FitFeat

where daily feats & eats can be adventures in themselves

Posts Tagged Ezekial

Hot and Cold Salad

Feb 23

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 8 Comments

Hi blog buds!

I am SO tickled that you are enjoying the Marathon Monday posts.  I can’t THANK YOU all enough for that.  When it’s icky outside or I’m facing a long run, you have no idea how much it helps to know that YOU are right there with me!  Because I pay more attention when I know I get to write about it for you each time!

Oh the healthy eats I have to share with you today… makes me hungry just thinking about it!  But FEATS first then EATS, since I owe you some recaps.  Otherwise you might start thinking that all I do is EAT and only exercise on the weekends.  :D

Sunday we had even SNOWIER weather than we’d had for the Saturday run.  So MSP and I bundled up in our snow gear and took off for a little ‘snow hike’ on the hills around our house.  The view out the window:

Ultimately we only ended up with 3.75 miles, but it seemed so much longer trudging around in the snow.  We had such a good time.  It was so peaceful – no one was out.  The perfect start to our Sunday.

For Monday’s exercise I did more weight training Tabata-style.

  • 5 min warmup on TM
  • Squats with Overhead Press 4 minutes
  • Chest Flyes with tubing 4 minutes
  • Rear Lunge off Low Step PLUS Bicep Curls 4 minutes (alternating legs each set)
  • 45° Upright Row 2 minutes
  • 2-Arm Bent DB Row 2 minutes
  • Glute Bridges on Ball 4 minutes  (Can you say OUCHIE??)
  • Triceps Pressdown 4 minutes
  • Ball Crunches 4 minutes

I am crazy about my Tabata timer (the one I use is an app on my iPhone).  I LOVE working out this way. I’m NEVER bored and it ALWAYS burns!

Now about those EATS!

A tasty snack on Sunday:  baked kale chips with a small side of Buffalo chips and a few slivers of raw goat cheddar.

Sunday night snack (because I was itching to try this Artisana Coconut Butter).  Ezekial Cinnamon Raisin Toast + Coconut Butter = DREAMY.

Monday morning after my workout I had my daily green smoothie!  Mmm I love when I have avocado and pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for my smoothies – they end up SO creamy.

A mid-morning Larabar while at my desk – the awesome “Chocolate Coconut Chew” that to me tastes like a brownie with nuts in it.

Now let me just preface my lunch a bit here.  When it is cold out for days, like it has been, I find it a bit of a challenge to want to eat my usual humongous salads because COLD GREENS are refreshing and when I’m chilly ‘refreshing’ is not on the top of my list. All I want is something warm (and often full of carbs.)  Here’s what I’ve been doing lately that has really helped keep  my salad intake up. I’m topping my salads with ROASTED VEGGIES.  I took the time Sunday to pre-roast some stuff I could use during the week (kale, mixed veggies, squash) and have available to take to work.

I packed a large spinach salad in one container topped with sundried tomatoes, a few kalamata olives, nutritional yeast, dulse and balsamic vinegar with a teaspoon of olive oil for dressing.  In another container were my roasted veggies:  red pepper, zucchini and mushrooms with balsamic.  I reheated the roasted veggies and plated them next to my salad.  After I took the picture, I mixed them all up.  And it was LIP-SMACKIN’ GOOD.  The HOT veggies + the COLD spinach makes a really delicious meal.

It looks a bit small in the picture, but this was one HUGE dinner plate.

For my mid-afternoon snack I had half of a “Go Raw” pumpkin seed bar.  This was my first try with this brand and I LOVE it.  I’ll be getting this one again for sure!  I’ve already been looking for them online to order in bulk.

Dinner wanted in on the fun veggie action too.  Another find while at Sprouts:  Golden Flax “roll-ups”, made with flax flour and soy flour.  It seems to be a cross between a flatbread and a tortilla.

So I made this with it:

Lightly ‘grilled’ in a pan to give it a panini feel.  Inside was Tofutti (non-dairy cream ‘cheese’ spread), avocado, tomato, clover sprouts and a bit of romaine.  The rest of the romaine went into my side salad.  Then I poured a little Annie’s Lite Honey Mustard Vinaigrette on the side as a ‘dipping sauce’ for the wrap.

