Archives for March 2013

Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips

March 5, 2013 · by Ari ·

I have a really bad habit. It goes a little something like this:

“Hmmm…I’m hungry. I’m gonna go see what’s in the pantry”

…looking, looking…

“Uggghhh, everything requires cooking. I’m soooo hungry. Wait, chips! I’ll just stand here and eat a few while I decide.”

…a few handfuls of chips later…

It’s bad. I am just so impatient, and I am a horrible snacker. I’ve always liked to eat often. The boys in my family? They like to eat an entire days worth of food at one sitting. I don’t understand it one bit. If I had it my way, I would just eat all day long. It’s pretty much my favorite thing to do other than running and theatre.

The problem is once I started eating a healthier diet, so many of my favorite snacks were gone. Most snack type foods end up being calorie dense–and empty calories at that. I was so excited when Green Giant sent me some of their new lower fat snack chips to try out!

I tried the Zesty Cheddar Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips and the Sea Salt Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips. I loved them both, but obviously the sweet potato ones were my favorite. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you are well aware of my sweet potato obsession, and these chips don’t disappoint–they are made with real sweet potatoes, and you can tell!

Green Giant is calling these chips their Giant Surprise new talent. Well, I am a big fan of surprises, especially when they involve food, and this one certainly delivers! These are perfect for a get together, or even for just a healthier option as a side for your lunch sandwich or salad. I hope you guys love them as much as I do!

In the spirit of surprises, you can find some more surprised talent on Green Giant’s youtube channel.

Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant

ITBS Recovery Week 6

March 4, 2013 · by Ari ·

Hi friends. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, feel free to check out my first recovery post. Here’s a little reminder.

How I’m feeling physically:

Honestly, I’m feeling about the same. I have good days, and bad days. I don’t feel better than last week, but I don’t feel worse. Walking still feels…odd. When I walk for a long time (a long time being one side of the house to the other), it feels like fluid builds up in my needs. It’s weird, and I don’t know if that’s an accurate statement, but that’s what it feels like. I tested out the rowing machine this week. The first day it felt fine; the second it hurt afterwards. I don’t really understand my body. It’s a mystery.

How I’m feeling mentally:

Just like physically, I have good days, and bad days. One aspect that is incredibly frustrating is not being able to do my job. I’m a choreographer. I have to be able to dance, and right now, I can only mark things when I teach my kids. I can’t give 100%, and show them what I want from them. It’s a mental battle for me. Then sometimes after a great yoga class (I never thought I’d say that…), I feel so grateful to be able to move at all. I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore new things, and for my own determination and commitment to staying fit.

This whole period is really testing that commitment. It would be so easy to not do anything at all since there is so much that I can’t do, but I do feel really proud of myself for sticking with it, and finding workouts that still feel good. Here’s how this week went down.

Monday:

Tuesday: Yoga. We did normal yoga-y things. I didn’t hate it. I’d call that a win.

Wednesday: Massage. Ugghhh…they are so painful, and no fun at all, but hopefully it’s helping. Pretty much the entire section from my butt to underneath my knee on the left side causes lots of crying and cursing. It’s a fun 90 minutes, let me tell you.

Thursday: Gym. I tested out the rowing machine with 2,000 meters, then did a bunch of strength training that left me sweaty, and with all my muscles feeling like jello. I used to really love strength training, and I’m trying to get myself back into it.

Friday: Yoga. We did yoga-y things, and I REALLY LIKED IT!!!! Who am I??? My favorite work out buddy came with me, and it was almost like old times with our Friday am workouts. They’re my favorite part of the week, and while I, of course, wish it was a long run, or even a long bike ride, nothing beats a good workout with a great friend!

Saturday: Dr D. & gym. Dr D. adjusted me, and did all of his painful ART tricks. It was sososo painful. I cried a little, and started to feel frustrated about the past 6 weeks of putting myself through painful treatments for minimal results, but it did help. I went to the gym after, and did an other 2,000 m of rowing and strength training. This time the rowing didn’t feel so great, and my knee started acting up later, so I think I’m gonna steer clear of all cardio equipment again for a while. Just means I need to get more creative!

Sunday: Rest. I was going to try out a hot yoga class, but after a few hours of filming for Drink & Dish, I just was not in the mood, so I gave myself the day off, did some editing, and worked on some other blog stuff.

This week: I plan to get a little creative with my workouts. Heather suggested checking out a barre class. She mentioned the teachers she’s taken from are really great at working with injuries. I was also thinking about trying out a strength training class at the gym or a studio just to shake things up. I’m also going to really focus on what I’m eating. The truth is, I’m no where near a comfortable place with my body, and if I’m going to be mentally okay with this break with running, I need to get back to my normal weight. I want to go to New Orleans next week feeling good and not anxious about food, so this week is time to buckle down!

Weekend Ramblings

March 2, 2013 · by Ari ·

1. EEEEE!!!!! I can’t believe it!! I’ve been nominated for Arizona Foothills Magazine’s Battle of the Blogs!

This is the first time my little blog has been nominated for anything like this, and the prize is incredible–a feature with the magazine, guest posts, dying of happiness…you know, the usual. 😉 It would mean sososo much to me if you would take a moment and vote for Ari’s Menu. The contest goes until April 15th, and voting is unlimited. So if you’re feeling extra generous, you can vote multiple times, and share with all your friends.

2. I LEAVE FOR NEW ORLEANS IN ONE WEEK!!!! A real vacation! No to do list. No work. No outside world. Just me, and my cute husband. Oh, and tons of beignets. Duh. I started a pinterest board for the trip, and right now it’s pretty much all food. I’m sure that comes as no surprise. 😉

3. For months, and months I’ve been searching for cute little ceramic spoons like some of my favorite bloggers use in their photos, and I finally found some cute ones at World Market! They were just sets of measuring spoons, but they work perfectly, and were only like $5 per set. Look how much better they make things look!!! So cute.

