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Sweet Potato Pasta
Where I grew up, there is no fall. There is only extended summer. Which is unfortunate because now that I am blessed enough to live in a 4-season town, Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. It’s the beautiful colors and gorgeous trees, the fun a festive flavors and comfy sweaters.
Sweet Potato is one of those flavors that pops up around this time of year, but I like to eat them all year long. Kerri and I once again experimented in the kitchen, a little cautious after our failed cheerio disaster. The result: A Creamy Sweet Potato Pasta made with greek yogurt, sweet potatoes, whole wheat rotini, spinach and some flax seeds.
Sweet Potato Pasta:
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pasta
2 medium Sweet Potatoes
1/2 Cup Non-fat Milk
1/3 Cup Plain Non-fat Greek Yogurt
1 Cup Spinach
Drizzle of Olive Oil
Garlic and Herb Seasoning
Pinch of Flax Seeds
1.) Wash and pierce sweet potatoes. Microwave for 10 minutes until soft.
2.) Peel off skins (eat or discard) and mash together the sweet potato, milk, greek yogurt, and seasoning.
3.) Meanwhile, boil noodles until cooked. Drain, leaving 3/4 Cup of water with noodles.
4.) In a large saucepan, drizzled with olive oil, add sweet potato mixture. Add Spinach. Bring to heat until spinach cooks down.
5.) Add in pasta and water. Mix until well-blended; top serving with flax seeds.
It was easy enough to make even in the dorm kitchen and we loved it! Even though it’s only the beginning of October, it already feels like Thanksgiving is near. All the stores have their festive fall decorations and so many websites have their Thanksgiving recipes…I like the holiday as much as the next person, but geez can we slow down?! I need all the time I can get to bake the ridiculous amount of autumn recipes I found on Pinterest ;)
If you like sweet potatoes, you may also like: Stuffed Sweet Potato
Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza
I don’t know how it is Monday already. I feel like we got ripped off with this weekend, just not enough time. This week is set to be a good one though… in just three short days, Grey’s Anatomy returns! I watched the first 3 seasons over summer, the good ole days with George and Izzy ;)
So we’re four weeks into the semester and on-campus meals are starting to wear on me. I pretty much only go to the “cafeteria” with friends, more for a social thing than actual dining preferences. I would much rather eat something healthy I made for myself.
For a nice break, my roommate and I bought a Boboli Whole Wheat pizza crust, some tomato pizza sauce, reduced fat cheese, spinach, purple onion, tomato and bell pepper to make our own loaded-veggie pizza and salad!
After you chop all of the vegetables, it’s super easy to make (Just throw it in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes) and 12 times better than another buffet-style dinner of blah salad and boring sides. We had fun making the pizza and playing some cards in the empty dorm kitchen :)
Playing cards reminds me of camping : )
I know pizza doesn’t sound like the healthiest option but it can actually be a good balance of whole wheat carbs, veggies and vitamins when you minimize the cheese and cut out the extra grease and fat from chain-restaurant slices. I feel better about my diet when I’m in charge of what goes in my meals, and the more veggies the better. Next time I would definitely add some pineapple!
Dorm Sweet Dorm
It’s been almost a month since I moved back to school, but only a week with my new roommate, Fernanda. She moved in last weekend after we met at the start of this semester, and we seemed like more compatible roommates. We both share a love for organization and tidiness but our room was a little plain with the big blank white walls. I wanted some fun and some color:
First, I had 8 of my favorite photographs printed in black and white – 4 vertical and 4 horizontal. I posted them above my bed. Since my room colors are black, white, red and gray, these circular designs for wall art were a perfect find!
Then on Wednesday, I was feeling suddenly inspired. I wanted some “art” for the walls, and I’ve always wanted to try painting. I’ve never actually painted a picture since finger painting in elementary school, but I bought myself some 8×10 canvases, 10 different color paints and 4 different paint brushes.
Since I only have one class on Fridays, I spent the afternoon making two original paintings to hang above my bed. I am totally an amateur and have no painting experience, so of course they are a little cartoon-y and silly but now I have two things I LOVE decorating my walls…Coffee and Elephants :D
Ellie <3
I came up with what I wanted in my head, penciled the outline of the elephant and just had fun with the rest. The coffee I completely free-handed because that one was a little bit easier. It was a fun project to work on and now my room is a little less plain. Starting to feel a little more like home <3
