Broccoli Asparagus Voila! - Also Known As Go-To-Meal #3

It's Wednesday.  Mr. Millie has class on Wednesday nights, I have choir practice in oh- thirty minutes.  Typically on Wednesday nights, the siren like calls from Taco Bell become too tempting to resist, and deplete of Mr. Millie's looks of castigation -  Taco Bell wins out, and I usually end up grabbing something that I can inhale in the brief time that I am home while watching the cliff note version of the Biggest Loser (trust me, the irony is not lost on me).. and by Cliff Notes I mean, its on DVR from Tuesday night, and I fast forward through it to hit the main points. (easy to do considering they intro and outro the exact same things at every commercial break- this alone takes the show down to 55 minutes-  then you fast forward through the workouts - I mean, we KNOW Jillian is a ball buster, they sweat they puke, repeat)  and the show is down to 45)-  but Biggest Loser Tangent aside,  I decided to forgo my weekly jaunt to Taco Bell, and opted instead for something home cooked, because- I asked myself... do I want Taco Bell, or do I want to do a sub 2 hour Triathlon this season?  Sub 2 Hour Triathlon won by a landslide.

Today's intended feast was from My Sister's Blog  Lentils & Quinoa w/ Roasted Broccoli  but, to my dismay, the package of Lentils I thought I had in my cupboard are missing.  I'm sure they will turn up, I had a party last weekend, and a lot of things ended up getting shoved wherever there was room in the final "Oh Crap" hour before company arrived.  Twenty bucks say they turn up in a bin in the workout room, in about a month or so....   you think I'm kidding.

Anyhow, since I did not have Lentils, and I wanted to be able to do my sisters recipe justice, I decided to pass on her recipe for the day and just work with what I had.  Turns out- they are fairly similar anyway.

I had some Broccoli and Asparagus in my Fridge, as well as a can of leftover Chick Peas that I had planned to use to make a bean salad, but ended up using the Kidney Beans over the weekend, so an errant can of Chick Peas was included in my recipe as well.

So without further ado:

Millie's Broccoli Asparagus Voila (also known as "The Sh*t I Have In My Fridge and Randomly Threw Together"  ... VOILA! :)


1 Can of Chickpeas
1 Bunch of Asparagus (bottoms cut off)-
now when I'm cutting my Asparagus up, I always cut off starting where the stems change from deep green to light green.  Some people say that I am cutting too much of the stem off doing it this way, but there is nothing I hate more (okay actually there are a lot of things I hate more- but lets just go with it for emphasis)  than chomping on a piece of asparagus that doesn't want to submit to the mashing of my molars.
2 Mini-Heads of Broccoli (Trees & Stems- cut into small pieces)  - you don't have to use the stems if you dont want, but I heard once that there are more nutrients in the stems than in the trees, and it always stuck with me-  so I have learned to love the stems
Olive Oil
Garlic

I just realized that this is very similar to the spinach/chic pea combo I blogged about last week.. with the whole garlic and olive oil thing- but I promise I will expand my palate when I'm not pressed for time.

Anyhow:

My Ingredients (sans the Slim Fast that the ingredients are sitting on top of )

Start with the Olive Oil and Garlic-  add the Broccoli and Asparagus
I just realized the Chic Peas got added in here as well- but I forgot to take a picture of that one-  WHOOPS!

Boil your Quinoa-  and yes- before I get any comments on the pot *cough* Mrs Plant Food Fabulous-  this is an evil Teflon pot-  but Mr. Millie didn't "hear me"  when I said "before you go to bed, could you please turn the dishwasher on"  so when I came home from work-  all the pots were still in the Dishwasher, unwashed.  So this was all I had.  Since I was only boiling stock and Quinoa in it, I figured I'd be o.k.

And-  the money shot.  This is the completed product.  I added a little balsamic vinegar to  it right before I started eating because it seemed to be missing something.  Looking at the Plant Food Fabulous version with the lentils- there's a yummy sauce that it gets mixed with that since I wasn't following her recipe I missed :(  But I'll do that recipe another time.

I also wanted to briefly talk about portion control.  These plates have helped me immensely with portion sizes.  Instead of using large standard plates in the Millie Household.  We use pub plates.  Which are about half the size.

That's a teaspoon across the plate-  so it just barely misses the length of the plate.

Anyhow, I bought these at the Crate and Barrel Outlet for like $2 - $3 each.  (If you don't have a Crate and Barrel outlet by you-  I'd complain!  I seriously live at that place)

So, as you can see from my almost empty plate.  Go to Meal #3 was a success!  And, it was much more filling and satisfying than making a run for the border would have been!


If you haven't voted for me in the Women's Health Magazine Blog Contest  please do! I will be eternally grateful!  :)

' Til next time! :)  ~Millie