Kale Chips, Competitions, and Cancellations

Weeellll...thanks to "lake effect" weather and six inches of brand new snow, the half marathon was cancelled. Rats! Part of me was relieved to not have to trudge through half a foot of snow and part of me was actually disappointed not to test myself through half a foot of snow. After training through the winter, it's not like running in the snow is such a bizarre concept.

And part of me was really, really, REALLY not looking forward to 16 miles on a treadmill, but I hopped on it before I had too much time to think about it. Four episodes of "Lost", three hours, and sixteen miles later I was done. Whew! Not totally unpleasant, but I sure hope Spring will start sticking around so my longer runs can be done outside on a more consistent basis. To look on the bright side, it was the longest run I've ever done on a treadmill. I think up to today, my longest was eight miles. So...new personal record!

In a week, on April 1st, I will be hosting a weight loss competition. This is the same weight loss competition I did back in the fall of last year that helped me to kick a plateau I had been hanging on to for months and months. The competitive edge helped me to build a little self-control and to realize that sugar consumption is no good for sustainable weight loss. One thing, among many, that I love about this particular weight loss competition is that it is about more than just dropping pounds. It teaches and builds healthy habits that can be used far longer than any silly little competition. It's all about living a healthy, balanced life.

This weight loss competition that I'm hosting will be eight weeks long, with two winners at the end that will split the pot equally. One winner for highest weight loss percentage and one winner for most points earned. Buy-in is $25. You earn points for doing daily tasks and weekly bonus challenges. All of it will be kept track of on charts that I will share online. In fact, it's all done online, so you don't have to be physically present to participate. Oh! And no pictures and no sharing of weight. Only one person will know your weight and that will either be me or my friend Megan who hosted this competition the first time I did it.

And did I mention the first time I did it...I won over $300 for having the highest weight loss percentage? Weight loss competitions work! If you want to find out for yourself, comment below or message me and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have or include you in this competition.

Finally, I wanted to share a quick and easy recipe. I was looking for ways to pack in all the healthy vegetables I could the few days leading up to the half marathon. You know...the cancelled half marathon. Sigh.  Plus I had the nervous munchies with the anxiety and anticipation of a race. Instead of scarfing down a bag of potato chips, I made kale chips. Kale is really, really good for you and this is only one of the many ways you can incorporate it into your daily diet.

Kale Chips

One bunch of kale
olive oil
sea salt (or whatever kind of salt you have)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and pat or shake dry the kale. Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Toss in a bowl with a little bit of olive oil and a very little bit of salt. (Trust me on adding minimal salt. The first time I did it I added too much and was gagging on the chips. The second time, I was pretty careful about adding just a bit and still found them to be a bit too salty. A little bit goes a long way.) Spread the kale out evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes or until crispy. Kale will "crispify" as it cools too. Enjoy!

This is a much healthier option than potato chips or pretzels and a yummy way to sneak in even more veggies in your day. My kids polished a pan full of these off as they waited for dinner to finish cooking. Kid tested. Mother approved!

Gas Powered Marthoner

In a few minutes I'll be heading to bed. Gotta get some beauty sleep before I run a half marathon plus three miles tomorrow morning. But first I thought I would share what I'm eating the night before a long run.

I've really been trying to eat cleaner this week since I discovered on Tuesday that I would be participating in a race this Saturday. Emphasis on "trying". I'm not perfect in what I eat, but I've done a little better in squeezing in more veggies and healthier carbs.

While I'm not "carb-loading" tonight in the sense that most people think of, I am eating a delicious, healthy soup full of protein and carbs. Satisfying and filling and certain to power me through 16 miles. Even if it ends up being gas power from all these beans. ;)



My little helper for the evening...Elle

Chicken Taco Soup (adapted from a friend's vegetarian taco soup)

Olive oil
1 or 2 cans chopped green chilies
1 medium onion, chopped
3 TBSPs homemade GF taco seasoning (or 1 pkg taco seasoning)
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
2 (14 ounce) cans of peeled, cut tomatoes (or 1 qt canned stewed tomatoes)
1 can yellow hominy (or corn)
1 can white hominy (or corn)
1 pound chicken, shredded (My canned chicken breast works perfectly for this!)
2 TBSP salsa (optional)
2 to 3 cups of water
1 to 2 tsps chicken bouillon, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sauté onion and chilies in oil for about 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream.

