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Posts Tagged hummus

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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Look Ma, No Hands!

Oct 26

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

Hi friends!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I took Sunday “off” from blogging to be with my cousins, since one of them already has to fly home this afternoon.   I’ll rewind way back to Saturday morning for a few updates.

MSP and I wanted to get out for a run before our guests arrived, since we knew it’d be a little tough to break away for a workout after that. We had a BEAUTIFUL run along Willow Creek for 4.4 miles.  The weatherman said it was 55 out… and you’d think by now I’d know better than to trust him!  But I left my mittens at home anyway because I DID trust him!  And boy was I sorry!  We both thought it felt a little more like 25 than 55.  My little hands were red and freezing the whole time.

Have you ever tried to run with your hands stuffed in your pockets?  One word:  AWKWARD!  Imagine someone running with their hands plastered to their sides and think of how funny that looks.  Then put me in that vision.. that was me.  Maybe this was an instance of “you just had to be there” for it to be funny, but for some reason it cracks me up! 

I am a little TOO energetic first thing in the morning...

Sometimes I'm TOO energetic first thing in the morning!

I’ve never been one of those runners who can go outside in shorts when it’s cold out.  I see people wearing tiny running shorts and a long-sleeved shirt with maybe hat and gloves when it’s below freezing.  And then there’s me with insulated running pants, dry-wicking shirt, fleece pullover and down running jacket.  Usually with an earband AND a scarf.  I’d rather tie all those layers around my waist once I get warm than freeze my A$$ off for the first 20 minutes of my run. 

After our run we came home to finish up the remaining items on my housecleaning to-do list, including some Doodie Duty (aka:  squat-n-scoops) so at least I got a little leg training in.  ;)   Then zipped off to the airport.  Later in the afternoon we set up a “snack buffet” of pita chips with hummus, baked tostito scoops with salsa, and carrot sticks with my homemade navy bean dip.  We watched the Cincinnati Bearcats game and just chilled inside while it was chilly outside.

That evening we ordered some gluten-free veggie pizza delivery from Garlic Jim’s so I had a piece of that with my usual extra-large ‘side salad’. 

Sunday brought snow AGAIN, two rounds.  One first thing in the morning then another one at about 2:30.  It’s not even winter yet, and I’m already ready for spring!  ;)   We all bundled up and took the dogs out for a walk… about 3 miles.

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Post-walk nutrients:

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Look what my cousin Lisa brought me from Ohio!  A PLETHORA of PISTACHIO…!

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(Wahooo!  Thank you Lisa!)  You know I had to gobble one up almost immediately.

We had a little “burrito/taco bar” action for lunch:

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Here’s mine (whole wheat tortilla, Tofutti, mashed avocado, homemade blackbean dip, spinach and chunky salsa).  My “burrito” looks suspiciously like a “wrap”.  :)

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We did a little sightseeing at Red Rocks Amphitheater before the snow REALLY kicked in.

Once home again we were feeling “snacky” so I made some baked purple kale:

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I ate almost the whole batch myself!

And some baked sweet potato chips sprinkled with cinnamon – these went over better with my guests than the kale did…

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We played a little Wii and watched a couple of movies while snacking on the above chips (and some Halloween TWIX). 

It is supposed to be sunny today so I’m crossing my fingers that maybe we can get out for a hike before noon when we have to head back to the airport.  I’m hoping that I’ll have a few great scenery shots to share with you in the next post.

Have an excellent Monday, friends! 

– Shari B. =)

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You Found Me!

Oct 17

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 4 Comments

Happy Saturday blog buds! :)

If you are reading this post then some of the propagation changes have occurred or your subscription is working.  (woohooo! and thanks for finding me!) At our house, the blog change hasn’t hit our ISP provider server yet so I’m having to use a workaround to put out this post.

Who’d have thought moving a simple little blog/website from one WordPress platform to another would be such an involved process?  I won’t go into details because then a full-on venting session may ensue…  I guess I take a while to ‘embrace’ change.

