Salads & Squash Ruts

Hi all, how’s your week wrapping up? Besides a mud race Halloween morning, we have a pretty relaxing weekend planned. I’m totally ready to wrap this week up since it was another crazy one at work for both hubby and I. We’ve never been big on celebrating Halloween, lots of friends and co-workers are doing costume parties this weekend and we’ll be running in mud instead. Good way to retire my current running shoes, it’s time after the half-marathon and I get to go shoe shopping – woot! Plus I feel guilty not being at home to hand out candy on Halloween since there are a lot of little kids in our neighborhood. Jeez, I’m still not sure how we’re going to carve our pumpkin.

Hubby did surprise me by signing us up for a farm produce box delivery every 3 weeks this week, something I’ve been thinking about doing for awhile. And even though there’s just two of us, he got the 4-person household box because he knows I can eat a lot of veggies! I have to admit, less trips to the market is appealing, but I still desperately need to go this weekend. On one hand, it’s kind of nice seeing the fridge and freezer so empty and manageable, but it can be a bit inhibiting for getting creative with meals. I have made good progress in using up dried and frozen foods, the monster bag of quinoa is almost gone, I used up all the frozen fruit bags in smoothies and a lot of dried beans. Now I have plenty of room for fresh stuff and a long shopping list for Whole Foods.

For a quick, lazy vegan dinner the other night, I threw chopped broccoli, carrots, orange pepper and pressed tofu cubes into a wok with soy sauce, fresh minced ginger and a splash of red pepper flakes for seasoning.

The mess took about 10 minutes to cook and made great leftovers for lunch the next day too.

I’ve also been having a lot of smoothies this week for breakfast and a couple hurried lunches. My typical smoothie is monstrously big and nearly overflows a large glass every time.

This one had spinach, a carrot, chia seed gel, Sun Warrior protein powder and an apple. I got thinking about the size because my mom was complaining the other day trying to drink one this size that she could barely get through half of it, it was just too big. Yeah, thanks for reminding me I apparently have a bottomless pit for a stomach. :-P But, large smoothies have never seemed overly filling or bloating which is why they’re a perfect breakfast for me. Are your smoothies this huge or more of a “normal”  size?

I’m also still on winter squash overload this week, they’re cheap at Trader Joe’s or free from garden handouts and so good this time of year. For lunch, I steamed half of an acorn squash in the microwave with a splash of coconut oil, salt and pepper. Paired with a raw hemp seed loaded salad.

Then for dinner that night, I had steamed spaghetti squash with a little garlic olive oil, salt and pepper paired with a kale and carrot salad drenched with Kristen Suzanne’s curry hemp sauce.

You’d think I’d be sick of winter squashes at this point, but oh no! I’m sure I’ll come home with 3 more this weekend and they’ll be gone within days.

Are you handing out candy for Halloween? If so, what type? I’ve been torn on this because I really don’t want our house to get egged, but am not thrilled about handing out crap. A co-worker said she usually hands out little Play-Doh containers that are a big hit, so maybe I’ll hit the dollar section at Target for inspiration.

On the subject of candy, this article says indulging on a little is actually good for you:

A study from the Harvard School of Public Health revealed that those who allow themselves sweets a few times a month (or even daily) lived longer lives than those who shunned the sugar.