First Day of Grad School

Hello friends!
Yesterday was a very exciting day- my first day of grad school! For my new readers (hi!), I recently graduated from Texas Tech University and moved to IL to pursue my Master's degree in Clinical Psychology.
We just had our orientation yesterday and didn't have a lecture in the one class that was scheduled, so it was an easy day, but it was long. I was exhausted by the time I was finished on campus.
I took a few pictures around campus before the orientation started...

the campus is full of flowers and greenery-it's very pretty!

and there are tall trees unlike Texas trees :)

Can you spot the butterfly?

Now?

Now I cannot wait until Autumn comes... it will be beautiful compared to the practically non-existent Autumn in Texas.

It was a little after 5 once I was done at school. I walked home (just a 12 minute walk!) and then Raine and I went to go pick up my textbooks and went to the store to get a few ingredients I was missing for the dinner I wanted to put together. 

After reading Gena's post that mentioned VegWeb.com (my favorite recipe database!), I started browsing the site and came across a recipe for Szechuan Green Beans.

I adapted the recipe to my tastes, as well as in response to some of the comments about the recip:

Serves 2

2 large handfuls of fresh green beans
1/2 cup cooked buckwheat
1/2 to 1 TBSP sesame oil
1/4 cup raw cashews
2-3 TBSP minced garlic1 TBSP shredded or minced fresh ginger
1/8 cup reduced sodium soy sauce (or less... I added tsp by tsp until it tasted right)
few shakes of sesame seeds
generous crushed red pepper (I like it hot!)
ground black pepper

Heat a large skillet to medium/medium high and add the sesame oil. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for a few minutes. Then, add the green beans, cashews, sesame seeds, red pepper, and black pepper. Cook until green beans become slightly cooked (they should remain crispy though!) and add buckwheat and soy sauce. Cook until the soy sauce is absorbed. Enjoy!

This was awesome. Raine absolutely loved this too! Winner Winner Green Bean Dinner!
I also had 2/3 of a can of garbanzo beans leftover in the fridge, and some spinach that absolutely needed to be used up. I browsed a lot of recipes before I found one for Espinacas con Garbanzos which is obviously spinach with garbanzo beans :)
I changed this recipe very slightly by using water instead of oil, and by using fresh spinach rather than frozen. I also cut back a bit on the onion and garlic since I didn't have a full can of beans or the full amount of spinach. I seasoned it with the cumin and salt to taste.

This was also fabulous. I think the key was mashing half of the garbanzo beans while they cooked- they really took on the spices that way. 

After dinner and several a big glass of wine, I was ready for bed! I read for half an hour and slept very fitfully.

Do you read before bed? What are your winding-down activities? 
I read before bed just about every night. If I use the computer or watch television before I sleep, I have a harder time sleeping. Unfortunately, I often do those things too!