It was really a finger-lickin’ good kind of day.  Mondays can be rough, but not when I have tasty (not to mention ultra-healthy) meals like these to look forward to!

Wow writing this post made me hungry.  I think I need a snack! Do you mix your hot and cold veggies?  Any favorite combos to share?

Have a terrific day!

– Shari B. =)

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Hi Vibrams, Bye Vibrams

Feb 3

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 10 Comments

Good morning friends!

Yesterday my Vibram FiveFingers arrived… pretty huh?

And then they went right back in the box and are headed back to the online store from whence they came.  Waaaaahhhhhhhh!

Even though we followed the sizing directions to a tee and even though here they look like they would be a PERFECT fit they were just a tad too small:

I tried the “Sprints” on last week and needed a 36.  Their sizing chart says if you are 36 in Sprint, you’ll want a 35 in KSO.  Uh, not so much it seems.  I so wish I’d had the video rolling of me AND MSP both trying to get this ‘unshoe’ on my foot.  Yes my feet are small, but apparently not small enough to fit well into a 2″ diameter opening on top!  Eventually (with some sweat actually worked up and I am NOT exaggerating) I got ONE shoe on.  And it made my big toe feel super jammed.

So back they go.  And now a size 36 pair is on the way.  Should have them on Thursday or Friday.

I’d hoped to give you some fun update on trying them outside, as I ran a hilly 4 miles yesterday evening with Beth.  (Thanks Beth – that was a great run!)

***

A rundown of yesterday’s eats:

Ezekial Sprouted grain cereal (this is a food I definitely measure – it’s VERY dense and adds up in carbs crazy fast.  I do the equivalen to 1/4 cup).

Then I add almond milk, heat it up and add some sliced banana.

Mid-morning I had my first ever BLOOD ORANGE!  So pretty!  It looks like  an Arizona sunset.

Lunch was an open-faced ‘wich: piece of Ezekial, smear of hummus, avocado slices, raw goat cheddar, spinach and cucumber with a side of cold ‘stir-fry salad’ from Monday night and a few Baked Lays chips.

My standard pre-run food:  Ezekial toast, this time with a smear of Earth Balance Vegan ‘butter’ and a drizzle of raw honey.

Dinner of 1/2 mashed sweet potato with nutritional yeast and a sprinkle of goat cheddar, with a side of leftover stir-fry.

I need a lesson on the difference between a YAM and a SWEET POTATO – anyone want to edu-ma-cate me? Pictured on the left is MSP’s white potato.  On the right, my “sweet potato”.  I’m used to seeing my sweet potatoes be more orange.  I did pluck this one from a bin that said “Sweet Potatoes” which was next to a bin of “Yams”.  Prior to this I had thought they were one and the same.

And speaking of sweet potatoes, here is what happens when you ask your dear hubby to check on your ‘chips’ while you are on the phone with your client.

Dear client, thank you for being patient with me while I was momentarily distracted, thinking my kitchen was on fire. And MSP, you know I only tease you because I have done the same thing with HOW MANY pots of hard boiled eggs?  Next time I’ll pin the timer to your shirt.  ;)

***

I might as well keep the RANDOM TRAIN chugging along and share this article with you that I happened upon yesterday – we’ll just call them “Dirty Greens“.  I would almost rather NOT know about these things.  As I was reading along, I was waiting for the line that said if I was choosing organic bagged greens, I was all good.

And then I was hit with this instead:

“Whether the greens came in a clamshell or bag, included ‘baby’ greens, or were organic made no difference in bacteria levels.”

NOOOOOOOOO!

OK, I’ll definitely be using the Salad Spinner from here on out, even with my organic pre-washed greens.  Comments on the article? I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Do you wash your greens when they are bagged and say pre-washed?  If not, will you now?

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!

