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Posts Tagged Blended Salad

Cuts Like Buttah

Dec 28

Posted by Shari B. in Handy Kitchen Tools | 5 Comments

Noooooo…. I’m not ready for the long holiday weekend to be over!!!  This is always my favorite weekend of the year!  Do we HAVE to go back to work?  :)

If I was the type of person who called in sick (but I’m not), today would be the day for it because somehow I managed to hobble myself yesterday.  During a workout, of all things.  I’m not even sure what movement did it, but it has something to do with my hip flexors.  I stretched off and on all day yesterday, did some yoga, all to no avail.  I have yet to pop an ibuprofen though.  That is the absolute last resort.  I know, I’m weird.  But once you get all that garbage out of your system, it’s a tough choice to put it back in.  Since April 1, I’ve had two Advil and that’s IT.

It’s a little better this morning so I’ll take the morning off of working out, and soak in the tub instead to see if that loosens anything up.  I exercised all 4 days of my long holiday weekend.  Tomorrow is my planned ‘rest day’ so I’ll just flip-flop my days.  This is my cue that I NEED more core strengthening work if a few days of core DVDs cripples me!  Ha!

Yesterday was a nice, normal veggie-filled food day.  A 30 oz. green smoothie in the morning:

A Banana Bread Larabar during the 10:00 a.m. showing of “Sherlock Holmes”:

A super-sized Shari salad in the 11″ bowl (I’ve missed my big bowl…) with spinach, dulse, roma tomatoes, spiralized zucchini, nutritional yeast, chia seeds and topped with 1 tbsp of Annie’s Goddess dressing.

With a side of baked kale (that looks burnt, but it’s not).  It’s red kale so it has a deep purple/red color:

An easy, early “dinner” of Ezekial toast with almond butter and raw honey drizzle, with a side of decaf  (the Broncos game was still on and I didn’t want to miss anything making a meal):

And an evening snack of two Wasa light rye crackers smeared with Tofutti (the ‘un-cream cheese’) and sprinkled with cumin and Mrs. Dash:

It was a fiber-licious day to be sure! :)

Riley got a dose of fiber too (of the synthetic variety) thanks to ripping her Christmas gift to shreds.  Poor stuffed squirrel.  Riley was too tired to even flee from the crime scene:

I, on the other hand, take much better care of MY Christmas gifts.  :)

As mentioned I have a bunch of them to tell you about (because I am incredibly blessed to have received so many great gifts from my family).  One of which is a new set of AWESOME knives from my mom. When I was visiting her back in September, I was crazy for her RADA knives and utensils.  I had two small RADA knives that I’d received as gifts back in 1991 and they LOOK like they’ve been used a TON.  My mom had the cool extras like a tomato knife, a peeler, and all sorts of other neat knives.  So I was thrilled when I opened a wrapped gift containing a whole SET of these cool tools.  It’s hard to see through the curtain of hair here but there’s a silly grin on my face (and apparently Riley and Rascal are just as excited about my gift):

They are SHARP!!!  I guess all of my other knives must need sharpening, because I forgot how nice it is to slice through food like it’s “BUTTAH”  :)

The potato peeler worked like a charm peeling this mango:

If you have a foodie in your life, I highly recommend gifting them with something from RADA.  I’m so impressed.  And I can tell you that these will be used every single day in this house!  I even rearranged my knife drawer so that I can keep them in their gift box and have easy access to them as I’m prepping veggies every day.  And I just noticed that they are available through Amazon.com so you can bet I’ll be adding these to the FitFeat “Favorite Things” Store!

Thanks for the GREAT gift, Mom!  PERFECT!

Today’s question:  Do you have a favorite brand of knife or prep utensil that you use daily? Drop a comment to share with us!

Have yourself a MARVELOUS Monday, friends!  I’m off to hit the tub and then to work!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Super Seaweed

Dec 19

Posted by Shari B. in FitFeature | 7 Comments

Happy Saturday FitFeat friends!  I hope your weekend is off to a FANTASTIC start!  I am hoping to get OUTSIDE for a run sometime this morning – but it’s currently 19 degrees (and I’m a cold weather sissy!)  Can’t decide if I want to bundle up or treadmill it!

Yesterday was a great Friday.  It started with a Tabata workout, just something quick to give a little ‘jumpstart’ to my day.  I upped my weights from the last time for all exercises in this session.

Friday Morning Tabata JumpStart:

  • 5 min TM warmup then arm swings and circles
  • Smith Squats 4 minutes
  • Seated Row 4 minutes
  • ValSlide Rear Lunge with KB 4 minutes (alterating legs)
  • DB Chest Press 4 minutes
  • Rear Delt Static Holds 4 minutes
  • Overhead 1-arm KB Shoulder Press 15R, 15L

Personally, I don’t feel I’ve had a good workout if I don’t FEEL it the next day.  I can say that today I DO feel it!  :)  Love that! 

After my workout I had a jumbo green smoothie.

  • 10 oz water
  • Rice protein
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 large peeled cucumber
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 pear
  • lots o’ spinach
  • a few turnip greens
  • sprouts
  • 2 stalks celery

Then I made another one to take to work.   This one was minus the chia seeds and the rice protein.  I figured the chia seeds would swell way up and I did not want to eat my smoothie with a spoon like some sort of green pudding.  :)

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My mid-morning snack was a Cashew Cookie Lärabar at my desk: 

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Lunch was the travel smoothie shown above.  My afternoon snack and dinner kind of ran together:  movie popcorn.  :) MSP and I had a date to go see a movie.  We chose “Avatar” in 3D and all we have to say about it is that it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.  A great movie with so much to look at.  I highly recommend splurging on 3D if you decide to see this movie, especially with all of the computer-generated scenery and effects.  Just BEAUTIFUL.  Two thumbs up and maybe even a couple of TOES up as well!

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OK, let’s segue from movie reviews to food ‘reviews’, shall we?  Yesterday I mentioned that I’d be back today to talk a little bit about DULSE.   

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What is Dulse?

Dulse is a dried sea vegetable.  I’d read about the benefits of seaweed years ago but the best I did to incorporate them into my diet at that time was a sprinkle of kelp powder on my salads here and there.  And probably not nearly enough for my body to even notice it!  I was reacquainted with sea vegetables (seaweed) again when I started receiving acupuncture therapy and began to do a lot of reading on Traditional Chinese Medicine and healing, alkaline foods.  According to Paul Pitchford in Healing with Whole Foods, “Sea plants contain ten to twenty times the minerals of land plants… In addition to a wealth of minerals, vitamins and amino acids, seaweeds are especially excellent sources of iodine, calcium and iron.”  They assist in detoxifying and alkalizing the blood.  

Another great read,  The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier, further sold me on this group of superfoods, especially when I read that they contain “10 times the calcium of cow’s milk and several times more iron than red meat” not to mention that they are the “richest source of naturally occuring electrolytes.”

Why Do I Eat Dulse?

Having struggled off and on with iron-deficient anemia since high-school, the information about the iron and mineral content of seaweed was important to me, especially because I’d stopped eating meat.  And moreso because I am a runner.  Runners have a higher tendency toward anemia due to the destruction of red blood cells each time their feet make impact while running, often known as footstrike anemia.  Typically when I end up at the doctor’s office feeling really fatigued and low, it’s due to the anemia and it’s almost always around spring when the weather turns nice and I’m out a lot more often for runs on concrete and pavement.  Now that I’ve been through this ‘cycle’ a few times, I know to really boost my intake of foods with naturally occuring iron in them whenever my running mileage increases.

I also liked the idea that sea vegetables are rich in calcium, since cow’s milk dairy is something I don’t typically consume anymore either.  Additionally it has a great potassium:sodium ratio.  Take a look at the nutrition facts from the package:

Dulse Nutrition Facts (sorry for the blur!)

Dulse Nutrition Facts (sorry for the blur!)

 

Dulse happened to be one that I found at the local health food store and thought I’d start with it first .  I like this one so much that I haven’t tried others yet.  But I should because there are so MANY from which to choose!

How Do I Eat Dulse?

Currently, the main way I eat my dulse is as an add-in for my salads.  I’ll pull a palmful from the bag and tear the strips into bite-size pieces.  When you see photos of my big “Shari Salads” that dark purple stuff you see is the dulse.

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The package says you can bake it into chips, but I didn’t care for it that way and ended up using what I’d baked as a crumbled topping on my salads.  Dulse gives a great ‘salty’ flavor to your salads without the need for adding any extra salt.  You can add it to stir-fries, to soups or broths, or sandwich fillings.  Pretty much anywhere you’d use another leafy green.  The book I referenced earlier, Healing with Whole Foods, even has a recipe for Sauerkraut with Dulse. :) Not sure how soon I’ll try this one, but if/when I do, I’ll let you know!

I hope this dulse info interests you enough that you’ll try some in your next salad!  It’s inexpensive, about $5.00 for the size bag I buy – but it lasts me quite a while.  I’d say that’s a bargain for the amount of nutritional punch packed into such a tiny food.

Today’s questions:  Have you tried dulse or some other version of sea veggie?  What made you try it initially?  If you don’t currently eat seaweed, do you think you might now? 

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All this talk of seaweed, green smoothies and Lärabars has made me hungry!  I’m off for some pre-run fuel and then hopefully out the door!  Have a SUPERB Saturday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

 

 

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Exclamatory Addiction

Dec 17

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

So I happened to be re-reading yesterday’s post right before I composed this one and realized that the first TEN sentences were punctuated with an exclamation point.    I must have had some seriously HAPPY coffee while writing that one.  (I actually punctuated that last sentence with an exclamation point and backspaced to add a period instead.  Not using exclamation points while writing [or smiley faces for that matter] is like holding down a person’s hands who needs to gesture while speaking.)  Apparently I am super-enthusiastic while writing my blog.  I’ll try (…try…) to tone it down somewhat!  (Aw crumb, I already used one!  This is hard!)  :)

But I digress. 

Yesterday’s ‘organized exercise’ was 30 minutes of speed intervals on the treadmill.  I woke up on the PMS cranky side of the bed and stood around in my gym trying to decide what I wanted to do for exercise while MSP was getting down to business with back & biceps.  I needed to do legs, but the smith machine and the ball were in use.  And I wasn’t in the mood for step-ups or lunges.  So cardio is what I went with.  Maybe by FRIDAY I’ll get some official ‘weight training’ in.   By ‘official’ I mean work actually done in my gym with dumbbells and other fun toys made of iron.  And not heavy boxes of marketing materials.  Since my cardio session was pretty short in the morning, I figured I’d come home after work and maybe squeeze in a Tabata session for weights.  But I moved around enough of those heavy boxes again while at the office and got so much movement that I was truly exhausted by the time I left.  

No complaints here though – I’d prefer some physical activity to go along with the desk job.   You’ve heard of the “secretary spread” (if you haven’t, hit up Google today) and it’s definitely something I’ve experienced in the past with desk jockey jobs! 

NOTE:  I just googled it and there are TWO definitions (who knew? and Oh MY!!).  For the record, I meant this one relating to hips getting wider and NOT the other one which I won’t even link to from my blog.  This is a PG show, folks.  :)

Tuesday’s FitFeat EATS went down like this…

Totally yummy breakfast of a toasted Ezekial flourless sprouted grain english muffin with raw almond butter, raw honey drizzle and cinnamon sprinkles.

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I made my “Green Smoothie To Go“  for later.  It was meant to be a mid-morning snack, but actually ended up as lunch.  Check out the little green smoothie junkie EYEING my drink.  He’s  hoping I’ll drop it while taking a one-handed photo.  That’s quite an intent stare!

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This particular green goodness had 10 oz water, BIG fist o’spinach, 1/2 banana, a mango, 1/2 peeled cucumber, small fist o’sprouts and 2 stalks of celery.  I feel so CLEAN after drinking these!  :)   The green smoothie was then sipped on from about 1:00 to 3:00.  I’d packed a Curry Lentil soup, but didn’t get a chance to eat it.  :(

I did have an unpictured Chocolate Coconut Lärabar as my mid-morning snack. 

After-work snack was two Wasa Light Rye crackers, smeared with Tofutti non-dairy ‘cream cheese’ and sprinkled with cumin and Mrs. Dash Tomato Garlic Basil.  That was followed by airpopped popcorn kernels (1/4 measured before popping).

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I’ve been craving pita pizzas all week so we had them for dinner.  I even turned down an offer by MSP to pick up something for take-out!  (GASP!!)  That’s how AWESOME these things are!  Can you guess which are mine?  :)

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You’d be correct if you picked this one!  img 1012

An Ezekial sprouted grain pita topped with olive oil, minced garlic, nutritional yeast, zucchini ribbons, roma tomatoes, kalamata olives, chopped artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  Whew - that’s a lot to fit on a tiny little pita! 

And an obligatory side salad of spinach and turnip greens.  (I’ll have you know that MSP actually ate some of the turnip greens in his salad!)

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Is it Friday yet?  I feel in dire need of a weekend to catch up on things! :)   I’m really looking forward to the long holiday weekend next week!  Wahoo…..

And there I go with the exclamation points again…. :)

Have a TERRIFIC Thursday, friends!

– Shari B. =)

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Feet Like Spider-Man

Dec 15

Posted by Shari B. in Product Review | 3 Comments

Check out my cool new fitness toy!  No-slip yoga socks!  I was in the health food store the other night and they had these right when I walked in the front door. 

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I’m often too lazy to unroll my yoga mat (and when I do, it often doesn’t get rolled back up.)  So these are PERFECT!  I was worried that my teeny-tiny-toes wouldn’t fit into the separate openings but they did.  These socks ROCKED.  And even better than keeping you from slipping on the floor (or your mat) they also helped in tree pose because I had like Super Spidey Grip on my inner thigh.

For my non-yogi readers,  here’s a pic of tree pose.  With bare feet, my lifted foot has a tendency to slide down my leg!  1 tree pose

(photo source)

I think these would make a great gift idea for any of your yoga enthusiast friends – especially for this time of year when feet get cold anyway!  I’ve added them to my “Favorite Things Amazon Store” if you want further details. 

Monday morning, after the too-short night of sleep, I still managed to get in an hour of Iron Yoga.  I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be bumming later.  Once my day got going I knew I wouldn’t have another chance to workout again until Wednesday morning and I didn’t want to go THREE days in a row without exercise.  That just perpetuates the vicious sleepless circle.

This one still works me well – especially my legs and shoulders. 

To thank my body for doing well in yoga, I then treated myself to a hot shower and one of these:

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It was 32 ounces of green nutrient rich goodness… try to top that, Super Big Gulp!  Spinach, sprouts, cucumber, 1/3 frozen banana, 1 clementine, 1 apple, 2 stalks celery. 

Who wouldn’t feel like a million bucks after YOGA and GREEN SMOOTHIES?  It’s like having a spa day before you even head out the door to work!

Today’s question:  What is your FAVORITE YOGA POSE if you’re a yogi (yogini??).  Right now mine is Eagle Pose. 

1 eagle pose

(photo source)

Have a ZEN Tuesday everyone!  :)

– Shari B. =)

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Green Has Gone to the Dogs

Dec 3

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Hey friends!

How is your Thursday treating you?  Mine is quite CHILLY!  14 degrees and dropping!  Good thing I had the beautiful scarf Cindy made to keep me warm today!  It’s also a good thing I got my green smoothie in early this morning because right now I’m so darn chilled that the thought of cold veggies is actually terrifying! ;)  

I shared my green smoothie with a couple of friends who have recently become addicted to this healthy treat:

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Yes, I have resorted to giving my dogs green food!  (Does that make me weird?) :)  They LOVE cucumber and sprouts the most.  I’ve been making little salads in their bowls lately to help fill them up because somehow they both gained a little weight so they are on “lean dog food” – which obviously isn’t filling them up because now they are constantly begging for food.   So I’m treating their diet as a I would with myself or any clients:  fill up on veggies! 

