FitFeat

Posts Tagged Starbucks

The First FitFeat Giveaway Contest!

Oct 20

Posted by Shari B. in Giveaway Contest | 18 Comments

Hello again FitFeaters!!

As promised, to thank you all for finding me after the blog move and also to thank you for getting the word out about the blog, I’m going to get the first FitFeat GIVEAWAY started! 

The contents of this FitFeat care package include items you’ve seen me use on the blog.

Like this:

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And this: 
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And a little of this:

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With a bit of that:

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Oh, and some of this:

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And a few other things that aren’t pictured.  You get the idea! 

 

You can enter a number of ways:   

1. submit a comment to this post (counts as one entry)

2. got Facebook?  Put out a status update with a link to FitFeat, leave a comment here about it.  (That gives you another entry.)

3. look for FitFeat on Twitter, then Tweet the contest link.  (Another entry)

4. if you are a blogger, you can mention the contest in a post (with the link) and the pingback will give you another entry.

5. for any friends that you send over to enter the contest  … have them post a comment of who sent them and not only will they get their entry but YOU will get 3 MORE entries

Each comment becomes a number, first comment posted by time will be assigned #1 and so-on.  The only posts from ME will be my adding entry placeholders for people who tweeted and those who get extra entries for friend-referrals.

The contest will remain open until Thursday evening (10/22) 8:00 PM MST.   

At that time, I will head over to Random.org and use their generator to pull a number out of the hat, so to speak!  I’ll put out a post to announce the winner and from there we’ll make the arrangements offline for me to get the care-package to the lucky winner!

G O O D   L U C K !

Get busy entering!!

– Shari B. =)

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Who You Callin' a Prune?

Oct 10

Posted by in Cooking, Recipes | 5 Comments

Hello FitFeat friends!

Well today I have to say I feel like a BONA FIDE runner.   “Why?”, you ask.  Because it was 17 degrees and snowing this morning, and I still went for an outside run!  And dragged poor MSP with me ;)   He’s really a saint, I tell you.  After a couple miles, we did decide that I was a little crazy and turned back.  But I felt fantastic when we got home … so refreshed and actually pretty darn toasty!  Nothing like a good run in the cold to get the internal fire stoked! 

Plus I get to go out in it later in the day. I’ll be meeting up with a girlfriend this afternoon for some SOCIAL-CIZING and we’ll be hitting up my fave trail (The Bluffs!)  They say we’ll be lucky to hit 32 degrees for the day’s high, so at least it will be TWICE as warm this afternoon as what it is now!  ;)

In yesterday’s post, I left off after having hit up The Bluffs with another friend and then my umpteenth Starbucks visit of the week … allow me to rewind through my Friday:

Once home, I needed just a tiny bite to carry me through till lunch time.  I had a prune dried plum.  (I can no longer eat these without cracking up, thinking of Sarah over at the Fit Tip Exchange blog, who said this once: 

“…prunes are for old people…I eat dried plums..”

 So now I no longer eat prunes because I refuse to feel old – I too eat dried plums.  ;)   Rascal on the other hand could care less what it’s called as long as there is a chance he’ll get a nibble…

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When it was time for lunch, I munched on the last of the cold Pesto Gnocchi ‘salad’ while I was waiting for my actual meal to heat. 

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Check out my veggie “enchilasagna”  (layered leftovers of the casserladas).  Yet another meal that tastes better the second day…

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 And a few squares of dark chocolate for ‘dessert’:

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Today’s midafternoon green smoothie was a bit of a departure from my normal recipe.  A few of the recurring characters:  cucumber, spinach and sprouts.  Then the guest stars:  pineapple, FROZEN banana, kiwi, pepitas and hemp oil.  I was low on fresh fruit so was pulling from pantry and freezer to round out this one.  

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It was GREEN BLISS :)   mmmmm.  I will never tire of these I think.

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I was still feeling the need for extra warmth when dinnertime rolled around, so I decided to get creative and make something along the lines of a heated salad.  I started out with an old recipe called “My Thai Chicken Wraps” from allrecipes.com that I used to use when I was still a meat-eater.  Then I did some tweaking to make separate versions: vegetarian and meaty.

First I mixed all the ingredients for the ‘sauce’ – minus the sugar.  Last time we used this recipe we thought it was plenty sweet with the hoisin sauce on its own, so no need for the extra sugar.

