage bake looks delicious! I don't really like sausage by itself, but it looks like it would add a lot of flavor to the dish.

I'm not a sausage fan, so I don't really know that many different "varieties."

Jam-packed weekends kind of wear me out! I can only take a few before I have a stressed out melt down.

Tyler said...

I don't really discriminate when it comes to sausage! I love Morningstar Farms-it really does taste like the real deal and it's super fast! If I have my sausage choice when cooking with the hubs, it would be turkey or chicken. It's a little less fatty (haha I typed farty first!) and I can't taste a huge difference.

Anne Marie said...

I'm all about that baked pasta dish! I love jam-packed weekends on occasion, but I enjoy my free weekends even more :)

Lindsey said...

I've heard such great things about The Help and I have it. I just haven't been able to read it. :(

I agree that recipe sounds YUMMY. I'd like to try that one!