Yesterday, 61 degrees and 80+ MPH wind gusts. Forecast called for a ‘light dusting’ of snow overnight.  Now?  At our end of town we have easily close to 10″ to a foot of snow and it’s still coming down.

This was the sneakiest storm I think I’ve seen in the 20 years I’ve lived here.  It was dry at 3:00 AM.  The wind woke us up so we looked out the window to see if our fence and trees were still in place.  Completely dry out.  We stayed up after that and next thing you know, we were in a full-on blizzard.

One of our local neighbors (or even someone in Kansas with this wind) is likely the new owner of a nice beige cover for patio chairs/table.   Ours seems to have blown away.  I’m hoping that it’s hiding under the snow somewhere in our yard.

So after all this complaining about cold and snow, there was a super bright spot in my day!

My new Eating Well issue arrived.  I love this magazine.  I find a lot of fun recipes in it and love looking at the beautiful food photos.

Especially this particular cover because it just reminds me of SUMMER when our patio and backyard look a little more ready for lemonade drinking:

I want someone else to get the same enjoyment I do from seeing this show up in their mailbox, so I’m going to giveaway a one-year subscription.  I know it’s no KitchenAid Mixer like PW (hey, when I’m up to 15,000 comments on a post, I promise I’ll giveaway something SUPER cool too!) and this is sponsored by my own wallet.  It’s the thought that counts, right?    But 6 times over the next year, the winner will go “YAY!  The new EW is here!  Let’s get cooking!”

To enter**, all you have to do to is leave comment below.  You don’t even have to tell me what your favorite food magazine is (but I’d still love to know if you want to share!)  If you also tweet and/or Facebook the link to the giveaway, come on back and leave another comment for extra credit!

I’ll select a winner Saturday morning (Feb 25) at 9:00 AM MST using random.org.  Good luck!

– Shari B. =)

**The winner has to have a U.S. mailing address.  So if you live outside the U.S. hopefully you know someone with an address in the states. 

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Snowblowing is My Football Practice
• EatingWell Giveaway Winner Announced
• Winter Wonderland… and then some

Welcome to Wednesday, where winter is in full swing in Colorado.

Crab cakes make me think of beachy, summery weather – which I am DEFINITELY CRAVING at the moment.  I adore crab cakes, especially crab cake benedicts for breakfast when we eat out.  When I saw this photo and recipe in this month’s House Beautiful it inspired me to get bring some summer into my kitchen.

The original recipe is by Dawn Welch (Dollars to Donuts). These are the salmon version of crab cakes and I just happened to have two cans of salmon in my pantry that have been there forever.

Here is my adapted version, which has been substantially changed from the original.

Ingredient gathering mission:

Summoning Summer Salmon Cakes

• (2) 7.5 oz cans Whole Foods Wild Alaska salmon (remove bones before mixing)
• 1 cup sprouted grain bread crumbs (dry your Ezekial heels and store till needed, then grind in blender or food processor) divided into 1/2 c and 1/2 c
• 1/4 cup fat free Nayonaise
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp (or to taste) seafood seasoning – I used Phillips
• 1 egg white
• sprinkle of sea salt & pepper to taste
• extra virgin coconut oil for pan frying

Put salmon, 1/2 c bread crumbs, Nayonaise, onion powder, egg white, S & P together in a bowl and mix with large fork or fingers until all ingredients are well distributed and almost ‘creamy’.

Shape into small patties (my batch made 7).

Pour 1/2 c bread crumbs onto plate and press each side of patty onto crumbs to coat.

Heat a generous amount of coconut oil over medium to medium-high heat and fry your salmon cakes on each side until crispy.  You may need to add additional oil even when you flip them in order to get a good brown crisping effect.  Fry 4-5 minutes per side.

I plated mine with a side spinach salad with Goddess dressing.  If I’d had lemon wedges I’d have plated with those too.  But Realemon squeezes would have to do.

These ROCKED!!  I ate two and can’t wait to eat the leftovers today for lunch or dinner.  It felt like SUMMER inside even if it was blizzarding like mad outside.

***

Today’s weigh-in for the Spring Slimdown was unchanged from yesterday so still sitting a a loss of 1.2 lbs from the starting weight.  Feats and Eats from Day 2 have been posted.

Guess what else today is?

The 200th post on FitFeat.  Holy blog posts, Batman, I’ve practically written a book!

Thanks for making this such a great community!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading!

Today’s question:  what food summons SUMMER for you?

