Spicy Tomato, Vegetable, & White Bean Stew

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

carrots (2-3, peeled & chopped)

3/4 red onion

2 green bell peppers, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

2 1/2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth

1 15 ounce can of cannellini beans, drained & rinsed

1 15 ounce can of navy beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 cup dry whole wheat penne pasta

crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

Italian seasoning (to taste)

salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

2 bay leaves

  

Directions:

1. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the carrots, peppers, onion, and garlic until soft. Meanwhile, boil water for your pasta in a separate pot.

2. Add the crushed tomatoes, broth, beans, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and bay leaves.

3. Cook your pasta until it is al dente.

4. Bring the stew to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.

5. Remove bay leaves and add pasta (cut them into small pieces) to the stew.

6. Cook together for another 5-10 minutes.

7. Enjoy :)

Day Trippin'

Sometimes you just need to get away after a long, stressful week. That was today for me. This past week was a roller coaster full of ups and down and turn-arounds. I was SO happy yesterday when the clock turned 2:20pm and the bell rang and the kids were out the door. It was such a relief. I couldn't wait to detach from work and I promised myself I would avoid any talk about work for the whole weekend (I have been talking about work non-stop since starting at the new school this year & I think my hunny is annoyed with it already lol).

I typically hate going out on Fridays because I'm usually exhausted but I suggested we go out to dinner anyway since I really needed to do something fun with my hunny. It was oh so good but of course, I ate too much and yes, I totally went over my daily Weight Watchers points.

But I. Didn't. Care.

Today was another bad-eating day (two days in a row! eep!). I did, however, have an awesome weigh-in this morning and I'm currently down a total of 27.8 lbs!!! *happy dance*

Today we decided to take a little day trip to Naples/Estero and we had a delicious lunch at The Rusty Bucket and we window shopped (and actually shopped lol) for the rest of the day. In between stores, we also had some pretty amazing gelato at Le Macaron and a decadent little piece of chocolate (yum!) as well as our usual Starbucks stop.

It was an amazing day at an amazing, relaxing place and I am so happy we went and made a day out of it! I really needed the disconnect from my daily stressful routine.

Oh! And I totally had little burgers today! I had only had burgers once in my entire life! Yup! Not even joking. These little babies were goooooood.

Here's a little video of us just walking around together and talking and laughing. We used our selfie stick for the first time and that was soooo awkward! lol. I'm glad to make memories together though. So I guess, in the end, it was totally worth the awkwardness.