What Month is it?

In Minnesota for once it does not feel like November at all—more like September weather, which is nice, but I have a feeling we are just being spoiled and that all of a sudden Mother Nature will dump us with insurmountable amounts of snow—fingers crossed it’s the opposite!

Anyway, since it really is November, that means it’s Good Nutrition Month. So what does that mean? If you haven’t been paying as much attention as you should about what your putting in your body, here’s a little reminder to keep tabs on what your food can do for you! Splurges are necessary, but overall, we need to fuel up with good food to keep us all going strong, and fend of all these crazy illnesses floating around!

I figured in lieu of November being  Good Nutrition Month, I was glad all the recipes I made yesterday would qualify as good for you & good tasting! It left my mom and I with plenty of energy to power through the rest of our day. How are you going to become more aware of good nutrition this month? Maybe start by finding some healthy recipes here:

• My Recipes
• Ellie Krieger Healthy Appetite
• Hungry Girl

Of course breakfast is the first chance of the day to start off on the right foot—I’d say yesterday’s breakfast definitely did. I finally got around to making Brandi’s Pumpkin Stuffed French Toast with a few changes—drool worthy!

Ingredients:

• 2 slices bread, I used light
• 1/4 C canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp light brown sugar swirl cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbsp slice almonds
• 1/4 C SF apple pie filling
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp milk, I used Almond Breeze
• Syrup if desired

Directions:

• Mix egg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, vanilla, and milk together until blended and pour into a shallow bowl.
• In another bowl mix cream cheese, brown sugar, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin until thoroughly blended.
• Spread pumpkin mixture between 2 slices of bread and sandwich together.
• Spray skillet with cooking spray, dredge the sandwich in the egg/milk mixture and cook as you would French toast.
• Once browned, remove to plate and top with apple pie filling, a squirt of syrup, and top it off with almonds.

YUM!

Moving onto lunch, I decided on a really unique recipe that involved polenta because I have never tried it…

Ratatouille Bruschetta Bake

Adapted from here.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1/2 c)
• 1 medium bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 small unpeeled eggplant, diced (2 c)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced (1 c)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian, stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tube (16 oz) polenta, see below for what kind I used
• 2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 c finely shredded mozzarella cheese (3 oz)
• 1/2 c fresh baby spinach

Directions:

• Heat oven to 375ºF. Spray 12-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Cook onion and bell pepper in skillet 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in eggplant, zucchini, salt and pepper. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender. Stir in tomatoes, breaking up with spoon; reduce heat to low. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Spray rectangular baking dish, 11x7x1 1/2 inches, with cooking spray. Cut polenta into 1/4-inch slices. Arrange slices on bottom of dish, overlapping and cutting to fit where necessary. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Spoon vegetable mixture evenly over top.
• Cover and bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parsley. Bake uncovered about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

I used this polenta, and it was delicious!

After all of that hubbub, I needed to get my extensions changed up—four long hours later, I came out looking like this:

 

And not only did I have fresh new hair, I was mighty hungry and Subway was the closest, so I got my favorite Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki with every veggie under the sun.

Thank God tomorrow is Friday!