Lean, clean SPRING ROLL machine!

What a gloomy Memorial Day weekend, but that didn’t keep me from having fun! Going to a cute wedding, seeing some awesome friends, and hanging out/taking class at CorePower Yoga definitely kept me smiling and busy. I seriously needed some Asian food in my life though, so I thought why not make SPRING ROLLLLLSSSS! Yay! So good, so clean, and so fun to make. I had never made them before and wasn’t sure how they would turn out or how tedious the process would be. I bought rice paper, carrots, cucumber, avocado, and baby cooked shrimp, and a spicy peanut sauce from Byerly’s.

Assembling the spring rolls was pretty simple actually! The rice paper came as thin hard sheets, so I needed to soak them for about 10 seconds in warm water before I laid them flat to pile in the veggies and shrimp. After each one was rolled up, I set them on wax paper to hang out before we were ready to eat them for dinner. Try these out! You can make them vegetarian by using only veggies or cooked tempeh, or you could substitute thin slices of cooked chicken for the shrimp. Enjoy!

Spring Rolls

12 oz bag of cooked shrimp

2 cup cucumber and carrot

**(I thinly sliced the cucumber the best I could, and chopped the carrot because it was too much work to thinly slice them. Or you could use a food processor to shred the carrot or cucumber).

½ avocado, thinly sliced

½ cup washed and steamed cilantro leaves 

12 sheets of rice paper

Store bought peanut dipping sauce or homemade using PB, soy sauce, and chili flakes.

Roughly chop the shrimp into a desirable size and have placed in a bowl or on a cutting board for easy access. Have the carrot and cucumber ready to go in separate bowls. Have the sliced avocado sliced on a cutting board. This will make for an easy assembly of your spring rolls.

Fill up a flat pan with warm water and work each spring roll one by one. Place one rice paper sheet into the warm water and soak for 1-10 seconds depending on the brand of rice paper and how fast they take to become flexible enough to work with. Place the soaked rice paper on a flat surface such as a clean counter or cutting board.

Namaste mug with green tea and spring roll with peanut sauce = yum :)

Place 1 oz of shrimp, 2-3 tablespoons of cucumber and carrot, some cilantro leaves,and a couple of slices of avocado in the middle of the spring roll, leaving about 2 inches of space from the edge of the paper. Roll up as you would a burrito, rolling the stuffing into a tight cylinder then folding over the sides and continue rolling and smooth out the end of the paper. Place on a plate or wax paper and eat as soon as possible or store in the refrigerator.

Look at all of these spring rolls!

Serve with peanut dipping sauce!

Have a great, healthy, and active week :) 

Getting Apartment Ready!!

In about one and a half weeks I will be moving into my first apartment (awhwhwh!) This will be the first time that I will, well, I guess, permanently not be living with my parents! I mean I did live in a dorm my first year of college (which just finished up), but I could still visit my parents and home was fairly close. But now, I will be moving into a four-bedroom apartment, and my roommates/awesome friends from college will be moving in in late August. Basically it will be my first time really being on my own, being totally responsible for everything. I am super excited though, and I’m just keeping a positive attitude. I am especially looking forward to being very close to Lund’s Market and the Seward Co-op (literally a 5 minute bike ride away)!!

All my stuff that I moved out of my dorm is pretty much just sitting in my living room at home right now, because I don’t want to unpack and repack everything. However, I have been getting all of my “staple” foods ready to move out such as grains, dried fruits, and spices. My mom (and me) has a little obsession with Penzey’s Spices, and we both know how VITAL spices are to a functional kitchen. She has many extra spice jars, mason jars, and just jars in general that I used to put my spices and other goodies in. My mom has tons of bulk spices from Penzey’s so that she can fill up her empty spice jars once she runs out. I was super excited when she donated a bunch of her spices to me!! (Talk about food nerds!). I can’t wait to get cooking in my own kitchen J.

Then I went to the Seward Co-op and spent quite a while in the bulk section and picked up a bunch of staple grains and other items that I will use all the time. For example I got a variety of lentils, whole-wheat pasta, berries, polenta, popcorn kernals, brown rice flour, chia and flax seeds, etc. I honestly have a problem because whenever I walk into a nice grocery store, I could spend literally HOURS shopping around and staring at all the amazing food items, but I especially love spending time browsing the bulk foods section! It’s awesome because there is granola, honey, beans, pasta, candy, dried fruit, cereal, peanut and almond butter, flours, seeds, nuts, granola bar bites, snack foods, etc. So amazing.

