one of those food photo blogs

I got blessed yesterday with leftovers from my parents' house - my mom is a lady who could (and would gladly) feed the entire world.  She's where I get my love of feeding others.  Having read the naked blog, she was on to my rice-and-beans diet and wanted to expand it a bit for me.  So I came home with a grocery bag full of assorted leftovers and such.  AWESOME.  

So with the goodies from Mom and assorted various things I have lying around, here's what I made for my supper tonight, after a nice little hilly 17 mile bike ride in the perfect sunshine (can you say LOVE, JOY, HALLELUJAH?)

Little olive oil in the pan.  Add garlic (about a teaspoon, minced), about a quarter of an onion, chopped, 4 baby bella mushrooms, chopped, handful of frozen green beans, and about half a can of rinsed garbanzo beans.  Stir fry.  

Add a little handful of deboned, chopped chicken.  And an actual ONLY ONE SERVING of cooked spaghetti (that's a very small amount, as compared to what most of us consider a serving.  Salt and pepper.  Stir fry some more.  

Add a little parmesan cheese and serve.  Note:  the important thing to do, if you're gonna eat pasta, is DON'T make it the main part of the dish...cuz pasta - and especially regular, not-whole-wheat pasta, which is what I had here - is excessively simple, way over-processed carbs (equals NOT a body-loving choice IMHO).  (The other thing you could do there instead of spaghetti, is Shritaki noodles - great spaghetti substitute, methinks.)  Veggies are the main part.  Pasta is just a little element. 

This was a delicious, warm, satisfying meal.  Portabello mushrooms give you a day's worth of Vitamin D, which is hard to come by.  Garbanzo beans are insanely good for you - ditto the onions and garlic.  Frozen is one of the most nutritious ways to get your green beans.  Chicken...if you're gonna eat meat, it's a better choice than many (and trust me, the meal would be FINE without the chicken).  Olive oil...c'mon...happy fats!  And I went very light on the salt and parmesan, neither of which is really a beneficial item other than for taste.  Give it a try!  Nice change. 

My crockpot pinto beans for beans and rice came out killer awesome and totally vegan...I'll try to share them sometime this week...and I've got some bean soup bubbling happily on the stove and promising warm comfort in days to come as well.  Watch this space for recipes this week.  Apparently that's the current trend!