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Got a new favorite lunchies! It’s quick, easy, nutritious and pretty dang tasty, if I do say so myself.

I can’t take all the credit, though. I liberated a recipe that I saw on eatyourselfskinny.com, which I originally wanted to try because it had kale in it, and I’m still trying to like kale….but I ended up tweaking it, LOL! My version doesn’t have kale in it.

Yeah, the whole me trying to love kale thing? It’s not going well, but that leads me to one of the joys of cooking –substitutions. 🙂

This serves one person, by the way, and cooks up in a flash, so you’ll want to start by gathering your ingredients and having them prepped and ready.

Here’s what you’ll need…

• 1 tbsp olive oil (or you can use an olive oil spray, but I like to add a little healthy fat so that the meal sustains me for longer than 10 minutes)
• 2-3 minced cloves
• 4 cups of fresh spinach
• 1 cup of cooked brown rice (or a 1/2 cup, depending on how hungry you are; I use Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Rice, which is in the frozen section)
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan
• 1 egg

Start by warming the tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick skillet, then add your garlic. Cook until the garlic turns fragrantly golden… On my electric stove, this takes about three minutes. Watch it carefully, though, because you don’t want to burn the garlic (it’ll get bitter).

In a separate pot, cook the brown rice.

Next, toss in the cooked brown rice, and stir to mix it in with the olive oil and garlic.

Then mix in the spinach, and cook until it’s about halfway wilted.

Next, mix in the grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs, and cook until the cheese gets melty and the spinach fully wilts.

Be careful not to overcook the spinach, because that’s no fun, and place in your serving bowl.

You could can have it right like that, but I like to top it off with an egg over easy that’s been lightly dusted with a pinch of salt. Not too much salt because Parmesan is already pretty salty.

If the egg doesn’t sound like your thing, you could substitute it with tofu, tempeh, chicken, fish, beef, whatever you’re in the mood for.

Last, but certainly not least, dig in! 🙂 It’s nom time.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Have you happened upon any healthy new recipes lately? Inquiring/hungry minds want to know.

Connor’s first birthday lasagna was a smash super hit! Of course, I’m exhausted from all the festivities (hosting is fun but tiring, am I right?!), but it was all worth it.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Even though I think love should be celebrated every day, I don’t mind that February 14 is the designated day to say, “Hey, love! ??? You’re pretty awesome.”

I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day with Ms. Connor Claire, who’s dressed in head-to-toe hearts for the occasion, and her big brother Tabs, of course. Later tonight, El Hub will pick up dinner on his way home, because I’m craving Puerto Rican food… Nothing says “I love you” like fried ? plantains, LOL!

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Soup is one of those things that seems (to me) like it would be hard to make, but when you really get down to it, it’s basically just throwing a bunch of stuff into a pot, mixing it around and waiting.

It’s not that hard! It’s kind of like smoky eyes. A little bit of practice, and you start to figure out how the pieces fit together. Then it’s not that hard to execute.

Soup is my favorite thing to eat when I’m feeling under the weather (I’m still getting over that cold), and I made this chickpea tomato soup last night from a recipe on skinnytaste.com. It turned out SO delicious. I can’t wait to make it again, but I think I’m going to double everything and make twice as much. Then I’ll freeze the extra.

It was kind of a last-minute decision, and I didn’t have the fresh herbs, so I substituted them for dry herbs from my cupboard.

I used my new Dutch oven (got it from Target last month), and I freakin’ love that thing. How did I make it this long without a Dutch oven??

This is basically the same as the recipe on Skinnytaste, but I started by warming a teaspoon of olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Then I dropped in the chopped celery, carrots, onion (I used shallots because I had them) and garlic and cooked until they got nice and soft.

Then I poured in the broth and made a point of scraping up any bits of veggies that got stuck to the bottom of the pan, because it would add flavor to the soup.

After the broth, I added two cans of chickpeas (drained and washed), a big can of diced tomatoes (I think the original recipe listed crushed tomatoes, but I had diced), Parmesan and the herbs. I stirred it all together, then put the top on the pot and let it cook on low for 30 minutes.

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Our little coywolf isn’t so little anymore. Was there really a time when I could put her on a blanket, and take pictures of her while she sat and smiled cutely?? Now, I gotta chase this child down to grab a couple shots!

She’s about 10 months old now and spends most of her days playing xylophone music, redecorating and doing baby laps inside her play area, when she isn’t tilling the carpet fields behind her baby walker. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen