Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I’m checking in with a quick Feats & Eats recap from Friday.

I did a Tabata-style workout for legs.  It was short, burned like FIRE and has me crazy sore today:

Tabata Legs:

• TM Warmup 5 minutes
• Smith Machine Squats 4 minutes
• Leg Extensions 4 minutes
• Lying Leg Curls 4 minutes

Afterward I had intended on doing an Iron Yoga session, but the DVR was acting up and after fighting with it for 15 minutes,  it definitely put me in an anti-zen mood so I threw in the towel.

A dog wogging session would have to suffice.  Just a quick 25 minute outing in the unseasonably warm weather.

One of my snacks during the day was this bite-sized Tropical Fruit Tart Larabar that my friend Beth gave to me  (thanks Beth!)  Mmmm so good:

Lunch was with a great friend at a local asian cafe, so I had steamed veggies with a bowl of miso soup (and the greasy egg roll that came with it).

On the way home I picked up a Gingerade BUBBLY!  Which I am slowly savoring.  I had half and saved the rest for later.  Those darn bubbly drinks make me happy!

MSP and I skipped a ‘regular’ dinner and had cereal instead, mine being Kashi Go Lean.  We had friends coming over at 7:00 for some WII NIGHT fun.  I was in the mood to try some new food to put out for snacks yet still stay on the healthy side.

First off I made some marinated mushrooms.

I started with the inspiration from a recipe at Allrecipes.com but made a few modifications. Here’s how I made them:

• 1/3 cup filled with half rice wine vinegar and half balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 small onion, thinly sliced
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared spicy mustard
• 3/4 tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 cloves minced garlic (from jar)
• 1 pound small fresh button mushrooms

All ingredients except the mushrooms went into a saucepan and brought to a boil.  Add mushrooms, simmer for 12 minutes, stirring often.  Transfer to glass dish for chilling before serving.  Use slotted spoon to drain mushrooms for serving presentation. Don’t forget to set out some toothpicks!

They turned out really tasty and more elegant than my other usual appetizers (which I still served) and included:

Carrots with homemade hummus:

Brown-bag popcorn sprinkled with sea salt and chili powder:

And some unpictured Baked Tostito Scoops with salsa.

Last but not least, I FINALLY tried making Gena’s Chocomole for the evening’s dessert.  I’ve been wanting to try this recipe since the first time I saw it.  And I needed to do it sneakily so that MSP wouldn’t know that it was made of avocados before he actually ate it.

I used 2 avocados, 1/2 smashed banana, 10 pitted dates, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp carob powder, water to drizzle as needed.

This recipe ROCKED!  I loved it.  And I especially loved knowing that it wasn’t chock full of hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup or chemicals. It was SUPER rich and creamy.  Next time I will be sure to soak my dates, as they didn’t come out quite as smoothly in the food processor as I would have liked, (and Gena does mention that dates may need to be soaked prior) but it was still FAB.  Next time I think I will get a tart or pie crust of some sort and use it as a filling.  When I served it to our guests, I topped it with a little all-natural egg nog ice cream.  My serving was sans ice cream but I did add a few sprinkles of coconut.

Heavenly is what that dessert was.  And MSP ate AVOCADO!!! (muah-ha-ha! <insert evil grin>) He liked it, and wasn’t totally horrified when I told him what was in it.  But he did say he’d really have been fine with just NOT knowing that it was avocado.

We love Wii Night with friends!  Thanks J & G for hanging with us!!  It was fun!

Well blog buds, it’s a gorgeous Saturday and none of us should be sitting indoors on a computer, so I’m gonna skeedaddle and get outside!

Make it a SPECTACULAR Saturday!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 13 Exercises for Friday the 13th
• Tabata Time!
• The Great Debate: Pre-Workout Fuel