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Nummy nummy in Rascal’s TUMMY!  :)  

***

Yesterday I started with a post-workout green smoothie and one of these:

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My very first PERSIMMON!  Looks an awful lot like a tomato, but I promise it was a persimmon!  Quite the tasty little fruit — I liked it a lot.  I kept seeing this little fruit pop up on some of the blogs I read and finally decided to give one a try.  I read that they are the national fruit of Japan and that their peels are chock full of phytochemicals to fight oxidation of our cells.  (Too bad I didn’t read that BEFORE I ate mine, because after two bites I decided it would taste better PEELED!  Guess now I know for next time!) 

I also tried BROWN RICE sushi from Whole Foods for dinner the other night: 

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This is another thumbs-up!  If only we could convince more sushi restaurants to use brown rice on their rolls…

Last night’s dinner was a typical Shari Salad (complete with dulse, nutritional yeast and Goddess dressing) along with some acorn squash slivers:

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Yesterday’s exercise was 45 minutes of cardio with 30 of those minutes spent on the treadmill and 15 minutes spent doing my crazy dancing for cardio!  (Thank you Lady GaGa and Beyonce!)  One of my favorite ways to get my heart pumping! 

Stay tuned for the next blog post where I tell you about how your cardio equipment is lying to you!  ;)

Have a great night everyone!  I’m hoping that my MUST-SEE TV tonight are all NEW and no re-runs… it’s a good night for curling up on the couch under a blanket to keep warm!

– Shari B. =)

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Make Your Old Year(end) Resolution Today!

Dec 1

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

What’s new FitFeat friends?  Happy December 1st!  Hope your Monday after the long holiday weekend is off to a great start!  I think weeks after a long holiday always tend to go very slowly.

I figured what better way to get back into the full swing of things than to start with a TABATA upper body workout!  

Weight Training:  Tabata Upper Body

  • 5 Minute WarmUp on TM, followed by arm circles and light upper movements
  • DB Bench Press 4 min 
  • Bent DB Row 4 min
  • Side Lateral Raise 4 min
  • Triceps Pushdown 4 min
  • DB Bicep Curl 4 min

This style of workout never fails to do the trick – I end up getting in 80-96 reps of each exercise.  It was a fast and effective and this morning my upper body is feeling the pain love. 

Monday Eats

Post-workout was a green smoothie.  And I do mean GREEN.  I used two fists of spinach this time, so it was extra bright.  I forgot to add my rice protein to this one, but I did remember chia seeds.  ;)   Along with 2 stalks of celery, sprouts, a pear, and a clementine.

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A piece of Ezekial toast with almond butter served as my mid-morning snack.  When one wakes up at 4:00 AM, “mid-morning” is 8:00 AM.  :)  

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I packed my lunch and afternoon snack since I was headed in to work.  In the white container is my leftover Tokyo Joe’s brown rice with tofu and steamed veggies.  I ate the Larabar for an afternoon snack (Tropical Fruit Tart, be still my heart!!)  The apple was neglected unfortunately, so he may become smoothie food later today. 

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Dinner was a colorful salad of spinach, red cabbage, zucchini disks, sun dried tomatoes, and home-roasted seeds (from the acorn squash you see on the side there.)  This was my first acorn squash… WOW!  Love it!  It has a wonderful nutty flavor.  The serving shown here is about 1/4 acorn squash.

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Evening snack was a cup of decaf coffee and a Nana’s NO’s cookie bite:

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And then I was having trouble keeping my eyes open during “House” which airs here from 7:00 to 8:00.  Again, waking at 4:00 AM means “bedtime” often wants to come at 7:30 PM!

***

As mentioned above, yep, it’s DECEMBER!  Can you believe it?  I’ve been blogging since August!  Time flies when you are having fun! 

Today’s challenge is to make your “Old Year(end) Resolutions“.  If you are someone who starts resolutions on January 1, why not move it up a month to December 1 and get a head-start?  Just think of what you can accomplish in 30 days when you put your mind to it.  If weight loss is your goal, you can easily be 5 pounds down in the next 30 days, rather than 5 pounds UP like many will experience over the holidays.  If you want to quit smoking, DO IT NOW!  Why wait?  (And if you DO smoke, please please quit.  You know how bad it is for you!) 

