I have been meaning to do more regular weekly recaps/weekend posts, but August really just got away from me… so that means the first weekend of September is included here too! And scroll for a the delicioius Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles!

Let’s do a picture recap – 

We went out to an Indian/Nepalese restaurant Namaste, where I managed to take only one very unflattering picture – but not to worry, we’ll be back because it was good and I’ll take some better pictures. Following we headed to another new-to-us brewery – Boxing Bear. I had a sour – not sure why, but it was pink.

The following weekend we went to dinner at Zinc – one of my favorite places for food and good cocktails. We were early enough – ok, insanely early for a Saturday 5:30 and grabbed a seat by the open kitchen. I ordered a gin martini with sparkling wine and lemon, then for dinner a pasta dish with prosciutto and cauliflower –  it was certainly not the healthies item on the menu, but was tasty and I split it for leftovers later. 

 Oh, and dessert was a smores tart!  Yum on so many levels – C and I definitely shared.  
I’ll interupt the food to bring you all a moment of fitness – hiking! Here are some shots of trails out in the Sandias. C and I try to get in one hike a weekend. 

    
    
 I really do live in a gorgeous place. I love and miss the lakes of my childhood, but I think mountains are my favorite. 

The past weekend we tried another new place – or at least I think it’s relatively new in downtown, Soul and Vine. C ad I shared a cheese plate (which had some of the best accompaniments and sauces) and I had salmon with white polenta, cooked greens, and baby eggplant.    

 
Thanks for lasting through all that!  And now for the WAFFLES!! Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, if I could only eat breakfast foods, I’d be completely happy with life. The summer after I studied abroad I actually ate yogurt and cereal every night for dinner. And I’m still not sick of that combination. Lucky for you all, today is waffles. These are a great staple to add to your breakfast repertoire – wholesome, not from a box, and fluffy.   

 
Whole Wheat Buttermilke Waffles

Makes about 10-12 4″-waffles

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all- purpose unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup sugar (optional)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle maker – mine doesn’t have temperatures, but set it to a golden brown setting. 
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients in large bowl, except the sugar and set aside. 
3. In another large bowl, beat together the egg yolks, melted butter, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Gently mix the dry ingredients in to the wet, careful not to over mix. 
4. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. I use a hand egg beater, but you can also use and electric mixer to accomplish ths same task. With a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the other batter. 
5. Pour about a 1/4 cup of batter into each waffle surface and cook until golden brown or your waffle timer light goes off. 
6. Serve with your choce of topping – I love fruit and honey, so for this occassion I cut up some peaches from our tree and mixed them with honey. 
7. Waffles can also be kept frozen for a made-at-home toaster waffle. 🙂

Ok, I think I’ll go make some brinner (breakfast-dinner) now….

I’m sure that I was a strange child growing up… How did I come to this conclusion? Well obviously it was because I didn’t eat Mac & Cheese (clearly nothing else would make me strange or awkward, nope, nothing else) or at least it was never something I asked my mom to make. I was fortunate enough to have hippies for parents – not in the free love pot smoking sense, but in the we get everything we need from the earth sense. If you ask them they will deny this classification, but they did raise food throughout the winter in a green-house, kept bees and chickens, bought only natural before it was hip and chic, and raised us without a television for a number of years as a child. So yes, my sisters and I were raised all-natural (or as much as they could) before all the other cool kids were doing it and before “organic” was the only way to go. 

But back to the no macaroni and cheese. True. I think it comes from an aversion my mom has to anything thicker than a spaghetti noodle. Oh and she also hated excess melted cheese and still does. So until my little sister came along, we had macaroni and meat sauce. Then my little sister didn’t like it so my mom also prepared “mac” and cheese for her (really macaroni with cream and a hint of cheese). Basically I was never raised on it and didn’t develope a taste for it until experimenting one my own as a teenager. 

