Weekend Eats & Lemon Lover’s Asparagus

Boy oh boy, I ate my way through this past weekend.

I did a few other things: some house cleaning, more yard work (it truly is never-ending), grocery shopping , laundry, cat sitting (my new weekend hobby is taking care of other people’s pets), and I even caught the Hubby’s softball game.  And I ate and ate. And I lost a pound. Go figure.

On Friday night, we had some errands to run after work and didn’t make it home until almost 8:30 p.m. (dangerously close to my Friday night bed time), so we opted to pick up Chipolte instead of cook. Great decision because I love Chipolte, even though their burritos are the size of my head. And yet, I have no problem putting down the entire thing.

I always get a burrito with brown rice, black beans, grilled veggies, cheese, and mild salsa with a splash of heat. The hot salsa always seems to work its way down to the bottom of the burrito, so at the beginning, I think I’m tough, but by the time I get to the bottom, my mouth is on fire, and I’m regretting passing on the chips because they would’ve helped douse the flames coming out of my mouth. Oh well, it’s still worth it. What can I say. I like a little spicy.

On Saturday, we were gone almost the entire day.  We had a function to attend in the morning followed by the Hubby’s softball game in the early afternoon. We had little time between events, certainly not enough for a sit down meal, so I packed a plethora of snacks for the day. We munched on energy bites, cherries, pears, apples, and pistachio nuts. By the time we got home at 4 p.m., we were starving, and we had dinner on the table by 5 p.m. Yes, the senior citizen’s dinner hour, but we were too famished to wait any longer and completely done with snacking. 

We needed sustenance, so we threw together Parmesan Roasted Red Potatoes, some lemon asparagus, and fried eggs. It was fantastic, and not just because we were desperate for food (although I’m sure it helped), but because the flavors went really well together. The potatoes were cheesy and salty and the asparagus was cool and citrusy. This might be a new favorite, and it was easy to whip together last-minute.  The trick is to use the small red potatoes because they cook quicker than your typical Idaho’s.

Look at my plate.  A little protein, some carbs, some good fat, and half green veggies.  How perfect are those portions. Take that food pyramid people!

Since it’s just the Hubby and me, I cut the recipe in half. And, at only four calories per spear, asparagus might just be my favorite vegetable. Oh, and did I mention, it’s also a nutritional powerhouse. Asparagus is pretty much the bomb diggety (and I don’t care if bomb diggety is so 10 years ago).

After dinner, I threw together a quick tomato sauce because I had some ripe tomatoes, and what better way to utilize them. I added onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and tomato juice. Oh my, look how delicious.

Since we had just eaten and I needed to save room for ice cream 🙂 , I put our Tomato sauce in Tupperware to be used later in the week. The Hubby and I did a lap around the park and then hit up The Sweet Spot, the local gelato place. We vowed to try new flavors, and believe me, they did not disappoint. I had the Vegan Snickerdoodle, and the Hubby chose the Cocoa and Cookies. He’s a major chocolate fan, and I was delighted to see how packed The Sweet Spot was since this place is fabulous, and I want them to stick around forever, or at least for as long as I can still eat ice cream.

On Sunday, I had a bowl of homemade granola (of course) for breakfast before heading to the grocery store. I love grocery shopping. Weird I know, but I still love it.  I hung out in the produce section for a while, chatted up the zucchini (I kid), and stocked up on my fruits and veggies for the week. The produce section is my favorite because it’s so pretty. All the lovely colors, the different varieties, the phallic shapes. They had these amazing purple artichokes, which were gorgeous. Sadly I didn’t buy any since we were already fulled loaded with veggies. Sigh….maybe next weekend.

After I got home and unloaded the groceries, I washed all the fruit so it would be ready for the week.  It makes it that much easier to just grab and go. I did some more cleaning around the house and followed it up with a cheese sandwich. Not very exciting, but good. Plus, I needed to eat quickly, so I could do some work in the yard. Our back lawn was literally inches high (so embarrassing). Not the front, of course. That’s in tip-top shape. I quickly mowed the lawn and weeded before calling it quits for the day.

The main reason I came in early from the yard was because I had special plans for dinner. Last week, I blogged about getting our first batch of produce from our CSA share.  Well, I got it, and one of the items was beets. Now as a kid, I never ate beets, so I had no idea what to do with them. Whenever they popped up in last year’s CSA, I just passed them along to the in-laws, who love them. 

I knew beets would eventually turn up in this year’s share (week 1, how do you like them apples), and I was going to be ready. I love a plan.  Over the winter, I found and pinned some beet recipes to my Pinterest account, and one in particular sparked my eye: Penne Pasta in a Roasted Beet Sauce: http://bevcooks.com/2012/04/penne-pasta-in-a-roasted-beet-sauce/

I was eager to try it.

Beets are interesting to work with and such a beautiful color, which isn’t really captured in the photos. The first step for this recipe was to roast the beets for 40 minutes or so. While they were baking away in the oven, I remember thinking,”what an unusual smell.”  Although, when the Hubby came home, he said, “Wow, it smells great in here.” Go figure.

After baking the beets, you blend them in a food processor with vinegar, oil, cheese, and garlic. Then you put them on the stove top and add cream (I used coconut milk) and veggie stock (I used water). The end result is your roasted beet sauce, which you serve on top of fresh pasta. And for kicks, I threw together some whole wheat garlic bread smothered in fresh parsley, rosemary, garlic and oil. Both the Hubby and I were nervous about trying the pasta, but we dove in anyways.  I managed to get down a third of the bowl before deciding I’m not a huge fan of beets. It wasn’t bad by any means, but they have a weird aftertaste, which I just couldn’t hang with. Oh well, I gave it a valiant attempt.

The Hubby, on the other hand, really loved the Beet Sauce and ate every last drop. It makes sense since he thought they smelled fantastic in the oven.  It just goes to show; the nose always knows.

Before it’s all said and done, I know I’ll get beets in my CSA share again, so if anyone has a good recipe they are willing to share, let me know and I’ll give it a whirl.