I tried a new recipe recently instead of trying to save every last ounce of time with tried and true favorites. Yay! I have to say that I unfortunately haven’t been in the kitchen as much as I used to and it stinks. Chris and I have made a pact that once school is over and done with (hopefully soon before my head starts turning in circles), we are going to get back in the kitchen together more often. It’s just been really tough lately. Here is a tasty and pretty easy recipe that we both loved! (more…)
April 10, 2011
January 2, 2011
looking ahead in 2011 + a challenge
Hey all! Hope you had a fun and safe New Year’s!!! 2011. Wow. What were you up to this new year’s? Parties? Quiet night at home watching the ball drop? . . . Me? well, we pretty much sat on our butts, watched ’24’ on Netflix, and then fell asleep around 11pm with the faint boom of fireworks in the distance. Boy, we are sure party animals, eh? (more…)
November 24, 2010
POM dinner party – tapas style
I was chosen as a finalist to host a fun POM party using those big red beauties in season. I love dinner parties, so I was definitely up for the challenge! Because the party had to be held right after getting back from FNCE in Boston, I had to hustle to plan the menu, go shopping for all the ingredients, and get everything set up by the weekend. I’m excited to share with you my POM party recap, it was a lot of fun! (more…)
July 25, 2010
Buitoni Pasta Party
This weekend is already flying by! It always goes by way too fast, especially when you’re trying to balance work and play 🙂 How was your weekend? I had the wonderful opportunity to host a Buitoni Pasta Party for some of my friends Saturday evening, which included lots of good food, conversation and vino to wash it down. Join me for a tasty re-cap! (more…)
April 18, 2010
girls day out + flax-date waffles
It’s been such a lovely day today that I don’t want this weekend to end!! Well, don’t I say that every weekend? 🙂 The weather is certainly warming up here in good ol’ Vegas and it’s actually quite HOT! I hate to say it but we had to turn on the AC last night since it was 82F inside. I can’t sleep unless it’s at least 79F, because I’m like a radiating furnace once I go to bed.
Last night I couldn’t really decide what to have for dinner because when I went grocery shopping for the week on Saturday, I somehow forgot about Saturday night! (more…)
November 12, 2009
seeing green
Well, I really wish I could tell you it’s lots of money, but alas it’s PISTACHIOS, lots and lots of pistachios! If you follow me on twitter, I won a contest from @thegreennut for a years worth of pistachios plus a subscription to Prevention magazine. I was so excited because I rarely win anything! I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was thinking that maybe I would get a bag every month, or little bags so I could do a giveaway. I was so shocked when I opened the door to find a giant box full of pistachios! Thank you!
I guess this would be a years worth! wow, I couldn’t get over it and I don’t think I’ve seen that many nuts in my entire life. Right now I have 3 gallon bags in the freezer, 2 bags in the fridge, 1 in the pantry and 5 sandwich bags full of them.
Do you have any good pistachio recipes?? One that I have to try to make is baklava. Anyone ever try to make pistachio butter? hmmm so many possibilities!
Here are some cool facts on pistachios:
- One serving of pistachios is 49 nuts (160 kcals), more than any other tree nut
- Pistachios are high in phytosterols which may lower cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of heart disease. In animal studies phytosterols have been shown to potentially have anti-cancer properties
- One serving of pistachios has as much potassium (300mg, 8%) as an orange (250mg, 7%)
- Just a single serving of pistachios provides you with the same amount of protein in a one-ounce serving of soybeans and can serve as a protein alternative to meat, poultry or beans according to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid
- Forty-nine pistachios serve up to 20 percent of your Daily Value of B6, about the same as half an avocado
Check out their website, they have lots of yummy looking recipes that I want to try too.
Since I had the day off today (glorious!), I got caught up on some school work. I finished a lit review and presentation for sports nutrition, although I didn’t make too much progress on my proposal and presentation for research methods 🙁 the day just flew by too darn fast!
I also treated myself to a little house cleaning since it was in desperate need, and did a little baking 🙂 Could this have been the reason my day flashed before my eyes?? . . . nah I blame it on taking Chris out to lunch at BJ’s since he had to work 🙂
Morning eats started with pistachio date oats. I can’t get over dates in oatmeal! It makes it taste like caramel-y heaven, and the pistachios give a nice contrasting crunch.
