Missed my suggestions for last month? Check them out here.
Gabby (sister) and I had the following conversation this morning on BBM. She was sitting in class and I was at work. Mulit-tasking and mutual procrastination at its best.
Whitney: Can you help me with something?
Gabby: With what?
Whitney: Music. I need songs that are good for running.
Gabby: How many?
Whitney: A few. [edited: we go on to discuss the groundhog, his shadow, and winter] They need to be fast songs. With a good beat. Do you know any?
Gabby: Yeah [edited: I asked about the melting snow, school, and tests]
Whitney: Do you have any other music suggestions? Not running.
Whitney: Like Mat Kearney, DMB, Greg Laswell
Gabby: Yeah
Whitney: I am bored with my non-exercising music too
Gabby: No girls?
Whitney: Yup. No girl singers.
Gabby: Ur too difficult
Whitney: I like boys with guitars, that is not difficult. [edited: we battle once again about male vs female musicians. I say that when I run, I don't care who is singing as long as it is a fast tempo but when I am working for 9 hours in the office I often listen to more male singers/bands than female. Gabby hates this.]
Whitney: Just send me mellow boy music and boy and girl running music.
Gabby: Fine w/e [edited: I change the subject. WW3 is going to erupt if we talk about male vs female musicians anymore. We discuss how Laverne (the dog) is a perfect mix of our parents. Laid-back and worrisome.]
Dont’ get me wrong, I can dance it out to Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Spice Girls, and Britney just like the rest of us but when it comes to calm, mellow music that I am going to play while working I tend to lean towards male singers.
A few hours after this convo, Gabby sent me her list. I asked her to write about each song and explain why she likes it. Here is Gabby’s list of songs she thinks will be good for the gym:
- The Geeks Get The Girls by American Hi-Fi - Catchy, funny song.
- Outta My Mind by The Donnas - I went through a phase when I was about 13 where all I would listen to was The Donnas. “Spend The Night” was like my CD. Even though “Outta My Mind” is from American Teenage Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine, it’s still fun to dance around to.
- Seven Days A Week by The Sounds – Then I went through a phase when I was 14/15 where all I would listen to was The Sounds. I honestly forgot how catchy this song is. I think it may be the catchiest song on the playlist. Seriously, try NOT to dance when you hear it.
- I Want You To Watch Me Move by Fefe Dobson - It may just be my current obsession with”Whip It!” but this song also makes me want to sing and dance.
- Pumpkin Soup by Kate Nash - I heart Kate Nash. “Made of Bricks” is the shizzal and it reminds me of London because I couldn’t stop listening to it when I was there two years ago with my school. Loves it.
- (You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears - Ok, confession time: I freakin’ LOVE the movie “Drive Me Crazy” even though everybody hates it. And this is the only Britney Spears song I like. If you’re gonna go with Britney, go with the classics.
- Breed by Nirvana - When those drums come in?? Too good.
I also realized today that gym music is different from running music. My running tunes are much more motivating and intense. I need songs that keep my energy up and my mind off of the pain when I run. For runs, want justkeeprunninganddontstop! music instead of typical sing-along-pop music for elliptical or weight-lifting workouts. My car music is a strange combination of work, gym and running music. On my very short drive to and from work today, I listened to Lil’ Wayne, Ed Harcourt, Michael Buble, Rihanna, and The Who. Random, right? What do you like to listen to at work? At the gym? In the car? On a run? Jammin’ around town with your boombox on your shoulder?
I made a really yummy dinner last night. I wanted to post this yesterday but the roomie and I watched way too many DVR shows and blogging took a backseat. Real World, Teen Mom, Oprah. You know, the good stuff!
I based this recipe off of Gena’s Raw Zucchini Alfredo with Basil and Cherry Tomato recipe. I would have followed this recipe precisely but I was lacking a lot of the ingredients. Hello, fresh basil season, where the heck are you? Instead, I adapted her recipe with the food in my kitchen.
Raw Zucchini Spirals with Cashew Alfredo Sauce — 1 serving
The Pasta
1/2 spiralized zucchini noodles (use a peeler if you don’t have a spiralizer)
1/2 carrot, shredded
1/2 celery stalk, chopped
4 grape tomatoes, halved
3 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Bragg Liquid Amino
1/2 teaspoon agave syrup
Celtic Sea Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Spiralize or peel the zucchini and add the carrots, celery, grape tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes to a bowl. Toss all of the pasta ingredients and set aside. For the sauce, I combined all of the sauce ingredients in my Vita-Mix and blended until creamy. I forgot to soak the cashews ahead of time but it was ok. If you are using a food processor or a Magic Bullet, be sure to soak the cashews a few hours to make the blending process easier. Once the sauce is blended, toss with the spiralized zucchini and vegetables.
And there you have, a simple (this recipes takes less than 15 minutes to prepare), creamy, and fabulous meal.
