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Posts Tagged beets

Juicehead

Apr 16

Posted by Shari B. in Handy Kitchen Tools, vegan | 8 Comments

High-Dee-Hoe friends!  Any Jersey Shore fans out there?  If so, let me assure you the title of this post is not “juicehead” in the same meaning used on the show, LOL!  ;) (But I must admit my Thursday TV line-up feels a little blah now that Season 3 is over!)

Anyhoooo – I think I may actually have (partially) rejoined the land of the living.  This “cold” or whatever it is has really wreaked a little havoc on things around here.  Primarily my SCHEDULE!!  Oh yeah, and any thoughts of wanting to exercise.

I feel like my poor liver is going to be a toxic wasteland after all this, because I’ve resorted taking Advil, Nyquil, Mucinex, Jack Daniels, Ambien, you name it, if it might make me feel better, I was ready to pop it (and just to be clear, I am not taking these at the same time.  Well, except for the one night that I did have Nyquil and a cup of hot toddy which does have whiskey in it ;D ).

This bug is very stealth.  It likes to trick you into thinking you are getting better because during the daytime you feel physically OK for the most part.  But then evening hits, and BAM, it takes you DOWN in a hurry (and steals your sleep with it)!  Hence trying anything each day to see if I could get a few zzzzzzz’s.

I feel the need to do a little “cleansing” because of all this so I actually caved and got a juicer.

I’ve always been a bit “anti-juice”.  I think this comes from way back in my “Zone Diet days”.  Juice was the devil because you were getting all of the sugar and none of the fiber, which would in turn cause your blood sugar to spike.  This is partly why I prefer “blended” juices (like green smoothies) where the fiber remains for consumption.

Let me state for the record that I still feel this way about most fruit juices.

However, I think I’ve been sold on green juice.  On a recent trip, I had the good fortune of being treated to an organic, fresh, all-green juice.  It was fabulous and I literally felt a sense of ‘energetics’ in my body shortly after drinking it, almost like a caffeine buzz.

So I searched high and low for a place around where I live that makes fresh ORGANIC green juice.  I found two places about 15 miles away, but neither is using organic veggies.  Which just wigs me out when it comes to juice.  I do not want a glass of concentrated pesticides, thankyouverymuch.

The next nearest place was 30 miles – but a 60 mile round trip for juice is just a little silly.

Enter the “20% off” coupon from Bed, Bath and Beyond and I’m now the new owner of a Breville JuiceFountain.

For my first few batches I used celery, cucumber, parsley, ginger, and a little lemon.

Then this morning I got a little more brave.  This combo sounds like it should be gross but it was so good! Don’t let the red fool you though, this juice was mostly from greens.

  • 1/2 raw beet
  • 2 large stalks from heads of broccoli
  • about 1 head of romaine
  • large handful of parsley
  • about 2″ of ginger root
  • 1/4 fuji apple
  • 1 english cucumber
  • juice from half a lemon (which I just squeezed in at the end)

It made about a glass and a half of the one pictured above.  I forced encouraged MSP to take a sip, which he finally did.  Let’s just say he’ll be sticking to carrot apple juice for now.  :)

I’ll never replace my green smoothies, that’s for sure.  But I like having the option to add even a little more “green” to my day, especially while I clean all the ‘junk’ from my system over the next few weeks.

Are you a fan or foe of juicing?  If you juice, do you have a favorite veggie? My great friend Keri (owner of Om of the Rockies yoga) shared with me that she likes to include daikon radish in hers.  I thought that was genius and I can’t wait to give it a try!

Have a SPLENDID Saturday!

– Shari B. =)

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BEET This Crazy Club Sandwich

Apr 8

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 6 Comments

Well, it’s official.  I have the ‘crud’ that’s going around.  Still no voice, the uncontrollable coughing kicked in last night, the plugged ears and headache today, and even LESS voice than I had yesterday.  Whereas before I could talk kind of in a whisper, now nothing really comes out except for a few squeaks.

Sadly it doesn’t keep me from still trying to talk.  I just cannot be silent.  You know that vow of silence scene in Eat, Pray, Love?  I would never make it more than 18 seconds.

So today I wanted to make an effort to rest (so far I’ve not been all that successful at it) so that hopefully by the end of the weekend I can beat this thing.

And by resting, of course one means tinkering in the kitchen…

I saw a traditional club sandwich over at The Pioneer Woman’s site today and it sounded so wonderful.  Except for the bacon, the deli meat and the cow dairy cheese – all of which I’d end up having to pick off.  :)   But it did give me a spark of inspiration!

I’d purchased beets yesterday to roast for a salad but decided they had to be in sandwich form instead.  Here’s how my thinking process went.  First I wondered if maybe I should just do it as a wrap since beets are messy and stain everything within a 2 foot radius it seems.  Then I was wondering whether I really wanted to use all those pieces of bread to make a club sandwich (especially since it had to be a serving for ONE and I knew this wasn’t something you could really stick in the fridge for later) so I decided to make it as a ‘half’ sandwich.  Then I wondered what the heck I’d put between the other layers of the club’wich. Well let’s see, what goes with beets?  Goat cheese – which I had.  Hazelnuts or walnuts, which I didn’t have on hand, but hey how about some all natural peanut butter or almond butter?  Oranges and apples go with beets – again, no luck.  But I had apricot fruit spread.  And so on and so forth… Convoluted, I know.  It’s just how my brain works.  (And I haven’t even taken any cold medicine yet!)

And you know what else worked?  This sandwich!

Can you BEET This Triple Decker Crazy Club

In usual FitFeat fashion, this is definitely a “Build a Meal” not a recipe.  The idea of this is to figure out what you have on hand, be bold in pairing things together and you might just love what you created!

I start by putting a bunch of stuff in a pile on the counter.  Even when making a sandwich I make a MESS out of my kitchen.

Then I smeared some all natural peanut butter on half a slice of toasted Ezekial and apricot just fruit spread on the other:

In this layer went slices of beet.  Then I ‘closed the lid’ and on the top of it I smeared a mixture of greek yogurt with a little dijon plus some sea salt and pepper:

I ‘massaged’ some olive oil onto arugula (mainly so it would break down a bit – on such a narrow sandwich, I didn’t want pieces of greens falling out.  This makes them ‘stick’ in the sandwich a little better):

I layered on the arugula, some red onion pieces and some chopped fresh basil:

Next I smeared goat cheese onto the remaining halves of toast:

One half of the goat cheesed toast went face down and the top of it was smeared with a little more of the yogurt mixture, and then topped with some hard boiled egg slices:

Then the top was added along with 2 toothpicks to hold it all together for slicing:

Cut in half to make a tall tower and serve!

Did you follow all that wackiness?  Ezekial toast, peanut butter, beets, apricot spread, arugula, olive oil, basil, salt/pepper, Greek yogurt, dijon mustard, red onion, goat cheese, hard boiled egg. Did I forget anything?? Is that a Crazy Club or what?

It was awesome!  A little sweet/salty from the PB, sweet from the apricot, bitter from the arugula, kick from the onion, and creamy all over.  I think this might be the most unique sandwich I’ve ever made!  It was fun to look at and fun to eat!

What is the most unique thing you’ve thrown together with just whatever you had on hand? Did it taste amazing or did it get tossed?

Blog buds, I hope you have a FABULOUS Friday and an even more WONDERFUL weekend!  Comment lots – I’m stuck here on the couch and need the ‘virtual conversation’!  ;)

– Shari B. =)

(And thank you Ree aka Pioneer Woman for the inspiration to get me into my kitchen for some fun today!)

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The Beet Smoothie

May 15

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

Hey there blog buds!  Happy Saturday!  I hope that you are having an wonderful weekend so far.  Mine has been delightful!  You know that Saturdays are my favorite day of the week!

I especially love when they start with a 4+ mile run outside in the sunshine.  It feels like FOREVER since I’ve gone for a sunny run!

Yesterday morning we were indoors doing an Insanity session, which left me red-faced and panting.

A little like this:

(Image Source)

I’d like to say I was kidding about that, but that’s pretty much how I look and feel during those workouts!  :)

***

In my previous blog post, The BEET of My Own Drum, I mentioned that one of my clients asked me if I had ever tried putting beets in my smoothies.  Which I hadn’t.  But I told you all that I would consider it.

Consider it done!

Into the blender went the following items:

  • 8 oz water + 4 small ice cubes
  • 2 cutie clementines
  • 3/4 roasted beet (without skin)
  • 1/2 small banana
  • large handful of spinach
  • 1 large kale leaf (stalk removed)
  • 1/2 cucumber
  • small handful of alfalfa sprouts
  • a squeeze of flaxseed oil (approx 1/2 TBS)

You just can’t BEET the color of this beautiful veggie!  Ha ha!  (Sorry, that was bad.  Couldn’t resist!)