For a snack I had 1/2 of the Clif Spiced Pumpkin Pie Bar. I didn’t really like this flavor, and I will not be getting this one again. It didn’t have any cinnamon in it and had a strange ‘fish-like’ taste to me? Weird. I would much prefer making these bars from Dan which are soo much better.
I tried a new spice today called cardamom in Cardamom Banana Bread with Pistachios from CookingLight. It’s a very interesting spice, aromatic and warm, but with a licorice type flavor. I can’t quite put my finger on the taste? I guess I just have to keep tasting!
I used 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 AP flour. I reduced the butter by 1 tbsp, doubled the cardamom and added a bit of cinnamon and some dates. It turned out nice and Chris is very fond of the quick breads.
Dinner consisted of a bunch of leftover items in the fridge that I needed to use or risk wastage. I enjoy trying to make things from random ingredients because I hate wasting.
I made a mix of roasted goodness (sweet potato, apple, brussels sprouts, and apple chicken sausage) with a maple glaze . . .
And a little lasagna with some leftover homemade pasta sauce, and some sweet potatoes, oyster mushrooms and thai basil I got from the farmer’s market. It actually worked and tasted pretty darn good!
Hope you are having a fantastic week so far! I am so looking forward to the holidays and a little break, just have to get through. I also want to say Happy Veteran’s Day, so thankful for those who dedicate their lives for our protection.
What’s your favorite way to use pistachios?
October 13, 2009
race success!
Boy, it was an eventful weekend! Chris had a really good time on his ride and he was really psyched. Thank you so much for all your well wishes! He felt really good for most of the ride which totaled 6 hours 35 minutes riding time with an average speed of 18 mph. It wasn’t really a race or anything, but he’ll find out about his exact time and rankings towards the end of the week. He’s hoping to be in the top 100 for the century.
Chris woke at 4 am and I slept till 4:30, then quickly threw on some clothes to take him to the ride. I don’t really know how he was planning to function that early, but I think the adrenaline was kicking in. I on the other hand just wanted to go back to bed 🙂
We got there in just enough time to get Chris geared up and make it to the start/finish line. It was more like a start/finish mob because there were so many cyclists! I think this is what would scare me the most. Trying to start with all those cyclists so close would make me nervous!
I felt like a proud mama as he started and then hoped that he would be okay on the ride. He made sure to stop at every fuel station and not take any chances with his first century. Even though this slowed his overall time down, it was a good idea to make sure he didn’t fatigue.
So while he was gone riding like a maniac, I decided to get in the kitchen and do some intense baking of my own! I tried another muffin recipe from Pinch My Salt and I think this one is THE best so far. It’s an applesauce spice muffin that uses ww flour, oat bran, wheat germ and flax with 3g of fiber per muffin. Instead of raisins I added chopped dates and I think these really added to the wonderful flavor. Yum!
I also baked another recipe from VeggieGirl called peanut butter banana bread. I added 1/2 cup chocolate chips. The only thing is, my worst fears came to fruition and I over-baked it!! I had to leave it in the pan too long when I went to pick Chris up, and when I was trying to get it out it fell apart! It sure tasted yummy though and super peanut buttery. Anyone know of good vegan binding tricks for breads? It just needed a bit more binding capacity I think.
After my baking, cleaning and washing fest, I made it in time to get some good shots at the finish, so happy!!
After the ride, the participants got a free lunch from Outback. mmm lots of high quality protein and carbs to fuel the 
muscles and replenish all those expended calories.
As far as glycogen replenishment, general guidelines are to have 1-1.5g/kg CHO as soon as possible after the event and every 2 hours after that until 7-10 g/kg is reached. This is especially important for those athletes who will be doing an event pretty soon again. It can take about 20 hours to fully replenish glycogen stores.
I had to buy lunch and was able to grab a couple tacos from Qdoba just as they were closing down shop. Instead of eating the second taco, there was a little kid running around giving away free ice cream. Heck yes!!
I decided to go for the creamsicle which I haven’t had for ages, and it was just as good and creamy as I remember.
