healthy laps

quick & easy veggie burgers

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Jen

Last night I wanted to whip up something quick for dinner. I kept thinking about all of the CSA veggies we had sitting in our fridge and needed a good way to use them. Something different than the normal stirfrying, roasting or grilling.

What about veggie burgers?!

Quick & Easy Black Bean & Veggie Burgers

Makes about 12 patties

(recipe inspired by Oh She Glows In a Jiffy Burgers)

I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand, so I just added what I did have and I think they cam out pretty good. Next time, I would season them more!

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked black beans
3 small carrots
2 spring onions (bulb and stalk)
1 cubanelle pepper (or pepper of choice)
1 stalk of beet greens with stems removed
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t dried chile pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup curry flavored sunflower seeds (Kaia Foods)
2 tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup spelt flour

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Place all of the ingredients (except for the nuts, oats and flour) into a food processor and blend until smooth. You can leave some chunks if you would like. It is all personal preference.

After the mixture is blended, transfer it to a large mixing bowl and mix in the seeds, oats and flour until well mixed. I mixed in the seeds, then oats, then flour in small increments. Only use as much flour as you need. My mixture was wet, so I added all 3/4 cups.

Shape the mixture into patties of any size. This amount will make about 12 normal size patties, but next time I may make them smaller and roll them into balls as salad toppers!

Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes, then flip and bake another 15 minutes or so until patties are cooked, but not too dry.

We served these patties on a toasted whole wheat bun with a little mozarella cheese and a roasted red pepper/artichoke spread.

Along with kale chips and pickles as sides.

They were delicious!

You could also grill these, but you might want to bake them a little first to help them stay together.

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: Eating Laps, veggie burger, recipe | Leave a Comment »

how to give your smoothie staying power

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Jen

Lately, all I have been wanting for breakfast is a smoothie. I think it has to do with the heat and humidity. Smoothie’s are cool and refreshing and don’t weigh you down. I love how simple or complex they can be! If you are using them as a meal, just make sure to pack them with protein to increase the staying power.

Good ways to add protein into your smoothies:

nut butter
nuts
protein powder
yogurt
milk
oats

A smoothie can definitely be made into a meal by adding a few extras other than fruit. Try a tbsp of peanut butter or pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for extra iron or hemp seeds for extra protein.

This morning, I was feeling like chocolate, so I mixed away in my Vita-Mix!

1 frozen banana (the key to a thicker smoothie!)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (antioxidants!)
5 frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen spinach
1 tbsp mango jelly
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp cacao powder
dash vanilla
2 tbsp hemp seeds (extra protein)

It was a pretty yucky color, but sure did taste good!

Yum.

I try to stock up on frozen fruit when I am at Trader Joes because they make excellent smoothie additions. The frozen fruit adds depth to the smoothie by making it thicker and colder.

Moving on…

I have been so thirsty lately! Has anyone else been? It must be the weather because I already drink a lot of water, but have been drinking so much more recently. Darn humidity!

I wasn’t really hungry for a mid-morning snack, so I skipped right to an early lunch since that was on my mind - leftover Stuffed Patty Pan Squash!

Packed in two seperate containers to prevent them from tipping over and heated in the microwave at work, they were just as good as last night.

Along with the leftovers, I had a blueberry yogurt and 2 apricots. A pretty well-balanced lunch if you ask me.

An afternoon snack included Livin’ Spoonful raw crackers (filled with nuts and herbs and oh so flavorful!) and lemon hummus.

And, a Refresh Glo Bar. I loved this flavor. Chocolate and mint is a favorite combination of mine!

I’m thinking of a quick run tonight before dinner, then I’ve got another quick and yummy recipe to whip up.

See ya!

Filed under: Eating Laps, Running Laps | Tagged: vegetables, smoothie, Glo Bar | 2 Comments »

stuffed patty pan squash

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Jen

Last night, I was determined to turn my Patty Pan Squash into something amazing. I was craving a good, healthy dinner and that is just what I got!

