Back on the Wagon

I'm heading to a new Zumba class tonight with my friend Ellen at Planet Dance & Fitness in Chelmsford. I'm hoping that it is more entertaining/engaging than the other class I was taking. Planet Dance has class on Monday & Wednesday nights (which works in my schedule PERFECTLY) and it's close to me, Ellen and Carissa so we can all go together. I might not have planned to go tonight if it weren't for Ellen. Friends are awesome wing-people for exercise! Supposedly Planet Dance has "club" lighting and disco balls. That sounds more "entertaining" and less "jazzercise" right? We shall see. Oooh I just found that they offer yoga too on sunday mornings (which would fit in before church in Lowell...)

I had some honey nut cheerios for breakfast this morning. I made some tri-color tomato salad (olive oil, garlic & salt) for lunch (and ate some tomato this morning with a piece of hand-made mozzarella from Fiore di Nonno of Somerville). So, back to lunch... I have the tomato salad (with cherokee purple, sun gold, and green zebra tomatoes from Stillman's Farm of New Braintree), and stuffed grape leaves from Samira's Homemade of Belmont.

I have to pick up my CSA share today to see what fun stuff I can do with it. I saw that someone had posted on Farmer Dave's facebook page that they got "husk cherry tomatoes". These have piqued my interest. I hope I get some. Anyways, I still have a bunch of stuff left over from last week so I'm going to try to get through that stuff first. Starting with dinner tonight (after Zumba...when I'm going to be exhausted... oh well).

Tonight's Dinner:

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, courtesy of Beth W. over at Our Days in the City.

1 part quinoa
2 parts water
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
corn from 2 ears of corn, fresh
2-3 cloves minced garlic
cumin, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
bunch spinach, chopped
bell pepper (i may also stuff a big cubanelle that I have as well)
small onion, or 1/2 of large/medium onion
white wine
feta cheese


1. Cook quinoa in ratio of 1 part quinoa and 2 parts water or low sodium broth

2. Saute jalapeno & green onions until just wilted

3. Add corn, spinach, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and heat the mixture until the spinach began to wilt.

4. Slice bell peppers open, remove seeds and membranes and boil in 1 inch of water until they get tender.

5. Drain the quinoa and add to the sauteed mixture and mix well.

6. After mixture is cooled mixed in feta cheese.

7. While mixture is cooling, saute some sliced onions in a little oil and some white wine.

8. Put the onions in the bottom of a square baking dish, place the peppers on top and fill them with the quinoa mixture.

9. Bake at 400 for 25 minutes

Baked Kale Chips, courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.