New Blog!

Hi!

This is just a reminder that I’ll no longer be blogging at On the Threshold of Greatness. You can now find me at http://leaninglaura.wordpress.com

New Site!

Hey boos!

I’ve switched my blog over to http://leaninglaura.wordpress.com  Hope to see you there!

 

<3

Is This Thing On?

 

I’m back!

 

I’ve missed y’all too much to stay away for long.

 

Gluten-Free Butternut Squash Polenta Recipe

Hello!

Last night I showed you one of my simple weeknight dinners that can be thrown together in less than 15 minutes. Tonight, I was home earlier than usual so I took the time to prepare an actual recipe!

A little background on why I chose this particular recipe – I bought a butternut squash a few weeks ago and knew that I had to use it ASAP. I also have a lot of polenta in my pantry and wanted to somehow incorporate the polenta into a meal with the butternut squash. After a few minutes of web searching, I found a recipe that caught my eye. The best thing about it was that I already had all of the ingredients on hand!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH-POLENTA GRATIN from Food & Wine. (Click the link for the complete recipe – I won’t copy the entire thing here)

Here’s the gluten free polenta I’ve been using. Bob’s Red Mill is readily available and affordable. I’m sure there are other brands out there that will work as well, just make sure whatever product you purchase is manufactured in a designated gluten-free facility (only if gluten is a problem for you, of course).

I deviated from the recipe a little by cutting the entire squash into cubes and roasting with olive oil, dried thyme, salt and pepper.

I also didn’t use instant polenta as the recipe specifies. Instead, I cooked my gluten free version according to the package directions.

Once the squash was tender, I mashed about 3/4 of it before mixing it into the polenta with butter and parmesan. I then spread the mixture into a baking dish and sprinkled liberally with black pepper.

Next, I layered the remaining butter and cheese on top and baked the gratin at 350 for around an hour.

While the gratin was in the oven, I also roasted some asparagus with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

The final product was delicious! I imagine this would be the perfect meal on a cold winter night. Although it wasn’t bad on an 80 degree evening either…

 I’ve only recently started cooking with polenta and I can’t wait to try more recipes. If you know of any good ones, let me know!

Until next time!

Throwing dinner together

Hello!

I can’t say that I’ve been cooking anything too elaborate lately. I’m still figuring out the whole gluten-free thing (without relying on $$$ specialty products!), and I’ve been getting home from work pretty late the past few weeks. When I come in the door around 8:00 PM, I’m usually ready to just throw some shit together and change into my pajamas!

So, tonight I thought I’d show you an example of one of my “just throw some shit together” dinners. The basic recipe (if you want to call it that) is simply to include a serving of grains, protein, fat and green vegetables.

Behold tonight’s bowl of quick, easy, gluten-free yumminess.

Ingredients:

1 cup pre-cooked quinoa

Big handful organic baby spinach

3 slices roasted turkey 

1 slice sharp cheddar

2 eggs

salt and lots of pepper

First, I sauteed the spinach in a little olive oil before adding in the turkey slices to heat through at the last minute. While that was cooking, I microwaved the quinoa for 45 seconds.

I added the spinach and turkey to the quinoa, and then topped it all with a slice of cheese and salt & pepper. (meanwhile… Elderly Rocky slept)

Then I fried the eggs until the white was firm and the yolk was still slightly runny.

I put the eggs on top and added more salt & pepper.

That’s it! Dinner was done in about 10 minutes and I only dirtied one pan in the process.  

With a glass of pinot grigio and some Jeff Lewis on Bravo, this was a surprisingly satisfying dinner.

I’m off to do some laundry before heading to bed.

Have a great night!  <3

Sometimes quitting is okay

So, about that Bodyrock Challenge… After completing the first fitness test, I was only able to do a few more workouts before feeling some pain in my lower back. Since I had only recently hurt my back putting away Christmas decorations, I figured I should ease up on the workouts a little bit. I talked to my sister, who is a certified personal trainer, and she agreed that the high intensity Bodyrock workouts probably aren’t the best thing for me right now.     What a bummer! Since my diet has been pretty clean lately, I was really looking forward to seeing some killer results. However, my back is most definitely important to me and I don’t want to injure it with something stupid like a burpee. There will be plenty of time for exercise later.

Since the beginning of February, moderate-pace walking is pretty much the only exercise I’ve done. I’ll probably add some other gentle cardio back in, and then work on doing some more weight-bearing exercises in the near future. My sister recommended the recumbent bike, so I’ll probably start with that – the most boring piece of cardio equipment in the world.

There you have it – I quit the challenge, but in this case, I am proud of myself for doing so.

Until next time!

New Use For The TRX

Hi all!

Check out my niece using my sister’s TRX.

Silly, silly girl! I have no idea how she doesn’t get dizzy.