The One with the Veggie-Saurus

Nothing makes me feel nastier than my allergies. Every spring and fall, I get hit with a leaky faucet nose, a hangover-sized headache, and a sore throat that feels like little elves ran sandpaper all over it. For some reason, this spring has been even worse. My eyes are red 75% of the time and wearing contacts has been pure torture. Today, I opted to be more comfortable and wear glasses to work, something I do very rarely.
On Fridays, I help with our 4 year old preschoolers' tap class. When I walked in, one of my favorite little girls said, "Miss Steph, you have glasses on your face!"
Me: "Yes, I do."
Little girl: "But why are there glasses on your face?"
Me: "My eyes are itchy today so I couldn't put my contacts in."
Little girl: "Well, your glasses make you look so beautiful!"

Cue my heart melting into a thousand pieces. I love that little things like that can make me feel so awesome. Sigh...

Speaking of feeling awesome, I've had an incredibly good week tracking my calories. Today was my sixth day in a row of NOT going over my allotted daily calories. Yay for me! I've been continuing to experiment with new recipes and have also been making a point of eating more veggies. I haven't been a big fan of veggies in the past, but I'm starting to use them with foods I do like. I want to share two of my successful veggie-friendly meals because
1) They're delicious.
2) They are crazy easy.
3) They make just enough for one person to eat! (Cooking for one usually blows...)

Recipe #1: Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

I swear, every food blog I read is talking about spaghetti squash. I was totally skeptical. How was I supposed to trick my pasta-loving belly into eating a vegetable instead? But, I decided to give it a try, since it was supposedly really great for you. What no one mentioned was how great it was for my wallet! Once I finally tracked down a small spaghetti squash (took several trips to the store), it only cost me 93 cents!  And guess what? It WAS delicious and can be made in four easy steps:

1) Cut the spaghetti squash length-wise and scoop out the seeds and stringy junk. (just like a pumpkin)
2) Place halves on a baking sheet and sprinkle with your favorite seasonings. I did garlic salt, garlic powder, mild chili powder, basil, and black pepper.
3) Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for about an hour. My oven bakes quickly so I only had to do it for about 40 minutes.
4) Let the squash cool for about 3-5 minutes. Then scrape out the inside with a fork. It will fall out in spaghetti noodle-like strands.

I served mine with ground chicken (one of my new favorite things) and spaghetti sauce. I added the same seasonings I used on the squash to the sauce (also included red pepper flakes) Top it off with your favorite cheese for a yummy low-cal dish. (Please ignore the giant bite out of it...I couldn't help myself!)

Recipe #2: Hummus-Stuffed Pitas (recipe courtesy of Cooking Light magazine)

I've made these for lunch twice this week and they have been awesome! I'm not a big fan of cucumbers or radishes so I took those out. All you need is:

*A whole wheat pita, cut in half

*1/4 cup of hummus, divided in half

*Red onion, sliced thin

*2 small lettuce leaves

*Feta cheese

*A sprinkle of black pepper

And there you go! Fast, easy, and oh so good! I'm hoping in the near future, my waistline will be thanking me.