Green Smoothie!

I know green smoothies sound and look nasty, but once you get over the thought of drinking green veggies, you will love them. I even crave them! Below is one of my favorite green smoothie recipes. I started out with a recipe from "Eating For Energy" by Yuri Elkaim (great book!), but altered it a bit.

Green Monkey Smoothie
Serves 1

1 banana
1 large handful fresh spinach
1 large handful fresh kale
1 small handful fresh parsley leaves
A few fresh mint leaves
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 Tbsp ground sesame seed
Honey or agave nectar
1-2 cups Water and/or soy or nut milk (I use half soy, half water)

Blend and enjoy!

P.S. - had to include one of my favorite kitchen appliances in the photo... Vita-Mix! I highly recommend investing in one. They are worth it.

Sweet Potato Muffins

I told you I would experiment with some sweet potato recipes... here's my first attempt. I liked how the muffins turned out, they had a good flavor, but I think they can be better. I'll give you the recipe, then after I play around with it some more, I'll post an updated recipe.

Sweet Potato Muffins
makes about 2 dozen

1 1/2 cup apple sauce
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cup white flour
4 Tbsp ground flax seed
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
8 cups of shredded raw sweet potato
1 cup of raising

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix apple sauce, eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl.

Mix all dry ingredients and sweet potato in a separate bowl.

Gradually mix wet ingredients into dry. After the two are mixed, add raisins and stir.

Fill greased muffin tin with batter and cook for 30-45 minutes.

The center of the muffins never appeared to be fully cooked. I took them out after about 40-45 minutes and let them cool. Later on in they day, after they completely cooled, the muffins tasted great! Instead of an undercooked texture, they just seemed very moist.

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

4 portobello mushrooms
1 cup Israeli couscous
1/2 chopped onion
3 chopped garlic cloves
1 cup of roughly chopped Brussels sprouts
Apple cider vinegar
Braggs amino acids
1 Tbsp Grape seed oil
Seasoning of choice
Feta cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

Cook Israeli couscous as instructed on package.

While the couscous is cooking, saute onions and garlic in grape seed oil. When the onions are almost soft, add apple cider vinegar, braggs amino acids, desired seasonings, and Brussels sprouts. Let the Brussels sprouts cook for just a few minutes, you want them to stay crispy.

Remove vegetables from heat and add cooked couscous so they can absorb some of the flavor.

Wipe mushrooms with a wet paper towel, cut off stems, and scrape brown gills out of caps. Place mushrooms on oiled baking sheet, gill-side up. Fill mushroom caps with couscous mixture and sprinkle with feta cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

The Beauty of Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are my favorite right now. I get so excited to eat them and practically lick my bowl clean! They satisfy my sweet tooth and provide great nutrients. Sweet potatoes are a good food for runners, especially when eaten the day before a race.

Each potato contains around 100 calories, 0 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of sugar, 4 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein. Pretty impressive! Sweet potatoes also contain a huge amount of vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene. They contain vitamin C, potassium, iron, manganese, and copper. Manganese and copper are crucial for healthy muscle function and most runners don't get enough in their diet. Because of the potatoes high carbohydrate content, they can be used for carbon loading the day before a race. When eaten, carbohydrates are broken down into smaller sugars, one of them is glucose. The glucose that is not used right away is stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is what fuels the body during exercise. That is why carbon loading is important. However, too many carbs can be dangerous. When the muscles and liver stores are full, the extra glucose is stored as fat.

There are many different ways to eat sweet potatoes. I am going to share how I usually prepare my sweet potatoes in this post, then experiment with some other recipes and post about them later.

Baked Sweet Potato
Wrap the sweet in foil and bake on 350 for 1 hour or until soft
Cut down the middle and top with 1/2 chopped apple, 1 chopped date, raisins, coconut, 1 tsp of peanut butter, flax seed, and cinnamon
Eat the whole thing, and don't feel bad about it :)