saucy goodness

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Part TWO of pizza madness.

Chris’s pie – pizza sauce + cheese + jalapenos + bacon + garlic scape pesto on 1/4 of it

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My pie 

1/2 one – pizza sauce + cheese + shrooms + spinach

1/2 two – garlic scape pesto + pizza sauce + shrooms + spinach

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I topped it with a pile of raw spinach.  I loved this as a topping!  I have also added kale to the top of my pizza before too :)

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I made a rectangular pizza for myself.  I like rectangle pieces better than triangle.  Does anyone else have that strange preference?

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The pesto 1/2 was all vegan and all delicious.  SO much flavor packed into that pesto! 

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I topped the whole pizza with vegan parmesan cheese, which I have been throwing on everything but my oats!  Although it would be good on a bowl of savory oats as well :)

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Speaking of oats, here were Thursdays! 

I did my regular mix with steel cut oats, banana, vanilla, water, milk, + cinnamon.  My toppings haven’t been varying too much lately as I seem to have a found a summery style that I’m in love with. 

mix ins:

Have I mentioned that it’s been at least 2 months since I’ve purchased a single jar of nut butter??  I have at least 6 different kinds of nut butter in my fridge right now.  I’m not sure why I would need to buy them ever again.  They are cheaper to make at home and definitely more delicious.

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Remember I was sent 4 boxes of Lundberg’s brown rice couscous to try out and review?  This was box #2.  Chris + I loved it!  The texture was great as was the flavor.  The ingredient list is impressive as well as the nutrition label.  We are loving these mixes!  I think I am still a fan of buying the grain in bulk and then adding my own seasonings.  It usually ends up being more cost effective.  However, if you don’t have a lot of seasonings or never get the ratios right, definitely check out this product!  Deeelicious!

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Fluffy with a little crunch!

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Another new product!  The bright green jumped out at me as I was walking the aisles at Whole Foods.  This was not the normal Amazing Grass!  It is a new energy drink product that is infused with Matcha + Herba Mate along with a lemon lime flavor and all of the other normal AG SuperFood ingredients.  I just love this company!

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I was a little scared to mix this grassy packet with just water.

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[source]

It was actually pretty tasty!  The lemon lime was definitely noticeable but nothing was overpowering.  It was earthy but not as much as some of their other flavors, surprisingly.  I think it would be awesome mixed into a smoothie! 

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We finally made it back to the rock gym today!  It’s been over a month.  It’s frustrating being on such a long climbing hiatus because you lose your strength so fast.  Just when we were really noticing a lot of improvement, I pulled my quad, Chris cut his hand pretty bad, I went to Ohio, and Chris went to Ecuador.  Hence, our month long hiatus.  It was good to be back but we were tuckered out pretty quickly.  We met our friends there that drove down from Ft. Collins.  They just moved from Reno and we couldn’t be more excited!!  We invited them over, after climbing, for an impromptu dinner.

A super easy + always delicious meal that you can usually pull straight from the pantry/fridge/freezer.

Pasta Bake 101 – Really this couldn’t be any easier!

Preheat your oven to 350*

In a 9x13 baking dish empty a bag of frozen organic peppers or any frozen or fresh veggie you prefer.

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Then dumb a 16oz bag of pasta on top.  [You do not have to precook the noodles!] Whatever pasta you prefer.  I love whole wheat and my favorite shape might be the shells because they trap all of the saucy goodness :)

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Pile on as much spinach as possible.  This was probably about 6 huge handfuls worth of spinach.

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Empty 2 jars of pasta sauce on top.  I used 2 jars of Whole Foods Organic Four Cheese blend.  It’s pretty tasty and only $2.99 per jar.  Stir everything together + top with foil.  Bake in the oven for 30-45min until the pasta is cooked through.  I stir it up about 2 times during cooking to check on it and make sure it’s all getting cooked. 

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After it’s fully cooked, I top with cheese + broil at 500* for about 3-5min.  Our oven doesn’t actually have a “broil” setting, so I just bake it at 500* for a few more minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

So easy.  So delicious.  A crowd pleaser!

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With the rest of my leftover whole wheat pizza dough I made garlic knots!!  I tore chunks off and rolled them into a long strand and knotted them together.  I coated them with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano + basil.  I baked them at 350* for the last 10min the pasta cooked and then at 500* for the last few minutes as well.  SO yummy!

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This week has been pretty crazy for us.  Too many things to even get into, but we’re both looking forward to some R+R this weekend.  Aaaaaand Saturday is my 27th Birthday!!  I feel like 27 is a lot older than 26!  Eeeek!  I have always been a big birthday person.  Whether it’s mine or someone else’s, I just love birthdays.  Definitely keep your eye out for a fun post on Saturday ;)

Chris has a little something planned Saturday night but I’m not really sure what else we’re going to do.  I would really just like to go to the Boulder farmer’s market Saturday again and stroll around without thinking of my to-do list.  Wouldn’t that be so nice!  Pat + Natalie are having a 4th of July + Birthday Bash on Sunday, which will be super fun!  Wish my family could be here this weekend but at least we just had a nice long visit.

I’m off to bed.  I’ve been ravenous + sleepy ALL day.  Oh, but not before a little yoga!!  Gooooooodnight! 

Ashley