Workout Wednesday - T25 RESULTS

I DID IT!  

I completed all 10 weeks of the T25 workout program.  It was a mixture of highs and lows, nutritious meals and some treat meals.  In the end, I'm so glad I committed to it and achieved my goal.

What was that goal you ask?  To fit into my jeans more comfortably!  Not to be "skinny", not to lose 30 pounds, not to get a six pack.  I simply just wanted to feel comfortable in my jeans again. My size 6 jeans were starting to feel too tight and were not comfortable to sit in.  They had become "standing only" jeans.  You all know what I mean!  You have that pair of jeans, shorts, a dress, whatever it may be, that you know is good for standing only.  When you sit down, they get even tighter and you want to pop that top button.  Am I right?!

I do have a pair of size 8 jeans and took to wearing those more often.  When those started feeling tight I decided I had to do something.  I refused to buy size 10 jeans as I had thrown those away years ago.  Also, I'm budget conscious and I really didn't want to spend money on new jeans.  

I had connected with an old friend and she introduced me to the T25 program and Shakeology.  I was ready to go with the workouts (only 25 minutes a day!) but was skeptical about the shakes.  I like to EAT my meals, not drink them!  Well, at the end of it all, I am LOVING those shakes.  

I made one the other night and my husband tasted it because it just looked so good.  He said, "You're basically eating ice cream for dinner."  But I wasn't!  I was eating a nutrient dense shake, that I like to make really thick so I can eat it with a spoon.  It DID feel and taste like ice cream, except much healthier for you!

Armed with my T25 workout DVDs, my chocolate Shake-o, my accountability/challenge group for constant motivation and my desire to be able to SIT down in those dang size 6 jeans I was ready to go!

10 weeks later, I was done with my final workout!  And guess what??  Those size 6 jeans FIT...comfortably!  Even a little loose!  VICTORY WAS MINE!  

And guess what else?  I made it happen on my own.  I had motivation from my challenge group but I was the one who put in the hard work.  I was the one who stayed consistent.
I was the one who sweat through those workouts.  I was the one who put on those jeans and felt GOOD.

Honestly, there were plenty of days I didn't feel like working out or eating the veggies. There were days when I did eat some pizza or have a glass, or two, of wine.  I'm not on this journey to deprive myself or spend hours on exercise every day.  

I'm finding a balance that allows me to LIVE LIFE and also fit in my jeans along the way. 

I'm on this journey to feel healthy and know I'm treating my body the way it deserves to be treated. A wonderful result of this journey has also been to see how strong I am and what can result when you decide to commit to something and stay consistent, even with a few bumps along the way.

Look at those size 6 jeans now!

Spinach Swiss Turkey Burgers

I recently bought a cast iron skillet and have been going burger crazy with that thing.  In all the cooking shows I watch I always see these chefs use a cast iron skillet to sear their burgers or other meat and it always looks so delicious.  I had to get one for myself!

I don't eat red meat, but a turkey burger cooks just as well on the cast iron and let me tell you, this sucker was DELICIOUS!  And it was all inspired by a humble bag of nearly forgotten frozen spinach.  

It was one of those nights where I was trying to concoct a meal out of what I had in the house already.  I love when this comes together into something tasty that will definitely be making another appearance in our meal rotation.  Even better, this came together with less than 10 ingredients!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground turkey (I use 93% lean)
• 1 bag chopped frozen spinach, thawed with all the water squeezed out
• Swiss cheese, diced (I had leftover cubes of Swiss cheese and just diced them into small pieces.  I used about 1/4 cup but feel free to use more or less.)
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, sliced
• Balsamic vinegar
• EVOO
• S&P
• Garlic salt (approx. 1 Tbsp.)
• Burger buns (whatever kind you like - I had straight up classic white buns in the house so that's what I used here.)

Instructions:

• Pre-heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Drizzle with some EVOO.
• In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, Swiss cheese and spinach (make sure you squeeze out all the excess liquid!)
• Season with S&P and garlic salt.
• PRO TIP: You can start light on the seasonings, then cook off a teeny tiny quarter sized burger to taste for seasoning.  If you need more, add to the raw mixture.  If you're happy with the seasoning, move on to the next step.
• Form 4 burgers and add to the skillet all at once.  Cook approx. 6 minutes on one side before flipping.
• PRO TIP: If the burger doesn't pull up from the pan easily when you go to flip it, it's not time to flip it yet.  Give it another minute.
• Flip burgers and cook until 165 degrees in the middle.  Approx. 5 more minutes depending on thickness of your burgers.
• PRO TIP: If you're not used to cooking turkey burgers, you need to cook them ALL THE WAY.  There is no "medium rare" with ground turkey.  That burger's gotta be at 165 internal temp.
• While the burgers are cooking, heat a large skillet over medium with a drizzle of EVOO in the pan.
• Add your sliced onions, season with S&P and cook until soft and light brown in color.  
• Add a tablespoon or so of the balsamic vinegar and turn onions to low.
• When your burgers are done, slap those babies on a bun and top with the caramelized balsamic onions and enjoy!
• PRO TIP: No cheese needed on the top of the burger because you have melty Swiss cheese running through that whole thing.

You never know what tasty meal you might be able to cook up if you just take a little time to check out your pantry or a forgotten corner of the freezer and try something new.  Be creative!  Food doesn't need to be formal or serious or have a bunch of complicated ingredients.  Food can be fun, casual, messy and make you smile.  If a burger won't do that, I don't know what will! 

Workout Wednesday - When Allergies Attack

Whew!  That 5k on Sunday really did a number on my legs.  Any form of sitting down, standing up or walking hurts.  Clearly I exercised some muscles in a way that woke them up and made them fight back!

Maybe not the best timing since I am into my 10th and final week of the T25 Beachbody program.  I managed to limp through my workout on Monday but it was not my best effort.  I postponed yesterday's workout until my legs start to feel a little more normal.  I know I won't be able to do any squats, lunges, jumps, burpees, etc. to the best of my ability and I want to give it my all.  I'm listening to my body and taking a rest as needed.

Thankfully when I woke up this morning my legs were starting to feel back to normal. Still some tightness and soreness but they were feeling good enough to try my hand at a workout tonight.  Happily, I powered through yesterday's and today's scheduled workouts!  I still did some minor modification on certain moves (looking at you lunges and squats!) but I got through it and felt better for it.

You know what didn't feel better?  My massive allergy attack that started the minute I woke up this morning.  Sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes...the whole lovely package. Half my coworkers were in the same boat today.  The pollen counts around central Florida right now are off the charts.  Our office was a chorus of sneezes and sniffles today!

So, even though my legs felt better, my head and nose didn't feel so hot.  But a little runny nose wasn't going to stop me from getting my T25 done.  Behold....

Yep, that's me in all my allergy glory, with my hands free tissue method.  I couldn't deal with trying to workout out with a runny nose and holding a tissue in one hand was just getting in the way of certain exercise moves.  So, there ya go.  Big ol' tissue in the middle of my face for 25 minutes while I got my sweat on!

Not the cutest thing but it certainly made my husband laugh when he got home.  And, it helped me focus on my workout and not my dang allergies!  Hey, I'd call it a success.

My First 5k In Two Years

I was always one of those people that said, "I'm not a runner."  Then I started thinking some more about it.  What makes a runner really?  I always pictured someone who ran for fun, enjoyed the run, logged lots of miles during the week and even more on the weekends, someone who knew what shoes to wear, what to eat before and after a run, someone who could run a mile in a certain amount of time...the list goes on and on.

