Yummy For My Tummy

I bought a Jicama on impulse a few days ago, and as I often do at the grocery store, I picked what was fresh, in season, and lookin' good, and then I figure out what to make of it later. Rather than eating it plain like I usually would, I wanted to incorporate it into a recipe. I browsed through my great recipe book collection and found a deliciously enticing dish titled "Zucchini-Jicama Cakes With Tomato Coulis". Hmmmm... I wasn't even sure what coulis was, but I happened to have a Zucchini on its last leg, and some ripe tomatoes on hand, so I figured I would give it a whirl! It was an extra challenge because there was no picture to go along with it, which makes it hard to visualize what you are really going after. It turned out to be a delectable dish, a perfect fresh summer meal with a warm comforting touch. Here is the recipe if you want to take a gander at it, be prepared, there is a bit of chopping, dicing, and prepping, so you need to be ready to get up close and personal with your veggies & put your knife skills to the test. I recommend getting everything ready before you begin.




From The Vegetarian Planet Cookbook:
"Zucchini-Jicama Cakes With Tomato Coulis"





Ingredients:
-1 small Jicama
-1 med. Zucchini grated
-1/2 red onion thinly sliced & chopped
-1/2 C diced sweet onion
-2 cloves of Garlic minced
-3 Tomatoes finely chopped
-1 T Capers drained
-2 Eggs beaten
-1/2 C Flour
-Dozen fresh Basil leaves
-2 T Olive Oil
-Salt and Pepper
-1/3 C filtered water

Directions:
1. Peel the Jicama, cut in half, then into slices, then into match sticks, then dice.
2.Combine Jicama, Red Onion, and Zucchini in a large bowl, add a tsp. of salt, stir and let sit in sink in a colander for 30 min to drain any liquid.
3. Meanwhile make the Tomato Coulis:
-heat one T Oil in saucepan over med. heat.
-add sweet onion and saute 5 min.
-add 1 clove garlic, tomatoes, and water and bring to a simmer for 5 min on low, then add capers and season with a bit of Salt and pepper.
-set Coulis aside
4. Once the vegetables are drained, pour back into bowl. Add eggs & remaining garlic and stir.
5. Then sprinkle in flour & pepper to taste and stir until well combined.
6. Heat a large non-stick skillet or well oiled skillet at medium heat.
7. Drop 1/2 C batter onto skillet and cook 3 min. or until browned & flip to cook other side. You can cook several at once if they fit.
8. Serve warm with warm Coulis sprinkled over top (you may want to re-heat it a bit).

Should make about 6 servings.
Enjoy! Oh and if your like me, here is a picture to help you visualize what your getting after (:

Run Run As Fast As You Can!

Today was a "speed work" day in my marathon training schedule. On these days I like to head to the nearby Pine View High School track and put myself to the test. I usually try to avoid the P.E. classes, but every once in a while they are there when I arrive and I just have to run around them. I always think that some security guard is going to kick me out or think I have a bomb or something, but surprisingly, no one really seems to care that I am there. In fact, last week the PE. teacher kept telling the kids to get out of my way... I didn't mind running around their little social walking circles one bit, but I did think it was a bit odd that I could probably out run every single kid in that P.E. class. It was a pathetic scene all in all, P.E coach sitting on the bleachers with a few of the kids not interested in participating, several kids playing a very un-exciting game of kick ball, and probably 20 other kids walking around the track or just standing on it and talking about the latest gossip or worse...texting. No wonder why they are taking P.E. funding away from so many schools these days, they aren't getting their moneys worth anyway! Okay, maybe that is a stretch, but really these kids are probably at their prime age for physical development, strength, and agility, yet there they are spending their precious hour exercising the same way their grandparents do... seriously, what a waste! Some one needs to do some serious butt kicking here, and I am pretty sure this isn't the only High School where P.E. is nothing more than a social hour. And then we wonder why kids have all these problems with their health... maybe it's because it was never a priority in the first place. Kids will learn to value what adults teach them is important, thats why we don't let kids talk in Math class, or make Science class optional, because we believe it is important. So why don't we teach kids to value themselves just the same as their calculator? Shouldn't we teach them to value their bodies, their health, their livelihood, their physical possibilities?!
Okay so enough ranting and raving... my workout was great! I ran a mile warm-up, followed by 1x800m, 4x400m, 6x200m, and finally 8x 10 push-ups>100m sprint. Running on the track makes me feel kinda cool, and sometimes makes me wish I was Black too, and when the High Schoolers are there, it makes me feel really young and also grateful that someone taught me to take care of myself when I was young.

