Yesterday was a day off for me, which meant it was a day to catch up on all the things I’ve been putting off for days, or even weeks, like laundry, papers, group projects, reading (you’ll notice that most of these are school related…whoops), etc. Luckily, I was super productive in the morning and knocked out all of the laundry before 9 am. As a laundry hater, that’s a pretty solid accomplishment. And I even did homework while the clothes were in the dryer. If that’s not a sign of productivity, I don’t know what is.
Since I had the day off, Eric and I planned to meet downtown for coffee. I had the brilliant idea that I would run to Starbucks, hang out with Eric for a few minutes, and then run home. I don’t know what I was thinking. I ran the 1 1/2 miles to Starbucks, which was easy enough, but once I got there I was sweaty and smelly and certainly not in the mood for coffee. So I ended up sitting with Eric (being careful not to sweat all over the chair) while he drank his coffee, and then continued on my run downtown. (I call my runs downtown ‘celebrity runs’ because you always see pictures of celebrities running through cities.) This week, my celebrity run took me down Second Street, which is one of my favorite streets in Lexington. The houses are enormous and historic and beautiful. If you haven’t been that way before, you should certainly check it out.
Speaking of Second Street, a few years ago, some friends and I went to a bunch of open houses while we were wandering around downtown. I’m pretty sure that we visited a house on Second Street and were trying to figure out how much we would have to pay if we all went in on the house together. I think it was several hundred thousand dollars each. Clearly, we didn’t buy the house. Here are some flashback photos for you:
Bryant checks out the living room.
A mini-Sambica reunion in 2009.
A butler's pantry? Old houses are too cool!
Back to yesterday. After my run, my productivity dropped off a bit as I got more and more exhausted (reading about mutual funds and crop insurance will do that to you), and I think I ended up sitting on the couch trying to write a paper (but actually watching Friends, instead). Generally, when days like this roll around, I end up eating lots of snacks in order to stay focused and awake. And usually those snacks are made of chocolate. But I was determined not to completely cancel out my run, so I munched on salad and fruit.
And that’s where the spinach comes into play. According to Real Simple’s list of 30 healthy foods (you can read my original post about this here), the benefits of spinach include iron, folate, and flavonoids (which are, apparently, loaded with antioxidants). Spinach is extra beneficial for me because I always seem to have low iron levels when I try to donate blood (which I have given up on, by the way), and it’s super easy to throw into almost anything. In the Ringer household, we use spinach most often in our scrambled eggs, on our pizza, and for salads.
I should also mention that I’m trying really hard to become one of those cooks that can make several different meals out of the same base of ingredients, so that’s what I’ll be showing you today. This week’s basic ingredients included a loaf of french bread, spinach, asparagus, grape tomatoes, green onions, and cheese. I’ve made a bunch of meals involving these ingredients this week (which we may end up eating again next week because I didn’t take pictures of any of them, and they were just too good not to share with you!).
So, for our first spinach-based meal, I made my version of a Greek Salad. I say ‘my version’ because I’m not entirely sure what qualifies as a Greek salad, but if I were to picture one in my head, it would look something like this. The best part about salad is that there’s really no work required. Just throw everything into a bowl and eat. Yum.
Greek Salad
fresh spinach
grape tomatoes, cut into fourths
green onions, thinly sliced
crumbled feta cheese
caesar dressing
Throw it all together and enjoy!
For dinner, we made french bread pizzas using a lot of the same ingredients. They were super easy and super delicious. And you can pretty much throw anything onto a pizza and it will taste good!
French Bread Pizza
french bread, sliced in half, lengthwise
EVOO (another one of the 30 healthy foods!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
spinach
green onions, sliced
green peppers, cut into small pieces
grape tomatoes, cut into fourths
2 slices provolone cheese, ripped apart
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine EVOO and garlic. Brush onto sliced bread.
Pile on toppings, saving the cheese for last to hold all of the ingredients together.
Bake on a baking sheet for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!
What are your favorite pizza toppings? We’re always looking for new veggies to add to one of our favorite dishes.
-Ally