Then I realized, I could be a runner.  I just had to run.  That's it.  It didn't matter for how long, or how well, how quickly, or if I was wearing the top of the line running shoes or my one pair of sneakers I use for all my workouts.  Just putting one foot in front of another at a speed faster than walking...TA DA!  Running!  

With this mindset, I signed up for my 1st 5k in about two years.  I had been in somewhat of a running routine about two years ago but had fallen way out of that.  I didn't follow a training plan for this 5k, I just decided to do it.

The race was being held on the University of Central Florida's campus, my alma mater.  And it was being hosted by my sorority, Pi Beta Phi.  I figured if I was going to get up early on a Sunday and run, this was for as good a cause as any!

It was a 5k around campus, beginning and ending at the Pi Phi house (where I spent my 4 years of college...living in the house for 3 of those years.)  I had a playlist on my iPod, my trusty old sneakers on and I was off!  I wasn't trying to keep a certain pace.  I just wanted to finish in under 40 minutes.  I WAS keeping an eye out for those mile marker signs.  Am I getting closer??

Mile 1 appeared after about 9 minutes.  I surprised myself at that pace!  I slowed down on the 2nd mile but I did not stop to walk until after that 2nd mile.  Running 2 straight miles without stopping?!  Major personal accomplishment right there and I wasn't even done with the race yet!

Honestly, that last 1.1 mile was rough.  Part of me wanted to stop but a bigger part of me wanted to keep going and see what I was capable of.  With a few "power walk" breaks combined with running, I made it to the final stretch.  When I rounded that corner and saw the Pi Phi house and heard my sisters cheering, it helped propel me to that finish line. Even better, my husband was waiting at the finishing line, cheering me on.  I ran right towards that man and crossed the finish line in under 33 minutes.  

Whew!  That was a challenge but look what I did.  My whole body, especially my legs, are VERY sore today but I'll take it.  It's a reminder that I accomplished something great.

It's a reminder that, you know what?  I AM a runner!

Winn Dixie vs. Aldi - Part 2

As promised, here's Part 2 of my Winn Dixie vs. Aldi post.  This one focuses on comparing prices on about 40 items that I consider staples in our house.  The list also includes a few "extras"...items I may not always purchase but wanted to compare prices on for future use.

A few notes:

• These were the store prices as of 2/20/16 at my nearest locations.  They may be different at your location or vary week to week.
• The highlighted price for each product is the one that came in least expensive.
• If you don't shop by unit price, it's worth the couple extra seconds to compare this in store!  You'll see below not all items I compared were sold in the same size, so in order to figure out which one was the best deal, I had to compare unit price.

At a quick glance, you can see Aldi easily came in less expensive on almost all the items.  I would even spend the few extra pennies on the Aldi brand of peanut butter in order to get something organic with no sugar added.

For a closer look, let's take 10 items as an example of things that would always be on my grocery list.  Aldi comes in $8.14 cheaper.  That's a good savings!

You know what I could do with that extra $8.14?  Buy enough extra ingredients from Aldi to make at least two more servings of a meal, with leftovers of certain items to use in even more meals down the road.  

And the quinoa, salsa and chips would all have plenty leftover to store in the pantry or fridge to use at a later date for snacks or as part of another meal.

Added bonus...the "extra meal" above is a well balanced meal of protein, whole grains, good fat and vegetables (and vegan!)

So which grocery store wins?  For me, I would say it depends.  Aldi does have the vast majority of the items I shop for, and at a cheaper price overall.  But, Aldi does not have a Fuel Perks program for discounts on my gas, it is farther from my house and it doesn't have a Deli section for those times I like to pick up a rotisserie chicken or fresh sliced turkey.

Winn Dixie is much closer to me and it would be the winner if I just had to pick up a few items or if I was getting something on my way home from work/didn't feel like driving the extra miles to Aldi.  If I let my pantry supplies get very low and needed to stock up on a big list of items, I'd be heading to Aldi.

What do you think?  Have you shopped at these store before?

I hope this post was at least fun and informative for you and maybe even prompts you to venture outside of your grocery store comfort level and check out a new place!

Workout Wednesday - T25 Core Cardio

Happy Wednesday!  Who's having a hard time with Daylight Savings time?  I love this time of year because I treasure that extra daylight at the end of the day.  I have to say though, when my alarm went off this morning at 6:30am and there wasn't even a hint of sunshine out my window, it was rough getting out of bed.  I did it though and powered through my Workout Wednesday!

I think one of the main factors in helping me get out of bed, even when it was still dark outside, was the fact that I've created a routine for myself and stuck to a realistic goal of one early morning workout per week.  Any more than that and I think I would have given up on the idea of morning workouts already!

Other factors spurring me out of bed?

• It feels so GOOD to have my workout done before 8:00am.  I don't have to think about it the rest of the day and night.
• I only have a week and half left of the T25 program...about to close out those 10 weeks of work!
• I can see on the scale AND in the fit of my clothes that I have made progress in my weight loss.
• I just FEEL better overall when I get that workout done.

Today's workout was T25 Beta Core Cardio.  I like this one because you get an overall workout, with a focus on the core but without feeling like you're dying from an intense, ab focused routine.  There are a few minutes of a lunge progression that's pretty rough but I modified and still got my sweat on!  That's one of my favorite things about the Beachbody workouts...there are modifications for most of the moves and you don't feel like you're slacking if you modify a bit.  Trust me, you're still getting a workout!

If you're not an early morning exerciser, give it a try!  If you really can't do it, you don't have to stick with it but you might be surprised how good you feel starting your day off with a nice sweat.  Even better, you can come home and RELAX at the end of a long day.

Winn Dixie vs. Aldi - Part 1

You could say one of my hobbies is grocery shopping.  I love food and I love cooking so of course I love spending time in a grocery store.  I went to Whole Foods one time and spent a good 45 minutes just looking around.  I didn't buy anything because the prices are insane, but it was pretty to look at.  Which leads me to this post, which was mostly spurred by my curiosity about price differences between Winn Dixie and Aldi.

Winn Dixie has been my go to grocery store for several years now.  I was pulled in by the renovation of their Longwood, FL store which is super close to my house.  If you're familiar with Winn Dixie, you know their stores had kind of fallen into the less than desirable feel...not the greatest atmosphere inside.  They've recently re-done most of their stores and my WD is lovely.  The produce area, my favorite part, is bright, spacious and full of great selections.  

The other big draw that got me shopping at WD was their Fuel Perks program.  Each week, certain items are marked with Fuel Perks.  For example, for buying one bag of spinach, you could earn 5¢ off a gallon of gas.  There is no limit to the amount of Fuel Perks you can earn in one month, but they do start to expire at the end of each month if you don't use them.  And for every $50.00 you spend, you automatically get another 5¢ added onto your total off per gallon of gas.  I've spent as little as 28¢ per gallon of gas before!  This is good for up to 20 gallons of gas at Shell stations.  It's been a big help in regards to the gas budget.
PRO TIP: The wine and beer section usually has discounts up to 50¢ per gallon!  This past holiday season I racked up close to $2.00 off per gallon of gas thanks to the beer and wine purchases I made.

A third thing that drew me to WD was their customer reward card.  It's a free card you get that allows for automatic discounts on items, lets you load coupons directly onto the card and is the card you swipe at the gas station to get your Fuel Perks!

You can learn more about Winn Dixie HERE.

Needless to say, I'm a pretty loyal WD shopper for the reasons listed above, plus many more!  But I was intrigued by this Aldi option.  I had seen people post online about the great deals and heard friends talk about it, but to be honest, I had kind of a skeptical opinion about it.  Was it clean?  What was the selection like?  Were the items close to their expiration date?  These were sort of unfair assumptions since I had never been inside an Aldi before, so I decided to give it a try.  Mostly because I am always looking for ways to save on my grocery budget!

