back on track

What a great day- I got back into the cooking groove, ate healthy, and was super active. Didn't even need the sun today to make it a good one!

I threw together some muesli/overnight oats for breakfast last night. I used old-fashioned oats, milk, low fat plain yogurt, a splash of vanilla, and agave. I didn't change the proportions but it just wasn't has thick and tasty as usual. Will have to work on that... still edible though and part of a powerful breakfast.

Overnight Muesli w/ Strawberries, Walnuts, and Dried Coconut
Fried Egg + Egg White

Spent the morning at the gym with Tim. I convinced him to go to spinning with me. Mr. Lax Bro was all confident when I told him it would be hard... but fifteen minutes in he was dying! Made it through though... proud of him for being a trooper. After, Tim wanted me to show him a swim workout so I started the beginning of Swim Workout #1... he was done ten minutes later so I just did the first 2/3s of the workout and went for a total of about 1300 M. Good start to the rainy day.

To be honest, after all that working out I came home and had an end piece of Italian sub and a few slices of turkey with mayo. I was too hungry to wait for my time consuming meal! With a less empty stomach, I made lunch for Tim and I- grilled sausage (chicken sausage for me), brown rice, baby spinach, and Dijon-balsamic vinaigrette. The combination was delicious, especially tossed in the spicy, mustardy dressing.  The small cone of Ciao Bella Coconut Sorbet to top it off may have been the best part though...

Oops... forgot about the grill!!! Surprisingly tasty still..

Lunch- its amazing what a little dressing can hide (see picture above).

After lunch, I finished up the whole grain bread, which I started last night. The recipe was inspired by Mark Bittman and was a variation on a bread recipe in his book "Why Food Matters."

Pre-Oven

I followed the recipe very closely and substitute some ingredients as he suggested. The flour was 2 cups organic whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, and 1/2 cup buckwheat flour (ground by moi). I added 1/4 cup each of toasted sunflower seeds, roasted pumpkin seeds, and roasted buckwheat groats. I meant to add flax, but forgot until it was already in the loaf pan (I'd use 2 TBSP). Oops! I put them on top... but they all fell right off when I cut the bread. Next time.

Overall, the bread is OK. It is quite dense, which is what Bittman says to expect.  Also, I used the amount of salt called for, but it still tastes pretty salty. The bread worked well as croutons in my salad and was great with PB and agave. The bread would make great panzanella and holds up well when toasted to lots of spreads. It's a good start to bread making but can definitely improve. Here's the recipe in case you are interested...

Seedy Whole Grain Bread

2 cups whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup buckwheat flour 

1/2 cup cornmeal 

1/2 tsp yeast 

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup toasted buckwheat groats

1) Mix first 5 ingredients. You can use only whole wheat flour if you prefer (or any other kind of whole grain flour in place of the cornmeal and buckwheat).  Add 11/2 cups of water and mix; add water as needed to make the dough wet and sticky but not liquidy. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place in the kitchen for 12 to 24 hours. (I used the microwave). Allow to rise until surface is dotted with bubbles (may seem "popped"). Warm kitchen= faster rising.

2) Grease a loaf pan. (Be generous! I didn't use enough and my bread stuck.) Fold in seeds and groats. Transfer to loaf pan and cover with a towel. Allow bread to rise to double in size, about 2 hours.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush olive oil over top of loaf and dust with cornmeal if desired. Bake for about 45 minutes until top is golden and the bread makes a hollow sound when tapped. Remove from pan immediately (unless its stuck... like mine) and allow to cool on rack.

Post-Oven

The bread was done just in time for me to head to GOTR. It was rainy but we needed to do a long run so  we ran in the rain. Today's workout included a game where the coaches were "IT" in a game illustrating the effects of good and bad friends. I ended up sprinting quite a bit... by the end my muscles had hit their limit for the day!

After GOTR I made some Minted Green Pea Hummus. Inspired by Faith from Graceful Fitness, I figure this will be a good salad and bread topper for the week. Easy recipe! Has a sweet, fresh taste from the peas. Faith added edamame, which I didn't have. Sun-dried tomatoes would be good in this too!

Minted Green Pea Hummus 

1 bag frozen green peas (defrosted under hot water) 

large handful fresh mint 

juice of one lemon 

ground salt, ground pepper, sprinkle of cayenne 

Throw everything in the food processor and whirl away!

After the pea hummus, I roasted some mushrooms and sweet potatoes (they were both leftover from other recipes and I didn't want them to go bad).

They were great on tonight's salad. Baby spinach, Minted Green Pea Hummus, crumbs from the Seedy Whole Grain Bread, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and strawberries all drizzled with just a touch of agave.

Don't let the bowl fool you. That was for picture taking only. I ended up trowing the salad in a container and eating it in Annie's car on our way to see Bridesmaids.  Typical me. The movie was the prefect chick flick. Kept me laughing!

Luckily my salad dinner made room for dessert...

The following were taken with the NEW camera. Yay!!!

meet

 have a rendezvous with some sliced almonds and.... 

DESSERT!!!

Favorite dessert ever.  Had to go to ShopRite for my mom and checked the ice cream- Ciao Bella was only $2.00 a pint! Unbelievable price. Soooo I bought two blackberry cabernet. Lots of frosty deliciousness to eat now...

More recipes tomorrow!