White Bean Salsa - Vitamix Recipe #1

So, mom and I are starting our new little adventure. We finally took the leap and each bought a Vitamix! I have to say, I am sad I didn't buy this earlier - it is amazing. If you get the chance, go to a demonstration, ask questions, spend the money for your health. You will be convinced and your body will really thank you. Plus, you will make some of the best tasting, easy foods you have ever had.

I was looking into purchasing a juicer for a while, a Breville, and I am so glad that I decided not to. The juicer only goes so far, and it does not actually provide all of the nutrients from the whole food. When you use the Vitamix, you get the WHOLE food - seed, stem, everything... and you'd be surprised at the nutrients you are missing out on by only eating parts of a fruit or vegetable. This machine is amazing - I'm thinking about writing about it's benefits throughout my blog (and my use).

White Bean Salsa

So, for the first round of Vitamix use, I went for White Bean Salsa. Throw the following into the blender:

Can of Great North Beans, drained
2 large tomatoes, in quarters
Squirt of basil
Squirt of cilantro
1/2 an onion, quartered
garlic clove
1 jalapeno, seeds and stem removed, sliced in two
salt and pepper

White Bean Salsa

Don't blend too long. I used about a 3, mixing until it was still chunky and the beans had broken up a little. I think I'll add a few more spices next time to get a bigger kick, but this was nice and mild - good for a crowd.

Easter Sunday

I've been so busy the past few days, and I know this post is coming a little late, but I couldn't let these recipes go unshared! This weekend I didn't do much baking like Easter, but I did do some running. I broke my 5K PR again, at a time of 23:37 (7:37 mile pace) and with that also won in my age group - I got a medal - it was so exciting!

Lucky for me, I get to celebrate Easter at least twice - once with my dad and then with my mom. It also meant that I got to bake things twice. I had brunch at my dad's house, then a dinner with my mom. So, I decided on two different things to make. For dad's brunch, I made strawberry-lemon scones with lemon whipped topping, and then for my mom's dinner I made traditionally southern hummingbird cupcakes. Both of these things I hadn't made before, but the results were well worth making again.

Strawberry-Lemon Scones

Ingredients
- 2C Flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
- 1 c heavy cream
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup diced strawberries

• Preheat oven to 425 F
• Using a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into multiple, smaller pieces and add into the processor. Do 12-20 long pulses. You don't want the batter smooth, just combined and the big butter chunks broken apart.

• Move the batter to a bowl and add the cream and beaten egg. Use a strong spatula or wooden spoon to combine (it gets tough).
• On a floured board, knead dough for 5-10 minutes, until it is smooth and soft. Add in the strawberries, in small patches at a time and kneading them into the dough.
• Pat the dough into a circle with the dough 1/2 to 1 inch thick, then cut into triangles.
• Lightly grease a baking sheet and place the dough so it has some room to expand while baking. At this point, I lightly glazed my scones with lemon curd, then sprinkled more strawberry pieces on top.

• Bake until golden brown, for about 15 minutes. Mine actually were a little dark. I would suggest waiting for a lighter color to keep them moist.

Lemon Whipped Topping

Ingredients
- Heavy whipping cream
- Lemon extract
- Confectioners sugar

Shake heavy whipping cream, a dash of lemon extract, and confectioners sugar together. I didn't measure these out, rather just adding confectioners sugar if it seems like the cream wasn't thickening up enough. Chill if you have time.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

For the hummingbird cupcakes, I used this recipe, adding whopper eggs and toasted coconut. For the cream cheese frosting, I used my typical recipe - 8oz cream cheese, 8oz unsalted butter, a tsp vanilla extract all beaten together, then the addition of confectioners sugar until the right consistency.

40 Days Fit - Day 40

And so the 40 days of endless blogging comes to an end, but my fitness journey is not over! For the past two months, I have been working with Bing, I completed a half marathon, beating my previous PRs in my half marathon, 10K and 5K, and I have been finding the best recipes and healthy alternatives for my life.

I love cooking, so it just makes sense that the last day of my 40 Days I would head to Barnes & Noble to pick up the next cook book to add to my collection. Well, I picked up two new books, full of healthy, rich, delicious recipes I can't wait to cook through.

"Home Made" by Yvette Van Boven and "Clean Start" by Terry Walters

I always am a sucker for great photography with cookbooks, and these have beautiful images throughout. I also ended the 40 Days with a great workout at Urban Active, taking their Triple Fit class which involves a cardio and weight/resistance band workout. It feels great to look around and see that I am no where near as tired as some of the other people there. I can tell my work is paying off, and I'll be posting some stats on my successes soon!

40 Days Fit - Day 39

One more day to this little daily blogging series, and a little too early for Easter. Basically, I messed up Lent's schedule. But today I really don't care because I discovered quinoa.

It's nutty, yummy, and the perfect dish for a summer platter. I am all about using the slow cooker and having a nice warm meal or chili, but during the summer I want something a little less heavy, a little more fresh and probably not warm since it is already almost 90 degrees in Atlanta.

So tonight I made quinoa salad, and it was perfect. Cilantro, peppers, red wine vinegar and mini heirloom tomatoes made this dish come together and taste like perfection! The perfectly ripe mango on the side wasn't too bad either - mango is possibly my favorite fruit, ever.

I made a two serving portion so that I could have it for tomorrow for lunch or dinner. I didn't want to make a larger portion since I didn't know if the red wine vinegar would make the quinoa soggy. So, here is the two serving version, coming in at right about 250 calories and full of DELICIOUS!

The finished product, with mango slices as a side

Mini Heirloom Tomatoes - too pretty!

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp EVOO
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 bell pepper chopped(I used a yellow pepper)
1/2 cup halved tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
lime wedge

Cook the quinoa as directed (I used Trader Joe's, of course)

Mix the vinegar, EVOO and salt and pepper in a small bowl

Once the quinoa has cooled down after cooking, mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl and squeeze the lime over the mixture. EASY - enjoy!! (and go do 10 minutes of abs- you'll feel better about yourself, especially with swimsuit season coming so close!)

40 Days Fit - Day 38

I admit, I was completely worried about heading to the gym today. I hadn't worked out for a bit, and I knew that I would get my butt kicked. It was a great workout, even though I have felt a little under the weather (allergies maybe?). I think I owe a lot of that to my eating today - it always makes you have a better day and workout when you eat well. I definitely "sweat it out" a little more than usual though - thanks to my trainer seeing me at the Crawfish Fest on Saturday, she said it was because of all the liquor leaving my body. Oh well...

What did I eat today? This has seemed to be my kind of normal routine the past few weeks:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with a few strawberries and 1/2 a cup unsweetened applesauce
Lunch: Peanut Butter Powerbar, Apple, Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt
Pre-workout snack: Banana with tbsp peanut butter
Dinner: Kale, carrots and portobello mushrooms steamed/sauteed with just water and 2 poached eggs
Dessert: Semi-frozen banana

The kale turned out much better tonight than my previous attempt. It tastes like a cross between brussels sprouts and spinach - two of my favorite things! I am also swapping out the protein/ Powerbar for a protein shake instead. I haven't found a bar with the lesser amount of calories and higher amount of quality protein shakes provide. I also find them more filling for the long days I usually have. There is such a stereotype of weight gain and muscle mass building that is associated with them, but they are really great for you, even if you are a woman. Read up more on them and you'd be surprised!

40 Days Fit - Day 37

Lent has breaks. Every Sunday, you are allowed to "take off" your streak.  Sunday is the day of rest, and I haven't been making it such, so I took 5 (oops!) days off in a row. Yes, me, I have not worked out since Wednesday. It has made me feel kind of lethargic, but I got to spend some quality time with some great people.

On Wednesday, I was at work till late wrapping up what was needed to be done before I took a two day "stay-cation" in Atlanta. I missed my Triple Fit (weight/cardio class) and instead headed to Buckhead Saloon for a few margaritas and a happy birthday celebration that hopped from there, to the Ivy, and back to her mama's apartment for some Publix cake (arguably the best, sugary-sweet cake out there). That's when the non-health kick streak started. I was at Buckhead Saloon (for Blue Moon and music) the next day along with Fat Matt's (BBQ) and Ru San's (Sushi). My friend from London, Travis, was in town, and I had every intention of showing him some Southern hospitality, and cookin'.

On Friday we headed to Einstein's on Juniper, where the pesto and peppers turkey burger I got along with a side of pepperjack grits might have been one of the best "gourmet" burgers I had ever eaten. I got Travis to try the grits, which he had never heard of, and he quickly ordered a side for himself. The amount of fried foods that were everywhere, along with the large portion sizes, completely amazed him. Chicken wings, chicken fingers, fried green tomatoes, mayonnaise based cole slaw... all of it pointed to why the obesity in America is at such a high rate. It's very neat to hear the different lifestyles, and actually take in another culture's view point on what you have on your plate. It's going to make me start ordering differently. I just need to keep it in mind more often.

We also headed to Neighbor's pub in VaHi for a beer along with Grindhouse burgers for their Monkey Wrench boozy shake. Make sure to mix it, or it all settles to the bottom, and try their gringo burger with srichacha (the red bottle) if you like spicy. I hadn't been to either of these places (or Einstein's), so I was learning right along with him.

After a sore goodbye (I refuse to get all emotional on these postings - I just really don't want to deal with my feelings at the moment), I headed to Park Tavern for the Crawfish festival with "the boys" and Emily. Not only did they run out of Crawfish not even half way into their event, but the bands were "different" (aka really bad) and I ran into my trainer, Bing, with a beer in hand. Oops. The best part about the day though was the Cajun Bloody Mary's and getting to chill out in Piedmont Park with some great friends.

So today, the last day of my eating out ways for a bit, began with Flying Biscuit Cafe with mama P, where you HAVE to get their grits, a biscuit and I ordered a half portion of their Orange scented French toast. So yummy, and so full that mom and I both passed out on the couch for a little. Before I headed home though, we stopped at Yogur-lee-hee, the best fro yo place I have been to, especially for the price.

Tomorrow, I'll be back to it, getting in the gym with Bing. I know these 5 days will be felt, so I am actually kind of nervous about our session tomorrow. I'm just going to take it as a kick-off, and pop some advil so I can move the next two days.