Another Great Day with Eggplant Chicken Pasta Bake

Body:

Walked 2 miles with my mom and jack ( 2 loops around their neighborhood!) it was sooooo windy! After we had chatted about the day ahead, I decided that staying here another night would allow me to get a good workout in today instead of being tired today after a drive home. So, we headed to the gym after lunch..  

The gym workout today: A fantastic RUN!! I am so happy with my time!
Distance: 5.34 miles in 40 minutes flat! That is over 2.5 minutes less than my 8K Race on Thanksgiving Day  and even faster since I ran 0.23 miles longer!

Woohoo! When we got back I did a 20 minute session of Yoga. I just did my own thang with warrior 2, triangle pose, warrior 1, downward facing dog, etc. I think downward dog is my favorite position because I find myself just hanging out in it for awhile.

Mind:
Read even more of Eat, Pray, Love ( so far another 30 pages for today). I think its being here at my parents, its like a vacation and at home I find a million other things to do instead of sit down and read!

Caught up on blogs too!

Job searching ( also in soul)

Soul:
My mom and I are baking a cheesecake, we made dinner together and the walk together was fantastic as always!

She also helped me sew up a few shirts that needed taken in (Thanks mom)

Jeff had some news about a vehicle, but I should be able to report for sure Monday. 

Speaking of monday, I start Spring Semester that day! Phew! That break just totally flew by. I am not "ready" to come back, but excited to take more classes for sure! 

One of my resolutions for this year is to get together with "old" friends that I haven't seen in awhile- but I am still working on more.

I job searched! (gasp) I found a few positions that I might could do over spring semester but mostly looked into jobs I could obtain with ONLY a master's degree in nutrition instead of both the MS and the RD certification/internship. I found a few possibilities but I was hoping to find something that could maybe help pay for the internship/certification. We'll see.


Okay, now on to the food people...

Pre Walk Snack/Breakfast: Banana and Smucker's All Natural

After Walk Brunch:
Leftover Chicken Stir-Fry (chicken, broccoli, waterchestnuts, red and yellow bell pepper, carrots, cauliflower)


Lunch:

Egg White Sammy ( slice of Arnold All Natural Whole Grain White) over Salad with Blueberries and Apple Slices, Hummus and Goddess Dressing ( and a pickle but I only had a bite).

Dinner:

Prepare yourselves for this one yall- It is oh so YUMMY!

Eggplant Chicken Pasta Bake!!I got this idea from Giada Di Laurentis, the other day she layered a corningware dish with grilled eggplant slices ( she used the fancy schmany grill top on her oven- wish I had that!!) and then cooked sausage and beef with onions and garlic. She tossed in pasta and tomato sauce.So here is what I did tonight with my mom:

layered eggplant slices that I had grilled with a little olive oil in to a 13 x 9 dish.

We made the pasta as directed.

Sauteed onions with garlic and cooked sliced chicken.

Tossed it all together with the tomato sauce and put it on top of the eggplant- * while all of this had been cooking I was grilling big slices of eggplant one by one on a foreman grill*
 
We added a light covering of parmesean cheese and mozzarella

then layered the eggplant on top.

Baked in a convection oven for 20 minutes at 325.

I cut it into 8 sections since we used 4 chicken breasts and the whole box of pasta (8 servings).

My plate with organic mixed greens


I loved it as did my dad ( who doesnt like eggplant apparently but enjoyed this!) and my mom really enjoyed it as well! The only thing I would have enjoyed more is another half jar of tomato sauce ( extra sauce to me is delish!)


Not done yet for the day though- We already made the cheesecake and it's cooling now. I will start another post for it shortly...

How was everyone's Hump Day!?!  What is one thing you do to calm yourself in stressful situations?  If I don't do yoga, I try repeating to myself, "I have the strength to get through it".