After the race Chris was flying on the clouds and felt really good, but as we made our way home I could tell he was getting much more tired. I made him eat a large peanut butter, jelly, banana and honey sandwich with more fluids and then he rested on the couch for most of the night watching football. I also gave him a good leg massage and ice packed his legs. I was kind of worried about him, but the next morning he was chipper as could be and actually wanted to go on another ride! He’s actually been saying how he’s never felt stronger.
Overall it was a great experience and hopefully I can work up to that someday, or at least the 62 miler 🙂
Sunday we finally got to painting the guest room. I really like the color and hope we can get it ready soon. The color is called Restful by Behr and I want to do a shabby chic theme with some antique feel. I plan to organize it more this weekend hopefully because my mom will be here next Tuesday!
I majorly need to tackle my Google Reader and visit all your bloggies. I’m leaving for the SCAN workshop at the Olympic Training Center on Wednesday! I hope to come back with some cool pictures and useful information 🙂
I hope you all have a great week!
October 6, 2009
lackadaisical weekend
Hope everyone else had a great weekend! I just wanted to give a quick recap. Overall my weekend was very unproductive, but there were some good eats! This month I am working a little less hours, so I’m hoping my lackadaisical tendencies won’t be too detrimental. I think this unfortunate lack of motivation always comes to me at the start of that certain time (wink, wink). I don’t know what it is but I feel sooo tired, cranky and blah. Needless to say, I was a bum.
Friday night we went to a high school dance show to see our friend’s daughter, and it brought back a lot of memories and made me want to dance again!! Boy I miss it terribly sometimes.
Saturday morning I woke up pretty early and had a great urge to bake! This was the extent of my motivation this weekend. I saw Veggie Girl had made a banana butternut pecan bread recently and I thought that would be awesome because I had been craving quick breads, and had 3 large bananas getting browner and uglier by the minute on my counter.
Instead of butternut, I had a sugar pumpkin from the farmer’s market begging to be roasted up in the oven. I also added about 1/3 cup chopped dates into the mix because I’ve been addicted to dates lately. It turned out really good! The only thing is I don’t think I baked it quite long enough at 55 minutes, and it probably needed a good 10 minutes longer. I always seem to do this. For some reason I get scared that I’m going to dry it out or something. I would also reduce the nuts down to 1/2 cup, it was nutty! It sure tasted yummy and Chris really enjoyed it. I put 1/2 in the freezer, and the other 1/2, well, it’s already gone! Chris REALLY liked it!
So then of course I had to break out my favorite quick bread topping, also known as heaven on earth . . . TJ’s Pumpkin Butter!
Just a little closer . . . ahhh yumminess
That was pretty much the extent of my Saturday during the day. I did a little bit of wash and forgot about it in the washer, dorked around on the computer, and also tried very hard to concentrate on reading for school while doing this. Not so good, but I was feeling blah. Chris and I also did a few errands and ordered the thresholds to finally finish our floor, yay!
Saturday night we took Chris’ mom and step dad out for dinner at Maggiano’s since they are always so kind to take us out. Have you ever been here?! Oh my gosh the food is amazing, the portions are gigantic (good for leftovers), and the ambiance is nice too. The service was a little slow, but I’ve always had pretty good service otherwise, plus they were busy!
I didn’t want to drink too much, but Chris’ mom had ordered a glass of wine and I can’t really turn it down. I just really enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.
Funny, I used to hate the stuff when I first tried it. I had the Ruffino Chianti which is always a safe choice.
We sat by the window so it was pretty good lighting while it lasted. Here is our view from the table . . . Hello downtown Vegas!
We also decided to get the set dinner menu where you can choose 2 appetizers, 2 salads, 2 pastas, 2 entrees and 2 desserts! Yikes, it was a lot of food.
We started out with the spinach salad, stuffed mushrooms and garlic bread. Here is my plate . . .
Next came the pastas and entrees. We got the beef braciole, which is one of my favorites there. It is basically flank steak stuffed with veggies and meats and is very tender like meatloaf. For pasta we ordered the spinach manicotti with red sauce instead of alfredo. They ordered the roast chicken, along with fettuccine alfredo. Their portions are just crazy. Even the half portions are shareable.
Here is my plate . . . I ate 1/2 of everything, I was so full plus we still had dessert coming and
nothing would prepare me for this . . .
