Category Archives: recipe

Raspberry Turkey Salad Recipe

Here is a  recipe for turkey that you can have on Thanksgiving or after with those leftovers!

This recipe was graciously provided to me by Driscoll’s (you can print a 50 cent coupon there, too, on the bottom right corner).  All those strawberries you see on my site are usually Driscoll’s!

Raspberry Turkey Salad


rasp_turkey_salad5
Prep time: 10 min
Makes: 2 servings

1            package (6 ounces) Driscoll’s Raspberries, rinsed and divided
¼           cup balsamic vinegar
½           teaspoon sugar
¼           teaspoon black pepper, coarse and ground
4            ounces field greens
4            ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and blanched
6            ounces turkey strips, cooked and sliced
2            ounces ricotta salata cheese, grated  (or sub parmesan cheese)

Purée 1/2 cup of the raspberries, balsamic vinegar, and sugar in a food processor or blender; strain. Stir in black pepper.

Combine field greens, remaining 1 cup raspberries, sugar snap peas and turkey in medium bowl.

Drizzle dressing over salad. Toss until evenly coated. Divide between two serving plates. Sprinkle with cheese.

Nutrition Per Serving: 302 calories, 7.73g total fat, 3.50g saturated fat, 31.97g protein, 23.74g carbohydrate, 78.36mg cholesterol, 8.20g fiber, 137mg sodium

Helpful Tip  – In addition to its fresh, soft form, ricotta is also sold in salted, baked and smoked. The pressed, salted and dried variety of the cheese is known as ricotta salata. A milky-white hard cheese used for grating or shaving, ricotta salata is sold in wheels, decorated by a delicate basket-weave pattern.

Mini duathlon and french toast!

* Final challenge check in tomorrow!!*

Thank you so much for the congratulations on our anniversary!  😀

I decided to try the full format for the duathlon today of run/bike/run.  The temperature was pretty much perfect outside – mid 50s, although a little wet.  I was not feeling very hungry this morning after dinner last night, but I thought I should have a little something before going out.  Mini wheat pita toasted with some peanut butter.  Yum!

pita

I did a 2-mile run first, and decided that Indian food is not a good precursor to having a good workout.  I was definitely feeling bloated and heavy this morning.  Not the best of energy.  I purposely did not wear a watch today knowing that I wasn’t at my best before I even left the house.  Got back home, quick put on the helmet, slugged some water, and hopped on the bike.  I then did a 4.5 mile circuit.  Got back in the driveway and drank from my water bottle.  I had given it a squeeze while drinking and felt a sudden gush of water on my front.  I had actually snapped off the entire top of the bottle where the lid screws on.  I don’t know how that happened!  (Must be the lifting LOL).  I almost went running again with my helmet on because I got distracted with the water bottle – that would have looked dorky around the neighborhood…  2nd run was another 2 miles.  I was feeling kind of tired by the end and slow.  The real deal will be plugging another 12 miles of biking into this!  At least I know what the transitions feel like all around.  Run to bike is not bad.  Bike to run, still not my favorite.  I need to keep my bike mileage up in the next couple weeks.

I got this bread from Nature’s Pride yesterday as part of FoodBuzz Featured Publisher program.

naturespride

I decided that a new breakfast was in order – French Toast!  Can you believe there is no oatmeal anywhere?  Well, I guess it is one of the grains, but who’s counting?

ft3

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 slices of Nature’s Pride 12-grain bread.
  • Strawberries

This was delightful and oh so good!  This bread is hearty like many whole grain breads and didn’t get all soggy and fall apart when dipping into the batter.  That is usually the big problem with reduced calorie breads.  Each slice of this bread is 110 calories, but really worth it taste wise.  Although, the marketing of 14 grams of whole grains per slice irritates me.  That translates to 2 grams of fiber.

Good things – no preservatives and no HFCS!   Thank you Nature’s Pride!

Ever have those day’s where you just rock and roll?  I whipped through work today and finished just at dinner time.  6.5 hours and I did all my files.  Wish I had more days like that.

Someone who was not productive:

baby

I have never seen a cat that sleeps this much.

Now my evening is free!  I need to make sure I am productive and not wasting this free time.

I had a ginormous dinner:

din

One of my patented stir fries 😀  I had about 2.5 cups of cauliflower and broccoli in this with 3 ounces of chicken.  Very filling.  I needed it because this morning’s workout burned 600 calories!

Is this not the smallest clementine ever?  It’s about the size of a golf ball.

clem

The taste was pretty disappointing.  Kind of weak and bland.  Hope the other 3 pounds are better!

Question:  Do you live in an area where there is fall leaf color?

Brick and duathlon

Decided on another brick today, this time the bike/run. I planned out a fairly straight bike loop to take twice of a little over 13 miles and then a 2-mile run. I drank this before going out:
pom

I have decided that this is not good by itself for fuel before exercising.  It’s just straight juice without any protein and it lasted all of about 5 miles.  POM is much better as a refuel during.  Lesson learned.  The bike ride was not really enjoyable, as I stuck to the main roads and there was traffic, school busses, traffic lights, and garbage trucks (my mother is probably freaking out reading this – sorry Mom!).   With all that, I did the 13 miles in 1:03 and I figured I was probably averaging about 13 mph.  Not bad.  Stopped at home and had some coconut water and felt super energized.  Gosh I love this stuff.  Makes me wonder if Gatorade is any different.  I did a 2-mile loop in a little over 21 minutes.  I swear I was going faster because I had pace music on in the 170s, so don’t know what is up with that.  I forgot how it feels to run after biking!  Blargh.

I was ready to eat off my own arm when I got done, and cooked up some protein pancakes.  These take no more than 10 minutes from start to finish, which I love!

panc

The app is filled out for me to do a duathlon in October!  I have sort of been training for it before making up my mind and I just decided to go for it.

duatho

I am ready already, since I am in really good shape with all the work I have done since spring  (did I just say that??).  I’m am nervous and excited.  At least having done a triathlon, I know pretty much what to expect and there is no swimming involved!   Hope it doesn’t snow.  Have a couple 5K in October that we are thinking of doing as well.  Gotta cram in the outdoor stuff while we can.

Lunch was so, so good today:

csalad

Curry chicken salad:

  • 2.5 ounces cooked chicken, chopped
  • 7 grapes chopped
  • 1/2 small granny smith apple, chopped
  • matchstick carrots, probably 1/4 cup
  • 1 tablespoon light mayo
  • curry powder
  • 1 tablespoon slivered almonds

Mix the mayo and curry powder thoroughly.  Add all ingredients except almonds together and mix well.  Place mixture on top of a bed of lettuce and top with almonds.  Yum!

Zoomed through work today.  Software problems on their end, which is annoying, but didn’t slow me down too much.

Had another of my chewy granola bars as a snack with my latte.  For those that asked, the cinnamon chips are just little sweet bits of cinnamon.  Like chocolate chips, only not chocolate.  Hershey’s makes them and they are usually in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and the like.  Addicting little buggers, too.  I can eat them out of hand easily.

Pixie is pretty much recovered from her declaw.  She won’t run around yet, but that might just be because she is the laziest cat in the world:

pixlazy

She loves laps!  She looks kind of annoyed that I took her picture, though LOL. I also heard from the rehabber that the little kitten is doing really well and has gotten medicine, vitamins and lots of food.  Hope he finds a good home when he gets a little older.

Quick and easy dinner – feta cheese omelet!

dinI love feta cheese.  It is one of my favorites along with gorgonzola and asiago.  Well, really I won’t turn any cheese down (except super stinky ones).

After dinner sweet:

werther

I am now free for the evening and John has twisted my arm into going out for coffee in a bit.  😀

September challengers – don’t forget to check in here!

Question:  What is your favorite cheese?

NROLW and chewy oatmeal bar recipe

Preworkout snack was 1/2 a homemade chewy oat bar.  Recipe at the bottom of the page:

bar

Another chilly morning!  I biked to the gym today, and I think it felt colder today than yesterday, although that might be because I was wearing less layers since the gym is only a couple miles away.

New Rules – Stage 5 workout B:

  • Deadlift/bent over row:  4 x 4  at 75 pounds
  • Single-leg partial squats:  4 x 4
  • Wide grip lat pulldown:  4 x 4 at 70 pounds
  • Back extension:  4 x 4  at 100 pounds
  • YTWL:  4 x 4 at 10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion:  3 x 10
  • Prone cobra:  3 x 2 minute holds

I am so loving these workouts!  I feel so strong.  I kind of feel like it is my secret superpower.  I can walk around at 5’2″ and seem small, but inside I know I can kick someone’s ass if I need to!  Just let someone try to mess with me.   😀  I might try making a video of a couple of these moves, if I get the nerve to put my form out for review!

Yummy oats for breakfast.  Warm oatmeal is even better on a cold morning!  This bowl was a small banana and cocoa powder cooked in topped with peanut butter.

oats

Work, work, work!  Reveling in winning the football picks yesterday – that means John has to take me out to dinner this week of my choice!  😀

Ended up eating a huge lunch, I was really hungry today.  Have you tried the Food Should Taste Good brand chips?  You absolutely must!  The Sweet Potato ones are my very favorite.    Served with a yummy pear, cucumbers and tuna with lemon pepper.

tunalunch

This kept me full for quite a while (but not so full that I didn’t enjoy my afternoon latte!).

Dinner was one of my standards of grilled chicken.  Yesterday we stopped by the smokehouse and stocked up on meat.  I love shopping there because the meats sold there are from smaller local farms:

smokehouse

The prices are quite good, too.  Sometimes much better than what is at the grocery store, and it’s nice to know you are supporting a local farmer.  It’s worth it to us to go 7 miles to buy meat.

So, part of that ended up on the dinner plate.

chicken

Plus my usual beverage of choice:

polar

After dinner I went for a walk around the track while John did his 5K run.  Here he is whizzing by me!

jrun

1 year ago, John started running.  He did his first 5K in around 45 minutes.  Tonight’s 5K was 26:45 !! He is awesome.  John started really working on weight loss this year and has lost over 30 pounds.  He is 7 pounds from goal and I am so proud of him!

Chewy Granola Bar recipe:

Adapted from this recipe

  • 2 cups ]rolled oats
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup ground flax seeds
  • 1 cup Rice Krispie cereal
  • 60 grams protein powder
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons molasses
  • 1-1/2 cups natural applesauce
  • 1/2   cup cinnamon chips
  • Preheat oven to 350 F
  • Line a 13.9 pan with parchment paper (or spray with nonstick spray)
  • In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients (except cinnamon chips) and stir to combine.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together all wet ingredients.
  • Add wet mixture to dry and stir until dry ingredients are incorporated.  Add the cinnamon chips.
  • Press mixture into the 13×9 pan evenly.
  • Bake for 30 minutes until the top is lightly browned.
  • Cut into bars while still warm.

Cut into 15 bars, they are about 200 calories each.  These are actually quite good, although they are missing some crunch.  I think I would add nuts next time.  I was trying to reduce the calories, so I left out nuts and added Rice Krispies instead, but they didn’t hold their crunch.  This is a good starting base to play with, I think.

NROLW and losapalooza.

Hello everyone!  Back to lifting!

lifter

Started with a preworkout snack:

kbarNo more of these for preworkout fuel.  They are just too weeny.

Today started stage 5 of New Rules of Lifting:

  • 1-arm dumbbell snatch:  4 x 4 at 25 pounds
  • Single leg dumbbell dead lift:  4 x 4 at 30 pounds
  • Bent over barbell row:  4 x 4 at 75 pounds!
  • Incline dumbbell bench press:  4 x 4 at 25 pounds
  • Overhead dumbbell squat:  4 x 4  with 15/30 dumbbells
  • Plank:  3 times with 2 minute holds
  • Reverse woodchop:  4 x 4  at 50 pounds
  • Body weight matrix (it’s back!!) 3 sets

Holy crow.  I went ahead and did 4 sets on most everything, as the  recommendation was 3-4 sets.  Less reps, more weight.  I tried to use 30# dumbbells for the incline press, but I couldn’t quite push them up, so I had to back down. I can’t seem to get past 25# dumbbells on these.  I think I need the barbell for stability and will try that.  The body weight matrix – I forgot how freaking hard that is!  My legs were shaking so much after I got done that I nixed any treadmill walking, since I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to bike home!  Phew.  I am thinking my legs may dictate tomorrow’s workout 😀

I was ravenous when I got home and had  a genius idea!  Chocolate protein pancakes with banana/PB2 topping:

cakes

Pancakes were 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder.  Blended in the Magic Bullet.

Topping:  1 serving of PB2 mixed with an extra teaspoon of water and then I mashed a small banana into it.  Tres delicious!  Really ripe bananas are best for this.

On a side note: Here is a link to the Apple Crisp recipe from the other night:  I had left out the nuts and the lemon juice.  I also used a couple teaspoons of tapioca with the apples just to make sure it wasn’t watery.  Not sure if you really need that or not.

I am very pleased with how I ate yesterday.  Pretty much on plan, plus I got in some exercise.  Normally Sundays are my rest days, but I rested Saturday instead.  Maybe that was the difference?  I don’t know.  Should have a good report for the challenge tomorrow!

Kind of a leftover day eating wise.  Dinner was some of the clam chowder from the other day.  Just as good ‘aged!’  With some delicious strawberries.  Isn’t it funny how some boxes of strawberries are divine and others are blah?

dinner

Went for a walk after dinner to hopefully keep my legs from being too sore tomorrow, but I think that might have been an exercise in futility.  My hope was to do a run/bike brick, but not sure if my legs will be able to make it!

Came back to dessert:

crisp

1/4 cup of plain lowfat yogurt and 1/4 cup of apple crisp.  Yum!

Check out this site for September 15th, everyone!  http://loseapalooza.com/

For every accepted mention or acknowledgment of “Lose For Good” made on September 15 via blogs, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, Weight Watchers will make an additional donation to feed children and families who need it for just one day of social media activity.  So do it and tell your friends!!

Challengers, we will be checking in tomorrow!

NROLW and beverages

Happy Monday!  Nice to see all the personal challengers for this month.  Let’s do this and reach our goals!  I might see if I can scrounge up something and pick a random participant at the end of the month 😀  I’ll do a check-in post once or twice a week so we can root each other on.

Chilly morning today as I biked to the gym.  It’s still August, and it was in the 40s last night!  I finished up stage 4 of NROLW today.  I will do 2 more days of random lifting though, as I want to have an even round out to the week (I am dorky that way).

  • Dead lifts:  1  x 8 55 pounds, 1 x 8  65 pounds, 1 x 8  75 pounds
  • Split squats 3 x 8  35 pounds
  • Underhand lat pull down  1 x 8  60 pounds, 2 x 8  70 pounds
  • Reverse lunge with forward reach  3 x 8  10 pounds
  • Prone cuban snatch 3 x 8  10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion  3 x 8
  • Prone cobra  3 x 2 minute hold

I am very pleased to be able to do the cuban snatch with 10 pound dumbbells.  It took some time to work up to that!  After this week, 1 week off from weights and then stage 5!

I was thinking about PB2 this morning since I am going to order during their sale.  (I’m almost out!).  I decided to incorporate it into pancakes this morning.   I made my usual protein pancakes and made the following topping:  1 serving of PB2 made with an extra tsp of water, 1 well mashed banana.  Mix and microwave for about 20 seconds:

brekkie10

I was going to put some cocoa powder into the pancake batter, but forgot – so I sprinkled on some dark chocolate chips.  This was quite good.  I think it would be awesome with real nut butter and not the PB2!

Work was a little slow before lunch, so I helped John with the business.  It’s amazing how much more activity I get doing that than sitting on my butt doing transcription.

Lunch was something different.  I decided on a tuna melt.  Topped with smoked cheddar cheese and put under the broiler.  Smoked cheese doesn’t melt really well, I think it is a bit dry for that.  Tasty, though!

lunch18

I love cheese!

Work got very busy after lunch, and I should get an early start tomorrow since there is so much extra!  Good thing as it is my niece’s birthday tomorrow and we are going down for cake tomorrow evening.

Quick turkey chili for dinner.  Put some coconut oil in a pan and sauteed some cumin seed with onions and green peppers, added 1 can of chopped tomatoes and 5 ounces of chicken breast, chili powder and a 1/2 cup of cooked mung beans.  Simmered for about 15 minutes:

dinner22

Very good.  Speaking of good – these chips are Food Should Taste Good Lime chips.  Perfect with the chili. I was happy to find those at the store!  So tasty!  Also there is a bowl of strawberries peeking out there. 😀

Went to K-mart tonight to get something for my niece.  It is really hard shopping for a 10 year old!  We feel totally inept since we don’t have kids.

It’s football night tonight.  Last night my sad Broncos struggled against the Bears.  Why they ever let Cutler go, I just don’t get it!

So it’s snack time:

nuts

Measured out into 1 serving:

snack7

These are very good!  Yum, yum!

Regarding our trip, I think we might be leaning towards Cancun.  Ireland would be great, but probably not in January!

I had someone ask me what I drink other than coffee 😀

I do not like artificial sweeteners, so that  cuts down on the possibilities for me.  I drink a lot of water, and a lot of seltzer water.  I also drink hot tea in cooler weather. Plus ice tea if I am out at a restaurant.  I rarely drink juice.  I have found most restaurants that serve soda can give me a glass of soda water with lemon in it.  I really don’t think I could have sweetened drinks with meals ever again, I have really grown so accustomed to unsweetened beverages that it tastes weird when I try one.

Overall a good eating day.

Question:  Do you drink diet sodas?

Whole Wheat Biscotti

Here is what I played with last night.

cafe1

Whole Wheat Biscotti

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp orange zest
  • 1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • 2-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Using an electric mixer, combine the eggs, egg whites, sugar, orange zest and extract, and orange juice concentrate and mix until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine all the rest of the dry ingredients.  Add to the wet and mix thoroughly.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Divide the batter evenly between the 2 sheets into a loaf shape (dough is sticky and will spread).  Should look kind of like this:

bisc-1

Bake for 25 minutes until slightly firm to touch.  You aren’t finished baking here, so don’t go too hard.  Take the baking sheets from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes.  Turn the oven temperature down to 300.

bisc2

After 10 minutes, remove the biscotti block to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice the loaf into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices.  Then place these slices cut side down back onto the baking pan.

bisc-2

Slide into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake another 10.  You may need to go a little longer depending on the humidity and how wet your dough is.  The biscotti should be dry and crisp.

Calories per each biscotti if you get 40 cookies is approximately 50.

These turned out quite good for my first try!  I think I might reduce to 1 egg to make the dough stiffer and easier to form into a log.

Banana Maple Nut Pancakes

Okay I had to share this topping and give it a post all its own – it was that good!

You can use any pancakes for this, as the topping is the star of the show:

cakes1

Banana Maple topping:

  • 1 small ripe banana
  • 1 tablespoon real maple syrup
  • 9 grams of walnuts (toasted is best!)

In a bowl, mash the banana really well with a fork until it is completely liquid. Mix in the maple syrup and heat in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds just to warm up.  Put onto pancakes and sprinkle with the walnuts.  This is sooooo good!  The riper the banana, the more sauce-like the consistency will be (and sweeter).

Serves 1 – Calories approx 160

This would be awesome on french toast, probably even a bagel.  I love real maple syrup, but it is so calorie dense and just a couple tablespoons is never enough for me, so this is a great way to stretch it out with enough topping for pancakes to satisfy me.

Fun tip:  Did you know that you can toast nuts in the microwave? Just put them on a paper towel and zap in 30 second intervals until they are the toastiness that you like.  These walnuts took a little over a minute and had come out of the fridge.

And can you believe there were no blueberries on my pancakes???

POM Wonderful and giant salad!

Had a great workout today.  I was sweating buckets – so at least it felt like a great workout LOL!

30 minutes of jogging, then NROLW Stage 2:

    • Barbell squat/push press:  1 x 10 22 pounds,  2 x 10 45 pounds (my balance is much better going up to my toes now)
    • Step ups: 2 x 10 with 30 pound dumbbells
    • Dumbbell 1 point rows: 2 x 10 with 25 pound dumbbells  (balance getting better with these, too!)
    • Static lunge with rear foot elevated: 2 x 10 25 pound dumbbells
    • Pushups: 2 x 10
    • Plank: 2 x 60 second holds
    • Cable woodchop: 2 x 10 50 pounds.

This is the last week of stage 2!  Then no lifting for at least a week before my tri.  We went for a bike ride tonight, so there was another 13 miles of biking.  Wasn’t really planning on that, but John wanted to ride and I love to bike 😀

The generous people at POM Wonderful sent me some bottles of their pomegranate juice to sample.  Pomegranate juice has the highest amount of antioxidants of any kind of juice or wine.  I should make John drink more because studies have shown it is good for the prostate.

pomI was thinking the juice would be more tart like cranberry, but it isn’t.  It is not overly sweet and I actually think it is quite tasty!  We tried it plain and I put a splash in some seltzer for a fun drink.

The highlight of today was making a pomegranate vinaigrette for a wonderful dinner salad!  This is a super antioxidant salad!

salad

Vinaigrette:

  • 1 ounce of POM Wonderful juice
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon of light oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • several grinds of black pepper

Combine everything in a covered container and shake to blend.   It took 2 minutes to do! I poured this over a mixture of salad greens, along with grilled chopped chicken (love that precooking!!).  The dressing has a sweet flavor, and I thought blueberries would be awesome on the salad and they were!  Plus a sprinkling of pine nuts.  Welcome to Bistro de Lori!

salad2

YUM!!!

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

p6200001Chocolate cupcakes! I got this recipe from Steph Chows with a tiny bit of tweaking.

1 cup natural apple sauce
1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
25 grams of dark chocolate chips (60 chips to be exact)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Spray a 12 cup small muffin tin with nonstick spray (or use liners)

In a bowl, mix the all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips.

In a mixing bowl, combine the egg, sugar, vanilla, and applesauce.


Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring well, but don’t overmix.   Divide evenly into the 12 muffin cups.  Press 5 chocolate chips into the center of each cupcake. Bake for about 15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 cupcake
Amount Per Serving
Calories  74
Calories from Fat  12
Total Fat  1.3g
Cholesterol  16mg
Sodium  167mg
Total Carbohydrates  15.0g
Dietary Fiber  1.8
Sugars  7.1g
Protein  1.8g
Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 4% • Iron 4%

Not too bad!  These are very tasty.   Moist and bite sized.  2 makes a decadent snack with a cup of coffee or tea.  Big thumbs up from John the chocolate lover.  Even though I love to add protein to things, I think I would leave these alone so they don’t get rubbery.

I think some chocolate buttercream icing may have made its way onto the cuppicakes before we left the house, though…..