Here's an up close look.

Here are the bulk foods I got!

Now, I want you to play a little game called: GUESS THE GRAIN (or the berry/seed/etc. because not all of the images are pictures of grains.) 

Where you able to guess??

Here are the answers:

What are your favorite bulk food items??

Schools DONE = Back to the Kitchen + Workout update

 Wowwww, I just finished up with my freshman year of college at the University of Minnesota and I could not have been happier or had more fun. I met so many great friends, and cannot wait to live in an apartment close to campus with a couple of awesome girls next school year. However, I am glad to be back home for a few weeks before I move into my apartment in June. Being at home means I have access to a kitchen (!!) and I get to eat non-dining hall food (!!!!). Here’s what I’ve made since I got home:

Clean Spanish Rice and Black Beans with Guac and Sour Cream

I’m all about simple, clean, and easy meals, and I was totally craving some Mexican. Usually Mexican food makes me really full, feel heavy, and tired the rest of the day just because it is pretty dense food. But this version of rice and beans with lots of red and green was filling but I felt energized after eating it. (Isn’t that how we should feel after eating, energized and happy not heavy and tired?)

I used leftover brown rice from a tofu stir-fry my mom made the night before, and about a 1/3 cup of organic black beans from a can. I rinsed off the black beans to get any salt and liquid off. If possible try to buy low-sodium or no-sodium beans from a can if you don’t have time to make your own. I mixed the rice with some salsa, mixed in the beans, heated that up, dished it on a plate, and topped it with some guac and bit of sour cream!

Recipe:

1 serving

½ cup cooked brown rice

¼ cup or more of your favorite jar or homemade salsa (I LOVE Green Mountain Gringo)

1/3 cup black beans

¼ cup guacamole

1 tablespoon sour cream

Mix the salsa, brown rice, and beans in a bowl and heat on a low power setting in the microwave or in a small saucepot on the stove.

Spoon beans and rice on a plate, dollop guac and sour cream on top and dig in!

Soooo simple, and sooo tasty.

Here’s how I made the guac:

1 avocado

1/3 cup chopped tomato

¼ cup chopped red onion

½ - 1 tsp. cumin

dash of salt

dash of lime juice

¼ cup chopped cilantro

** I did not have any cilantro or lime juice on hand, so I couldn’t add that to my guac, but man oh man does it add so much amazing flavor it you have some!  

Scoop out the “green meat” from the avocado and place in a shallow bowl, add the tomatoes, red onion, cumin, salt, lime juice, and cilantro. Mash up with a fork or potato masher, and you’re good to go.

(((For dessert (and a healthy snack) I made black bean brownies with the leftover black beans. YUM. Check out the recipe here: http://www.fitasticfoody.com/2012/12/gluten-free-fun.html)))

And for funzies, I have sorta become obsessed with mason jars lately, and my mom had this cool antique blue mason jar, and I thought, why not drink out of it? So I added some water and orange slices and viola, water in a jar!

Workout Update:

As far as my workouts are going, I am going to be training a moderate amount for triathlons this summer and will most likely race the Olympic distance at Maple Grove. It’s just that with work this summer, teaching yoga, practicing yoga, and weightlifting, I will not be able to fully dedicate myself to triathlon training. But that is OK! I really want to get back into weight lifting (like HEAVY weights), because it is something I truly do enjoy, and it makes me feel strong, and I simply love that aspect of fitness.

Heavy weightlifting and endurance sports don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, but I love both, AND I love yoga, so I will keep a balance in my life and make sure I can do all the things that I love. I believe that there is no reason to sacrifice other physical activities you love to do, just so you can compete or training in one thing. If you are just doing triathlons for fun and do not have a goal of becoming amazingly fast someday, I say go ahead and participate in other things like yoga and weightlifting. It’s fun to mix it up and do it all J. 

Eat good >>> Feel good! Plus workout updates

Happy spring to the Minnesotans out there! FINALLY we have a nice, sunny day...in fact I saw people sun tanning down by the river flats here at the U of M campus, and it was about 72 degrees...yep, thats how we roll here. Obviously I had to do something outside, so I did one of my usual running routes along the East River Parkway and across the Marshall Ave. bridge and back to campus, and wowzers was it good. It's so nice to actually wear shorts and sleeveless shirt (Lululemon of course ;)) and run in actual sun!

