Banana Blueberry Oatmeal

I woke up this morning craving something hearty to start my day.  I saw a lone banana sitting on the kitchen counter about to go bad and decided I would do some banana oatmeal for breakfast.  This is one of my go to breakfast options, especially when it's feeling cooler this time of year (although here in central Florida, we're still waiting for the cool weather to take hold and stick around for more than a day!)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 1 cup fat free milk - Feel free to use whatever milk you prefer here
• 1 oz. walnuts
• TIP: Nuts have oil and oil spoils.  Keep you nuts in the freezer to make them last longer
• Dash of cinnamon
• Dash of vanilla extract
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 tbsp. chocolate Shakeology

Preparation:

• Mix oats and cinnamon together in a bowl, then add the milk and stir.  Microwave according to how you like your oatmeal.  I like mine to come out slightly runny with a little milk left in the bowl.  About 1 minute and 15 seconds on my microwave.
• Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat.  Stir them around and keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.  I toasted mine for about 5 minutes.
• When the oatmeal comes out of the microwave, stir in a dash of vanilla
• Chop the toasted walnuts
• Top your oatmeal with the banana slices, chopped walnuts and blueberries.  I used frozen ones today since we're done with fresh blueberry season.  
• TIP: My frozen blueberries are actually fresh ones I bought during the summer when they were bountiful and on sale.  I froze them and use them throughout the fall and winter months when blueberries are not available fresh.
• Just for fun and for some chocolate taste, I added about a tbsp. of Shakeology to my toppings this morning.

This is a great start to my morning and gives me the energy I need to tackle a Monday.  

Have a great week!

Butternut Baked Pasta

I saw this recipe on the Rachael Ray Show recently and knew I had to make it!  It has several delicious components to it....

• Brown butter
• Pasta
• Ricotta cheese
• Butternut squash
• Garlic

I am IN!  Also, the recipe was so easy to follow when I watched Rachael do it that it was easy enough for me to remember the ingredients and steps without having to actually follow the recipe.  I love meals like that.  For those of you that want to see how Rachael did it, click here.

I loosely followed the same process but used hot turkey sausage instead of the sweet pork sausage.  I also omitted the fennel seeds/pollen because I didn't have any and couldn't imagine a time I would use it again in the near future.  Saved myself some bucks at the grocery store!  I did use a whole wheat penne pasta instead of white pasta as well.  

This is a perfect fall meal since butternut squash is in season and is one of my favorite squash varieties.  I've gotten away from eating much pasta these days but I had to indulge myself for this one.

Doesn't this look delicious????

My ingredients:

• 1 small or medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise 
• Olive oil, for drizzling plus about 1 tablespoon  
• Salt and pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste (I didn't have/want to buy fresh so I used the ground nutmeg I had in my spice cabinet.)
• 1 pound ricotta
• 1 pound whole wheat penne
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 20 leaves fresh sage 
• 1 pound hot Italian turkey sausage
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preparation:

I followed the same preparation as Rachael

So this photo from my phone doesn't quite do it justice but let me tell you, this was delicious!  My husband wasn't as big a fan as I was but that's OK....more for me!  

Confession: I had this for breakfast the next morning.

Green + Orange + Yellow = Lunch

  Today's lunch was inspired by the what-do-I-need-to-use-up game.  I had brussels sprouts in the fridge that were about to go bad so I started there.  I added a lonely sweet potato that was hanging out on the kitchen counter by himself.  Then I wanted more color so I decided a can of corn would go well with the mix.  It turned into this lovely plate of vegetables for a easy weekday lunch.

• Chop brussels sprouts and sweet potato into roughly equal sizes.  
• Toss with EVOO, S&P, onion powder and garlic salt.  
• Roast in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  
• Then turn broiler to high for about 3 minutes to crisp up the edges and get that yummy brown color.

Meanwhile....

• A drizzle of EVOO into a pan on the stove top.  
• Add one can of corn, season with S&P.
• I added one clove of garlic.
• Warm through and add a bit of fresh basil at the end.

You can serve it just like this but on this day I happened to have some leftover honey Dijon sauce I had made a couple nights before so I added that to the plate as well.

Farmer's Market Inspiration - Fall Edition

Today's Lunch....

I went to a local farmer's market this past Sunday and was inspired by one of my favorite fall finds....butternut squash.  I made this meat free meal for lunch today and even my husband who was a bit wary of the butternut squash loved the meal (he had seconds!)

There is barely a recipe to this one it was so easy!  

• Preheat oven to 400.  Chop up potatoes and squash in similar sizes, toass with some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), salt, pepper and garlic salt.  Roast under tender, about 25 minutes.  Then I turn the broiler on and let them go another 5 minutes or so until they get those yummy brown edges.
• Meanwhile, in a pan on the stove over medium heat, caramelize one large onion, seasoned with S&P
• After I finished the onions, I remove them from the pan and put the black beans (one can, rinsed) into the same pan I cooked the onions in.  Season with S&P and warm through....just a few minutes.
• Serve all together and top with some fresh parm cheese if you like.
• This was delicious the next day as a breakfast "hash" with a fried egg on top!