An exciting salad and a J-O-B!!

Lunch today was a spinach salad with a creamy avocado dressing and mango salsa.

The mango salsa was left over from last’s night’s tilapia (sorry, no pic…bad food blogger). It very fresh and delicious! It consists of mango, red pepper, fresh mint, lime juice, and jalapeno.

The dressing was adapted from my Healthy Hedonist cookbook, and it was so freakin’ good even though I had to change up some of the ingredients. I used:

• One ripe avocado
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (original recipe called for lime juice, which would be awesome. I was nervous about this substitution, but it turned out delicious!)
• 1/4 cup water
• salt (about 1/2 t), pepper (a couple generous shakes), cumin (a pinch), cayenne (a very small pinch…I’m a wimp with spicy food)

I blended everything together in my Magic Bullet. YUM! It went perfectly with this mango salsa, but I will definitely make it again and try other salad topping! Any ideas?

Other exciting news is that I am now employed! It’s only part-time, but I am pretty pumped. I am going to orientation on Monday. Any guesses on what it is? Hint: It has to do with food, but it is not waitressing! Yay!

I will reveal my new job later this weekend plus a recent raw food “cooking” experiment.

Have a great weekend!!!

ETA: I just updated my recipe links under my “Favorite Posts” page. It’s the last tab at the bottom of the Raspberry Runner banner. It has all recipes featured on my blog that I loved (anything I made that was just OK, I didn’t bother linking to) plus some other interesting posts (e.g. my trip to Costa Rica). Check it out!

I Dream of Ice Cream…

…but instead eat kale salad with goat cheese and sweet potatoes!

After giving up sweets for Lent, I seriously have been having some very vivid dreams involving decadent desserts. Most recently, I was dreaming of eating some dark chocolate gelato. It was pure bliss.

But besides these dreams, it has been really empowering to be able to deny my sweet tooth. And of course I feel better after eating healthy foods, like this salad. 

For my kale salad, I whipped up a creamy balsamic dressing using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and homemade hummus. Yes, hummus is a great thickener for dressings!

Then I mixed it with a few handfuls of kale, and let it marinade in the fridge for about an hour.

I also sliced up a couple sweet potatoes:

I tossed the sweet potatoes in olive oil and sea salt and baked at 400 while the kale was marinating.

All together with some goat cheese crumbled on top of the salad. A bite of sweet potato + goat cheese + kale = perfection! Oh, and I ate about 3 times the amount of sweet potatoes pictured…it just looked pretty this way

I also had a small handful of these for “dessert”:

Holy yum! You all should try these! But be warned, they are super addicting. You will have to use extreme will power to not eat half the container at once!

I washed everything down with some vanilla apricot tea.

I am learning to appreciate hot tea without adding any sugar! I’m pretty happy with this mini-accomplishment

On another happy note, we had some gorgeous 70 degree weather in Georgia yesterday! I can’t wait until spring!!!! To enjoy the wonderful weather, I walked a total of over 4 miles yesterday outside (I have not been able to run lately due to problems with my hamstring…I’m very very frustrated. But walking is fine.) I did two 1.2 miles loops in the neighborhood with my mom, read a book outside in the sun on our deck for a while, and then walked two more miles with Chip down by my favorite trails down by the river. Perfect Sunday afternoon! 

Is the weather warming up where you are?

And do you ever dream about food? I have food dreams pretty often, but I’m having them more frequently now that I am not eating sweets. Although most of my food dreams are happy, I also have food dreams where I overeat and feel frightened of gaining weight. But the chocolate gelato dream last night was definitely a happy one!

40 Days and 40 Nights

Anyone remember that movie with Josh Hartnett? It wasn’t a very good movie, but wow he was cute in it! What ever happened to him?

I think I had this picture in my locker in middle school...

Josh Harnett successful resisted temptation his movie, and for Lent this year, I will be giving up one of my biggest temptations: sweets.  That means no chocolate or ice cream for 40 days. Ahhh!!!!! Everything else (cookies w/out chocolate, donuts, candy…) will not be missed (I don’t really eat those anyway), but I am so addicted to chocolate, and my love for creamy frozen dessert is strong even during the winter time!

