Tag: supper

Vacation Detox

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My favorite vacations center around big bodies of water.   I love the beach. It’s my happiest place. I say that because I find happiness in lots of places. But the beach is a different level. 

In the days before I left for vacation, people made comments about me glowing with excitement. Hands down, one of the best compliments. 

Glowing. 

I was buzzing in my skin. Because I could wake up to this for seven days.  And my best friend got to go with me.  See, my happiest place. 

And it was full of donuts, seafood, crab-stuffed this and bernaise covered that. So much good food. 

And only one barefoot run in the sand before dawn, which was totally awesome and exactly what my soul craves.   So by the time I got home yesterday, I knew I had to detox my body from the richness of vacation. 

And so it began with breakfast.   A beach-inspired breakfast bowl. All you need is one sliced up banana, two or three heaping spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt, handful of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.

I’ll admit the plain yogurt is a tough one to go with, but there is enough natural sweetness in the fruit to balance it nicely. Plus you nix the added sugar in the flavored yogurts. Win. 

Lunch was on the go today. So I ordered a chicken sandwich from the place downstairs from my office. The potatoes chips didn’t help the detox, but I made up for it at supper.   Behold, the ultimate detox salad. 

  • Romaine lettuce
  • Red bell pepper
  • Yellow cherry tomatoes
  • Cucumber 
  • Half an avocado
  • Two boiled eggs
  • Your favorite dressing

Simple and delicious. 

And it’s just an added bonus that it will cleanse my system from vacation food. I only wish I could have kept the beach a little longer. 

Because Salads Don’t Have to Be Boring

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Lettuce is an underrated vegetable. It’s a vessel for so much delicious goodness. Yet people are like “salad….yuck.” It’s so sad. 

So let me change your mind about lettuce. 

  
Introducing the Taco Salad of your dreams. 

This baby sings its own sweet tune. 

What you need:

  • 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
  • Romaine lettuce
  • Orange bell pepper
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • One ear of sweet corn
  • Avocado
  • Shredded white cheddar cheese
  • Taco No. 4 taco seasoning
  • Your favorite salsa
  • Kerrygold butter
  • Smidge of water

First thing, brown the ground beef.  While that’s happening, cut the corn off the cob and put it in a hot pan with Kerrygold butter, salt and pepper. 
Prep your salad items. Chop up the lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and bell pepper. 

When the ground beef is cooked, stir in half a packets of Taco No. 4, a heaping spoonful of salsa and 1/4 – 1/2 cup water. This taco seasoning is my absolute favorite.  So try to find it. Simmer until the water thickens to create a nice sauce. 

Plate it up. 

  
Lettuce, bell pepper, taco meat, sweet corn, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and a extra dollop of salsa for good measure. 

You won’t miss the tortilla or the crunchy shell because you’ll be too busy stuffing your face and wondering why you didn’t add corn to your tacos before now. 

The only thing I lacked was an ice cold margarita.   

Hill Repeat Treats

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I’m on a running streak. Two days in a row. I rarely do that. I always like to have a day of rest in between runs. It’s a mental thing. 

Yesterday morning I got up at 4:53 a.m. to meet my running friend. And it was a beautiful morning and a really great run for both of us.  

 
It’s always good to watch the sun come up. 

So today another friend asked me to go run hill repeats at the Big Dam Bridge. I warily said yes.

Three and a half miles, five hill repeats up the BDB at a pace 8:45/mile or better and buckets of sweat later, I made my way home to cook something for supper.

I was hungry and hot and impatient. So I threw something together without much thought. And my thoughtlessness paid off. 

  

The best post-run meal I’ve ever created. The Breakfast Sweet Potato. 

What you need:

  • Two eggs
  • Sweet potato
  • 3-4 slices of bacon

And that’s it. 

I cooked the sweet potato in the microwave to speed up the process. Crisped the bacon. Fried the eggs, but made sure the yolks stayed a little runny. 

Holy. Crap.

The goodness is unreal. 

The sweetness of the potato. The runny yolks of the eggs. The crunchy bacon pieces. 

Best thing I’ve made in a long time.  Go ahead and make it so we can talk about how good it is. 

Cafe Gina’s Stuffed Sweet Potato

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I have this friend. She makes asparagus topped sweet potatoes. And they are delightful. 

She inspired me to make my own version of her famous sweet potato.

  
What happens is this. You bake a sweet potato. And while it’s cooking, you crisp up some bacon. 

Once the bacon is crispy, you toss in whatever veggies you have on hand.

My combo was summer squash, red bell pepper and sweet corn. 

The key is to cook the veggies in the residual bacon grease. With lots of pepper. And right before the veggies are done, you throw in a pat of Kerrygold butter.

Then you mash up the sweet potato and top it with your veggie mixture. And then you garnish it with the crispy bacon. 

  
It’s a beautiful thing. So much goodness. 

It’s can go lots of ways. 

My friend always makes it with asparagus, onion, red bell pepper and chicken to make the sweet potato a complete meal. And she tops hers with turkey bacon. 

It’s all too good to be true.