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

Kid Food

Yes, I know, I don't have kids, but sometimes my favorite eater likes "kid" food...although not kid portions (and to answer all the debate from Saturday night: I do feed him; he just eats THAT much!! Oh, he did fess up to 4 pieces of pizza, and the rest of my salad)

As promised, I made Paul Fish Sticks and let's call it Broccoli Casserole, of sorts. The old fashioned version of the above consist of: frying, lots of fat, lots of refined items, and full fat dairy. Well, I did a complete overhaul on both recipes and you wouldn't know the difference.

For the fish sticks:

Tilapia (I used 4 filets)

Whole Wheat Flour (which I always have some in the freezer)

Whole Wheat breadcrumbs

Wheat Cereal Flakes (I used Wheatabix)

Fresh Garlic powder

Egg Whites

Canola Oil Spray

I cut the fish into "sticks," dusted with flour, dipped in egg whites and then dipped in the crumb/flake combo. Put on a cookie sheet, and "fried" in the oven.

They came out wonderfully crisp and flaky...even reheated in the microwave yesterday!

(If you want more details on the recipe send me an email...I have it fully typed out)

I derived this from an Eating Well recipe. I decided to change it all up when I noticed that they instructed people to use all purpose flour. Why go to the trouble of recommending whole wheat breadcrumbs and whole wheat cereal flakes just to use refined flour on the fish? It just made no sense to me, so I overhauled the recipe and took out all of the added salt and refined items...no need for them!!

I then made my version of broccoli casserole. Tradition uses: broccoli, white rice, cheese, whole milk or cream.

Here's mine:

Lundberg jubilee rice (made with water and no salt...it took approx 40 min vs. the 50min recommended)

Frozen broccoli florets - steemed and chopped

non fat milk

borden 2% shredded cheese

Cook the rice, add the chopped broccoli, milk, and cheese. It came out super colorful, moist, and grainy!!

Off to go talk about "Dining Out." Hoping for a good crowd :)

I will start posting meal pics soon! Keep sending them, and when you do please let me know if I can post them. I love to see what you are eating.

mer

Food, food, food

While I wait for the temps to warm up outside for my long run today, I am catching up on work and thought it would be a good time for an update.

Lots and lots of food talk and lots and lots of cooking/baking this week!

It has been a very exciting time for my business and in particular my Vegan Bars. You can read about them on my website: http://www.quickandhealthycookbook.com/ Orders have been coming in like mad, so I have been making batches and shipping them all week. It is very exciting to have such a healthy product, and have people really enjoying them! Right now I have two flavors, but I am already brainstorming a 3rd. If you have been enjoying the bars and want to suggest another flavor, please let me know!! As long as it doesn't change the fat or calories by much, I am open to new ideas.

As I mentioned last week, my friend, Erin, was on Shark Tank on Friday. Not only was she on Shark Tank, but they were totally awesome! When we were at dinner the conversation turned to cakeballs. Erin has been wanting to try the cakeballs for some time, and Joe, her boyfriend, spoke of his love of red velvet cake. Well, heck...that's my specialty red velvet cake balls. In all fairness I was already planning to make a batch to send to Ryan in Iraq, so I just got a little extra creative.

For Ryan - Red Velvet and Mint Chocolate are currently in transit to his APO in Iraq (by the way, any of my readers who bake and want to send goodies his way...he will be there for a year and LOVES goodies!!).

For Erin - Maybe some people were going to bring Erin flowers to the viewing party Friday night, but I decided to turn the cakeballs into balloons of sorts and made a bouquet out of them. Here she is at the party with her bouquet! I love how they turned out :)

For Joe - I left the chocolate off of two red velvet cakeballs and wrapped them for him. He loved them!! How fun :) This was the second time that I had someone that wasn't sure they would like them fall in love. It makes me so happy to share treats and have them be enjoyed.

Later this afternoon I am going to make "fish sticks" for Paul for the week with broccoli cheese hash. I will take pics. If they turn out good, they will make a great easy meal that I think kids would love (I am going to use wheatabix and whole wheat breadcrumbs which I already have prepped). I will also make more batches of Vegan Bars!! Keep the orders coming!

Quick side note - was going to eat out on Friday night, but really the only thing I would have wanted on the menu was a grilled chicken salad. Not that it is a big deal, but I just didn't want to pay $10-12 for a salad I had all the ingredients for at home. So, I ate before we went out. Honestly, I enjoyed doing that so much more! I was kind of dreading eating out all three nights this weekend (very unusual for us to have plans all three nights of the weekend).

And finally, I got an email from JT on Friday saying, "I am at Burger King." I wrote him back thinking I needed to talk him off the ledge. Nope, he didn't need me. He was just ordering coffee! Wager still alive and well!!

Pics of Sunday creations to come later!

mer