healthy laps

Fall is easily my favorite season.  The crisp, cool air makes me want to be outside!  It reminds me of apple picking, pumpkins, falling leaves, running, big sweaters, oatmeal and cinnamon.  It is not too hot or too cold.  It’s perfect!

This morning was perfect running weather.  I was a little chilly when I started out in my capris and long sleeved shirt, but I quickly warmed up and found my rhythm.  Once home, my condo was filled with the aroma of my fall inspired oats!

Mmmmm….

Last night, I prepped my rice cooker by adding the following:

• 1/4 steel cut oats
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 apple, diced
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• shake of nutmeg
• 1/4 cup chopped raisins

It smelled amazing and tasted even better!

Topped with coconut butter and chopped pecans.

It was a perfect fall breakfast.

For lunch, I packed a random grouping of things…that actually made a healthy lunch!  (It tasted good too.)

Tuna fish (made with greek yogurt, honey + dijon mustard, celery seeds), eggplant bacon, tabouli and blue corn chips.

The eggplant bacon and corn chips made excellent scoopers!

Snacks today included grapes, a banana and a larabar – love this flavor!

When dinner time came around, I was more than ready to make a home cooked meal!  It has been weeks since I have made something other than panini’s, pasta, oatmeal, frozen burritos and other simple meals.

Tonight, I brought up my favorite website, 101cookbooks.com, and searched for butternut squash recipes.  I came up with something that sounded great and was very quick to make.

Almost Cheeseless Pasta Casserole (see recipe and instructions here)

I only made a few substitutions: added a mix of kale and spinach, added 1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese, omitted olives.  Everything else turned out wonderfully!

I chopped up my CSA butternut squash.

Made the yogurt sauce.

And, oiled and zested the baking dish while my pasta cooked.

I used a pasta that we brought back from Seattle.  It is a mix of spinach, carrot and beet pasta!  And, added a lot of flavor to the dish.

Once the pasta is cooked, I mixed it with the veggies and mixed it into the yogurt sauce, then spread the mixture into the baking dish.

Topped with feta and almonds, I baked it for 25 minutes, as the recipe stated.

It came out bubbling hot and smelly great!

This was a great recipe.  The whole thing, including cooking, took less than 45 minutes.  And, it makes enough servings to last for a few meals.

Another perfect fall meal for the day. 🙂

Have a great one!

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: 101cookbooks.com, oatmeal, rice cooker, tuna |