Luna Bar – Page 4 – Fervent Foodie

Busy Bee & I miss running

June 17, 2010 12 Comments

Tonight has been one of those nights where I haven’t stopped moving since the moment I got off work. Walked in the park with my sister, grocery shopping, mowed the lawn, laundry… and it’s after 9 and I’m pooped!

Tomorrow I am volunteering with the United Way of Summit County for the Day of Action. I decided I’d try and pack some healthy snacks to take along since I know they will be providing us with some unhealthy temptations. (I’m sure I’ll succumb to at least one 😉 )

Walking in the metro parks this afternoon really got my desire to start running churning again. I would consider myself an active person since I’ve played soccer since elementary school, and I just generally enjoy being outside and moving around. A few months back I decided to start running and I loved it! I felt like I had found a new passion. Running first thing in the morning really energized me for my day, and I felt absolutely great. But unfortunately I injured my knee. Still not entirely sure what happened there. The doctor tells me “some knees just aren’t made for running.” I’m not ready to accept that. I hate doctors. But that’s a different blog for a different day.

I stumbled upon this website which gives a plan for building yourself up from walking to running. Stamina is not my issue — I can run 5K no problem (well before the knee issues began that is). I think what I need to focus on is not stamina but strength.

The Plan (3o minutes per day, 3 days per week):

Week #1: Two minutes running/four minutes walking
Week #2: Three minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #3: Four minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #4: Five minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #5: Seven minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #6: Eight minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #7: Nine minutes running/one minute walking
Week #8: Thirteen minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #9: Fourteen minutes running/one minute walking
Week #10: Run the whole time!

I guess the worst that could happen is my knee will hurt, and I’ll have to stop. I think I’m going to give it a shot! I’m just hoping the knee can handle it. Also, how the heck do I keep track of my time in 2 minute intervals? Maybe there’s an iphone app…. Haha.. of course there’s an app 😉

As of yet, no big plans for the weekend and no new recipes scheduled for experimentation. But I did find this little message in a treat I had earlier this week:

Now I have to do something new! I’m really funny about messages like this, or even messages that come in fortune cookies. I often carry them around in my wallet as a reminder to think positively and enjoy everyday. Somtimes you just need a visual.

Fitness, Ramblings

Busy Bee & I miss running

June 17, 2010 17 Comments

Tonight has been one of those nights where I haven’t stopped moving since the moment I got off work. Walked in the park with my sister, grocery shopping, mowed the lawn, laundry… and it’s after 9 and I’m pooped!

Tomorrow I am volunteering with the United Way of Summit County for the Day of Action. I decided I’d try and pack some healthy snacks to take along since I know they will be providing us with some unhealthy temptations. (I’m sure I’ll succumb to at least one 😉 )

Walking in the metro parks this afternoon really got my desire to start running churning again. I would consider myself an active person since I’ve played soccer since elementary school, and I just generally enjoy being outside and moving around. A few months back I decided to start running and I loved it! I felt like I had found a new passion. Running first thing in the morning really energized me for my day, and I felt absolutely great. But unfortunately I injured my knee. Still not entirely sure what happened there. The doctor tells me “some knees just aren’t made for running.” I’m not ready to accept that. I hate doctors. But that’s a different blog for a different day.

I stumbled upon this website which gives a plan for building yourself up from walking to running. Stamina is not my issue — I can run 5K no problem (well before the knee issues began that is). I think what I need to focus on is not stamina but strength.

The Plan (3o minutes per day, 3 days per week):

Week #1: Two minutes running/four minutes walking
Week #2: Three minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #3: Four minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #4: Five minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #5: Seven minutes running/three minutes walking
Week #6: Eight minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #7: Nine minutes running/one minute walking
Week #8: Thirteen minutes running/two minutes walking
Week #9: Fourteen minutes running/one minute walking
Week #10: Run the whole time!

I guess the worst that could happen is my knee will hurt, and I’ll have to stop. I think I’m going to give it a shot! I’m just hoping the knee can handle it. Also, how the heck do I keep track of my time in 2 minute intervals? Maybe there’s an iphone app…. Haha.. of course there’s an app 😉

As of yet, no big plans for the weekend and no new recipes scheduled for experimentation. But I did find this little message in a treat I had earlier this week:

Now I have to do something new! I’m really funny about messages like this, or even messages that come in fortune cookies. I often carry them around in my wallet as a reminder to think positively and enjoy everyday. Somtimes you just need a visual.

Recipes

Turnip Fries!

June 12, 2010 5 Comments

Tonight I was craving burgers and fries! Or at least a healthy version of them. So, we decided to cook up turkey burgers and turnip fries! That’s right, turnips.

I had a few snacks while shopping for groceries this afternoon:

Some Skinny Water (note the clearance sticker)

The Skinny water was pretty good and no after taste (always a plus!)

Also downed a White Chocolate Macadami Luna Bar:

This is my favorite of all the luna bars I have tried. Felt like I was eating dessert!

For the turkey burgers, I used this recipe as my guide but modified it slightly. Here’s what our burgers consisted of:

1 lb 97% Fat Free Ground Turkey Breast
1 small zucchini, grated
1/4 cup red onion, grated
1 clove garlic minced
Salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes

Now on to the fries! I don’t believe I’ve ever consumed a turnip before. I went to the local produce market to pick them up, and once I walked in the door I realized that I had no idea what I was looking for! After some deliberation, I picked up what I thought were turnips, and asked the nearest employee if they were, in fact, turnips. After a huge smile appeared on her face, she let loose a belly laugh, then told me I had picked up beets–which are not turnips for those who were wondering. 😛

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Turnips (as opposed to beets)

With turnips (AKA not beets) in hand I headed to the kitchen to get to fry makin. We gave the turnips a good scrub, then cut then up into thin strips. We were hoping this would speed up the cooking process — next time I’ll go for bigger sticks (more like steak fries size) since the turnips shrink up considerably while cooking.