A few notes...This can very easily be a vegetarian meal; just leave out the chicken and bouillon!

If you are using chicken, a rotisserie chicken, such as the ones they sell at Costco, works very well for this recipe. Or you can just prepare some chicken breasts and shred them.

The beans are flexible, in that, you could put in whatever beans you have on hand. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, etc.

This recipe was my first encounter with hominy. If you've never had it, you've got to give it a try! Hominy is a form of corn, but it's just not the same. It has a fantastic, almost chewy texture which I love. It can be found near the canned beans in your grocery store or in the ethnic food aisle.

I love this recipe because it is a "dump it all in and simmer for a bit" kind of recipe. It's gluten- and dairy-free too. And I'm a sucker for a good hearty soup too, especially on a snowy day such as this one.

Yep. Snow. In March. The day before a half marathon race. I keep getting antsy about it, but then I remember...Oh yeah. I've been training all winter. This ain't nothing. Wish me luck!

Healthy No Bake Cookies Recipe: Energy Bites

I'm a sucker for No Bake Cookies. They just hit the spot. And with all the sugar and butter in them...they stay at the spot.

Dangit.

I've seen a recipe for "healthy" No Bake Cookies floating around in my Facebook running group.

"Healthy No Bake Cookies"?

*snort*

But I'm here to tell you, it's true! You CAN cut the sugar and butter and make No Bake Cookies that are healthy! In fact, you can even call them "Energy Bites" which makes them feel all the healthier.

Now, let's be honest here...They are NOT No Bake Cookies. Nothing is quite like a No Bake Cookie. But these Energy Bites come close enough on those days when you reeeeeally want to stick to your healthy eating, but you also reeeeeeaally just want a cookie or a bit of chocolate.

Even my kids liked them and scarfed them down. Methinks this could be the perfect recipe to turn to when they want a "treat" but I want to be good and avoid temptation.

Energy Bites
(recipe from Gimme Some Oven)

1 cup dry oatmeal 

2/3 cup toasted coconut flakes

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup ground flaxseed or wheat germ

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1/3 cup honey or maple syrup

1 Tbsp. chia seeds (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate for half an hour. Roll into bite sized balls. Store in airtight container and keep refrigerated up to one week (if they last that long).

Makes 20-25 balls depending on what size you make them.

The beauty of this recipe is that it's very versatile. Don't like coconut? (Yuck! Me neither!) Leave it out! Make sure to replace it with a little extra oatmeal or some crushed cereal or whatever you have hanging out in your cupboards. Use dried fruit instead of chocolate chips. Replace the peanut butter with almond butter. Go wild!

Also...They can be made gluten- and dairy-free!

These would make awesome hiking snacks! I'm sure I'll be making a few batches to take with us when the snow melts off the trails.

Again...NOT No Bake Cookies. But pretty darn close.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread with Quinoa Recipe

Is there anything better in this life than homemade bread?

Yes! It's homemade whole wheat bread with quinoa! Delicious AND healthy AND whole wheat AND quinoa!

No!

YES! It can be done.

A running friend shared her whole wheat bread recipe with me earlier this year. I tried it and my family really liked it. Up to this point, the whole wheat bread I've made is better suited to holding heavy doors open rather than being ingested. Not good. My family refused to eat it, especially after the first day when it was at least warm out of the oven and half way edible.

This new recipe passed with flying colors. It's fluffy and light and tasty! Fresh out of the oven or sliced for sandwiches a few days later. It makes awesome toast!

