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Appetites and Adventures

Green Tea Spinach Smoothie

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Random thought of the day:

I read a study once (no idea who it was by) that claimed the 1st stall in the restroom is the one used least frequently.

Naturally, I began always using the first stall.  Less frequent usage = increased likelihood the stall will be clean-ish.

Yesterday I realized the study can’t possibly apply at my office.  Every time I go in the bathroom that stall is occupied!

I’m proposing a new hypthosis: the middle stall is the one used least often.  Particularly in a 3-holer where the last stall is the #2 handicapped stall.

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Back to your regular scheduled programming.  Please don’t make any connections to my restroom observations and the green smoothie.

Leanne @ Healthful Pursuit posted a Green Energy Smoothie at just the right time for me.  I felt like I didn’t get enough “good for you” greens this weekend.  A green drink is just what I need to replenish.

I made my own version with what I had.  I would have loved to add some ginger too, but I’m all out.

The best part?  No juicer required!  I did it all in my Magic Bullet. 🙂

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Green Tea Spinach Smoothie

  • 1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced
  • 1 C spinach
  • 1/8 C cilantro
  • 1/4 C unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 C kombucha green tea, brewed and chilled
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Blend and enjoy!

***

It’s going to be a green week after my farmer’s market run.  Next up: kale!

Do you make random observations about things that probably don’t matter?

How would you customize this green drink?  I think red zinger tea would be fantastic in it too!

Coconut Chocolate Banana Squares

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Another weekend.  Over too soon.

It was a fun one!  My friend Kat was in town from South Korea.

She moved there a few years ago to teach, which I think is incredibly cool.  It’s good to see old friends so happy and fulfilled.  We used to be concert buddies, so naturally we caught up over a show.

Michelle Malone was playing the Sunday night 99X Unplugged in the Park show.  Unplugged in the Park is a summer-long free music series put on by a local radio station.  They pull in some great musicians at these!

The weekend was also punctuated with…

a baking WIN!!!

 

I’m not gonna lie – my ego needed this one after last week’s baking fail(s).

During my weekend trip to the Farmer’s Market I found coconut flour on the cheap.  $1.36

Normally I hoard the stuff because… well, do you know how much it costs at Whole Foods?  Hint: more than $1.36.

Click here for some of the benefits of coconut flour (and for an awesome coconut chocolate chip cookie recipe).

I was so excited to use it with reckless abandon in Coconut Chocolate Banana Bars!  Low in sugar and high in fiber, these tasty little chocolate bars can be eaten as breakfast OR dessert.

To bake them, I used my square pan, but you could also bake them in cookie-like form on a baking sheet.

The texture coconut flour gives baked goods is so silky it’s downright luxurious.  I also love the notes of sweetness from the banana with the rich cocoa.

Tip: use a good cocoa powder in dishes like this – the difference in taste/quality is worth the splurge!

Recipe at the end!  First a bit ‘o fitness.

Here’s the weekly recap.  I’m happy with last week because I worked out every day!  Usually there’s one day that I simply cannot motivate (unintended “rest” days).

Whatever happened, it worked well because I landed a new PR in Saturday’s hill-filled 5K. 🙂

Workout Recap (8/15-8/21)

  • Monday – Kickboxing
  • Tuesday – 4 mile run, P90X Ab Ripper X, 84 push-ups
  • Wednesday – Biceps/Back, 84 push-ups, 6 Minute Plank Sequence
  • Thursday – 4 mile run, P90X Ab Ripper X, 84 push-ups
  • Friday – Triceps/Chest, Plank Sequence, 84 push-ups
  • Saturday – 5K, + 1 mile run, 84 push-ups 
  • Sunday – 4 mile run x2, 100 push-ups

Coconut Chocolate Banana Squares

by Laura Hall

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 10-12 mins

Keywords: bake snack dessert vegetarian low-sodium nut-free low-sugar sugar-free banana coconut flour cocoa greek yogurt healthy cookie

Ingredients (9 squares)

  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 T Greek yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 C unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1/4 C NuNaturals’ More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend
  • 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/3 C coconut flour
  • 2 T cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place muffin cups in muffin tins

Whisk together NuNaturals, applesauce, and egg until creamy and light yellow

Add mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla, and whisk to combine

Add flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and stir until smooth.

Spoon the batter into tins

Bake for 10-12 minutes

Approximate Nutritionals: 108 calories, 1.9g fat, 21.3g carbohydrates, 6.1g fiber, 3.9g sugar, 3.8g protein.

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***

I’m already excited to eat one of these for afternoon snack.

How was your weekend?  Anything exciting?

Do you have a favorite flour to use?