We seasoned the turnip fries with salt, black pepper, and cajun seasoning. The first batch we cooked at 450 for about 40 minutes (again — hoping to get things mover fast since we were starving). These turned out good — but were not really crispy (even though some of them were burnt). The second batch we threw in at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

The second batch didn’t really turn out crispy either–I’ll need to play around with the cooking temperature on these guys to get it right. Despite the lack of crisp, they were definitely tasty and definitely healthier than potatoes! They reminded me of the kind of fries you get in a big sack at Five Guys Burgers (minus the grease of course).

Will and Grace time!

Recipes

Ten Cheese Pizza

June 11, 2010 4 Comments

Usually on Friday nights, my BF (AKA man candy) and I order up some Gionino’s pizza with hot sauce. This week, however, we’ve got big plans for dinner Sunday night ( 😉 😉 Tim), so we decided to go the healthy route tonight.

The BF follows a strict diet and workout plan, which I have declared the “Road-to-Ultimate Fitness.” He eats the same meals every day. Day in and day out. I would never succeed on the road to ultimate fitness. I love food far too much, and get bored far too easily to do such a thing.

Although the plan was to eat healthy tonight, there were no pizza sacrifices on my behalf! I whipped up a flat bread pizza using a Joseph’s Middle eastern Bakery Lavash bread, some Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic sauce, leftover grilled chicken, thinly sliced tomato and onion, and a random assortment of cheeses that have accumulated in my fridge.

It’s real easy to go over board on the cheese – so I made sure to measure everything out. 1 tbsp Kraft Italian Style Five cheese blend, 1 tbsp Athenos Reduced Fat Feta, 1 tbsp Digorno Shredded Three Cheese, and 2 tbsp fat free ricotta. That’s ten — count ’em — ten cheeses 😀

Some people hate ricotta cheese but I adore it. I feel it adds a layer of delicious decadence to any meal. (Which reminds me — I’ve been wanting to try out this recipe for Lemon Ricotta Cookies)

So back to the main event–THE PIZZA. I seasoned the pizza up with some garlic salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and some dried parsley and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Served up with some leftover cucumber salad.

For a person whose favorite part of a pizza is the crust, I was extremely happy with how this turned out! The flavors of the cheeses and seasonings were perfection! Only item to modify for next time will be to put the Lavash in the oven for a few minutes before topping it — that will give it time to crisp up so the sauce doesn’t make it soggy in the middle.

Stats for the whole lavash pizza (and I was only able to eat 2/3 of it): 431 calories, 35g carbs, 13g fat, 48g protein, 10g fiber

I do want to make side note of my afternoon snack — I had an afternoon meeting so I grabbed a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna bar to take with me. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this specific flavor, but I thought it was downright tasty! Though, it did remind me more of a peanut butter rice crispie treat than a cookie, but I’m content with that!

After the pizza eatin’, I decided to mix up a breakfast cookie. I follow a few different food blogs, and I kept seeing this “breakfast cookie” popping up so I decided to look into it. According to her website, Fitnessista is the brains behind the breakfast cookie. I’m pumped to give this one a go!

My cookie consisted of oats, optimum nutrition chocolate whey, Trader Joe’s crunchy Almond butter, skim milk, some mashed up blackberries, and little brown sugar.

What I ate

B#1, B#2, L

June 8, 2010 2 Comments

I’ve never really tried to make an omelet before, but this morning it sounded like just what my belly was craving! I’m sure there is a technique behind omelet making, but I decided to just throw everything in the pan and see what turned up.

Breakfast #1 Omelet: 1 egg, 3 egg whites, splash skim milk, 1/2 cup broccoli, 1/4 chopped spinach, 1/8 cup salsa, Frank’s Red Hot

Pleasantly surprised by how tasty the omelet was. I was worried the top/inside wouldn’t cook through, so I ended up covering the pan with a lid for most of the cooking time. This worked perfectly–the eggs were fluffy but not underdone. Think I’ll pick up some canadian bacon at the grocery store to throw into my next omelet creation!

Breakfast #1 Stats: 153 calories, 9g carbs, 5g fat, 20g protein, 2g fiber

Dessert Breakfast #2 – I’ve been wanting to try a Luna bar for quite some time. I usually eat breakfast/granola bars as snacks rather than meal replacements, and these bars are kind of high-calorie in my opinion (well they are if you eat the whole thing). Several times over the past couple months I’ve picked up a Luna bar in the store, looked over the package, placed it in the cart, then subsequently put it back on the shelf and walked away as quickly as possible. Yesterday, I happened to see them at a discount store so I grabbed a few. I’m a sucker for a good deal 😀

When I unwrapped the Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar I was presently surprised. It looked and smelled like a big fat candy bar.

So today’s dessert breakfast #2 consisted of 1/2 a Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar on top of some Dannon vanilla greek yogurt along with some blackberries.

Stats for B#2: 215 calories, 34g carbs, 3g fat, 17g protein, 4g fiber

Lunch

Lunch today is a repeat of yesterday (boring, yet tasty) with some steamed broccoli. Lettuce wrap in action:

I also brought some carrot sticks and Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Cilantro hummus. The hummus is so freaking good! I can’t wait to try out some of the other hummus flavors they sell.

I literally licked the container clean. This is why it is good I sit by myself at work 😀

Trader Joe is my homeboy 🙂

On the agenda this evening:

Mow my crazy overgrown backyard
Finish cleaning for the Jewelry Partayyyy (which is tomorrow evening)
Start Prepping food for party… menu selections to be posted this evening.