A Couple New Recipe Attempts....A Crappy Run...Laziest Lunch Ever

First of all, I discovered sunflower butter.  I've tried to get on the almond butter bandwagon but I just can't do it.  I've tried several brands and for some reason, it just tastes gritty to me.  I love peanuts and of course peanut butter but too much peanut in my diet does me the wrong way so in my quest to find an alternative, I decided to give sunflower butter a try.  Well whatta you know!  It's actually really good!  And shockingly tastes just like sunflower seeds...go figure.

Now for my recipe attempts.  This journey to a all vegetarian (and no dairy) diet has been great so far but I'm starting to feel the need to branch out and try new recipes.  I can only eat so many bean burgers and sauteed spinach.

Ina's Eggplant Spread with Added Beans

Yesterday, I tried to make Ina Garten's Roasted Eggplant Spread. I followed her recipe exactly and wasn't all that impressed.  I felt like it was lacking something....it was rather bland.  I added more seasoning...still bland.  So then I decided to dump a can of chick peas in the processor (along with a bit more tahini).  Better, but still, not great.  I nibbled on it with some veggies and flax chips then I tried using it on a sandwich in place of my usual hummus.  Yawn.  I need to keep looking for a good eggplant spread.

Last night I decided to try Angela's 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta.  I love, love, love her site, Oh She Glows and have had a ton of fantastic creations from there.  The creamy sauce looked so good to me that I had to give it a whirl.  It was good.  I didn't love it like I thought I would, but it was good. 

Angela's Avocado Creamy Sauce with Added Tofu

This is going to be a really stupid review/thing to say but I thought it was a bit too avocadoy.  I know.  That's the point, isn't it?  Maybe it was the idea of avocado on pasta that I didn't love.  I probably should have had it with chips.  It truly was a 15 minute meal which I loved after sitting at my son's baseball game all evening and I think I will try it again only next time, I may use a half of an avocado instead of the entire thing.  Next from her site, I'm going to try her Butternut Squash Mac 'n Cheeze because that looks freaking delish!

Today I had a totally shitty run.  I've been taking a ton of classes this week instead of focusing on my running which is stupid since I have a half marathon next month. It came back to haunt me today.  After Body Pump, I jumped on a treadmill with the intention of running 6 miles and only managed to crank out 3.  My legs were lead.  Ugh.  Back to the running program next week!

After the gym, I was hungry but pissy and a wee bit lazy so I broke out the steam bags.  I threw some spinach on one and butternut squash in the other and was eating a yummy lunch within 10 minutes.  Now that is success!