I spent a good part of yesterday working on setting up a new theme so that FitFeat would have a neat new look for you when you got here today.  Being that I’m not someone versed in CSS or PHP coding, it was a slow process.  I did learn a lot and had the whole thing pretty much set up but there was one thing that I just could NOT customize and it drove me nuts.  So I ultimately decided to revert to the ‘theme’ that you are used to seeing.  Maybe in the near future when banging my head against a wall for a few hours won’t hurt so bad, I’ll give it another shot.  I’m going to set up a test environment first and play with it.

So all that said, this is of those days where yesterday morning feels like FOREVER ago!  Lots to catch you up on.

My Friday started out with my beloved energy elixir (aka java).  I think the selection of my “drama queen” mug may have set the karma for the day.  I certainly became one by the time 7:30 PM rolled around when I was hungry and ready to STOP being in front of the computer.  I may or may not have thrown a temper tantrum in poor MSP’s direction.   ;)

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After my jolt of coffee, it was time to head downstairs to the gym for some upper body weight training.  Immediately following I had this pretty little pluot to put a smile on my face.  VIBRANT is all I can say about this little cutie:

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Changed and ready to start the ‘workday’, it was time for my real breakfast, an EXTRA-green smoothie. Holy-tastes-like-grass-clippings Batman!  It was cucumber, avocado, sprouts, spinach, celery and only 1/4 of an apple (because I seriously sliced the rest and FORGOT to add it to the blender… didn’t notice till I went to put everything away and then took a sip of my smoothie!)  It tasted green, that’s for sure!  I did love the texture the avocado gave it, though.

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I realized when I posted about having all those avos, I didn’t explain that normally I buy one or two at a time.  I happened to be at Costco last weekend and they had bags of 5 for a bargain.  So I bought a bag, and they all ripened together.  I didn’t want to waste any of them so I was frantically trying to find a way to use them all and not get sick of the flavor!

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions about things to do with avocados!  Did any of you happen to read about the dryer lint smoothie in Cindy’s comment?  I’m linking you to her site so that you can see it… it DOES look like dryer lint!  Too fun!

One of the things I decided to make since I happened to have all the ingredients was a Mango-Avocado Salsa from allrecipes.com.  I made a few adjustments:  used agave in lieu of white sugar, and rice vinegar in lieu of white (because I didn’t have any white!). I don’t think it made any difference which vinegar was used in it.  Got all my prep stuff lined up:

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All made and ready to rest in the fridge so the flavors can “mingle”:

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I also still had some leftover kale that I wanted to use.  I was going to try the great recipe Alexandra wrote about in the comments section recently… only I realized too late that I didn’t have any cashews!  So I improvised and mixed up about 1/4 cup of roasted red pepper hummus, some olive oil, little squeeze of lemon juice and nutritional yeast, put it all in a gallon ziploc bag, then added the kale and shook it all around.  Then baked.  Here’s the end result:

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Wow, it was GOOD!  I ate the entire batch for lunch. SO good!  Thank you Alexandra for being the inspiration.  When I get some cashews, I’ll be trying yours next! I also want to try the sauteed kale that Joan mentioned in her comment too.

From there it was all PC work the rest of the day.  A Gingersnap Larabar mid afternoon…

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That was it until I was done with the blog move.  At that point, it was out of my hands.  I’d done everything on my end.  As I’d mentioned, I was SO ready for a glass of wine.  I chose a little organic table red called “Our Daily Red” which MSP so kindly picked up for me on the way home.  (When he offered to help me earlier in the day, my response was BUY ME SOME ALCOHOL ON YOUR WAY HOME FROM WORK! That’s the kind of help I need right now!)  No I do not turn to alcohol to relieve my stress.  :)   Just this time, I swear!