I went to their website to find the location nearest my house.  You can check if there's a location near you HERE.

Once I was on their website I learned a few quirks about how they manage to keep high quality products at a lower price than other stores.

First, I noticed that in order to get a shopping cart, you need to make sure you have a quarter!  They have a system in place that encourages people to return their carts and not leave them in the parking lot.  Return your shopping cart to the front of the store, get your quarter back!  I now have a quarter that lives in the cup holder of my car that I refer to as my "Aldi Quarter."

Second, they didn't accept credit cards.  Only cash or debit.  Although in looking at their website again, it does say they take major credit cards so maybe this has changed since I was there last?

Third, remember to bring your own bags!  They do have paper and plastic bags for sale if you forget your own.  The cashier places all your purchases directly back into your cart and there is a Bagging Area where you bag your own groceries after you check out.  This is actually kind of fun because, let's be honest, when does the person bagging your groceries ever do it exactly how you would like it?  I mean, come on...10 cans in one plastic bag!?  

There are several other ways that Aldi can cut costs and you can read about them on their website.

So, one day I decided to head into my local Aldi to see what the fuss was about.  I had a basic idea of what my "pantry" items cost me at WD and was surprised to see that Aldi had them for lower prices on most of the items!  Me being me, I decided to take this another step further and actually do a price comparison research trip.

I wrote down my basics that I always have on hand, or purchase often enough to be curious about the prices, and headed into both stores.  PRO TIP: Not all stores sell exactly the same size of an item.  If you're not reading the UNIT PRICE of items, please start!  Even if you only shop in one place, this trick will still save you money!  

Sneak Peek of Part 2 of this post!

Once I had my side by side comparison done, it was easy to see Aldi was coming in cheaper on many of my everyday items.  OK, fine, but what did their products taste like? Another way Aldi keeps their prices down is by stocking their own brand of products. You're not going to see many name brand items at Aldi.  

My next step was to actually purchase a variety of my most used items to see how they rated in the taste and quality department.  Note, I checked the expiration labels on everything and they were all as you would expect in any other grocery store.  Nothing that was about to go bad in 6 hours.

Got home and over the next few days I tried my Aldi milk, eggs, chicken stock, ground turkey, almond butter, tortilla chips and various produce.  I was pleased with it all!

Overall, my Aldi shopping experience was a great one and I am glad to have discovered it! This is not to say I am never shopping at WD again.  I do love those Fuel Perks and their produce section does have more variety.  And, you can't beat the location.  The WD is less than a mile from my house and Aldi is six miles away.  If I just need a few items, or I need something fresh from the deli department, WD is the winner.  If I have the time and I am going to stock up on essentials, the trip to Aldi is worth it.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this comparison.  I'll break down the costs of roughly 40 different products that I consider to be staples in our house and see which store comes out on top!

3 Ingredient Chocolate Shakeology Covered Strawberries

I was craving something sweet and didn't want to totally blow all the great progress I've been making in my healthy eating and weight loss.  I remembered someone in our challenge group posting about using chocolate Shakeology to make chocolate covered blueberries.  I decided to look this up and see how to make the chocolate sauce.

Turns out, not only is it super EASY but it's also super DELICIOUS!  

I had three containers of strawberries in my fridge (it's strawberry season again, yay!) and some bananas.  Both delicious when combined with chocolate and I knew those strawberries would get eaten much faster if they were covered in chocolate. 

Even better, this is another 3 Ingredient recipe.

• Chocolate Shakeology
• Coconut Oil
• Strawberries

And if you want to add another fruit to the mix, count that as ingredient #4.

Instructions:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Heat 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil over medium low heat.
• Add in 1 scoop of chocolate Shakeology and whisk or stir together until incorporated.
• Dip your strawberries into the chocolate sauce and place on the parchment lined baking sheet.
• Put into refrigerator to set (about 30 minutes if you can wait that long!)
• PRO TIP: Putting them in the freezer makes the chocolate set even faster which means you can eat them sooner!
• Enjoy!

Workout Wednesday - My FAVORITE Workout!

This morning I woke up EXCITED to press play on my T25 DVD!  You may be thinking, why are you excited to be up before 7:00am to sweat?!  Well, this morning's scheduled workout was my all time FAVORITE in the entire T25 program...Speed 2.0!

Now, it's not my favorite because it's easy, quite the opposite actually.  But I think part of why I love it so much is because I feel so AMAZING and PROUD when I complete it. I also love that it's so fast paced.  Those 25 minutes FLY by!

Here's a glimpse into what the last 90 seconds look like.  At this point in the routine, I've already completed these moves many times during the previous 23 minutes or so.  As the workout nears the end, you get to do ALL the moves for about 8 counts each before you reach the end.  It's actually quite FUN!

BONUS AWESOME OF THE DAY: Weighed myself and dropped 2.4 pounds in ONE WEEK!  This was with a combination of exercise (only 25 minutes a day), drinking my delicious Shakeology and an 80/20 balance of eating...80% healthy choices...20% indulgent choices.

3 Ingredient Green Pasta

This dinner came about on a busy weeknight.  It was another full day and I was looking for something super quick and super easy for dinner.  I came up with this three ingredient green pasta that it so easy it barely needs a recipe.  And oh my wow, was this DELICIOUS!! 

The catalyst for this meal was a jar of pesto I had in the fridge that needed to be used up within the next day or so.  I had no idea how much I liked pesto until I bought this jar and tried it.  YUM!

Next ingredient was pasta...whole wheat spaghetti to be exact.  Pesto + pasta = match made in heaven.

I decided to keep going with the GREEN theme and add some chopped spinach to the mix. Make it even healthier, right?

I promise this is so easy you won't even need to write down the instructions or a grocery list to make this yourself.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat spaghetti
• Pesto
• Spinach

See, really just 3 ingredients!

Instructions:

• Cook pasta, drain, add back to hot pot.
• Stir in pesto.
• Add chopped spinach.
• Enjoy!

That's truly it!  I did gild the lily a bit here and add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese but that's optional.

I cooked enough for leftovers but it was so tasty I wound up eating it all!  Oooops!  This was a pretty healthy meal too.  A bit of an indulgence with the pasta but it had a good mix of protein, fiber, vegetable, healthy fat and carbs.  This is definitely going into my wheelhouse of easy go to weeknight meals!

3 Ingredient Healthy Banana Oat Cookies

Good Morning!  On the weekends I tend to treat myself to these easy and delicious "cookies."  They are super simple and can be done with as little as three ingredients.  I added a couple more ingredients to this particular batch but that's the thing I love about this recipe, you can adapt it to whatever you like or whatever mood you're in!

I discovered the basic idea of this a couple years ago.  There are many versions of this type of cookie online but I wanted to share my own recipe here.  Feel free to experiment with your own flavor combinations! 

Ingredients (most basic version):

• 2 super ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup quick dry oats
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

For the batch pictured here I added in a small handful of chocolate chips and a pinch of cinnamon.

Instructions (same for basic version or with additional add ins):

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a bowl, mix together all ingredients.
• Scoop a spoonful of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
• PRO TIP: These are not like "normal" cookies.  They won't spread out or rise when you cook them so I kind of smush them down with my fingers into a cookie shape.
• Bake until the edges just start to get brown, approx. 15 minutes.  
• PRO TIP: I've always messed with the cook time.  Sometimes I don't have the patience for 15 minutes or sometimes I add too much banana and I let them cook longer so they're not as mushy.  You'll find a sweet spot that works for you in regards to the bake time.

