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Spinach Feta Pie Recipe [NO CRUST]

This is another one pointed out to me by Mary Kate and it took two tries to get it just right. The second try was delicious and I hope to make it again and again–it’s healthy, nutritious, filling, and yummy! Though the ingredient list may look long, it really does not take much time at all! The recipe comes from here . Check it out:

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  • Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
  • Cooking Time20-25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 10 oz frozen spinach
  • 1/2 cup scallions
  • 2 tbsp dill
  • 2 tbsp parsley
  • 1/2 cup feta
  • 2 tbsp grated cheese (something akin to Romano, Parmesan, etc)
  • 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 eggs

Directions

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and oil up your cooking pan (I used a bread tin)
  • Thaw out the spinach. Cut up the dill, parsley, and scallions. 
Beautiful chopped herbs/veggies

Beautiful chopped herbs/veggies

  • Mix the feta, parsley, dill, spinach, scallions, and grated cheese into the pie/bread dish

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  • Beat the two eggs
  • In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, salt, and olive oil

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  • Pour into the pie dish with the rest of the ingredients and mix it around. Feel free to put in some pepper or other spices in that you would like as well
Ready for the oven

Ready for the oven

  • Pop it into the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes. Mine took closer to 30 minutes. Just keep checking on it to see if, when you put a fork in the center, it comes out clean of batter.

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And that’s it! It takes no time at all to whip up and it’s a very rewarding meal to cook. Try it out–and you can even use fresh spinach too, depends on what’s best for you. Cheers and enjoy!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Ridiculously cute picture of Nymeria

Ridiculously cute picture of Nymeria

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Hungry’s Monster Shake

So this is one of my “protein shake” recipes. I have a solid amount of go-to recipes for shakes and they change depending on what fitness goal I am trying to reach. I might add some more protein and calories if I am bulking. I might avoid checking carbs and fats if I am trying to gain weight. If I am cutting I will probably mix some isolated whey with water to minimize carb intake and calories. Right now, I am in a bulking phase, trying to put some quality muscle mass on and increase my strength. Thus, I have a relatively calorically rich, fatty, and protein abundant shake.

First, I place my two scoops of Cytosport Monster Milk in the bottom of the blender. You can use your protein supplement of choice. You can use a mass gainer if you’re really trying to bulk up. It’s up to you. Then I add two cups of milk; I’ve been using 1% lately because that’s what Fit likes to drink. Next comes one (or two) scoops of Breyer’s Natural Vanilla Ice Cream. Finally I throw a banana in there. Blend it until it’s the consistency of your choice and chug, or sip.

It’s not my best tasting recipe by any means but it’s refreshing enough and gets the job done. The reason why I drink protein shakes is that I need to often hit a certain protein intake that reflects my goals. If I’ve only consumed 160 grams of protein in a day and my goal is 225 grams, this shake can reach that deficit. You don’t need to have these shakes to get leaner or bigger and stronger, but they are a convenient and fast nutritional source. It takes me a lot longer to make some ground turkey or beef.

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There is a lot of confusion as to when you need to consume protein after a workout. The truth is that you have a rather large window that it is still effective, and I mean a rather large window. Trust me, you’re not going to miss that window. I have my shakes typically after my workouts because I workout on a near empty stomach so I am starving by the end of my workouts and can consume a full dinner and a shake. Again, that’s all up to you.

The master product

The master product

If you have any questions relating to this post, please ask so you can stay hungry and fit!

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Post-Workout Protein Oatmeal

So I came back from my workout at an odd time, around 11 in the morning. Hmm, I want something to sustain me for a bit, and smoothies never do. Wait, didn’t my protein powder bin say to try it in cereal? Well, oatmeal is a cereal…hmmm. And here we are with a oatmeal recipe loaded with protein. It was actually really good, once you got used to the texture. Really delicious and healthy. Try it out!

Prep Time7 minutes?

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1 scoop flavor-less whey protein [I use Jarrow’s]
  • 4 strawberries
  • 6 dates
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp agave nectar 

Directions

  • Get cup of water to boiling
  • In advance, cut up dates and strawberries

fruit

  • Add in oatmeal and turn down to simmer
  • Once oatmeal is starting to cook, put in some cinnamon
  • oatmeal w cinnamonAfter you stir in the oatmeal, pour in the whey protein powder and stir. By this point, you definitely want to keep an eye on it because it will stick much easier

whey oatmeal

  • Once you stir in the protein powder, pour in some of the agave nectar in for a touch of sweetness

nectar

  • Throw in a few dates and strawberries in (but not all of them) to heat into the oatmeal 
  • After a minute, take out and serve into bowl

ready to eat

  • Put the rest of the fruit on top and you’re done!

beautiful oatmeal

I think this took me about 7 minutes total and it filled me up with excellent nutrients: fiber, protein, and carbs! If you want, you could even try putting in a flavored protein powder, up to you!

