Dinner (10.06.2008)

Before I get to dinner, let me back up and cover the afternoon. Later in the day I tried the lemon bar larabar and I really liked it.It held me over until about 4:30 when I had a banana. After getting home from work, Kevin, Oscar and I ran around the city for about 38 mins. It was such a cool night outside, the run felt great and both of us felt strong. We were reflecting about earlier in our training when some of the hills around the area were extremely challenging. Now, we flew up them and could talk all the way through it. love that and dont want to lose it this winter! I am already searching for some fall and winter races to keep me motivated...

Dinner tonight was fish tacos! I LOVE fish tacos and these were great. I used the coconut crusted tilapia that I always have in my freezer and loaded up grilled corn tortillas with the baked fish, shredded cabbage, this southwestern ranch sauce, and fresh squeezed lime juice. Here is the southwestern sauce - I used about a tablespoon total - just spread a little on the corn tortillas for flavor. Here is my plate before putting everything together.
And here is my first bite, going into my mouth. It was hard to take the time and snap this photo! YUM.Dessert was a few bites of this deliciousness - oh man - this stuff is good. I am not a huge ice cream fan, but this stuff is pretty amazing. Oh and check out my tofu that i baked up tonight! I am so proud of the pretty brown color. I mixed about a tablespoon of light melted butter with honey and drizzled it over the tofu. Then I sprinkled it with salt and pepper. This is a rendition of the version Kath made over at Katheats.com - but I added in the butter (it was light though!). It tastes so good and I like it thinner and crunchier!I am off to relax and get ready for the HILLS tonight!

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White Eggplant Ratatouille over Baked Polenta

The white eggplant I had has been "burning a hole in my pocket" so I was so excited to finally use and taste it! Here it is after I peeled it and right before chopping. It just looks cool.
Ingredients:

• 1 medium white eggplant, peeled and chopped
• 2 small zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 2 heaping spoonfuls of part-skim ricotta
• dried basil
• fresh ground pepper
• fresh ground red pepper
• garlic powder
• sea salt
• Trader Joes pre-cooked organic polenta

To start, place eggplant and zucchini in a colander and season with salt, let sit in sink or over a plate for about 15 mins. Pat dry with a paper towel. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice polenta and place on baking sheet that has been sprayed with PAM. Drizzle with EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 25-30 mins.

Heat oil in skillet over medium to medium high heat and add onion, garlic, carrots, red pepper, zucchini, and eggplant. Cook until veggies are all slightly tender. (around 15 mins) Add all seasonings to taste. (i like mine spicier, so I added more black and red pepper)Bottom of pan should have beautiful brown bits from the veggies. Add wine to deglaze pan. I made sure to refill my glass after adding to the pan... After scraping up all brown bits a.k.a. "flavor" - add tomato sauce. Mix together and cook another 5 mins. Then, add the ricotta... ...and mix until it looks creamy and delicious. Make sure to taste and add seasonings as needed. Serve ratatouille over baked polenta and ENJOY!Overall, I thought this dish was absolutely delicious and filling with a ton of flavor. White eggplant was very easy to work with and seemed firmer to me, although I dont have much experience with regular eggplant, so who knows. It definitely has a nutty flavor that added a great dimension to this dish. This would be great served over pasta as well, but I think the polenta went perfectly!

Before making this great dinner, I went for a 35 min run around the park and down by the water with Oscar. It is the best feeling when a run feels easy - I dont want to lose this feeling! Afterwards, I came back and did some abs and upper body lifting. It felt great.

I am about to settle in for a new episode of Biggest Loser and have Skinny Cow Chocolate Fudge Cone....YUM. Hope everyone has a great night!

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