Then I divided the sauce into two pans.  One would be mixed with JUST the shredded rotisserie chicken (about 1/3 to 1/2 of the chicken) for MSP’s version.  I did not use the slaw veggies in his.   Heated his through then served on a whole wheat sandwich thin like kind of like a Thai BBQ Sammy.  I also roasted some quartered Yukon Gold potatoes for him to have “fries on the side.”

For my version I mixed the pre-cut ‘broccoli slaw’ with some chopped zucchini, chopped yellow pepper, scallions and mushrooms.  I sauteed all the veggies in coconut oil until soft, then added in the hoisin sauce mixture and simmered for probably another 10 minutes or so.  With SO many veggies diluting the sauce,  it ended up a little bland, so I mixed up a squeeze of agave nectar, a smear of organic peanut butter, low sodium soy sauce and a little thai curry paste for some spice.  That did the trick.

Behold my Warm Slaw Thai-Fry with Roasted Golden Beets:

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(Toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on for garnish!)

It was GOOD!  And I even ate it with chopsticks!  So much better than take out and SOOO MUCH HEALTHIER!!

Which leads me to today’s discussion question: 
Do you have a favorite decadent dish (whether take-out or not) that you could tweak at home to make healthier?  If you’ve done so, how did it turn out? 

If you have one that you want to tweak but aren’t sure what might make it healthier, mention that too — I’ll be happy to offer suggestions if I have any and I’m sure the FitFeat readers will chime in with their ideas too!

On a side note… I’m aiming to get FitFeat moved over to a self-hosted site in the very near future (hopefully in the next week), so I want to start giving everyone a heads-up.  Currently if you go to www.fitfeat.com it will automatically route you to www.fitfeat.wordpress.com, which is where the blog is currently housed.  Once I go self-hosted, it should just be www.fitfeat.com.  So if for some reason you follow along via subscripion or via Google reader and DON’T see a daily post after the move, please come looking for me!  I’ll post a notice out here before I make the switch when the time comes. 

Have a SWELL SATURDAY my friends!  Thanks again for reading and for all of your great comments!

See you next time!

–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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A Challenge for Football Fans

Sep 27

Posted by in Fit on Vacation | 1 Comment

Hi blog buds!

Ahh, relaxing Sunday.  It’s my last full day of vacation visiting my family and it sounds like we might spend some time this afternoon watching football and enjoying some of the fish they caught locally over the summer.  It’s been so long since I’ve eaten walleye that I don’t remember what it tastes like or whether I like it — but I’m looking forward to trying it tonight!

In yesterday’s post I covered the Guest Room Workout and run that I did for the day’s activity.  Let me be the first to tell you, IT WORKS!  Oh boy do I feel my hamstrings and chest muscles today! 

Before yesterday’s workout, look what I found in my brother’s kitchen cabinets:

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 A Starbucks mug!  It felt just like being at home :)

Then before my run, I fueled up with a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar. 

After the run, I was craving a green smoothie.  This time around I used 8 oz of water, a big fist o’ spinach, frozen mangos & peaches, 1/3 apple, 1/2 cucumber and 2 stalks of celery.  I was also feeling the need for some protein, so I threw in a heaping spoon of vanilla rice protein.

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I love the cups my sister-in-law has – they make a green smoothie look so pretty! 

Later in the morning we were getting ready to head to the anniversary party and I knew I’d be eating a variety of things there, so I just munched on a few handfuls of pepitas.

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Then came the party food!  I think my mom gave my aunt a heads up on my eating style, because when I got there my aunt told me she had all my bases covered on the healthy food.  It was very thoughtful! 

My aunt’s kitchen was ENTIRELY covered with food.  I asked her if she had been cooking all week!   Since we did a lot of grazing through the day and I never really made a plate, I’ll just show you the spread:

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(As I uploaded the photo I just realized my adorable niece snuck into the picture too!  Isn’t she a cutie-patootie??)

This layout of food had swedish meatballs, hot chicken sandwiches, a cabbage-n-noodles dish, baked beans, BBQ pork sandwiches, veggie trays, jello salads, shrimp cocktail, assortments of cheeses and crackers, a huge fruit tray, a fruit salad, lil’ smokies, chips & dips, deviled eggs.  Every table in and out had bowls of peanuts, mints or chocolates.  I am SURE I am forgetting plenty of what was there.   My family members all know how to throw a good shindig.

After we got there, I started with the shrimp cocktail and a lot of veggies (cucumbers, celery, red pepper) so that I could fill up on lighter foods and not overdo it on a lot of the denser treats later.

Next, I ate a few crackers, and tried the noodles-n-cabbage dish.

Later in the day, they had a champagne toast and cut the cake.  I first had a half-piece of the white cake filled with raspberry, and then tried a sliver of the chocolate side (because I needed to compare you know…!  ;) )

My cousin’s toast to the Happy Couple of 40 years brought tears to everyone’s eyes - it was truly touching.  40 years of marriage is remarkable these days! 

On into the evening there were backyard games of frisbee with Wii games inside – by then I’d worked up an appetite.  My ‘dinner’ was a bowl of baked beans along with couple of deviled egg halves.  The recipe my mom and aunt use for baked beans has always been one of my favorite ‘comfort food’ dishes -  a trip home to visit the fam would not be complete if I didn’t have those beans!

None of what I ate was a full meal per se so when we made the hour+ trip back to my brother’s house, we were hungry again.  I had a few bites of leftover Cappellini Pomodoro from Olive Garden.  Then we put on our pj’s and stayed up chatting into the night.  :)   It was a great day, seeing a lot of people I hadn’t seen in years and just having some good family time.

My cousin’s husband and I traded green smoothie stories (yay, a health food ally in the family – I’m very happy I’m not the only one).  He uses broccoli and kale often in his mixture. I haven’t tried broccoli in mine, so maybe that will have to be in one of my upcoming concoctions!

OK, so here’s your FitFeat Challenge if you are a fan of football and watching today:  do something active during every commercial (and I don’t mean 12 oz curls… !)    NFL football shows a LOT of commercials!  Pick a couple of body parts and go to town.  In one commercial break, do some ab work with bicycles or crunches.  In another commercial break, try to hold in the squat position for the entire commercial break.  In the next one, do pushups.  You get the idea.  Drop me a comment with what you did during the commercials – maybe we’ll all learn a few new moves!  Add the team you support too!  I support the Denver Broncos (who will be playing the Raiders at 4:15 EDT today) but because I am also a Jay Cutler fan, I now keep an eye on Da Bears here and there. 

If you won’t be watching football, do this with your TV show of choice.  It’s a good way to fit in some movement without feeling like a couch potato.

Have a beautiful Sunday everyone!   See you again tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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"His-n-Hers" Lasagna

Sep 12

Posted by in Cooking | 6 Comments

Wahoo!  Saturday!  Love Saturdays!  And I have a BIZ-EEEE one ahead of me.  Lots of catching up with old friends (all former coworkers) today.

Well, as I suspected, my Back/Tri workout was not up to par.  My grip was really weak from the shovel and spade work the day before.  But I got it done – even if it wasn’t my strongest.  My workout partner (MSP) also abandoned me decided to stay in bed for the morning, as he hadn’t had a great night of sleep.  I don’t blame him – been there done that about 600 times myself!

Here’s the Friday recap:

Weight Training (Back & Triceps)

  • TM Warmup followed by arm circles to get the blood flowing to the muscles near my shoulders
  • Close Grip Pulldowns 4 working sets of 11, 10, 9, 12
  • Barbell Rows 3 working sets of 9, 14, 15
  • TRX Row 3 sets of 10, 11, 10
  • Overhead Triceps Extension 4 sets of 15, 15, 8, 9
  • Hyperextensions (low back) on Ball 3 sets of 15

Then I took the beasts dogs out for their wog session (together this time) because I wanted them to get some extra mileage  – it keeps them a little calmer during the day.  I’ve recently started taking them one at a time because together they are a LOT to handle for one human arm that likes to stay in its socket.  Separately they each behave much better.  Together, they turn into disobedient little freaks!  I think it’s because they know that they can overpower me when they are together. :)   I had planned to take them for 4 miles but I go SO tired of being yanked around like a rag doll I shortened the outing to 3.  They’re lucky they’re so cute – it’s impossible to stay mad at these cuddlebugs:

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Friday coffee was my holiday peace dove mug.  It was a chilly windy morning that felt like fall (even had to wear my sweatshirt outside) so I figured I better start preparing myself for summer to be over…. waaaaahhhhhh!  (Can you believe HALLOWEEN stuff is out at the stores now??  It kills me.)

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Between weights and dog wogging, I was crazy hungry, so I mixed up a partial scoop of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer with a cup of almond milk. 