  
This mac and cheese variation is great in that it can be gluten-free if that’s something you do and you can hide just about whatever veggies you’d like – I choose broccoli, because well, you know – broccoli and cheese are an excellent combination. 

Broccoli Quinoa “Mac” & Cheese

Serves ~8

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 2 heads of broccoli
• 2  cloves of garlic
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk 
• 2 cups shredded marbled jack cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan
• 1/4 cup panko or other bread crumb, optional 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directoins

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. You can use the stove top, but I find that a rice cookers works wonders as well – if you’re lazy and don’t want to stand at the stove. 🙂
3. Saute broccoli in about 1 T olive oil and add garlic just at the end to toast and bring out the flavor. 
4. Whisk together eggs and milk in a large bowl. Fold in quinoa and 1.5 cups of shredded cheese and parmesan. Next fold in the broccoli. 
5. Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish. Spoon quinoa mixture into the bakng dish and gently pat to level. 
6. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and lastly the bread crumbs.  For my bread crumbs I actually typcally use crushed croutons or bagged stuffing.  It is dry bread and typically seasoned – just an extra punch of flavor. I also don’t need to store bread crumbs that I rarely use for anythng else. 
7. Bake 30-35 minutes or until bread crumbs are lightly browned.   

 Since I was trying this recipe out for a cooking class I’m teaching, you can also sub the broccoli for green chilli for traditional New Mexican flavor and of course more spice!

Quinoa is a great complete protein so you can dig in without worry you’re loading up on too much starch. While I’ve used the white quinoa, you could easily use a mixed variety or plain red to add more fiber and color. 

Enjoy!

Confessions – this recipes is one from my old blog, but I love it so much I wanted to share it again. 

One of my goals has always been to make healthy food taste good. From my perspective, it already does, but sometimes it takes time convincing others. With this recipe – it may sound “different” but the result will blow you away. I went in to this project with reserve, thinking – they’ll probably taste good, but… might need some work. Boy, was I wrong, these don’t taste good, they taste GREAT! From this point on, I don’t need to eat any cookie dough but this. In fact, why even bother with other cookies? I challenge anyone to try these and tell me otherwise.
I found the recipe on Oh She Glows, which is primarily vegan, yet don’t let that stop you non-vegans or vegetarians. 

  
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Energy Bites

Ingredients

• 1/2 c unsalted cashews (roasted/toasted works best)
• 1/4 c rolled oats
• 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 tsp pure maple syrup (you may even need more)
• 1/4 c dark chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a food processor, add cashews and oats. Process until it forms a fine crumb, the finer the better for making a dough that holds together easily. Add in the salt, sugar, and flour; process for a few more seconds.
2. Add in maple syrup and vanilla and process until combined (the dough will be sticky). Last, add in your chocolate chips and stir by hand or process. 
3. Form into balls and store in the freezer. 

*I’ve made these with pecans, walnuts, and a mix of nuts. All taste great, but cashews taste the most like traditional cookie dough. 

**Try mixing in some peanut butter or coconut oil to help things stick together as well. 

  
Perfect little bites that fit in the palm of your hand – I use them for a quick bite before a morning workout or when hitting the trals for a good weekend hike. 

Enjoy!

Many of us have hit a slump in our normal workout routine or training regime at some time or another. For me It’s been a struggle for the last 4 months to get any sort of what I would consider “normal” workout. After getting sick, then international vacation, then “recovery” only to get sick again – I think and hope I’m finally over that hill.   
A week ago I started running more regularly again to train for an October race. It’s a marathon relay, so likely my leg is 7 or less miles. Which a year ago I would have said was easy. For the past few years, with only one exception I’ve trained for the Urbanathlon (which is super fun!), about 11 mile race with obstacles in October – twice in Chicago and once in NYC. But this year, due to me having a new job and no vacation and C having a conflicting conference on the other side of the country that same weekend – I’m not running it. And doing another local race instead with a group of ladies. 

