Kale, Potatoes and a Kitchen

Last night I got home at 830pm starving.  The only 2 fresh things I had in my kitchen were a beautiful head of kale and a bunch of small potatoes.  I decided to get creative and make a meal of this.  Whenever I'm at a loss of ingredients for dinner I immediately turn to eggs.  I love a fried egg on just about anything but I especially love them on salads (the BEST for brunch).  The yolk makes the best dressing on its own or mixed with another.

So my first course: kale salad, spicy Dijon Mustard dressing, and a fried egg on top. 

For the dressing: Olive oil, Dijon Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar, a little Red Wine Vinegar, salt and pepper

This salad was actually very filling and probably would've been plenty for dinner, but I already had my heart set on roasting those potatoes.

Growing up my Mom always made roasted potatoes.  They are so flavorful and so easy to make.  I chopped each potato into quartered wedges and threw them all in a bowl.  Then, I lightly drizzled them with olive oil.  For seasoning, I added Bragg's Herb Seasoning, garlic powder, and salt & pepper.  Next, I just stirred them all around and put them on a baking sheet.  I let them roast for about 50 mins and they came out beautifully.

I completely burnt my mouth because I couldn't wait to eat them (this is becoming a trend) - so I would suggest letting these cool for at least 5 minutes before digging in.  I LOVE hot sauce so I dipped them in Frank's Red Hot. Delish. Some Parmesan cheese or fresh herbs like Parsley or Rosemary would have been great on these, too. A perfectly satisfying dinner with very simple household ingredients.  :)

My First Acorn Squash

Somehow this ended up in my kitchen:

An acorn squash. I didn't even know what this was when I saw it in the grocery store. I wanted to try something new tonight, and I thought this looked pretty darn interesting. 

I read that they are similar to sweet potatoes in taste and I LOVE sweet potatoes. Right then I knew I wanted to go in the sweet direction rather than savory. I was thinking maple syrup, brown sugar, and cinnamon. And then I saw a recipe that called for bacon. I knew I was on to something. I'm not a huge bacon fan but I could not resist this combination. 

To start I cut the squash in half and scooped out all of the seeds.  Then I drizzled them both with about 2 tbsp pure maple syrup. Next I cut a piece of bacon in half and placed them in each half. I really wanted the bacon juices to bake into the squash. Then I placed both face up in a baking pan with about an inch of water. 

Here they are pre-oven (preheat to 415 degrees): 

I let them bake just under an hour.  It felt like forever. They smelled SO good.  You could probably bake a little more or a little less. I just checked with a fork until they were soft enough.  They came out looking beautiful - look at that bacon juice! As you can tell by all of the fork marks, I was a bit impatient and checked on them way too often.

I let the squash cool for about 5 mins and then scooped all of it into a bowl.  I probably shoud've let it cool a little longer but again, I just could not wait to eat this stuff.

While the squash was in the oven, I put the bacon in a pan and got it nice and crispy. YUM.

Once the bacon was done I cut it up into small pieces and mixed it into the bowl with the squash.  I added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, another half tbsp of maple syrup, and salt to taste. Then I plopped this beautiful, bacony, sweet mash into a bowl and chowed down. 

I cannot tell you how delicious all of these flavors were together.  The bacon really added something, but the recipe would still be great (and very healthy) without it.  It was the perfect fall meal!

Post-Cleanse

For the past 3 days I've been on the Organic Avenue "Love Fast" cleanse.  I'll write a more in depth post/review on it, but it was awesome!  Today is my first post-cleanse day.    It feels good to know I can eat solids again, but I always find myself a little hesistant and unsure of how best to break cleanses.  The best part about cleansing is it completely resets my body and refocuses my outlook on food.  Going 3 days with mostly juice really makes you think twice about what you are putting into your body and how much food you really need. 

I try my best to slowly re-introduce solids and heavier food after a cleanse.  It can really mess with my system, so for me, it's very important to eat small amounts and to keep it raw for the first day or two after a cleanse.

Ironically, I actually love to go food shopping and cook while cleansing.  It's fun to buy really fresh ingredients and make food to eat after my cleanse. So last night I prepped a  big raw salad for my lunch today.

Kale,  peppers, carrots, and tomatoes:

The tough thing about salads (especially after a cleanse) is the dressing, so I thought I would try to make my own!  I had a TON of fresh basil in my apartment and didn't want to let it go to waste. I love basil and figured there had to be a way to make a basil salad dressing.  After compiling some google research this is what I came up with:

1.5 cups basil
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 clove garlic
1 tbsp chopped red pepper (I had these so figured I'd just throw them in)
Lime juice and pepper to taste

I threw it all in my food processor and Voilà!

It's light, tangy, and very basil-y. Mine is a little chunky, but a good food processor would make this the perfect smooth consistency. You could even make it a little thicker and add as a garnish to a Caprese Salad or on meat or fish.  I love basil on anything!  Counting down the minutes until Lunch. Happy Thursday!

 

Just run.

In NYC fitness trends are huge. I feel like each week I hear about a new class someone is obsessed with or that will transform your body.   I have definitely joined this somewhat cult-like culture in the past year and when I like something I tend to go a little overkill.  First, I fell in love with Flywheel. Then, I discovered Soul-cycle. Soul-cycle will always have a special place in my heart, and there were weeks over the past winter when I was going 5x a week.  

This summer I've been addicted to Physique57 - again going sometimes 5x a week. The downside to these obsessions is that running can go on the back-burner.  I'm still on the physique kick, but I'm going to limit it to once or twice a week. I don't think that any of these classes (or any workout) should be your only form of exercise if you really want results. 

For me, there is nothing better than running first thing in the morning.  I'm the last person that likes waking up before 7am, but it is the best way for my mind and body to start the day. 

I ran my firsf half-marathon in March, and yes, training through the winter was not ideal, but I miss having something to train for and a goal to go after.  Ironically, I actually gained weight training for the race....I was always hungry and thought I could eat anything I wanted after a long run, woops.

At the finish with my 2 friends and running buddies (It was FREEZING).

Maybe I'll sign up for some road races or another half, but either way my goal will be to run more. So as my Labor Day weekend ends and the Fall of 2013 begins, I'm making a recommitment to morning runs because there's nothing better than this: