Fitness dates

I know I've been gone for the last few weeks. So I'm offering up a plate of homemade cookies to say I'm sorry. I haven't been sharing all the fun and exciting things I've been doing in my time away. But first up let's talk about these cookies. These are the kind of cookies you don't have to feel guilty about eating.

Healthy sour cherry dark chocolate chip cookies

Mix together dry ingredients

2 cups spelt flour

1 cup oats

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup dried sour cherries

1/4 cup sweetened coconut

dash salt and cinnamon

1/2 tsp. each baking soda and baking powder

1 TB. evaporated cane juice

Mix together wet ingredients

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup raw honey

1 TB. coconut oil

Mix together wet and dry ingredients. Form into small balls and bake on a non stick baking sheet for 7 min. at 350 degrees.

I've never made cookies with spelt flour before. But they were light, soft, and had a much milder flavor then whole wheat flour. These cookies are soooo good.

Okay back to what I've been up to lately. I've been doing a lot of biking around town and even in the downtown Portland area. I've become a regular biker and I'm getting pretty good at it. I'm definitely not as scared of the traffic as I was a few weeks ago.

The reason I've been biking so much lately is because I've been going on these "fitness" dates. Which is my kinda dating. It involves a really attractive fitness minded guy and a lot of biking, talking, and lunching. I love these "fitness" dates. It's much easier to have a good time, get to know each other, do things that both people are interested in, and the bonus is you get a workout in. But not too much of a workout, we don't want to get gross and sweaty on these dates.

This weekend I'm doing indoor bouldering. It's basically indoor rock climbing but without all the ropes and gear. You use your own muscles to pull your self around on fake rock boulders. And the bonus is my dates done this before so he's going to help "instruct" me, if you know what I mean.

I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and give a recap. I'm really excited, this is on my list of things that I've really wanted to do.

Biking around town

This morning I biked to the gym!!!!! This was the first time I have ever done this before. I've never lived close enough to my gym to bike there, but I do now. Due to all the rain I hadn't tested out the gym route yet. But today it was dry and I felt like it was the perfect day to give it a go.

I biked the two miles there, did a full body workout, and then biked towards home.

But not before biking a few extra miles to the local coffee shop Ugly mug for a very small soy latte. I hung out reading two of the local newspapers and checking up on all the local entertainment happenings. I then biked home pretty quickly because it looked like it was going to start raining .

It's opening day of the neighborhood farmers market today. I had planned on walking there with my mom and then having dinner afterwards together. But it's raining really hard, so we will probably skip this weeks market and I'll catch it next week.

A new fitness adventure

The other day I laced up my shoes and tried out a new fitness activity.

I tried out barre 3 which is a combo of ballet, yoga, and pilates, with a LOT of stretching thrown in. I wanted to try it because I have been really missing my Wednesday dancers workout class. The instructor has been on maternity leave and there is no other class at my gym similar to that class. Basically Danielle was the only one who taught it. My legs and abs have REALLY been missing the intense deep muscle conditioning. I thought barre 3 would be along the same lines as dancers workout and worth trying.

It was way too slow paced for me with too much stretching throughout the class and not enough time working the muscles. I have a new member 3 time trial membership. So I have two more times to try it out. But I did enjoy trying something new.

Mom's day

Happy Mother's day to my mom. Thank you for always being there for me when life is challenging. Thank you for giving constant support and encouragement and always being unconditionally understanding.

For long time readers you know that I have had a VERY challenging year, even more then you know. But all you need in life to get through it is a good mom and best friend.

So happy mother's day to both of my favorite mom's. Happy mother's day to my mom and to my best friend Michelle (it's her first year officially as a mom).

Thank you for everything, I love you.

Spring showers bring May flowers

The flowers are in full bloom around here and the sun was shining bright this morning.

I went on a great long run this morning. I passed lots of other runners, walkers, and bicyclers. Lot's of people were out walking to all the local coffee shops. But I was on a different mission. Today is the only sunny and dry day this week. So I wanted to get in a good long hard run, and boy was it. It was so hard but I was so glad I did it. The rest of the week will be indoor gym workouts, so it was nice to get outside.

Dinner tonight was my first meal AL fresco meal since moving to this house. I've been here for about 5 months now, but it's been raining non stop. I picked up this cute set of patio furniture at the local hardware store last weekend. I was walking by on my way to the grocery store when I spotted these chairs. They had all kinds of colors. I was torn between a bright green and this pale yellow. I settled on the yellow because I thought I might hate the green down the road. The whole set is made out of recycled material and it's very durable and comfy.

While relaxing I enjoyed an ice cold glass of lime sparkling water with an extra squeeze of lime.

Dinner was as bright and cheery as the furniture.

I stopped at Trader Joe's and the produce stand today. While shopping I had the idea for dinner to be something bright and summer inspired, with lots of fruits and veggies.

The base is brown rice topped with black beans, roasted sweet potato (seasoned with sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic), shredded carrot, red bell pepper, mango chunks, avocado, Greek yogurt, Tj's chipotle lime salsa, Tj's spicy black bean dip, and a squeeze of lime.

This dish just kept growing as I added each ingredient. It was a massive pile of veggies, but it was one of the BEST dinner's that I have had in a long time. You just can't go wrong with lots of fresh produce. I love summer, I can't wait for even more fabulous fresh meals like this.

Spring is in the air

What I love about spring are morning runs in the bright warm sun. Biking and walking around town to run errands. And wearing a lot less layers of clothes.

But what I really love are all the fresh fruits and veggies coming into the markets.

Asparagus is in season and a veggie that I love when it's fresh and at the peak of it's season.

I also love getting out and gardening once again. This year I planted some pots of spinach, several varieties of mixed greens, romaine, lemon cucumber, regular cucumber, basil, lemon thyme, cilantro,and dill.

I saw Kath's asparagus frittata last night and knew I had to make it really soon. So after I got home from the gym and showered I walked up to the store to get the freshest asparagus.

Asparagus frittata for one:

1 egg

3 egg whites

1 tsp. nutritional yeast

dash garlic, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

Topped off with some cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Served with two little slices of Great Harvest nine grain bread topped with a very small smidge of Earth balance butter and some Crofter's raspberry all fruit spread.

My frittata was good, but not great. For whatever reason this season I just haven't found my niche with the asparagus. Last year I loved it and couldn't get enough of it. Oh well there's plenty of other produce coming into season.

Earthy roots

I've officially embraced my hippy side today. I went to a local co op called People's for the first time today. It's interesting how a co op works. It's owned by the customers, everything is super earthy, and you can even work there (not for pay, just for a discount).

They had a lot of bulk stuff. Anything from herbs, grains, soap, laundry detergent, herbal remedies, and lots of raw products.

I also got some dark chocolate chips, only because I needed to restock my supply and they carried the kind from Italy that I get. I was also a sucker for these raw dark chocolate coconut haystacks. It's just unsweetened coconut, maple syrup, and dark chocolate, OH MY!!!

I also found a great deal on coconut oil, crofter's all fruit spread in raspberry and apricot, and garlic gold. I was so excited to see garlic gold products. It's all the rage on all the blogs and I've been wanting to try it. It's olive oil and roasted garlic pieces. I hear it makes a great homemade salad dressing.

And to top off my hippy times I stopped at Laughing plant cafe for lunch. It's got a hippy vibe and everything is vegetarian and then you can add free range chicken, tofu, or tempeh to any dish.

I got the Cuban bowl: brown rice, black beans, sweet potatoes, plantains, and salsa. I added some free range chicken and a whole wheat tortilla on the side for making my own little burrito pieces. I got it to go so when I got home I added some lettuce on top for a dose of healthy leafy greens. I ate half of the bowl and half of the tortilla. I'm saving the other half for dinner.

Ready to go snacks

Snacky balls!!!! I know, not the best description. But they are tasty and perfect to have around for a quick pick me up.

Oats and any and everything else balls:

Base:

1.5 cups oats

1/4 cup raw honey warmed up for a few seconds

1 cup natural nut butter of choice ( I used a mix of pb and almond butter)

1/4 cup non fat powdered milk

dash salt and cinnamon

Then after that you can add anything you'd like.

I added:

1/4 cup raisins

2 TB. ground flax meal

2 TB. ground almond meal

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips The best part!!!!

Mix together and roll into balls. For best results resist temptation and let them sit in the fridge overnight before enjoying.

I like enjoying mine straight from the fridge so that they are nice and firm.

Welcome to spring

We've finally had two day's in a row of nice sunny weather. Perfect for getting outside and reuniting with nature.

I picked up some herbs to be planted in a patio pot today. Some basil, cilantro, lemon thyme (one of my favorites), and dill. I'm also planning on planting some veggies too. But I'm waiting until it warms up just slightly. We've had a couple really cold nights lately.

This evening I went on a bike ride and then came home to enjoy a bowl of Julie's organic chocolate frozen yogurt. Topped with fresh organic strawberries, it was perfect.

