It's Monday friends!
It's been a bit quiet on the blog lately, I've missed you guys! Things have just been super busy, Nutshell Nutrition has picked up and I've taken on a big [and fun!] cooking project that I am super grateful for and will be sharing along the way!
And I'm in a transition period with running and taking a semi-break from speed and longer runs. An email from my coach this morning made me feel much, much better about my recent running rut. Everything I was feeling was justified and he gave the go ahead for everyone who had been training all winter to take a 4-6 week break, ahhhhhh it was so good to hear that. Marathon training will start in July and after this much needed break I'll be itching to get back!
Friday evening I headed to Fridays after Five, sipped wine and bopped around catching up with new and old friends.
Saturday I headed over the Kath's for her annual "low country boil." After last year, let's be real, I was most excited about that amazing local kielbasa sausage!
And then after church + lunch on Sunday I headed to the grocery so I could do some meal prep for the week! Ideally, I like to plan ahead a bit for the week so if the weeknights get crazy busy, I know I have something prepared to eat in the fridge and don't have to resort to frozen veggie burgers [which I do often, eh...it happens].
Making just one dinner meal and one thing for breakfasts all week makes life so much simpler. So if you have 60 minutes to set aside, you can do it too! On tap this week was mediterranean pasta salad and zucchini breakfast bakes, both super easy, super delicious, and super full of veggies!
And if you're like me, you loathe leftovers. I really, really don't like them. So the key to keeping leftovers interesting is making a "base" meal with different sauce options. This week, the "base" was a mediterranean pasta salad and then I made a couple different sauces.
Basil pesto + miso tahini dressing. Then you can change it up even more by dressing the pasta with marinara sauce or simply olive oil and balsamic vinegar too.
Really you can add whatever veggies you like, I thought eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini sounded good. And use whatever pasta you like! Quinoa or brown rice pasta would be good too, but really any whole grain will do.
First boil up your pasta and set aside.
To prepare the eggplant, you'll want to slice it into 1 inch discs and then sprinkle with salt and let it sit for about 20 to 30 minutes. This will get out the bitterness of eggplant and is a really important step so don't skip it!
After the eggplant is done "salting" slice it up into 1/2 inch pieces and roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Then slice up your pepper, zucchini and tomatoes and sauté everything in a bit of oil until tender.
While the veggies are cooking and roasting you can make the sauces. I used this pesto recipe and Emily's recipe for miso tahini dressing. Both are really easy, vegan, and made in 2 minutes! If you've never cooked with miso, try it! Miso is PACKED with probiotics, digestive enzymes, all 9 essential amino acids, B vitamins, and is a superfood for keeping your digestive system and gut flora healthy!
Mixed the veggies with the pasta and you're done. I keep the sauces separate so I can toss the pasta with whatever sauce I'm in the mood for when it's supper time.
Even better is if you have leftover pesto, use it in wraps for lunches or as a salad dressing. The possibilities are endless. Having a breakfast and dinner option prepped for the week makes the weekdays a little less hectic and a little more nutritious.
I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do!
Because even if you're super busy, you deserve to eat something healthy.
