One Sweaty Sunday

Well, another weekend is coming to a close. As always, the past few days have gone by quickly!

Lately it’s been warmer than usual in San Diego. 90 degrees and hotter is typical for a lot of places in the summer, but it feels pretty toasty here since I’m used to it constantly being my ideal temp – 75! I started off my Sunday sweating outdoors when I took Harley for a long walk to burn off some of her crazy puppy energy. She’s been really feeling the heat and tuckering out quickly, and by the end of our walk around the neighborhood trail, her tongue was out and she was ready to relax in the AC.

When we got home, I wanted to exercise and I did 2 workouts from Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred DVD. Her routines are no joke! About half an hour into it, Adam walked into the house and said, “Wow, you’re really sweating!” Why yes, yes I am. Mission accomplished! 🙂

Post living room workout, Adam and I headed to La Jolla for an afternoon at the beach. We went to a good surfing spot (he surfs, me not so much) I had never been to before, which was in a gorgeous area with elaborate homes and cliffs that people were parasailing near — hence the photo above. It was a nice hike from our car down to the beach, and my glutes definitely got a workout heading back up.

Usually on the beach in San Diego it feels nice and breezy, but today I was feeling hot. It was one of the rare occasions when I took a dip in the Pacific to cool off!

Moving onto food, this evening’s dinner was pasta primavera, a dish I enjoy making when I want to clear out any veggies from my kitchen that are nearing the end of their prime:

When throwing together a pasta primavera meal, you have a lot of choices as to what you feel like including.  Here are the basic guidelines I always follow:

#1 – Pick your veggies. For me tonight, this included broccoli and zucchini that were nearing their end, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, and spinach, along with some fresh basil to give it some pizazz. I usually adopt an “everything but the kitchen sink” mentality and include any veggies I have around.

#2 – Pick your pasta. Angel hair, penne, elbows, spaghetti, rigatoni… the possibilities are endless! Tonight I used whole grain farfalle.

#3 – Boil a pot of salted water and cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, chop all your veggies into bite sized pieces.

#4- Choose a sautéing liquid. To keep the calorie count low, I used white cooking wine. You can also opt to use any kind of oil or broth. Heat a bit of the liquid up, along with a few cloves of minced garlic (optional).  Saute veggies until softened, adding liquid in every so often once it absorbs.

#5 – Combine veggies and cooked pasta.

#6 – Season with whatever you wish — I added Italian seasoning and mixed up salt and pepper. Add some flavor with either a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and/or butter, and combine well.

#7 – Optional: Sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on top for added flavor.

It makes for an easy breezy, healthy and yummy meal!

I’m off to watch tonight’s episode of True Blood, so I’ll leave you with an awesome quote I recently came across:

In Heaven at Veggie Heaven

….and in hell in this NJ heat!

Okay, perhaps that’s a little bit melodramatic, but seriously, 100 degrees with awful humidity? Not my cup of tea. I’ve always gotten overheated easily, and living in San Diego has made me very SPOILED! Basically I’m melting right now, but moving on to my heavenly dinner last night…

In college, I became hooked on Veggie Heaven, an all-vegetarian Asian restaurant with a few locations. When I first saw it, I thought it didn’t look like anything special on the outside. I actually was reluctant to try it at all. What a perfect example this is of not judging a book by its cover, because this spot is awesome.

I’m a person who hardly ever orders take-out, but this place became a restaurant I picked up food from on a weekly basis. It’s that damn good. I’ve dragged all of my meat-eating friends and family (so, pretty much everyone I know besides my veggie sister!) there, and they all enjoy it too.

It’s become a place of memories really. My then boyfriend/now husband and I used to have date nights there while we were in school. It’s the place I had dinner at with my family after my college graduation. And last night, I got together with my girlfriends there.

The awesome part about Veggie Heaven is that it’s a healthier version of the Asian food you typically see. Their food has no MSG, artificial flavors or preservatives, saturated fat or cholesterol. It always seems like the vegetarian Chinese food dishes I get almost everywhere else are greasy and don’t sit well in my stomach. At Veggie Heaven, the noodles taste soft and fresh. The restaurant mimics real meat by using a blend of bean curd, taro root, wheat gluten, and veggies, and let me tell you, it is delicious! I wish there was one in San Diego, but since there’s not, I totally pigged out last night on all of this yumminess:

Appetizers 

vegetable spring rolls

steamed spinach dumplings

Entrees: “pork” fried rice, vegetable lo mein, General Tso’s “chicken” with brown rice, and (lots of) broccoli

It’s safe to say I ate enough food to get my temporary fix of Veggie Heaven! Plus I may or may not have had leftovers for breakfast this morning. 😉

I’m spending the last few days I have in NJ at my family’s shore house. Family, beach, boat, jet-ski, sangria… I’m looking forward to a relaxed weekend!