When the waiter came out he had mistakenly ordered the cheesecake instead of the chocolate cake, so he said he would go bring us the chocolate cake too!!! Oh my gosh, no stop it already please! I was in dessert heaven and yes I did eat too much. I was uncomfortably full, but it was really good. Eating out like that always quickly brings me back to eating better again. I just can’t do that all the time. This week I have vowed to lay off the desserts because I probably ate enough calories for 3 days, yikes!
The chocolate mousse cake was amazing and gigantic. You should have seen the size of my eyeballs as he brought this to the table. I could only muster 2 bites.
Needless to say we had tons of leftovers and the rest of the cake and cheesecake went straight into the freezer not to be touched for at least a couple weeks!
Sunday was yet another pretty unproductive day. I did make it to the gym for jump rope and body pump, but I think I was still recovering from my food and wine coma and didn’t quite feel right. Chris and I also went out to Art in the Park benefitting the Boulder City Hospital Foundation. This is an annual festival where tons of artists come and set up tents over a huge park and sell their awesome work/crafts. My mom and I used to always go every year. It was super windy, so we just stayed for a few hours and just perused the tents.
From now on I’m going to be pretty busy because my mom is coming to town in 2 weeks!!! I’m so happy, but our guest room still looks like a storage shed . . .eek! We still have to paint, get a bed and a comforter, finish the thresholds, and spruce up the rest of the house. Of course I want it to be perfect for when she comes, but I’m going to try not to stress myself too much.
Hope you all have a great week!
September 19, 2009
study hard, play harder
whew, this week just flew by! This is great but it’s been a little too fast. I feel like the weeks are just getting away from me. While I never really was a party animal, I’m employing the motto of ‘study hard, play harder’ this weekend since I’m going to try to fit in both! While tonight is Friday, I’m going to try to get somewhat caught up so that I can enjoy the Greek Food Festival Saturday evening and the Pink Martini Concert Sunday night. Boy do I have lots to do, as I’m sure you guys are no stranger to this, right?
Thursday I rushed to the farmer’s market after work and before class and found some yummies. I think I cut the cantaloupe too soon because it wasn’t very good, but the dates are AMAZING!! I think this is my new love. I have to be careful because when I brought them home I had 5! hello fiber and carbs! I want to try to make granola bars with them or some kind of quick bread. Do you have any good date recipes to share??? Yum!
The bag had a bunch of different varieties, I liked the tiny brown one in the back the best.
They also had date bread and cookies and I about bought them all! Next time I want to try the bread. Oh my gosh, this cookie was just wonderful, you’ll see . . .
I’m meeting with my chair tomorrow at a coffee shop, since it’s so hard to meet during the week with work. I need to look over some more research, but I think I’ve decided on a thesis topic focusing on coconut water! eek! I’m excited yet very nervous about the whole thing. It will be something like ‘The effect of coconut water on rehydration after exercising in the heat’ What do you think?
Everyone I’ve told or asked about it doesn’t seem too excited and many people don’t even know what coconut water is. But, no one in the department is giving me any other ideas!!! I’ve been very frustrated and discouraged trying to find something, but I hope this will work. I’d like to compare it to traditional electrolyte replacements to see if it is better (that would be neat), does the same, or is not a good sports drink. I’m just having a discrepancy between how much sodium is in the product. The USDA database says 252 mg/cup, but most of the brands available say 60 mg or less. That isn’t really ideal for a ‘sports drink’. I contacted ZICO brand and they said the USDA must be in error. Anyone have any ideas? I haven’t heard back from the USDA as of yet.
Yesterday for dinner I made peanutty noodles. Peanut butter is one of my favorite things and I can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert pretty much or just straight from the jar. I love this recipe because it’s pretty darn versatile. I didn’t have any bokchoy so I just left it out and added more carrots. Yum! I like to use soba noodles, but anything you can find works.
Here is the Peanutty Noodle recipe.
And the yumminess I promised! I topped 1/4 of the date chocolate chip cookie with a bit of vanilla 1/2 fat ice cream. Wow, it was the perfect combo!
So that’s what my weekend is going to look like, I need to get to studying and brainstorming asap! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend 🙂
What’s your motto lately?