Cheers!

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Getting Creative With Tofu

If you’re a vegetarian or you just like it, tofu is a big part of the diet. Usually, we just cube it and put it into the dish with whatever else we are making. But recently, a friend (from Bali) shared a new way of doing tofu. Well, the cooking method is typical for some, but the flavoring is different. Using nutritional yeastNow, I had no idea what this was before the couple brought the dish over to us. And it is delicious. It literally had me thinking I was eating fried chicken, that’s what it tastes like. So, I was in heaven. And then, I realized I needed to know how to make this for myself. Luckily, our friend left us a little tub of this magic nutritional yeast, so I was good to go. I will be showing you how to make this tofu dish, but also sharing what we had with it (though you can have it alone too).

Ingredients

  • 1 box tofu
  • knife
  • nutritional yeast flakes
  • oil
  • peppers [optional]
  • udon [optional]
  • teriyaki [optional]

Directions

  • Drain the tofu juice out of the box and place the tofu on cutting board. Cut long-ways first, into thin 1/2 inch pieces
  • Cut short-ways, making little squares
  • Have a pan hot with a very light amount of olive oil and carefully place tofu on the pan, letting each have enough room to cook. I put the temperature on a little less than high (medium-high)
  • Takes about 5-10 minutes to cook, I use a fork to turn them over. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn on the outside, but get cooked on the inside. Turn them over one by one when the first side is done.
  • After both sides are ready, pop them onto a plate. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast flakes on top of each piece
Tastes like fried chicken!

Tastes like fried chicken!

  • And if you want to continue with our dish…slice up your peppers (or whatever vegetable) into thin long slices.
  • Put some more olive oil in the pan and this time garlic too
  • Throw the peppers in there
  • After the peppers have been in there for a few minutes, throw in your udon to heat up. At the time you put the udon in, put a good amount of teriyaki in as well, flavoring the udon and peppers, as well as giving some moisture to it all.
Yum...

Yum…

  • Once the udon noodles are heated and have absorbed the teriyaki and the peppers have cooked enough, plate them atop the already-cooked tofu!
Finished product

Finished product

And voila! There you have it–an easy, nutritious, delicious meal full of protein and fiber. Feel free to add or subtract any vegetable or addition to the stir fry, but seriously go for this tofu. It is absolutely delicious.

Cheers! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Nymeria is 98% back to normal!!

Nymeria is 98% back to normal!!

BONUS KITTY PIC

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Stir Fry Creations

Stir fry is one of my favorite dishes. It’s because there are endless possibilities. And it’s so easy to do. All you need is some veggies and a form of protein in your fridge–you can mix and match and throw things together that don’t seem normal. And that’s the beauty of it! If you have veggies, rice,  and/or noodles, you have no excuse for not home cooking. Let me share with you a dish I just recently prepared, with an attempt to make it as Asian as possible for Chris.

Alana’s Monday Stir Fry

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients

  • a bunch of bok choy
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 case of Udon noodles 
  • 1/2 pound of wild-caught scallops
  • 1 case of tofu 
  • wok oil & soy sauce 
  • spices such as ground ginger, fresh garlic, pepper, salt, 5 spice, and garlic pepper 

Flower of the Bok Choy

Directions

1. Let’s tackle the boy choy first. Wash the bok choy, scrub out any dirt under cold water. Cut until the stem is almost gone.

2. Cut the rest of the vegetables: thinly slice the onions and carrots. Do proper thick slices of the yellow pepper.

Chopped beauties

3. Put the wok oil and soy sauce in the wok (or frying pan, whatever you have) and heat that baby up! Crush some garlic in there and let the smells get you.

4. Once it is heated, throw those veggies in there. As you are tossing them in the oil, put your spices in, whatever they may be. I put in lots of ginger, garlic, and pepper. Make sure you are constantly tossing the vegetables so that your spices get on it all.

Stir frying!

5. Cube the tofu, wash the scallops, and unwrap the udon noodles. Throw it all into the already cooking mixture. Again, make sure to keep stirring and tossing so that everything soaks up that flavor.

6. Cook to taste and decide when it’s ready! For me it took about 10 minutes, maybe not even that.

Plate of stir fryAnd there you have it, an easy 20-minute dish with tons of nutrient-filled vegetables and protein. PS- there are eggs in the picture, but I didn’t end up using them, but they are a great addition! Get creative. This is only my recipe, and it’s one of many stir-frys.

Cheers and Happy Cooking! 