  
I’ve been a runner for at least 10 years and always classifed myself a runner – but after thinking about it in my current state, am I really a runner? After my race last fall, I basically quit running – at least with any regularity. I’m a morning exerciser and just couldn’t drag myself into the dark cold to run (running with a head lamp and seeing coyote eyes from the aroyos – nope, just nope) , instead opting for the gym or lighting heavy objects. There’s so much I enjoy doing and not always enough hours in the week or taxation my muscles can take. But whenever I get back to running I realize how much I love and really missed it!

  
So this is my promise to fall in love with running again! And I’m using friends to help motivate! I’m generally a lone trainer (with my fur child/running buddy – Kate), but find while I can rationalize and negotiate not running in my own mind, I really don’t want to let anyone else down if we make plans to run together. 

Wish me luck!

There is absolutely no secret that one of my favorite things to do is bake – I love the smell, the texture, and obviously the taste of baked (preferably sweet) products. Bananas – also one of my favorite fruits. Although eating them plain is sort of a challenge, they go in my daily smoothie, with cereal, peanut butter banana honey sandwiches (a dentist’s nightmare), and obviously in muffins and bread. 

Muffins are one of my go-to easy to take to work snacks or something to eat before a good morning workout – plenty of quick access carbs and a little fiber to get your day going. Especially if you’re like me and need to eat something within 30 minutes of waking or get nauseous and light headed.  

Chocolate is one of my favorite pairings with banana – almost equal to peanut butter, but lately I’m obsessed with anything pecan in salads and with fruit (especially spiced pecans in a spinach salad) so I branched from the typical banana walnut combo and threw in pecans instead. 

  
Banana Muffins (Praline or Chocolate Chip)

Makes 12-14 muffins

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 cup oats (quick or old fashion)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cup bananas, mashed (about 2 small -medium bananas)
• 1/2 butter melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup praline pecans (set aside)

1. Preheat over to 350F. Mix all of the dry ingredients, minus the sugar in a large bowl. I like to whisk everything together to get it evenly disptributed. 
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the eggs, banana, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until only just moist and combined. Do not over-mix, the texture will tturn out rubbery. 
3. Next incorporate either chocolate chips of pecans and stir until only just combined. Fill muffn papers or greased tins 2/3 to 3/4 full. I use an ice cream scoop for filling muffins and cupcakes because you get just the right amount. If you’re making the praline option, top each muffin with two half praline pecans. 
4. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

If you’re looking to modify, you can reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup and butter to 1/3 cup and still keep about the same consistency and taste. 🙂

Have you ever had a food you craved for weeks after tasting it for the first time? A couple weeks ago we went out to lunch to celebrate our nutrition intern’s last few weeks and starting her official dietetic internship. Trying to be healthy and all, we went to a great salad restaurant called Vinaigrette. They do mainly entree type salads with a few sandwich options. This time around I spotted a kale salad that sounded delicious and it turned out to be one of the best salads I’ve ever eaten. I snapped a photo of the menu description and decided to try and remake it at home later. 

  
I’m not going to gloat too much, but it turned out pretty darn close to the original. 

La Pepita Salad Remake

Makes 6 generous portions 

1 large bunch of kale finely chopped

1 1/2 or 2 cans of black beans, rinsed (dependng how much you like black beans)

1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used the crock pot)

3-4 oz of Cotija cheese, crumbled

1 1/2 avocados, chopped

6 T roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), or as desired

Lemon Cumin Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Toss kale, beans, shredded chicken, cheese, avocados and vinaigrette in a large bowl. Use tongs to portion out salad onto plates or large bowls. Top with 1T pepitas for each serving or more if you’re really looking for some crunch.  

  
Lemon Cumin Vinaigrette  

3 T fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup olive oil

You can whisk everything together, but I like to mix salad dressings in a mason jar and shake until fully emulsified. Quick, easy, and ready to use. 

