Farm to Table

In honor of Earth Day, I thought it would be fun to have a Farm to Table Party this weekend. Basically everything that was served came from local farms, or brought in from farms not far away. The menu was subject to the items I could get my hands on. Fortunately, lots of good items in abundance:

Menu - Elk and Venison Tacos (Thanks to Kristen and Leigh for Venison from Wimberly and Elk from outside of Waco) with grilled peppers and onions,

2 day soaked fat free refried beans (totally reminded me of food that my grandmother and mother prepared growing up...a favorite from Laredo)

tomatoes, salsa verde and fire-roasted salsa,

white and yellow corn tortillas

farm fresh strawberries

and, yes, mini-"poptarts"

Oh, yeah, some lovely local beer and wonderful gifts of local biodynamic and organic wine

The weather was perfect, and eating this goodness was a true Saturday night treat. It was wonderful to spend time with friends!

To top it off, the leftovers made beautiful taco salads last night! What a great way to end the weekend. YUM!!

Creative juices are flowing this week. The farm is calling, so let's see what I can come up with next??

Salad

Anyone who knows me, even a little, knows just how much I LOVE salad!

Luisa brought Paul a huge container of Lobster Bisque from Carmelos, and I thought it best to offer up a light side to the creamy creation.

I got some wild salmon and coated it with fresh herbs. I, then, baked it in parchment and crumbled it on top of a salad filled with fresh veggies. Yum!

I didn't take a picture, but sent Paul with roasted chicken pasta made with tomato, spinach, and wheat fusili. My friend, and her excitement for a post-race Whole Foods visit, reminded me of just how fortunate we are to have so many great places to shop at our fingertips.

An important finale to this post is that JT ate a STRAWBERRY while on the phone with me the other night!!! Katie was there for confirmation. So proud :)

Easter Feast and Lots of Pics

I had so much fun coming up with our Easter Feast: Eggplant Lasagna, Foccacia Bread, salad with orange and yellow tomatoes, and homemade "pop-tarts." YUM!!

The lasagna consisted of slivered eggplant instead of pasta noodles and their meaty flavor was an incredible replacement. Then layers of fresh spinach and venison sauce (thank you Kristen). don't know what made me think of replacing the noodles with the eggplant, but this will definitely go into the rotation.

The very fun highlight of the meal were the "pop-tarts." I saw the recipe in Bon Appetit, and it called for 1 teaspoon of sugar. I thought I could definitely leave it out and then all of a sudden it would be a dessert I could eat!!! And, then, instead of jam or preserves in the middle I just pureed fresh strawberries. The "whipped cream" was just greek yogurt! All went just beautifully with the wine I got in Dry Creek, CA.

The only misstep on the meal was heading to the grocery on my way home from Smithville on Saturday. I definitely don't recommend hitting the grocery the day before Easter when you have only had about 30 minutes of sleep.

So much to share:

JT has really stepped up his eating. It is just so exciting to be part of. What is even more than the changes are the wonderful results he is feeling! Keep it up!!!

Jamie sent me a pic of her pre-race meal in PA! Check out this 14:58 meal :) Now that's what I am talking about.

And, finally, check out Kristen's healthy meal!! This is her version on my onion rings. I love it!

Have a great week, and enjoy all of the springtime goodies!!

Bon Appetit!

mer

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