More Muffins

I have really been enjoying testing and playing with muffin recipes. Each one seems to better than the last.

This week was Lemon Yogurt Muffins. I tweaked and turned a recipe I found, and then at the last minute I dumped a package of fresh blueberries in the batter. Who the heck needs sugar when you have fresh blueberries?!? I used Greek Yogurt for the added protein, and tons of freshly squeezed lemon juice. No fat, 127 calories, and 5g protein a muffin. What a great treat! Oh, and nothing more fun than pulling them out of the oven and having Jim and Paul walk in to taste!! Paul went to get Jim a napkin, and his response was, "for what, it's gone." I love having the house filled with happy taste-testers!!

No I don't just survive on muffins right now :) (I actually got more than one email asking me how I was able to be so small with all the muffins I eat...they are just my "treat") Last week I found this fantastic veggie mix by Seapoint Farms called Eat Your Greens. I used it as part of the vegetables in my weekly stir-fry. (Ken - you will be a HUGE fan). Really wonderful blend, for an easy green fix in your food. Although, it doesn't quite match the peppers I have been chopping up for my salads. I wasn't a total fan at first, but the prices for fruits and vegetables at Sprouts have been quite impressive. If you haven't been, definitely worth a visit. You can't get everything there, the fish selection is disappointing, but what you can get is very reasonable and very fresh. (I got my last batch of peppers, tomatoes, greens, apples, blueberries, and bananas there...all organic)

Bon Appetit, and Welcome to Springtime!

mer

Comforting Rewards

There is no better reward for a great day of running than a good meal and a relaxing evening. I got the best of both on Saturday after my 28 miles on the road and trails.

Knowing that I wanted some good protein to prep for my hill workout with Liza on Sunday, I thought I would take advantage of the Venison we still have. On the menu: Venison Burgers and Oven Baked Onion Rings. The burger was fantastic, but the onion rings stole the show! Here they are as I plated them. I used whole wheat flour, egg whites, and whole wheat Panko breadcrumbs. WOW! I enjoyed them with no sugar organic ketchup, while Paul preferred to dip them in fresh Ranch. The meal was a wonderful treat, but when all was said and done I will take it homemade vs. fried from a restaurant anyday.

Sunday, after the run, Paul and I headed over to Mother's Cafe as Liza and fam headed to meet family friends. Their Vegan soups are out of this world. I had Kale/lentil soup and their spinach salad with artichokes. What great food we have in Austin, YUM!

I do recognize that one of these days soon I am going to have to indulge Paul in his craving for Fried Chicken and Waffles...maybe there is a place in Vail?? In the meantime, I will continue with our healthy treats.

Bon Appetit!

mer

Working with leftovers

Thank goodness for having cooking demos this week because I was able to eat the leftovers for dinner and just had to add in a salad. By time the end of the week came I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with the two eggplants I hadn't cooked. I decided to roast all of my leftover vegetables from the week, and create a pasta for Paul for this week. I roasted: eggplant, peppers, artichokes, and tomatoes in 1T olive oil and herbs. Not only was the house incredibly fragrant during the roasting process, but vegetables turned out wonderful. (Yes, JT, Paul isn't afraid of eating vegetables...give it a try sometime :) )

As has been the pattern over the past few weeks, it will be another incredibly busy week ahead. But, I am happy to have healthy food prepped and ready to go.

An addition to my last post: as much as I have been enjoying my banana bran muffins I LOVED the fresh muffins Liza made for our Saturday post run snack! Hers had other fruits from mine and were sweetened with unsweetened applesauce vs. mine with greek yogurt. Yum, yum!!

Next step will be coming up with something great to take with us to Colorado for vacation in two weeks...gifts for Jamie and I am thinking some fast food for JT, hmmm??

Simple Ingredients

Liza and I have been enjoying wonderful food conversations during our runs. The more we talk and discover the love of simplicity of ingredients the more I desire to keep my foods clean, clean, clean.

As part of this I made some fantastic fat free banana bran muffins and to give them an extra kick of protein I added some fat free greek yogurt. The moisture comes from fat free milk, egg whites, and mashed up ripe bananas. I used whole wheat flour and added wheat bran. No sugar at all, but the sweetness of the bananas and the addition of the greek yogurt was more than enough! They turned out YUM, and for 117 calories a pop, even better :)

Bon Appetit!

mer

Catching Up: Funtimes with Good Food

As we relax on the eve of the marathon, it is a great to catch up as I am WAY overdo.

For starters, two weeks ago one of my amazing clients, Kristen, brought me a wealth of food from her parent's house/hunting shares. What an amazing gift. Here is a picture of the beautiful food.

It is great timing to truly appreciate that gift now because I made Paul's pre-marathon meat sauce with the ground venison, and I am so looking forward to our Valentine's dinner of Venison Filets post-marathon. I am thinking roasted sweet potatoes and asparagus with peas and onions, and a salad with warm poached pears. But, I will still think about the sides for a little longer. No matter, the Venison will be the star and still truly appreciated!

One of the other parts of the gift I received were fresh farm eggs from their chickens and ducks. Well, this brings me to gift number 2: an egg and muffin toaster. It is just awesome, as you can put an egg in toaster with your toast or english muffin and go about your business and return to a poached egg (or egg white) and toast perfectly prepared. What a great gift!!

