Alternate title: What I Eat When Running Makes Me a Ravenous Beast!
It was so nice to have yesterday off for the holiday. At the risk of sounding like I have no life (and although it is an easily amused life, I do in fact have one), I spent the Fourth of July at home, relaxing inside out of the heat…and whipping up some delicious eats! So delicious that I knew they had to be featured on the next WIAW link party!
As always, be sure to take a napkin with you over toPeas & Crayonsto check out all the drool-worthy eats featured in this week’s partay! 😉
Pre-Run Fuel (4:30am) “Ol’ Faithful”
Post-Run Fuel (6:30am) 😉 Iced coffee with ONLY milk and NO sugar
Word to the not-so-coffee-wise: Obviously when you order an iced coffee with milk that translates into an iced coffee with milk AND cream AND syrup! And can you believe the barista looked at ME like I was crazy when I went back?!
Breakfast (7:00am) BBQ French Toast with PB & Frog Preserves
Yeah, I’ll let you know when I stop dreaming thinking of new BBQ and PB&J combos…not that I see that happening any time soon! 😉
Morning Snack (9:00am) Cantaloupe with Greek Yogurt & Granola
Pre-workout Snack (11:00am) Quinoa/Cottage Cheese/Cinnamon Love
I started getting hungry in the early afternoon, but I really wanted to go to the gym for Bodypump. Luckily, this little snack was just enough to fend of the hunger beast and give me a little energy to “pump my body”!
Lunch (1:45pm) Leftover pulled-pork from the party Friday night, steamed broccoli, baked sweet potato topped with sunflower seed butter & Appalachian Picalilly
Afternoon Snack (5:45pm) Kashi Go Lean, banana, peanut flour, flax sprinkles, and almond milk
Dinner (8:15pm) Leftover Lentil Soup, spinach salad, and a brown hockey puck
And just what could that brown hockey puck be exactly?
One of Jess’s Biscolls!…aka, fluffy, carby goodness!
And to round out the evening, a little Kombucha night cap!
Whew, now I’m hungry! If you’ll excuse me, I believe there are a couple of leftover Chocolate Chip Hummus Balls in the kitchen calling my name! 😉
What’s the best thing you ate on the Fourth of July?
Hey guys! Happy Fourth of July to all my US peeps! I hope you are all having a fantastic day and spending it with family, friends, and of course…good food!
…to everyone else, happy Monday! 😉
A couple of months ago, Cierra from Vegacontacted me asking if I’d be interested in helping debut one of their newest books, Peggy Kotsopoulos’s Must Have Been Something I Ate.
“Peggy is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Health Educator, and a Culinary Consultant focused on teaching REAL health through lifestyle and dietary choices that are easy and delicious!”
Um, yeah, so that pretty much sums up my ENTIRE outlook on health and nutrition…sign me up!
The following post contains a book and recipe review that is of my own personal opinion. Vega sent me Peggy’s book along with samples of their smoothie mixes/whole food shake mixes free of charge, but I was in no way compensated for this review.
When the book first arrived, I couldn’t wait to check out the inside. For easy reference, it’s divided into five sections each discussing the correlation between the food we put into our bodies and how it can benefit us:
Food-Mood Connection
Food-Weight Connection
Food-Beauty Connection
Food-Health Connection
and Recipes
After the first couple of pages, I could not put this book down! Peggy’s writing is so fluid and relaxed! You almost feel as if the two of you are having a little “girl chat” over a cup of coffee. I was surprised, especially given my experience with food and nutrition/supplements from my years working at a supplement store, that I was able to discover even more about the things I use to fuel my body.
I loved the organization of this book too…very easy to flip back and forth from section to section (what, I know I’m not the only ADD book reader out there!)…and the scattered “tips & tricks” boxes were great references!
I’m sure you guys can guess what my favorite part of the book was…
SCORE!
Out of all the recipes included in Peggy’s book, one of the ones that interested me the most was her Lentil Soup. Makes sense right? Because it’s totally the season for warm hearty soups?! Yeah, well tell that to the AC unit at the hospital! I’m gonna be nice and warm during my lunch break all week with these leftovers! 😉
Lentil Soup
12 oz. or 1 3/4 cup dry brown or green lentils
1 large white onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, crushed or 1/2 15 oz. can (3/4 cup) crushed tomatoes
1 small potato (Yukon gold or red potato), peeled and cut in quarters
1 tsp paprika
5 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Juice from 1 lemon
Rinse lentils thoroughly. Cover with 4 cups water in a small post and bring to a boil. Once boiled, rinse lentils again and add to a large pot filled with 8 cups of water. Add onion, green pepper, celery, carrots, garlic, tomato, potato, paprika, and bay leaves to the pot and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until lentils become soft (approximately 15-20 minutes). Remove potato from pot, cut into small cubes and add back to pot. Reduce to a simmer and add oregano, salt, and black pepper to taste. Before serving, remove bay leaves and stir in lemon juice.
