July | 2010 | healthy laps

barbara’s bakery & puffins

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Jen

Happy Saturday!

Last week, I was sent a great package from Barbara’s Bakery.

This bag was filled with a lot of goodies!

How generous?! They sent me a full sized box of their Original Puffins and Shredded Oats, 2 of my all time favorite cereals as an adult. 🙂 Along with some sample packs of their newer flavors, including Multigrain Puffins and Fruit Medley Puffins Puffs.

I haven’t had a chance to try all of the packs, but I have been enjoying the Original Puffins this week! [I will make sure to let you know how I like the other flavors as well.]

Yesterday morning, I enjoyed a bowl of Puffins.

In the bowl, I mixed the following for a satisfying breakfast:

1 cup of Pomegranate Kefir (from Trader Joe’s – surprisingly delicious and not too sweet!)
1/2 cup Original Puffins
1/4 cup Museli
1 chopped apricot

Very refreshing.

Mid-morning, I snacked on some trail mix (dried fruit + nuts) to hold me over until lunch.

For lunch, I was craving Panera Bread. I actually don’t like too much there and I always get the same exact thing. It’s something about the bread and the veggies that I love about the Mediterranean Veggie!

Sans onions and feta, with an apple instead of chips.

Yum!

I also snacked on a raw fig bar that I had been saving from One Lucky Duck in NYC.

It was really good!!!

Once home, we went on an hour long walk around Southie, then had an early dinner of Pizza and Salad before we headed out to see Inception.

Garden salad.

Alfresco pizza with tomatoes, basil, ricotta and mozzarella.

It’s a beautiful Saturday here in Boston. We are off to enjoy the day!

Filed under: Eating Laps | Tagged: Barbara's Puffins, pizza, salad, vegetables | 4 Comments »

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, recipe, veggie burger | 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: Glo Bar, smoothie, vegetables | 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!