white bean soup

I love beans!  In particular, I love my dad's bean soup, but since he's not giving up his recipe any time soon I needed to come up with one of my own. 

8 oz vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 can canallini beans (rinsed)
1 can navy beans (rinsed)
1 can crushed tomatoes (basil & garlic flavored)
2 cloves garlic (cooked lightly in olive oil)
1/4 cup vidalia onion (diced, cooked lightly in olive oil with garlic)
2 cups small red potatoes (1 inch chunks, microwaved with olive oil, oregano, salt/pepper to taste, )
2 cups baby carrots (microwaved with potatos and olive oil mixture)

Put all ingredients in kettle and simmer over low heat for 1 hour.  Delicious.

10 Foods That Sound Healthy (but Aren't)

10 Foods That Sound Healthy (but Aren't) from Cooking Light...eating healthy just got a little more challenging! Always good to know this kind of thing, though...

Crazy Cycling and Roasted Veggies!

Still detoxing...  eating plenty of all that stuff that is supposed to help - including more veggies and grains plus things like garlic, etc.


Saturday, I went crazy on the bicycle.  Normally, I ride 12-14 miles or so at a fairly decent pace - some hills, but not much to speak of (sorta).  LOL.   Yesterday, I upped the ride to 20 miles and it turns out that extra 8 miles was all hills. What was I thinking???   To top it off,  at mile 14, Gary challenged me to a race and we sprinted for 3 miles at about 35-40mph.  The last 3 miles were a bit less crazy but I was totally beat and famished afterward.  So, fixed a yummy meal of steamed veggies with chicken and rice and then did nothing for the rest of afternoon. 

Sunday, we did a recovery ride for 50 minutes - just gentle riding to work out the kinks.  For a reward, I cooked some roasted veggies with a 7 grain concoction.  It turned out pretty good.

Marinade Mix

• 5 tablespoons (more or less) of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves mashed garlic (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds  (or, get fennel bulbs, slice and put in veggie combo in you prefer)
  
• salt/pepper to taste
  

Veggie Combo

• 2 Zuchini - sliced lengthwise
• 2 Yellow squash - sliced lengthwise
• 3 bell peppers (I used orange, yellow, and red) - seeded and sliced in nice thick chunks
• 5 baby red potatoes (dice into 1 inch pieces and microwave for 5 minutes)
• 3 shallots - whole
  
• 3 tomatoes - halve and scoop out seeds 

(also as options - eggplant!!  sweet potato!)

Marinate veggies in marinade for 15-30 minutes.  Put all veggies EXCEPT tomatoes and yellow squash in a roaster pan (spread out).  Roast for 25 minutes and flip the veggies.  Add the tomatoes and yellow squash and roast 15 more minutes.  Eat and enjoy.    Serves 3-4. I plan to use my leftovers in a nice roasted veggie soup mix I'll be doing later this week.

starting 4-week detox program (sorta)

I ran across a detox book on sale and it looked helpful so I picked it up. One thing I really liked about it was that it provided practical tips as well as general information about detoxing / de-stressing.  In particular, I was happy to see a four-week menu plan with recipes.  I'll be amending some of the menu items and recipes to fit my needs and food preferences (hence the "sorta" note in the subject line), but it was very helpful overall to at least start my game plan.

Today, for instance, I had a fruit mueseli for breakfast:

• 1 cup diced fresh organic apples (helps eliminate heavy metals)
  
• 1/2 cup dried organic cranberries (helps cleans kidneys)
  
• 1/2 cup dried organic Turkish apricots (good mineral source plus iron)
  
• 1/2 cup oats, seeds, and some nuts (fiber and protein)
  

 For lunch, I went with flax crackers with hummus, mixed greens, and tomatos (protein, antioxidants, lycopene...)

Dinner was a tasty affair as well:

• 1 cup lightly steamed asparagus (cleanses liver/kidneys)
  
• 2 cups yellow and red tomatos (antioxidants)
  
• 2 oz of smoked salmon (omega 3s)
  
• a sprinkling of goat cheese (less cholesterol, more calcium, protein, vitamin A, phosphorus, vitamin K, thiamin, and niacin  - plus it's tasty!)
  

FitSugar

As many of my friends know, I'm a big fan of not only the content but the concept of the Sugar network. Of course they have a fitness and health site and I wanted to share because I was rediscovering it today. Hope you enjoy Sugar (the online kind not that awful white stuff ;)

http://www.fitsugar.com/

Health & Happiness, Love & Light!
:)
~julz

mad scientist in the kitchen

Some days, I just feel like playing the mad scientist.  Today's crazy experiment was my smoothie. I make smoothies every day, but usually I go for more 'traditional blends.'   Not so, today.  Today was one of those  "hmmm, I wonder what happens when I mix x, y, and z together?"  days.    It turned out pretty good - loved it actually.   So, here's what I can piece together from the recipe:

1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup apple juice
juice of one lime
2 bananas
1 cup strawberries
1.5 cups blueberries
1 cup raspberries

YUMMY.   I encourage all of you to go be mad scientists!

playing with my food

A mid-day snack of flax crackers, baba ghannouj, yellow & orange bell peppers, broccoli, and purple cabbage with a hint of a smile of tomotoes!  It's a great pick-me-up, healthy, and low in calories!

Plus, it makes me smile.  :)

On a side note, yesterday I had the most delicious artichoke, tomato, broccoli, and carrot salad with just a spritz of olive oil & vinegar. YUM. Sorry - no pictures!  I wolfed it down too quickly. LOL