Good Monday evening to you, blog readers! Before I get to my super simple and simply delicious dinner – let’s do a quick recap of the day.

I got a super late start to my day which was unfortunate. My alarm went off starting at 6:15 and I did not get out of bed until 7am. I was not pleased with myself – tomorrow i hope to have more drive to get my day started at a better hour. I had a lot to do before I started off to work – including watering the flowers in the front and back yard… which is a big job. It was also trash and recycling day, so I got out the last of both before heading to work.

On my way to the office I drank an Odwalla drink – which I really liked. I never drink these sorts of things because I think they have a lot of calories, not to mention sugar – but I noticed the other day that the drinks are simply made up of fruits and vegetables. So, for a rare day when I’m running late and cannot make a smoothie, I will let myself drink an Odwalla. I like that they have ‘single servings’ now and the one I had today was 170 calories. I drank this starting around 7:45, for a good twenty minutes in the car – and guess what? I did not eat again until 10:45 when I had a Fage yogurt (0% strawberry, and I ate half of the fruit it came with).

At noon I went for a walk with one of my good friends from work. It was fairly hot, but for the most part we had a great breeze from the water. I put on SPF 50 before heading out – because skin cancer and sun burns STINK. That’s right.

After my walk I enjoyed another lunch of panzanella salad. I was really looking forward to this lunch:

This version of panzanella had cannelloni beans, fresh mozzarella salad, red onion, garlic, spinach, basil and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I also tore up a bit of bread to act as the croutons or the “day old bread” that the recipe calls for. It was a great, cold and refreshing lunch for such a hot day.

During the afternoon I had a couple of snacks. For the most part they were healthy – blueberries, carrots, a whole wheat sandwich thin and some peanut butter. (I don’t know about the last snack – but it could have been worse…)

I had the peanut butter and whole wheat sandwich thin to sort of bribe myself to get to the gym after work today. I got a lot of exercise this weekend, so I was happy with the way things had been going. I also had the great walk during he day… so as I was driving home, I decided to swing by the salon where I get my pedicures to see if they had time to take me. I figured if they didn’t I was five minutes away from the gym and I would just go and do the elliptical for 40 minutes. But to my surprise, the salon had a spot and within five minutes of walking in I was getting a much needed pedicure!!

So, I skipped the gym. I’m so on for tomorrow and Wednesday now – thus, I need to get up with my alarm goes off tomorrow so I can get my day off to an early start. I lose motivation the later it gets in the afternoon.

After my pedicure, I went to Whole Foods where I got three crucial ingredients for the dinner I had created in my mind while I was at work today. (Yes, I work and at the same time I dream about cooking and what I am going to make when I get home. My job is really just my day job sometimes – and I feel like I race home to make amazing food for my family and friends!)

Eggplant. Zucchini. Parmigiano-Reggiano. (Sure, I got a couple of other things. I had a strange craving for animal crackers and Nutella today. So, I bought some animal crackers at Whole Foods. Of course I have Nutella at home. Duh.) But I kept my shopping at Whole Foods today really simple. Somehow a lavender soap ended up in my basket, but whatever.

When I got home I was a little hungry (and it was 7:15 PM) so I got to work in the kitchen. I cut the eggplant first, sprinkled salt on the slices, and let the bitterness work its way out. I sliced the zucchini. I heated up the grill pan (I just couldn’t deal with charcoal tonight – and the sky was looking threatening. Please rain – we could use it!!) I also brought a pot of water to a boil. The zucchini grilled up nicely:

After the zucchini was done, I put the eggplant on. I brushed the eggplant pieces with a light layer of olive oil. All of the vegetables grilled up beautifully.

By the time the vegetables were finished, the pasta was cooked as well. I put together the finished product pretty quickly. I cut up some cherry tomatoes, added the grilled vegetables, grated the parm-reg, and added some freshly ground pepper on top.

Ok, so this might not look amazing. BUT SERIOUSLY – it was AMAZING. This dinner made me wonder why I ever go out to eat. It was THAT GOOD. Ok, I’m over it. But this is one of the best dinners I can remember making – and this is a dinner that is perfect if you are just cooking for yourself. I have leftovers for tomorrow night and I can’t wait for dinner tomorrow!

Well. I have to wrap up now to see if I can get an earlier start tomorrow. My running clothes are already in the car. I just have to get a run in tomorrow. Have to.