My friend had mentioned that she likes to make it with quinoa and although she never shared how to do that in her recipe, I was intrigued. I have a couple of bags of quinoa sitting around my house, but beyond making it for breakfast or the occasional random recipe, I have no idea what to do with it. I was determined to figure out how to get that healthy, protein-packed quinoa into my bread and I was pleasantly surprised to have it work on the very first try. The bread was actually even more moist.

I will share this recipe with the way I added in the quinoa. If you don't have any quinoa or just don't want to add it, then replace it with a little more bread flour. (What's a "little more"? Ehh...Less than half a cup, but "feel" it out.) Recipe makes one loaf of bread, but can be easily doubled or more to make more loaves at once.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread WITH Quinoa

Ingredients:
1 TBSP yeast
1/2 tsp sugar

3 TBSP water

2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP butter, melted
1 cup water

2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup prepared quinoa (rinse and prepare quinoa with water according to package directions)
1.5 cups bread flour


Directions:
Mix yeast and sugar and 3 TBSP water in a large cup. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, or until it rises.

In the meantime, mix one cup of water with the brown sugar and the butter. Add in the wheat flour and mix well. Add the yeast mixture and the prepared quinoa.

Add in the bread flour 1/2 cup at a time until you form a nice dough. The dough should feel a little sticky and soft.

Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is nice and elastic. Remember that you can't over knead the bread. The more you knead, the better.

Let rise, covered in a bowl for one hour or so until the dough is doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and form into a loaf. Place in a greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise until the dough starts coming up over the top of the loaf pan.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Also if you want a more grainy bread, you can substitute 1/2 cup of 7 or 9 grain cereal for 1/2 cup of the bread flour.

This recipe can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled. Maybe more. I've only ever made four loaves at once and it worked really well. Use one loaf. Let the others cool, bag them, and stick in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

P.S. While eating whole wheat bread is nourishing to the body, I have to say making bread is nourishing to the soul. I like making bread when I'm in a "mood". I set up the iPad on my kitchen counter, turn Pandora on to my Priscilla Ahn station, and knead away my melancholies. After ten minutes of kneading, I feel like a new woman.

Breakfast: My Favorite Meal of the Day!

Ahhh breakfast! I could eat it three times a day. Breakfast is that first test of the day. How are you going to start your day? With a Diet Coke and a donut or with an egg white omelet and some prune juice? I must admit, I have never started my day either way. I'm just giving you the extremes. I did want to share some of my favorite options for breakfast, whether "breakfast" comes at 7:00 am or 7:00 pm.

Probably like most people, I don't tend to have a lot of time in the mornings. I'm rushing kids off to school and starting on my housework so I can move on to working out and the rest of my day. I need something quick and easy AND healthy.

My most recent "quick and easy AND healthy" favorites are steel-cut oats and quinoa. Steel-cut oats are a little heartier than rolled oats. Supposedly they are less processed and therefore retain more of their natural nutritional value. All that aside, I just love the chewy texture! Plus, you can buy them "gluten-free"! (While oats do not contain gluten, they are often contaminated in the reaping and manufacturing process. "Gluten-free oats" just mean the fields and equipment have been dedicated to oats. No wheat allowed!)

At the beginning of the week I make a big pot of oats or quinoa, which takes anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes to cook. I take one serving for breakfast that day and then place the rest in a Tupperware container and stick it in the fridge. Now I have breakfast for the whole week. Each morning I just scoop out my single serving, warm it up in the microwave, add my own "toppings", and enjoy, usually with some almond milk. My latest favorite steel-cut oats add-in is a tablespoon of peanut butter and a teaspoon of honey. It almost tastes like a dessert! Lots of protein, fiber, and stick-to-your-ribs goodness!

Other "topping" options: brown sugar, jam, nuts, dried fruit, applesauce, molasses, berries, etc.

Quinoa is more of an acquired taste, but with a bit of brown sugar and some almond milk, it is delicious and satisfying! Plus it's gluten-free and packed full of protein!

Some days, I toast up a slice of homemade wheat bread (I need to share my new favorite recipe!) and slather peanut butter and honey on it. Add some milk and homemade canned applesauce (no added sugar) on the side.

