FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

My Black & Bleu

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You know, I bought a 20 class yoga card at Yogani on 7/18/2009, just three days after moving back to Tampa from Dallas.  That class card should have been all sorts of used up by say…  August, maybe September, of 2009.  But it wasn’t.  I renewed the card on 1/20/2010 and, embarrassingly, again on 4/19/2011.  I think the lady at the counter felt badly for me at that point and set my new class card to expire on 12/2/2036.

Tonight, I decided to use up the remaining classes (for real this time) before I head back to Texas.  Even though there’s always a chance I’ll end up back in Tampa sometime between now and 2036, let’s not hope for that.

After yoga, I headed to the market to pick up ingredients for my version of a Black & Bleu.

I may or may not have had this song stuck in my head as I cruised through the aisles.

I scooped up the bluest bleu I could find and headed home to sauté portobellos in coconut oil.  I sprinkled garlic salt and crushed red pepper liberally and let them finish cooking.  I topped mixed greens with the heavily seasoned shrooms and cheese and called it a meal.

I intentionally over-seasoned the mushrooms (beware of pepper sneezes!) so there wasn’t a need for dressing.  And with all the umami-ness going on, this was quite possibly the easiest, meat-free, meatiest salad on earth!

Spicetastic Salad

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Salads are so much more satisfying with cheese.  Spicy cheese.  Like…  Hot habanero cheese.

I stopped at the market on my way home from running on Bayshore Blvd and wandered the aisles hoping for inspiration.  We never really found one another, me and inspiration, but a simple salad started sounding really darn good when nothing else came to mind.

Over a bed of mixed greens (super greens according to the package), I layered 1/3 can of black beans, a generous portion of fresh salsa, one serving of shredded hot habanero cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.  Now that cheese and I are friends again, I have a feeling that fun salads are making a come back in my life!

As far as the run, I got a tad closer to gauging 3.1 miles and a tad farther from a pace in the 10’s.  Perhaps I shouldn’t take three weeks off next time!

Did you take a break from working out during the holidays?  How was your first workout of the new year?

Bayshore And Dinner?

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I’ve created my own tradition of totally cheating on the last day of a cleanse.  I’m “good” all day and then dinner-time comes around and I just know I deserve sushi.  Today was no exception.  Right after work, I texted Robbie “Bayshore and dinner?”.

We walked a chilly four miles and then headed to Soho Sushi, which was wayyy too crowded, so we headed to The Rack, which was also way too crowded.  Thursday night at The Rack is $20 all you can eat sushi (select rolls), random American food, and all you can drink.  Despite the crowd, we found an empty table in a dark, dark corner.  So dark we needed the flashlight app to read the menu!

Robbie did the twenty dollar deal and I ordered the same exact thing as the last time: the avocado tuna dish and the veggie delight roll.  And no beers for me, just lots and lots of water.  Why is it so much easier to chug water at a restaurant than it is at home?  Is it the straw?  The ice?  The lemon?

I couldn’t tell whether the portions were larger this time or my stomach had shrunk after days of juicing, but either way I went to town on my meal.  Dee-lish.

And when the check came?  $20.12.  I smiled and scribbled my name, knowing this is going to be such a good year!

Do little “signs” like this make you happy?

Brrrrrrrr!

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So this is my oh-my-gosh-i-just-checked-the-weather-and-the-low-tonight-is-twenty-eight-degrees face. I feel like I was just complaining about the hottest Christmas ever and now… Well, surely this is some sort of coldest January 3rd ever.

I put on my puffer jacket (no?  that’s not what they’re called?) and headed to Barre Fitness to meet Meghann.  Can you believe I haven’t seen her since our flight home from Healthy Living Summit!

I was really nervous about attending this class during my cleanse/detox, but I made sure to drink a ton of water and eat a decent amount of nuts (in addition to smoothies and kale) throughout the day.  Much to my surprise, I had plenty of energy tonight.  Was it easy?  Hah, no!  My body was a shakin’.  But this has been the best cleansing experience I’ve had to date and I was so happy to be able to finish a solid workout.

Meghann and I tried to find a place that was “cleanse friendly” for dinner, but everything was closed.  I can’t wait to read about what she thought of the class since she’s attended similar classes before.  BTW how great does she look??  She posted before/after pictures on Facebook today and the results are AMAZING!!