Yields: Approximately 3 liters
After the soup finished cooking, I took my “taste test.” I thought it could still use a bit more in the flavor and spice department so I did a little rummaging through my cupboards and came up with the following additions:
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast (or you could just add some vegan/regular cheese to the bowl once it is served)
Warm and spicy with a nutrient PUNCH!
Take THAT 65 degree working environment!
So howabout that giveaway, huh?
For a chance to win a copy of Must Have Been Something I Ate, leave a comment (mandatory) below telling me one food that you love to eat out of season.
For an additional entry, tweet this giveaway with:
“Must Have Been Something I Ate Giveaway on @kissmybroccoli http://tinyurl.com/66uhxbb”
and leave a comment telling me you did so.
Good luck! The giveaway will close Thursday night at 11:59pm (CST) and the winner will be announced on Friday!
Happy Pancake Sunday everyone! I decided today to take a break from my weekly pancake-recipe pumping and take a clue from one of the other Pancake Queens in blogland… Chocolate Covered Katie. If you guys haven’t checked out her blog, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Delectable treats with a healthy spin…so you can eat more of course!
I had a hankering for some blueberries this morning since I still have some leftover from last weekend’s trip to the farmer’s market. Luckily for me, I remembered a recent post of her’s for Blueberry Pie Pancakes!
And well, let’s face it, I’ll take any excuse to have dessert for breakfast!
I followed Katie’s recipe almost to a tee. Since I do enjoy the flavor of pancakes more when they are made with a bit of oil/butter, I decided to go with her recommendation to add oil to the recipe, but instead of using a whole tablespoon of oil, I subbed in 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil and 1/2 tablespoon of ground flax. I’m assuming that the addition of the flax caused the wet ingredients to be absorbed more so I also added a couple of tablespoons more of almond milk to thin out the batter a bit.
And they came out perfectly! Rich, cakey, juicy blueberry pancakes!
I layered and topped my succulent stacks with blueberry Greek yogurt, granola, and a sprinkling of desiccated coconut.
*Tropical Traditions sent me this product free of charge. The following is my own personal opinion of the product. Tropical Traditions is in no way compensating me for this review.
You may remember that Tropical Traditions sent me a GINORMOUS jar of their Gold Label Organic coconut oil a few weeks ago. To tell you the truth, when I first received it, I didn’t think there was much of a difference between this one and the refined coconut oil in my spice cabinet. Wow!…was I mistaken!
Just a simple “sniff” test of the open jars and I could immediately tell a difference! My jar of refined coconut oil didn’t really have a scent at all whereas the Tropical Traditions jar smelled just like a freshly cracked coconut! The flavor that it lent to the pancakes was out of this world!
After my in depth “scientific” experiment, I decided to do a little research and see for myself what the real difference was between the two types of oil. This is what I found (taken from the Tropical Traditions website):
“When purchasing coconut oil, one must determine between “virgin” and “refined.” The determining characteristic of virgin coconut oils is that they are made from fresh coconuts, and they have the distinct aroma and taste of coconuts present. Tasteless coconut oils are probably made from copra, not fresh coconuts. There are also some oils that are made from copra that are not fully deodorized and have a taste to them. But these oils are refined also, despite marketing claims. You will be able to taste the difference when comparing with a Virgin Coconut Oil. …Virgin coconut oils start out with fresh coconuts, and do not need further refining as their natural antioxidant properties make them very stable oils.”
“Copra” is the dried meat of a coconut and since most of the time the meat is dried by unsanitary means, it must be treated and bleached in order to make it safe for ingestion, giving you your “refined” coconut oil. These oils aren’t as nutrient rich and are often hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated (think artery-clogging trans fat) whereas coconut oil made from wet milling/cold pressing as in the case of producing the Gold Label Coconut Oil, is loaded with more nutrients and naturally free of trans fat.
I also found this video on the Tropical Traditions website to be very helpful
(I am such a visual learner):
I could seriously go on for days about this! I love learning new things, especially when it concerns a food that I am putting into my body. Needless to say, the old jar of refined coconut oil now resides in the recycling bin and the Tropical Traditions is now out on the counter for quick and easy every-day use!
Do you use coconut oil in your cooking/baking? If so, what’s your favorite recipe?
My name is Heather! I'm a southern gal with a passion for food, fitness, and photography...and alliteration if you didn't notice! Here you'll find a mix of random musings, delicious recipes, and hopefully a chuckle or two! Check out my "About' tab to learn more!