I know a lot of people love their green smoothies. I've been known to drink these in the morning too. Berries, spinach, soy milk, flax seed, a bit of ice, some lemon zest and fresh squeezed lemon, the kitchen sink... I haven't quite mastered the art of smoothies. I used to add Greek yogurt to mine, which tends to coagulate once in a smoothie. Shudder! It kind of ruined me. Some day I'll reapproach smoothies and work on our tattered relationship.

When I have a bit more time I really enjoy scrambled eggs. Eggs are a great source of protein. I'm not very good at throwing out the yolks; it just feels so wasteful, even if it they are high in calories or cholesterol or whatever the latest study is saying.

Eggs with wheat toast are good, but what I really enjoy is an egg burrito. I confess, I cannot convince myself that wheat tortillas are edible. They taste like cardboard. Flimsy, damp cardboard. Ugh. This (and the egg white thing) just shows you that I'm not perfect in healthy eating. And that's okay! Trust me. I don't lose sleep over an occasional egg yolk or white tortilla.

That being said...I also don't worry too much when I have chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for dinner every once in a while either. Moderation in all things.

Just make sure that for the most part you are eating a nutritious and well-rounded breakfast. Food from all the food groups (yes, even carbs; at least healthy carbs), lots of protein, minimal sugar. This is the meal that will fuel you for a big part of your day. I read in a book once that "you should eat like a queen for breakfast, a princess for lunch, and a pauper at dinner". This makes a lot of sense to me.

Breakfast can be the first choice that will set you on a course of other choices for the rest of the day.

Example: "I already had cold pizza and a DP for breakfast. I screwed up. Might as well have a candy bar for lunch, skip my workout, and eat a burger and fries AND a milkshake for dinner." OR... "I had a healthy breakfast! I feel pretty good! Let's workout! Then I'll have turkey on whole wheat for lunch and maybe a salad for dinner!"

It's all about making better choices, every day--every hour! my friends. And breakfast is one of my favorite choices to make. What are your favorite breakfast foods?

Healthy Recipes: Rainbow Pasta

With Forks Over Knives still heavy on my mind I prepared dinner last night. My husband is out of town so there would be no grumbling if I went meatless. But meatless...meatless...How can I do this? While I'm all about the fruits and veggies and making sure they are present nightly at the dinner table, I'm not really sure I know how to cook a balanced meal without meat.

I can cook. I can follow a recipe. But I'm not all that smooth when it comes to thinking outside the box. At least the recipe box. I decided I would give it my best shot and just look what I came up with! Isn't it pretty? So colorful! That's why I decided to call it "Rainbow Pasta".

I'm sure this isn't all that creative in the minds of "real" cooks, but I was impressed. The kids complained a bit about the new dish as they often do with new things, but most of them ate it. No one asked for seconds, but at least they tried it. Me? I loved it! Delicious and less than 300 calories a serving!

Rainbow Pasta (Serves 4)

whole wheat linguine (1/2 package), prepared according to package directions
olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small yellow squash, diced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
dried basil, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
light Alfredo sauce (1/2 jar)
Italian blend grated cheese

Prepare pasta in boiling water. While pasta is cooking heat olive oil in saute pan. Add garlic and onion. Saute for a few minutes. Add red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus. Sprinkle in basil, salt, and pepper to taste. Saute until tender-crisp.

Drain pasta. Add to vegetables. Gently stir in Alfredo sauce. Serve with grated cheese on top.

You really could adapt this anyway you wanted. Change up the veggies or the spices. Use a different kind of pasta. Add meat if you want meat. So simple!

P.S. My son has a dairy allergy and my daughter has Celiac disease. Instead of making three different meals each night I make adaptions to what I'm already preparing. In this case I boiled up some GF pasta in a separate pan. I set aside sauteed vegetables for Elle's pasta and then added Alfredo sauce to hers separately. For Dee, I took out a serving of combined pasta and veggies before I added the cheese sauce. A little bit of a juggling act, but absolutely doable.