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Thanksgiving Feast: Do it Right

Okay, so we’ve been gone for…a week. But we have plenty reason why! My family came in and it was a very excellent, fun, way-too-fast vacation for all of us here in Boulder. But you’re not here to listen to my excuses about family and not being able to post. You’re here to see food. And since we’re just getting back to full-time blogging, I’ll post a nice light array of food.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. When is it not? Don’t answer that, yes I know the turkey could light the house on fire. Family, food, sunset walks, and good tv. WHAT CAN GO WRONG? Don’t answer that. But seriously, everything went well for us and we had an amazing time (kittens included). So, my parents and brother came in for the week and we had a 9-person Thanksgiving. It was beautiful and great and just LOOK AT IT ALL. 

Mum’s homemade cranberry sauce, from stewed cranberries and sugar

Baked yams with shaved almonds on top

Mashed potatoes (of course)

Martinelli’s…Thanksgiving Classic 

TURKEY. We didn’t eat it, but others did 

My beautiful plate…you can see salmon (wild caught) as my meat in addition to a roll, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts (as well as other food covered already)

You will always find amazing salads at Marga’s house 

Plate all clean! Well except for the avocado Kai dropped on the floor

One of the two pies we had. This one was a bakery-made Peach-Raspberry (yum) and Megan made a top-notch pumpkin pie that I wish still existed

So that really covers it for Thanksgiving food…except for the stuffing and gravy and other alcohol served. Everyone had a good stuffed time. How was yours?

You know it…BONUS KITTY PIC 

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Lactose-Intolerant? I’m Sorry…But Here’s Something for You!

Now Chris’ mom is a fantastic cook and baker, so this one is a treat. Especially for you folks out there who are lactose-intolerant (what a sad world that is) and have other allergies. She’s prepared a Pumpkin Pie Recipe (Lactose Free) for everyone out there for the upcoming holiday!

That sure looks good, doesn’t it? Now trust me, I’ve had many many things she’s cooked or baked from her amazing Thanksgiving Stuffing to her Chocolate Mocha Cake. She’s got it all and she has it down-pat.

Head over to her Etsy site for this delicious recipe and more. She doesn’t just cook–she also crafts. She makes wonderful jewelry and headbands…she paints too! It would really be worth your time to take a look at everything she’s got. And I’m not just saying this because it’s Chris’ mom…it’s because I truly enjoy her good, healthy food and you will too!

(you know it…BONUS KITTY PIC)

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The Most Important Meal of the Day: EAT IT!

There’s a problem in this culture. For as much as we over-eat, so many of us do not eat breakfast. What’s the deal with that?! Meals are always something to look forward to in my day. Maybe because I have a slight obsession with food. Whatever. I’m here to tell you to EAT YOUR BREAKFAST! Just eat something: oatmeal, pancakes, yogurt, trail mix, bagels, fruit, something.

Why?

Well, boys and girls, let me talk a little about metabolism. You want a good, high metabolism. Why? Because the higher your metabolism, the faster your food is digested and nutrients absorbed. It means your body works faster and better. You see a lot of people with high metabolisms are usually thin, even though they seem to eat a normal (or more) amount. It’s either genetics or they know how and when to eat.

Structure of adenosine triphosphate, a central...

Structure of adenosine triphosphate, a central intermediate in energy metabolism (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you don’t eat breakfast, (just literally breaking your fast) your metabolism won’t wake up. For it to boot up and start trying to make you have less fat, you need to give it something to start on. Otherwise it’s going to be very slow. And when you do finally eat lunch (which is usually bigger than breakfast), your metabolism will be slowed down at that point and you won’t absorb nutrients or digest as quickly.

We like to go big on breakfast when we can. This is (not necessarily our typical) our ideal breakfast: whole-wheat Kodiak pancakes (or waffles), eggs, whole wheat toast with jam, Morningstar Sausage Links, and a big fruit salad. Sounds like a lot? You can bet our metabolism is going to be booted up from the start? And yes, I usually can’t finish everything so Chris gets to clean my plate.

Not in the mood for a big breakfast? When I don’t have a lot of time before work and Chris is still asleep, I’ll usually make oatmeal, or greek yogurt with fruit and nuts, or an egg on toast, etc. Those all have plenty of protein and carbs for me to last until lunch or snack time.

Whatever you do, just eat something. Even if it’s just an apple as you run out the door. I promise, it’s worth it and your body will thank you.

BONUS KITTY PIC 

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Save Money and Devour Nutrients: the Grown-Up Lunch Box

For a little while now I’ve wanted lunch boxes like this: 

Or this

Anyways, putting my lunchbox fantasies aside, I wanted to let you know how easy it is to save money at the very same time you are devouring nutrients and getting good calories. Another healthy article? I know, I know, I’m sorry! But it’s really easy, again, like I was saying before. Then, I was talking about general meals and putting little effort into making them healthy (not hard). But now, I’m talking about bringing your lunch to work. 

