All About the Layers

Sometimes the best meals come from the times where you throw things together on the fly.  They also get pulled together from the times that you have to be creative when you are trying to eat up your freezer and cupboard and are severely lacking any form of fruit or veggies.

I stared blankly into the freezer and the cupboard for a good 10 minutes before pulling out a bunch of random foods that I figured I would make work together somehow.  I pulled out the following: chicken broth, a box of wild rice, raisins, black beans, marinara sauce and the last bit of a bag of frozen mixed veggies. Talk about random.  I knew the wild rice and raisins would work together.  Rice and beans?  That works, too.  Veggies will fly with anything and of course my creation needed a sauce of some sort.

Here is a pointer for flavorful rice, cook it up in broth of any variety (chicken, beef, vegetable) and it will take the flavor to the next level.  You’ll be surprised!  So that is what I did.  I cooked up the wild rice according to the package.  With about 10 minutes left I added in the raisins so that they could plump up as well as the bag of veggies.  This mixture was layer #1 of my dinner creation.

I have a big package of black bean cans from Costco in the cupboard so black beans it was for layer #2.  Beans are a great way to add in additional volume, protein and fiber to any savory creation.

I topped the first two layers with a lovely layer of marinara sauce for layer #3…

And just as any last layer should be, layer #4 was cheese, feta cheese.  Although, I was really wishing I had goat cheese on hand.

Dang, this layered creation WORKED!  It was actually pretty fun to challenge myself by placing a bunch of random ingredients out on the kitchen counter and making myself use each and every one of them to come up with a meal.  I had little hope for what I was about to put together and consume but I would eat this over and over again.  Two thumbs up for the meal that anything in the freezer or cupboard was fair game.  If you are ever bored, lacking groceries, or just want a kitchen adventure, do what I did.  Pull a few random things out of your cupboard and freezer and create and interesting, unique meal.  Add in an extra challenge by pulling out both savory and sweet ingredients.  Most of all, have fun!

Other Thoughts:

1. Breakfast this morning is in the form of a Blueberry Crumb Cake donut from Holey Donuts.  Will it give the Raspberry Vanilla Truffle donut a run for its money?  From the looks of it, I doubt it.

That does not  mean that this donut doesn’t look like it has great potential.  I mean, look at it, it looks pretty scrumptious but it is definitely lacking the icing that makes me fall so hard for the Raz Vanilla Truffle.  I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of devouring this goodie.

2. Tonight Mike and I are attending a group fitness class together.  Ever since my knee injury I have been complaining to Mike that I haven’t been able to feel like I’ve gotten in a sweaty, invigorating workout that I experienced when running.  He pretty much told me to get my act together, stop complaining and try out a few new group fitness classes.  Tough love, I love it.  It always works with me!  Mike has been a trooper and has already attended spin class with me and now he is taking it to the next level by attending the following class…

Combine cardio kickboxing, athletic drills, high-impact move and low-impact/dynamic moves and you have one, high-energy, tough cardio workout.  Sprinkle in some fun, stimulating funk moves and you have The Mixx.

Ohhh yeah.  I owe him BIG time.  I hope he isn’t the only male in the class, errr.  I doubt he will be but can we give him some props folks?  He had one request and that is that I do not make fun of him.  Little does he know that there is about 0% chance that I can fulfill that promise.  Muahaha.

What is your favorite group fitness class?  Is anybody else a Lifetime Fitness member that knows if there is a similar class to Body Pump?