beets me.

There has been some radio silence over here. Last week was a ‘busy’ week. I put that in quotes because it wasn’t busy but just one thing after the other. We had a good weekend, though, and a chance to get out of the city … clear our heads and start fresh.

One positive to come out of last week, however, was a reason to continue buying beets. I hate beets. I’ve tried. And tried. And tried to like them. But I don’t. I just don’t. I had some in the fridge and I thought I would try them one.last.time. No avail. I still don’t like them. But what do you do with 2lbs of roasted beets?

Beets me.

I decided to go cruisin’ on the Internets to see if there was a recipe or two that I could make with these things. Eureka! These are delicious!

Beets Me Muffins (Original)

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

• 2 C roasted, shredded beets
• 2 C whole wheat flour
• 1 C white flour
• ½ C – ¾ C brown sugar (increase as needed for sweetness)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger

Wet ingredients:

• 1 C vegetable oil
• 1 C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together. Create a well in dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients and stir together until just mixed. Pour mixture into muffin tray, filling ~2/3rds full (muffin cups recommended). Bake 18-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick to ensure cooked through (pick comes out clean). Yields 20 muffins.

Surprisingly, these do not come out pink as they would have you believe online. Here is another version for those of you out there who are vegan or choose vegan more often (like me):

Vegan Whole Wheat Beets Me Muffins

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

• 2 C roasted, shredded beets
• 3 tsp vital wheat gluten
• 2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• ½ C – ¾ C brown sugar (increase as needed for sweetness)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger

Wet ingredients:

• 1 C vegetable oil
• 1 C plant-based milk (eg. Almond milk, soy milk or coconut milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together. Create a well in dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients and stir together until just mixed. Pour mixture into muffin tray, filling ~2/3rds full (muffin cups recommended). Bake 18-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick to ensure cooked through (pick comes out clean). Yields 20 muffins.

Happy Eating! I promise there has been some knitting (albeit very little) that I will be finished with and able to show you very soon :)

salad: Lentil & Detox.

Since it is my FOUR year blog anniversary tomorrow (WOW!), I thought I would share with you a food update … not knitting related at all!

As part of our juicing adventure, M and I have started experimenting with various salads to enjoy with our lunches and dinners. The first is a recipe I came across recently but have since tweaked to our tastes. Disclosure: I love mushrooms so when I make this, I double them.

Lentil Salad or Stir-fry

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 head broccoli, chopped
• ½ head cauliflower, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped (can grate them in a food processer as well and place on top to steam when cooking is almost finished)
• 6-8 white or brown mushrooms, sliced
• 1C dried green lentils, rinsed
• 2C vegetable broth
• 1 bell pepper, any colour, finely chopped

Directions: In a hot skillet, add olive oil, onion and garlic. Sauté until onions are transparent. Add cinnamon and cumin. Mix well. Add zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms and lentils. Reduce heat and sauté gently for 10-15 minutes, being sure not to burn the dry lentils on the bottom of the skillet. Add broth. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to minimal for 15-20 minutes. Once lentils are cooked, add peppers to heat through. Remove from heat and serve over romaine lettuce, spinach, or rice or other whole grain of your choice.

~

The second salad that I have just started making is a mixture of these two salads, the Detox Salad and the Fall Detox Salad, on Angela’s awesome blog, Oh She Glows. Even if you aren’t vegan, it’s worth checking out – her recipes are awesome!

Detox Salad

Ingredients:

* The food processer works best with the grater attachment inserted, if available.

• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• ¼ head of green cabbage, grated
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 bunch of broccoli (2 heads), finely chopped or coarse chopped in food processer
• ¼ head of cauliflower, finely chopped or coarse chopped in food processer
• 2 tsp of Braggs seasoning (or any other seasoning mix with rosemary, thyme and sage; I used a no salt added version) or to taste
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice or to taste
• ¼ C sunflower seeds, raw & unsalted (set aside 1 tbsp)
• ¼ C sultana raisins
• ¼ C dried cranberries

Directions: In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Sprinkle the reserved Tbsp of sunflower seeds on top of salad to garnish. Serve.

The colour of the grated carrots were so vibrant that I had to share this with you. I hope you enjoy these light, healthful salads as much as we have been.

As a follow-up to the post about juicing, I thought I would share with you that we are still juicing like crazy. We make green smoothies because I can. not. throw. out. all. of. that. fibre. goodness. M has really embraced the smoothies – we both look forward to them with our meals. I have quit Weight Watchers as the juicing has been much more successful for me. I have lost another 5lbs, which means I have lost all of the baby weight! Yahoo! Now, we are actively engaging in eating a cleaner, healthier diet (sadly, that means no more Nibs or Diet Coke). I will share more as we go.

What have you been doing for your health lately? Any foodie websites or blogs you love? Please share!

additions.

For something completely different, we have decided to try juicing. This has nothing to do with knitting or crafting or anything so I will understand if you stop reading now! I thought I would share some personal thoughts about my weight loss journey since tinytuna was born.

Along with a friend of mine, we are sticking to Weight Watchers quite diligently. I have had some success with it in the past and post-partum, I thought I would sign up again for the online membership. I have lost 5lbs thus far since getting back on the wagon in October. Ideally, I would like to slim back down another 10lbs to my pre-pregnancy weight.

What I really struggle with, though, is fruits and vegetables. I know I should eat them. I love the taste of them – I’m not a picky eater. I really enjoy most all foods except olives. Truly. I’ll be honest: I actually eat very healthfully. My shortcomings happen when I am hungry. Is that the case for most people? I kind of think so. Snack time is the worst for me! Particularly 10am and 4pm. It is just that when I’m hungry, I would way rather eat a piece of bread with jam. Or chips. Or candy. Or just about anything but fruit and veg.

How to overcome this?

There are a couple of reasons I would like to ‘overhaul’ my eating habits (I’m not calling it a diet because this needs to be sustainable forever):

1. We want more children and the idea of heading into my next pregnancy heavier is a bit daunting to me (I think about post-partum the next go round!),
2. I want to feel healthy inside and out, and
3. The food that I love is calorie-rich but nutrient-lacking.

 

I decided to sit down and figure out what my trigger food is – I didn’t actually realise I had one until I was reaching for 72% dark chocolate for the 5th time last week. Who knew? I still have my bars in the fridge but I’ve moved them to a spot I can’t see them every time I open the fridge.

We looked up some recipes online: juicerecipes.com has been a great place to start as you plug in the ingredients you have and it spits out recipes. Also, it details the health benefits of the juice you are making.
 

 

For now, we are going to stick to the slightly more labour intensive blender rather than invest in a juicer. The blender is great for the morning smoothies I make and while it means I have to strain the pulp out of the vegetable juices, I’m willing to do this for now.
 

I have to insert a caveat here: I didn’t think they would be so good. Who knew that a little lemon (fresh squeezed) and apple could sweeten kale, tomato and spinach enough that you almost polish off the glass before remembering to take a photo? Huh.

Do you have any experience with juicing? Has it been successful? A labour of love? Hate it? I’d love to hear the good, the bad and the ugly!

ps. I promised a friend I would include an update about cloth diapering soon and I will. I wanted to take some photos to show you what has worked and not worked. That’s coming soon!