Lauren Loves Good Food

I’ve been cursed with an ever-busy mind.  I seriously cannot turn my brain off.  Remember my New Year’s goal?  Be present. And the reason why I even made this goal is because I’m often thinking about other things and forget someone is trying to talk to me or that I’m in class and should be listening or that I should be sleeping and not dreaming of how I’ll top my oatmeal in the morning.

Recently, I’ve picked up yoga and while I can usually turn off my brain as I flow from pose to pose, once I get to that final savasana, I’m back to thinking about things I need to do after yoga is over.  <—Bad!

So how does this all relate to running?  Because running is the perfect time to let my mind wander.  To make lists of things I need to do, homework I need to finish, meals I need to cook.  Anything to distract myself from the fact that I’m on a treadmill in front of TV that won’t turn on and that a 6.0mph pace feels like a dead sprint even though it only a 10 minute/mile pace.  It’s no secret that I’ve been feeling quite unmotivated in terms of running but lately it’s been a wonderful release considering my thinking time has been limited by my devotion to being present, aka listening to someone when they’re talking to me, paying attention to lecture and just plain living in the moment.

That being said, I got in a great 4 mile run this morning that went a little something like this, hit it.

• 3 minutes of walking to warm up (3.5 mph)
• Reset the treadmill to 0 and run 1 mile (6 mph)
• Mile 2-4: .25 miles at 6 mph, .25 miles at 6.5 mph (9:13 minute/mile), .25 miles at 7 mph (8:34 minute/mile) and .25 miles at 6 mph
• Total of 4 miles in 39 minutes

Then I had time to shower and pack up some quiche making goodies before heading over to puppy-sit.

I buy Silk brand almond milk and they just came out with an ‘unsweetened’ version.  I was pretty sure I was already drinking unsweetened but I guess not?  I went ahead and used this unsweetened almond milk as the only liquid in my oats.  A whole 1.5 cups and 0 water, which resulted in some creamy deliciousness.

Sadly, the toppings weren’t particularly exciting and I only snapped one picture because someone was whining to be held…

Yes, I’m aware that there’s shadow covering half this bowl.  It happens.

Then I whipped up a pesto quiche (ever so slightly modified from (Never Home) Maker).

Crust Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance or butter
• 3 tablespoons almond milk or milk of your choice
  

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• 3 heaping tablespoons pesto
• 1 heaping tablespoon mustard
• 3 tablespoons cheese of your choice
• 2 tablespoons almond milk or milk of your choice
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• pepper and salt to taste
• drizzle of olive oil
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Add oats, flour and salt to a food processor and pulse 5x.
3. Add butter in chunks and pulse 10x.
4. Add milk and pulse until combined.
5. Either roll out your dough and place in a pie dish or go the lazy route and drop your dough in the dish and press it with your fingers till it fills the dish.
6. Bake crust 8 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, cut your onion, broccoli and bell pepper then steam broccoli to al dente and set aside to drain.
8. Add olive oil to a pan and sautee your onion and bell pepper until soft.
9. Whisk together remaining filling ingredients.
10. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Sprinkle crust with cheese then top with onions, bell pepper and broccoli, followed by the egg/pesto mixture.
11. Bake uncovered 35 minutes, or until egg is thoroughly cooked and your quiche begins to brown.

If I can do this one handed, anyone can do it.

And just like that, Wednesday night’s dinner was done by Tuesday morning.  Oh how I love getting things done ahead of time.  Feel free to call me an over achiever.

And now I can pay attention to my life instead of worrying about how I’m going to make dinner when I don’t get home from work until 7:30.

Other recent eats have included Emily’s Homemade Vegetable Masala Burgers.

A double batch to fuel us through the week.  What would I do without leftovers?

And ketchup?

With a side of roasted veggies and a salad as part of my take-to-work dinner.

I’m off to figure out what to do about my dwindling amount of remaining picture space!