Irony

Just yesterday, I was posting about our lack of of vegetables in the house.  Of course, I went grocery shopping last night to remedy that situation.

Then, my mother-in-law, bless her heart, brought us THIS today, from their garden.  And some things they picked up for us at the grocery store.  AND some kind of zucchini/tomato dish, that she cooked herself.

Zucchini, anyone?

And in the event that my camera failed to show the enormousness (is that a word?) of these vegetables, allow me to do a comparison shot.

That's a full bottle of wine, folks.  Methinks we'll be eating zucchini for a while......

I'm up for the challenge.  If you have a good zucchini recipe, give me a holler.  Please.

Okay, so let's start at breakfast.  I went to the movies last night, and instead of dinner, I indulged in an entire tray of soft pretzel bites, complete with a little tub of nacho cheese.  Not.  Healthy.   And I saw Sex and the City, which sucked.  Last night was a FAIL on all accounts.

So this morning, I had to repent for last night's culinary sins.   I whipped up one of my protein shakes and called it a day.  Two scoops of protein mix,  half cup of milk, handful of blueberries, some crushed ice, and today, a small activia yogurt.

Then for lunch, I figured I'd better start using up that zucchini.  I just broke out the cast iron griddle and oiled it up, then sliced the zucchini diagonally and let 'em rip.  Salt, pepper, and a little Lawrys spiced them up nicely. 

Then I made a batch of the easiest spicy black bean soup you'll find.

• 1 Can unsalted black beans, drained
• 1 cup chicken or veg broth
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chilli powder or hot sauce (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Puree (should be partially chunky) and heat!   I happened to have some cooked barley and fresh mushrooms, so I added them for more oomph. 

And before I forget, I wanted to throw this snack idea out there.

I tend to nibble as I'm cooking.  It's bad.  I would take a handful or two of nuts, a slice of bread, crackers.  All kinds of things.   But I pay attention to skinny people, and how they eat.  And recently, one of the blogs I read, written by a thin, beautiful girl, spoke of nibbling on marinated vegetables that she makes herself.

Well, I don't have time to marinate my own veggies right now, but I thought I'd look for something like that in the store.  Lo and behold, I found these.  And I love them!!

They're crunchy, and vinegar-y, and just all around yummy.  Better to munch on THESE, than fatty nuts, or a spoonful of almond butter or whatever.  There's nothing to them, no fat, little calories, no sugar.  They're a teensy bit high in sodium, but I tend to eat a diet low in sodium anyway.

I wonder if you can pickle zucchini?