Just Another Food Post

Thanks everyone for the kind words of concern after my post yesterday. The building called in the same company who cleaned up after the last fire here and there are quite a few industrial fans around the building trying to clear the remaining smell of smoke. We briefly lost power again yesterday, just after I hit 'publish post' but it came back on within a few minutes.

This morning I am just dragging. It was difficult to wake up but I did get in a pretty good cardio workout. Unfortunately though, I almost fell asleep on the mat between planks while I was doing my core work! That is not good. Tomorrow I am sleeping in a bit and taking a break from apartment hunting. I have quite a few places to see this afternoon so this will be a quick post.

It seems I have a backlog of food photos to share, so here we go:

I hadn't cooked fish since before our vacation, so last week I purchased Tilapia fillets (low in mercury) then baked them in foil packets with a bit of olive oil cooking spray, grape tomatoes, chopped garlic and fresh basil. We also had a side of fresh beans and swiss chard from the farmers market and organic carrots. It was pretty delicious. The beans were fantastic - after cooking in a skillet for about 10 minutes they were soft on the inside but still crunchy on the outside. This has become my favorite way to prepare them. So simple and delicious.

With this heat wave I wanted something light for dinner on Monday so I put together a simple salad filled with farmers market veggies (red leaf lettuce, yellow squash, zucchini, red pepper) and a little bit of the turkey we picked up there for our 4th of July picnic, a little bit of the cherry cheddar cheese from Whole Foods, and in honor of the National Cherry Festival going on this week in Traverse City, a few of the dried cherries we picked up while we were on vacation. Sometimes a salad just hits the spot. This was one of those times!

What are your favorite snacks? One of mine is a plate full of veggies like this one: sliced carrots and sugar snap peas with hummus. We always have a container of Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Hummus in the fridge. This plate is just exploding with vitamins and minerals! Plus, I love the crunch of the veggies - it fulfills any cravings I might have for crackers or chips.

Last night I tried a new dish, well, new for me: quesadillas! If you follow me on twitter, you may have read that it was a success. I used whole wheat tortillas and a light Mexican cheese mix from Trader Joe's, organic chicken cutlets from Whole Foods, and yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, and onion from the farmers market. I cooked the chicken in a skillet with a bit of fresh ground black pepper and ancho chili powder and sauteed the veggies in another skillet with a bit of pepper and chili powder as well. Then I put a bit of cheese on half of each tortilla adding small pieces of the chicken and the veggie mixture, then adding a bit more cheese before folding over the tortilla and placing on our grill pan that was sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. I made two of these for Woody and one for me (so I got the little bit of chicken and veggies that wouldn't fit in the tortillas!). The pan would only fit two at a time though, so I put our oven on 'warm' and popped them onto a baking sheet to stay warm until all of them were done. We also had a side of black beans, which I put on top of mine, and some great peach and mango salsa! I'm definitely making this meal again!

Now, this one is from our trip to Michigan. We had to stop by our very favorite ice cream shop anywhere. There are others we love, including the Dairy Store at Michigan State, but this one is great because it's outside Traverse City and you can watch the cows that produce the milk for the ice cream as you enjoy your delicious treat on the deck of the shop! I mean really, you can't do this at all ice cream shops! You just know it's fresh. Need more proof that this is good ice cream? Moomers was voted the best ice cream in the country by Good Morning America!

(this is not a good picture of me, but I want to show the ice cream and the farm!)

I've noticed that my cooking skills have been improving as I've been cooking more often. I much more comfortable with it, timing things better and trying new flavors. While I haven't ventured too far yet, I am trying new things, adding different spices and overall the results are getting better. I'm really enjoying putting whole meals together - main courses and the sides dishes. We have a great market right around the corner from our apartment and it would be really easy to pick up a delicious side dish there, but I like knowing what we're eating and having control over it. Plus, it's cheaper! I do use their prepared foods counter as a place to get ideas though!

Do you have a favorite place to get ice cream? What do you think makes a great ice cream place?

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workout stats -

13 mile bike

20 minute StairMaster

250 crunches, various

2x30 second planks

stretching