A few weeks ago I saw a recipe for stuffed patty pan squash on Oh She Glows, so I thought I would give it a shot. I basically followed Angela’s recipe, but made some modifications for what I had on hand.

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

adapted from Oh She Glows (original recipe here)

Ingredients:

4 Patty Pan Squash
1 large zucchini
2 small carrots
1 spring onion, bulb and stalk
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked black beluga lentils
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small jar tomato paste
2 tbsp unsalted butter of choice
sea salt & pepper to taste
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
sprinkle parmesan cheese, optional

Directions:

Cut the tops off of your squash and the zucchini in half and scoop out the insides.

I sliced my zucchini into smaller pieces so that they would be easier to eat.

Add the squash and zucchini meat, onion bulb and stalk, carrots and garlic to your food processor and blend until smooth.

Let that mixture sit until you have your rice ready.

Add your cooked brown rice and lentils to a pot with the butter and tomato paste. Warm over medium-low heat until the butter is melted and everything is mixed in.

Then, add the veggie mixture to the rice mixture and mix well. Add italian seasoning (or seasoning of your choice), salt and pepper to taste. I added about 1 tsp of salt and pepper.

Stuff the squash and zucchini. I like them to be overflowing!

Then bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until the squash is tender. 23 minutes was perfect for this amount!

Let cool for a few minutes before serving and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

We loved these! They were perfect and the tomato in the rice was awesome.

Glad I have leftovers for lunch today!

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: Eating Laps, patty pan squash, recipe, vegetables | 1 Comment »

allandale farm csa, week 8

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Jen

It was another great week of veggies from the farm!

We received a bunch of different veggies in our box this week which always makes me more excited!

Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Potatoes

Kale

Green Pepper

Cubanelle Pepper

Beets

Carrots

Eggplant – Does anyone know what kind of eggplant this is?

It’s so pretty!

Onions

Cucumbers & Pickling Cucumbers

Zucchini

This zucchini is huge!

Corn

Garlic

I also picked up a few things at the Farmer’s Market while I was in Maine this past weekend. I just couldn’t resist!

Squash/Zucchini

Patty Pan Squash!

It looks like a tremendous week for veggies! Look out for some fun recipes coming your way.

Filed under: CSA | Tagged: vegetables, farmers market, CSA, Allandale Farm | 2 Comments »

meet my vita-mix

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Jen

That’s right! Guess who showed up in the mail?!

My Vita-Mix 5200!

And, look at that, she just fits under the counter. The base is huge, but I guess that is where all of the power comes from. And, when I say power – the Vita-Mix is powerful!

It has low and high speeds along with variable speeds, which are great. When making a smoothie, Vita-Mix recommends that you start off on 1 and slowly turn the knob up to 10 before flipping it on high for 30 seconds to completely blend. This gets rid of a chance for air pockets which will cause the smoothie to stop blending properly.

You can also use the tamper to push down your ingredients to get them to blend properly. It works like a charm when making ice cream and nut butters.

This morning, I decided to make a smoothie, so I dropped all of my ingredients into the blender.

beet greens
1 frozen banana
6 frozen strawberries
1/2 frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1 tsp spirulina
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tbsp hemp seeds

I blended away for no longer than 60 seconds and came out with an extremely smooth smoothie!

The Vita-Mix was quick! And, completely blended everything. I didn’t have chunks of greens or hemp seeds throughout like I normally would have with my other blender. I could not even tell that there were greens or seeds in the smoothie! It was awesome.

Over the past few days, I have also made ice cream and multiple smoothies in the Vita. Each time, it comes out perfect. It pulverizes the frozen fruit, greens and nuts in a matter of seconds.

I am extremely happy about my purchase!

One other great thing, is how you clean it. Rinse out the pitcher and fill half way with water and a squirt of dish soap.