I’m so glad it’s finally Friday. After 5 days of being cooped up in an office, chained to my chair with eyes glued to the computer screen for hours on end I’m ready for a break.
This weekend I’ll be spending quality time with family – visiting my cousins up in New Jersey, with my parents driving down from Massachusetts and another set of cousins coming down from Montreal. I love these huge family gatherings. I look forward to them for days, weeks, maybe even months, and always have a great time with the chaos that inevitably ensues. I love the liveliness, the laughing, shouting, teasing, cooking, eating, drinking, goofing off – I love it all. Even though our ages range from 16 to 28 (not including the adults) we get along perfectly and somehow find a common language. Though the adults sometimes do their own thing, we always get together for meals. Food brings us all together, to one table, where we can sit, eating and drinking for hours. When I was little I’d usually rush through my meals to run off and play, but now I enjoy these long dinner sit ins, hearing all the stories and absorbing all the details.
With that today I share with you my vegan zucchini saute recipe prepared with veggies delivered to my door step yesterday morning from From the Farmer DC with the zucchini and tomatoes picked fresh off of Emily’s Produce farm. This is my second From the Farmer DC delivery and includes a different assortment of produce from the first.
This time I opened up the cooler bag to find:
- 3 peaches
- 1 cantaloupe
- bag of okra
- 3 green peppers
- 3 zucchini
- 1 heriloom tomato
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
- 1 head green leaf lettuce
- 4 ears of corn
- 1 loaf of challah bread
I was giddy with excitement as my mind slowly started putting together a simple dinner recipe. With fresh produce though, the flavors are so strong that a simple recipe is all you need to bring the veggies to life. This vegan gluten free sautee is easy to make, requires only a handful of ingredients and serves as the perfect summer side dish.
Another reason for excitement today is that I am hosting my very first blog giveaway! Recently I was contacted by Slim Slicker who offered to give away an Amazon digital kitchen scale (one which I’ve actually always wanted myself). Slim Kicker is a diet tracker where you can turn your fitness/diet goals into a level-up game where points and rewards are accumulated by tracking healthy calories and completing challenges (ex. giving up soda for a week). You upload a photo of your reward (ex. a cheat food) and they remind you to treat yourself after you reach a certain number of points.
To enter this giveaway please leave a comment with a suggestion for a fun, creative fitness or diet challenge. Please limit your comment to 1-2 sentences. Slim Picker will pick their favorite challenge idea and I’ll announce the winner here. So start thinking up fitness ideas and best of luck! Giveaway ends next Friday, July 27th at noon EST.
- 1 large zucchini, cut into 4 sections, and then thinly sliced (1/4-1/2 inch thick)
- ½ large onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt, pepper to taste
- 1 green onion, chopped
- Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add garlic and cook 30 seconds – 1 minutes.
- Add zucchini and cook 10-15 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs or diced green onion (optional)
This post has been shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, My Meatless Mondays, Monday Mania, Homestead Barn Hop, Tasty Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Frugal Days, Real Food Wednesday, Cast Party Wednesday, Creative Juice, This is Real Thursday, Whole Foods Wednesday and Gluten Free Wednesdays
Welcome to Avocado Pesto! Long time foodie and travel enthusiast, I started this blog to share my curious culinary efforts and kitchen endeavors. Here you'll find a smorgasbord of ethnic cuisines and hopefully a few humorous tales too.
Julia Child’s Brandade á la Soissonaise (White Bean Dip) for #Sunday Supper #cookforjulia 
Vegan Zucchini Saute and My First Blog Giveaway! 
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Blueberry Banana Smoothie for Secret Recipe Club 
Reeses Peanut Butter Cheesecake and my Travel Plans Revealed 
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks so fresh and delicious! Beautiful photos
Thank you! The zucchini and tomatoes were so delicious – nothing like farm fresh produce!
Do a daily must eat list! Like 1 bowl full of your choice of greens, 3 fruits, etc.If you meet your goal you can have that special treat you are craving.
This is a great way to make sure you are getting all the necessary nutrients and vitamins from fresh fruits and veggies. Without writing down what you ate it can easily be hard to keep track of.
Diet challenge: For a week, anytime you feel like dessert eat a piece of fruit instead.
Great idea! I’m more into savory foods than sweets so for me I need to grab a fruit instead of grabbing a bag of chips but same concept!
Diet Challenge: When you feel that hunger pang… yet you know you are not hungry because it is not time to be hungry… drink a glass of water instead. A lot of times, when we think we are hungry… we are in fact, thirsty, and when you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. So, instead of grabbing a snack when you feel hungry between meals, grab for that glass of good ol h20 and get hydrated!