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I munched on a couple of pieces of raw goat cheddar with my glass of vino.  Then this:

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I just felt the need for some ‘naughty’ food.  And believe it when I say I did read the ingredients and selected this because it did NOT have any partially hydrogenated gunk in it.  It had other gunk, but at least it was semi-real gunk.  ;)    It was time to park it in front of the TV for a bit in order to let my brain stop clicking… so I turned on the episode of “The Office” that I’d missed most of Thursday night and what happens?  I FELL ASLEEP AGAIN!!  Twice I’d missed this episode!  Guess if I ever have a bout of insomnia again, the trick is to watch a little Michael Scott and Dwight!  :)

Well my friends, it is a BEAUTIFUL Saturday here.  Not a cloud in the blue sky, and WARM!  You know what that means!  Shari needs her vitamin D fix!!  Have a SUPERB Saturday and thanks so much for sticking it out with me during the blog move!

Stay tuned this week for the first FitFeat Contest Giveaway!!

–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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Save Our Soles!

Oct 13

Posted by in Product Review | 4 Comments

Holy moly FitFeat Friends… there was an explosion of activity on the blog yesterday!  Wow!  A record number of hits to the FitFeat site.  Whatever you guys are doing to spread the word, THANK YOU!  And please keep it up – you’re AWESOME!

So I thought I’d take some time today to talk about another one of my favorite “tools” - but this one is not related to the kitchen.  It’s for our feet. 

Back when I was running half-marathons more often and putting a lot of miles on my feet, I was getting blisters left and right. 

Two friends / running buddies each recommended that I try a particular brand of sock called the Wrightsock Coolmesh.   What’s special about these socks is that they are made of two thin layers.  Instead of your sock and foot rubbing together, the two layers of material rub together and the friction stays within the layers as opposed to on your skin.  

I wasn't kidding when I said I have SMALL FEET...!

I wasn't kidding when I said I have SMALL FEET...!

These socks were lifesavers (well, OK that might be an overstatment :) at the very least they were sole-savers!)  They are a small investment early on, but worth every penny.  I now own about 8 pair and I wear them every day:  running, hiking, walking.  Anytime my sneakers go on, so do these socks.

If you’re a runner, walker, hiker or just someone who is prone to blistered feet, you should look into trying out these socks.

I am grateful to have learned about these socks at a time when I really needed them (thanks Scott!  thanks Lori!) and wanted to pay it forward, so to speak.

In light of the recent FTC ruling about product reviews and blogs, I thought I’d make a note for the record that all of the products I have reviewed and/or recommended to date on this blog are offered up solely because I use and like the products, not because I am being paid to do so or offered any sort of kickback.

On to Monday’s eats:

After the nice Back/Trap workout I detailed in yesterday’s post, I wanted a quick influx of carbs.  So I opted for a bowl of mango-licious.  This one should have been given over to the green smoothie gods though, because it wasn’t as ripe as it should have been.  That’s what I get for being impatient and dying to eat my yummy mango taunting me from the fruit basket on my counter!
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Shortly thereafter it was time for my real breakfast so I had a bowl of OATSMILE:

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Lunch was yet another leftover serving of Veggie Enchilasagna with a side of spanish rice.  There’s one more sliver of this still in the fridge, but I’m pretty sure at this point that I’ve had my FILL of this particular food for awhile.

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I also had a side salad with lunch (spinach, tomato, dulse,  pepitas, hemp oil, balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast):

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Followed by a little dessert!  Endangered Species brand 72% dark chocolate… mmmm chocolate!

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Afternoon snack time came up FAST!  I was busy on blog hosting study… I decided to forego the standard Larabar for some hummus, Wasa, raw goat cheddar and baby carrots.  Tasty and fiber-rich!

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When MSP got home, we still had some daylight and it wasn’t completely freezing outside, so we decided to take the dogs out for their wog:  a quick 2-miler to work up a little appetite before dinner: another set of leftovers that I tried to make into something different.  I had some of Friday night’s “Warm Asian Thai-Fry” left, so I warmed it up, then wrapped it into red chard leaves.  The ‘dipping sauce’ is just a generic version of Annie’s “Gingerly Vinaigrette” from a bottle. 