Tonight's bike ride was my first since moving to my new neighborhood and my first ride in about 3 months. Man my legs were feeling it, but it was so fun. I forgot how much I liked my bike. I'm definitely going to be doing more biking in the upcoming months.

Giving back to Mother earth

Happy Earth day!!!

Some way's that I help the environment and reduce my foot print on the world are:

Using re usable bags for everyday shopping as well as groceries.

Biking, walking, and running!!!! It's one of the reason's I picked the neighborhood I live in.

Buying local

Planting flowers and tree's.

Recycling.

Using reusable travel cups and dishes.

Using Pyrex storage container's for leftover's or for transporting my lunch to work. Instead of little baggies or foil.

As well as so many other things.

Bob's refill

Today I made a trip to the Bob's red mill flagship store. I feel so lucky to have Bob's only a few minutes from my house. They have a HUGE bulk area that I love. As you can see I have a lot of grains, and this is only one of two cabinets.

I stocked up on:

raisins

dried cherries and dried cranberries

pastry whole wheat flour

apple cinnamon hot cereal and spice n nice hot cereal

organic dark chocolate chips

shredded coconut

muesli

buckwheat groats

millet

Along with some millet grits. I've never cooked millet before and I thought grits sounded delicious.

I made it per Bob's instructions, as seen here. Plus a tsp. of Earth balance butter stirred in at the end. Topped with some Tj's brushetta mix.

And paired with a few leftover sweet potato crisps and some BBQ turkey meat loaf.

I made some extra millet grits for another recipe that I'm thinking about.

BBQ turkey meatloaf: (serving for two)

1/4 pound dark meat ground turkey

1/4 pound white meat ground turkey

2 TB. oats

2 TB. BBQ sauce

half of a grated zucchini (squeeze any excess liquid out)

spices: salt, pepper, basil, oregano, garlic, and smoked paprika

few dashes Parmesan cheese

Mix together and top with ketchup. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Remove and bake uncovered for the last 5 min.

From Earth to table

I spent my Saturday morning helping out at a local nature area. It's Earth Month and Earth day this coming week. So I joined a group of co workers and we helped out SOLV with some trash removal.

The rest of the day was spent working on the home remodeling along with getting groceries and running errands, you know all the fun stuff!

I made a stop at the produce stand and stocked up. For dinner I created one of my favorite and most simple meals. I VERY thinly sliced up an organic sweet potato and roasted it at 400 degrees for 30 min.

It makes the most crispy and crunchy sweet potato chips, watch out they are VERY addicting. Seasoned simply with pink sea salt, pepper, garlic, and basil.

On a separate pan I also roasted some red pepper, shallot, little baby crimini mushrooms, asparagus, and Tj's turkey polish sausage.

I know it looks like a feast, but it's actually a salad plate and it's just a sampling of each veggie and some of the turkey sausage.

Served with a dollop of Tj's jalapeno and cilantro hummus, my favorite. The best part of the meal was the crispy chips. Unfortunately the worst part was the asparagus, blah. It was over cooked and wasn't the freshest in the beginning either.

Mini pizza

There's a thousand ways to make pizza. You can use your traditional handmade or store bought pizza dough. As well as french bread, naan bread, or English muffins.

English muffins make for cute little mini pizza's and are so easy to make.

I always tend to go too heavy with the pizza toppings. I just can't help myself. This mini pizza included a base of tomato sauce, topped with hot chicken sausage, zucchini, mushrooms, and fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Muffin breakfast bake

Everyone seems to making these breakfast bakes lately, like Ashley and Kath. Especially the buckwheat variety.

I knew this was something that I wanted to try and the ingredient list looked very simple to make. When I pulled out my little ramekin from the oven it smelled just like banana bread, yum.

I'm not a big fan of buckwheat flour, I find it too dense. So I tried mine with some spelt flour and a little bit of muesli added for some texture.

Unfortunately mine came out a little too dense in texture. It needs a little tweaking before coming up with the winning recipe. I would like to try using oat flour or maybe even adding some almond flour next time.

My little bake had half of a banana mixed into the dough and surprise in the middle of blueberries. Topped off with almond flax nut butter, coconut, and a few dark chocolate chips for a Sunday treat.

In the moment

Yes I still eat oatmeal almost everyday.

Yes I still workout about 5 days a week.

Yes I'm still on my Journey figuring out life and everything as I go.

Just checking in with everyone.

Right now I'm in the beginning stages of starting some home remodeling. I'm looking forward to everything being pretty and just my style.

I'm also taking up some new fitness challenges in the next month or so. I will be sure to report back to you. There may be some indoor rock climbing in my future, scary.