5 Things: Food, Fitness & Fashion Blogs

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I read a variety of blog from food to fashion and today I am going to feature a few of my favorites.  I read these blogs not only for entertainment but refer to them for recipes, fitness tips/ideas/motivation, and fashion ideas (I’m trying to be more fashionable).  This is by no means a complete list of the blogs I read but a high light of five from each category that I really enjoy. 

Five Food Blogs:

  1. Peas and Thank You
  2. Spabettie
  3. Pure2Raw
  4. Oh She Glows
  5. 101 Cookbooks

Five Fitness (/running/healthy living) Blogs:

  1. Carrots ‘n Cake
  2. Healthy Ashley
  3. Meals and Miles
  4. Healthy Tipping Point
  5. Faith Fitness Fun

Five Fashion Blogs:

  1. My Style Pill
  2. What I Wore
  3. The Sartorialist
  4. Kendi Everyday
  5. J’s Everyday Fashion
Q: What are you favorite food, fitness and fashion blogs? 

Weekend Wrap Up

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After our 5k run yesterday, in the ridiculously hot and humid weather (76F and 70% humidity), we decided to go on an adventure…..to the movies. We debated between The Change Up, Crazy, Stupid, Love and then ultimately settled on:

After the movies we relaxed at home with a glass of wine for me and a homebrewed pale ale for him.

Today has been a pretty lazy day, which I’ve needed. I spent an hour and half cleaning and reorganizing and then the rest of the day has been spent either cooking or lounging on the couch.

Lunch: Chickpea Curry Wrap with Quinoa Crusted Baked Onion Rings & Salad

Post Lunch Movie

If you haven’t seen Spirit of the Marathon it is on Netflix streaming; go add it to your instant queue right now! It was a really amazing documentary of various people training for the Chicago Marathon as well as some of the history around running; an overall very powerful film.

Tempeh of Sea and Beer Fries

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For last nights dinner I decided to try my hand at beer soaked fries, what seems to be a new foodie trend. We got a bunch of potatoes in our CSA this week so it only seemed fitting that they be made into fries. I also had a bunch of carrots leftover from last weeks CSA so I decided to toss them in as well. To go along with our beer soaked carrot and potato fries I made tempeh of the sea (recipe below).

Garlicky Beer Soaked Potato & Carrot Fries

(Based on Ashley of Edible Perspective’s recipe)

Yields  4 servings

  • 2 bottles of (your husbands homebrewed) pale ale
  • 1.5 lbs Red Norland Potatoes (or new potatoes), scrubbed and sliced into fries
  • 1 bunch of carrots, scrubbed and sliced into fries
  • 2 extra large cloves of garlic (or 3 regular),  finely minced
  • 3T olive oil
  • 1.5 t salt
  • 1t black pepper

Preheat oven to 425F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (optional).In a large bowl, soak the cut potato and carrot fries in the two bottles of beer for 20-30 minutes, tossing 1-2 times. After 20-30 minutes drain the beer.While the fries are soaking place half of the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in a ziplock and place half of the fries in the bag; shake around to fully coat.  Pour out onto one of the baking sheets and spread the fries into a single layer.  Repeat. Bake for 30 minutes and then turn on the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.

Tempeh of the Sea

The umeboshi plum vinegar gives this dish a fishy taste.

Yields 2 servings

  • 1-8oz package tempeh, cut into large chunks
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, choppped
  • 1 inch ginger, sliced in large rounds
  • 2 t sesame oil
  • 2 t umeboshi plum vinegar
  • 2T tamari
  • 3T water
  • 1 chili, minced
  • 4 cups loosely packed baby spinach

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a bowl created the marinade by combining the onion, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, vinegar, tamari, water and chili.

Place the tempeh in a oven safe baking dish. Pour the marinade over the tempeh.Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and place in a large preheated skillet over medium-high heat; saute on for 5 minutes. Stir in the baby spinach and saute for 5 more minutes.

Fitness Friday: July In Review

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I have been lacking on the Fitness Friday posts the past few weeks but I’m getting myself back on track starting now.  I completed my miles for the Hotter Than Hades Virtual Half-Marathon about 10 days ago and am looking forward to the results in about 10 days.

My workouts so far this week. I am going to the gym after work so Friday will be filled in later.

