Today I took the little man with me for a visit to Planet Organic in search of Vegenaise.  We found some Vegenaise, some Annie's Bunny Grahams and grabbed a bunch of kale.

I'm pretty sure that Kale chips are one of my current favorite things.  So crispy, salty and oh so good for you!

My recipe for Kale Chips is pretty simple:

Preheat your oven to 375*F

Pull off of the stalks - I find the easiest way to do this is to face the leaves up (or down, really doesn't matter), and run your fingers up the sides of the stalk.  The leaves will come off when you do this and when it gets far enough it'll break where it's tender enough to eat. Voila!

Wash the leaves and spin in a salad spinner.

Spread the leaves out fairly evenly on a baking sheet.

Drizzle with 1 Tbsp Olive Oil (use more if you're using more than one bunch of kale)

Sprinkle with Salt.  I use about 3/4 tsp.  It's such a personal preference.

Bake for 5 minutes, rotate pan.  Bake for 7 more minutes.

Here are my fresh chips right out of the oven

Every time I make these I really can't believe how honest to goodness good for you they are!  

I woke up this morning and tossed on some clothes quickly since I could hear the little destroyer making noise in his room and to my surprise a t-shirt that used to be very snug on me is very loose on me now.  We're talking hanging so low in the front that my bra shows loose.

So to celebrate this I decided it would be a good day to spend some money - I did work on good Friday after all, so why not?

So I headed over to Lululemon's new website and picked up a 50 rep bra in Grapeseed:

and a modern racer tank in citron:

I've been oogling clothes from Lulu for a while now, and I have to admit I'm pretty excited for these to come!

I really find lunch is the hardest meal of the day for me.  It's when I usually end up eating poorly and then my day goes to hell in a handbasket from there.  Recently I spent a bit of time a Bulk Bark picking out different grains I'd like to try.  One of these was wheat berries.  They sounded interesting enough.  Wheat berries are the whole wheat kernel - completely unprocessed.  They have a reasonable amount of protein (7g/cup) and are high in fibre (9g/cup) and relatively low calorie (220 cal/ cup).

So I boiled some of these bad boys up - takes about 90 minutes to cook them.  Joy of Cooking says to cook 1 cup of wheat berries in 3.5 cups water for 90 minutes or until split and chewy.

I was working the next day and work can really put a kink in my plans to be healthy, with Hero Burger a 2 minute walk away, so I quickly sauteed up some artichoke hearts, pitted some kalamata olives and broke apart a bit of goat cheese and voila a mediterreanean grain salad that isn't drenched in oil or fats!  Oh - and it's delish!

I've been looking forward to this recipe all week.  I love lentils - they're so tasty and I love how green lentils kind of pop in your mouth!  I'm non-discriminatory though, I do love all kinds of lentils.

This recipe didn't disappoint at all! It tasted so meaty because of the lentils and I'm sure that you could easily freeze if you want to make a large batch of it.

Pasta Lentil Bolognese from Clean Eating Magazine April/May 2011

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced small, 1 cup
• 2 small celerly stalks, diced small, 1/2 cup
• 1 small fennel bulb, diced small, 1 1/2 cups
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TBSP White Wine Vinegar
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup green lentils
• 2 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes – 28 oz can
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 8 oz wide whole wheat pasta noodles-linguine, fettucini, etc.
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:
ONE: In a large dutch oven or saucepot, heat oil on medium high. Add onion, carrot, celery, fellel and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until released water evaporates and brown bits begin to form on bottom of pot, about 15 minutes. Add vinegar and scrape any brown bits from bottom of pot as liquid evaporates. Stir in broth, 1 cup water, lentils, tomatoes, oregano, parsley and basil. Reduct heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

TWO: Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and set aside.

THREE: Add milk to bolognese and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta amont 4 bowls and top each with about 1 1/2 cups bolognese.

Nutirents per serving (4 oz pasta & 1 1/2 cups bolognese)

Calories: 337, Total Fat: 4 gm, Carbs: 68 g, Fiber: 15g, Sugars:8g, Protein 13 g, Sodium: 484 mg, Cholesterol: 1mg

and it got lil' man's stamp of approval - scrunchy face-stuffing mug.

Let's talk about potatoes.  I love them.  They're creamy, delicious and my kid loves them too.  We had a handful of new potatoes, so I was looking for something delicious to do with them and I've been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes for a while now.

I cleaned them up a bit by spraying the pan with my Misto rather than liberally pouring oil into the pan.  I did the same to oil the patates themselves, sprinkled them with some salt and dried thyme - I have some chives in the garden, but I'm holding off on cutting them until the weekend for Easter Dinner - and baked them at 450* for 25 minutes.

Out of the oven:

What's that? You want to see them closer up?  I do live to please.

Were they good you ask?  What does this tell you?

Even the cat wanted in on the crispy action!

In an attempt to eat clean I've been cooking pretty much solely from Clean Eating Magazine.  Luckily my April/May edition came last week and we've been eating well (and clean) since!


Last night was taco night.  Cauliflower, Mushroom and Corn tacos.  I know what you're thinking. You must be joking, right?  It was incredible - and I don't joke about food my friends.  Food is very serious business!


And really?  I think this tells you just how delicious it truly is:

Classic Tacos from Clean Eating Magazine April/May 2011 (p.60)

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped into small pieces
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed, roughly chopped into small pieces 
• 1 cup cauliflower florets, roughly chopped into small pieces
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp chile powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 12 small corn tortillas
• 5 large Romaine lettuce leaves, sliced into ¼-inch strips
• ½ avocado, pitted, peeled and cubed
• ½ cup grated low-fat cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup low-fat sour cream

ONE: In a large, high-sided skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes, until it begins to soften. Stir in garlic and sauté for 30 more seconds. 

TWO: Add mushrooms and cauliflower and stir constantly for 2 minutes, until vegetables start to release water and shrink. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until mushrooms are about half their original size and cauliflower is fork tender, about 15 minutes. 

THREE: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together tomato paste, ¼ cup water, chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add to mushroom mixture along with corn. Stir to combine, then cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. 

FOUR: Warm tortillas over the flame of a gas stove or in a warm oven (I warm up the oven and heat them in a foil pouch) 

FIVE:  To assemble tacos, fill each tortilla with ¼ cup mushroom filling. Top with lettuce, avocado, cheese and sour cream, dividing evenly.

Per serving, 3 tacos each including garnishes - 379 Calories, 12g Total Fat, 3g Saturated Fat, 58g Total Carbohydrates, 10g Dietary Fiber, 8g Sugars, 15g Protein, 394mg Sodium, 11mg Cholesterol, 37% Vitamin C, 45% Riboflavin

I need a goal.  Something to work towards.  I've been really wanting to get back to running, and I think that if I realllllllly stick with it, I can do this.

I'm seriously considering registering to do the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February of next year while we're in Florida.  It's at the beginning of our vacation, so I can truly train hard for it before we go and not worry so much after it's done, because, well, it'll be done! I really want to do this.  It's a half marathon through the Disney Parks - it sounds fairly incredible to be and slightly surreal.

Every year there's a beneficiary - 2011 it was the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society; 2012 isn't announced yet and registration doesn't even open until June, so I have some time to make up my mind.

I realize completely that I've been slacking in the blogging department.  But, in my defense I have been working!

Now that the weather is starting to get a bit nicer, it's time to get outside and get a bit more active.  I fully plan on restarting Couch to 5K.  The problem is, none of my workout pants actually fit anymore... they all fall down.  So until I can get to Running Room to get some new running tights, I'll be taking nice long walks through the park while pushing a stroller.

Today I received my first Wanigan in about 2 years.  We used to get them when we first moved to the new house, but found that we were wasting so much food.  Now that we're back into eating clean, we decided to jump back on the wagon.  We get the Local Harvest Wanigan.  So for $25 we get all of this:

I have to admit, I'm most excited for Crunchy Bean Mix and Beets!