Are you one to usually buy lunch? Let’s stop that. No need to waste money, and especially to waste it on bad food. It’s so important to know what is in the food you are eating. Preparing your own meals is the perfect way to do that. Don’t have time in the morning to pack a lunch? Do it the night before. I promise it won’t get bad. Making this effort could really save your eating from junk food to health food. Again, go to the market and get the veggies and fruits on sale, meaning they are in season. There are so many things you can do that take 5-10 minutes. Let me show you some lunches I pack.

Here we have a guacamole, spinach, tomato, and morning star chicken sandwich. Healthy ingredients, protein, veggies, and grain right for you. Whole-Wheat bread. Easy. Took Chris about 5 minutes to make for me. I ate this with an orange and some yogurt-covered raisins. 

This is my most frequent lunch meal. We have a huge thing of organic spinach in the fridge and we use it for almost every meal. I chop up whatever vegetables we have (this one has red pepper, cucumber, avocado, and tomato) and throw some morning star protein in as well. I use my cousin’s wonderful Balsamic Nectar and throw in a little oil too. Don’t feel full from salads? I always do from mine. Add protein to it or a healthy fat like avocado. Eat an orange or an apple with it. 

Here’s another good example of a usual meal including other things that accompany my main dish (salad or sandwich or leftovers). I always add a fruit and usually some kind of carb (here is my Grandma’s featured trail mix!). That sandwich is spinach, hummus, morning star, and tomato. I have a big thing of water that I keep by me at all times to constantly drink up. 

And here’s an example of other foods that accompany my salad or sandwich. I don’t know why that apple looks so freakishly large, bad camera angle maybe. I will usually have the apple and raisins with my main lunch meal, and then eat the Clif bar a few hours later. I can’t eat much at one time, but I get hungry quickly so I usually eat every three hours if possible. 

So there you have it. Examples of easy, simple, quick-to-make lunches to bring with you every day, no matter where you work. You don’t even need to refrigerate it. Just try it one day. You’ll find it very rewarding, I promise, and you’ll want to do it every day. You’re making yourself a nutrient-packed meal that will make your coworkers feel bad about themselves.

Tell me what lunches you bring to work! Enjoy 🙂

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Eating Healthy Really Isn’t Too Hard

America has an obesity rating of 34.4%.

I want to give you recipes and ideas that will make you realize, “Oh, eating healthy isn’t that hard!” and “wow, this tastes good!” I don’t want you to resort to fast food or processed junk (although In ‘n Out is always okay and so are Wendy’s Frosty’s).  And it’s really not expensive! I would be considered poor right now and we have great home cooked meals almost every night. Here’s a few rules to live by:

1. Buy the produce on sale at the supermarket–it’s probably the ones in season. Seeing a multitude of apples and squash on sale? For really nice prices? Buy them. It’s almost like they’re yelling at us to eat what’s in season and get in with the cycle of the earth.

2. Stick to fruits and veggies. These are almost always going to be the most nutrition to value ratio every time and once again, in-season ones will not be pricey.

3. Get grains you cook yourself. Don’t get the pre-packaged stuff like ramen (though we may or may not have that in the house due to Chris’ obsession)–get the most fiber-filled rice you can at Costco for $20. What a deal.

Anyhow, above wasn’t my primary point for this post. I have an easy little-work recipe good for dinner or whenever you’d like. As most of you know we’re a weird breed of vegetarian/pescatarian so the only meat it contains is mushrooms. Which of course isn’t an actual meat. Let me spit the recipe at ya:

Ingredients

  • 5 small white mushrooms
  • 1 red pepper
  • 4 potatoes 
  • Whatever seasoning you’d like

Short list, right? Let’s move on to directions.

Directions

  • First and foremost, get the potatoes washed and cut into quarters. Then plop them in a pot full of water and set on high. We want these bad boys to boil!
  • Next, you’ll have some time. It takes around 15-20 min for the taters to boil
  • So we’ll move onto the veggies. Cut the mushrooms and red pepper into small slices. Grind some pepper and salt over them and whatever other seasoning you’d like.
  • When the potatoes are close to being boiled (say after 10 minutes), let’s cook the veggies. I sauteed them in white wine, soy sauce, and garlic (YUM). I also put some rosemary and garlic pepper in too.
  • Keep an eye on it and stir. Make sure to taste, they won’t take too long to cook, but you want all that moisture to soak in. Especially into the mushrooms
  • Drain those potatoes and put them back in the pot. Put half a teaspoon of butter in, a little soy sauce, and some garlic pepper in and mix around.
  • Serve and enjoy!

 It was super juicy and flavorful–my favorite. Didn’t last long. And was a very cheap meal, didn’t even breach $7. Cheers!

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