day 62: bean puree

Tonight I feel stuffed like a turkey. Maybe it’s the 8 cookies that I ate. That’s right 8. Four for each pint of blood I donated is a fair trade, no? I always use my blood donation days as an excuse to binge on cookies, regardless of it it’s Lent or if they’re not in my Cleansing Diet.

…this week’s weigh-in may be bad news. :S

I am going to start doing something new with my cardio. I’m planning on doing it in the morning before work and then doing weights at night. This way, I can burn more fat by doing cardio on an empty stomach. Also, it should let me have more energy at night when I get home from work because cardio really burns me out. I’ll try it this week and see how I like it. If not, I’ll go back to doing cardio with my evening workouts.

I mentioned in my earlier post that I wanted to cook some more Italian style food this week. Today, armed with the Molto Mario cookbook I borrowed from my dad’s house, I made Tuscan-style Artichokes. Honestly, they were just ok (usually his recipes are great, so maybe I screwed something up here). I’m not going to bother with sharing the recipe.

The real star of the dish was actually a white bean puree that I made up on the fly (usually my random concoctions aren’t fabulous but Matt made this comment which let me  know that this one was a winner: “The only thing bad about the beans is that you didn’t make more”)

White Bean Puree

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 c. white wine (don’t skimp on the wine)

Directions

Brown the butter in a skillet.
Add the thyme, garlic, and onions and sautee until soft.
Add in the beans and the wine. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until the liquid is mostly evaporated.
Puree the beans with an immersion blender.

day 35: root veggies

Lately I’ve been eating a lot of these guys:

Parsnips! Oh so tasty, crunchy, and awesome. These bad boys have more potassium than carrots– good for keeping the workout cramps at bay.
Raw parsnips + hummus = great pre-workout snack.
I like the sweet and somewhat nutty taste of them. Last week I ate through a pound of parsnips so I bought them in bulk this week!

Interesting factoid: In the Middle Ages, especially during Lent, Europeans favored the parsnip because of its flavour, nourishment and ability to satisfy hunger through meatless fasting periods.

… so ’tis the season, I suppose.

Tonight I dove into new root veggie territory: Celeriac

Inspired by Kenzie’s Veggie Love post and a recipe from my naturopath, Matt and I team-cooked a tasty cannellini bean soup with celery root. I tried a bit of it raw while I was chopping it and I liked the taste of it– it tasted like celery, but nutty where celery is salty. It was a really good addition to the soup!

Celery Root and White Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 can cannellini beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek, sliced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery root, diced
3 cloves garlic
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
1 tsp salt
cracked black pepper to taste
1 c. brown rice pasta shells

Directions

Saute the garlic and leeks in the olive oil in a large pan until leeks are soft. Add 6 c. water and all the other ingredients except pasta shells. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the veggies are soft and the soup is flavourful. Add the pasta and simmer another 12-15 minutes.