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It wasn’t bad at all for a meal that only took about 90 seconds to build!  But I was still a little hungry after so I had a few Mary’s Gone Crackers with some slivers of the raw goat cheddar. 

OK, friends, I’m off to get Tuesday started!  Have a fantastic Tuesday!  If you’re located in the Colorado are, KEEP WARM!  If you’re located someplace outside of Colorado that is warm, please send some heat our direction!

For today’s discussion, do you have any tips/tricks/tools that have helped any of your outdoor activities, in the way that the Wrightsocks have helped with my blisters?  You FitFeat readers are very FIT-SAVVY, and have lots of great info to share!  Thanks for doing so and keep it coming!  We are ALL learning and benefiting from each other!

See you tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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The Case of the Rogue Kombucha?

Oct 12

Posted by in Hiking, Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Good Monday morning to you!

Hope you had a very nice weekend!  Mine was very relaxing due to the chilly weather … there was a lot of indoor lounging going on in my house Saturday and Sunday!  We did get out quite a bit too, but it was so nice each time to come home, get our “comfies” on and relax by the fire with some football on TV.

The 2.7 mile “social-cizing” session yesterday with my good friend Jen was great!  It was definitely cold out, but I bundled up in my down jacket, mittens, earband and new trail runners.  It was like hiking on little pillows.  Perfect!

Sunday eats were rather random, as they often are.  Mainly because we aren’t on any kind of regular schedule and we are usually running errands or out and about.

MSP made me a wonderful breakfast of cage-free eggs with Ezekial toast (and Earth Balance vegan ‘butter’).

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On the side was a small glass of my BUBBLY but for some reason this one wasn’t!  (bubbly that is)  Which freaked me out a little… kombucha tea is made of live cultures.  If it’s not fizzy, does that mean the seal was broken?  Does that mean bad bacteria gets in with the good bacteria? Or do the good live bacteria go all rogue in there and end up bad for you?  AAAAACCCKKK!  So I had a few sips then just had to dump the rest because I was scared!  Additionally, I don’t think Mystic Mango is a flavor I’ll have again.  Odd, I know – seeing how I’m the MANGO-HOLIC.  I’ll stick with my go-tos:  Gingerberry and Divine Grape

During errands out I had a Lemon Larabar.  And a goodie from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (a dark chocolate dipped Oreo).  MSP had a milk chocolate dipped s’more.    Love our Sunday treats!

After the chilly chat session with Jen I came home to watch the remainder of the Broncos game with this plate of goodies:  kale chips, a big plop of hummus, baby carrots and baked pita chips.  Then I went back for seconds on the kale chips and have used up the whole batch I made Saturday.  I’ll have to make some more today!

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When dinnertime rolled around I felt I was really lacking in greens for the day, so I made a supersized green smoothie.  This one had cucumber, kale, green leaf lettuce, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, celery, pepitas, half a banana and half a pear.  Plus about a tablespoon of hemp oil.

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It made two huge glasses … and I couldn’t finish it all!  I got about halfway through the second glass and cried uncle.

I was apparently quite tired because I was out like a light at 8:30.  Which meant I woke up rested and ready for this morning’s workout:

Weight Training (Back/Traps):

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes, followed by arm circles
  • DB Rows 4 working sets of 12, 12, 12, 11 reps
  • Upright Rows 4 working sets of 15, 11, 11, 11 reps
  • DB Shrugs 3 working sets of 16, 15, 15 reps
  • Lower Trap Pulls 3 working sets of 20, 15, 15 reps
  • Rear Delt Flyes 3 sets of 15 reps
  • Tricep Dips 3 sets of 12 reps
  • Ball Crunches 3 sets of 20 reps

***

I have another crazy-long list of Monday To-Dos as usual, one of which may be to get started on my “sprouting experiment“.  I bought some cheesecloth yesterday and I have one glass jar set aside and want to try to sprout something.  I happen to have some millet on-hand and have heard that can be sprouted, so that might be my first try.