Into the glass for taste testing (I must admit, I was a little nervous that it would taste like dirt and I’d have wasted all those veggies):

The verdict:  Actually quite good!  I could definitely taste the ‘earthiness’ of the beet from it being a root vegetable, but I get that same effect sometimes from the celery and sprouts in my regular green smoothies.

Probably the only downside to beet smoothies?  Teeth like Angela’s….

(Image Source)

I’m just kidding, it didn’t stain my teeth!  But if you didn’t catch The Office this week, click HERE and scroll to the 4:58 mark.  I thought it was funny that I’d just been talking about beets in smoothies earlier that day!

So your challenge is to throw something new into your next smoothie!  I dare you! ;)   Then come back and let me know how it was!

– Shari B. =)

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The BEET of My Own Drum

May 13

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hi friends!  It’s Friday-EVE!  Wahoo!

Ahhh I feel so relaxed at the moment.  I just got done with an hour-long yoga session and let me tell you … I have MISSED yoga.  (Gosh, a year ago I don’t think those words would have ever crossed my lips.)  I haven’t had a yoga sesh since before we left on vacation because when we got back we started into the Insanity routine (that I was lucky enough to borrow from a friend).  It’s definitely fun and different, and I sweat more doing this than I do in 100-degree Bikram studio.  However, 2 weeks in and I’m already a little bored.  Although you are changing DVDs daily, there is so much of each day’s routine that is just like the previous day, and the day before that, and the day before that, so all of a sudden I find myself not looking forward to the workouts.

So like everything else in my ‘fitness’ life, it will be mixed in when I need a good sweaty cardio/plyo routine or want to change things up. But it will no longer be a 6-day Insanity week.

This is one of the biggest reasons I think personal trainers can be a HUGE benefit (OK yes being a trainer, you may think I’m a bit biased ;) ) Because most of them will listen to your likes and dislikes.  I strive to find out what my clients really enjoy and incorporate it.  If you tell your trainer there are certain exercises you REALLY don’t like to do, they should adjust the program.  Because otherwise you may start to DREAD the session.  And that’s the fastest way to see your client list dropping like the stock market of 5-6-10!

This is also why you see on the blog that I’m always reading new fitness/nutrition books and trying new DVD workout programs.  Gotta keep it fresh for both MY workouts and my CLIENTS’ workouts!  I don’t like to be bored with exercise.  And I never give clients an exercise that I haven’t done myself so I am always trying my programs first, as I design them.  I want to know how much weight feels right, how sore it might make me afterward, if anything feels “off’ about a new movement.

One thing that I find myself NOT bored with still, after all this time is TABATA!!!  So quick, so intense, and then it’s done.  LOVE THAT!  Monday I did the following routine using my Tabata timer:

  • Straight-Arm Planks
  • Seated Row
  • Overhead Shoulder Presses (standing on one leg for increased balance work, alternate legs each set)
  • Tricep Kickback + Straight Arm Tricep Pulses
  • DB Bicep Curls
  • Boat Pose for Abs

I felt it for the 2 days following.  I really don’t think I will ever get bored with this style of training. It speaks to my short attention span. :D

On the food front, beets have also been speaking to me this week.  I roasted three of them on Sunday and have been adding them to a lot of my salads.  If you missed it, I talked about my salmon, beet and goat cheese salad earlier in the week.  This time I made a “deconstructed” salad with beets along one side, sauteed kale and a bit of herbed goat cheese in the middle and sliced pears on the other.  This was another flavor winner.  The sweetness of the pear and beets meshed perfectly with the lightly salted kale and goat cheese.

Beets are an amazing veggie health-wise.  Beets are very high in folate, manganese, potassium and rich in compounds that are found to help reduce inflammation, fight heart disease, and colon cancer.  While higher in natural sugars than other vegetables, they are still only 74 calories per cup, plus very high in fiber.

During a kitchen session with a client this week, she asked if I put beets in my smoothies.  I haven’t tried that yet.  But I’m considering it.  So I’ll keep you posted.  :)

Drop a comment on any one of the topics above!  Got any favorite ways to eat BEETS? Have you had a personal trainer that made you do exercises you hated?  Any workouts that you’ve been CRAVING lately, but just haven’t gotten to?

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday friends!

– Shari B. =)

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