Well this was supposed to be the hottest May long weekend in Canadian history -- but we had some pretty changeable weather and although the temps were pretty pleasant, it did not reach the high 20's Celsius that was predicted. It was definitely one of those weekends where you had to be prepared for just about anything, in terms of dressing for the weather! My "girls' camping weekend" was fun, nonetheless, but we had to keep improvising our plans and acting on the fly :) Good thing I am a bit of a daredevil...
Yes, I Might be Losing It...
Tonight I am waiting for the rain to let up a bit so I can get out for a short walk. I am feeling a bit cooped up after a 3+ hour ride home from our campsite today. We did stop for coffee/water/snacks and a stretch, but it still was a bit less active than my typical day. I have been using the Lose It app on my iPhone and finding it is a great way to keep my honesty alive in the ongoing quest to balance work, children, nutrition and activity. If you are unfamiliar with Lose It and have similar goals to mine, you may find this app to be a great help.
Lose It is free (yay!) and allows great personalization/flexibility. It is easy to set up and use the tool to monitor your weight loss goals and to balance food intake with activity. Another great feature is that is doesn't only track calories, it tracks nutritional balance also: fats, protein, carbohydrates, sodium, fibre etc. You set your course and enter your daily food and exercise while ensuring you do it in a healthy way -- it's that simple. You can also set up Lose It to prompt you at specific times of the day; for example I have a personal default set to msg me if I don't enter my food by 8 p.m. each day.
Similar to Weight Watchers, I am enjoying the flexibility of eating from a wide variety of food groups as long as I manage my portion size and/or "earn" additional food intake daily with activity, but no lost time sitting thru meetings or embarrassing public weigh-ins!
Beeting Boredom
Let's be honest -- I love food: preparing food, trying new things and keeping my meals balanced and healthy. Food and dining are an art in my view, and are a daily priority. Lately, I have been looking for ways to include one of my favourite root vegetables: beets.
I have enjoyed crab cakes in a local restaurant chain that come served on a luscious burgundy bed of thinly grated spirals of raw beets. I am not sure how they make this "beet spaghetti", but one of my girlfriends has told me they must use a Madeleine-style grater. Once I get the scoop, I will share...
Until this fairly recent discovery of raw shredded beets, I have always eaten beets in cooked form -- in borscht, in my root vegetable bake, in pickled form or as whole steamed baby beets (including the tender stem and tops/greens).
Last week while reading an issue of Blush in the doctor's office, I found a great cupcake recipe that contains -- you guessed it -- beet puree! The thought was, similar to carrot cake, you can tip the scale toward health by incorporating some hidden veg in a chocolate cupcake. Here is the recipe -- hope you will try and let me know what you think. xo
Beet These Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients:
2 ounces - 60 g dark chocolate
1/2 cup - 125 mL unsalted butter
1 cup - 250 mL unbleached, all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. - 4 mL baking soda
1/4 tsp. - 1 mL each of baking powder and sea salt
3/4 cup - 180 mL lightly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. - 2 mL vanilla extract
1 cup beet puree
Yield: 12 cupcakes
To make the beet puree, boil or roast unpeeled beets until tender. Peel the beets after cooking -- cooking with the skin keeps the beets from bleeding out all of the lovely purple colour. Buzz in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. A slightly chunky texture is preferred for this recipe over baby-food-smooth!
Line muffin tins with paper cups and preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 Celcius. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave, stirring in 2 Tbsp of the butter as the chocolate begins to soften. Set aside to cool slightly.
Combine flour with soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the remaining butter with sugar, egg and vanilla. Add beet puree and then the cooled chocolate. Gradually add in the flour mix.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake for about 30 minutes -- a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin will come out clean. Cool in tin for five minutes, then turn out to cool completely. Ice with your favourite cream cheese or chocolate frosting or try the Tangy Icing recipe, below.
Tangy Icing Recipe:
Beat 4 ounces spreadable cream cheese with 1 Tbsp. of softened butter and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup of sifted icing sugar, stirring until smooth and creamy. Spread evenly over cooled cupcakes.
Note: 278 calories per cupcake, 2g protein, 14 g fat (0g saturated fat), 26g carbohydrate, 1g fibre and 171g sodium -- data for you Lose It App :)
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