Do you do any of your own sprouting?  Have you had success?  Any tips you’d like to share with the FitFeat readers? Please drop a comment in the comments section!  We’d love to hear from you!

Also just another quick reminder that FitFeat will soon be going self-hosted, so the web address may change a bit.  I hope to ‘flip the switch’ this coming weekend but will plan to put out a post just prior to the move so you’ll know where to find me!

Thanks again for reading and commenting!  Have a great day and I’ll see ya tomorrow!

– 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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Why I Pulled the Plug on Soda

Sep 10

Posted by in FitFeature | 8 Comments

Mornin’ blog buds!

The countdown is on!  A week from today I’ll be on a plane heading back home to see my family.  Woot woot!! :) I can’t wait! 

The FitFeature for today is about ol’ soda pop!  During my earlier dieting days, I would use a daily diet soda (or two or three) as a way to thwart cravings for sweets (or so I thought) while I was trying to keep my calories down.  As I began down the path toward more holistic and healing nutrition along with acid/alkaline balance in the body, I started to pay closer attention to the ill effects of pop (both diet and regular).  I’d read the bad things before, but sometimes we make changes when we’re ready to make them and not a second sooner.

I had drastically reduced my soda intake after the initial meeting with my acupuncturist.  But I later read “The Ultimate pH Solution” by Michelle Schoffro Cook and one statement in her book stopped my soda habit in its tracks:

“…you need to drink 32 cups of water (and expend tremendous amounts of energy that would be better used elsewhere in your body) just to neutralize the acidity of one glass of soda.”

32 cups of water?  Yikes! 

So that did it for me.  I may drink the very rare occasional mixed cocktail that will contain some soda in it.  But I certainly don’t want all this care and effort I’m putting into alkalinizing my body to be ruined by ONE CAN of pop!

You’d think that hearing how the phosphoric acid can lead to weakened bones would have convinced me first.  Or how the aspartame allegedly converts to formaldehyde in the body.  There is enough weight on the cons of soda to really consider switching it out for something better for us. 

Will you accept the challenge today to replace at least one soda with water or herbal tea.?  Give it a try.  Then maybe tomorrow, you might want to do it again!  :)

One day maybe I’ll also give up my single daily cup of coffee as well, but I’m desperately holding on to the hope that there are still a few good reasons to drink it (like the antioxidants, reduced effect of lactic acid buildup during exercise.)  ;)

Now on to yesterday’s feats & eats!

Weight Training (Legs / Shoulders)

  • TM warmup for 5 minutes followed by 3 sets of 20 rep ball squats for a muscle specific warmup. 
  • Straight-Leg Deadlifts 4 sets of 15, 15, 12, 12
  • Deep DB Squats 4 sets of 15 reps
  • Explosive Lunges 4 sets of 20
  • Overhead Shoulder Press  4 sets of 15, 11, 11, 8
  • DB Rear Delt Flyes 3 sets of 15, 11, 12
  • Ball Crunches with KB 3 sets of 15 reps

Today my hamstrings and traps are telling me they apparently had a good workout!

My morning started with my antioxidant-rich cuppa JOE  ;)   hahaha

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Post-workout BLENDED GREEN GOODNESS (banana, 2 clementines, spinach, sprouts, 2 celery stalks, 1/2 cucumber, scoop of rice protein powder, 8 oz water):

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I had a friend over for lunch so we had soup and salad under the umbrella on the back patio.  It was gorgeous out!  We had a very relaxing time catching up.  The salad had spinach, arugula, romaine, zucchini ribbons, sundried tomatoes, red pepper and cucumber.  I topped mine off with Greek vinaigrette. 

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My afternoon snack had a lemon theme going on!  Larabar “Lemon Bar” flavor (OMG a new fave Larabar, it was AWESOME!!!!  I thought I was eating lemon loaf!) and a Ginger Lemongrass herbal tea to go:

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I had a handful of raisins around 5:00 to hold me over till dinner because we took the dogs for their quick 2 mile WOG in the evening.  We had some errands to run for our living room project so we picked up some falafel on our way to Home Depot.  Mmm, hummus!  Tabbouleh!  Falafel!  Something pickled (not sure what it is but it tastes really good!)

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I don’t think they gave me enough falafel!  (6!)  I ate 2.5 of them.  MSP took one, and the rest came home.  Not sure how they’ll reheat, guess I’ll find out today!  

OK friends, off to get this Thursday started!  Have a fantastic day and I’ll see you next time!

–Shari B.  =)

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Coyote Snacks & Twilight Running

Sep 9

Posted by in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Hey, Happy Wednesday to you!  The weekend will be here before we know it!

A BIG thanks to everyone that is coming by to check out the blog!  I am amazed at how many views the site had yesterday – so fun and exciting!  You guys are spreading the word – thank you!  It won’t be long before we get that first giveaway going:  comments from 30 separate individuals on 2 consecutive posts.  I can’t wait to send someone a GIFT!

So yesterday’s 6:00 run was DARK at the start.  Not pitch black dark, but dark enough that ‘coyotes could be eyeing us for breakfast’ dark.  :)   Luckily only the deer came out to stare at us crazies running before the dawn!  This is at the trailhead parking lot looking west to the trail.

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This is to the east.

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The moon was looking pretty “halloweenish”!

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It was a GREAT run day.  I was feeling a little sluggish on the way there, but as soon as I got there I had a burst of energy and tackled the hills with no trouble.  We did 3.57 miles with 599 feet of ascent and 632 descent.

I absolutely LOVE starting my day outdoors in nature, especially with the sunrise.  It’s my favorite time of day and it’s so peaceful.  Are you a morning exerciser or evening exerciser?  When do you feel the most motivated to get in some activity? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section.

My pre-workout fuel was coffee with a side of Genesis toast (a bit of flax oil and raw honey drizzle).  This was at 4:30 in the morning, so it was definitely a day for the “Instant Human: Just add coffee” mug (and I couldn’t resist taking an immediate bite of my toast!)

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After the run and my super long blogging session I had some “sunshine in a bowl” – fresh mango.  I LOVE mango and didn’t want to mask its flavor at all in a smoothie, so I had it all by itself.  It was divine.

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A little later I mixed some Vega chocolate health optimizer with some almond milk because I knew fruit alone was not the best post-run recovery option.  This would NOT mix well with mango, no matter what the label tells you ;)

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My fridge has been looking a bit overstuffed with leftovers so lunch was a random mix of things that needed using up:  wild rice, hummus on 7-grain crackers, spinach & arugula salad – complete with tailfeathers!  The salad also had pepitas, sundried tomatoes, orange pepper, and raw zucchini ribbons, topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. MSP said to me that it looked like a lot of food, would I be able to finish it.  I said “Pssh, of course!”.  He was totally right, I could not eat all of the rice after finishing off the salad!

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Pie sounded great for my afternoon snack so Larabar Pecan Pie did the trick, one of my favorite flavors.  (Do I say that about every Larabar?)  :)   I think the only ones I haven’t loved are Key Lime and Cinnamon Roll.

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And a totally BORING looking dinner!  More leftovers!  I imagine you are about as tired of SEEING this dish as I am of eating it, but luckily this batch is gone for awhile!  Vegetarian Chili with Tofu.  I also ate some more of my leftover hummus on a cracker, with a sliver of manchego cheese (not pictured).

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I was low on goodies to make blended green goodness so had to make a trip to the store for some fresher spinach and romaine!  All stocked up now!  Evening ‘snack’ was just a cup of herbal tea as we had a pretty busy evening working on a project in the house.

Well fit friends, the iron downstairs is calling.  It’s LEG DAY!  Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!  See you next time!

