You can measure my stress level by the food I eat

I know when I am under too much stress because I start having crazy cravings that I can't ignore. When I start feeling a little frantic or have a bad day, all I want is comfort food. Mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade queso, ravioli with Alfredo sauce. Well you get the idea. 

When the stress gets a little worse and I start having to cut down on my sleep, then I want sugary sweets to give me a little boost. Donuts, ice cream and cupcakes. Oh the cravings I have for cupcakes. 

But when it's do or die time and I'm pounding back the red bull like a champ, well, that's the point that my body goes Yo Stupid! Do you have any idea what you're doing to us?? And that's when I start craving spinach. Or summer squash. Or both. 

I was trying to write the statement of facts section of my Memorandum of Law and all I could think of was veggies. Lots and lots of veggies. I knew I needed to buckle down and NOT go to the store but I couldn't concentrate. Finally I gave in and called my neighbor/friend to see if she had anything fresh and green. Noooope. So I gave in and ran to the store. Just to get spinach. Nothing more. Yeaaaaah. I came home with spinach, asparagus, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers, and green onions. And then I ate and ate and ate. It was fabulous but my memo is no closer to being finished. Sigh. 

I made what I call Caprese Toast which is one of my favorite lunches. I love Caprese salads but as a main meal, they aren't quite enough for me. One day I decided to put it on some italian bread I wanted to get rid of and now I'll never look back. 

I should warn you that if you ever show this to a true Italian, they will want to smack you. This is nothing new to me because I add cream cheese to my spaghetti sauce (GASP) but I don't want anyone to be taken by surprise. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 ripe tomato, sliced 
• 2 slices of italian bread, sliced thin 
• Mozzarella cheese, either shredded or sliced thin. The shredded was on sale so that's what I used this time.  
• Fresh basil roughly chopped
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Garlic salt
• Avocado (optional - sometimes I add it sometimes I don't)

Start by brushing some olive oil on the italian bread and a sprinkle of garlic salt. Go easy with this, we aren't trying to make garlic bread, just add a bit of flavor. Place it on a cookie sheet and broil until brown and crispy. 

Take out of the oven and load it up with cheese. I was running low but usually, I'm a wee bit more generous with the cheese than in the picture. 

Put it back under the broiler until mostly melted, pull it out and turn off the oven. Add the sliced tomato and basil and drizzle some balsamic vinegar over the top. 

Add avocado if wanted and EAT. The avocado does make it a little more of an adventure trying to get it into my mouth in one piece but usually it is so worth it. 

If I set everything out before hand, I have enough time to slice the tomato and avocado while the bread is toasting, so from cupboard to mouth is about five minutes. Even a law student can manage that!