Tag Archives: salad

February 3, 2011 · 9:21 pm

Ego Checked

Well that was totally embarrassing.

I should have told him I am an executive secretary not a group exercise instructor/trainer!

Yeah, my training session seriously kicked my ass.

I am pretty sure I shot myself in the foot by going to Kettlebell Conditioning this morning and drinking too much coffee (two cups, late morning).  Whatever it was, I was messed up.  No, seriously, I started getting blurred vision and everything sounded muffled.  I got nauseous and had to excuse myself (luckily nothing happened with that if you know what I mean).

I have never experienced that before.  We’re talking true muscle failure.  After 35 or so minutes I was toast.  Burnt toast.

He was apologetic and I was embarrassed but I think we both handled it pretty well.   It was a hell of an ego check and awesome to see that I rarely actually push myself to my edge.  Not that I need to see that edge quite so closely again anytime soon.

I was all fueled up from an awesome lunch so I know that wasn’t the problem!

Beets have never been my thing.   I love the greens (they’re salty!) but the root I could take or leave…until lately.  The local beets seem to be getter sweeter with storage and I’ve been hooked on them for the last few weeks.  They are so good that Tate, a true beet detester, has been enjoying them in moderation.

My favorite way to eat a beet is roasted.

Last night I roasted a big batch for dinner and leftovers, along with a turnip.

And today they topped a salad for lunch.

One of my other favorites lately has been raw kale in salads.  It adds a nice heartiness that makes a green salad seem more wintery.

 

Served with pineapple bbq tempeh…mmmmm

And lots of Snap Happy Ginger Snaps!

I am still working on the final name for these guys

Sunday night my brother-in-law brought over some Whole Foods ginger snaps and asked could I make some “ginger snaps but make them extra snappy?”.  After clarifying that for him the snap was more about flavor than texture I started to get excited.  I love ginger.  The snappier the better. 🙂

The Dry

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 packet Sweetleaf stevia
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • salt
  • ample amounts of ground ginger, fresh ground nutmeg, and fresh ground cinnamon
  • itsy pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp cocoa

The Wet

  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 Tbs honey
  • 1/4 cup plum sauce (or apple sauce, I just had plum in the fridge)
  • grated knob of fresh, peeled ginger
  • 1 egg
  1. mix wet into dry
  2. make small balls
  3. place onto parchment covered cookie sheet
  4. flatten with fingers
  5. bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes

Makes 2 dozen plus some cookie dough to snack on.

The cookies will still be soft when the come out of the oven but will become crunchy snappy as they cool.  At first I thought, yuck, these are too dry but then I remembered that ginger snaps are supposed to be on the dryer side and that they are best served with tea/coffee or peanut butter.  Or both.

I got so caught up in cookie making that I sort of forgot to tell my brother-in-law to come in and collect his cookies when he picked up his car last night. 😉

Next time!  I am scheming up how to make these even healthier by replacing the brown sugar with mashed banana.  Tate is skeptical but we all know he’ll eat them anyway!

Make It Snappy Ginger Snaps?  Snap Happy Ginger Snaps?  Extra Ginger Snaps?

Right now I am calling them Snack Happy Ginger Snaps 🙂

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October 2, 2010 · 6:18 pm

Life is Good

It’s another gorgeous day in Charlottesville!

I’ve had a great start to the weekend and am anticipating the rest to be fabulous also.  This morning started with a quick bike ride to the Downtown Farmer’s Market where I drooled over picked up some beautiful produce.

With my pannier weighing in at at least 15 pounds I left the market happy and out of cash.

Next stop was Mcguffey Arts Center for DANCE CLASS!  I used be be identified first and foremost as a dancer.  I spent from age 5 until 27 spending hours upon hours a week in a dance studio, as a student, teacher, choreographer, and company member.  That was up until 2 years ago when I left the country in pursuit of…adventure I suppose.  In any case, I have only taken 2 dance classes in nearly 2 years and had all but buried my former identity under layers “American abroad”, “Personal Trainer”, “West Virginian”, “Chiropractors wife”, “world traveler” and other such identities.

It was time to start dancing again in a serious way.  And this morning was a glorious welcome back.  I took a modern class with Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, who is a lovely individual and a great teacher.  I was a little nervous going into the class, would my body know what to do?  Did I still have the ability to pick up phrases?  It was a bit of a rusty start but by the end of the 1.5 hour class the two year absence from the studio melted away.

I returned home around 12:30pm and it was time for lunch.

Mary’s crackers and twigs from my Veg Fest loot with homemade herbed yogurt cheese (mix plain yogurt, chopped fresh herbs, salt, and pepper, spoon mix into a colander lined with a clean dish cloth or paper towels, place the colander in a bowl to drain and put the whole thing into the fridge for a few hours.  Tastes like goat cheese but it’s cheaper!).

Butternut and sweet potato sauteed in coconut oil with ginger, garlic, and rosemary.

And a giant salad with homemade sauerkraut on the side.

The sauerkraut is only 3 days old and thus not so fermented yet but it was pretty tasty.

Kombucha for dessert

I am saving my real dessert for Kath and Matt’s “housecooling” party we are going to tonight, I heard somewhere she is busily baking cookies for it.

Speaking of cookies, that’s what I had for dinner last night!  Tate and I walked downtown just before 6pm to check out the First Friday Gallery Stroll.  We checked out a few galleries and munched on grapes, veggies, a few pieces of cheese, some pretzels, and these AMAZING chocolate cookies.  We split one and went back for a second.  Chewy, gooey, and full of chocolate and coconut, I must try to recreate.

We also checked out the wine tasting at the Market Street Wineshop, which is very funky and cool with decent prices.  Each Friday they offer a free tasting flight of 6-8 wines that are on sale.  My favorite last night was the Chardonnay from Excelsior.  I didn’t do any shopping there last night because I didn’t want to carry bottle with me all night but I will definitely make this my wine shopping go-to from now on.

Tate and I were pretty satiated from all of our tastings by the time we met up with our friends Jessica and Tim but they needed dinner so off to Enoteca we went.

Wine and olives were consumed.

I don’t plan on going back to Enoteca, the tables are not very comfortable, my wine was not good, and our server forgot Tim’s order.  Oh, well, nothing lost because there are so many supposedly amazing restaurants in this town.

I am off to run 4 easy miles.  Have a great Saturday!

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