 
I was so obsessed with this salad I brought it to work every day for lunch for a week! Since it’s using kale, the salad will hold up for a full work week if you don’t add in the chicken or dressing until the day you’re going to eat it. 

Do delicious and packed full of nutrients. A dietian’s perfect food. 

Enjoy!

And finally…… Part 3 of this European adventure. From Barcelona, we hoped on a plane and flew to Paris. After a few warmer days in Spain, we were back to chilly May in France. We stayed in a really cute hotel, Hotel Atmospheres – and being on the top floor we had our own tiny balcony. 

  We were staying really close to the Notre Dame, so we walked there right away!  We must have come at the right time because we didn’t have to wait in any line – at then as we were leaving one was startng to form again. 

  Beautiful Gothic architecture. 

  That evening for dinner we went back across the river to Le Tournebievre. Once again Google was on target with it’s reviews. Absolutely delicious!  For a starter I ordered buratta, because well by this point along the trip I was obsessed with it. It came fresh and smoked… don’t worry I shared some with C after  coudn’t eat anymore. 

  For the main meal we both order the duck with Hoisin sauce, scalloped potatoes with sweet potatoes, and carrot puree. The wine was delicious as well. 

  For dessert in predictable fashion I ordered the profiteroles.

  They were tasty.  I also concluded that we both didn’t need to order a starter and dessert, but by almost the last day didn’t really mind a whole lot. 

  Paris at night is when you can definitely fall n love with this city. 

  As we wandered back, we just happened to stumble across the Shakespeare and Company bookstore!  I was so excited we found this on accident!

  Lots of cozy little rooms with shelves to the ceilings with books. I picked up two for my little nephew, but wish I would have bought somehting for my self as well!

  The view from our room balcony at night – gorgeous. 

The next morning we left bright and early to wait in line at the Louvre. This was the man item on my “To See” list in Paris. 

  
  A little bummed I couldn’t get a shot of the two pyramids without 10 other people in the way, but such is life I guess. 

To say this museum is overwhelming with the number of piece it houses would be an understatement. I’m just happy we went to the Renaissance secton first. I snapped a quck picture of the Mona Lisa, which somewhat underwhelming in size and then almost missed the Caravaggio – my favorite Ren artist. Another recent installation I can’t seem to remember the name of or artist reminds me of the sayng we are all just dust of the stars. 

That night we wandered to another gem of a restaurant – Boucherie Rouliere.  I started with a Pea and Mint soup while C ordered a large slab of Foie Gras.    
  

For a main I opted for a trufle ravioli, which would have been great if it wasn’t so overpowering with trufle. C ordered Lamb Sweet Bread which tured out to be really good. 

Dessert was naturally Tiramisu. 🙂

  

The next day we headed over to the Musee de l’ Orangerie. The sun managed to poke out for just a moment. 

The museum’s top floor housed two rooms of eight giant works by Monet – They cured along the walls!

  

The lower level held the rest of the art dealer’s collections with works by Renoir, Manet, and Picasso to name drop a few. 

 For the remainder of the morning, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower to get our “Yes I was in Paris” photos. It was really chilly that day, so we snapped a few then hurried on our way to find lunch and get C some pants instead of shorts.   

For our last evening in Paris we wandered down a random stree and found it lined with shops for bakery, wine, cheese, and chocolate. Needless to say, we bought a few things. Then found a well reviewed restaurant – Lilane for dinner. I actually listened to my brain and ordered one main and a dessert to share. Lion’s fish over whipped roots vegetables (or at least that is the translation from French) and poached apple with home made ice cream. Another tasty meal. 🙂  

The next morning we found our way to a nearby cafe since flights didnt leave until early afternoon. The decision was made for savory crepes and tasty beverages. 

   
   
What a fantastic trip!  I’m so excited to find more adventures with this guy. Great food and better company. 🙂

Until next time Europe!