The time is now!  Drop me a comment and let me know what your “Old Year(end) Resolution” will be for the next 30 days!

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One of my resolutions for the next 30 days is to get some of the exercise instruction posts put out here, as Cindy had suggested back when I asked for reader input.  Cindy, I haven’t forgotten you!  I actually have had one in the works since then, just have had other topics taking over it seems!  :)

Enjoy your Tuesday friends!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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If you know someone embarking on their own fitness journey for the new year, please feel free to send them my way. I offer fitness consulting by phone nationwide.  Visit my Coaching/Training and About Shari pages for more info.

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Plenty of Green on Black Friday

Nov 28

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Where is the long weekend going?  It’s FLYING by way too fast!  So much to accomplish this weekend, so little time left…

We did get this done yesterday:

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And the outside lights are done too, along with the wreath and lighted door swag.   Wahooo for the 68 degree weather in which to hang outdoor decorations – Mother Nature if you could do that again on January 2 I’d be ever so grateful! 

We attempted to hit up Kohl’s at about 11:00 AM thinking some of the crowds would be gone (ha!! not so much!)  Getting in and around was the easy part.  But once we saw the LINES for the checkout … LITERALLY WRAPPED AROUND the inside of the store … I told MSP there was no amount of money we could save that would make it worth standing in THAT line for the next hour or more.   Someone else can get 50% off the $10 Barbie, thank you very much.

Apparently I am more motivated by FREE TIME than I am by MONEY!  :)

In which case, let’s go waste some at Starbucks:

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I was craving some green other than money so post-workout I had a big green smoothie:

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And for dinner a big green salad: 
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Salad ‘fixins’ included spinach, dulse, yellow corn, nutritional yeast, one cooked egg, tomato, chia seeds, a drizzle of Annie’s Goddess dressing, and half an avocado. 

I also attempted taking Rascal out with me for a run but (much like the Kohl’s visit) I turned around shortly into it because he was all over the place and messing with my running mojo!  He got a short 1.5 miles – then I went back out to finish an additional 2.5 miles ALONE (and in a nice, neat straight line).   Riley was NONE too happy to be left home – but knowing her, she’ll cause us to end up at the emergency vet and that would put a serious dent into my already limited xmas shopping budget.  Her exercise will have to be limited to chasing her ball around the back yard until she can find a way to pay for her own healthcare!  ;)

Have a SUPER Saturday!  I’m considering another Kohl’s attempt… if I don’t put up a new blog post for the next 3 days you’ll know I’m stuck in the neverending checkout line! 

– Shari B. =)

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Thanksgiving Full of Kale

Nov 27

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Hello again blog buds!  Hope you have had a productive “Black Friday”!  I have, but I’m still WAY behind in my xmas shopping!

To recap our Thanksgiving, it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day!  It started a little too early for my taste shortly before 4:00 AM, but sometimes that’s just when my body decides it’s time to get up.  I spent the early (and QUIET) morning hours writing yesterday’s blog post, then catching up on my recorded chick-shows while the rest of the household members were sleeping.

We started the morning with the SOYsage Gravy and Biscuits (recipe in the Build-A-Meal tab if you didn’t see the post).  Then because it was over 60 degrees outside :)  we went out for a hilly power walk.  It was only 3.26 miles, but since the hills were steep we felt like we got a great workout (at least that’s what my glutes and calves told me!)  

I had a green smoothie when I returned.  I’ve been missing these the past week!  Some days when I feel chilly, a green smoothie just doesn’t always sound good because the idea of it makes me feel chillier!  Luckily it was warm enough yesterday to crave one.   Still rockin’ the festive green & red thanks to the cranberries. 

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Later I made a BIG batch of baked kale chips.  Two trays of kale.  And guess what I did?  I ate it ALL!!!  Every last bite of kale!  I didn’t INTEND to eat all of it – I INTENDED to make it for something to snack on during the Broncos game.  When it came time to actually sit down to our Thanksgiving meal, I wasn’t very hungry – I’d eaten THAT much kale!  :)   I guess if you are going to overeat something, nutrient-rich kale would be the food to choose! 