– Shari B. =)

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Running Highs and Holiday Blues

Jan 3

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Happy Sunday friends!  I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend.  I always experience a bit of the ‘blues‘ after we take the Christmas decorations down and pack everything away for the next year.  While this year didn’t feel as “Christmas-y” as usual leading up to the holiday, I still had a TERRIFIC time once it got here.  I miss the sparkle of the tree lights already!  :)

Another reason I bum out a little bit at the start of January is that our next holiday weekend doesn’t arrive until Memorial Day!  It’s always a long stretch of time during that 5 months without a holiday weekend.  (Although… maybe at my new job they treat Presidents Day as a holiday.  I don’t even know!  My last two jobs did not.  Hmmm, something to look forward to maybe!)

I had a little time to post today since MSP is working on a project in the garage and because I’m hoping that if I DON’T pay very close attention to the Broncos game, maybe, JUST MAYBE, they might win.  :)   I’ve been getting a little TOO worked up over recent games, so today I’m only keeping ONE eye on the game and the other on my laptop!  ;)

***

Yesterday was GLORIOUS!  Why?   Because I finally got to get outside for a RUN!  It was about 22 degrees when we took off in the morning but we warmed up quickly.  We got in 4.41 miles, just enjoying the brisk morning and the sunshine.  Then after we got back we did about 2o minutes of some really good stretching.  This is the first winter in a long time that I remember being so housebound due to snow and cold here in Colorado.

Running outside when the sun is shining does wonders for my day.  It puts me in a fabulous mood and energizes me to tackle whatever might be on my list.

While on the topic of running, I want to give a couple of SHOUTS out to some blog friends:

Cindy has been doing a “Couch to 5K” program and completed her first 5K on her treadmill (that she lovingly refers to as MAS, as in Maserati.)  This is a FitFEAT for Cindy and I’m very proud of her!  One of her 2010 resolutions is to compete in a 5K race.

Allison made a last minute decision to run a New Year’s Day 7.5 mile road race called the Freezaroo and beat her 2009 time.  Funnily enough, Allison considered her run “mediocre” at an 8:06 per mile pace.  I, however, only see that kind of speed on my Garmin when gravity is helping me out on a steep downhill!  I think she ROCKED that race.

Congrats ladies for starting of your new year, Fit-style!

***

To recap Saturday EATS, about 30 minutes before the run, I had my “go-to” pre-run fuel:  part of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar.  And then when we returned, I had “Snowflake Toast” (Ezekial with light smear of raw almond butter, sprinkle of unsweetened organic coconut and a drizzle of raw local honey).  I adore Ezekial toast and know that it must be boring for you all to look at day in and day out … but it’s just SOOOO good!!

Some veggies, baked pita chips and hummus:

Some homemade miso soup with unpasteurized barley miso, with spinach and nori strips:

Leftover Spicy Shrimp & Veggies from Friday’s Chinese restaurant outing:

The night was topped off with a vegan cookie from Whole Foods and another visit to the Wii RESORT where we did some airplane dog-fighting, some archery and shot some hoops!  The Wii is seeing a little more action these days with the long holiday weekends.   It’s easy to forget how fun it can be!

***

When you are done reading today’s FitFeat post, head on over to Joan’s blog, I’m In The Garden Today,  to read her superb post about COMPOSTING.  This is something I’d like to explore further this year.  We recycle like mad in our house (finally had to add a 32 gallon bin purchase this weekend to the two 14-gallon bins we already use for curbside recycling.)  But it seems we could be doing a better job of being more “earth friendly” and throwing out even LESS.  Joan’s post was highly informative and if you haven’t been out to her blog yet, go give it a gander!

Well friends, so far my “Broncos Avoidance Tactic” has worked because they are positioned to score a TD here to tie it up with KC.  Oooop!  Make that SCORED a TD!  I hope that you are enjoying your weekend and I’ll see you back here tomorrow for the first Monday of 2010!

Let’s make it a GREAT year, full of FitFEATs!

– Shari B. =)

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Green Smoothie Grinch

Dec 23

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Good morning!  It’s my FRIDAY!  Wahooo!  Love it when you get to have Friday on a Wednesday!

Let’s cover the FEATS today before the EATS, since I glossed over them in a hurry yesterday.

To further expand on my Tabata workout from Monday:

Weight Training – Tabata Upper Body:

  • TM Warm-up – 5 minutes, followed by arm circles and muscle-specific warm-ups
  • Incline DB Chest Press – 4 minutes
  • Bent 2-Arm DB Row – 4 minutes
  • Rear Delt & Back Extension Static Holds – 4 minutes
  • Overhead Shoulder Press (seated on FitBall) – 3 minutes (by this time my arms were already toast and holding them above my head became problematic!!)
  • Bicep Curls with ExerBand – 4 minutes
  • Tricep Overhead Extensionwith KB – 4 minutes

With warm up, this workout was only 30 minutes total.  And I felt it!  I am hopelessly crazy about Tabata for my weight training it seems – I really LOVE getting in an effective workout in a short amount of time.  However, I ordered something online that I’ll be discussing in a future post – after it arrives and I’ve had a chance to try it out long enough to give a review.  We’ll see if it changes the way I work out or not!  :)

Then for my Tuesday exercise, I did another round of “See Shari Dance“.  I warmed up to Run This Town by Jay-Z.  Then got busy with the wildly jumping around dancing to get my heart rate good and high.

The playlist also included:

  • Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
  • Make Me – Janet Jackson’s latest (GREAT song for cardio BTW – click here to check it out)
  • Damaged - Danity Kane
  • 3 - Britney Spears
  • Single Ladies – Beyoncé
  • Calabria 2008 – Enur
  • Get Back – Britney Spears
  • Ring the Alarm – Beyoncé

With cool-down, it was a little over 40 minutes – truly an incredible way to start the day.  It’s not possible to be in a bad mood when you start your day with a little boogie-ing!  Between dancing for cardio and Tabata for weights, I may be in a bit of a workout RUT but I’m having a blast!  I suppose if one gets stuck in a rut, a WORKOUT rut would be a good one to get stuck in!

Afterward, I went upstairs to make a post-workout smoothie.  And there was a little cutie waiting in the kitchen with his question-mark ears.  Apparently I’ve created a monster (of the green smoothie variety).

“Puppy mommy, I’m ready for my greens please..!”

Unfortunately I had to tell him that I was using my new protein powder so there’d be no greens for him this time.

So then he threw me his “Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?” face, complete with sideways eyes:

I’m the Grinch of Green Smoothies in Rascal’s eyes. :(

I had a BEIGE Smoothie instead, using aforementioned protein powder (almost ready to provide a review)…

Then I packed up my lunch for later:

A green smoothie was consumed at my desk (leftover from the previous day):

A veggie sandwich for dinner (toasted Ezekial with fat free Nasoya Soy Mayo, sea salt, pepper, pepitas, roma tomatoes, sprouts):

***

Today is essentially our Christmas.  MSP and I are like little 5-yr olds when it comes to Christmas.  Or maybe it’s just me and he plays along.  It used to be that our tradition was we open our presents on Christmas Eve, after driving around to view holiday lights.  We’d come home, put on a fire and turn on our tree, then start opening.  We liked the ambiance of an evening Christmas as opposed to the first-thing-out-bed in the morning.   Then we tried  opening ONE gift on the evening of the start of our long weekend and last year we lost control after opening one and ended up opening everything! :)   So tonight when we both get off of work it will be the start of our 4 day weekend and we anticipate that we will likely open our gifts tonight.  This way we have all weekend to play with our new toys!

MAYBE we’ll be able to hold off until tomorrow night, but I doubt it!

I’m really hoping that Santa brought me a veggie spiralizer!  It was at the top of my list!

Then on the actual Christmas day we always go eat at a Chinese restaurant and see a movie.  This year the movie will be “Sherlock Holmes”.

How about you?  Do you have any fun, NON-traditional traditions?  Got any fitness- or health-related items on your list for Santa?

Speaking of fitness items, it’s time to go get my workout in!  Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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The Sugar Express to Moodyville

Dec 18

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Don’t you just hate it when you are just starting to type a draft post and you INTEND to click on “Save Draft” but your mouse flies over to the  ”Publish” button like some out-of-control Ouija board pointer???  Then in a nanosecond you’ve published a ridiculous blog post, but it seemed like it happened in slow motion. You saw the publish button and it half-registered in your brain as “yeah, I know that button” and then, POOF!  You’ve sent said post out into the world for all to see!  

