Rice and Beans, Italian Style

This recipe was inspiried from a recipe by Bush's Beans that I found HERE.

This is the picture from Bush's Website...my dish had a lot more color ;)

Here is what I did to make it taste even better (I was feeding extra people, and this really made a lot). Feel free to cut it in half if you want:

Ingredients:

olive oil for sauteing

1 small onion, diced onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 t. salt

3 C. brown rice

6 cups water, or vegetable broth or half and half

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

2 Cans white beans, drained and rinsed well

2 Cans Italian style diced tomatoes

1-2 T. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a big pot, saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Add salt and once onion is translucent, add rice and stir for a few minutes.

2. Add water, cover pot and bring to a boil

3. Once boiling, reduce heat so rice will continue cooking at a high simmer

4. After ten minutes of cooking, add in zucchini and yellow squash, beans, tomatoes, and Italian seasoning.

5. Once rice is pretty much done, turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

6. My kids like Parmesan cheese on theirs and we added extra salt and pepper. Much more flavor the second day. Serve with a BIG green salad with lots of veggies!

Amazing Summer Quinoa Salad

Picture is from HERE (but this is what my salad looked like!)

I wanted to make a new quinoa salad...and found this amazing recipe HERE! I doubled the ingredients for the salad and tripled the dressing recipe. Again, no picture..so I found one that looked just like it. I love it, because it is sweet and savory at the same time. We accompanied this with grilled veggies and shrimp and a big green salad. I like this recipe because you toast the quinoa first before cooking it...adds more depth to the seed.. Enjoy!
(Tastes even better the next day):


Ingredients:

1/2 C. quinoa
1 C. water
1/4 C. orange juice
1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro
2 T. rice vinegar
2 t. toasted sesame oil
1 t. minced fresh ginger
1/4 t. salt
dash of Cayenne pepper
1 small mango, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 C. black beans
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:
1. Toast quinoa in a small dry saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it crackles and becomes fragrant, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a fine strainer and rinse well. Put quinoa in pot with water and bring to a boil then simmer with lid until quinoa is tender and water is gone.
2. In the mean time, whisk orange juice (i made fresh o.j.), cilantro, vinegar, oil, ginger, salt and cayenne in a medium bowl. Add mango, pepper, beans and green onions; toss to coat.
3. When the quinoa is finished cooking, add to the mango mixture and toss to combine!

Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I checked out this awesome cookbook from the library : VEGANOMICON! It is full of amazing recipes, and this is one of our family favorites so far. I made these while we had movie night last night with the kids and my nephew and new niece. The entire batch was gone before I could even take a picture (so I had to borrow one)... Enjoy!!

(picture from: http://www.smittenkitchen.com/)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 C. oat flour (oats ground finely in a blender will do just fine..I added a little more flour to make the dough less sticky)
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. natural sugar
1/3 C. canola oil (I will try coconut oil next)
1 T. ground flax seeds
1/4 C. soy milk
1 t. vanilla
3/4 C. good quality chocolate chips


Directions:

Sift together the oat flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a bowl, whisk together flax seeds and soy milk. Add the brown and white sugars and stir, add the vanilla. Whisk about 1 minute

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and fold in chocolate chips.

NOTE: I ADDED IN THE OIL LAST AND WORKED IT IN AND IT MADE A THICKER DOUGH WHICH LED TO COOKIES NOT SO FLAT..SO IF YOU WANT TO TRY THAT. ADD THE OIL NOW AT THE END!

Drop batter by the tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before you transfer to a cooling rack!

WARNING: These are really yummy!

Boise Half Ironman!

We made it to Boise!

The Boise Guest House were we stayed with our friends, Cody and Trevor!

Checking my bike in the day before the race...it's kind of the deer in the headlights kind of look!

Cody and I with matching compression socks, iron man sweatshirts and tri outfits...

David and I on race day hiking up to the reservoir for the swim. David brought his pump to check all our bikes before the race! He was my awesome support crew!

Tri Group: Me, Cody, Greg (our coach) and Allan
My group just after the swim started!

Hello Blogging World! The last six weeks I have been super busy and just really trying to enjoy life with my kids while they are on summer break. We have had many visitors coming through Utah and have enjoyed having friends and family stay at our house. On June 11th, I finished my first official triathalon race, the Boise 70.3 Ironman event! It was absolutely amazing and exhilerating. David and I left our sweet children at home and went to Idaho with our friends, Cody and Trevor. We met Greg, our triathalon coach there in Idaho. The hardest part for sure was the swim. The water just tapped out at 53 degrees! My was that cold. It took me just over 50 minutes to complete the 1.2 mile swim...a long time, but I really tried to pace myself to save energy for the rest of the race. The 56 mile bike ride felt great and took me about 3 hours and 8 minutes to complete. The bike ride ends in downtown Boise, where the run starts. It is a 13.1 mile run around Boise's downtown district and river trail. The streets were lined with people cheering you on. I couldn't help but get caught up in the emotions! The run took me just over 2 hours because of a pulled muscle in my right foot (don't wear shoes that are only three weeks old on race day).. Coming across the finish line was so amazing and I couldn't help but cheer and cry at the same time! I did it and I can't wait to do it again.

Right after the swim when my body was frozen from the 53 degree water!

Just finishing the bike!

Ready for the 13.1 mile run

Just after the race...so amazed I did it!

Cody and I getting our official ironman picture taken

David and I...he was proud of me...It was an amazing moment to share with my best friend!

In honor of finishing this amazing experience, I wanted to share one of my most favorite recipe, which has proved to be perfect training and racing fuel:

If the Tarahumara tribe can run 50 to 100 miles for run and fuel on pinole (masa harina corn flour) and chia seeds..I thought I would give it a try.

I found the perfect recipe to start using:

Vegan Pinole-Chia Waffles

from: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

Ingredients:

3/4 C. medium to finely ground pinole (look for masa harina)

1/4 C. chia seeds

1/4 C. oats, ground

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1/2 C.applesauce

1 C. hemp milk (sometimes I use coconut)

1 T. coconut oil

1 T. maple syrup

1 T. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat Waffle Iron

2. Stir together corneal, chia, ground oats, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce, milk, oil, maple syrup and vanilla.

3. Stir wet ingredients into dry to make a smooth batter. Sometimes I add more milk.

4. Spray waffle iron with non-stick spray and pour batter into hot waffle iron.

5. Cook according to directions of your waffle maker.

I have taken these waffles on long bike rides, and fueled with these the whole time I was on the bike during the half-iron man. I also use them before long runs. They are awesome and I was so thankful to never "bonk" on my ride...or my run!

EXPLORE THE POWER OF CHIA SEEDS!!

Food Lately!

Me and my triathlon coach, Greg after my first 50 mile bike ride..took us 3 hours!

For those of you that don't know, I am in the middle of training for a half-iron man race which will take place on June, 11th in Boise, Idaho. This will involve a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. I train at least 1 hour a day, usually more and sometimes doing two workouts in a day. It has been interesting trying to fit everything in, but has also been very rewarding. The only problem is what I am eating. I feel like it has taken me a really long time to figure out what my body needs, nutrition wise, why I am training this hard. I support what Dr. Furhman says and still try to live a Nutritarian lifestyle, but have had to make some adjustments to fit my needs.

Me with my new racing shoes I am trying to break in before the race in two weeks!

I know that I need to eat in between meals, especially when I am burning 3500-4000 calories in a day. I know this, because of my exerspy arm band. You can learn more about this awesome tool by contacting my trainer Cody HERE!

So, I thought I would share with you what is working for me right now..it is still a work in progress, and based on what is going on that day, I do change things up..but for now, this is a pretty general food schedule for me:

Breakfast: Raw Oats (David and I make up a batch of this every few weeks). It is a recipe from Raw Melissa, but you can really add whatever you want. We add:

10 C. oats

1 C. coconut

1 C. chopped pecans

1 C. chopped dried cherries

1 C. sunflower seeds

1 C. pumpkin seeds.

Mix all together and put in a cool cookie jar. I leave it on my counter. David takes this to work every day. Scoop out what you want (I use 1/2 C.) and top with almond milk. Let sit for 10 minutes and enjoy with a packet of stevia and fresh blueberries! This is great when you are in a hurry, need something chewy and sweet (stevia is VERY sweet).

Morning Snack: Protein Shake made from Life's Basics Plant Protein Powder. With 25 grams of protein from pea, brown rice, hemp, and chia seeds, I feel this is the perfect addition on days when I am working out really hard.

Favorite Shake:

1 scoop Life's Basics Chocolate plant protein powder

1 small banana

2 C. spinach

1 medium zucchini

1 scoop cacao powder

1 T. natural peanut butter

You can get this protein powder at your local health food store, but it is cheaper on websites like amazon. The green protein powder is also awesome! Has soo many vitamins.

Lunch:

Giant salad with at least 1 pound of veggies, beans and cashew ranch dressing. Just like the one I wrote about HERE!

Afternoon snack:
a take a little carrot juice (really cuts the vinegar flavor out) and mix in 1 T. of apple cider vinegar and 2 t. Vitamineral greens. You can read about them here!
If I need another shake, I will make a green smoothie using Life Source plant protein powder.Dinner is what ever I make (can't turn off the stupid underlining thing..sorry)...usually a balance with a plant based protein, like beans and or quinoa and lots of veggies!

Another Raw Cookie Adaptation

My friend, Liz took Raw Melissa's chocolate no-bake recipe, which you can find here and changed it. I then took her recipe and added a few more things. Here you go:

Raw Cinnamon Oatmeal No Bakes

Ingredients:

3 C. rolled oats
1/2 C. almond butter
1/2 C. coconut butter
1 T. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 t. sea salt
1 C. agave

Directions:
In a bowl, mix the following ingredients and let sit for 1 hour to soften. Then add:

1 C. almond flour (almonds ground up finely in a high-powered blender)
Mix together and shape into 24 cookies. These are really good...add raisins, craisens or chocolate chips for extra yumminess!

Sweet Potato and Lentil Salad

This is a really yummy dish...perfect to fill you up, especially after a really hard workout.
Again, it is from www.ohsheglows.com: Here you go:

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 C. organic vegetable broth
1 C. uncooked green lentils
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
2 C. spinach chopped
Dressing (I doubled this)
1 T. pure maple syrup, 1 t. dijon mustard, 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and chop sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes. In a bowl, mix with 1 T. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, stiring with a spatula half-way through
2. While those are cooking, cook lentils on the stove with the broth.
3. To a pan, add chopped onion and garlic. Cook with a drop of olive oil for 4 minutes and then add in chopped pepper and spinach and cook for another 5 minutes. When the lentils and sweet potatoes are done, add them in.
4. Mix your dressing, and then stir into mixture on the stove. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 4-6 side servings.

(p.s. I served it with homemade pita bread that I made. I have been experimenting with naturally leavened whole-wheat bread. If you are interested in obtaining a starter, you can get it from the authors of Original Fast Foods. Click HERE, to read more about naturally-leavened bread and what you can make with one batch of dough! YUMMY! To obtain a starter, they have information on the right hand side of the page, about half way down