Whole Wheat Beer Bread

But first, yoga and dinner...


After a number of you suggested yoga to help with my sore muscles, I decided to give it a whirl. I will admit that I have never been a huge yoga person and usually feel awkward when I am doing it.


I decided on the Sunset Yoga with Sara Ivanhoe through Exercise TV because it was described as, "...a calming sequence designed to wind the body down after a hard day."


She moved pretty slow and was very descriptive with each move, which was perfect for me since I am a beginner in every sense of the word. It was tough and I modified some moves since I am not very flexible, but it did feel great to stretch out.

Afterwards, I whipped up an orange & green dinner.
Let's Dish Garlic/Herb Salmon. Roasted Asparagus. Parsnip/Carrot Mash.


Asparagus: drizzled with a teensy bit of olive oil, sea salt, lots of pepper. Roasted at 425 for 10-15 mins. Topped w/ juice from 1/2 fresh lemon.


Parsnip/Carrot Mash: Peel and coarsely chop parsnips (2) and carrots (4). Steam until soft. Mash with spoonful of greek yogurt. Season to taste w/ sea salt, pepper, parsley. This was a spur of a moment creation and surprisingly - I think it worked.


Whole Wheat Beer Bread


I have been looking for a simple bread recipe and think I finally found it. I made a few slight tweaks to a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. (Original recipe can be found HERE)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can of Bud Light
• 3 tablespoons light butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan w/ non-stick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.

Pour in beer (take a sip if you are thirsty) and stir until a stiff batter is formed. Scrape dough into prepared loaf pan. Melt butter and pour over dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

The top of the bread has a slight crunch, but the inside is dense and moist. The prep time for this bread took maybe 10 mins. Very easy!I plan to serve this bread with White Chicken Chili that is simmering in my crock pot as I type this. I have had a handwritten recipe for this chili since last fall. We had it at a party and I couldn't get enough, so I asked for the recipe.

The bread and chili are being delivered to my grandparents tonight after work. I know they wont mind I tested out the bread to make sure it was edible. I didn't mention it before, but Sunday afternoon, my grandmom fell and dislocated her shoulder pretty badly. After a loooong time spent in the ER (we got her home after midnight), she is resting comfortably, but will be recovering for awhile.

Will be sure to share the chili recipe with pictures later on!

Read more...

Friday Catchup (1.23.2009)

First off, I received an award and wanted to send a big THANK YOU to Lori over at Fake Food Free. I happen to think her blog is fabulous also. She describes herself as a "realistic nutritionist" and is all about having a healthy balance with real food. Sounds perfect to me, so I really enjoy reading her tips! She loves to travel and I think that adds a special "something, something" to her posts because you get to see all the delicious eats from different places she visits.

Food

Dinner on Tuesday night was Mediterranean Crusted Salmon with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts. I went the easy route on this one.

I overcooked this a tad, but it still had good flavor. I am slowly getting back into salmon since I had a bad case of food poisoning a year or so ago after eating a bad piece.

The fish was served with steamed cauliflower that I seasoned with smart balance, parsley, and fresh parmesan.

Wednesday night, we went out to dinner and I had a chicken caesar wrap with steamed veggies. No pics, but I wanted to share because I was proud of myself for saying "no" to the fries. I love fries - like really LOVE them. But I want to try and cut down to just having them as part of a splurge meal every now and then.

Last night, I cooked up a quick stir-fry using Trader Joes Beijan Style frozen veggies, thinly-sliced chicken, Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce, and brown rice.

It turned out pretty good, but I just wasn't into the chicken, so I picked around it. I decided to bake up some tofu using the Soy Vay sauce as a marinade so I could get some protein. These little cubes were caramelized and delicious.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal. I am all out of fruit, so this combination included:

• 1/2 c oats
• 1/2 c vanilla soy milk
• sprinkle of brown sugar
• spoonful of part-skim ricotta
• spoonful almond butter
• pecans

Mmm. Mmm. Deeeelish. I ate my oatmeal while checking out some new reading material - Cooking Light. A Christmas present from my friend Carolyn that just arrived last night. There are a ton of delicious recipes, so expect to see some in the near future.

Workouts

Last week, I talked about the training program I started and am proud to say that I am keeping up with it! I put together this handy-dandy spreadsheet to help me track my progress against the plan. Here's a peek:

You may have to enlarge it to actually read it. Items highlighted in green have been completed.

I am playing indoor soccer on Wednesday nights, but last week, our team had a bye. This week the game was at 9pm and after my Tuesday run, my lower back was killing me. I ended up going to the gym earlier on Wednesday to do light cardio and a little lifting (not anywhere near my back), but didn't think playing indoor soccer would be a good idea.

Polar Bear Plunge

Tomorrow is the Polar Bear Plunge and I am still nervous. Today is a beautiful day and the temperature is up in the 50s. Why cant it be like that tomorrow?! The temperature is supposed to drop all day tomorrow.

Our plan is to get there around 10am and tailgate until the plunge at 1pm. I am going to layer up, so that I can decide what I want to wear for the actual "plunge" right before. I will probably end up wearing my triathlon outfit. Tri shorts and a wick-away tank. Oh and my scuba booties because someone told me I definitely need something on my feet.

If you have time, check out some of the pictures on the Plunge site. http://www.plungemd.com/

It looks like it is going to be a blast.

What are you all up to this weekend? After the plunge, my goal is to get warm. Then, get some housekeeping done around the blog...and my house!

Read more...

My Oven got a Workout Last Night (11.12.2008)

Last night I started out on a nice walk with Oscar to loosen up my legs. I felt fine for awhile, but ended up limping home as my right hamstring was extremely painful each step I took. I guess I went too far on the walk and over did it. I am going to have to spend some time completely laying off it and see how it goes. I looked up information about hamstring pulls/tears on the Internet and it scared me. I hope it is nothing serious.

Dinner last night was baked salmon with fig jam and fresh ground red pepper. I haven't eaten salmon in over a year because the last time I did - I got horrible food poisoning, but I felt I was ready. The combination of the fig jam and red pepper worked well and it created this caramelized crust on top. On the side were some sauteed broccoli with garlic, low-sodium soy sauce, and unsalted peanuts. I am happy to be back eating salmon again!!
After dinner, I roasted up some butternut squash fries for today's lunch, but mine got all mushy, so maybe I left them in the oven too long? Don't get me wrong - they tasted pretty good and have a very sweet flavor to them. I sprayed the pan with PAM, layered the squash and sprinkled with sea salt. Baked them at 425 degrees for 35 min - flipping once.
I also baked up some tofu that had been in the fridge for awhile. After slicing the tofu and pressing between two cloths for about 20 mins to get all the excess water out, I sprayed the pan with PAM and drizzled them with maple syrup. I also seasoned them up with red pepper and black pepper. Baked at 425 for about 40 mins, flipping once. Some got a little burnt because I was busy playing with Lucy and Oscar, so I would probably bake them for less time.
Breakfast this morning was oatmeal:

• 1/2 c oats
• 3/4 c skim milk (I really do just eyeball this)
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• dried cranberries
• drizzle of maple syrup
• spoonful of almond butter (cant get enough of this stuff!)

Does anyone else watch the Biggest Loser? I was SO happy to see that smug look wiped off Vicky's face when Brady was sent home. UGHH - she really makes me mad. Enough about that!

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Read more...