ALWAYS LEAVE THE GYM ON A MAKE!

My high school basketball coach always told me, “Never leave the gym on a miss.  You always leave the gym on a make!” 

I have carried this saying in my heart and overall being since I was 15.  In some ways it has made me stronger and more effective in life and other ways just annoyingly competitive with myself.

The other day I was playing tennis with my husband and he called out, “Last rally.”  We proceeded to have an awesome rally that ended on my error and I looked at him and said, “I can’t leave the court on a miss.“ He was amused, bothered, and slightly re-fell in love with me all at the same time and agreed to one more.  I hit a shot I was perfectly content with and walked off the court.

I have to say, most days when it comes to cooking for myself and my family I am pretty aggressive and competitive with myself.  The whole theory of leaving on a make has transcended into preparing healthy meals for my family (I wish I had the same competitive edge about laundry, cleaning my bathrooms and getting birthday cards out on time).   As I have mentioned in the past, I do try to balance it all out.  Friday night’s mom Gilroy takes off her game face orders pizza and the girls and I usually have at it! There is so much right about not having dishes to clean, the simplicity of a great slice and living in Huntington and having such amazing pizza available to us. 

My relationship with pizza is love at first bite and guilty and tired after my second slice.  It never stops me though.  Even as I am eating the second slice talking to myself about how lethargic it’s going to make me feel, without fail I will dig in.  But this week was different. This week in place of having my two slices I only had one.  I put the girls to bed and finished the day on a total make.  I don’t want to give people the wrong idea, that having pizza with your kids is a miss.  But I just truly enjoyed my second homemade slice so much that I wanted to share it!

PIZZA ON A MAKE!

Ingredients: 1 Ezekiel – Food for Life wrap, 1/3 cup of Great Northern Beans (or small white bean of choice), 1 and 1/4 cups of cooked green vegetable of choice (broccoli rabe is recommended), 1 over flowing table spoon of grated pecorino cheese.

Preparing broccoli rabe

Ingredients:  I head of broccoli rabe (broccoli rabe should be rinsed well and about 1 inch of the bottoms should be cut off), 1 medium size onion, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 small pinch of salt, 1 and ¾ cup of chicken broth

1.)   Peel and slice onion and place into a large pot

2.)   Add olive oil to pot and 1 garlic clove peeled and cut in half and sauté onion and garlic on medium low for about 8-10 minutes (onion should start to look translucent)

3.)   Add broccoli rabe to pot (if the pot is not big enough to put it all in at the same time add them in smaller bundles and let the leaves cook down and then add another bundle and so on)

4.)   Stir well add other two garlic cloves, pinch of salt and chicken broth

5.)   Let cook to your liking.  If you leave it cooking longer the leaves will get softer and the broccoli rabe will loose some of the bitterness.  If you take it out after a few minutes it will be crunchier and a bit more bitter.  I like it both waysJ

Preparing PIZZA ON A MAKE!

1.)   Chop a little over 1 cup (about 1 and ¼ cups) of cooked broccoli rabe

2.)   In a medium bowl add broccoli rabe, beans (make sure they are rinsed well), ½ tablespoon of grated pecorino and mix

3.)   Thaw Ezekiel wrap in oven at 350 for 3-4 minutes

4.)   Place thawed wrap on tinfoil and add mixture of broccoli rabe, beans and cheese and place the other ½ tablespoon of pecorino on top

5.)   Place under the broiler until cheese is melted

6.)   Take out of the oven and enjoy!

Get creative and try different vegetables and let me know how it goes.  If you use frozen vegetables or pre-prepared vegetables from last nights dinner, this can be a really quick and easy meal!  I had it today and added a few pieces of left over sausage…yum!  I think I am eating it tomorrow too and adding some left over tomato sauce!

Love deeply, eat mindfully, and end the day on a makeJ

Kim Gilroy – Insideout Wellness