Category: Dinner

Weekend Catch Up, Family Dinner, Lulu…

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Hello, hello!

How was your weekend? I really enjoyed my long weekend at home in Maine with my family! Saturday night we had a blast drinking wine and having lots of laughs. Mom always wants to know what I teach in my classes and when I showed her lunges, she wanted to show me what she does when she does lunges in class:

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Yes, she is doing the sign of the cross while lunging.  I nearly died with laughter when she showed me this.  Apparently all the Catholics in class really get a kick out of her when she does this. Haha, still laughing as I think back to that!

Anyway, Sunday we woke up to snowy, windy, COLD weather… yuck:( Mom and I went to church and then to the grocery store.  Hannaford had French Toast K-Cups- holy yum! That made the shopping process so much better!

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All my groceries for the week! Love that I can buy wine, on a Sunday at 10AM at the grocery store.

When we got home, we did lots of cooking- I made brownies and this and mom started to prep our dinner: Pork and Chicken Wellington, mashed butternut squash, fancy mashed potatoes and asparagus with roasted red peppers. Here are some pictures from the process… I wish I had a recipe for you, but neither mom or dad used one.

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While we prepped the food, a couple of my mom’s friends came over for happy hour- have I mentioned how much I love being home and with my family? I wish I made more time for “happy hours”.  We had a blast laughing and drinking delicious bubbly (what else?!) and snuggling sweet little Emma:

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I drove back down to MA relatively early today. I had to stop off at the Burlington Mall and clean the apartment before teaching tonight, so I wanted to make sure I had time for everything! I had too much fun at Lululemon… oops! I mean, the damage isn’t as bad since I get 15% off for my instructor discount, right? Shhh… that’s what I keep telling myself! Here are my goodies:

011I didn’t end up buying this water bottle, but I am totally obsessed with it.  Guilty pleasure: I love muffins. Donuts? Yuck! but muffins? I just love them so much! This water bottle is seriously perfect for me.

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I am home alone all week, except for my mom and cousin coming to spend the night tomorrow, so I spent a few hours deep cleaning. There is nothing better than a sparkly clean apartment!

012 013And, I finally did something I have been meaning to do for so so long:

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I FINALLY organized all of my workouts into a nice, organized binder:)  This makes me a happy, happy fitness instructor!

I was going to post my Dynamax workout tonight, but as this post is already ridiculously long (if you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU!), I’ll post that tomorrow!

Have a great week!

Butternut Squash, Kale and Goat Cheese Lasagna!

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Mmmm omgoodness was this delicious! I remembered reading something about a yummy lasagna over at Kath Eats Real Food, but when I was searching her blog, I couldn’t find the link. After some digging, I realized it was because I was typing in Butternut Squash lasagna and what I saw on her blog was Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Lasagna… duh! Anyway, since I had bought butternut squash and not pumpkin, I would just have to make substitutions- no big deal when cooking at the Gagnon’s!

I didn’t really follow a recipe, but here is what I ended up doing:

Ingredients:

  • Butternut squash (it was only about $.30 more to get the peeled and cubed butternut squash… no brainer there!)
  • Kale- about half of a bunch that they sell at the grocery store
  • 1- 3.5 oz. container of crumbled goat cheese
  • 3/4 cup Ricotta Cheese
  • 1 egg
  • Herbs/Seasoning: we used Italian seasoning, garlic pepper, salt, pepper and oregano-maybe 1/2-1 teaspoon of each
  • Shredded Fancy Blend cheese (about 3/4 of a cup)
  • Hodgson Mill Organic Whole Wheat Gourmet Lasagna Noodles with Milled Flax Seed (I used 5 sheets)

1. Steam butternut squash and mash once it is fully cooked.

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2. Steam kale- once the butternut squash was finished, I did a little switcheroo and used the same water/pan to steam the kale- bingo! time and dish saver!

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3. Cook noodles according to the back of the package.

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4. Mix together 1 egg, ricotta cheese and goat cheese crumbles.  Add in the herbs/seasonings of your choice.

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5. Once the noodles are finished cooking, spread a thin layer of the mashed butternut squash on the bottom of your dish. Place a layer of noodles next, and then more butternut squash.  From there, layer with kale and the egg/cheese mixture. Continue this with one more layer of squash, kale, egg/cheese and noodles. The final layer should just be squash, kale and the egg/cheese mixture.  Sprinkle some shredded cheese as the top and final layer.

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6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until it looks cooked.  I used my parents wood stove/cook stove, so I have no idea what the temperature was… ahhh, the joys of Maine living:)

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I served mine with a simple salad. I love meals like this because not only are they healthy, they reheat really well! Can’t wait to have this for leftovers this week:)  Enjoy!

Festive Treats and Yummy Eats!

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Good morning! Happy Hump Day!

I took advantage of my night off yesterday (they don’t happen often these days!) and got busy in the kitchen.  Perfect timing to make these adorable festive treats, if I do say so myself!

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Valentine Rice Crispy Treats!

I can’t say there is anything very healthy about these, but their cuteness makes up for that.  All I did was follow the directions on the back of the Rice Crispy box, except instead of using 6 cups of cereal, I only used 5.  What can I say? I like a gooeyer (is that a word?) Rice Crispy Treat!

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After the base of the Rice Crispy Treats was made, I added in some Valentine sprinkles and then spread the mixture on a greased piece of Saran wrap that I laid out on my counter.

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I patted down the mixture so it was thick- but not too thick- and then used some Valentine cookie cutters to make the festive shaped Rice Crispy Treats!  Super easy and super cute– how can you go wrong?

Now, I have to say that even though I had many nibbles of these treats while making them (what? they are ooey and gooey and I had no choice but to try bites here and there!), I decided I should make something substantial and a little healthier for dinner.  Enter: Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry in a Peanut Sauce, served atop Chinese Noodles and topped with Toasted Sesame Seeds!  Although I had a lot of pots and pans going, this meal was relatively quick and easy to assemble.  I didn’t really measure anything out, but here is a gist of what went down:

Directions

1. Toast the Sesame seeds according to the back of the jar- in an ungreased pan for a few minutes. NOTE- I read the directions quickly and thought they said “heavily greased pan” when in fact they said “heavy ungreased pan“… bad move, but luckily I caught it before it was too late!

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2. Remove the toasted Sesame seeds from the pan and add the chicken to that same pan. I cut mine into 1 inch cubes.  When the chicken is almost cooked all the way through, add the bag of frozen veggies to that same pan and turn the heat on low so that the veggies thaw and cook.

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3. While the chicken and veggies are cooking, get your noodle water boiling and start assembling your sauce.  Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, water, crushed garlic and red pepper flakes to a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the ingredients are mixed together.  At this point, the noodle water should be boiling, so add in the noodles and cook as directed (only about 3 minutes!).

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Once the chicken and veggies are cooked, add the peanut sauce and stir well so that everything is coated.  Drain the noodles and place a serving of them into a bowl, top with the chicken/veggies/peanut sauce and sprinkle some toasted Sesame seeds on top.

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oh WOW was this yummy! Definitely a nice change-up from my normal weekly meals.

Today is going to be another long day… teaching at 5:30 and 6:30 tonight… swing by the Central Square BSC if you’re around!

Question for you: Do you like to make festive treats for the holidays? Do you cook big meals during the week?