Great point! So many times people snack out of boredom or just because they want something to eat, not because they are actually hungry. In those times as you said you need to distract yourself with a glass of water!
my challenge is to get moving/exercising during short periods of wait time during the day, such as waiting for the microwave to ding or the coffee pot to brew. i do simple aerobics, such as jumping jacks, while i wait.
Great idea! So much time in the day is spent waiting around for something that you really could get a lot of extra exercise in if you use those “waiting” times to do something active.
For a fitness challenge, use a stability ball. You can use it as a chair at your desk. Once on it, you will want to actually exercise with it. It is so much fun!
I’ve never used a stability ball before but definitely want to try it!
Whenever you feel snacky, have a glass of water first. 9 times out of 10 you’ll discover you are thirsty, not hungry.
mrsblocko recently posted..Tamale Casserole
Great point! Most of the time I find myself snacking out of sheer boredom or just because I want something tasty as opposed to because I’m actually hungry!
Before any meal, drink a glass of water! It will fill you up a little so you don’t overeat
Good idea! I find this particularly easy to do at restaurants where while I’m waiting for the food to arrive I can drink 2-3 glasses of water since they get filled back up so quickly!
For one week, create a different healthy recipe every day using purple, green and yellow (you can use blue instead of purple so lots of berry possibilities). It can be a recipe for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, appetizer, whatever, but note the word “healthy”, which means using Froot Loops does not count.
What an interesting idea to use colors! With so many green vegetables the possibilities are endless!
Diet Challenge: Cut out all processed food that contains corn syrups, dyes, MSG and synthetically made chemicals. You will lose weight and start to feel better not to mention the taste will be much more natural.
Completely agree with those one. I try to minimize the use of processed foods and even try to make my own pasta, pestos, hummus, broths, etc. when time permits!
Diet challenge: Write down everything you eat! Jotting down what you consume holds you a accountable and can help you shed some pounds as well as become more aware of your eating habits!
Being more aware of what you eat can definitely help change eating habits, especially if you are consuming a lot of processed food/junk food every day.
Do not eat anything after 7 pm!
I try to adhere to this rule!
diet/health challenge: caffeine detox for 2 weeks!
katherinedibello (at) gmail (dot) com
I need to start this! I stopped drinking coffee for a while but have recently been drinking way too much of it!
Whatever your fitness goal, for example running, start off running less than you think you can. Then each day increase it where it’s not much different for you than the day before so that you can do it (and you have no excuse!) but over the course of, say, a week, you are running twice as far as when you started.
Great idea! I used to do this at the gym on the treadmill – adding .1 miles each time I ran – it doesn’t seem like a lot but it adds up over time like you said!
For an easy way to diet: cut your food into smaller pieces. You will end up eating less, and filling up faster!
Good thinking! Or even using smaller plates helps!
My idea is a pullup challenge. Buy a pullup bar and put it in every doorway in ur house. Then do a pullup everytime u pass the doorway.
Great idea! I need to start practicing doing pull ups – I’m pretty sure right now I can’t even do one!
You are the giveaway winner! Congratulations!
Switch it up! food and workout wise. When you never do or eat the same thing twice you never get sick of it. I do 2 bodyrock.tv or random netflix workouts a day and am constantly inventing new snacks in the kitchen. You eventually find yourself having fun with it. Another good tip is to use your friends to your advantage, I would take my new “healthy” dessert recipes over to my friends places. Seeing them enjoy something that is secretly health motivates me too!
I didn’t even know they had work out videos on netflix! I’ll have to check those eat. Switching up snacks is definitely a good idea because eating baby carrots or celery sticks every day will just get boring, so coming up with new healthy foods to munch on could definitely help keep a diet/healthier lifestyle going!
Hi!
I just found your blog via foodporn.com (which I also stumbled upon today!) A great challenge for me would be giving up Diet Soda, like you said. I am a total Diet Coke junkie! Another one would be to take 10,000 steps a day! Thanks for the give away! I look forward to reading your blog regularly!
Thanks for stopping by! Both good diet challenge ideas! Replacing soda with water or even juice would be a great step to healthier habits and tracking your daily number of steps and increasing them a little bit each day could really make a difference too.
Hi Vicky,
We have so many wonderful Garden Vegetables right now, this will be a perfect Saute’ for us to try. Your Zucchini Saute’ looks like it will be full of flavor and we will just love it. Hope you are having a great week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the recipe — feel free to add any other veggies to it too – I’m sure it would be good with other garden vegetables and let me know how it turns out!
Looking good. Found you via Beyond the Peel’s Keep it Real Thursday. I linked in Coronation Chicken – a dish with a dash of history! Cheers
Thanks for stopping by!
Fitness challenge: Every day for a week, park your car at the back of the parking lot and walk a little farther to your destination.
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This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing it at Gluten Free Wednesdays for July’s zucchini theme!
Thanks for including this post in your Gluten Free Wednesdays highlights!
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