Then I studied for a while (finals next week), went to lecture, and biked over to CorePower Yoga in Downtown Minneapolis for a little C2 vinyasa yoga action...and by the end of yoga class my mood was wonderfully elated (thats kinda what yoga does to you). And to top off the evening, my mom came to visit and we went out for dinner at the Seward Cafe and I ordered a spicy indian pumpkin soup and a root vegetable and tempeh stir fry, awwhhh! SO GOOOOOD! The Seward Cafe is an amazing small vegetarian and vegan cafe right down the road from the Seward Co-op (the grocery store I am obsessed with). Basically you walk into the Seward Cafe and you are greeted with an array of gluten-free, carob, flourless, vegan, etc. desserts and baked goods, a mismatch of chairs and tables, and a few menus with just good, healthy, real, and homemade vegetarian food. I could not be more in love. And of course after dinner we had to stop at the Seward Co-op cause I wanted to buy chocolate and some almonds and cashews to create a nut trail-mix for home :)) Enjoy the pictures!

The stir fry I ordered had carrots, broccoli, kale, sliced beets, and soy sauce marinated tempeh all served over a bed of fresh cooked brown rice. Also, I layered roasted and salted almonds, raw almonds, and raw cashew pieces in a jar and shook it up to make a nut mix!

Weekend, Friends, and {finally} Good FOOD

Wow, what an amazing and fun weekend. The U of M had their annual Spring Jam this past Friday and Saturday and basically what it is is a weekend full of concerts, free food, and different activities like a talent show, outdoor movies, and other fun stuff. Honestly, I have the most amazing friends and had a such a great weekend. I LOVE the University of Minnesota so so much!! AWWHH!

About my {finally} good food...yes, it's getting to the end of the year and I don't have to put up with it much longer, but I am seriously at my wits end with this dining hall food :((. So, you know what I did? I biked over to the Seward Co-op off of Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis {GO THERE} and bought a really yummy jar of gourmet salsa {I have a weakness for chips and salsa}, a harvest quinoa salad, a carrot, cabbage, and peanut salad and a 72% cocoa dark chocolate bar. No dining hall food for me tonight!!

What I love about going to the co-op to buy food is not only do they have an amazing bulk foods section, wonderful fruits and veggies, and just everything is super good, but I always have to check out the pre-packaged refrigerated food section because I get so many ideas of things that I can make at home. The chefs at the co-op prepare a variety of salads, wraps, sandwiches, desserts, dips, sushi, and soups that are packaged and ready to go so you can pick up lunch or dinner quick and easy. I will actually just stand browsing all of the different salads and foods and read the ingredients labels to get ideas so that I can make it myself. The Seward, and many other co-ops have everything from quinoa and bean salads, to veggies, tiki masala, ethiopian dishes, butternut squash and wild rice.....the list goes on and on. So good.

Here is what I picked up today:

Harvest Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:
Quinoa
Black Beans
Navy Beans
Carrot
Bell Pepper
Onion
Tomato
Honey
Almonds
Pumpkin seeds
Lime juice
Red wine vinegar
cabbage
Jalapeño pepper
Cilantro
Sea salt
Garlic
Cinnamon
Cumin

Carrot, Cabbage, & Peanut Salad

Ingredients

Red Cabbage

Carrots

Peanut oil

Cilantro

Peanuts

Lime juice

Rice vinegar

Sea salt

Endangered Species 72% Cocoa Dark Chocolate {just a little for dessert}

When I eat like this, I feel good, light, and healthy. School is almost done, and I won't have to live in a dorm or have a meal plan anymore!! Have a great week :)

What I’m wearing & what I’m eating

FINALLY it’s actually WARM here in Minneapolis…I don’t get how it can be sleeting, slushy and freezing on Monday and by Friday it’s hot outside??

I thought I would celebrate this beautiful day with a bright Lululemon jacket and crops. I am wearing the Lululemon Form jacket and Lululemon wunder under crops! For my shoes, I have on my watermelon Nike Frees (they don’t sell this color anymore L).

I am also going to start posting pictures of foods that I like to eat as well as any supplements that I take or "health foods" that I am trying or find interesting! I know for me personally I always wanted to know what other “foodies” eat in their daily lives outside of the recipes that they post. Enjoy!

LULU!

Watermelon Nike Frees!

   

YUM! I will eat only a few as a treat
after lunch, and man are they good. 

Such a great, filling snack. 

Because I do not eat much dairy, my diet is lacking calcium.
So I take a 200 mg calcium supplement about 4x/day along
with 2 vitamin D supps. I just got these from CVS so I am not sure of
 the quality. Also, I try to remember to take 1-2 fish oil pills/day!