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I figured I’d eat something more substantial when I got back but I wasn’t really hungry at that point and was busy doing my ‘chores’.  I had to run to the library and grocery store late morning so I went to the Target SBUX.  Holy moly what a RACKET they have going at that particular Starbucks.  You don’t get to use your registered SBUX card rewards (which in my case this day would have been free soy ‘upgrade’ and free syrup squirt).  I ordered a tall decaf soy latte asking for just ONE pump of pumpkin spice (since it was such an autumnal day!).  Guess how much that tiny cup cost me?  $4.01.  Ex-SQUEEZE me?  For a TALL?  I had to look at the receipt because I thought she must have charged me for a Grande.  They now charge 50 cents for the soy (is this everywhere I wonder or just Target?)  It used to be 40 cents, but I always use my registered card so I haven’t paid much attention I guess.  So no more going to the one at the Target.  OK, sorry for that, just had to get that off my chest.  (I may have to rebel and start going to DazBog instead!  ;) )

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Lunch was my SAME-O SAME-O salad.  I know you guys must get bored with my salads having a rotating set of the same ingredients!  I can’t help it!  Don’t fix it if it’s not broken, right?  They’re so good that I just don’t want anything else at the moment.  Maybe I will broaden my SALAD HORIZONS someday soon!  This had spinach, zucchini ribbons, yellow tomato, red pepper, dulse, pepitas, sea salt & pepper, HB egg, and olive oil w/ balsamic vinegar.  Oh and a few sundried tomatoes and sprinkle of nutritional yeast, I almost forgot!

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Afternoon snack (not pictured) was 1/2 a Larabar and a square of dark chocolate.

We jokingly refer to Friday as Pasta Friday in our house because for a long time we noticed were having some sort of italian meal every Friday night.  Since I had some free time yesterday afternoon, I figured I’d try to make lasagna for MSP as a little surprise.  I’ve never made lasagna before and I love to eat it at restaurants.  (And you KNOW when you eat it out, you’re probably getting 3 days’ worth of calories.)  Well I found a recipe for tofu “ricotta” and thought I’d make that to then put into my own attempt at creating a lasagna recipe. 

I have all of my ingedients gathered to make the tofu ricotta (I felt so “FoodNetwork” taking this pic!)  Tofu, basil, sea salt & pepper, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, & olive oil.

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I began building the layers into my lasagna.  I made a vegetarian half for me and a meaty side for MSP.  This is the middle layer.  My side has mushrooms & sundried tomatoes, MSP’s has italian chicken sausage.  My next layer has spinach & artichoke hearts, while MSP’s next layer has…. more sausage.  :)  

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My side has a very light sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top and his side has loads of 2% Italian ‘Three Cheese Mix’.

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After I put it in the oven I noticed that a cooking bomb had gone off in my kitchen – look at this mess!

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And after some serious dishwashing and cleanup:

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Ahhh, that’s better.  I can’t stand a messy kitchen!

So here is the lasagna after cooking.  It looks really done, I know!  I should have left the foil on until just at the end because MSP’s cheesy side went a bit past ‘golden brown’ and maybe more toward ‘burnt brown’  ;)  
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 And after plating (on the side is Genesis sprouted grain bread with a smear of pesto & a sprinkle of parm, then into the broiler very briefly):

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 And no Italiano dish is complete without a small glass of this:

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You know, the lasagna wasn’t too bad at all!  I didn’t add a lot of seasoning because I didn’t know how strong the fresh basil would be.  Next time, I’ll add more seasoning to the tofu “ricotta”.  But I liked it!  Which is a good thing, because I have a TON left over!  Dessert was a cup of Teeccino (herbal ‘faux coffee’): 

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And I was again hungry right at bedtime so this little snack was a scoop of raw almond butter with a squeeze of raw honey, about 1/2 cup of almond milk.  I don’t know why I’ve been getting hungry at night, so I think I’ll eat a bigger dinner for the next few days to see if it makes a difference.  I don’t have any qualms about eating right before bed – but it DOES make me wake up ravenously hungry which is why I’d rather not do it.

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Today’s question is:  Do you have housemates or family that eat completely different than you?  Do you find it difficult or have you  gotten into the groove of working around it?  I was a little worried at first that when I went meatless it would really add to my cooking workload, but it’s actually been fun to find ways to have us eat essentially the same meal but with a few adjustments.

OK, blog buds!  My tummy is growling, so I need to go get some breakfast started!  Have a MARVELOUS Saturday and I’ll see ya next time!