I really loved the sun-dried tomatoes in the pasta. I am so glad Gena included that in her recipe because I would have never thought to do that. It was fun to have a different texture thrown in the mix. It is so nice to have such great recipes floating around in the foodie/blog world that inspire me to make things that I would have never thought of making.
Happy Friday!
I have a confession here, kids. Yes, I do love food, grocery shopping, recipes, Food Network, kitchens, and eating in general but sometimes I eat the same meal over and over and over and over again. I have eaten this salad for five days straight. Yes, five. It is hard to get tired of a salad when it is just this awesome.
The goods:
- romaine lettuce
- kale
- avocado
- cherry tomatoes
- carrots
- dulse
- Celtic sea salt
- raw agave syrup
- lemon juice
- awesomeness
I just can’t stop eating this salad. Seriously amazing. I am totally in love.
In Oprah news, she did a great show today with Michael Pollan (Food Rules) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) about eating wholesome, real food. Oprah was moved to do the show after she watched Food, Inc. — a movie I have been wanting to see since it came out this summer. Oprah has teamed with Amazon to offer Food, Inc. at a discount for $9.99 until this Friday at midnight. I will be ordering mine tomorrow. Check it out here.
Obama time!
Happy Monday, folks! We are one day closer to Friday.
Speaking of Friday, I found this box at my doorstep last Friday. I was too busy this weekend to give you all the full 411. So here we go…
The box.
Opening the box.
Mmmmm sugar! Stevia to be precise. Ron from NuNaturals sent me a bunch of products to try (thanks a bunch, Ron!). I have mentioned before that I have bought NuNaturals Stevia in bulk at the local grocery co-op but that was only the powder form. I have never tried any of their liquid extracts or the baking sweetener (can’t wait to make some cookies with that!).
Stevia is a great alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. NuNaturals Stevia uses 60% more stevia than most other brands on the market and has no bitter taste or weird after-taste. I am going to have a lot of fun trying all of these products.
The minute I opened the box, I knew exactly what was in desperate need of some Alcohol Free Liquid Vanilla Stevia.
The. Worst. Tea. Ever.
The other day I was standing in the kitchen waiting for the tea kettle to whistle and I noticed a funky smell. At first I thought it was our garbage can but that didn’t really make too much sense because our garbage never smells. I looked around the kitchen for a second to figure out where the stink was coming from. I realized that it was the tea. I had just opened a packet and placed it in my mug while waiting. The tea smelled like trash.
This tea is just terrible. I love Stash teas but this was not a winner in my book. The only reason I keep drinking it is because I hate throwing away food and adding a ton of sweetener (agave syrup, honey, stevia, cacao powder, or all of the above) make it slightly tolerable. I am actually mad at myself for buying it because it is not really my kind of flavor. I was totally seduce by the pretty purple box. Mangosteen green tea is just too fancy for me, I suppose.
Luckily, the vanilla stevia drops make it taste better.
Have you ever had a major let-down buy a tea purchase?
I didn’t really feel like going through all the trouble of making a guacamole. Putting everything in a bowl and mushing with a fork just seemed like a huge bother at lunch today. Instead, I used all of the guacamole ingredients but made a salad.
The salad included romaine lettuce, avocado, and a vine ripe tomato.
 For the dressing, I included:
 Just two pics of food? Mega borning for me. A Laverne picture is needed to combat this. Yesterday I found a picture of Laverne on my old laptop. This was taken just after she had been groomed one day in 2006. She was only four years old. She does not look happy about that bow.
I guess we all have bad hair days.
Happy Tuesday Folks!
I took a major break from Vita-Mixing and made quinoa and broccoli in baked acorn squash. PS Do you need a Vita in your life? Katie is giving one away!
My dinner started with an acorn squash.
Don’t you just love it when produce comes with instructions? I looked the directions on the label and baked my squash for 30 minutes.
I usually buy quinoa in bulk from our local grocery co-op but I picked up a box at Kroger because 1: It was on sale and comparable in price, 2: I was hungry and didn’t want to drive across town, 3: The box taught me something very important and I felt obligated to buy it. What did I learn from a box Ancient Harvest Quinoa? Only that I have been pronouncing “quinoa” incorrectly for the past 6 months. The box says that is is pronounced “keen – wa.” I have been saying “cue – know- ah.” I was way off!
As I was eating this I realized that I should have baked all of this together. I could have separately cooked the quinoa, steamed broccoli, and squash and then put everything together so it could be baked for about 10 minutes. I imagine this would have made the quinoa and broccoli a little crispy. Well, there is always a next time!
Question: Do you eat the skin of acorn squash? I didn’t eat it because it looked funky and leathery.
Another question: What words did you mispronounce for a while before learning the correct way? Mine include quinoa and Oregon (I used to say “or-A-gon”).
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Contact Me whitney@lettucelove.com
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