When I went to Goodwill over the weekend with my mom and Hannah, while they immediately gravitate to the clothes, I always head right to housewares.  Sometimes I find unusual bowls, plates, etc.   My two favorite colors are blue and yellow.  In my old house, my kitchen was this exact yellow and my dining room was this color blue, with white baseboards and crown molding.

I actually bought it because its also the perfect cappuccino size for my work’s deluxe coffee maker.  When I brought it to work yesterday, I saw that there was a mark on the bottom and it said it was hand painted in Hungary.  I looked it up and sure enough, this cup is from a famous china maker in Hungary!  I bought this cup for .99 cents and the replacement cost for this one cup is $21 – not too bad!  Check out the prices of the other stuff in this pattern!

Have you ever heard of eggs in purgatory?  Sometimes on Tastespotting I’ll just hit random just to get some ideas.  When I saw the idea of that breakfast, I thought, why not?  First I cooked up 2 ounces of Italian sausage.  I put 1/2 cup of broccoli in the microwave to cook.

When I got to work I heated up 3/4 cup of my marinara sauce while I Pam fried two eggs.  Then I put the reheated sausage and broccoli on the bottom, but the fried eggs on top of that and had 1 ounce of my rosemary flax bread as a dipper.

Holy cow, was this good.  It was savory – I actually ended up just cutting up the eggs really fine so I could get a piece of egg, sausage, broccoli and sauce in each bite 😀

Breakfast comes in at 544 calories, 27 carbs, 30 protein, 36 fat and 4.7 fiber

I went to the gym at lunch.  The bike machines were taken, so I decided to do a walk/jog/sprint on the treadmill for 45 minutes.  I usually warm up for 5 minutes.  Then for 3 minutes I’ll run at 3.5 mph, then 1 minute at 4.5 mph, then a sprint (for me!) starting at 5.0 mph, then each minute of the next 5 minutes I sprint at a faster pace.   My last sprint I held for 2 minutes at 6.5 mph, which is a 9:14 mile pace – not too bad for an old lady! 😀

I have Jen to thank for the idea of running – she just had two of her best runs and she did them both without stopping – way to go Jen! 😀  Jen’s also hosting BSI Bacon – your submissions are due on Sunday!

So my idea for my soup came from Kaylyn’s Kitchen, although I adapted it a bit.  I of course left out the onions, and I didn’t have tumeric or cardamom.

Spicy Red Lentil and Chickpea Stew (printer friendly version)

Makes 8 servings (344 calories, 5.7 fat, 55 carbs, 20 fiber and 20 protein)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger, fresh
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
3/4 cup celery, finely diced
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper  (reduce to 1/4 if you don’t want too spicy)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups red lentils
2 cups chickpeas (1 15 oz. can)
2 cups diced tomatoes (1 15 oz. can tomato puree)

Directions

  1. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven. Add ginger and garlic and gently saute for a few minutes. Add diced celery, garam masala, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and cook for 3 – 4 minutes.
  2. Add the stock, red lentils, canned tomatoes, and rinsed chickpeas and bring mixture to a gentle boil.
  3. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Serve hot, over brown rice and top with sour cream.
I wanted to show that yes, there is a broth under all the lentils of the next picture 😀
another Goodwill find was two of these bowls - microwave and oven save - I could touch the handle when hot and it kept my soup warm for a long time - each was $1.99 and they have matching lids

Served with 3/4 cup cooked brown rice.

453 calories, 78 carbs, 22 protein, 6.5 fat and 22 fiber

The verdict?  I hated it. The broth was delicious, but I guess I am just not a chickpea and lentil fan – this is really going to mess up my menu this week because I had two other lentil dishes I was going to make, but I think those are getting kicked to the curb!  But, I posted this because maybe some of you like lentils and chickpeas!  I know my friend Jamie does so that’s why I posted it too! 😀

While a bit on the chilly side yesterday, it was a pretty day – too bad our sunsets are at 4:30 now though!

It's kind of depressing to leave work and its already dark out 🙁

I had stuffed peppers on our menu last night.  I don’t have a real recipe for this.  Tony had a good idea though to blanch the peppers in beef broth instead of just water to give them more flavor.  While I still like a bite to my peppers, Tony likes them cooked really well.  I just blanched mine for about 4 minutes, and Tony’s for about 7 or 8 minutes.

The filling was a mixture of cooked ground beef, cooked brown rice and my homemade meat marinara.  I stuffed each pepper, topped each with fresh mozzarella, baked them for 15 minutes at 375 and then finished them off under the broiler.

My plate – 1/2 of a red pepper with 1 slice of bread.

405 calories, 46 carbs, 17 protein, 16.5 fat and 4.5 fiber

Stats for Monday:

  • 1405 calories, 150 carbs, 69 protein, 59 fat and 31 fiber
  • 45 minute treadmill walk/jog/sprint
  • the dog would not go on a walk with me 🙁

Here is hoping my cauliflower mac and cheese is better for lunch today!

Make it a Great Day!