Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Dancin' Like It's 1985

Started the day off at Zumba.  I Zumba at the beach for free all summer and love that there are no mirrors.  At the gym, not so much.  Here is an accurate picture of me.

After the gym, Becky and I went to get coffee.  I got an iced Americano with pumpkin spice and a little soy milk.  It was very good.  I saw this coffee mug there which made me chuckle.

When I got home, I decided I better clean out my fridge since garbage day is tomorrow.  I threw away some old food and saw that I had some tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms that I needed to use before they spoiled.  

I had a bunch of tomatoes that I decided to cook up into a sauce.  It came out pretty good, considering it was the first time I did it.

Homemade Tomato Sauce
5-6 Tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. EVOO
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
about 1-2c. water


Heat pan on medium, adding the EVOO.  Dump in all of the ingredients and raise heat to high.  Let them cook, stirring every 10 minutes until boiling.  Reduce heat to simmer.  The water in the tomatoes will cook out, but you will have to start adding water little by little to suit your preference of how thick you want it.  Cook for 45-60 minutes until desired thickness.
Finished Sauce

I also decided to try and make a stuffed pepper soup.  I looked through my cookbooks and online for a recipe, but couldn't find anything.  I figured that I've made enough soups to throw something together.  

Stuffed Pepper  and Mushroom Soup
1 Tbsp. EVOO
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2-3 green peppers, diced
2 c. cooked brown rice
3 c. vegetable broth
2 c. mushrooms, diced
1 c. water

Heat a soup pot over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbsp. EVOO.
Chop an onion and garlic, add them to the pot and brown them. Then, add the diced up green peppers, the homemade tomato sauce, cooked brown rice, 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1 cup water.  Cook it on medium for half an hour. Add the mushrooms and then cook it another half an hour or until the peppers are softened.  



And, the big accomplishment of the day was that I finished the first pair of legwarmers!
Don't judge the colors too much since they are for an 80's costume.  They actually match the pants very well.

What are you going to be for Halloween?