Continuing where I left off, after 6 days in Toulouse, France we hoped on a train, sped along the coast line, and headed to Barcelona. I actually really love trains to travel – nice large seats, power available to charge things, and the fast trains are pretty comparable to flying (at least when you factor in the time to get to the airport, security, waiting, etc.). 

The first day we just explored the area a bit, found some meh tapas (seriously very few good tapas places near where we stayed, very generic to fit a tourist crowd). After being in Toulouse I had to readjust to the heavy tourist atmosphere even though that’s exactly what we were. At least the sangria was good. 

  
That evening we found a little casual hole in the wall place, no pretenses but fantastic food we tried paella and C got a rabbit stew while I got chicken ratatouille. 

 
After dinner we wandered in the directon of our hotel and stubled across a neat lookng place for more sangria and of course tiramisu. 🙂 At least  shared this time…

The next morning we went over to La Boqueria Merkat which was right around the corner from the hotel. It’s a large indoor market with just about anything you could dream to buy. I think I found a dietitian’s paradise – fresh juices, thousands of fresh fruit cups, seafood brought in that day, handmade chocolates, and of course a few ready to eat empanadas. 

   

After a fantastic breakfast full of nutrients we headed over to La Sagrada Familia – the basilica designed by the famed architect Gaudi. It’s been under construction for over 100 years and still isn’t finished! Words can even desccribe how awe inspiring his design is – and I’ve been to see St. Peter’s, the Duomo in Florence, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This definitely can hold a place with all of those greats. 

   
        
That afternoon we went to see another one of Gaudi’s feats – his Parc Guell. And along the way saw some spectacular views of Barcelona. 

That evening we wasted time trying to find any decent tapas and then landed at My Way were I had some baked brie and a lighter salad – eating tapas doesn’t really make me that hungry for actual dinner. 

  
That next day we booked a trip to Monserrat and a castle wine tasting. Monserrat is a mountain kept abby with breathtaking views and magnificent rock formations. 

 The castle wine tasting was at Oller del Mas – from there we had a fantastic view of the montains. It was a pretty great day. 

 That evening we had another superb meal at Restaurante Arcano. A fantastic bottle of wine, plate of whole roasted vegetables, and Argentinian sausage ravioli with mushroom sauce – I think  was actually too ful for dessert!

 The next day was a day spent walkng along the beach and stopping for Cava – which is basically Spanish champagne. Very refreshing. 

 That night was probably one of my all time favorite restaurants, El Gotic.  We arrived insanely early – 7pm (which is ridiculous by Spainish and French standards) and got the best seat in the place overlooking a ccourtyard.  We got to watch people training on segways – it was really entertaining. Dinner started with a tempranillo – one of my favorite types of wine, a cheese plate, and tomato bread. 

  I didn’t understand the who tomato bread appeal until we ate at here – the idea, smear some fresh smashed tomatoes on bread – well, look at this beauty, brick over toasted bread full of nooks and craneys drizzled with fresh Spanish olive oil and fresh smashed tomatoes. One of the simpliest and best tasting items I had in Barcelona. 

  We shared a mushroom salad wth a light dressing and thinkly sliced Spansh ham. 

For the main course we both got a Catalunya flatbread, basically it’s like pizza but with a better crust, roasted peppers, and cheese. C got a bacon flatbread with dates – no suprise there. 

  For dessert we split this perfect apple pie – can I just say that American apple pie has nothing on this pie. Apples caramelized in a skilet, dough payed over the apples and set in an oven. Then pour hot cream on to the pate and flip the pie for crust on the bottom and delicious apples on the top. Holy yum.   

 The last full day in Barcelona was spent walking around the city and visiting La Pedera an apartment building finished by Gaudi. 

  Barcelona is one of my favorite cities I’ve had the chance to visit so far. Great countryside, welcoming people, and tasty food. After we finished our adventures here, it was time to hit the air and land in Paris – that’s part 3!