I am so proud of myself for eating an entire pound of the Costco-sized spinach container in a week!
Okay, so there’s only a tiny bit left.
How I “tricked” myself into eating this much spinach:
– I made a Green Monster Smoothie.
It takes copious amounts of spinach to make a green monster, so not only are they good for you, they taste great, and the taste of the banana covers up any spinach taste. Promise!
In this Green Monster, I actually added fresh ginger, which made the smoothie even more amazing!!
– I wilted the spinach.
It is crazy how “small” the spinach becomes when it is wilted. I literally took 4 handfuls of spinach that wilted into what appeared to be quite a small amount for three servings of my “Cheesy” Chickpea Quinoa and Spinach dish.
– I had a salad as a meal or as a side with almost every evening meal.
Some days this salad wasn’t even that large, but just adding it as a side to my meal only added in the amount of veggies I was eating every day!
I’ve really been trying to up my intake of vegetables this week. In the past, I’ve always eaten vegetables, but probably only about 2 servings a day. Now I’m working on getting a good 3, if not 4 servings each day.
I haven’t always been a huge vegetable fan–give me fruit over vegetables any day–however, I’m finding new ways to prepare them and learning to love them even more!
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Usually I only run 5 miles on Thursdays, but today I decided to do 6. I managed 6 miles this morning in 3 degree weather! Oh how I miss the warmer days of summer!! That’s pretty much all I thought about the entire 50 minutes I was running.
I incorporated some fartleks (translation: “play on speed”) into my workout when the roads weren’t too slippery.
Overall, I felt pretty decent. 🙂
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Tonight was a “fend for yourself” night.
This last Sunday, I made a pot of Mama Pea’s Spicy African Peanut Soup.
One word: AMAZING!
The flavors in this soup were so good!! Definitely a recipe I recommend trying. Plus, what’s not to love about the slow cooker!! 🙂
I also had some parsnip fries on the side.
If you have never tried parsnip fries, you must now! I was literally stuffing these bad boys into my mouth like they were French fries.
I mixed together the parsnip fries + olive oil + salt + cinnamon + paprika. Then I roasted them at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. 
I also had a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced tomatoes–yum!!
I’m relaxing for the rest of the evening to gear up for an intense day of teaching tomorrow. It is one of my busiest days of the week, and it’s Friday–when I’m already drained from the week.
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Question
What is your favorite vegetable?
the ginger made it amazing
I made that soup last week! So good!!
wow! i’m super proud of you too! i love green smooties. YUM!
Sweet potatoes! I’m a huge fan of this blog!
I’ll have to try the parsnip fries… Burgerville (have you heard of it?) makes seasonal sweet potato fries that are amazing, and these sound good, too!
Every time I read about your green monster smoothies, I think about trying one sometime, but I am not a big banana fan, so I still haven’t! Any suggestions for other flavors without banana?
We make this recipe for a snack quite a bit (Brett loves them), although it’s easier with frozen rather than fresh spinach: http://weelicious.com/2010/07/29/spinach-ricotta-bites/
I have heard of Burgerville. I know a lot of restaurants are serving up sweet potato fries, but as you could guess, not up here yet. 🙁
You might still want to give the green monster smoothie a try because there really isn’t a strong banana flavor either–especially if you only use 1/2 of a banana. (But then again you might be able to pick up on the flavor.) I am wondering if other fruits would work as well–berries or mangoes? It would be worth a shot! Or what about pumpkin??
kim
the banana isnt that bad, but you can sub with berries and/or yogurt that works to thicken it up too.
I would have to echo that the SWEET POTATO FRIES ARE AMAZING! You can make them yourself – just roast them like regular potatoes.
Does the onion count as a veggie? Caramelized onions. Godsend.
I love making sweet potato fries as well! I just wish I could figure out how to make them more crispy.
I always celebrate whenever I can finish an entire big bag of spinach in one week. It seems like once you open the bag, it all expands!! My favorite vegetables are probably zuchinni, squash or sweet potatoes.
I adore sweet potatoes, and roasted green beans!
I have a love/hate relationship with Fridays too. I’m excited that it’s the weekend, but then so worn down that I don’t get to enjoy it. It’s also the day we have data meetings usually, and that makes them more exhausting!
I just got a slow cooker for Christmas. That soup sounds yummy! I can’t wait to try it!