Recipe Roundup

My busy season at work is almost over.  It pretty much ends with Mother's Day and doesn't pick back up until the Fall.

I'm looking forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to using some of these Groupons that have been stacking up lately.... yoga, Crossfit, kettle bells, mud run training, spin, and boot camp.

Somebody, please make Groupons harder to purchase!  Good grief.

I actually got up extra early and went to the gym this morning.  You know.. the place that I'm a member of until September ( which is when I will probably renew).  Sometimes, I get so focused on all of these other fitness places that I ignore the place that helped me get in to shape in the first place.

My mission was boot camp.  A new ( to me) class that is only taught once a week.  I wanted to check it out and see how it was compared to the other boot camp that I attended back in March. 

Um.  It was harder.  WAY HARDER!

At one point, my arms were shaking so bad from SPRINTING with 20 lbs of weights in my hands that I could barely do the 100 crunches I was forced to do.  Believe me, it is difficult to stay focused on form and working your abs when you have the "jimmy" arms.

I'm sure I will be feeling it by tomorrow.

If not tonight.

It was a GREAT class!

Anyway, since this post is titled "Recipe Roundup", I suppose that I should give you some recipes.

These were our winners from last week ( in addition to the quesadillas that I posted about yesterday)...

Pasta with Kale and Walnut Pesto.

I got the recipe from Real Simple magazine.  It was very easy to make if you have a food processor.

The pesto is basically cooked kale + walnuts + garlic + olive oil. ( I skipped the cheese in the mixture but added parmesan to Kev's before I served it.)

I also added in some shredded chicken for more protein.

It was very "green" tasting ( if that makes sense).  Fortunately, "green" is something we like.  However, I will probably add in tomatoes and peppers when I make this again.... just to give it some other flavors.

And on Sunday night we had....

Salmon with horseradish hummus.

A couple of weeks ago, I went a little crazy at Trader Joe's buying hummus.  It is something that we eat just about every day and they have so many unique flavors.  The problem is that their hummus has no preservatives - which is awesome - but it means that we don't have much time to eat it. 

Really the problem is that I went too crazy buying it!  And also the fact that we don't have a Trader Joe's close by so I can buy the delicious hummus at my leisure!

I had seen a recipe for lemon-pepper salmon that called for a horseradish-sour cream "sauce" on the side and decided to try the horseradish hummus instead.

It.was.incredible!  In fact, I ended up mixing the salmon, brown rice, and hummus all together causing a taste explosion!

It added a ton of flavor without being too spicy for the meal.

Kev declared his love for it so much that I suggested that he marry it.

I even caught him giving me the "stink eye" multiple times when I would reach for another spoonful.

It was nerve wracking, to say the least.

To start this meal - I seasoned the salmon with a lemon-pepper spice rub and then Kev threw it on the grill.

Kev also grilled squash, zucchini, onions, and many little sweet peppers.

Now imagine every thing in that picture all mixed together.  Yum!

On a side note, the sweet peppers were incredible!  I have been buying bags of them for us to eat raw as snacks.  But just a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and some time on the grill and it took them to a whole new level.  Plus, they are so easy!  No chopping or cutting involved.

It was a great meal to end our weekend!

This week on the menu, we have a special request by Kev, a taste testing of a new restaurant, and a quiche... in addition to our same (sometimes boring) healthy foods that we eat on a weekly basis.

Stay tuned!