Category Archives: beer

by | June 3, 2010 · 1:54 am

Magic Doorstops!

Today was a day for something new and exciting – something I’ve never done before. I MADE BREAD!!!
Now, I’ve made the typical banana bread, popped open some crescent roll tubes and slammed them on a baking sheet, but I’ve never made bread that requires you to activate the yeast, assemble your own selection of different types of oatmeals and grains, and actually baked a loaf of bread.
Lately I’ve been craving some whole grains and carbs and, rather than run out to the store and grab a processed, plastic-wrapped, frozen and then thawed loaf, I hit up our new local Sprouts store. They have an amazing bulk foods section where you can get as much, or as little of any type of dry food that you want. The cost for this shopping trip came out to be pretty cheap for the whole wheat flour, flax meal, wheat germ, walnuts and yeast. Everything else I found in the cupboards.

Assembled ingredients: Daunting!!!
All the ingredients getting mixed together
My feeble attempts at kneading… I look scared!
Pre-rise
Post-rise! Does it look any different?
Baked!
And sliced!!!
I must say, when I first pulled the bread out of the oven, I was really disappointed. The thing weighed about 10lbs, and was completely raw and doughy on the inside. I cut myself a piece from the middle and then stuck the rest back in the oven. The first bite changed my whole attitude. Delicious!!! It has a really chewy texture – I credit the steel cut oats I soaked, drained and threw in, and it’s chock full of chopped walnuts and sprinkled with wheat germ. It’s very heavy, but the flavor is really good! The recipe is from Cooks.com (I cut this in half to make one loaf). My personal add-a-grains were pre-soaked steel cut oatmeal, rolled oats, flax meal and wheat germ. I also used honey instead of molasses, unsweetened soy milk instead of regular milk, and olive oil. Definitely a recipe I’d recommend if you can get over the fact that it feel like a doorstop!
Of course, I didn’t start the day by cooking bread. I started it with a breakfast scramble, and then headed here!
This is halfway up the trail we hike almost every single morning. It was a little hazy today, but where you’re looking is where the ocean is!
I’m a blessed, blessed girl 🙂 We had a warm 56 minute hike that had a nice cool breeze, and unfortunately, a lot of people. I guess everyone is starting their summer vacations, which doesn’t make me happy. I like MY park to be empty! I may get a little territorial – has anyone noticed that?
After the bread-making debacle-turned-success, I heated up a simple lunch: Lemony quinoa with some shredded leftover chicken that we had in the fridge from Memorial Day.
Blackberries and a slice of my freshly made bread smothered in a tablespoon of peanut butter with flax seed made up dessert.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I haven’t been sticking to my no-beer goal. Here’s my outlook: one drink a day, if you’re of legal age, has been found to be good for your heart. I’m definitely not perfect when it comes to my diet, and I’m okay with that. Plus, Fat Tire kicks ass and you only live once, so why not enjoy it?
I also found out that the film I was supposed to start on Saturday has been pushed until August. Now I’m left with 10 days off from work (unless I can get some hours back – fingers crossed, I need the money!) and nothing to do – except perhaps have another go at a different type of homemade bread?
For now I have to go and get ready for a 4 hour shift at work. Dinner will be some sliced up bell peppers with my homemade tomato-basil hummus and probably another serving of lunch. I wish I had time to hop on my bike, but my scheduling with work, plus having a sick-day yesterday hasn’t allowed for it. I’ll be sure to get back to it before this weekend rolls around, especially now that I may have an entire week to myself! Maybe I’ll work on my mileage since I have the time and train for that century ride that I’m hoping to do before the end of the year… Hey, you gotta aim high, otherwise where’s the fun?

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Filed under bake, beer, blackberries, bread, doorstop, health, hike, honey, olive oil, views

by | June 1, 2010 · 2:11 am

Quinoa, finally!

Happy Memorial Day to all my fellow Americans! Today is traditionally a day to remember those who fell in honor and defense of our country, and also a day that Americans use as an excuse to sit on their butts, drink lots of beer, and eat massive amounts of food – not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with that once in a while.

I decided to start the holiday off in a different way. After a leisurely morning at home with yet another spicy breakfast scramble, I headed back to the park for hiking. The heat was ridiculous today and the flies were out in full force. When I say flies, I don’t mean the pesky little ones that buzz around your ears, I mean the ones that thirst for blood and attack! I endured an hour of biting, buzzing, sweating, crowd-fighting misery before getting back into the blissfully air-conditioned car.
Up next were errands that had to be dealt with: picking up cat food from the pet store. Could there be anything more thrilling? The dog joined us on the trip, and since we were out and there just happened to be a new self-serve frozen yogurt place nearby, we had to enjoy a lunch of cake batter fro-yo outside in the blissful summer air.
Back home, a big stomach ache ensued. I may have forgotten to mention, but I seem to be lactose intolerant… I’m really good at sticking to soy substitutes, except when it comes to ice cream/gelato/frozen yogurt and cheese. Goat cheese has become my new favorite for those times I just can’t go without a cheesy, spinach omelette in the mornings. I decided to make some sun-dried tomato hummus from scratch to help ease my tummy.

Sun-dried Tomato Hummus: Makes 2 cups (Recipe from allrecipes.com)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt (I normally leave this out. I don’t want anymore sodium added to my diet than I take in already)
1.5 tbsp tahini paste (Also known as sesame seed paste, can be found in Albertson’s in the asian food or kosher aisle)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 (15.5 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil (Again, I use a bit less than this and add water to thin out my hummus)
2 tbsp finely shredded fresh basil (or 1-2 tsp of the dried stuff)
1. Place garlic, salt, tahini and lemon juice into a food processor; process until smooth. Pour in the garbanzo beans and 1/4 cup of olive oil; process until smooth, scraping sides as needed. Once smooth, add the sun-dried tomatoes and process until they’ve been chopped to very small pieces and have made the hummus a pink color. Finally, add the basil and pulse a few times until mixed in.
2. Pack hummus into airtight container and refrigerate for at least one hour. When serving, I like to add a little lemon zest to the top to give it even more color and zing 🙂

(It tastes much better than it looks)

Of course, I wasn’t able to eat this right away since it needs to refrigerate, so I decided to finally get working on the quinoa that I meant to start a few days ago. We ran out of zucchini and onions, but I found some shallots bought for a recipe I meant to make last week, so I thought that I would take a risotto recipe I learned from the amazing Giada De Laurentiis when I was obsessed with the Food Network and substitute quinoa instead. (Original recipe here) I also removed all traces of cheese and butter, but feel free to add some into yours! I might try some soy cream cheese substitute in mine next time.

Lemony Quinoa:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large shallots, diced
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/4-1/2 cup good white wine (something you would like to drink)
1.5 cups of reduced-sodium vegetable broth
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1. In a saucepan, heat olive oil, add diced shallots and saute until translucent.
2. Add rinsed quinoa and mix with shallots and olive oil to toast.
3. Pour in white wine and stir until absorbed.
4. Slowly add the vegetable broth, 1/2 cup at a time until absorbed by quinoa.
5. Once quinoa is cooked (the little tail-looking thingy appears and the quinoa is tender but still has a little pop to the bite – very scientific, eh?) stir in the lemon zest and juice, and fluff with a fork.

Quinoa before

Quinoa After

For 1/4 cup of quinoa there are 160 calories, 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein. These little grains pack a punch, plus, in the lemony quinoa recipe, you’re also getting healthy fats from the olive oil. I think when I reheat this for lunch tomorrow, I’ll get some zucchini and butternut squash to saute and add in for some veggie-power.

And now, while everyone else relaxes and enjoys their barbeques with friends and family, I’m off to a pointless 3 hour shift at work where I’ll spend my time holding up a counter and watching the dust bunnies roll across the tile while the minutes drag by. Who wants to sit at home eating bratwurst and drinking good beer when you can work a night at retail?

Oh wait… I do.




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Filed under barbeque, basil, beer, frozen yogurt, hike, hummus, Memorial Day, Quinoa, shallots, wine

by | May 30, 2010 · 7:10 am

The Daily Grind

The bike trumped the quinoa! I took off for a nice half hour ride to get to know my new friend – I definitely need to think up a name for her. After the ridiculous struggle up the hill back home, I had a big bowl of make-your-nose-drip-it’s-so-freakin’-spicy vegan chili waiting for me, and just had to make some garlic toast to dip in it.
Garlic Toast:
Take 1 slice of seedy, nutty whole grain bread and drop it in the toaster.
Slice off the end of 1 garlic clove and rub it over both sides of the toast.
Devour.
This is a really simple and delicious way to get the amazing taste of garlic bread without getting the calories from the butter and parmesan cheese that many recipes include. Plus, chili just can’t be eaten without garlic bread. It’s comfort food at its best!
On Friday morning we went for a very short 40 minute hike. We were hoping for a longer one, but real life got in the way, as did a late waking. I headed off to rehearsal for the upcoming film in Burbank and met some costars, got the wardrobe fitting and spent about 2 and a half hours going over the script and figuring out blocking. I came back with the plans of exchanging my bike shorts (the Pearl Izumi Speed ones I got were just a little too short for me to be comfortable wearing them in public), and found a great pair I wanted (the Pearl Izumi Attack shorts are just a tad longer, and a bit more expensive, but the extra panels make them fit much better) but they didn’t have my size. Instead I returned them and ordered the Attack shorts so I can try them on when the cycle shop gets them in next week.
I meant to jump right on my bike when I got home, but I had had a really long day of driving and socializing and driving again, so I crashed on the couch with a Fat Tire (whoops!) and read my latest issue of Backpacker magazine – a favorite of mine 🙂 Then, the roommates came back after a Ventura jaunt with a huge bag of chocolates that they were more than happy to share (thanks a lot, guys :-/). So to sum it up, my day didn’t end up the way I was hoping, but who can be perfect when they’re surrounded by generous people who have free chocolate?
This morning meant an early start at my day job. I had an AMAZING breakfast scramble with a piece of whole grain toast and olive oil – gotta have the healthy fats!
I have been craving massively spicy foods lately, so this one was doused in Trader Joe’s jalapeno hot sauce. Have I mentioned a million times how amazing that stuff is? For a long day at work, I really need to stuff myself in the morning. I’m one who needs to eat every 2 hours, otherwise I get nauseated (weird, right?).
At work I staved off all the sugary coffee drinks I love to get, but accidentally found Paciugo, the gelato place I used to frequent on a daily (!) basis. The thing is, I’d heard that they recently came out with a new flavor called, get this, ORGANIC MAPLE CARAMELIZED BACON! I’ve been dying to try it since I read that it was upcoming on their menu, and MAN was that sample worth it! It’s an amazing creamy, sugary maple gelato with bacon that has been sprinkled with sugar, then baked until caramelized and crumbled on top. It’s the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Needless to say, I went back for another sample…
Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice and spicy Sriracha sauce. Almost any sushi place has brown rice available for a minimal fee, which I find strange… why does it cost MORE to get rice that still has the hull on? Wouldn’t it take MORE time and money to process the rice to get the white rice? Can anyone tell me why that is? I’m totally lost…
As the work day wound to a close, I found myself thinking about those gelato samples more and more and decided, why not? It’s only 100 calories for a child’s size cup, and if I completely deprive myself then I’ll end up gorging later. Plus, I had an awesome bike ride planned for after work. It was so worth it!
I arrived home completely exhausted, and threw myself onto my bike seat before I could even think about what I was doing. I headed down and spent about 50 minutes on a higher gear speeding around a local park. As I headed onto a side trail, my chain dropped (oh, joy…) and I spent 5 minutes covering my hands with grease trying to hook it back on, and even managed to get a big metal chunk of chain lodged in my thumb. I struggled back up my hill without stopping, and got all the way up in record time! Yay!
For dinner I sauteed some frozen butternut squash I chopped up last month and stirred it into the leftover chili with a little brown rice. A little Franziskaner (a really good German hefeweizen) topped me off, and now I’ll be all carb-ed up for another long day at work tomorrow. The next workout will have to wait until Monday :-/

