4.24.2012

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.

4.15.2012

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.



4.04.2012

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!