I am lucky that my husband is totally willing to try crazy ethnic vegetarian recipes that I put on our weekly menu plan. We may struggle about my desire to go 100% vegetarian but at least we’ve come to a good compromise and only cook meat/seafood at home a few nights a week.

This week’s menu plan included an Israeli dish from Smitten Kitchen that I have had starred in my Google Reader for months. Shaksuka is a dish of Israeli/Moroccan/Egyptian origin that features poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce. It’s easy to make and a healthy vegetarian dinner. Brandon will pretty much eat anything with an egg on top of it so I knew he’d have no objections to trying this.

I served the Shaksuka with the pita bread that I made on Sunday. Sometimes it’s just fun to eat a dinner that doesn’t require silverware. 😉

We’ll go in reverse for today’s eats. Lunch was a really random assortment of things from the fridge because I had a meeting during lunch (which I’m VERY excited to share the outcome of with you guys very soon!).

When I got back to work I assembled this plate from my lunch box – apple slices, brie, carrots, green peppers and half a bagel with light cream cheese and cucumbers.

And finally, breakfast. I had the treat of eating a bowl of oatmeal at home while I worked on some stuff for the blog this morning before work.

What we’re working with: rolled oats, Bob’s Red Mill 10-grain cereal, almond milk, water, pinch of salt, chia seeds, cinnamon, banana and dried cranberries. Topped with almond butter, Crofter’s and raspberries.

I know I promised you guys a post on stability ball ab exercises tonight but I need a little more time on it. I need to retake some of the pictures. Promise it’s coming this week.

And finally, a quick update on the hamstring. I’m trying not to overdo talking about it on the blog after my pity party a few days ago. Also, I’ve just been really scared and sad about the injury. It’s been rough going for the past week but I am very tentatively happy to report that it is finally starting to feel better. Today is the first day that I have felt major improvement. I had electrotherapy done yesterday that made me very sore last night but I felt tons better this morning. I’m going for an adjustment tomorrow to try to correct some lower back/hip issues that are showing up in x-rays. I’m praying that the healing continues and I am back on the road in a couple days.

I haven’t given up hope on running Marine Corps yet but I am going to take a long, hard look at the future of marathoning for me after this race. But more on that later.

What is the craziest ethnic dish you’ve ever tried?