Free to Breathe 5K

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I am writing this from a Korean Spa.

 

JeJu.  It’s really the only way to recover from a 5K!  I also used it to recover from Tough Mudder.

No, there isn’t a happy ending.

 

The race was the Free to Breathe 5K.  It was a very, very hilly race through an Atlanta neighborhood called Virginia Highlands.

Despite the humidity and hills, I nailed a PR!

 

Stats:

  • Distance – 3.14 miles
  • Time: 23:06
  • Average Pace – 7:21

 

1st place in my age group and 5th overall!  The fastest female finished in just over 19 mins.  Crazy fast.

 

 

Which clearly deserved a hearty breakfast from Osteria with my friend Jessica.

The omelet was good, but the grits were icky soupy.  In my omelet: red pepper, onion, spinach, basil, and a side of pomodoro sauce.  YUM.

***

Back to the sauna I go!

What are you doing this weekend?

Can any of you run a 19 minute 5K?  How?!

Twitter Delivers

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Yesterday I failed.

 

Twice.  Once I tried to get too creative with baked falafel.  Then I tried to get creative with blueberry muffins.

 

My falafel is in the garbage.  The muffins are edible, but I would never let anyone else eat them.  At least they photographed well decently ok in the right light.

#fail

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I did have a good run – fastest pace ever in a non-race run!  It had been a while since I’d run in my Newtons and I definitely giving them credit.  As advertised, I could feel them propel me forward.  (Previous review here.)

Newton Motion

 

Stats:

  • Distance – 4 miles
  • Time – 31:56
  • Average Pace –  7:56

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In lieu of a recipe (trust me – you don’t want either of the afore mentioned), I want to write about a consumer win.

 

Do you ever wonder if companies are listening to consumers?  Apparently Chipotle is!

 

Thanks to the power of social media, Twitter, and one pro-active consumer, Chipotle will be changing their menus to make consumers aware that their pinto beans are prepared with bacon.

 

Seth Porges, a non-pork eating customer, discovered the beans were made with pork product (bacon) and tweeted his displeasure.

Within 2 hours the CEO of f Chipotle, Steve Ells, called Porges to apologize and rectify the situation.

Source: The Consumerist

 

To read the full story, click here.

Pretty cool, right?

***

I’m constantly impressed with the company responses I receive via Twitter.

Have you ever received a company response via Twitter?

Is anyone unpleasantly surprised about the bacon in those beans?

 

Tofu Noodle Stir Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce

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The leftover gods smiled upon me.

I still had Moroccan Carrot Salad leftover and I was anxious to use more of the delicious peanut flour I ordered.  Then I spotted a red jalapeño about to go bad in the fridge.  In the same drawer was the end of a red onion.  Right next to the shiitake mushrooms I forgot I purchased.  This could only lead to a peanut sauce stir-fry.

Side note: Did you know that once jalapeños turn red they become more sweet and less spicy?  It still had a kick, but I could eat a raw piece without needing to chug a glass of milk.

This was one of the best quickie meals I’ve done in a while.  I love the way peanuts pair with spicy ingredients, and the way a creamy sauce coats noodles.  The crunch of the raw carrots and almonds made the texture, and the earthiness of the mushrooms was perfect with the nutty, amino-laced sauce.

I wrote the recipe below without detailing the Moroccan part of the carrots (that recipe can be found by clicking here).  You can easily make this without the spices I used there – the peanut sauce is plenty flavorful!

There are also substitution suggestions for the hard(er)-to-find tofu noodles (my Publix carries them), peanut flour (order online), and liquid aminos (Whole Foods carries it in a nifty spray bottle).

It’s a stir fry… a great opportunity to get creative!  This would be great with snow peas, sesame seeds, and/or red pepper.

Leftover leftovers make for a tasty next-day lunch at work! 🙂

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Tofu Noodle Stir Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce

  • 1 package Shirataki tofu noodles (can use regular pasta)
  • 1/2 C shredded carrots
  • 5 shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/4 C red onion
  • 1 jalapeño
  • S+P, to taste
  • Garnish with fresh cilantro and sliced almonds (optional)

For the Sauce

  • 2 T peanut flour (can use peanut butter)
  • 2 T unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp garlic sriracha
  • 1/2 tsp liquid aminos (or soy sauce)

Prepare tofu noodles according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, sauté mushrooms, onion, and jalapeño in a pan with a bit of oil over med-high heat until tender (about 7-8 mins).  Add noodles and carrots, stirring briefly to mix (~1 min).

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients for peanut sauce, adjusting aminos or soy sauce as needed.

Add sauce to the pan and and toss together briefly.  Add salt and pepper as needed, plate, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

Serves 2.

***

I’ve been really bad about using up leftovers in the past – this creation has inspired me to try harder!  

Do you re-purpose leftovers?

What has been you biggest leftover success?

Coconut Milk Greek Yogurt + WIAW

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Jen’s WIAW is becoming my favorite weekly feature.

 

 

I get SO many great ideas reading other people’s posts!  Head over Peas & Crayons to check them out.

 

Breakfast

I was fortunate enough to receive samples of the new So Delicious Greek-style yogurt.  The flavors include blueberry, raspberry, chocolate, and plain.  Made with coconut milk, the Greek-sytle yogurt is VEGAN.

 

The nutritional information overall is good.  The fiber contect is awesome – 8g!  For those who prefer flavored yogurt, it only has 11g of sugar.  That’s a lot for my taste, but it is pretty low compared to others on the market.  It also have a ton of Calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and Magnesium.

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed with protein.  One of the reasons I love Greek yogurt so much is the high protein content.  This coconut version only contains 2g.

 

I tried the blueberry version first.  While I did like it… it was very different than Greek yogurt.  The texture wasn’t as creamy and it didn’t have the tartness.

Recognizing that this may be a plus for some of you (especially if you don’t like/have never had Greek yogurt), I like the “real” thing better.

 

Had I tried it expecting a traditional yogurt, I would have been happier.  I think it’s better than “regular” yogurt!  (Disclaimer: I don’t like regular yogurt.)

 

I gave it some more “oomph” with my new love: Peanut Flour.  Why didn’t you guys beat me over the head to order this sooner?!  It’s life-changing!!!

 

It’s incredible.  Just add a little liquid and salt and you have a protein and fiber-rich peanut butter substance with less fat.  Did I mention it’s also gluten-free?!  I cannot wait to make pancakes and cookies with this.

I’m not sharing – order your own here: Protein Peanut Flour (woo hoo for this hometown Georgia company!)

From a galaxy far, far away...

 

PBJ Vegan Yogurt Deliciousness

  • 2 T Peanut flour
  • 2 T So Delicious unsweetened vanilla coconut milk
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 container So Delicious Blueberry Greek-style yogurt

 

In small bowl, mix together first 3 ingredients to form a peanut butter-like substance.  Swirl in yogurt.  Inhale bowl of deliciousness.

 

 

Lunch

Moroccan Carrot Salad is even better a day or 2 later!  I made some extra so I could eat it through0ut the week and I thoroughly enjoyed it in a wrap today.  I used a Rudi’s spelt tortilla and stuffed it with hummus, carrot salad, cucumber, celery, spinach, and green pepper.

With lots of water throughout the day in my Georgia Tech glass.  (16 days until the beginning of the GT football season!!!)

Insert 4 mile, music-less run here.  Silly Shuffle was out of juice. 🙁

Do you see that sweat?!  It was so flipping hot.  No music.  630pm.  I think I ran fast just to get ‘er done.

I fantasized thought about dinner the WHOLE way.

Dinner

More carrots!  This time with Shirataki tofu noodles and peanut sauce (yes, more peanut flour!).

Tomorrow you get more details on this!  This post is getting loooong… it was a fantastic throw-together-meal.  You should check back.  Everybody’s doing it.

Snacks

I cannot believe I FORGOT to take a pic of my snack today.

 

Pinkberry yogurt.  Sheer deliciousness.  I got the watermelon (only in stores until August 19th!) with mango and toasted almonds on top.

I also sampled the Salted Caramel.  It was good, but I prefer yogurts in fruity flavors.  “Dessert” flavors (like chocolate and caramel) are reserved for ice cream treats.  Clearly I don’t mind a fruity tart!  (That’s what she said.)

 

My nighttime snack doubled as dessert – a chocolate-peanut butter protein shake.  With spinach, of course.

Almost forgot the pic.  Lucky me – I was chatting with the famous Jen while drinking it and remembered just in time.

In my shake:

  • 1 scoop chocolate casein protein powder
  • 1/2 C spinach (I ran out!)
  • 1/2 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 T crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of guar gum (helps to make the texture more shake-like)
  • Ice + Water, to taste

***

I have dinner plans tonight and it’s making the day dragggggg.

Do you have dessert preferences in terms of what you like fruity vs. chocolate-y?

What is the best thing you’ve eaten so far this week?

 

Strawberry Smoky Almond Tart

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Dessert Noir

Funny how all you guys seemed more interested in hearing about the dessert than the carrot salad. 🙂

Maybe because you were invested in it since I asked for help selecting the dish for Feast Noir???