These are best enjoyed right out of the oven but I usually make enough for leftovers that I use for snacks or a quick breakfast the next day.  I store my extra cookies in a zip top bag and just keep them on the counter.  They never last in our house for more than a day or two as I've usually eaten them quickly!

PRO TIP: I microwave the leftover cookies for about 10-15 seconds when I'm ready to eat them to get them warm again.

Added bonus...these make the whole kitchen smell DELICIOUS while they are baking!

Workout Wednesday - Stanley

I succeeded in TWO days in a row of getting early morning workouts done before work...yay!  I love measuring health and wellness progress in ways other than the scale. So many other changes happen when you commit to changing your lifestyle and living in a more healthful way.  I count having the energy and drive to get up before 7:00am and workout as one of those!

Wednesday's workout was another round of the Rip'T Circuit I mentioned last week. I've noticed that my stamina and strength are increasing and I don't need to take as many breaks during the routine as I did 6 weeks ago.  Another great indicator of progress!

I have also discovered my new favorite workout buddy who I affectionately refer to as Stanley.

This is a small but mighty fan that I bought at True Value.  My parents have one and I was impressed with the air it moved around and how it helped them keep their boat cool (my parents live on a boat!)  I had originally bought this for our house to keep my husband's computer room cool, especially in the summer.

One day I was about to start my workout and I decided to try using Stanley during the routine.  Oh my gosh!  What had I been missing?!  Even though my workouts are only 25 minutes, you get some serious SWEAT happening, especially in the cardio heavy routines. I stood right in the path of Stanley's breeze during my entire routine and it felt amazing!  I swear it even made it feel easier/quicker (?!) because I wasn't distracted by sweating so much.

Dear Stanley now joins me for all my living room workouts.  He's a great workout buddy!

Roasted Tomato Galette

This dinner was a happy experiment gone right.  I had a lonely pie crust hanging out in the back of my fridge that had been there for a couple months.  I knew I wanted to use it up but I couldn't decide how.  I wanted to do something other than a sweet pie.

Fast forward to the Sunday farmer's market and the gorgeous rainbow of tomatoes they had available.  Red, yellow and green!  I knew I had to use them and decided the pie crust would be the perfect base for this meal.

I bought those beauties from the farmer's market and headed home, excited to cook!  I knew I had the pie crust but what else could I use?  I had never made a galette before but have seen various versions made on the Food Network.  I loved how they were a "fancy fake out."  Looks super impressive but it is actually very easy!

Back to the pantry...what else could I use?  The onions were eyeing me from the counter..."caramelize us!" they seemed to be shouting.  OK, I will!  Onions are so delicious when they are cooked low and slow and get all golden and sweet.

Pie crust, tomatoes and onions - check.  Oh!  I had a tiny bit of garlic herb soft cheese in the fridge as well.  Sounds like a perfect addition to this concoction.   A quick Google search later to get a rough idea of cook time and temp and I was ready to go!

I loved this meal for a few reasons:

• It had a pizza smell, taste and feel.
• It was less than 10 ingredients.
• Super simple and very tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1 refrigerated pie dough
• 2-3 tomatoes (any color you like), sliced
• 2 onions, sliced
• Garlic herb cheese, several dollops
• Thyme
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped or grated
• EVOO
• S&P

Yummy onions!

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a pan on the stove top, add a couple of turns of EVOO over medium heat. Add your sliced onions and garlic to the pan and season with S&P.  Cook low and slow, stirring occasionally until deep golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.  
• Meanwhile, lay your pie crust on a baking sheet (use parchment paper for easy clean up).
• Once your onions are done, spread them onto the pie dough, leaving about an inch or two border.
• Add your herb cheese dollops.
• Add your sliced tomatoes and season with S&P.
• Sprinkle some thyme over everything.
• Fold the edges of the pie crust over and top the tomatoes with a few more dollops of cheese.
• Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is golden, about 25 minutes.
• Remove from oven and drizzle with some EVOO for added tastiness (optional).

ENJOY!