Hi FitFeat friends!
How goes your week so far? How did Thursday get here so quickly? My week has been a little out of whack. I went to work on Monday and then got hit in the afternoon with some sort of tummy bug that kept me from even being able to drive home! I had to call MSP to come and get me. Needless to say, I was mortified because it was my first day back to work after vacation and it made me feel like some sort of slacker/drama queen. So I went in on Tuesday to make up some of the lost time, and I feel like my routine has been goofed up since! And I keep mixing up the days. Yesterday morning I thought it was Tuesday. Last night, I fully expected to watch “Survivor” until MSP reminded me that it wasn’t Thursday night yet. Yikes, my brain seems to be stuck in vacation mode!
Since returning from our Vegas trip and eating all that amazing Italian food and spending so much time in “Venice”, I’ve been stuck in an Italian rut with this week’s eats! (There are worse ruts to be stuck in, wouldn’t you say?) 
1.) With this dish that seemed kind of ‘country Italian’ I heated a bit of coconut oil and minced garlic in a pan, then sauteed asparagus and mushrooms. Once both were tender I spiralized half of a zucchini into the pan, added about 1/3 small can of diced tomatoes (with only a bit of liquid) and some cannelini beans. I let that heat through until the beans and tomatoes were hot, then topped with some of my homegrown basil. It was SOOOOO good!!
2.) Then for a lunch a made an open-faced pizza sandwich but smearing some basil pesto onto a slice of Ezekial. Topped it with thin slices of roma tomato, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives and sundried tomatoes. FAST, SIMPLE and (as my cousin Kevin would say) “Gosh Darn Delicious!” 
3.) I had such a good time with dish number 1 above that I decided to expand on that idea for another night’s dinner. Again I started with coconut oil, adding asparagus and mushrooms. This time I thinly sliced the zucchini into rounds in lieu of spiralizing. I added diced tomatoes (with all the liquid this time), cannelini beans, artichoke hearts, and two spoons of basil pesto and let it heat through. Toward the end I threw in a big handful of spinach and continued to heat until the spinach wilted.
Then I plated it and topped it with just a dollop of herbed goat cheese. The pesto and the goat cheese totally made this dish! MAGNIFICO!!!
Just goes to show you don’t have to be a good cook (or follow a recipe) to throw together healthy, quick meals. Start with vegetables so that you are getting lots of “good-for-you” nutrients (and lower calories) and add in a few extra things you LOVE – and you can’t go wrong!
Have a TERRIFIC Thursday, blog buds!
Ciao!
– Shari B. =)