–Shari B. =)

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I Heart Hummus

Sep 6

Posted by in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Good morning!

Our extended 6-day holiday ‘weekend’ is speeding by so quickly!  Day 5 already!  But it’s MUFFIN MORNING!!  Yay! Plus I love Sundays because sometimes we sit around for the first hour looking at the paper with HGTV on in the background (if we’re not out on a run or hike).   The simplest things are always the best aren’t they?

So yesterday morning I had my a.m. magic potion (coffee!) in my drama queen mug, which oddly looks like it says ‘dreme queen‘ doesn’t it?

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We took the dogs on a 5.5 mile wog shortly thereafter.  I had a half of one of these during the walk to tide me over till breakfast:

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Normally I wouldn’t seek out this particular bar, but it was in my Camelbak so I ate it!  Just out of curiosity, do any of you happen to carry your Camebak for the sole purpose of GIVING YOUR DOGS WATER? I take it on long runs for myself but when I take the dogs out for anything more than 3 miles they get super thirsty.  This way I can squeeze a stream of water out and they lap it up like it’s running out of a hose!

The dogs were SO tired when we got back to the house.  They haven’t seen 5.5 miles in a long time (Riley our Weim is almost 10, Rascal our min-pin is 7).  But I didn’t get them out for the Friday wog so I wanted them to get a little extra.

Of course I had my OTHER magic potion for breakfast, a green smoothie!

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This one turned out EXTRA green didn’t it?  It had a whole mango (cut into chunks before adding to the blender), a big fistful of spinach, 2 clementines, alfalfa sprouts, and 1/2 of an English cucumber.   (Joan, my gardening friend, why are these “English” cucumbers?  Do you know?)  I should add that most of my green smoothies start out with 8 oz of water and no ice, just in case you are making these at home.  :)

By lunch time I was seriously craving some hummus.  My friends know I refer to myself as the Hummus-Holic.  If I am supposed to bring something to a party, I like to bring hummus and baked pita chips.  My mission on my upcoming roadtrip is to get my mom to love hummus.  She and MSP eat very similarly, and if HE will eat hummus, surely she will like it.  She thinks she doesn’t.   But I know better  ;)

I make my own hummus when I have a few minutes, because they charge WAY too much for hummus at the store.  My version has a can of garbanzo beans, drained but reserving the liquid to use during blending, cumin, fresh garlic, a smidgeon of roasted sesame oil, olive oil and sea salt.  Mmmm.  So good.  I ate it with some celery, cucumber, orange pepper and the wonkiest baby carrots I’ve ever seen.  (They taste fine, but look at them!  They look all shriveled and dry!)

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And no, I did not eat the whole dish of hummus.  I did restrain myself and save a little for later!

While I was on my hummus kick, I made some HB eggs to have in the fridge and also made some of these in the oven:

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CHICKPEANUTS!!!  I read about them in “The Flexitarian Diet” so I had to try them.  They are baked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and they come out kind of hard like a peanut!  Crazy!I put them in a dish to snack on during the day.   I’ll have to try making these again though and NOT put them in the dish because as the day went on they seemed to soften.  So maybe I need to keep them on the flat pan longer.  I did follow the recipe to a “T”.  But overall this was a fun little snack to make!

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After that I spent most of the afternoon writing yesterday’s novel of a post.  :)   So after all that talk about cheese, I decided that I wanted to make my own little “wine bar dinner” so I ran (OK I drove) to the liquor store for a bottle of this (recommended by their staff):

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And paired it with my “cheese flight” (Manchego Sheep Cheese and Naked Goat raw goat cheese with JJ Flats 7 grain flatbread crackers and a handful of chickpeanuts):

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I ate every last bite and I was full for the rest of the night.  Didn’t even need a snack while we were watching a rented movie.

Do you hear that?  Off in the distance?  It’s a chocolate chip muffin calling my name!  I better go get it!  Have a fantastic Sunday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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