Flexitarian Friday

Happy Friday!!  Is everyone ready for Irene??  I love a good dose of extreme weather sometimes…as long as no one is hurt of course, and there are no $$ damages ;) 

First, the winner of the $20 Eversave credit… @marciebeth!!

Congrats!!  I’ll send your email address over to the people at Eversave!  I hope the rest of you took advantage of the free $10 credit…which has been extended until today!!! 

This post is one of those times I just want to catch up on the week and such.  However, those don’t make for good titles, and so I tried to find a theme…Flexitarian!

I’m sure by now you’re sick of reading all the Healthy Living Summit recaps from around the blog world, and if you are then I know you read about the keynote speech given by Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet.

To sum it up in one sentence: pro-vegetables, not anti-meat!  I’d say this would describe me most of the time.  Hey, I still like meat and I don’t see that changing, but it can be expensive and I do love meat-free meals as well.  I can easily go days without eating meat and not even be trying. 

Turns out there was a lot of that this week too!

It started Monday night!  I remember a mention of Zucchini and Black Bean quesadillas somewhere in Dawn’s speech, or in something I read about her…either way this idea sounded fantastic!

I happened to have way more summer squash than zucchini that day from the garden, so I used the summer squash instead. 

Once the squash and onion were chopped, this came together in no time!

Black Bean and Summer Squash Quesadillas
Inspired by Dawn Jackson Blatner

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 2T canned green chilies
• 1 small summer squash, chopped (about 1/4” cube)
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp paprika or smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• crushed red pepper to taste (optional)
• 4 whole grain tortillas
• sliced or shredded cheese of your choice (we used 1 sliced of Havarti cheese per quesadilla)
• sliced avocado
• Salsa
• sour cream or plain low-fat Greek yogurt

1. Heat oil in a medium sauté pan over med heat.  Add onions, sauté for 3-4 minutes.  Then add summer squash, sauté for 3 more min.
2. Add cumin, smoked paprika, chili  stir to combine.
3. Add broth, stir, cover pan and simmer on low for about 5 min to soften up summer squash.
4. Remove cover, turn heat back up to medium, and add beans.
5. Cook for 2-3 more minutes or until squash is tender, then set mixture aside on a free burner.
6. Grab another sauté pan and heat over med heat, spray with canola oil spray.
7. Place tortilla in pan, add cheese, 2 sliced of avocado, then add 1/4 of the bean filling over half of the tortilla.
8. Fold the other half over, cook for 1-2 min, carefully flip your quesadilla and cook for another min, or until golden brown.
9. Cut into 3rds and serve with sides of salsa and sour cream!

Really though, I love anything I can smother in salsa and sour cream!

Both Brian and I really enjoyed these!  Definitely going to keep this one in mind…so fast and easy!

Leftovers were enjoyed for lunch the next day.

 Some other meat-free gems this week…

Wednesday night I had my most FAVORITE salad ever!  I had 2 hours to kill after work and parked my butt at the bar of my favorite North End restaurant…Antico Forno…home to the salad that introduced me to my love for goat cheese.     

So simple, yet so perfect.  Mixed greens, tomatoes, soft goat cheese, balsamic and olive oil, grilled zucchini, all on top of pieces of aromatic flatbread. 

Breakfast is the easiest Flexitarian meal of all…for me anyways.  A lot of times it looks like this…

• plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• a drizzle of maple syrup
• chopped nectarine
• Lovegrown granola (from my HLS swag bag!) 

I’ll wrap it up with TWO outfits of the week :)

Greens and Blues

• green eyelet skirt – Old Navy
• navy t-shirt – Banana Republic
• light blue cardigan – Banana Republic
• Navy belt – was my grandmothers
• nude peep toe pumps – Rampage

And saving the best for last…not because it’s my favorite outfit, but it’s definitely my FAVORITE photo…with a special fluffy accessory!

• white cotton v-neck dress – Old Navy
• navy/floral scarf – Nordstrom
• wedges – Banana Republic
• Fluffy pup – Bromley :)  Doing the Murphy one leg-out pose

Happy Weekend! 

Have you done any Hurricane prep??  Do you think you’re a flexitarian??