Workouts for July and First Week of August

Upcoming Events:

  • Tomorrow a.m.: Group Run & Yoga at the Waterfront
  • Tomorrow p.m.: Vinyasa at the Vineyard; yoga and a wine tasting.
  • October 8, 2011: MY FIRST EVER 10K (unless I do the downtown 10K on September 25th)
  • January 7, 2011: MY FIRST EVER HALF MARATHON ( AND IT’S AT DISNEY WORLD)
Other Updates:
  • I have come to learn that 2 days off is my max when it comes to running before I feel a huge difference.
  • Morning runs are so much better for two reasons a) it wake me up and b) running in the afternoon is way too hot right now
  • I have debated over the Hal Higdon half marathon plan and the Jeff Galloway plan, the Higdon plan has come highly recommended by friends and  the Galloway by twitter friends. After doing a lot of researching and reading on a number of blogs including these ones here, here, and here I have decided that the Galloway plan is (probably) right for me. So now that i’ve decided my training will (officially) start on August 30th! What are you thoughts on the Galloway plan? What is your favorite training plan?
P.S. I used Daily Mile to track my workouts. 

Eggplant Lasagna

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Preheat oven to 375F

For the Eggplant:

  • 1 large eggplant, thinly slice
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Heat a 1/2 T in large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the eggplant on each side for 2-3 minutes. Repeat until all the eggplant has been sauteed, adding olive oil as needed. 

For the Sauce:

  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1T olive oil
  • 1-15oz can no-salt added diced tomatoes
  • 1-8oz can tomato paste
  • salt and pepper

In a small sauce pan heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until soft; stir in the garlic- cook one minute.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer on low until ready to use. 

For the Nutty-Bean Parsley Cheeze:

  • 1-15oz can white beans
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • 2T each of macadamia nuts & cashews
  • 2T nutritional yeast (optional)
  • 1t salt
  • 1/2t pepper

Place everything in a food processor and process until smooth. 

1 large tomato, sliced into 4 rounds

Assembly: 
You will need an 8×8 baking dish.

  1. Spoon in 1/3 of the sauce and evenly distribute across the bottom of the baking dish.
  2. Place one single layer of eggplant over the sauce, some of the eggplant will over lap-that is fine.
  3. On top of the eggplant spread 1/3 of the cheeze mixture in one even layer.
  4. Top the cheeze layer with sauce.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4.
  6. Repeat steps 2 & 3.
  7. Top with the slices of tomato and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.

{Giveaway} Beauty Without Cruelty

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Have you ever considered what is actually in your nail polish? Most nail polishes are filled with toxic ingredients, including phthalates, toluene, and formaldehyde. In addition to being filled with toxins many nail polishes, like other beauty products, are tested on animals.

Beauty Without Cruelty, a British based company, has spent over 40 years dedicating itself to creating natural, color cosmetics that are NOT tested on animals and do NOT contain any animal ingredients. In 1989, Beauty Without Cruelty was introduced in the United States and later that year natural skin care line was developed to compliment the color line from England. Today, Beauty Without Cruelty has a full line of cruelty-free, vegetarian skin, body, and hair care products made with the finest natural ingredients and aroma-therapeutic essential oils, and a full line of colour cosmetics to meet the needs of every woman.

My first experience with Beauty Without Cruelty was with their hair care products, which I absolutely love, so I was delighted when I was given the opportunity to try out one of their nail polishes from their Attitude collection.  I chose tangerine because it was not my normal colour and I thought it would be fun for summer.  As soon as the package arrived I  opened it up and tried it out right away.  I was impressed that I didn’t need to do a million layers to get the right shade and how quickly it actually dried. I have had so many “quick dry” nail polishes that always took forever to dry, but the BWC nail polish dried super fast.

The nail colour lasted, without chipping, for about five days.  For me this is impressive; most nail polishes that I use last me for about an hour before I chip them.  Overall I was impressed by the colour and quality of the nail polish and have already asked my husband for three more colours for my birthday.

Giveaway Details:
Winner receives 1 Attitude Nail Colour, in a shade of their choosing.

– 2 Winners total

– US residents only

Giveaway is open until August 6th at 8pm EST. CLOSED.


Giveaway requirements:

  • Visit the BWC website and tell me which colour of nail polish you would pick. (Mandatory)
  • Become friends/follow BWC on facebook. (Mandatory)
Leave one comment telling me your colour choice AND that you follow BWC on facebook.

Additional Entries:

Leave one comment for each additional entry.
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Disclaimer: Beauty Without Cruelty provided me with a sample of their products to review and giveaway, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway.