Welcome to 2013!

Welcome to 2013, another year down and a new one just beginning! 2012 was a pretty awesome year for me. I traveled to Amsterdam, Berlin, Florence and Rome with my brother.

Then Sarah and I explored Paris and went to London for the Olympics.

On top of all of all of the amazing traveling I got to participate in some great races, including my first cyclecross race.

Just recently we started another exciting adventure, we adopted a dog, say hello to Nanook! We adopted Nanook from the Humane Society of Western Quebec. Our little Nanook is 11 months old, is a shepherd something mix and weighs in at 54lbs. She loves to go for long walks, playing with other doggies and her kong. I’ll save more on Nanook for another post.

With a new dog and the holidays it has been super busy and we’ve been thrown out of our routine. Now that it’s a new year, it’s time to get back into some good habits. One way is to eat healthy.

Last night we had a great recipe from www.runnersworld.com. If you like Asian inspired recipes you’ll love this recipe. On top of the veggies already in the recipe, I added baby bok choy, green onions and yellow pepper. Not only is this recipe delicious but it’s also fast! It’s fast to make and fast to clean up, which is always nice when you’ve got to walk a dog and fit in a workout. One tip for this recipe is not to boil the undon noodles but to fry them with the veggies and meat. This cuts the pans down to one. Hope you like the recipe, give it a try and let me know what you think!

So good that I started eating before I took a picture!

Thai Beef with Udon

Ingredients:

• 1 pound trimmed sirloin steak, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons thai red curry paste
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 package (7 ounces) udon noodles
• 2 large shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk, well stirred
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves lime wedges, for serving

Directions:

1. Place the steak, 1 tablespoon of the oil, the curry paste, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl, and toss to coat. Cover and marinate for at least 20 minutes at room temperature (or in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours).
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the udon according to the package directions. Drain and rinse briefly with warm water. Set aside.
3. In a wok or 12-inch skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and stir-fry until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the steak and stir-fry until browned all over, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the coconut milk and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the noodles and basil, and simmer 30 seconds. Serve with lime wedges. Serves 4.

Spicy Thai Chicken

As pretty much the whole world knows today is the launch of the new iPhone 5. I just finished putting in my order for one and should be getting it around October 12^th. This will be my first iPhone and I am really looking forward to trying out its camera in low light. Hopefully it will take some great pictures at restaurants. While this is my first iPhone, it isn’t the first iPhone in my family. The first person to get one was my brother and then it was my dad. My dad is now an avid iPhone user, he’s downloaded some great apps that he loves to use all the time. My dad is a great cook! He makes the best lasagna, pizza and spaghetti and meatballs (what I have every year for my birthday!). Not only is he a great cook but along with my mom they own their own fair trade coffee business Coffemark (http://bit.ly/PuVX9c) . So if you’re ever looking for some great fair trade coffee, check out their website www.coffeemark.ca.

One is his favourites is the allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner. Every once in a while, I will get a recipe in my inbox that he just tried and that the rest of my family really enjoyed. A couple of weeks ago I got a recipe from him for Thai Chicken and last night I finally got around to giving it a try.

Thai food is one of my favourites. I love the balance of sweet, salt, spicy and sour. This recipe does a great job of balancing all of these flavours and keeping the chicken juicy.  With the chicken we had rice and a quick salad. It’s a great meal that’s fast and easy to do. Perfect for a busy night.

Spicy Thai Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Directions

1. 1.       Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate.
2. Place chicken breasts in a shallow baking dish. Whisk soy sauce, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a bowl; pour over chicken, turning to coat. Allow chicken to marinate for 10 minutes.
3. Whisk honey and lime juice in a bowl; set aside.
4. Place chicken on preheated grill; brush with marinade. Discard remaining marinade. Cover grill and cook for 5 minutes, then brush both sides with honey lime mixture. Flip chicken and continue cooking until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 5 more minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Nutritional InformationServings Per Recipe: 4 Amount Per Serving Calories: 175 Protein: 25.7g Sodium: 961.2mg Cholesterol: 67.2mg Carbohydrates: 10.9g Dietary Fiber: 0.3g Fat: 2.9g

The original recipe can be found by clicking HERE.

 

 

Smoky sweet potato burgers with roasted garlic cream and avocado

I’ve recently signed up for a big triathlon happening next June. This race is a lot longer and potentially a lot harder than any other race I’ve ever done. So instead of taking the fall off like I normally do, I’ve started training already. I want to slowly increase my mileage, so that I can build a good base and try to reduce the chances of getting injured. Continuing my training also means I need to keep my nutrition on track. If you talk to a lot of triathletes, they’ll tell you that there is a fourth discipline to triathlon, nutrition. Not only do you have to make sure to get enough calories while you’re racing but you also need to make sure you’re eating well during training. I am no nutritionist but I try to eat healthy. One of the healthy meals I’ve had recently is smoky sweet potato burgers with roasted garlic cream and avocado.

I love sweet potato! When I was a baby, I ate so much sweet potato and carrots that I turned orange. (Like Arnold on the Magic School Bus!) So when Sarah told me were having sweet potato burgers, I was pretty excited! She found the recipe on a great blog, How Sweet It is, howsweeteats.com. How Sweet It Is has tons of amazing recipes. Each recipe has some amazing photos of the food. You can only hope that when you’re done, that your food looks as good as the pictures! If you’d like to see the awesome pictures of the sweet potato burger, you can find them here.

Smoky sweet potato burgers with roasted garlic cream and avocado

Ingredients:

• 2 cups coarsely mashed sweet potatoes (or yams), about 2 large potatoes
• 2 bulbs of roasted garlic
• 1 cup cannellini benas (rinsed and drained if canned)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup oat flour (or all-purpose, wheat, etc)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cumin
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 2/3 cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• extra salt and pepper for seasoning yogurt/cream
• 4 whole wheat buns

Directions:

1. Roast garlic.
2. Pierce potatoes all over with a fork and place on a paper towel, setting in the microwave. Microwave for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove, slice in half and let cool until you can scoop out the flesh.
3. In a large bowl, coarsely mash beans with a fork. Add in sweet potato and mash together, then add in spices, salt and pepper, minced garlic, egg, panko and flour. Mix together until combined, then place bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. This helps form them into patties, but as a warning they are still somewhat messy.
4. While mixture is chilling, combine yogurt/sour cream with 2 bulbs of roasted garlic cloves, maple syrup and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth then set aside until ready to use.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Remove mixture from fridge and form into 4 equal patties, then place in the skillet once hot. Since the mixture can be wet and messy, do not move until they are fully cooked and golden on one side! This takes about 5-6 minutes. Then, add more oil if needed (this really helps cook them) and flip burgers very gently. Cook for another 5-6 minutes. Toast buns if desired.
6. Assemble by topping burgers with roasted garlic cream and avocado.
7. Serve and enjoy!