I had a dream about chocolate covered strawberries last night. This is going to be a long Lent!

 Although Lent is a religious practice, many people have also turned it into a personal challenge or a renewal of New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that. I actually think it’s pretty cool that millions of people all challenge themselves to give up something that they don’t need (or some people choose to do something positive) during these 40 days regardless of how closely they tie it to religion. I also that it is very motivating to know that others are making similar sacrifices during this time. 

I’ve given up sweets before in high school with the intention of bingeing on chocolate bunnies on Easter and going back to my sweet tooth ways. This time, I’m hoping to get out of the habit of having a dessert everyday (or snacking on chocolate chips…) and drastically reduce the amount of sweets I consume permanently. I’m not saying I’m never going to indulge again, but never again everyday. It will be truly an indulgence, not a habit.

And now I present to you, a non-sweet tooth girl’s breakfast:

Two eggs with sauteed spinach, smoked salmon, capers, parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Heaven.

Are you giving up anything for Lent? Or more importantly, what did you have for breakfast? (Don’t tell me if there was chocolate involved!!)

P.S. Thanks for all your comments on my last post. Chip kept checking the comment page to see what you all said about him .

Honey, I have a food blog. V-Day 2010.

Despite the fact that I very much enjoy reading about bloggers’ significant others and the cute things they do together, I have been embarrassed to share my own romanic adventures on the internet.

[If you are only interested in Valentine's dinner food porn, scroll to the bottom of the post!]

It’s probably a little strange to bring up having a food blog on the first date, but then when do you do it? After a month? Two months? For me, I guess it was eight months! It felt wrong to talk about him on the blog when he didn’t know about it, but now he does, so here we go:

Chip and I met over the summer right after I got back from Bonnaroo. He lives in Atlanta and had come up to Athens to watch his friend’s band play. We immediately hit it off.

Summer is an great time to start dating somebody especially when his friend has a beach house .

Us at Pawley's Island

 

I quit my waitressing job in Athens and moved to Atlanta in December. The main reason is that I was sick of waitressing full time, and I wanted to try to do something else with my life (semi-excited news about that later!), but it’s also nice to be close to him, of course.

 

New Years Eve in ATL

 

Not only has he been a good boyfriend, but he is also a great cooking partner and workout buddy, so it’s really a shame I haven’t talked about him on the blog sooner!

I was actually outed about my blog by friend a couple weeks ago. We set her up with one of his friends, and she brought up my blog while they were waiting for me to show up for a double date. So now its out in the open, and I can start sharing all the awesome meals we make together! Starting with Valentines Day 2010.

Our first Valentines Day adventure was rock climbing at Atlanta Rocks. He had been climbing a few times before, but it was my first time! Rock climbing is actually a good couples activity because you do it in pairs. One person climbs while attached to a rope while the other person is at the bottom attached to the pulley thing that saves their life if they fall.

I’m not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of having someone’s life in my hands, so being at the bottom was way scarier! In the end, we had a lot of fun, and no one died, so I’d say it was a successful activity! 

On to the meal! We went all out on this one. Starting with fruit and cheese:

And a ribeye steak for two:

 

looks like a heart, right?

 

Chip made a red wine reduction sauce for the steak based on a recipe his friend who went to cooking school taught him:

In the sauce:

• half an onion
• a large carrot
• baby portabello mushrooms (a large handful)
• small can of beef broth
• a couple cups of red wine
• butter (added at the end)

It takes a long time for the liquid to reduce to a sauce consistency. We let it cook for about an hour, and then cheated and added a bit of flour to thicken it up!

Shrimp was on sale, so we also sauteed some shrimp in lemon, garlic, and butter:

For some veggies, I sauteed some kale with a splash of red wine. Yum!

My plate:

The sauce on the steak was to die for!! It was also amazing on the kale! I ate all my kale, about half of the steak, and most of my shrimp. It was a huge meal, but sooo delicious! We were very happy with how it turned out .

Did you eat anything special on Valentine’s Day?

Also, how do you decide who you tell about your blog? Is there anyone significant in your life (family member, good friend, boy/girl friend) who doesn’t know?

V-day Celebrations

Q: Why is Valentine’s Day the best day for a celebration?

A: Because you can really party hearty!

Ok, so that may be the worst joke ever (and no, I did not make it up!), but Valentine’s Day is a good day to party regardless of your relationship status. Check out my shenanigans last year in this post.  If the bars aren’t your scene, have a girls night in! My freshman year of college we had a dorm party (no boys allowed!) that included chocolate, cosmos, and Grey’s Anatomy DVD’s. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Even if all your friends are in relationships, and you are single, you can still dance around your room on a sugar high from V-Day candy and then take a bubble bath. Sounds like a good night to me!

Regardless of your plans, I think you need a playlist. Because everything is more fun with music.

The “Girls Rule, Boys Drool” Bitter V-Day Playlist

1. Womanizer; Britney Spears 
2. You’re So Vain; Carly Simon
3. I Kissed a Girl; Katy Perry
4. Single Ladies; Beyonce
5. Since You’ve Been Gone; Kelly Clarkson
6. Lollipop; MIKA
7. Hit ‘em Up Style (oops); Blu Cantrell 
8. I Don’t Need a Man; Pussy Cat Dolls
9. You and Your Hand; Pink
10. Poker Face; Lady Gaga (Somehow, I’m still not sick of this song…)
11. Knock ‘em Out; Lily Allen <—I LOVE Lily Allen. Any girl who has ever gone to a bar should listen to this song

Non-Cheesy (Sort of) Love Songs

1. Us; Regina Spektor
2. Green Eyes; Damien Rice 
3. I’m the Man Who Loves You; Wilco
4. The Luckiest; Ben Folds
5. Requiem for O.M.M.2; Of Montreal (I had to throw in an Athens band. This is a great song! And the video is cool, too!)
6. Love You Madly; Cake
7. Funny Little Frog; Belle and Sebastian 
8. 1234; Feist  (If you like this song, Mushaboom is another Feist song that would go well on this playlist.)
9. You Make My Dreams; Hall & Oates (Ok, definitely a little cheesy, but it’s such a fun song!)
10. Cupid; Jack Johnson
11. She’s Got You High; Mumm-Ra

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day??

Best Tomato Soup Ever

No joking. This is it. Best tomato soup I’ve ever had!

I served mine with a big dollop of plain greek yogurt and homemade whole wheat sourdough toast with chicken salad on the side. Yummmmm

Recipe is from Giada: Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary

5 reasons I’m obsessed with this soup:

1. It has pureed cannenllini beans that make it super creamy.
2. Rosemary goes so well with tomatoes. 
3. It has carrots in it. They end up being pureed in the soup, so you never notice them, but I just think its cool/unexpected.
4. It tastes decadent, but its really light, healthy, and refreshing.
5. Ever since I came back from Istanbul, I like finding dishes that go well with yogurt. (The Turks put yogurt on almost everything.) Yogurt with this soup tastes like heaven!

What is your favorite soup?

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi and Cauliflower Puree

Thanks for all of your comments on my last post. I really appreciate you all sharing your stories! I think it is important to realize that how ridiculous it was for us to worry about our bodies when we were healthy kids to see that it is equally ridiculous for us to worry about it now if we are in good health.

Anyway, I finally found my camera cord! Yay! I’ve been dying to post about one of the best dinners I have had in a while: ginger glazed mahi mahi with cauliflower puree and steamed green beans.

Fish + ginger = one of the best combinations ever! Total mouth-gasm.

these are the faces i make when i eat really good food. it's completely normal!

 

Mahi mahi is one of my favorite fishes….it has more of a meaty texture than some fish but is still so tender and flaky! I was afraid to eat mahi mahi for a while after I heard that it was a dolphin. But although its common name is “dolphin fish,” it is not at all related to Flipper .

Recipe is from Allrecipes. Click on link, and make it tonight! You won’t regret it.

The other highlight of the meal was the cauliflower puree, which looks and tastes suspiciously like mashed potatoes. It’s like the non-starchy version of mashed potatoes, and it is delicious!

Recipe is from Epicurious. The recipe has directions on how to steam a head of cauliflower, but I recommend the easy way– buy 2 bags of the “steam in bag” cauliflower (pre-chopped, pre-washed) and microwave according to instructions. Then you just pour one bag into food processor along with 1/4 cup hot water from sink. Puree until smooth, then add the other bag along with 3 T butter, 1 t salt (I used sea salt…yum!), pepper (recipe says 1/4 t, I recommend at least double that!), and just enough hot water to make it smooth.

What is your favorite way to eat fish (or tofu if you don’t eat fish)?

Oh, I’m sorry…did my pin get in the way of your ass? Do me a favor and lose 5 pounds immediately!

Since I am hopelessly disorganized and can’t find my camera cord to upload some awesome recent food pics, I am going to use this post to discuss some body image issues and make bad Zoolander jokes .

There is more to life than being really, really ridiculously good looking, but I’m pretty bummed about gaining some weight recently. I have no idea how much I’ve gained (I am officially frightened of the scale), but I do know that  bought a dress a month before New Year’s Eve that no longer fit on the actual night. Also, I’ve been torturing myself trying to wear my favorite jeans than now give me muffin top.

I realize that it is so stupid for me to stress this much since I am at a healthy weight, but somehow it is ingrained in me to never be satisfied with the way I look. I remember the insecurities starting very young. And it definitely wasn’t just me…other girls said negative things about their body when we were kids. A couple examples:

• Once at a swim meet when I was 8-years-old, I was hanging out around the pool with some other girls my age. Everyone was making comments on how fat they were (no one was actually fat). I chimed in and agreed that I was fat, too. One girl looked at me and said, “Yeah, I guess you are kind of wide….” Later that night, I told another friend about the situation, and she assured me that I was thinner than the girl who called me “wide.” Why were we talking about this when we were all healthy weight 8-year-olds?!!
• At the very beginning of the year in 6th grade, we all got our height and weight measured as part of a physical fitness assessment. I was 4’11” and 82 pounds (normal for that age). My best friend was similar height, but weighed 78-ish. I remember wishing that I still weighed under 80 pounds. Pre-puberty, I had already learned that weighing less is considered more desirable.

I’m curious, does anyone else have similar experiences? 

Americans are more concerned about health and nutrition than any one else in the world, yet we have the most health problems. While obesity becomes more prevalent, I think that being thin has become more enviable than being rich (at least for women).

America is so fixated on being thin that even normal weight women feel bad when they gain a little. Instead of weight loss, we should be focused on eating real foods that nourish us (apples are good, fortified cereal bars are not) and enjoying being active (play a sport, talk a walk or run outside; don’t just do the stationary bike while texting and reading a magazine– I see this EVERY TIME I go to the gym).  

I know that I am probably preaching to the converted as most healthy living bloggers seem to have a healthy attitude towards food and body image, but I struggle sometimes, and I’m sure someone else who is reading this does, too.

I wrote this post with the intention of giving some tips on having a better body image, but I’m getting stuck. Besides watching morbidly obese people on Biggest Loser attempt to work out (Whoa that person weighs 400 pounds and can barely walk on a treadmill! I am so thin and in shape!), how do you put body image issues in perspective? 

Now on to some good things that have been going on in my life recently:

• My Magic Bullet blender is no longer a virgin . Yay smoothies!!!
• Despite the fact that I can’t seem to lose any fat, I have been gaining some muscle lifting weights 3 x a week. My arms actually have some definition!
• I’ve made some really healthy and awesome dishes that I will blog about when my camera cord is located…
• THE LOST SEASON PREMIERE IS TOMORROW!!! “NO MORE QUESTIONS, ONLY ANSWERS.” Who else is excited for the final season?