Go Ahead, Play With Your Food!

Sometimes after church I am pretty hungry but not sure what to eat, so I like to have a plan. I usually make something Saturday night that will be ready to eat when I get home from church. Today it was a yummy Kale Salad. I love making this salad because you get to massage it with your bare hands... I guess you could say it's a very "hands-on" recipe. Anyhow, there are several variations to this salad, Brady prefers the sweeter version which contains pine nuts and dried cranberries, but this time I made a more savory version. So if you are in the mood to play with your food then here you go...


Ingredients:
-1 head of fresh kale de stemmed (just pull off thick ends and save little kale leaves), rinsed and dried.
-2 chopped tomatoes
-1/4 red onion minced
-1 clove minced garlic
-1 sm avocado
-2 T lemon juice
-1 tsp Agave (optional)
-2 T red wine vinegar (or a similar more mild vinegar)
-1 tsp salt & pepper
-1 T olive oil
-1 T Nutritional Yeast (optional)

Directions:
1. Tear Kale into edible pieces
2. Blend Avocado, Lemon juice, Agave, Vinegar, Olive oil, Garlic, Nutritional Yeast, S&P in blender (I always use my Magic Bullet)
3. Pour dressing over Kale and with your bare hands massage it all together until relatively soft (about 2 min)
4. Toss in Tomato and Onion
5. Enjoy! and enjoy again tomorrow!

*For a sweeter version you would use orange juice rather than lemon, dried cranberries in place of tomatoes, rice vinegar in place of red wine vinegar, a little more agave if desired, and you would also top it with slivered almonds, or pine nuts. Or you can just do whatever you want!

Granola Bombs!

Tonight I had this sudden urge to make cookies... so I dug through my recipe pile (I have yet to determine a system for all my recipe scraps, so if you have any ideas please comment below!) and pulled out a yummy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. It reminded me of my favorite story as a little girl called "The Baby Blue Cat and The Whole Batch of Cookies", that I would beg my mom to read me all the time, in fact if you buy ever buy it, you should have my mom read it to you because no one can do it quite like she can.



Of course these cookies are not your ordinary junk food guilty pleasures, but rather healthy little morsels made from REAL ingredients, like Agave, Oats, Raisins, Cinnamon, Coconut Oil, Coconut Flour, Apple Sauce... you know me, no highly processed stuff in this casa! Here we like to make our treats and eat them too... and not feel bad about it! Also, as Brady knows, I NEVER truly follow a recipe. To me they are only a guide or inspiration, and in my kitchen I make the rules. Okay fine, maybe I am a bit of a control freak with the mixing bowl in my hands, but for me cooking and baking are a chance for me to relax, unwind, be creative, and expressive, so I do what i want and it always seems to taste better that way anyway (:
My cookies turned out great and my house smells like a giant cinnamon roll castle... if only that were truly the case! I reduced the fat in the recipe from two sticks of butter, which I am not fully apposed to so long as it comes from a wholesome source, to one half cup of Coconut Oil and one cup of organic cinnamon apple sauce. This created a more crumbly dough consistency, with a bit of a crunch to it once baked, reminding me of a perfect granola consistency. So I call them Granola Bombs!

Finals and Fun

If that isn't the corniest title then I don't know what is! That's why I love blogging... some stuff you write is pretty good, other stuff not so good, but regardless you always get published (: A few weeks ago Brady and I had FINALS. It was quite a stressful semester, and it took every last drop of motivation to "endure to the end". After our last test, our Biology final, we hopped in the car and headed off to Vegas for a few days of R&R. I love living in St. George, because we are a rather small town, but in only a few hours you can be to Las Vegas! So whenever we are feeling the need to escape or shop for a few days, off we go to Sin City. Of course we CTR as much as possible, but in Vegas, as long as your eyes are open you feel sinful just walking down the street sometimes. It's a good reminder to stay in school and away from drugs. As far as accommodations are concerned, we have a tradition of using Priceline.com to book our room. This is so fun because we enter our requirements into the computer along with a target price, and with the click of the mouse...our hotel is randomly chosen. It is always a fun surprise and a good opportunity to stay at lots of different hotels while also staying on budget. It is also convenient that two of my really good friends live in vegas. We used to all be on the same gymnastics team and now they are performing for Le Reve, which is an AMAZING circus show! We got backstage passes once, and it was so amazing to see all the technology and coordination that goes into their incredible performance. Last time we went to Vegas we ate dinner at Bobby Flay's (Food Network Celebrity) restaurant called Mesa Grill.
It was so yummy and Bobby was actually there for a special party. They serve the most amazing breadsticks and I talked our waiter into getting the head chef to write down the recipe for me... and he did! Great service, great food, great ambiance, I highly recommend it. See the recipe below, of course it makes like a bazillion breadsticks, so we will have to like tenth the recipe. Anyhow, if you are ever in Vegas, give us a call and we will be happy to come meet up with you for a little night life!

RAW Curiosity

My Freshmen year of college is when I became particularly interested in healthy eating, yoga, supplements etc. It was the first time in my life that eating wasn't purely a mode of survival amongst 8 other family members, or my meal choices limited to whatever was in the house. We ate very healthy growing up, but I now wanted to experience not so much consumption, but rather nourishment. In my quest I read everything I could get my hands on, college libraries and nutrition courses were great educational resources, and I would sometimes spend over an hour in the health food store just exploring the shelves. I learned most of what I know from experimentation, free literature, the internet, and nutrition lectures. There is one lecture in particular that really influenced my perception of eating. I remember picking up a flyer from the checkout counter at Whole Foods advertising for an upcoming Raw food lecture. I wasn't exactly sure what Raw food was, and I wanted to learn more about it. A beautiful woman named Kristen Suzanne gave a great presentation and non-cooking food demonstration of what is still one of my all time favorite Raw treats (Avocado Pudding). I have since incorporated more raw foods into my diet, mostly just through not cooking what doesn't need to be cooked, and lightly cooking what does. The purpose of this is to preserve enzymes, which are the "breath of life". When any living organisms lose enzymes, they can no longer assimilate nutrients so they turn in to dead organisms. A completely Raw food lifestyle is very demanding and time consuming (although worth it), but incorporating raw food into a typical diet is sometimes more simple then you would think. For example, rather then cooking your oatmeal over the stove, save yourself some time and electricity by soaking your oats in milk, cinnamon and raisins over night in the refrigerator. In the morning, just drizzle with (real) Maple Syrup and enjoy. The raisins and oats were never heated above 115 degrees F. so you just ate something Raw! That is just one example of the many ways to un-cook your life. You don't want to look parched so don't do it to everything you eat! Kristen now has a great blog, which you can visit at http://www.kristensraw.com & She is currently having a free giveaway too:
http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/2010/05/kristens-raw-23rd-awesome-giveaway-free.html#more

Moving Forward

After church I grabbed January's issue of the Ensign church magazine, still wrapped in its plastic covering, and headed to the pool side for some sunshine and good reading. Now that school is over for a minute I have time to study up on the things which matter much more to me... like the Gospel! I found the article titled "Leaving the Past in the Past" on page 25 to be especially helpful and a bit entertaining. I giggled as I imagined this particular excerpt taking place:

"Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is that charity? Yes! Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don’t keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone, saying, “Hey! Do you remember this?” Splat!

Well, guess what? That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, “Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?” Splat.

And soon enough everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what our Father in Heaven pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing.

Such dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ... In cases of marriage and family, wards and branches, apartments and neighborhoods, [it can destroy so many]."

He goes on to urge us to "keep our eyes on our dreams", and to "live to see the miracles of repentance, forgiveness, and trust transform our lives today, tomorrow and forever".

I loved this because so often we resort to our past to find happiness, disappointments, justifications, limitations, hurtful experiences, accomplishments and so on, which inhibits us from full heartedly progressing. I believe that my past is an essential part of who I am, but I have to make the most of today and each day hereafter in order to fully reach my life potential and heavenly fathers plan for myself and those who surround me.