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Filed under beer, bike, chain, chili, garlic bread, pain, Pearl Izumi, trail, vegan

by | May 27, 2010 · 12:30 am

New Beginnings

First post! After a few weeks of contemplation, I came up with a name that I hope suits my blog… What I’m aiming for is a fitness/nutrition blog as I go from soft around the edges to totally ripped – having to show my stomach in an upcoming film I’m shooting might be a big motivator, but in general I just love sweating like a pig and being completely exhausted from exertion.
Finally back after a long 8 days in Colorado for my brother’s wedding. Fort Collins, Colorado: an amazing place for biking outdoors, hiking through the mountains, jogging through the parks and drinking good beer from the New Belgium Brewery. Unfortunately, I only succeeded at the final task – the drinking of GOOD beer. My hopes of biking along the bike paths that are set next to roaring rivers were overtaken by drives up to Estes Park to check out the wedding location, picking up a freshly-pressed wedding dress, and meeting up with new members of the family. Oh, that and the three free mugs of Fat Tire that were provided each night by our amazing hotel. Whoops…
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. A nice brisk morning in an open field in the mountains with the sun shining and a gorgeous bride emerging from the limo to walk down the aisle and meet my beaming brother. I’ve never seen him look so happy in my entire life. Vows were said, tears were shed (a lot by me :-/) and they sped off in their little convertible. I can honestly say it was the PERFECT wedding, and seeing how in love they both are just made for a joyfully blessed day.
Overall, an amazing trip. I’m a little bummed I didn’t get (or didn’t make time) to go biking around Old Town Fort Collins or hike in the mountains, HENCE this blog! I’m finally back on track!
We got back last night, finished our week with sushi and more Fat Tire, and watched our Glee episodes that we missed. This morning I woke up headache-free and raring to go. Had my typical Emergen-C, mug of coffee with some Silk creamer and honey (it’s antibacterial and healthy! At least that’s what I’m telling myself) and a big-ass salad with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole grain mustard. Normally I wouldn’t have salad for breakfast, but I was kind of craving it, plus our refrigerator was completely empty after being cleaned out for the trip. Lettuce is all that survived.
Next came the hike in the national park that we live next to – just a quick 44 minute climb since we haven’t been moving in over a week. The temperature was absolutely perfect and the views are incredible! I’m enraptured every time we go there.
Lunch was a grilled salmon filet with a homemade honey-mustard crust and some pre-cooked frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s. Up next is a bike ride on my new Specialized Hardrock mountain bike that looks totally kick-ass, PLUS has this awesome Fat Tire sticker I got for free at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

I’m still waiting to hear about a job that starts tomorrow, so that’ll determine my workouts for the upcoming week. My goal for this week is to get on my bike as often as possible after early morning hikes, and focus on lots of push-ups and crunches. I’m the kind of person who, if she doesn’t see results after two days, throws her hands in the air and says, “why bother?” Hopefully writing all this down will be a memory-jogger for me.
Aaaaand first post done! Signing off for a bike ride, and I’ll meet you all back here later! 🙂

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Filed under beer, bike, brewery, eat, fitness, hike, New Belgium, nutrition, salmon