Pennies: A Fabulous Farewell & Back to Basics Lunch

[Scroll down for "Back to Basics Roasted Veggie Scramble" - my favorite complete, easy lunch!]

Hope you've had a fantastic weekend! Mine was full of both play (too much play, ahem) and productivity (furniture, furniture, furniture!! More tomorrow.)

This weekend we said "see you later" to a lovely and amazing new girly friend who is headed back to Texas.

We will really miss this well dressed, classy-establisment-loving lady!

For farewell dinner I had the immense pleasure of checking out Quartino. In the face of so much culinary hype, I've been meaning to hit this spot for quite some time. It really did not disappoint. Excellently priced menu items were a crowd pleaser for our wallet conscious crew, while still allowing us to feel a little fancypants, ordering wine by the 1/4 and 1/2 litre (love.)

I enjoyed a sampling of mushroom, tomato & eggplant bruschette, followed by a perfectly portioned baked eggplant parmigiana.

Ummmm yes, we will be back.

After a joyous evening that may or may not have ended at late-night watering hole Hangge Uppe (shameful), and then actually ended at Wiener Circle with "everything" dogs and cheddar fries (beyond shameful), I woke up Saturday laughing at how much fun we'd had getting down and shaking our groove thangs, but also regretting my mega food hangover. A couple more meals out, and I was feeling totally off track. A weekend like this one - a special occassion - is totally permissible in my book if it's once in a while, but for me I've been a nutrition ninja during the week only to sabotage on weekends.

I think we've all been there, so I wanted to share some recent strategies for getting my gut back on track.

It all starts with ...

VEGGIES!!

I've always wanted to laugh in the face of nutrition hopefuls who promise that we can re-wire our food cravings if we just behave long enough. Like there is magic dust laced in zucchini or something.

I don't know about magic dust, but I DO know that even just 6 months ago I never would have gravitated towards colorful veggies in the super market, I didn't use to be able to eat tomatoes plain with goat cheese on top (or eat tomatoes at all without cringing), I wouldn't have dipped raw red pepper into hummus and enjoyed it, and I never would have preferred to eat meat only 1-2 times a week. I realized tonight I can't remember the last time I added salt to something. These things just happened to me after I focused myself on complete, fruit-and-veggie-centric meals, and though we all have our big slip-ups and late night hot dog devourings, it's nice to know our bodies are so trainable.

Onto the easy lunches I've been enjoying recently:

Back to Basics Roasted Veggie Scramble

1 C. Sauteed Veggies, like onions, garlic, squash, carrots etc.

1/2 C. Lentils

1/2 C. Quinoa

2 T Annie's Ginger Sesame Dressing (Salsa works great as well)