The Mighty Greenery {Dinner}

Tonight I was in the mood for salad. A lot of salad. With the winter season, I'm finding myself eating a lot more carbs (I love carbs, good carbs). It's much more pleasing to have a multi-grain toast with hummus than carrot sticks with hummus... This is the case only in the winter. Any other time of the year, I'm usually walking around with orange palms on my hands (I'm highly sensitive to carrots, and turn orange! No joke.)

And so, tonight's salad took care of that. And! I had two big raw carrots for a snack an hour before dinner. Orange hands, here I come!

A smaller side dish made a wonderful date for my salad. Potatoes pan-roasted with sauteed carrots and onion. The key to this dish's flavor = black peppercorn and bayleaf! Just as was the case in today's borscht. Russian cuisine is not known for exotic spices, but somehow, these two surely do a good job in every dish!

Post dinner treat: raspberry tea with lemon! The lemon slices were consumed in their entirety, but you didn't hear that from me! :)

And look at the new member of my grain family! Please welcome, wheat berries! These lil' fellas are quite mighty, with just 160 cal per 1/2 cup (cooked), 6g of protein and 6g (23% DV) of fiber per serving.

Come back tomorrow morning to join me and my wheat berries for breakfast! :)

Bowl-eating and Tea-drinking

...Of course I was hungry by the time I got home 4 hours later, and with dinner being almost 5 hours away, I decided to have a small bowl of soup, and some stir fry veggies with pasta! Err... lunch numero dos methinks?Today's weather was nothing like yesterday's gloomy rainy day. To take advantage of the remaining minutes of sunlight (yes! there was actual sunshine today!) and the warm fresh air, I went for a slow leisure walk with the girls (aka my mom and g-ma). It was wonderful to just relax and enjoy the outdoors with them!

Upon our return home, I was craving something salty and crunchy, so I had a handful of Pop Chips and Veggie Sticks! Loooove 'em!

Not surprisingly, I wasn't hungry when my family sat down for dinner at 8pm. In restrospect, I should have had a slightly lighter second lunch snack, but it's alright. And so I ate dinner an hour later.

Tonight's dinner was both beautiful-looking and delicious-tasting. As always, a huge salad dominated the scene, with halibut, caramelized beets (in coconut oil!!! loooove the subtly sweet and nutty flavor!), and white rice "on the side".

I think I can officially claim myself to be a bowl-lover/addict. I just love eating everything out of a single bowl! Less dishes to wash, easier to run away with to my room if I have to eat while working, and a great way to practice portion control! ...There is also something undeniably cozy about eating out of a bowl. Or maybe it's just me :)Following today's afternoon lecture, the Healthy Living club organized a tea tasting event! We sampled some amazing and unique teas. I am a huge fan of green tea, and today for the first time I tried green tea with roasted brown rice. One word - wow.  So much flavor. I now need to figure out where I could get hold of it! I also came home with some jasmine and lavender loose leaf teas, which I prepared as my post-dinner treat. With a side of dried date, cherries, and blueberries. Yummm!



Aren't the lavender petals just beautiful?!

The week is flying by! So much to do, so little time. What else is new...

♥ V.

P.S. Have you entered the Food Should Taste Good giveaway?

Comfort, food, and warmth

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ― Edith Sitwell



Some of you may have seen my excitement on Twitter earlier today when my grandma and I made the executive decision to make last night's Vinaigrette again. Yes, we loved our "swap recipe" that much!
And we are very good at not letting anything go to waste... Hence the kidney beans in last night's Vinaigrette, in today's soup and now in tonight's Vinaigrette! :)


Among the three of us, we devoured a huge bowl pretty quickly! Look at the color! How does Mother Nature create fuchsia, I don't understand, but I surely love it... my fuchsia hands post beet peeling -- not so much! ;)


Also on tonight's dinner menu were a salad and shrimp sautéed with onion, garlic, and red pepper in a little bit of soy sauce. Double yum!


After dinner, my mom and I went over her friend Liliya's house for tea (such a Russian thing to do!), and boy does Liliya know how to be a hostess! We were welcomed by a beautiful display of eclairs, fruit, and endless chocolate. There is nothing better than good company and conversation filled with warmth, kindness and positivity!

Now I'm ready for this snow storm! Can't wait to wake up to the white beauty behind my window.

Good night!
xoxo. Veronica

P.S. You see that gorgeous lemon in my cup? Here's a little confession... I love lemons and I eat them... whole... peel and everything. Yup! Shhhh - don't tell anyone!