Monthly Archives

May 2014

Food

Arugula Salad

May 27, 2014

At the end of March, I went to Baltimore for a weekend trip and had this sweet potato salad. It was incredibly good, and as I’ve started doing with really good food that I order at restaurants, I decided I would attempt to recreate the magic that happened on that plate at home.
I think I love salads now. Like I legitimately love them. I’ve liked salads well enough before but it was a rarity for me to actually crave them. Well I discovered something that has made them so much better, and was a part of the reason why I loved that salad in Baltimore so much. Back in the day I used to use lettuce as the base for my salads, then I eventually switched to spinach, but now I’ve discovered arugula. I was buying it to use as a filling in a wrap a couple of weeks ago, and before it went bad I decided to use it for a salad. Great decision. It didn’t taste like a salad. Every iteration I’ve tried has been delicious. I first had it with baked chicken, black beans, garbanzo beans, and goat cheese.

When I ran out of baked chicken, I used an apple chicken sausage link, and when I ran out of those I used oven roasted sweet potato wedges. And it doesn’t need any dressing. Seriously, I don’t know what I was doing with my life before. I may have been late to the party, but I’m here now.

Speaking of parties, hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day Weekend!

Food

Culinary Pursuits: Spicy Vegetable Frittata Muffins

May 12, 2014

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the amazing mothers out there including mine! I’ve wanted to try making these frittata muffins for the longest time and today I finally did. They were amazing and so easy to make that I thought I’d share them with you…virtually that is:) This was a bit of a spontaneous recipe post. Usually when I post recipes here, I make the food knowing ahead of time that I’ll be posting. This was more along the lines of “Let me throw together what I have in the fridge,” so bare with me if the details aren’t all that detailed. Anyway, check out the recipe below!

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1 cup of egg whites
curry powder
fiery 5 red pepper
Rosemary garlic seasoning
1 spinach & feta chicken sausage link, sliced into 12 pieces
Vegetables of your choice (Use whatever you have on hand or whatever your favorites are. I made a vegetable medley of chickpeas, carrots, green beans, squash, and zucchini that was sitting in my fridge so that’s what I used)
1/3 cup of goat cheese

This should make exactly 12 muffins!

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Coat a 12-cupcake pan with cooking spray.
Add vegetables, then one slice of the spinach & sausage link, and a few sprinkles of goat cheese.

Pour ~1/2 cup of egg/egg white mix to each cupcake
Bake for 25-30 minutes
Enjoy!
These are packed with protein and would be great as a midday or post-workout snack, or they can even be a part of a meal.

Have you made frittata muffins before? If so, what are your favorite things to add to them? Tell me in the comments!

Fitness

Fitness Feature: My X3 Sports Experience

May 4, 2014

So a couple of Saturdays back I went to a class at X3 Sports in Inman Park. I signed up for their Fast Track class which is supposed to incorporate circuit training and cardio exercises. I chose this class specifically because it’s supposed to test, and ideally improve, your agility by using sports training equipment. I got there a few minutes late and the class was packed. There were apparently twice as many people as there normally are and the space they use is on the smaller side so it was stuffed! There was a short warm-up with your standard moves and then we began. The instructor had us do a circuit of basic squats, bear crawls, jump squats, diamond push-ups and side planks (on both sides) for 12 minutes going through at our own pace. We then repeated this same circuit for two more 12-minute rounds with 30 second breaks halfway through each 12 minute circuit.

Overall, my arms got a good workout but I was left disappointed. We just cycled through the same few exercises for the entire class which to me felt short (and not in a good way). I was expecting to incorporate some new moves and equipment into my workout but I didn’t. All of the moves we did were moves that I could have and actually have done at home before. I understand though that it was probably due to the large class size so it’s hard to fault them. I will say this, it does seem like a cool gym. The kind of gym that I’d want to join. They have kickboxing classes, weight training, and muay thai classes as well. Will I be joining though, probably not. One, the location isn’t particularly convenient and two they make you sign up for a year or two-year long contract (I’m not looking to get tied down). On to the next…