Have a SUPER day!  Make it great!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Wild West Weather (and a Giveaway!)
• Maple Mustard Sauce? Oh. Yum.
• Slider Bar and Dodgeball

The snow FINALLY stopped late last night and the SUN is actually shining today.  (Oh yeah!!) I just got in from another round of snowblowing and shoveling.  This is the fourth time, I think.  They are all starting to run together.  All told we seem to have received somewhere between 20″ and 28″.  It’s hard to say as I do not own a yardstick.  It’d be easy to think we got like 5 feet since every time I snowblow, I seem to be going through an 18″ wall of snow.

Do you miss my normal weight training logs that I typically list on here?  I’ve been so out of my normal routine.  I’m still getting plenty of exercise.  Just in different ways.  My chest/shoulder muscles are toast from pushing the crazy snowblower.  Imagine those sleds you see linemen pushing in football practice, where the coach stands on it and the linebacker runs at it and tries to push it.  This has been my exercise for the past 48 hours.  Some parts of our sidewalk have snow so high (thanks a bunch city snowplows) that the snowblower didn’t want to go through.  So I’d back up and try to get a running start.  Hit a wall.  Push it down to climb OVER it and shave a bit off the top.  Then take another run at it.  I never thought snowblowing would be hard work.  (Thank you MSP for having done it all these years… maybe if you’d complain a little I’d know how much it sucks!!  You made it look so fun and easy.)   MSP is too level-headed to rant about stuff the way I do…  

Today I actually gave up on about a 20-foot section along the side of our house —  nothing I did would make the snowblower go through it.  And I started yelling cuss words out loud instead of in my head.  That’s when I knew it was time to come inside. 

I tried to be optimistic and think up ”silver linings” to fight my black cloud thinking…

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house with a 3-car garage?  Which translates into a 3-car DRIVEWAY to shovel?
Silver Lining:  Just think of all the extra exercise you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why on earth did we buy a house sitting on an outer curve so that our front sidewalk is extra long and takes forever to snowblow & shovel?
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra calories you burn with that.

Black Cloud:  what were we thinking buying a house on a corner lot which means we have to clear the sidewalk all along the SIDE of the lot too? 
Silver Lining: Just think of all the extra cardio you get with that.

Black Cloud:  why didn’t we realize that as soon as we’d get done clearing that sidewalk along the side of the lot, the snow plows would come through and cover it all right back up again?  (boo hoooo)
Silver Lining:  Just think of all that extra muscle building you get with that.

Yep that’s all I could come up with.  Extra exercise, calories, cardio, muscle work.  I am definitely ready to start looking for jobs in Arizona.  If I’m thinking about how much I hate winter in October, then it’s going to be a L-O-N-G winter. 

After all that work outside in the cold, I was a total “hollow leg” yesterday when it came to food. 

I had half a Larabar before going out for the morning session:

Then an apple with almond butter afterward:

Lunch at home between vet visits (mmm veggie wrap):

Once home for good it was time to ACT like it was a snow day – grab a cup of tea, a couple of cookies and a book.  Notice that I am trying to attract warmer weather by using my Hawaii mug and reading a book where people are walking on a BEACH!

And then even more “acting like it’s a snow day”  with a glass of wine, raw goat cheese with Mary’s Gone Crackers and some TV action:

At dinner I figured I should have at least a few more veggies for the day, since I neglected to make a green smoothie:

A little spaghetti squash, zucchini ribbons, raw marinara sauce, and spinach.  Lightly warmed in the microwave to take off the cold edge.

After a few game of Wii “Big Brain Academy” I even had to have some Count Chocula cereal, in honor of Halloween!

Outside of the snowblowing and the $200 vet visit followed by a $45 pet pharmacy visit (which should have just been a quick eye stain and a ‘looks good, she’s all set’) we did have a very fine snow day.  I was so glad MSP got to work from home!  There’s just something about getting to stay  home because of snow that brings back that wild excitement we had as kids when school was canceled.  LOVE IT!  When he got the email Wednesday night, we literally danced around with our arms in the air.  You immediately think “wahoo I can stay up late and sleep in!”   (And of course I didn’t make it past 8:45 pm… lame!)

So now tomorrow we have Halloween!  I feel bad for the kids in Colorado who will have to trudge around in all this melting snow.  I’m curious to know what you all do for Halloween?  If you have kids do you take them around the neighborhood?  Or to a local ‘safe’ place like the zoo, mall, etc.?  If you don’t have kids, do you stay home and pass out candy?  Go see a scary movie?  Hide in your basement like we do?     Drop a comment!

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY and I’ll see you all next time!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Winter Wonderland… and then some
• "His-n-Hers" Lasagna
• Wild West Weather (and a Giveaway!)