Is It Friday Yet?

Good morning y’all!  I hope you guys had a fabulous Sunday 🙂  I loved my weekend so much that I’m counting down the days til the next one!

After breakfast yesterday we headed to church, where I was working with the kiddos (ages 3-5), playing games and reading stories.  This is such a fun age group, but they seriously just wear.me.out.  By the time we were done with church I was STARVING!  All I really wanted to do was go grab a burger, but since I’m not eating meat until Easter, I had to plan carefully!  We got home, and at that point I had decided to make some pasta with peas and spinach, and roasted brussels sprouts!

For the pasta I did whole wheat shells in a light bechamel sauce with wilted spinach and peas:

• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 cup non-fat milk
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 oz goat cheese or parmesan (whatever you prefer flavor-wise)
• 1 cup pasta (dry), cook according to box instructions

For the sauce:  melt butter over medium heat, whisk in flour to form a roux.  Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute over medium heat.  Stream in milk, and whisk in, stirring constantly.  Let simmer, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes, or until it starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon.  Turn off heat and stir in cheese, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  When cheese has melted, stir in the peas and spinach.  Finally, add the drained pasta to the mixture and stir until everything is even coated.  YUM!  I love how the nutmeg goes so well with all of the flavors in this dish 🙂

The brussels sprouts turned out well too:

I did these a little differently than I normally do, mainly because I didn’t have any mustard or Worchestershire sauce.  I just tossed them in 1 Tbsp olive oil, some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and 1/2 Tbsp of brown sugar.  Roasted at 350 for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through.  YUM!  The sugar caramelized and made the sprouts chewy/crunchy on the outside!  Delish 🙂

Last night for dinner we met Robbie & Stefanie at CB & Potts for dinner and some beers.  I started off with my favorite:  the Total Disorder Porter!

This is seriously my favorite beer…it’s smooth and has a really great balance of flavor!  Hopefully the boys’ beer turns out that good 🙂  Nate and I split the nachos, and he had the chicken on the side.

These were just OK…they kinda tasted really plain and there was nothing special.  The best part was the guac…TONS of cilantro!  At least we had a great time hanging out with our friends and just talking life 🙂

This morning I did OIAJ Round 2.  The first time I tried it, I didn’t stir the nut butter enough, so it was really dry and crumbly at the bottom…blech!  This time I tried microwaving the jar a little bit…and didn’t realize there was a TINY piece of foil left from the seal!  Sparks were going off and I kinda freaked 🙂  I then just put the jar under hot running water and let it warm a bit while I finished the oats:

The verdict for Round 2?  They were OK…I still don’t see what the big deal is, but it was certainly better than the last time!  I do think I had a little too much peanut butter (is there such a thing?) in there though, and I didn’t finish it because it was almost too rich.  When we pulled in to work I saw this little tree thing covered in snow and thought it was pretty, so here you go:

Can you believe it snowed for almost 2 whole days straight?  I was really hoping for work to be canceled today…but I guess 4 inches isn’t enough to do that 🙂

This morning I got up early and did Level 3 of 30-Day Shred.  Last night I was able to fit into a pair of my skinny jeans with some lunging and squatting, and they weren’t super comfortable, but THEY FIT!!!  I made a new goal that by March 16 (when my sister and her boyfriend come to visit) I want these skinny jeans to either fit perfectly out of the dryer, or be a little loose.  I think that’s definitely a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely), and with my current eating and workout regimen I should be able to get there.  Plus, Nate’s promised to help me…he’s such a studly husband 🙂

What are your SMART goals for the next month or two? In addition to my skinny jeans SMART goal, I would say that eating a large variety of veggies and fruits every day is another one.  Definitely doable since I’m not eating meat til Easter!