Earlier today, my father-in-law flew into San Diego to visit my hubby and me for a long weekend. Whenever loved ones come into town, I have a fun time making goodies in the kitchen. My signature drink to make when I have guests is sangria, while I like to mix up my homemade meals and treats. Last night, this is what I whipped up in preparation for his arrival: Holy pumpkin, this bread is delicious! I've adapted this vegan recipe from the Skinny Bitch cookbook, and it comes up insanely moist and delicious. Pumpkin Pecan Banana Bread Makes 10 servings Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour (I usually do 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of white) 1 large ripe banana, mashed 1 1/2 c pure pumpkin 1/2 c canola oil 1/2 c almond milk 1 c evaporated cane ... [Read More]
Archives for August 2012
Contest Giveaway!
Happy Hump Day! I think we can all agree that a big component of healthy eating is understanding serving sizes. I believe a lot of people have a hard time comprehending what a portion looks like because it's so common for restaurants to serve single meals that contain 3 or 4 servings of food, or for a sports drink to actually contain 3 servings of beverage. In a world of excess and super sized eats, it's important to remember that moderation is key, but we can't eat only a serving of something if we have no idea how much that actually is. What does 2 oz of dry spaghetti look like? How about 1 oz of cheese? Or a serving of cashews? I used to guesstimate these things all the time... until I started using one of my now favorite little kitchen tools, a food scale. These days, ... [Read More]
Mediterranean Veggie Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries
Hope your week is off to a good start! While I cranked through work, a workout, and getting Harley some exercise earlier in my day, my late afternoon was spent at one of the most dreaded places ever - the dentist. Not only do I despise getting my mouth poked and prodded at (does anyone actually enjoy it?!), I always seem to have a rough time after getting any dental work done. Tonight I'm left with a colossal headache, but have regained feeling in my face so YAY for that! You're probably thinking... Would you like some cheese with that whine? ...and so I'll quit my complaining and tell myself that I'm lucky to be able to go to the dentist and have healthy teeth. Going to the doctor and dentist is certainly a facet of healthy living, although sometimes not a fun one. I'll move on ... [Read More]
Trying Out The Bar Method
When it comes to working out, I love variety. Not only does this mean that in any given week I do a number of different types of exercise, but it also equates to me trying new workouts that peak my interest. A few months ago, I stumbled by a Bar Method studio. I had heard good things about this type of workout before, and was intrigued to try it. (source) The Bar Method combines dance conditioning and isometric exercises with light weight training and more to help target and tone typical problem areas - arms, thighs, butt, abs. I decided to look into one of the studios in San Diego and try a few classes. I asked my friend Jackie to join me, and so a few nights later, I had a workout buddy to look somewhat clueless in class with.... ''Nicole, tuck your hips!" ''Jackie, point your ... [Read More]
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (Take 2) + Blog Update!
As you may have noticed, Foodie Meets Fitness has turned into Foodie Loves Fitness! I've spent many hours trying to figure out all of this tech stuff and am so excited to finally have begun my transition to a new site. It may just be because I'm not all that technologically savvy (go figure, I work in public relations in the technology industry!), but I have put in a serious amount of time staring at my computer screen this week. Has anyone else spent hours just looking at website themes?! Perhaps I'm just picky. Or have no idea what I'm doing. Or both. But I'm learning! Anyways, if you go to my WordPress.com site from now on, you will be redirected to this URL. As you can see, foodielovesfitness.com is up and running, but in the coming weeks, I will making a lot of fun changes to add ... [Read More]
Zucchini & Rigatoni Parmesan
When I first became a vegetarian, I was the only one in my family to not be a meat eater. My grandma, a little Italian lady who spends approximately half of her life in the kitchen cooking, used to say things like, "How are you going to find a boy if you don't eat meat? What are you going to make him for dinner or eat on a date?" [Side note: I somehow nabbed a really great guy eating salads on dinner dates and never cooking him a steak ;-) ] While she may or may not have understood my choice to go vegetarian, she always went out of her way to accommodate me with vegetarian eats, in addition to about 20 other dishes she would make for every family dinner. One of the things she used to whip up all of the time was eggplant parmesan. While I loved eggplant, I somehow developed an allergy ... [Read More]