Wine Night

Tonight was one of those nights. It called for wine.

When Mal got home from work, we took Murphy for his long walk of the day. While walking along and chatting, he (Mal, not Murphy) announced that it was a “wine night.” I’m not one to turn down a glass, so I agreed to open a bottle.

Our stash of wine from Bin Ends is quickly running out!

Ahh… wine. Sometimes, it makes everything better.

Dinner

For dinner, I rocked another lentil recipe: Lentils with Penne, Brussels Sprouts, and Feta Cheese. The original recipe called for orecchiette pasta, but I couldn’t find it at the grocery store. Penne seemed to work well.

Lentils, Orecchiette, and Feta Cheese

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup dry USA lentils, rinsed
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 2 quarts water
• 8 ounces uncooked orecchiette or other medium-sized pasta
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• Thyme or parsley springs for garnish

Directions:

1. Bring broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add lentils and chopped thyme. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender to the bite, about 20 to 30 minutes. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil. Stir in pasta and cook until tender to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
3. Transfer pasta and lentils to a large serving bowl and keep warm.
4. In a small bowl, mix together vinegar, parsley, oil, honey, and garlic until well blended. Add this mixture to pasta and lentils and mix throughly but gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with feta cheese and garnish with thyme sprigs. Serve warm.

Per serving: 280 calories, 12 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 260 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrate, 5 g dietary fiber, 12 g protein

The recipe didn’t call for roasted Brussels sprouts, but I had some leftover from the other day, so I threw them into the mix. Might as well get some veggies in my diet! Plus, the Brussels sprouts really soaked-up the flavor of the dish, so they were an awesome addition to the meal.

This dish had so many wonderful flavors and textures in it. Everything blended so well– the honey balanced the sharpness of the vinegar and feta cheese.

Dessert

I had a serious craving for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies tonight, so I whipped up something similar, but even better! I baked a batch of Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies using Blueberry Juice-Infused Craisins that the company sent me to sample the other day.

These cookies tasted like an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and a piece of Blueberry Streusel had a baby together. Yuuummm!

Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup Blueberry Juice-Infused Craisins or dried blueberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*F
• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl
• Coat baking sheet with non-stick spray
• Use a tablespoon to portion cookies onto baking sheet
• Baked for 12-15 minutes until cookies start to brown
• Allow to cool and enjoy!

As soon as these cookie came out of the oven, I proceeded to eat 3 of them… and now my belly hurts. Wah. Why don’t I ever learn my lesson!?! (I’m not going to lie, it was worth it! )

Lunch

I worked through lunch at NuVal this afternoon. I brought my leftovers from last night’s dinner and combined them with some lentils, roasted Brussels sprouts, and feta from my fridge. It was a serious salad. Very filling. Very delicious.

I finished off lunch with a caramel-flavor Oikos. Heavenly.

Snack

When I got home, I was star-ving! I broke into the Teddie’s Peanut Butter + Doctor Kracker’s crackers and chowed down. (This is just a sampling of the damage I did!)

Chilling with my boys and drinking wine tonight. Life is good.

Good night, guys!

P.S. Man, I eat a lot!!!

Tagged as: and Feta Cheese, Bin Ends, Blueberry Juice-Infused Craisins, brussels sprouts, Lentils, NuVal, Oatmeal Blueberry Cookies, Penne