Sunday Funday!

Good evening bloggies!

New goal for the fall: Sunday Fundays!! If we are going to have workweeks full of grad classes, homework, and eventually working part time (see here about my new job situation) we need to make sure all of our weekend days count! I am just so excited to not have to work every other weekend. It gets old after a while and there is something so wonderful about slow Sunday mornings and lazy afternoons filled with all the things you like, mine being: working out, Sunday brunch, reading The Globe/circulars, clipping coupons, going out and about and being with family and people I love.

After yesterdays eventful afternoon, my mom and I got cookin’! I love cooking in the kitchen together with just my mom; we both love making good food and she always keeps the kitchen neat and organized (perfect for blogger photos). We were making grill-pizza yesterday, a personal favorite for both of us. We began by prepping the toppings:

Fresh garden tomato slices, basil grown in our backyard, green pepper slices and steamed mushrooms.  Also a few of these guys:

My childhood all-time fav pizza: black olive and mushroom (things are evolving a bit I promise!).

Grill Pizza How-To:

After the ingredients are prepped we heat the grill, giving it some time to burn off anything left from the last use and get good and hot! Before putting on the dough, we turn it down to low so they don’t cook up too fast. Cut the dough into individual size pieces and stretch out so they are pretty thin. Next, rub some olive oil on each side of the dough so it doesn’t stick to the grill. Then we head out to the grill, each pizza dough plated. Place dough on the grill, making sure to pull and stretch them flat. Close the cover and allow to  cook for about 7-10 minutes. Once they begin to puff up and grill marks appear, take off and put on the plates; they shouldn’t really stick to the grill. Take the dough inside and top! This is the fun part, you have a few minutes to craft your own creation atop the already grilled side of the pizza. One created, take your pizza back to the grill and place dough side down. Keep the grill on low and close the cover to allow the dough to finish cooking and the topping to heat up. After about 10-13 minutes you pizza should be ready! Take in and try to stop and take a photo before devouring:

That would be a mushroom, tomato, red pepperm, olive and basil pizza on whole wheat dough. I have to say that I did enjoy my last grill pizza a little more because I used tomato paste as a base for the toppings. Since I don’t eat dairy, it needed a little more flavor without a sauce or topping. I ended up spooning on a little bit of my mom’s homemade pasta sauce that she was making to freeze for weeknight dinners.

After dinner I decided to keep my culinary creations going; inspired my Allie, I decided to make my own simple, sexy salad:

That would be romaine lettuce topped with grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black olives, and portabella mushrooms sauteed with Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper seasoning. A delicious and filling lunch; love how I am getting more creative these days while I experiment with being meat-free! I will let you all know how that goes in my upcoming posts.

Today was a typical Monday un-Funday…well sort of. It was a very busy day at work, typical Monday at my work. After work I came home and really wanted to find some form of release. I decided that meditation would be a good way to move past the busy and stressful day at work and re-center and focus for the first night of my new class. I spent 15-20 minutes focusing on my breathing and allowing automatic thoughts to pass in my mind without giving them too much time or attention. I am so grateful that I have begun this daily practice of meditation; it is so important to have a form of release and a way to regain focus and clarity. I have also begun to be more mindful in my daily activities when I notice negative or racing thoughts; staying in the present moment and focusing on the here and now can be such a gift!

The new class was pretty good, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods of Research can only be SO thrilling. My professor seems really interested in making the course more than just a requirement and something that we really enjoy. I am hoping that I take the opportunity to research a topic in depth and put that effort towards a subject that I am deeply passionate about; I will keep you posted!

As for now, it’s time for this girl to get some sleep, another class day tomorrow and I want to start my day off early with a good workout 🙂

Have a great night everyone, hope the week is off to a good start!

-Em