Healthy End of the Week

The end of last week was a healthy one!  Actually all of last week was, which might be the reason for this week's poorer choices.  Oh well, a little Chinese take out and veggie pizza from Jet's never hurt anyone  :)

Wednesday:
Sweet Tater Black Bean Burgers from Edible Perspective.

Had a lot of pots going on the stove at once: sweet potatoes, dried black beans and quinoa

I tried to soak the black beans for about 9 hours while I was at work, and they did not get soft, at all!  So, I went to the old boil and then let set for a few hours, except I only let them set 1 hour.  Good thing I have a blender that can blend bricks  :)

Everything but the black beans and sweet potatoes

Mashing up the sweet potatoes

Black Bean Blend Attempt

Patties in the Oven

The bf ate his plain with a TON of ketchup

I made a bun out of lettuce and topped with ketchup and mustard

Overall they were pretty good.  We do still have one left in the fridge that hasn't been eaten yet.  They would have been better had I bought buns and all the fixings.  The bf actually brought the ENTIRE bottle of ketchup with him to work when we had these for leftovers the following day...that is never a good sign.  I think he was sick of all the healthy eating we were doing.  He kept making statements such as "That was a good appetizer, where is dinner?"

Thursday:

Roasted Lentil Salad from Kath Eats Real Food.

My first time with fennel!  I never thought a vegetable could smell like licorice!

I also used green tomatoes, because the coldish weather has stunted the ripening of my tomatoes.

Toasted the veggies

All Mixed Up!

So, in all truth, this was a bit of a flop.  We ate a small bowl of it for dinner but were kind of sick of all the salads we had been eating throughout the week.  It didn't taste bad, but I think it is something that needs to be eaten day-of and not used for leftovers.  The rest got put down the disposal early this week  :(  Sad, I know.

Friday:

Don't recall; darn memory.  I know I didn't make anything worth taking pictures of...

Saturday:

Wedding!

Sunday:

Eggplant Parmesan from Kath Eats Real Food.

First, sweat out the eggplant with salt.  

 I always wonder if this is a good thing to do and if the salt really takes away the supposed "bitterness".  I layered the pieces on my cooling rack and placed that on top of a baking pan.

 I guess you can see the sweat forming!

 But after I removed them from the baking sheet, there was little to no water left behind.

No real in between pics here, but this is the final product.  We didn't eat it over spinach or kale, but it still tasted quite good, plus it was easy....well, there wasn't a lot of ingredients.  

I also made a "dessert" on Sunday night off of Oh She Glows entitled Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream

I don't know if I can look at the pictures without feeling nauseous.  No, the bread was fine, I just made the mistake of licking the bowl, and the spoon...and the mixing contraption.  I was up all night with a terrible stomach ache  :(

But really, you should try the recipe.  Don't let me discourage you!  Just don't eat any of it until it is baked and frosted   :)

Monday:

Chinese takeout

Tuesday:

Pizza from Jet's.  Veggies for me, pepperoni for the bf.  He ended up eating most of mine though...hah

Wednesday:

Cauliflower Pasta Bake with Mushroom Sauce from The Daily Garnish

This was what we needed after a full week of healthy salads.

 Cauliflower all cut up.  Meijer bread used for bread crumbs in the background.  For the breadcrumbs I used my blender and then added the garlic and red pepper flakes afterwards.  I dotted the top of the casserole with butter chunks before putting in the oven.

Out of the oven

My sauce was still a little thin

 This dish tasted great!  I am happy about leftovers tomorrow!

Have a good weekend and start to next week.  I will be in San Francisco for an extended weekend, but will be back next week; hopefully with some photos of yummy food  :)