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We each had some time to relax for a bit, then it was time to make phone calls to family members & time for me to get busy in the kitchen (with cooking, that is!) 

Finally time to eat our holiday meal!  Wahooo!

Here is MSP’s Thanksgiving plate:  roast turkey breast and mashed potatoes, both covered with gravy, along with some mac-n-cheese spirals, cornbread and unpictured Crescent rolls (because truly it’s not Thanksgiving without Crescent rolls!)  Oh, and a side of beer!

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And here is my plate (or bowl, I should say):  Heavenly Ginger Curry Squash soup, with a side of 1/2 baked sweet potato.   And a glass of Riesling on the side.  It doesn’t look like much, but it definitely filled me up.

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I had also intended to make a sweet & savory broccoli salad, but to be honest I was so darn full after eating the kale that more greens just didn’t sound appealing at all!  We both had PLENTY to eat and were soon relaxing on the couch to take in some football and a movie.  (FYI “Funny People” with Adam Sandler is anything but FUNNY — just a heads up.)

Even the puppies got a little GREEN action in their bowls for the holiday – here’s Rascal chowing down on chopped organic cucumber and sprouts:

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Overall I had a VERY healthy Thanksgiving.  My only real ‘splurge’ for the day was a piece of apple pie.  It clocked in at 580 calories, so rather than flood my system with more calories in one sitting than it should handle, I cut the pie into two pieces.  I had one-half late afternoon, and the other as an evening snack. 

You know your “Healthy Holiday Eating Plan” was a success when you hop on the scale the day after Thanksgiving to find that your weight is down 3/4 of a pound from what it was the day BEFORE Thanksgiving!  Now that is something for which to be thankful!  ;)  

– Shari B. =)

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Orange You In The Mood For French Toast?

Nov 20

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 9 Comments

Good morning friends!  Happy Friday! 

Can you believe that one week from today Thanksgiving will be behind us and we’ll be out fighting the Black Friday shopping crowds?  Is 2009 really almost over?  One week from today I’ll be putting up my Christmas tree and ‘inside’ decorations. Outside decorations will be done whenever we have a warm(ish) day. 

Thinking about Thanksgiving yesterday had me craving breakfast for dinner.  (That and I just was NOT in the mood to zip to the store so I had to come up with something from what we had in-house already.)

I tried to be creative and made up this dish:

Mandarin Baked French Toast Fingers  

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  • 6 whole eggs (organic, free-range)
  • 1/2 cup MimicCreme (or something like FF half-and-half if you are a drinker of dairy)
  • 2 Mandarin oranges (or one regular orange)
  • 7 slices Ezekial sprouted grain bread

-Crack eggs into bowl and add MimicCreme.  Using a zester or microplane, zest the skins of both mandarin oranges into the bowl.  After zesting, cut each orange in half and squeeze the juice into the mix.

-Whisk well.

-Make two stacks of Ezekial bread, cutting through each stack twice lengthwise to create the ‘fingers’. 

-Dip each finger into the egg mixture and add to a prepared baking dish (I used my large round stoneware baking dish from Pampered Chef.)

-Pour remaining mixture into baking dish after all pieces are coated.

-Let sit in the refrigerator for one hour so that the egg mixture soaks into the bread really well (the sprouted grain bread is dense).

-Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes (my toast fingers were double-stacked.  If yours are in a single layer they may take less time.)  Cover for most of the cooking time so they don’t get really dry.

-Or make your french toast in a pan on the stovetop like ‘regular’ french toast rather than baking.

-Once plated, garnish as you like.  I sprinkled on unsweetened coconut flakes and some cinnamon, then used agave nectar as my “syrup”.

I think next time I make this I’ll try the regular french toast version on the stove top.  The baked version didn’t have a very pretty presentation, but it had really good flaver with all that orange zest.  Breakfast for dinner is always fun.

The rest of the day’s eats went like this: 

Half of a banana before my 6:15 AM training client. 

A beautiful 30 oz GREEN SMOOTHIE after my 45-minute arm-killing Iron Yoga session. 

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Lunch out with MSP at Three Margaritas.  I’ve been craving their Veggie Enchiladas for weeks now. 

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It’s probably the healthiest meal I’ve every discovered at a chain Mexican restaurant.  Sauteed veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and carrots tucked inside a corn tortilla and topped with CARROT PUREÉ.  So good.  I ate half the plate and brought the other half home.  And ate the cold leftover beans for a nighttime snack.  MSP thought that was the nastiest thing ever.  (He doesn’t like cold pizza either!!!  I can eat any food cold..)

Today’s discussion is on the topic of Thanksgiving:  What foods are on your menu?  Are you cooking at your house?  If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, what are some of your favorite things to serve?  Or do you have a favorite dish that you like to take when you go elsewhere for Thanksgiving? 

We don’t go anywhere for Thanksgving.  Most of our relatives are all out of state.  Sometimes we go out to eat and hit up the movie theater.  Last year (when I still ate meat) we picked up a full meal from Boston Market for our ‘turkey dinner’ and we loved it!  It was fast and fun.  This year, I’m aiming (keyword is aiming) to do some fun cooking at home, depending on the budget.  (My list of ingredients for the things I want to make may cause me to NOT make some of them – then I’d just be spending all that money I’ll be saving on the Friday xmas shopping!)   We always like to make a yummy breakfast on Thanksgiving so I’m thinking of tweaking a favorite recipe for Sausage Biscuits & Gravy into a vegetarian, non-dairy version.  Still working on the ideas for that one.  MSP would also LOVE some bread pudding so I’m thinking of making a Chocolate Croissant bread pudding recipe for him (too rich and full of dairy for my liking so that will be all him!)  I also have my eye on a recipe for vegetarian Almost Beef Wellington as the ‘main dish’ for the day.  We’ll see.  ;)   I always have grand ideas for cooking!  If we have GORGEOUS weather that day, it may all get thrown out the window so that we can get outside for a hike!

Have a FABULOUS Friday everyone! 

– Shari B.  =)

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The Quickie

Nov 16

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 6 Comments

Quickie blog POST that is… Haha… I KNEW I grabbed ya with that title!  ;)   Good morning blog buds!  Another Monday morning is upon us.  And another weekend of snow is behind us.  We had a FOOT of snow over the weekend. 

I am off to the dentist in about 15 minutes, so I’ll be typing like mad to get this published before I head out.  Cross your fingers for me that I have NO cavities!

Yesterday morning brought a super late breakfast.  I got busy doing things and then ate a little too late.  You know that feeling when you go from hungry to famished to a little shaky and then full-on raging BEE-YOTCH??  It happens so quickly!  :)   So I tried to quiet the monster with a little breakfast tostada action.  While my breakfast wrap from the other morning was fab, THIS one was NOT a keeper. 

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Post-40-minute-treadmill green smoothie (still using that bag of cranberries!)

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Post-snowblowing butternut squash soup (which is now all gone…. I’m so SAD!)  I added a little sprinkle of cinnamon and a bit of orange zest, and BAM!  It was EVEN BETTER!

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Later some pseudo-healthful gingerbread men… no transfats or HFCS.  But still flour and sugar nonetheless.  Luckily the boxes are TINY!

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With a little almond milk in my very appropriate snowflake mug…

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Healthy popcorn with nutritional yeast during one of the worst movies of the year (G.I. JOE… sorry Channing Tatum, I think you’re great, but the movie was SO bad we had to stop halfway through because we started to feel our brains rotting…)

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And a little GARBANZO action for dinner!  We’ve  officially decided that we are off of our Garbanzo kick for a while.  We just don’t like our falafel char-fried.  There is a new place (whose name escapes me at the moment) that serves similar food.  We’ll try that next and compare their falafel.   

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I hope that you all had a SMASHING weekend! 

Today’s discussion:  I picked up a new Kindle book yesterday (well new to me, but not NEW new.)  It’s called Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  So far it talks a lot about nutrient-dense foods being the mainstay of our diets (hey, sounds a lot like what I’ve been aiming to do!)  Have any of you read it and/or apply his principles?

See you again soon!

– Shari B.  =)

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