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homemade veggie burgers

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Jen

I had an awesome 12 mile run this morning along my favorite running route in Boston -The Charles River!

Before my run, I had a bowl of plain greek yogurt with sliced banana, a BlueBran Vitatop and a scoop of peanut butter.  This was the perfect pre-run fuel with fat, carbs and sugar!  It stayed with me my entire run, but not in a bad way.  I felt great!

I didn’t like BlueBran Vitatop as much as I liked the Banana Nut, which I reviewed here.  It smelled like a Blueberry muffin as it was toasting, but was a little dry for my taste.  It was good mixed with my yogurt though!

After some time to digest, I was out on my run.  I haven’t run along the Charles since before the marathon(!), so I thought I’d share some pictures of my favorite Boston running route!

Cambridge side of the river!

Citgo Sign!

Mass Ave Bridge

Boston side of the river.

It was a gorgeous day in Boston for a run.  A little windy, but overall it was great.  I had a great run, check out my splits:

1 – 8:42
2 – 9:06
3 – 9:05
4 – 8:05
5 – 9:01
6 – 9:00
7 – 8:39
8 – 8:38
9 – 8:23
10 – 8:07
11 – 8:37
12 – 8:47

Average Pace = 8:40!!!

Once home from my run, I was craving fuel (and protein).  I grabbed a bag of trail mix from Youbar and munched on it while making my protein smoothie.

This mix contained chocolate covered raisins, cheerios, peanuts, raisins and apples.  Overall, the mix was great, but unfortunately the cheerios were a little stale.  These trail mixes would be perfect for a vacation with workouts planned!

I also used a protein shake mix from YouBar – Breakfast Shake.

This contained Whey protein, cane juice, egg white protein, bananas and cocoa.  Normally I prefer a natural form of protein, but I had this to use and it was perfect for today.  I souped up my protein shake by adding a banana, 1 tbsp of peanut butter and 1/2 cup almond milk.

This was perfect.  It tasted mostly of peanut butter and banana with a hint of chocolate.  I really enjoyed it.  The protein shake does not have a chalky taste, like many do.  They really taste like what is listed in the ingredients, which I love.  I think this would be perfect on it’s own mixed with milk, but I liked my additions to make it thicker and heavier.

However, this snack did not hold me over for long!  An hour or so later and I was ready for lunch.  I was craving salt, so I popped open a new can of Amy’s Soup and made a grilled cheese with cheddar.

Amy’s Fire Roasted Southwester Vegetable Soup

This soup was delicious.  I loved the whole chunks of potatos, carrots, tomatoes, corn and black beans.  It had a spicy kick to it and paired perfectly with my grilled cheese.

And some plantain chips!

Dinner was homemade veggie burgers!  This was a recipe out of the Moosewood Cookbook, which turned out great!

Middle Eastern Cannellini Patties


from Moosewood Restaurants Low-Fat Favorites

Serves 6 (makes 18 small patties)

Ingredients:

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 2 cups minced onion
  • 2 minced garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup minced bell pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 cans cannellini beans
  • 1 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

  • Warm the olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add the onion, garlic and salt and cook 5-10 minutes or until onions are tender.

  • Add the pepper and cumin and cook 5 more minutes, or until peppers are soft.

  • Mash the cannellini beans by hand in a large mixing bowl.

  • Add the parsley, lemon, rice and vegetables and mix well!  Add black pepper to taste.

  • Shape the mixture into small patties.

  • Cook the patties in a skillet or on a griddle for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

  • Serve with toppings of choice.  We served the patties in pita pockets with lettuce and avocado.

The cannellini patties came out delicious!!!  They were a little messy because they began to dry out and fall apart when cooked, but they still tasted moist enough and so good.  Even my husband liked them!!

They did take awhile to make by the time the veggies and rice were cooked, so it worked out for a weekend meal.  I’m not sure I would make this during the week due to time constraints, but they will be great for leftovers this week!

According to the Moosewood Cookbook, each serving (3 patties) contains 239 calories, 10.6 grams of protein and 44.2 carbohydrates.  With the avocado it makes a perfect meal.  You could also serve the patties on top of a salad or with a tabouli salad.

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nutridel cookies

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Jen

Time for another product review!

A few weeks ago I received a sample from the very nice folks at Nutridel.  I was excited to try these cookies after reading more about them.

From the website:

NUTRIDEL is an artisan, gourmet cookie, made by hand in small batches with all-natural, earth-loving high quality ingredients. Our cookies contain no animal or dairy products. They are baked to perfection, and the result is a crispy, crunchy snack you can enjoy any time with guilt-free pleasure!

The brand is a concoction of the words “NUTRItious” and “DELicious”, exactly what our cookies represent. Our products are 100% natural, contain no additives, preservatives, artificial colorings, flavorings or sweeteners of any kind. They are loaded with seeds, grains, nuts, fiber and sweetened with a touch of molasses.

They come in four different types – Oatmeal, Almond, Flaxseed and Pecan.  I received the Oatmeal and Pecan to try out.  I decided to try them both the same way since I liked it so much with the first cookie!

First up was the Pecan.

The cookies come in a package of 2, with 1 cookie having about 60 calories, 4 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein.  Not too shabby for a cookie.

The first thing I noticed about the cookies was the size!

And then, the amount of whole nuts, grains and seeds that these cookies contain!

You can really notice and taste the seeds and grains too.  It was great!  I had absolutely zero guilt eating these.

I broke the cookies in half and created a PB & J sandwich.

I really really enjoyed the cookie sandwich!  The pecan cookie was good.  It was crunchy and had a nutty taste and you could definitely taste the pecans.  It just had a hint of sweetness which I enjoyed.

I decided to make the same combination with the oatmeal cookie, since I loved it so much with the pecan!

One oatmeal cookie contains 62 calories, 4 grams of sugar and 3 grams of protein.

This cookie had whole sunflower seeds in it!

I loved the oatmeal flavor!  I love the crunchiness.  When crumbled up, it reminds me of and resembles granola, which I love!  It was not as sweet as the pecan, but almost had a hint of coconut to it.  It paired perfectly with chocolate walnut butter and maple cream.

I also crumbled the oatmeal cookie over a bowl of vanilla ice cream, which was a delicious combination!

Overall, I really enjoyed these cookies!  I love that they are low in calories and fat, while still being made with natural and whole ingredients.  Nutridel fills it’s cookies with whole grains, seeds, nuts and natural sweeteners such as coconut, cinnamon and molasses.  This is a cookie that you can feel great about eating!  It works perfectly with peanut butter as an afternoon snack, crumbled over yogurt as breakfast, or just eaten as is on the go!

Unfortunately, these cookies are not sold in the Boston area, so in order to get them I’d have to order online which I cannot really see myself doing.  Maybe when a craving hits!  If you are in the California area though, check them out!  I am so happy that I got to try these, I highly recommend then and they are very delicious!

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