Saturday by the Numbers
This post is about Saturday. Don’t let me confuse you, today is in fact Sunday. You should be doing homework, or moaning and groaning about having to go back to work tomorrow. But there’s nothing wrong with reminiscing about the relaxing day you had yesterday. And there’s nothing wrong with writing about Saturday, even though it’s Sunday. Or at least I keep telling myself that.
I could simply post about the random happenings of my day yesterday, but I’m an English major and we like to organize our writing (hello, 5 paragraph essay, you were the bane of my high school existence), so without further adieu, I give you my day by the numbers.
1 – The number of real meals I saw Joey eat as of 5 PM.
Actually I didn’t see it, but I assume he wasn’t lying when he said he had last night’s leftover risotto.
This will change by the end of this post.
2 – The number of times I showered.
Refer to numbers 3 and 4 for an explanation.
3 – The number of times I pampered myself.
Massage, manicure, oh and overnight oats for breakfast total counts as pampering.
4 – The number of miles Joey and I covered in our morning run.
Sidenote: While running, Joey told me that his first mile during his solo run on Friday was a 7:30 min./mile then the Garmin alerts me that we just finished our first mile in 10 minutes. Sorry to slow you down, Boo. Actually I’m not, slow running > fast.
5 – The number of times I thought about doing homework, but didn’t. Oops.
Also, the number of dollars I had left after my afternoon of pampering. Double oops.
6 – The number of individual pizza doughs I made today.
I could pretend there’s something special about this yeast, but really I was just admiring my nails again.
Note to self: stop yelling at Joey for piling stuff on my “photography station,” because I apparently do it too.
Enough with the numbers, what did I do with that dough.
Margherita Pizza (for two)
- 2 individual pizza dough crusts (from this recipe)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 heirloom tomatoes
- 1 ball of fresh mozzarella
- 10 basil leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Roll out two doughs/crusts.
- Mix olive oil with garlic and brush onto doughs.
- Slice tomatoes and mozzarella and layer onto doughs.
- Cook for 17 minutes or until dough is golden.
- Top with basil, salt and pepper and enjoy.
I’m a sucker for anything white, cheesy and glowing. Joey must be too because that’s pretty much a description of me.
I’m also a sucker for free mozzarella, basil and tomatoes. Thanks, Mom 
Joey proceeded to eat his doughs off of the baking sheet I cooked it on. Told you he’d eat another real meal by the end of this post.
Okay, you caught me, I just wanted an excuse to say ‘doughs’ one more time. I don’t know why I think that word is funny, but I do.
Speaking of funny, watch this video. I love John Mayer.
Nuff said.
The Difference an Egg Makes
Or does it?
Lately, I’ve been in the habit of adding an egg white to my oatmeal. Why? So I can further increase my cholesterol level, of course.
Kidding. I’ve heard egg whites turn regular oatmeal into a creamy dreamy delight. Okay, maybe those exact words weren’t used but you get the point.
I’ve been loving on this egg-y technique all week (ooh, rhyming!), but it occurred to me that maybe the egg white wasn’t making my oatmeal fluffier or creamier and so what if those two words mean the same thing, I can use both if I want.
The only way to know for sure was to do a side by side comparison.
Pre egg whitage.
Post egg whitage.
I have to be honest folks, I’m not seeing much of a difference here.
Gah, and I was so sure it was making a difference! This is what we call the placebo effect.
But we all know the toppings are the important part anyways.
This week my sister asked me, “How do you decide what to put on your oats? I have a hard enough time picking out what socks to wear.”
Maybe that’s why she missed the bus today.
Anyways, dear sister, who says you have to pick and choose? I just put it all 
And the most important element is the tiny spoon, of course. P.S. are you loving the bright colors going on in these pictures? I am, very Spring-ish.
Things to do this weekend:
- Trivia
- Return half the clothes I bought yesterday…
- Get a massage
- LOTS of paper writing/editing
- Breakfast with my long lost brother and SIL (it’s been too long!)
Have a good one, friends!
Sweet Potato, Chard, Goat Cheese Tart
Ah, how I love the smell of caramelized onions in the morning. Tuesdays are my official “Get As Much Done as Humanely Possible” days and despite the fact that I don’t have class until 2 PM and I always think it will be entirely feasible to eat, work out, cook, photograph, blog, study, read, etc. it usually doesn’t work out that way. This week I took a different approach.
Alarm set for 9 AM (yeah, like that was going to happen, right?)
No pressure to work out – if it fits in it fits in, if not oh well
Fun new recipe involving almond flour and roasting of sweet potatoes, aka time to study while potatoes are a’roasting.
Now that’s a plan I can work with. I even managed to fit in a quick trip to bring Joey his spare keys. Let this be a lesson to you all, lack of sleep leads to silly mistakes like locking your keys in your car.
On to the recipe.
I finally found a use for that almond meal left over from my almond milk endeavors! Tart crust, of course. And not just any tart, a sweet potato, chard and goat cheese tart. Because getting rid of almond meal is okay, but doing so and using up 2 of the 6 sweet potatoes lurking in my kitchen is great.
Sweet Potato, Chard and Goat Cheese Tart
Almond Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal (or flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup safflower oil
- 1 tablespoon water
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine almond meal, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together oil and water.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until well combined.
- Empty “dough” into a 9 1/2” deep pie dish and press to cover the bottom and sides of the dish.
- Bake crust for 12-15 minutes or until just starting to brown. **You don’t want to cook it too long because it will be going back in the oven again later!
Sweet Potato, Chard and Goat Cheese Filling:
- 2 medium sized sweet potatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided)
- 1 medium red onion, sliced
- salt
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (divided)
- 1 bunch chard, stems removed, chopped
- 2 oz. goat cheese
- 2 eggs
**I used rainbow chard but you could use whatever kind you want.
- While the oven is on for the crust, wash, poke and place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until soft (40-50 minutes).
- While sweet potatoes are roasting, slice onion and add to a pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook onions until soft and caramelized (7-10 minutes) then add 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and cook 2 minutes or until liquid is cooked out.
- Remove onions from pan and replace with chard, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt. Cook until chard is wilted (about 5 minutes) then add remaining 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and cook until liquid is cooked out.
- Transfer chard to a large bowl. Add sweet potatoes and 1 oz. cheese and mix to combine. Mix in eggs.
- Transfer mixture to almond crust-filled pie dish.
- Top with remaining 1 oz. cheese and bake 20 minutes.
- Add onions and bake for another 7-10 minutes or until onions are heated.
This exceeded my expectations. I was partial to the slightly sweet almond-y crust, but the mixture of sweet potato, chard and cheese was lovely as well. Sometimes I forget how good caramelized onions are and who can resist that purple color?
I’m off to study, friends. Have a good one!
Lauren Loves Good Food 