Thursday, March 8, 2012

Rolling with the Punches

The theme of the day was, "improvise"!

Matt and I had plans to head up to a nearby park after he got out of work to go for a 5 mile run around the reservoir. After driving a half hour up to the park, we realized we had forgotten Butters' leash. Fail. Sometimes we let him run off leash, but the weather was beautiful today and the park was filled with other people and dogs, so that wasn't an option. We were about to drive all the way home when Matt decided to rummage through the car to find a leash substitute. He came up with a large hook and a velcro strap. Problem solved!


Then we realized we forgot his doggy bags too. Oy. Matt actually braved the trash can and pulled a clean-looking plastic bag out of the recycling bin. Score! Don't judge.


Dinner

I had been planning to make seafood for dinner when we got home from the park. It sounded perfect with the warm weather we're having, and I was half daydreaming about it all day long. Unfortunately, I totally forgot I had made plans to meet up with my friend Cathleen again tonight for our new yoga class. So, I had to nix the dinner I had planned and come up with something easy on the fly.



Broccoli mac & cheese never lets me down. Happy Emoticons This is such a cheater meal, but it's easy, fast and so good. I always keep a box of Annie's Homegrown organic mac & cheese in the pantry for nights when we need a quick meal. I love it because it's made with all natural and organic ingredients (no artificial coloring), and has way better nutrition stats than most box mac & cheeses. Each bowl has about 280 calories, 4.5 grams fat, 46 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber and 10 grams protein.



I make it according to the box's instructions, but then I add a wedge of The Laughing Cow Light swiss cheese and a bunch of steamed broccoli. We end up with bowls of cheesy pasta that have lots of volume from all the added veggies.

Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. Free Blinkies

4 comments:

  1. so funny...i made the same thing last night! i usually always have annie's mac and cheese as well, but we ran out so i had to get creative. gotta love a quick mac and cheese dinner :) hope yoga was as enjoyable as last time!

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    1. Isn't that stuff so good? What did you make yours with since you ran out? Always looking for new mac & cheese ideas! :)

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    2. lol i'm embarrassed to say, but i had a random can of Healthy Request Campbell's cheddar cheese soup in my cabinet (not even sure why i ever bought it!). i sauteed up some shallots with ground mustard powder, paprika and nutmeg, added the soup, some sour cream (we didnt have milk either haha) and chicken stock. once that was combined i added in some extra cheese - low fat string cheese and grated parm bc as with everything that's all i had on hand. then i just mixed it up with some veggie pasta, topped it was some panko, a bit more cheese and put it under the broiler to crisp up on top. i think i over did it on the paprika because i was going too fast, but otherwise it was pretty good for a quick (and creative dinner!). i wanted to add broccoli, but chris HATES it so veggie pasta was the best i could do for some extra vitamins. i'm crazy about mac and cheese...always looking for new ways to make it!

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    3. I love it! I've put my fair share of string cheeses in the food processor to use as shredded cheese before :) Sounds like it came out good!

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