I don’t know what’s up with my sleep schedule lately, except that I don’t really have one. I remember a time when my body clock was set to wake up at 7am and I could wake up at 7am every day without an alarm clock. Although I’ve been really into having a flexible schedule lately, I miss those days. I’d like to work on establishing a regular wake-up/sleep time.
What time do you go to bed and wake up?
I went to bed last night around midnight and woke up at about 8:30am. I took the dog out and when I got back in, guess what was on TV? A hip hop work out class on FitTV! I love dance workouts and the timing seemed perfect since the show had literally just flipped on, so I decided to go for the class – in PJ’s and everything! I’ve been so unmotivated lately with working out that it felt good to finally do something active.
I was so proud of myself that I decided to treat myself with something I’ve been wanting to try for awhile now – steel cut oats. I got some of Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats last week.
I figured the steel cut oats would be a bit of a treat for me since time is so short during the work week mornings.
They were good, but I’m not sure I like them more than regular Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats. I cooked mine according to the package instructions, stirred 2 tbsp 2% milk and 1 tsp sugar into the oats, and topped everything with about 1 tsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 tsp pumpkin seeds, 1 tsp sunflower seeds, and a sprinkling of flax seed. I also add a spoon of organic PB on the side.
Served with a nice mug of hot, sweet, creamy coffee – perfection!
My friend, Dana, was coming over for lunch and I expected her at 1:30pm, so I relaxed a bit and watched a DVR’ed Heathy Appetite with Ellie Krieger. My slow pace quickly changed when I realized I had a text from Dana asking if she could swing by at 12:30 instead. It was 11:45am when I got that text. I had plans to go to the grocery store still, but now I had to throw together something from the pantry. I didn’t have any meat around, so I decided to make a veggie soup using pantry ingredients.
I used to make up soups all the time when I was a kid. They were my favorite thing to cook because they were so versatile and I could just raid my mom’s pantry and spice rack for all the ingredients.
Luckily, I had lots of good veggies on hand at the apartment – half an onion leftover from last night’s hash dinner, some celery, and some baby carrots. I also had some red potatoes and parsnips, so those got chopped up, too – you can hardly tell the difference between those two.
The soup worked up quickly, but had to simmer for awhile, so Dana and I hit up Target for a quick trip to look for bowls for my salad I’m making for later tonight.
I served the soup with a little parmesan and a slice of Great Harvest Dakota bread toasted with butter (and water). The soup was great! It was nice light and healthy and made lots so I’ll be able to freeze to enjoy later.
Luckily, the table still looked pretty with decorations from hubby’s b-day dinner, although some of the daisies did look a bit wilted. I still liked the colors, though. 
All in all, the soup and decor made for a great, easy lunch so we could catch up. Fun times!
Pantry Vegetable Soup
by Me
My Notes: Use whatever veggies you have on hand – fresh, frozen, and canned.
Ingredients:
- Half medium onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup baby carrots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 red potato
- 2 small parsnips
- 1 box (32 ounces) beef stock (or any flavor stock)
- 1 can chicken broth (or any flavor broth)
- 1 can of water (i.e. fill up broth can with water)
- 1 (14 1/2 ounce) diced tomatoes with juices
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 bay leaf
- Grated/shredded parmesan, optional
Directions:
Heat large pot to medium heat. Add olive oil to pot. Add carrots, onion, celery to pot and saute till onions translucent (about 5 minutes). Add can of tomatoes, box of beef broth, can of chicken broth, can of water, potato, parsnips, salt, pepper, herbes de provence, and bay leaf and bring pot to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add cannellini beans. Recover and simmer for 15 minutes more. Add peas. Turn heat off and let sit for a couple minutes so peas can warm through.
Serve in individual bowls and top with 1 tsp of parmesan with nice crusty bread.
