Let Us Wrap Lunch in Lettuce

July 19th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on Let Us Wrap Lunch in Lettuce)

Whenever my mother sees the palms of my hands, she always asks me if I’ve been eating too many carrots.  I then look down at my hands and can’t see anything wrong, they look perfectly normal to me.

But then on a recent trip to Florida to visit a friend, said friend also noticed my orange-ish skin – except she asked me what was all over my hands after I finished slathering up the kids with sunscreen.

Orange Skin Too Many Carrots

What the heck are you people talking about?  I still don’t see it!  My hands just look nicely tanned!  And why are the palms of your hands so PINK?

It’s cold here.  (Like, really cold.)

It’s so cold that it’s possible some mornings I turn the oven on before I even turn the coffee maker on.

Just kidding.  (Let’s not get ridiculous.)

But it’s true that it’s cold, and it’s also true that cooking in the morning is a great way to warm up my chilly kitchen.

Chilly kitchen.  Chilly morning.  (Can see where I’m going with this?)

Carrot Cake Sorbanana

January 27th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (9 Comments)

This week, the girls and I found ourselves in front of a Vitamix blender demonstration at Wegmans.

As I slurped down the scary delicious “Carrot Cake Sorbet” sample that Vitamix Demo Man handed me, I immediately began wishing I had an extra $500 bucks laying around to buy this miracle machine that did something amazing with a couple of carrots and some ice.

(I’m still wishing for that $500, by the way. Just in case anyone out there is feeling generous.)

The most exciting thing to report on around here would be the fact that I’ve been eating breakfast cookies all week. After Linda left a comment on an old post, I was reminded how much I use to love this odd yet fabulous oatmeal concoction.

Breakfast Cookie

It’s been a long time! Good thinking, Linda.

I went to my favorite active yoga class for the first time in nearly five months on Monday night, and I don’t think the instructor recognized me.  I wanted to go up to her and say “hi, remember me?” but then I thought she might take one look at my swollen stomach and remind me of the importance of not doing yoga right after you’ve apparently been stuffing yourself for hours on end at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.

A Salad Rut

November 7th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (9 Comments)

OK you salad lovers out there, riddle me this:

What do you do when you are sick of salad?

One possibility? Stop eating salad for a while. That’s what I’ve been doing lately. Skipping salad and getting greens elsewhere. Like slipping them into egg quesadillas, green smoothies or shoving them through the juicer.

But then other day I went out for pizza with a friend and had a side Caesar salad and you know what?

It was good. Real good.

This made me realize I just need to change things up a bit. Variety! It’s the spice of life, oui?

Whenever I get carrots like this:

Carrots with the Greens Attached

I feel really cool.

Like – That’s right! My carrots are so crunchy granola they still have their crazy green tentacles attached, yo!

These greens are like mace for hippies. They protect me as I walk back to my car from CSA pick up. They totally say “Don’t mess with my home girl or I’ll latch on to your face and suck the soul straight from your celery stalkin’ body.”

Wow.  But hey, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. My carrots love me. That’s the real reason I support local farms you know.

It felt like I was on a mission trying to collect all the ingredients to make The Brendan Brazier Salad.

Good thing a salad mission is exactly my kind of mission.

I already had a bunch of the usual salad suspects on hand:

Not Salad Newcomers

Spinach, kale, a variety of greens (including arugula!) cucumber, avocado, beets, hemp seeds.

Whoops, I almost forgot the carrots!

Eat Me

Boy Carrots, you sure are bossy. And kind of rude.

These were the guys I had to hunt down.

Vega EFA oil

Dulse, Vega Antioxidant EPA oil blend and lentil sprouts.

Sorta a Title

November 13th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (6 Comments)

OK, I promise to stop starting all my posts with a picture of my left hand.

Right after this one.

Carrot Finger

Now, I won’t show you what’s under that bandage, but let’s just say this carrot sorta reminds me of something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

You know, if I had some raw hamburger to stuff into that crack there I bet then I could finger figure it out.

So how on earth a little finger infection and minor surgery can throw life into such upheaval for a couple of days is beyond me. But then I look at that carrot again and think about all the nerve endings in my finger suddenly I’m reminded why.

Energy Lessons

August 14th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (7 Comments)

Potential Energy

Chocolate Chews

These my friends, are fuel. And a pretty yummy fuel at that.

Inspired by Brendan Brazier’s Direct Fuel Bites, I made my own version with coconut oil, medjool dates and cocoa powder. Coconut oil is where it’s at for potential energy, which is what makes these little suckers so powerful.

Chewy Chocolaty Chewy Chews (catchy, eh?)

10 medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 – 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Throw all ingredients into the food processor and then stand back to observe it’s Kinetic Energy with awe and wonder.

A dear reader named Kenzie left a comment the other day asking me to do a post about how I make my salads and what I put in them. Turns out I just so happen to have “Big Giant Salad” on the dinner menu tonight! Here’s how I make a salad that will knock your (and maybe even someone else’s!) socks off.

Step 1: Start with a beautiful head of lettuce. Something OTHER than iceberg for crying out loud please. Red leaf is typically my head of choice, but green leaf or romaine work nicely.  Don’t be afraid to throw in spinach, arugula, dandelion or other mixed field greens too if you’ve got ’em.