If you got your RSS or Google Reader feed titled “Dulse” with only one sentence in it, that would be why.  :) I was just making a draft note to myself for a future post and clicked on the wrong button.  Aaaaccck!  I did not see it hit either of my feeds so hopefully I deleted it in time!

Note to self:  do not start working on the blog when you are within 45 minutes of bedtime.  Or after a day filled with refined sugar for that matter.  It apparently makes the mouse hand FLINCHY!

Yes, I had a day filled with sugar.  O Fitness Lord, forgive me for I have sinned!  :)

I have been dragging hiney all week.  I am pretty sure I know why, but rather than combat it with super healthy foods as I know I should, I’ve  perpetuated it with the completely WRONG choices – today especially.  I’m putting this out here for a few reasons.  One, because health food bloggers tend to get lambasted for setting standards that supposedly others “can’t meet” or that set incorrect food expectations (I guess meaning they think we only show the good stuff?)  Two, because I want my readers to see that I am not a perfect eater and that I have days where my hormones or emotions get the best of me just like every other woman I know and I put stuff in my face that is going to store itself squarely on my hips.  :)  

It started with a venti half-caff soy no-foam latte.  In and of itself not TOO terrible.  Except that Starbucks uses the sweetened vanilla soy milk (23 g sugar) so when you combine that with how caffeine can also elevate your blood sugar I gave myself a double whammy that set me up for the rest of the day. 

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I also took the lazy route on my greens and bought a Naked Juice green drink in lieu of my homemade smoothie.  Which adds another 66 grams of sugar (or thereabouts.  That’a a LOT of sugar!) You will find that I don’t often drink juices, because while I agree they are full of nutrients, personally I feel that the lack of fiber causes spike in your blood sugar if you drink it alone.  I know this and I still bought the juice anyway.  Granted it has some great stuff in it, like chlorophyll and barley grass and other green goodness.  It just wasn’t what I needed on top of how I’d already started my day.  I’d just added insult to injury.

1 juice

Then I proceeded to munch on homemade peppermint bark and caramels that a coworker’s wife sent in with him to our office.  They were so darn tasty – but even MORE sugar (couldn’t tell you the grams but I’d bet I ingested three times what that Naked Juice had in it!)

When I finally did eat a very late lunch it was 2/3 can of Amy’s Soup in Curried Lentil flavor – my first fiber of the day. But the damage was done.

1 soup 

I was a blood sugar rollercoaster and my mood was along for the ride. 

I know this about myself.  When I eat too much sugar, my mood takes a nosedive simultaneously with the sugar crash.  And once it gets started, it’s a tough to normalize.  I tried to have some ‘protein’ (raw goat cheddar) and ‘fiber’ (air popped plain popcorn) when I got home. 

But by the time poor MSP got home, let’s just say I was a MEAN MOODY mess with a few tears thrown in and leave it at that.  If I were him I would have locked Miss CrankyPants in a closet with a protein shake until she got a grip.  He puts up with SO much more than he should.  I know Cindy can relate, per her post from last night!

I did end up having some egg salad on an Ezekial pita for dinner.  Easy peasy:  two HB eggs with some light mayo and some spinach.  Quick.  Simple.  DEVOURED!

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This morning, I FEEL the sugar.  Ladies when you wake up in the morning and your knuckles feel tight, your face is puffy (especially under the eyes) and you can feel the bloat under your skin all over, that’s from overdosing on refined sugar and/or carbs the previous day.  Just in case you didn’t know what was causing those symptoms.  :)

Am I going to mentally beat myself up for the day of food sins?  Nah.  I don’t do it that often.  This week has been a weird one with scheduling, not much exercise, holiday stuff and some PMS thrown in.  I chalk this up to life in the female body and move on.  Because I know it’s not my regular habit. 

Will I restrict my calories today to make up for the ‘bad food choices’?  Nope, because that will just lead to more poor choices.  I’ll get right back to my ‘regular’ eating.  What I WILL do is maybe add in MORE of my nutrient-rich powerhouses to make up for the nutritional stress I put my system through.  One of those nutritional powerhouses is DULSE, which reader Joan asked me to elaborate on.  So stay tuned – my next post will include delightful dulse info!  (Thanks Joan for the question!)

I’ll also be sure that I drink adequate water today and get back to being ‘nice Shari’ so that MSP feels like seeing my face this weekend!  :)   

Today’s discussion topic is all about going off the hormonal deep end with food – does it happen to you?  Do you go for sweet or salty, or both?  Do you notice any affect on your mood or body? 

The good news?  It’s FRIDAY!  Can I get a WOOT WOOT?  And it’s Friday before a SHORT WEEK next week!  YAY! 

Have a FABULOUS Friday friends!  See you next time to talk about DULSE!!

– 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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As The Sprouts Groweth

Nov 14

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 6 Comments

Happy Saturday morning FitFeat friends! 

It’s a happy day indeed.  I have the beginnings of some homemade sprouts!  So if you are a new reader who regularly makes your own sprouts and/or can actually grow things like live plants, you may want to read my previous post about my lack of a green thumb.  Actually seeing something GROWING in my kitchen is a FEAT for me!  So, any sprout experts out there want to chime in and tell me if it will be obvious to me when I can eat them?  :)

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I have a feeling that I will still need to buy sprouts in addition to growing them because I eat way more in a day or two than what I have growing here I think. Although maybe they will still have a growth spurt!

Speaking of sprouts, check out this beautiful “before” shot of my green smoothie from yesterday. 

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It looks awfully HOLIDAY-ish, don’t you think?  Pretty reds and greens!  I finally put those new cranberries to good use after all of Cindy’s cranberry blogging.  And in a recent comment she mentioned putting 2 bananas and a CUP of cranberries into a smoothie.  Cindy, are you trying to defibrillate my tastebuds?  I tasted one of those little buggers before I added them to my smoothie – they are t-t-tart!   I’m starting small for now!

I present to you my Festive Holiday CranApple Smoothie!

  • 8 oz water
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1 apple, unpeeled and chunked
  • 1/2 small banana
  • fistful of spinach
  • a palm’s worth of sprouts (I used sweet clover sprouts)
  • 1/2 large cucumber, peeled and chunked
  • 1- 2 stalks celery, chunked
  • 1/2 tbsp hemp oil

Blend till smooth. 

(“Chunked” is an official culinary term right?)  ;)  

Here is the after: 

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It was definitely festive for the tastebuds!  Thank you Cindy for inspiring me to get some fresh cranberries, which I normally pass right on by in the produce section.  But learning from you of their anti-viral properties sold me!

I had a crazy urge for lunch-ish food at morning snack time so I toasted up some Ezekial sprouted grain bread, added some Tofutti spread, smeared on a little avocado, sprouts, cucumber, spinach and pepitas. 

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Which left room for a light lunch when it was actually lunchtime!  Oh yeah, you know what I rolled with:

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A little heavenly, gingery squash soup!  Reheated, it was JUST as good, if not better than, the first time.

And then a little slice of “pie” for a late afternoon snack.

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Next up, it was out for some Friday night fun with some girlfriends I hadn’t seen for MUCH TOO LONG.  We hit up a local wine bar for a happy hour that spilled beyond that hour by about three more!  It was a wonderful time!  Love wine time with my ladies!  And in standard Shari style, I’m sure you know I suggested HUMMUS for a shared appetizer!  (My name is Shari and I’m a Hummus-Holic.)  While the service at this place left a LOT to be desired, their hummus most certainly did not.  It was probably the best hummus I’ve ever had. 

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(Or maybe it was just the dim lights, candles and pretty plates that made it taste so good.  It couldn’t possibly have had anything to do with wine consumption!)

The manager left us with a complimentary bottle of vino to share (conveniently while we were trying to decide on just HOW small a tip to leave for our unattentive waiter.)  It was a moscato d’asti dessert wine and I do declare that I will run right out and buy a bottle to have on Thanksgiving.  (Does anyone declare that they watched this week’s “The Office”?)   ;) If not you are all going, ‘Huh?”

Heavenly soup by day, heavenly wine by night.  It MUST have been a Friday!

– Shari B. =)

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All That and a Bag of (Kale) Chips

Nov 4

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Product Review | 4 Comments

Hello FitFeat Friends!

Whew, what a busy bee kind of morning it’s been so far, and it’s only 8:47 as I begin to type this.  I’ve had a lot of blog-related catch up to do this morning, emails to reply to, made a pancake b-fast for MSP today, am still in my PJs and have yet to finish my post!  What’s weird is my coffee this morning seemed to be UBER-caffeinated! I used the same single-serve pod brand that I’ve used every day for years, and today it hit me like a truck for some reason.  I am having a hard time sitting still, my fingers are going faster than my brain and I feel almost shaky!  Crazy java!  Maybe the dogs slipped a”wog ruffie” into my mug, in hopes that I’d take them out to burn off this extra energy ;)

Speaking of dogs… yesterday’s exercise included a 30 minute WOG for the pups.  Poor Riley hadn’t been out for a real wog since her cone-inducing incident.  And you could sure tell.  She was a maniac!  I spent most of that 30 minutes snapping her leash, shouting “Riley, BACK”.  I think she has stubborn mule syndrome short term memory problems because she only follows commands now for about a millisecond and then goes right back to whatever she was doing before I corrected her.   She thinks she can get away with anything now that she’s OLD, but I’m on to her little scheme.  :)

Since the wog was more for them than for me, I then hopped on the treadmill afterward, while watching an episode of “Eastwick” on Hulu.  It was 40 minutes of interval fun!  Speedwork this time:  I focused on including intervals of 9+ mph.  It was definitely a sweat-maker!  I might have to do it again today!  :)

Yesterday’s eats included a quick bite before my a.m. client, Ezekial toast (which looks to be drowing in vegan ‘non-butter’ but really it just doesn’t melt well!)

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Later a PUMPKINY green smoothie…

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This one had:

  • 1/2 cucumber
  • sweet clover sprouts
  • 1/2 banana
  • about 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • palmful of raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • BIG fist o’spinach
  • 1/2 cantaloupe

I felt like NOT having a salad for lunch, so how ’bout a salad in a can?  Amy’s Organic Minestrone, mmm warm and veggie-ful.

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Late afternoon while I was prepping dinner stuff, I made a little batch of kale chips, this time with a good dash of nutritional yeast… and ate the whole batch.

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We’ve been craving a visit to Garbanzo’s lately and just haven’t made it up there, so I decided we’d make our own homemade version.  I finally tried this box of Falafel mix I had in my pantry.  I wanted to see if it was easier better than the ones I’d made from scratch.  The answer:  NO WAY.  Not that the ones I made at home were all that and a bag of kale chips, but these were SO flipping dry you felt like you needed to load them up on some sort of sauce, which we did not have.

In their defense, I did follow their “broiling” instructions rather than frying them in oil.  They obviously wouldn’t be so dry if they were sopping around in a pan of olive oil before eating.  But that would defeat the purpose of them being a bit healthier than the charred deepfried version we get when eating at Garbanzo.  Sorry “Fantastic World Foods”, this one won’t make it into my grocery basket again anytime soon.

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Here’s how my plate turned out:  smeared with my  homemade hummus, topped with a little rice pilaf, some roasted zucchini & baby bellas,  a rooster tail of romaine and 1/4 whole wheat pita.  Oddly, the broiled falafel look like GINGER COOKIES!!

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And MSP made his into a pita pocket (sadly lacking any veggie action) :)

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I need to make a good cucumber dill sauce to put on our leftovers to combat the dryness, so I’ll be on the hunt for a good (read:  EASY) recipe that I can use MimicCreme in.  :)   If you  have one, please feel free to share in the comments section!  Or if you  have a homemade healthy falafel recipe that you love, please share that too!

OK, fit peeps, I need to get this party started moving on my Wednesday.  Don’t forget to email me a pic of your awesome bicep flexing for FLEX IT FRIDAY before midnight Thursday!  If you have a blog, be sure to include your blog address in the email so that I can mention it!

Have a brilliant day and I’ll see ya next time!

– Shari B. =)

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