Vegetable Paella. Vegan. Gluten Free.

Happy Friday!  So happy the weekend is just hours away.  That’s enough to put a smile on your face. Getting back to the routine has been nice but I’ve weirdly missed the noise in my house during the day that I got accustomed to during the holiday break.

This week I outlined a menu and proudly adhered to that. It’s funny when you have a scheduled menu planned, it makes the week so much easier.  I shopped early, had ingredients on hand and everyday, without fail, the dishes were prepared and happily consumed.  I’m starting to plan next week and wanted to get more input from my kids on what they would like to see.  I like to involve them and their unique preferences to select a menu item and the night they would like to have it.  Some static themed nights are Monday’s being meatless for everyone, Taco Tuesday and Pizza Fridays.  Just a few other variable nights to play with.  I’ll be sharing the menu choices with you all once that’s completed.

Do you plan your menu for the week or just wing it?

Now onto a classic one pot dish made vegan.  Get all of your veggies in one beautiful dish!  Perfect weeknight dinner idea.
Ingredients:

A few tablespoons of olive oil for your sauté pan
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 shallot, diced
2.5 cups of vegetable broth
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon of saffron threads
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup of rice – short grain would work best but I used a multi-blend that I had on hand.
4 cups of broccoli florets
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
10-14 olives – I used pitted Kalamata and green stuffed with garlic – my kids aren’t fans so I used enough to flavor the dish and kept them whole so they can identify them easily.
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Heat the oil in your sauté pan until hot. Add your bell peppers and shallot. Cook for 4 minutes or so.  Then add your broth and garlic.  Sauté for 1 additional minute.  Then add your seasonings and broth bringing that to a boil. Add your rice over the mixture and stir.  Cover to cook for 12 minutes.  Then add your broccoli, peas, corn, olives and cherry tomatoes.  Stir.  Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes or until your rice is fully cooked.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve and enjoy!

Yesterday was my rest day.  Time to rebuild, repair and refuel. We were up & out early today as my oldest was planning on doing a double session of swim practice.  I got her to the pool by 5:40a and I headed off to the gym.  It was pretty much back to normal sans the resolution craziness.  I was happy to grab a free treadmill.  I had been waffling on what mileage I wanted to do.  I knew it would be a treadmill run and my 3rd (finally allowed to lift more than 2 days a week) day of weightlifting.  6 came to mind so that was my goal for today.  I have to get my mind back into running longer runs on the treadmill as it is an entirely different dynamic than being outdoors.  Sadly the temps are just too cold with snow/ice on the ground to trust running in the dark with my finger.  I can’t and won’t risk it.

My focus this week was to have a full-on activity filled running and weightlifting.  I’m more focused on getting my distance back and then I’ll worry about building speed workouts into that.  This week’s goal is 30 miles.  I sit at 27:10 and plan to run tomorrow to finish out my week.  I’m good to get my goal plus. Then Sunday I plan to do a long run on Sunday but I’m unsure of that number of mileage but thinking for 9-10.

My Instagram pic from this morning. I’ve been working on strengthening my wrist that had the marrow harvested from it.  Still swollen but getting stronger.  Abs.  Core.  Balance work. All the fun exercises to leave me in a nice amount of muscle pain tomorrow.  Ha.

Wishing you a great weekend! oxo

— Knead to Cook