In the end, I couldn’t choose between the tart and the brownies.  The smoky almond crust spoke to me… but how can you NOT have chocolate for dessert? *insert look of horror*

The tart was awesome!  My crust didn’t hold together as well as I’d have liked (I used 6 T of butter – I adjusted the recipe below to read 8T), but the flavor and creamy filling were right on.

Don’t let the smoked almonds scare you – they weren’t at all overpowering.  I could only find salted, which worked well as long as you use unsalted butter.  The crust perfectly complemented the sweet flavor of the graham crackers and strawberries, as well as the slight tang from the Greek-style yogurt.

For chocolate, I baked Lavender Brownies from The Sweet Life.

They were ok... I loved the lavender flavor, but the texture of the brownie wasn’t my favorite.  I’m more of cakey brownie person and these were closer to the chewy variety.

I’d love to try these again with a few adjustments for texture.

Strawberry Smoky Almond Tart

by Laura Hall

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Keywords: bake dessert low-sugar vegetarian low-sodium greek yogurt strawberries almonds cream cheese July 4th tart spring summer

Ingredients (8-10 slices)

  • 1.5 C graham crackers (1 package)
  • 1/2 C smoked almonds
  • 2 T palm sugar (you can use regular)
  • 8 T unsalted butter, melted
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened (1/3 less fat works)
  • 1/4 C Greek yogurt + 2T (I used Atlanta Farm Fresh 2% Greek-style yogurt)
  • 1 T agave syrup
  • 1 egg
  • ~1.5 C strawberries (enough to cover top of tart), cut into thin slices

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a food processor, combine graham crackers with the almonds and sugar. Mix until finely ground.

Add the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened.

Press the crumbs into the bottom and 1/2 in up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 mins, until the crust is set.

Meanwhile, wipe out the food processor bowl. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, egg and agave. Process until smooth.

Pour the custard into the crust and bake for 15 mins, until set. Let the tart cool slightly and transfer to the freezer to chill. (Note: you can make ahead and store in the freezer for at least a couple of days.)

Spread the remaining 2 T of yogurt across the top of the tart. This will help to anchor the strawberry slices. Arrange the strawberries in a circular fashion over the custard.

Remove the ring, cut the tart into wedges, and serve.

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***

 Ah, how I love dessert.

What is the best dessert you have made lately?

Do you try to “healthify” all desserts, or do you let treats remain full-fledged treats?

 

Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad

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Feast Noir.

You have heard of a flash mob, right?  Feast Noir is similar, except instead of breaking out into song and dance the mob of people break out into dinner.

Literally.  We all dressed in black and lined up in the parking area of a mixed-use development in town.

At 7 pm, we all filed to the center of the area, set up dinner in pre-assigned groups of 8, and dined.

My friend and I were concerned that it wouldn’t go off as smoothly as one would hope.  It was surprisingly well-organized.

People got really into it – so going so far as to bring black foods, candles, and even sparklers! Overachievers.

Our table of 8 had been good about coordinating but our table head didn’t show up, which meant we didn’t have plates or a TABLE.  The 5 of us who did show made the best of it and set up on an outdoor stage area.

There was certainly no shortage of food!

As long as we have a cheese plate, we will survive.

Hummus courtesy of a “table”-mate

My appetizer plate, complete with homemade bread from another diner.

I volunteered to bring a veggie side and dessert.  (Desserts – yes, plural – coming tomorrow!)  

A vegan Moroccan raw carrot salad had caught my eye on Epicurious months ago.  Feast Noir seemed to be the perfect time to try out my own interpretation of the recipe.  Naturally, I added a little more garlic, heat, and Mexican-influence.

One of the changes I made was to use orange in the recipe.  It was an excellent decision because I think that bit of sweet citrus brought out all of the other flavors and made this dish something special.

I love when something I make turns out better than expected!  Corinne even admitted she was surprised… I’m not sure how to take that.

Moroccan Carrot Salad

  • 10 oz carrots, coarsely grated (I cheated with store-bought)
  • 3 T grapeseed oil
  • Juice + zest from 1/2 fresh lime
  • Juice + zest from 1/2 small orange
  • 1/4 C cilantro
  • 1 clove garlic, mashed
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1 tsp garlic sriracha
  • S+P, to taste

Mix all ingredients (except carrots) in small bowl.  Adjust flavors as needed.  Add carrots to a large bowl, adding mixture in part to coating completely (you may have some vinaigrette leftover, depending on your taste).

Refrigerate for at least two hours or up to 2 days, allowing flavors to meld.

Serves 4 as a side.

***

We were successful in getting the skeleton of the Italia trip planned!  I’m beyond excited. 🙂

How was your weekend?  

Did you try/do anything interesting?

 

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