–Shari B. =)

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Even Energizer Bunnies Need Their Rest

Sep 8

Posted by in FitFeature | 8 Comments

Hi Fit Peeps,

I’m back to finish my Lazy Labor Day recap since I had to scoot out in a hurry mid-post about 90 minutes ago!  I confess that I can’t call anything I did yesterday “labor”.   :)   A good portion of this holiday weekend was spent relaxing!

Which leads me to today’s FitFeature:  recharging our internal batteries and energy balance.

First, let me say that I am all for regular bouts of intense exercise.  I am all for pushing beyond our perceived personal limits.  But I also strongly believe we start each day with a certain amount of ‘gas in our tank’ and need to use that fuel wisely for a fit, healthy and BALANCED life. As a ‘recovering perfectionist’ :) , I used to go, go, go and go some more and never felt that I could afford a break.  Both in fitness and life in general.   It took me a long time to wise  up and acknowledge the belief that I now subscribe to fully:  that our physical exercise should enhance the rest of our daily living, not take from it.

Think about if you kept your foot on your car’s gas pedal and didn’t shift gears – you know that high revving sound?  Don’t do that to your body!  Don’t run your body with  your RPMs all the way into the red.  Do it for too long, and things might start to breakdown.  If I know I have a crazy day ahead of me that may take a lot out of me physically or mentally, I have no problem planning my exercise around that, by switching with a planned rest day or maybe using lighter weights and higher reps if it’s a strength day.  Or rather than intense cardio intervals, maybe I’ll do a slower paced run and just enjoy the scenery.  Try to be tuned in to what your body is telling  you.

Additionally, I try to take one full rest day each week (or at the very least a MILD activity day, like walking or yoga) and I regularly aim to spend some quality “ME” time just to top off that gas tank a bit and get the batteries charged back up.  My “ME” time can be a full-on lazy day or it can be as quick and simple as taking in a minute of sunshine or a cup of tea.

Push hard to make gains, but do it wisely by including appropriate rest and recovery.  REST is when your body is busy rebuilding and getting stronger, so making sure to build that time in is JUST as important as the exercise itself.

And when you listen to your body, by all means if it is telling you it’s a strong day, GO FOR IT!  It’s a two-way street!

Do you take the time to recharge your batteries?  How do you unwind and renew? Drop me a line in the comments section!

OK, on to yesterday’s eats:

I was so focused on getting my coffee yesterday morning that I didn’t even snap a photo!  Luckily it was in a boring white mug so you didn’t miss much ;)

After our weight training and doggie rollerblading, I was in the mood for some eggs rather than my green smoothie.  I sauteed some finely chopped mushroom and added a few slices of avocado and manchego sheep’s cheese on the side.  I had a few sips of some OJ left in the fridge so I had that too.  I don’t drink straight juice very often but it did sound good with breakfast.

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While we were out getting a few groceries, I had a tall plain soy steamer to get me through till lunch.  I LOVE their new cup “We don’t just want to make your drink, we want to make your day.”  Oh Starbucks, how I love thee.  You always make my day!

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Lunch was the second half of the Hookipa Salad I had leftover from Tokyo Joe’s yesterday.  Mmmm, salmon, greens, dried cranberries, edamame, pecans.  It was almost as good the second day.

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And a little piece of chocolate for dessert!

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Mid-afternoon I was in full-on LAZY mode.  We watched Julia Roberts and Clive Owens in “Duplicity”.  With all the flashbacks and flash forwards, I needed a snack to fuel my brain just to follow along!  So I made some brown bag microwave popcorn (because we don’t want all the extra stuff that they put in store-bought microwave popcorn!) and sprinkled it with nutritional yeast flakes for a cheesy flavor and some sea salt.

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When dinnertime came around MSP was craving a calzone, so while he went to pick up his carry-out, I started putting together my healthy little dinner.  I was feeling like something really light because somehow little chocolate chips just kept jumping into my mouth straight from the bag during the day!  Boy do they have springy legs and good aim, those little chocolate chips!  ;)   I used my potato peeler and made raw zucchini ribbons, then I mixed up some “improv sauce” with half of a leftover tomato, some sundried tomatoes,  drizzle of olive oil, spinach leaves and some red pepper flakes.  After plating it, I sprinkled a bit of parmesan on top.  Look how pretty!  And I was not disappointed when I ate it either – quite tasty!

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OK friends, it’s time for me to peel myself away from the computer!  Have a great Tuesday and I’ll look forward to showing you how dark it was during today’s run when I’m back with today’s recap!

– Shari B. =)

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