Riggghhhttt??? My Samoas Donuts only look good because they’re sitting next my new cute spoon. 😉

4. Speaking of World Market, is it now just the most amazing store on the planet??? Every time Nicole and I go in, we can’t leave without looking at allllll the pretty food photography props. So many pretty things. So cheap. Also, they have things like potato chip chocolate, and some kind of chocolate bar with pop rocks in it. Hello childhood. Why yes, I’d love to go back.

5. You know those weeks where it seems like everything you do is 5 billion times harder? Well, this was one of those weeks. I may have cried a little over photos of one of my new fav meals not working out for the second time in a row. Then, I had some Drink & Dish technical difficulties, and it was just one of those weeks. All of this was made better by #1, though. And I feel like it just means next week is going to be really great!

6. I beat my Bop It. Or at least the first level. You see, I was having a really good go around with it, and then all the sudden, it did this happy little beep, and told me I passed the novice round because I got to 100. Then it moved on to some harder round which I didn’t understand at all because it doesn’t tell you what to do! It just makes the noises, and I was all kinds of confused. I got a zero in that round, and I haven’t played since. Maybe I’ll bring it on the plane to New Orleans. That would certainly win me a lot of friends. 😉

7. One of my favorite bloggers-turned-friends Sally is in a really awesome contest with Nestle. The prize is super amazing, and she totally deserves it. Please go show her some love. All you have to do is go here and repin her salted caramel dark chocolate cookies.

8. Recipes that made my jaw drop this week include these brownie peanut butter cup cookie bars, this pistachio cardamom hot chocolate, and this spaghetti squash baked eggs.

Samoas Donuts {vegan}

March 1, 2013 · by Ari ·

It’s here. The season I love to hate. Or hate to love. Yes, definitely hate to love: Girl Scout Cookie Season.

For the past few years, I’ve avoided purchasing any all together, but this year a special girl in my life was selling them, and I just couldn’t let her not win the special prize for selling the most boxes, right???? But really, girl scout cookies happen only once a year, and the two boxes I purchased aren’t going to be the end of the world, as long as I don’t eat them all in one sitting. In fact, I’m proud to announce that a week in, and only one box has even been opened!

This is what we call MASSIVE WILLPOWER over in my house. Plus, now that I have these donuts, that opened box of samoas isn’t drawing me in quite so heavily. The unopened thin mints in my freezer? Well, that’s an other story. Those long tubes of cookies are portion control’s worst nightmare. Oh, you say all of these delicious cookies come in 2 tubes? Well, clearly one tube is a “serving”, right?

I’m actually trying to save them for when I decide just how I want them to be a part of a cupcake, or milkshake, or cookie inside of a cookie.

So how did I make these indulgent cookies into a completely vegan, and health(ier) dessert? Well, the donut part was easy. I have a pretty basic donut recipe that I love, and it didn’t require too much tweaking. Chocolate and coconut? Piece of cake. I don’t even buy that sweetened coconut. I love the finely shredded unsweetened low fat stuff. You can, of course, use whatever you want, but if I can get that delicious coconutty taste without the added sugar, I’ll take it!

The caramel portion was tricky. I’ve seen date caramel all over the internet, and I’d been dying to try it. Dates are so sweet and gooey that it seemed like they could definitely do the trick! So I got out the food processor, played around, heated the mixture on the stove a little to get that extra-gooey effect, and voila! Now, I’m gonna be real with you here. It doesn’t just just like that gooey buttery caramel we’re all used to and love. It is not an exact replica, but it does give you a sweet, caramel texture with no added sugar. I could have just eaten it with a spoon if I didn’t have donuts to make!

And not just any donuts–ultra soft, pillowy donuts that taste like biting into a sweet, fluffy cloud. I don’t know why anyone fries these things when they bake up perfectly soft and sweet on their own. Add rich, bold dark chocolate, and you have everything you could ever need in a dessert.

**Note: To get closer to the Samoas look, you can also coat the bottom in chocolate, but I was trying to keep this light, so I just drizzled it on the top. Also, you can totally drizzle it in a straighter line for the resemblance I tried…we all have our strengths and weaknesses 😉

Samoas Donuts

yield 6 donuts

1 cup white whole wheat flour
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp corn starch
dash salt
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, divided use
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil
20 pitted dates (and water for soaking)
2 tbsp reduced fat unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp coconut oil, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a donut pan with nonstick spray, and set aside.
Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to soak while you prepare the donuts.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, corn starch and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk, vanilla and melted coconut oil. Gently stir until ingredients are just combined.
Evenly divide batter between 6 donut molds. Smooth out tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in molds.
Transfer dates + 2-3 tbsp of water from soaking to your food processor. Process until dates begin breaking down to more of a paste, about 2-3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt (you can also add a dash of vanilla extract if you’d like) and 2 tbsp almond milk. Continue to process until a caramel texture forms, about 2-3 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a small saucepan, and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes whisking constantly. Return back to the food processor, and blend again for about one minute.
Top donuts with date caramel sauce, followed by a heavy pinch of coconut.
Melt chocolate and room temperature coconut oil in the microwave for about 90 seconds, stirring every 20-30 seconds. Transfer melted chocolate to a large ziplock bag. Snip off the corner of the bag, and drizzle chocolate over donuts. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 5-7 days.

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Archives for March 2013

Green Giant Veggie Snack Chips

ITBS Recovery Week 6

Weekend Ramblings

Samoas Donuts {vegan}

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