Thank you so much for such generosity and thoughtfulness!!

Now, let's back up to last weekend for a moment. Part of my journey to Western States is exploring fun food finds as I travel to different races. My most recent was Rocky Raccoon last Saturday.

As the race approached, well actually way before, Jamie and I kept saying that after she finished we would have a bit of a post-race party. Part of this party would require some pre-prep of food as when the race finished for her not much is open in Huntsville, unless you are interested in fast food. Well, I felt I could do better. I thought I would either bring food in from Austin or I would find something in Huntsville. And find I did! I remembered reading about a barbeque place in Saveur magazine. I was very intrigued by this place, and fortunately everyone was on board with giving it a post-race try! Here is the article: Mt. Zion BBQ Picking up the BBQ was as much of a treat as eating it. The cooks were so nice in helping package up the food, and it was so awesome to see the article come to life. That and the food was INCREDIBLE! It was so great that I sent Liza's friend and crew there, and Melanie and her family tried to go post-race, but didn't go far enough down the street. Next time you find yourself in Huntsville Texas on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday...head over to the church!

Ok, time to shutdown for pacing duties in the morning! Paul and I can't think of a better way to start our Valentine's Day! I will send a pic of our Valentine's Dinner now that I am all caught up!

Quick side note, I had allowed myself sweets while racing. Well, I didn't have any during the race last Saturday. Maybe I should carry a cookie with me tomorrow :)

Bon Appetit and Happy Heart Day!!

mer

Friends' Food, and it's only Thursday

Let's see: Liza made Vegan Black Forest Cake yesterday. Happy to be back in San Antonio and making good vegan treats for her family.

JT is logging his food again, even if log day #1 contained a package of Poptarts

JT tried to bribe Mike to bring me a milkshake

Jeremy and Julie are about to end their 40 days of no sugar at Hey Cupcake. (I know not the best cupcakes in town, but it's where their son wants to go)

Mike is cruising along in his Milkshake Odyssey

Bruce informed me during our run today that he took the leftover cake and icing from his daughter's project and make cakeballs.

Clea baked, hopefully, her last batch of vegan cookies and we will hopefully get to welcome baby Spec into the world! I can't wait to bring treats over :) If he doesn't come, to Yoga and maybe we will even take a jog around the block to help him move along!!

It is kind of funny to look over this list and see just how some of my friends have eaten so far this week; what they are baking up in their kitchens; and what they are planning for this weekend.

AND maybe not in the sweets category, but Paul informed me this morning that he ran out of food. WHAT??

Every week I plan out and prepare his meals so that he will have enough to last for the week. This week I sent him with: Broccoli, 4 Spinach and ground buffalo (his request) Calzones, 4 pizza rolls; AND two small pizzas. See pics for some of the sample sizes of what I made. All of the above was consumed Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday for dinner.

I make them with a whole wheat pizza dough (you can cheat with dough from WF if you want), fresh spinach; homemade sauce; ground buffalo; low fat mozzarella. Super, super easy!

Looks like I will have to step up my portions from now on. By the way, he is NOT an example of portion control :)

I am so looking forward to the delivery of fresh venison (sorry my veggie and vegan friends) and farm eggs on Sunday! Thank you Kristen and to your family, as well. I can't wait to make something wonderful with the food!

I hope you all are eating or will eat some fun foods this weekend.

Bon Appetit!

mer

Memorable Meals

Over the past few days I have had some wonderful conversations about memorable meals and places people have eaten or want to eat. This has been triggered as I have been planning my race calendar for the spring. Some of the places will allow for a fantastic post-race meal.

The best was Thursday evening when Colin and I were at the Pacer Shoe Social. He was telling me about his upcoming travels for Livestrong (he might be competing for the dream job) Here was our quick list:

Colin - Uchi (he said it really compares to any top sushi restaurant in the country)

Per Se

and Delfina (he actually said that his brother lives within walking distance, which is a bonus)

Chez Panisse (Alice Waters can't be touched...I can't wait to eat here in April)

Mine - Any and every meal I have eaten at Blackberry Farm (Melinda and Adjryche - what a team...I can still remember each of the lemon desserts you created for me. Unbelievable!)

La Bernadin (most incredible seafood experience, and to have Eric Ripert walk through the restaurant mid-service...wow)

Ad Hoc

And, my personal top food moment to date...my 15 minutes in the The French Laundry kitchen pre-dinner service. Entering in the back door. (it is this almost magical entry) Being greeted and then toured around by Tim Hollingsworth. Seeing every station. Seeing the flat screen of Per Se's kitchen. To see the amount of people that work in such harmony to make the magic of the evening come together, it was truly truly incredible!

What's on your list??

It is always so fun to hear and be part of incredible eating and food experiences. They create a memory. They create a moment. To see someone's face light up when they have a meal that is so meaningful they can remember every item they ordered, and what every morsel tasted like. I just love it!

Next time you are out to eat, although Mike and Melissa are sweet enough to say that my New Year's 6 course meal sits here, and you have an incredible experience: savor it; share it; and remember it!

Now that's a splurge :)

mer