February in Review

February has flown by.  I know it's a short month, but I can't believe there are only two days left! The year already feels like its rushing by, so here are a few things I've loved in February:

A fresh and delicious brekkie:
softboiled egg with baby spinach on english muffin, tangelo, and strawberries

• Getting back into a routine of healthy eating.  After vacation (especially after picking up some South American tummy bugs), its always a welcome relief to get back to a routine and stock my fridge with some healthy grub.
• Attended  my 1st CrossFit class with some coworkers. One of my friends has been going regularly, and her gym had a bring your friends day.  I always have so much fun working out with my friends, and it was great to get out of our comfort zones (and a great workout too - I was sore for 3 days)!
• Playing Extreme Home Makeover w/ a good friend. Nothing like some weekday furniture moving in the rain to remind you how powerful refreshing your abode can be.  I've definitely got some revamps planned for my digs in the near future!
• Valentine's Day Dinner with my good friend Kat from college and a short but sweet Skype date w/ Mr Lincoln who's hard at work studying in Lima.
• Getting my first 10k of the season under my belt, and making great strides on my training for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler.
• Relaxing with our Kitty Stu, and the sweet heart shape of his paw pads.

Sweet <3 shapes found in my Kitty's paw

Reunited!

I saw a Sonic billboard today while running some last minute errands for Peru and told Mr. Lincoln we should grab a limeade. I didn't tell him it was 1.75 miles away, since that seemed to me to be a very small price to pay as there are no Sonics within an hour of DC!

A few minutes later, I was reunited with my lemon berry fruit slushy and it felt so good!!

Riding Out the Storm

Oh Sandy!!

Call it Frankenstorm, call it a blizzicane - either way Sandy has been wreaking havoc across the eastern seaboard since yesterday.  Here in the DC area, that means that Metro has been closed and nearly everyone seems to be off work.

Metro Remains closed through Tuesday AM

I'm lucky living downtown in that my power seems to be relatively reliable.  Cross my fingers, but I haven't lost power in the city yet (Take that Irene, derecho, and Sandy)! I know there will be some cleanup, but it feels good to be prepared.  Going about the prep in my little 1 bedroom made me feel grown-up in a way -  the plants had to come in off the balcony and be cordoned off from the cat, filled up water jugs, and had flash lights, lanterns, and candles at the ready.  Even though I'm nearly 30, I sometimes am surprised by my reaction: oh! I can do this myself, and I don't even need my parents!  Actually, I think my parents may have been a little disappointed that I didn't need them, since they called throughout the day just to check up on me (they're the best!).

The internet has really changed the way we deal with Mother Nature.  Facebook is entirely taken up with Frankenstorm posts - and mostly with my female friends posting about cleaning their apartments and baking.  All that inspiration and a little dose of restlessness left me hungry!  So off to Pinterest to finally try out some of those recipes I've pinned ages ago.  A blizzicane obviously calls for warm comforting soup - so I made a white bean and roasted garlic soup based on this recipe from Pease Pudding.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup

I used canned white cannellini beans, and roasted my own garlic.  There is nothing like the delicious rich smell of roasted garlic infusing the air in your apartment to instill a sense of calm while a hurricane rages outside.  I roasted mine in foil packets with a tiny bit of olive oil (and sopped up that oil with some bread after roasting!) I also included some of the thyme from my newly relocated plants.  Comforting, delicious, and pretty dang easy.  This will definitely go into the rotation.

Oven Roasted Garlic

Avocado Pesto Pasta

I work late. A lot. Like leaving the office at 8 - 8:30 regularly. When I'm getting home and its after 9:00, sometimes cooking a decent dinner seems like more than I can muster.  This dinner literally came together from the odds and ends of my refrigerator, inspired by a couple of different recipes I've seen on the internet (via Chef Chloe and Noriko Burky).  If you can imagine all the best aspects of pesto and guacamole, that's what this pasta was.  Light, creamy, filling, fresh, rich, fruity, salty, tangy - it was unexpectedly AMAZING.

Luckily, it's easily customizable depending on what you can scrounge together out the depths of your fridge at the end of a long day.  Here's what I came up with (but lets be honest - most of these measurements are approximations - start with this and see what tastes right to you!

Avocado Pesto Pasta
Adapted from Chef Chloe

1 serving pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
1/2 ripe avocado
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp grated parmesan
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp pesto (preferably homemade, or fresh pesto)
juice of 1/2 lime
1-2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook the pasta (don't forget to salt the water!).  While the pasta is cooking, grate the parmesan and combine it in a food processor with the avocado, garlic pesto and lime juice.  Pulse to combine.  Add enough EVOO so that the mixture becomes smooth and creamy (1 tsp to 1 tbsp should do it.)

As the pasta is just al dente, add the spinach and wilt (about 20 seconds in the pasta water.) Drain, and add the sauce mixture to the pasta.  The heat from the pasta will warm the sauce through - and dinner is served!

This was quite literally one of the most delicious dinners I've had, and it was so quick and easy, it will definitely be making it into heavy rotation around here.  Enjoy (and may I recommend a nice Chardonnay to accompany!)