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Posts Tagged falafel

Natural Chef Culinary School Recap: Mediterranean Days

Nov 16

Posted by Shari B. in Natural Chef Culinary School | 9 Comments

Hi FitFeat friends!  Happy Tuesday!

First I just want to say what GREAT comments on the ‘time flies‘ post – I LOVE reading how you all try new things and get some food inspiration here.  That just makes my day, every day!  Thank you so much for commenting!

Currently at school we are in our Ethnic Cuisine module – this is the module I’ve been waiting for!  And it has not disappointed!  Today I’ll tell you about our cooking from Western Mediterranean (Southern & Southeastern Europe) and Eastern Mediterranean/North Africa.

Some of the Western Mediterranean ingredients we discussed were olive oil (of course), capers, pomegranate, purslane, artichoke, quince, anchovies and rosemary.  Two fun facts about rosemary:

Smelling rosemary is thought to stimulate the brain and memory! Hmmm, before I work on studying today, I better take a big sniff!  ;)

Rosemary is considered a love charm (a symbol of remembrance and fidelity) so it is often used at weddings, historically both in the bride’s wreath as well as in favors given to the guests.  So next time you attend a wedding, see if any of the food is cooked with it!

Another notable culinary tip we learned is that southern Italian cooking (more coastal) uses a lot of olive oil as its fat (and more seafood) whereas northern Italian cooking uses more butter and other dairy.

We had a wonderful olive oil tasting for our snack one day, along with the delicious gluten-free breads we’d made on Savory Baking day.  There were also olives brought to us from Spain by our kitchen manager (who was recently there for his wedding – I should have asked him if they had rosemary that day!!), plus some delicious cheeses made from goat milk and sheep milk, some quince paste (deliciously sweet!) and pomegranate seeds.

Olive oil tasting should be done from lightest flavor to deepest flavor, much like you do with wines.  Our deepest flavored oil that day was truffle oil, which was very fun to try.  There was also a smoked olive oil, which I actually liked, but wasn’t really favored by anyone else in class.

After our fill of oils, it was time to hit the kitchen. My assigned recipe that day was Chicken Marbella.  This was a whole chicken that I broke down into parts, then marinated in sherry, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic, capers, green olives, and prunes.  (Yes, prunes!!)  Then the chicken was patted dry, and added to a hot skillet for a nice brown sear on the skin, after which all of the marinade was added to the pot for the chicken to braise in.  I had to try a bite when we ate that day and I must say it was delicious!  I especially loved the flavor combo of the prunes and the olives.

Other delightful recipes made that day included:

  • Cannellini Beans with Green Chard
  • Fennel, Orange and Mint Salad with Herb Roasted Olives
  • Greek Lemon Soup (Avgolemono)
  • Provencal Artichoke Ragout
  • Rustic Wild Mushroom Risotto

It was quite a feast!

On the Eastern Mediterranean/Levant and North African day, I was assigned Morrocan Mint Tea and North African Carrots with Harissa.  Harissa is a pasted condiment made from dried hot chilis (soaked), cumin, coriander, garlic and lemon juice.  I made the paste from scratch, then it was used to flavor the carrot dish while they cooked.

And somehow didn’t take a photo of my own dish!

But I did capture most of the rest.

  • Levant-Style Stuffed Cabbage with Yogurt Sauce

  • Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon

  • Baked Falafel with Tahini Sauce

  • Fall Vegetable Tagine over Couscous

  • Tunisian Beet Salad with Orange Blossom Water and Pomegranate

It’s been a delicious couple of days at school, eating our way through the Mediterranean!   Hope you enjoyed the TOUR!

Do you have a favorite Mediterranean dish?  Do you eat it when dining out or do you cook it at home?

Have a TERRIFIC day!  See you soon!

– Shari B. =)

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Umeboshi, Kabocha, and Falafel .. Oh My!

Jan 8

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 2 Comments

Hello FitFeat Friends!  Welcome to the weekend!  Ahhh I’m so glad it’s Friday.

Thank you all for having fun with my “Twenty Questions” post from yesterday! I loved reading the replies, and Cindy I’m SO bummed your comment went “poof” off into a bloghole somewhere!

Oh my, where to start?  Guess we’ll start with the fact that I did NOT get a workout in yesterday.  :(   I was faced with working out or writing a blog post, and I just don’t like to let down my awesome readers!  To be fair, Tuesdays and Thursdays are tough days for me to get workouts in anyway, so it’s not biggie.  The weather will be above freezing this weekend so I know I’ll be outside making up for lost time.  Don’t go thinkin’ I’m slacking off or anything!

Yesterday’s eats were great!  I started with just a couple of bites of a Larabar before my first client.  Which held me over just fine for a bit.  Then I made a cinnamon raisin  Ezekial and almond butter sandwich to go, with a side of travel decaf.

For the record, I do not condone much eating while driving, because it’s ‘mindless munching’ where your brain is otherwise occupied and as such, not really registering all the face-stuffing going on.  But I am guilty of needing to do it on occasion and understand when clients need to as well.  Yesterday was the ridiculous snow day where people where driving like we got 2 feet of snow when in reality it was 2 inches — my 10 mile drive took AN HOUR on the interstate.

Lunch at my desk (lookout, blurry iPhone photos are running rampant in today’s post) consisted of a salad with mixed greens, dulse, grape tomatoes, broccoli, and sugar snap peas:

Along with a side of leftover Azuki & Squash dish from The Kind Diet:

(There WILL be a review.  I know I’ve been saying that all week – but I don’t want to rush it.  :)   It’s getting there, I promise!)

Midafternoon I had a BUBBLY!!!!  Mmmm you know that makes me happy!  I had a few bites of raw goat cheese along with it. Totally felt like I was at a wine tasting party.  Only better.

Dinner was at Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill with a very good friend.  We choose to do dinner since it’s been a bit too cold to SOCIALCIZE lately!  (Or as that particular friend calls it:  ChatterCize!  Love that!)  I had about half of this humongous falafel plate:

I think I’ll get at least three meals out of that one!  Yikes!  This time I asked for some extra pickled eggplant.  DEEE-VINE!

I went to the dinner location a bit early since there is a brand new Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocer nearby.  I’ve been skimping along this week at the end of my almond butter jar so I needed to make a stop.  In typical Shari style, leaving the store with the ONLY item I went in to get was not possible (because apparently I don’t have enough food in the house already):

First I finally found Umeboshi Plums!  During the course of reading and reviewing The Kind Diet I tried to find them at Whole Foods with no luck.  But they actually JUST got them in at VCNG.  Wahoo!  So excited to try one!

Next, I have been searching for a kabocha squash for a few months now.  I hear from everyone how great they are, how nutty they taste, and of course the recipe I made this week from Alicia’s book called for one (and I had to sub in butternut).  Finally found a little BABY KABOCHA to try!  Look how cute!

And last but not least, the almond butter I went in for in the first place.  I decided to splurge this time on the organic version.  Last time I just got the raw creamy Maranatha, because the organic version is DOUBLE the price of the non-organic jar.  But I thought for sure it tasted different and it was really bugging me.  So I got the organic and did a taste-test last night when I got home.

And it DOES taste different!  The raw is a more delicate, slightly sweeter flavor than the non-organic.  So I wasn’t crazy (well maybe crazy but for other reasons!) I will need to do further reading on whether I want to justify the cost of the organic.  I spent more than ONE HOUR of PAY on that jar!  I’m telling ya, this part-time job is solely to support my health food store addiction!  :)

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Well friends, I better hit the ‘publish button’ on this post so that maybe my friends on the west coast will have a little light reading to do while they are watching the clock count down to 5:00.  ;)   I think it’s time to have a little glass of wine to celebrate the arrival of Friday evening, and I have a feeling there will be a bit of Wii Resort in my evening!

Have a FABULOUS Friday and an even better weekend!  I’ll be back again tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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It’s a Wonderful Life

Dec 21

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Happy holiday week!  Did the Santa pop up to greet you as you came to the site today? (If you are reading on Google Reader, via email, etc., come out to the actual site to see it.)  I found that cute little plug-in yesterday and had to install it, at least for this week! 

For those of you who visit the blog on Sundays and wonder why I’m being a lazy bum not putting out a post, I often use my ‘blogging time’ on Sundays for the administrative side of owning a self-hosted blog:  running backups, installing WordPress upgrades, learning, etc.   So I’m still working on the blog on Sundays just not in a way that you can necessarily see!  :)

I hope that each of you had a weekend as awesome as mine was!  It was a fantastic weekend!  We had been holding this weekend open because some family members were coming into town from California and Ohio (well, to a town 90 minutes away, that is).  We wanted to be free to meet them up in the mountains during their visit.  Sadly it didn’t pan out for us to get to meet up with them, but the good news is my cousin will be coming again in early 2010 so hopefully I’ll get to see her then. 

As a result we had a rare weekend free of plans!  And we took full advantage.

Saturday morning, I’d hoped to run outside.  Thanks to the 19 degree weather, I chose to keep it INSIDE after all.  I hopped on the treadmill for 30 minutes (the maximum amount of time my attention span seems to allow on there) and then I did 35 minutes more of  “See Shari Dance” cardio, with my heart rate in the high 160s.  It was a SUPER workout.  I had a blast. :)

Afterward, I had a mini-green-smoothie.

Followed by an egg and veggie breakfast sandwich (Ezekial english muffin, roma tomatoes, 1 whole egg + 1 white, zucchini ribbons).

Mid-day I met up with a good friend at Garbanzo Meditteranean Grill for some (unpictured) falafel, pickled eggplant and hummus (I skipped the pita this time to focus on the extra veggies).

And in the afternoon I had some Wasa Light Rye crackers with Tofutti un-cream cheese and a side of organic, sulfite-free red wine.

I didn’t really have a dinner per se Saturday night since I snacked pretty late on the wine and crackers.  I had a handful of Newman Organic wheat-free dairy-free Os (basically organic Oreos) before bed. 

I’d received an invite via Facebook from a friend for a 5-mile run on Sunday morning, so MSP and I accepted.  We were meeting at 8:00 so I had a cup of coffee and a pre-run snack (toasted Ezekial with raw almond butter, a drizzle of raw honey and coconut) at 6:30.

And I packed up my favorite running fuel “to go” (half a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar - which I didn’t end up nibbling on until I was home from the run):

We conveniently met for the run in a Starbucks parking lot (hmmm wonder who planned that meeting spot??), so we had to swing in afterward for a post-run soy latte.  Pictured below are two of my favorite things!  Starbucks and running gear!   Isn’t this the best running shirt?  My mom got it for me a few years ago for Christmas and I absolutely LOVE it.
 

Speaking of loving it, the run was FABULOUS!!!  It was 26 degrees at the start and it definitely felt VERY cold.  But we warmed up quickly and got busy chatting, so the chill was fast forgotten.  The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day in Colorado.  We got in the 5 miles of running with an extra 0.9 mile of warm-up and cool-down.  A decaf soy latte tastes SO…CRAZY… GOOD after a cold run!   

Later for lunch I had veggie ‘spaghetti’ (zucchini ribbons topped with marinara, steamed green beans & baby bella mushrooms, an artichoke heart, olives and nutritional yeast.

During the extremely exciting Broncos/Raiders game, I had some healthy homemade popcorn and a side of BUBBLY!  (Did you SEE that game???  WOW!  Even though the Broncos lost, it was a ‘perch on the edge of your seat’ game.) 

I tried a new BUBBLY flavor this time:  SuperFruits.  It did not disappoint – it was definitely super! :)   I don’t think I’ve met a Synergy Kombucha that I didn’t like.

This bottle had a LOT of the live culture strands in it!  Mmmm probiotics!  And was the appropriately colored drink for watching a Broncos game.

And to top off the end of the weekend, 3/4 of VEGGIE (Boca) Burger from FatBurger with a small portion of fries. 

It was a terrific weekend filled with healthy food, visits with great friends, invigorating exercise each day, and even some time built in to catch up on some reading and some Whole Foods browsing.  Not to mention our “Avatar” 3D adventure on Friday night. 

And knowing that I have a 3-day workweek this week makes it even that much better!  

Do you have extra days off around the holiday or do you have to work?  I feel fortunate that my new boss suggested that I work extra hours last week to make up the day for Christmas Eve, so I get a 4-day weekend that begins when I clock out at the end of the day Wednesday! 

Speaking of working, I better scoot on out the door!  Have a MERRY Monday everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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How Do You Avoid the Winter Slump?

Nov 5

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Wahoo it’s Friday-EVE!

I have been a bundle of energy since yesterday’s crazy coffee that I swore my dogs spiked.  Well until 8:15 last night when I was trying to watch “Modern Family” and my eyelids kept doing this weird thing where they’d fall down over my eyes uncontrollably.  :)   Are you someone who go-go-gos and then the minute you sit still your body just decides it’s time to sleep? But I woke up at 4:00 this morning feeling FANTASTIC.

My dogs, however, were another story:

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Apparently they think 4:00 a.m. is just too early.  Zzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzz.

And I wasn’t out of bed 5 minutes this morning when Miss Thing decides to take not only my spot in the bed but also my PILLOW!

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Yeah Alien-Eyes, I mean you. If I find drool on my pillow, you’ll be in trouble!

(Sorry MSP for the early morning “camera flash as alarm clock”!)

With all that energy yesterday, you’d think I’d have squeezed in a fabulous workout.  Unfortunately, no.  It was just one of those days where it wasn’t high enough on the priority list.  I don’t let it happen often, but it was necessary yesterday.  You can even tell by my food that I was busy.  No big salad as I didn’t have time to CHEW!  :)   I’ll get some extra time in today though.

I did have time to chew my favorite breakfast:  Ezekial toast with raw almond butter and a drizzle of raw honey.  (Sorry for the repetitive food!  I know it’s SO boring, but it’s just so yummy and goes really well with the morning joe.)

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While in front of the PC I had a mid-morning snack of baby carrots and a plop of homemade hummus.

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I really don’t think I can eat enough hummus in my lifetime.  Since I love beans so much and especially baked beans (which I haven’t been eating since I gave up meat), I am certain that someday I will attempt a baked bean hummus and combine two of my favorite foods — if I can find a pork free version of Busch’s beans.  Mmm beans.   I know you will all be secretly CLAMORING for the recipe when that happens. ;)

My lunch if you can believe it was actually a soy chai latte.  This is not a “lead by example” moment for sure.  A latte does not a lunch make. But it just sounded so darn good and I can’t resist their holiday cups!  What a nice message it has:

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And by the way Mr. Starbucks CEO, please put some of your mugs on clearance, would ya?  I haven’t seen a single clearance mug since last Christmas and my Starbucks mug collection is getting boring.  But I already pay you a ridiculous amount of money just to steam my soy milk, so I won’t also give you $12.95 for a mug.  $5.00 please. Thank you.

Later, a quick afternoon snack while running upstairs back to the computer.

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I did at least manage to get some greens into  my crazy day.  Spinach, cucumber, sprouts, 1/4 cantaloupe, 1 tbsp hemp oil, celery stalk, and a pear.  I had this glass X 2.

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Dinner was another attempt at the leftover chalk balls falafel.  Even adding Annie’s Goddess Dressing and some juicy tomato slices could not save them.  The rest are going in the trash today.  In the future I’ll stick with making mine from scratch, or giving in to the deepfried version at Garbanzo’s.  This powdered mix is a big DON’T.  Looks tasty, though, right?

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Today’s discussion question is about Winter Slump:  Are you finding that with the change of seasons your exercise is not as abundant?  Or does it have no effect on your routine?  What strategies to you use to keep from falling off that wagon?

I definitely get less active this time of year.  With the snowstorm last week, then the time change so causing evenings to be so dark it is easy to let motivation be zapped a little.  During the warm months, I was getting the dogs out for a couple miles every day on top of my running and weights plus a few hikes here and there.  Even my yardio.  Add to that the fact that cold weather makes one crave heartier foods like Halloween candy root veggies and squash which are a bit higher in starches and calories, the body composition can definitely take a little hit.  I can feel it this week for sure and will be making an effort to ramp up the intensity in the upcoming days (in order to get some “afterburn” calories) and keep the “hearty” foods to a minimum.  I’ll add in additional faster intervals, a round or two of Iron Yoga, some high-intensity Tabata weight sessions, and last but not least I’ll be getting out for runs as much as possible when the weather cooperates.

Speaking of season changes…

Guess what?  It’s time to get outside! Our forecast for today is 76 degrees! Wahoooo hallelujah!  Maybe this is why I’ve been a bundle of energy.  Vitamin D City! It was even in the 60′s yesterday!  Maybe all the snow still in our yard from last week will disappear.

Today will be much less computer-filled than yesterday if I can at all help it.  :)

Last call for biceps flex pics today!  Join in the fun!  I have some fun ones from Cindy to choose from… the rest of you get busy flexin’ today!  Email them to me:  shari@fitfeat.com and I’ll plug your blog as well!  (FYI if you did email them to me and I did NOT reply with a thank you message, then for some reason they didn’t make it through… drop a note in the comments section if that’s the case.)

Have a GROOVY Thursday and join us tomorrow for some FLEX IT FRIDAY fun!  :)

– 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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To Sprout or Not To Sprout?

Oct 14

Posted by in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Good morning blogosphere! 

Thank you so much to those who shared their own sprouting experiences – I appreciate hearing from all of you! 

Upon reading some of the comments as well as websites discussing the toxins and bacteria potentially in sprouts, I will confess I’m torn. On one hand I hear experts touting sprouts as being the king of nutrients and digestability.  Then at the other end of the spectrum you have experts telling you to pretty much avoid them (especially alfalfa).  And I’ve been eating alfalfa sprouts EVERY day for months now, in smoothies, sandwiches, wraps. 

I feel at this point I’ll continue to eat sprouts in moderation.  I think, at least for me personally, the benefits outweigh the risks.  That may change as I continue to read up on the topic.

Therefore, my sprouting (ad)venture has commenced… but I think this first attempt isn’t going to go all that well.  We’ll see.  Not that I’m trying to send negative vibes out into the universe or anything ;)  I am starting with millet because that is what I happened to have on hand.  Reading into the instructions of sprouting millet, I learned that tray-style works better for this particular grain using 100% cotton cloth above and below it, as I’ve done here.

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The issue I think I will run into is the rinsing and draining.  Once you get little shoots they say to be very careful because they can break easily.  Not sure how I’m going to manage rinsing and draining from this pie plate without moving the little buggers around!  I also read that some of the millet might ferment rather than sprout.  Plus I’m not even sure if what I have is hulled or unhulled millet.  And I’m quickly realizing in this dry climate that my cloth dries out CRAZY-FAST so I think I need something thicker like a washcloth. (Overthink things much, Shari??)  :)

Time will tell!

What I DO know is that the sprouts I PURCHASE cost me about $1.99… so if I spend too much time on this experiment, I’ll be sticking with store-bought!  :)

On the subject of millet, I did cook up a big batch of it to keep in the fridge.  So for breakfast yesterday I had a bowl of warm millet with almond milk, some raw honey and raisins.  It was a nice change from oatmeal.

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It made for a perfect post-run meal after a chilly and VERY dark outdoor run.  MSP and I went out for three miles at about 6:20 and it was still pitch black out when we left.  I can be wide awake when I leave the house and then get out into that darkness and it’s like my body floods my system with melatonin because I get really sleepy again until the sun comes up.  Thank goodness for electricity or I’d be sleeping 16 hours a day during winters!

Midmorning I had half of a Cashew Cookie Larabar.  

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I’ve had a small box of Sunshine Falafel ‘burgers’ in my freezer waiting for me to try.  Since I bought a huge tub of roasted red pepper hummus, I decided I’d break out the falafel burger for lunch before the hummus is gone!  (It doesn’t last long in this house!)  I used half of a sandwich thin as the base, with a schmear of hummus topped by a slice of heirloom tomato.   The Sunshine burger acted as the bun lid.  For some reason this picture makes it look like an Egg McMuffin, doesn’t it? 

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It was definitely tasty.  A little drier than I imagined but that worked perfectly for a TOPLESS sandwich!  :)

And of course, my large salad to go with my meal!

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I spent most of Tuesday glued to the computer, working on and reading about taking my blog self-hosted this weekend.  I needed a snack that would allow me to still type, so just a quick handful of Mary’s Gone Crackers and the rest of the morning’s Larabar.

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I made a hamburger potato casserole for MSP’s dinner which did require a little kitchen time, so when it came time to decide what to make for moi, I wasn’t feeling in the mood to cook anything.  Lazy Girl Dinner would have to suffice.  A can of Amy’s Organic soup.  Folks, let me tell you that these soups are pretty much the reason I have yet to actively seek out recipes for soup.  Amy make’s a kick-a$$ soup!!  Look at how chunky this soup is!  This one was Southwest Vegetable.  Even the little pieces of corn had grill markings on them.  :) I will definitely be stocking up on cans of this particular ‘flavor’.  I almost ate both servings, but decided to save some for another meal.  On the side was a piece of toasted Ezekial, with Earth Balance vegan butter and a sprinkle of garlic salt.

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Sometimes cooking is just overrated when you can heat up an insanely quick dinner like this.  :)

And last, my evening dessert:  in concept I thought this would be such a cute photo.  It SO did not turn out that way.  In my mind I was thinking “banana sushi rolls” with almond butter as my ‘wasabi’.  It didn’t plate up that well though and I got quite a laugh out of it.  For any South Park fans out there, I’ll just say that this picture brought to mind Mr. Hanky and leave it at that!

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It did TASTE great though, with cinnamon, raw honey drizzle and the almond butter.  ;)

If you are in the mood for a giveaway, hop on over to The Fitnessista’s blog where you can enter to win free VEGA Sport items.  She will announce the winner on Thursday morning so you have all day today to get your entries in.  You know I love my Vega products, so I’ve used up all of my three ways to enter that contest! 

OK, blog buds I have plenty more to say today but feel like I’ve borrowed enough of your time as it is so I’ll save it for another post!  I’m heading out to get my HIKE ON. 

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Just another reminder for those who may not get to read daily:  FitFeat will be going self-hosted over this coming weekend (provided all goes well when it comes time to ‘flip the switch’!)  If everything goes as planned you should be able to find me at the same address I can be found at now which is www.fitfeat.com.  Currently that redirects you to this wordpress dot com blog location.  Over the weekend it should redirect you to the new location.  If you have any trouble finding the blog or notice something that doesn’t seem right, please email me at shari@fitfeat.com.

– Shari B. =)

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Fruit-Filled Saturday

Oct 4

Posted by in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Well hello blog buds!  Happy Sunday!  Ours started out sans-sun but it seems to have reappeared now.  That’s what I LOVE about living in Colorado.  We have a bazillion days of sunshine, even when it’s chilly out.  (Are you sick of me loving on my state yet?  I’m sorry, I can’t help it!  Truly the Colorado  tourism board should be sending me checks!)

First thing Saturday morning directly following coffee, we took the dogs out for a 4-mile WOG (that would be walking/jogging for any new readers, because my dogs cannot keep from stopping to smell every single thing there is to smell along the way.  It’s a very herky-jerky form of running, for sure!) 

I’m thinking that Riley being all tired on the 2.5 mile wog earlier this week was all an act because she treated this 4-miler like it was nothing!  I’m on to her now…  ;)

So Saturday turned out to be a B-A-N-A-N-A-S kind of day so it was fitting that it started out with this for breakfast:  

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MSP made me French Ezekial Toast!  Isn’t that sweet (pun intended)?  I topped it with a smear of raw almond butter, half of a banana, and some Michigan pure maple syrup that I brought back for him from my trip.  It was a DEE-LISH-USH breakfast. 

We rushed around after that because we had to be out the door at 10:00 AM to get our day of BIZ-EEE-NESS started and didn’t get a chance to stop for a snack or lunch.  The french toast sure did the trick because normally if I’d had to wait from 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM before eating, I’d be about ready to start gnawing on my own fingers.  But I made it until we got home, and then I made a plate of leftover Garbanzo!  I used some of the leftover pita, smeared it with hummus, added a slice of heirloom tomato and a skinny slice of raw goat cheese.  Then I cut the leftover falafel in half and topped it with the tahini sauce, with the rice on the side.  It was mmm-mmm-good.  Now if only we could tell Garbanzo to stop OVER-COOKING their falafel, we’d be golden.  I don’t think falafel are meant to be charbroiled.  Correct me if I’m wrong, because I’m no falafel expert.  :)   Next time we’re craving some, I think we’ll make our homemade version that we bake instead.

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Later in the afternoon, I was craving something sweet so I decided on some fruit.  In my quest for “new-to-me” produce this week, I’d picked up a PLUOT.  I’ve never had one before. 

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Is it the prettiest red when it’s cut open or what?

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I’ll definitely be buying pluots again.  (I’m guessing pluot is supposed to be a mix of plum and apricot??)

It didn’t fill me up, so I went back for even MORE fruit, this time my beloved MANGO.  I just can’t bring myself to mask this delicious fruit in any form of smoothie.  I am so in love with mangoes.  

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More errand running later and it was getting pretty chilly, so a tall soy chai latte seemed in order (with a petite vanilla scone to keep the latte company – love that they make bite-sized scones!)

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At 7:45, we were on our way out the door to a huge birthday bash for a good friend, and I must have been in a SMIRKY mood… not sure what this face was for!

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We didn’t eat a dinner Saturday night – it was just an “off-schedule” day all around.  At the party I had a glass of white wine and a handful of tortilla chips.  But being that today is FOOTBALL SUNDAY, I have a feeling I’ll make up for any lost calories.  ;)   Anyone up for joining me in some football-watching exercise?  Drop me a comment and let me know if I have any takers!!  Today would normally be my ‘rest day’ but if I have some peeps willing to do this with me, it’d be much more fun knowing that somewhere out there you might be doing some pushups or squats during the commercials too!

I have a couple of FitFeatures I want to blog about but I’m going to save it for the weekdays, as my blog stats tell me that Sundays are pretty slow and I don’t want you to miss them!  In the meantime, if you have any specific topics you’d like to hear about, please don’t hesitate to let me know! 

Have a SUPERB SUNDAY! 

– Shari B. =)

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Yardio & Doody Duty

Sep 11

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Hi friends!  It’s FRIDAY!  OK, no matter where you are right now I want you to holler “WOOT! WOOT!”  :)   TGIF!

So I’m still feeling Wednesday’s workout like nobody’s business.  The combination of the straight-leg deadlifts AND explosive lunges has hobbled me – in a good way!  Each of those exercises alone kicks my you-know-what, but put them together…?  Whoa.  I’m so in need of a good stretch – my hams are so sore/stiff I don’t think I could touch my toes at the moment even if someone put some chocolate on my shoe.

Then yesterday’s workout was YARDIO!!! (Yardwork cardio…!)  First step, Doody Duty ‘squat & scoops’.  Hopefully you find that self-explanatory.  ;)   (FYI folks, if you hire a service to do this for you, do them a very nice favor and do NOT run your sprinkler system within 24 hours of their scheduled time.  Just sayin’.)  Next step was the weed-whacker for a great arm workout.  Then the lawnmower with the catcher attached, which gets heavier as you go.

After a quick snack and some water (because Yardio is hard work, you know!) it was on to Part Deux: digging out sod.  Another fine total body workout.  I was sweating early on because I thought I could do this with a little garden spade.  Eventually I realized that I would be without the use of my hands for a few days if I kept that up, so I moved to a small shovel that I could hop on and force into the ground.   I am supposed to do Back & Triceps this morning, but I fear that the dumbbells will just fall right out of my hands!  We’ll see how that goes.

Yardio was apparently also exhausting for these two lazy bones cuties:

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Let’s talk about FOOD, shall we? :)

Channeling my inner surfer chick with my Hawaii Starbucks mug (thanks Jimmy!)

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Since I hadn’t had a workout yet, I had a very light breakfast.  Half a cantaloupe:

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It was gone in like 2 minutes flat – SO GOOD! I can’t even remember the last time I had one!

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Midmorning snack was a toasted piece of Genesis sprouted grain bread with some raw organic almond butter and a drizzle of raw local honey.

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For lunch I decided on an open-faced ‘wich.  Slice of Genesis toast, schmear of Tofutti (soy ‘cream’ cheese), sprouts, avocado, yellow tomato slices, sea salt & pepper.  Red pepper sticks and remaining avocado on the side. I also at the rest of yesterday’s patio salad. After the photo was snapped, I slapped a romaine leaf on the top as my ‘wich lid. 

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Followed by a little bite of heaven:

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 A little mango passionfruit herbal tea with a side of Cashew Cookie by Larabar: 

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Dinner was the reheated Falafel.  I don’t think I’ll do the reheat again.  One, you realize just how greasy they are and two they getsa bit mushy.  But the flavor was still good.  A new reader, Jen, let me know yesterday that the yummy pickled stuff is eggplant!  (Thanks Jen!) Now THAT still tastes good the next day.  :)   This was a tiny little dinner so I knew I’d be looking for food again later in the evening.  

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 And so I ate half of this little beauty for which I’d been impatiently waiting to ripen.  It taunted my on my counter for three days… ‘HaHa, I’m not ready yet!’  The minute it looked ripe I was all over it.  I saved half for today.

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And when I should have been going to bed, I was still a little hungry to I had some Kashi GoLean cereal and a splash of almond milk. 

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OK, my DAH-lings…. enjoy your Friday!  Drop a comment to let me know what exciting FIT plans you have for the upcoming weekend.  Hiking?  Running?  Cycling?  Yoga?  What will you do this weekend to thank your body for all it does for you?

 – Shari B. =)

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