Pinch me, I must be dreaming, but it actually felt a little like autumn this morning!

Loving the cool breeze, I took an extra long walk into work—and made sure to have lunch outside in the shade.

It’s taking all the self-control I have not to break out the scarves and boots! (It will be late October before I need those, possibly even mid-November.)

Alas, I’ll take what I can of this kiss from fall, which is why tonight’s dinner is a comforting, rich, cheesy dish. (Hey, I know this began as a health-centered blog, but this dish is vegetarian, since one of my goals is to cut out meat in most of my meals. This dish is definitely a guilty pleasure, but sometimes you have to splurge. And it’s Monday.)

This recipe is from the lovely Giada de Laurentiis and can be found here.

I usually halve the recipe (which is plenty to feed both Mark and me and leave enough for a lunch during the week), but I end up adding the entire amounts of peas, mushrooms, and Marsala. With such an indulgent dish, I like to get as many vegetables in there as possible, and I’ve found the recipe is a little bland without the richness of the wine.

This time I decided to slice a couple of Roma tomatoes we had lying around as a side dish, and the touch of acid lightened the dish up a bit. A lovely side salad also pairs well.

I like to think of this as an adult macaroni and cheese (although, really, there’s nothing childish about the original). Though it’s certainly not diet food, it does have some nutrition from the peas, onion, mushrooms, and in this case, tomatoes. Mushrooms are low in cholesterol, saturated fat, and sodium. They are a good source of protein, dietary fiber, Vitamin C, and an even greater source of Vitamin D and potassium, to name a few. Peas contain many of the same nutrients, and are high in Vitamin A and manganese. And who could forget tomatoes–full of lycopene, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and Vitamin B6. In other words, you really can’t lose with this creamy, baked goodness!