Ingredients:

4 cups puffed millet cereal (or puffed rice if you can’t find millet)
2/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup almond butter
1 cup brown rice syrup
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl mix the cereal, raisins, cranberries, nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

In a small saucepan combine the peanut butter and brown rice syrup. Cook over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally until warm and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt if desired. Pour over cereal the mixture and stir until thoroughly coated.

Wait until cooled slightly, the peanut butter mixture can get very hot, then mold into balls (the size of golf balls). Transfer mixture to a cookie sheet to continue cooling. Tip – it helps to dampen hands, this mix can get very sticky.

Makes 36-40 Power Puffs.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat, uncooked
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 yellow squash, diced
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
• 2 15-oz cans red kidney beans
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp oregano
• salt / pepper

Directions:

Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil and add the bulgur to the pan, stir, then cover. Continue to cook for approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain excess water after 20 minutes or when the bulgur has plumped up like rice or pasta. Set aside.

In a large heavy bottom pot, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent and stir in the garlic. Add the carrots, zucchini and squash. Stir until coated with the onion and garlic. Continue sauteing the vegetables until softened. Add the chili powder, cumin and oregano, and toss to coat. Stir in the tomatoes and kidney beans. Lower the heat to low and cover. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Add the bulgur wheat and combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Butternut Squash
• Olive oil
• 1 Large Onion, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp of Ginger, grated
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 – 6 cups vegetable broth or stock
• 4 cups of cut up collard greens
• Hot sauce
• Salt & pepper
• Roasted pecans

Directions:

1. Peal and seed squash and cut up into 1 inch pieces. Lightly toss in olive oil, place on a baking sheet and roast in a 350° oven for 30 – 40 minutes.
2. Heat olive oil in dutch oven or pot
3. Combine onion, ginger, garlic and salt – heat about 5 minutes until onions become soft
4. Add veggie stock, squash and greens and heat on high until starts to boil.  Turn down heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes
5. Add in salt and pepper to taste
6. (Optional) Use an immersion blender to blend some of the soup making it thicker.
7. Add in hot sauce to your level.  Start with a few drops and taste

For the inaugural JustTri training camp, I was tasked with bringing a “meat option” for one of the dinners. I wanted to bring a vegan friendly option so I looked around for a recipe that sounded good and here is what I found. They turned out pretty good. I may try to tweak it a bit as I try it the next few times but this is a great start.

Vegan Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

• 2 cups black beans cooked
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 cup green pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 -4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup hummus
• 1 Tbsp soy sause or Braggs Liquid Aminos
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 2 slices dry whole wheat bread crumbled

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium low
2. Saute garlic & onion in oil until soft
3. Add celery & green pepper, fry until softened
4. Mix in spices and heat through
5. Add half of the beans to the pan
6. Combine frying pan contents with bread and oats, pulse to a good texture
7. Add contents in a bowl with hummus, liquid seasoning, and remaining beans
8. Mix well with hands. Mixture may seem a little sticky, but it’s better than a bit dry because they WILL dry out when cooking.
9. Form 10 flat patties and cook on medium until brown (8 – 10 minutes each side)

Notes:

• Depending on the moisture in the beans, you may or may not need to add all of the hummus or liquid to the mixture. A little sticky is ok, but the mixture should be firm enough to easily make into burgers.

I hope you’ll like it!  Aaron is obsessed with this.  He gets this gleam in his eyes when we put it on the menu for the week. (Don’t believe me? Go ask him about this recipe and see what he does!)

A couple of notes…don’t let the potatoes get mushy, we go 8 minutes.  The chipotles are HOT! – adjust dosage to your heat tolerance.  There were a bunch in the can that we bought; so we laid them out individually on freezer paper and froze them…we thawed them out and used them without a problem.  We also didn’t use a food processor and just mixed everything up in a bowl.  It worked fine.

(HEY AARON!  Put a picture in here, will ya?!)

Go. Try. This. Now!

Chipotle Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can black beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 Celery rib – chopped
• 6 Green onions — thin sliced
• 2 tablespoons Chopped fresh cilantro
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup Fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup Canned chipotle chiles
• 1 tablespoon Ketchup
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 clove Garlic – minced
• 1/3 cup Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into bite-size chunks. In a large pan of boiling salted water, cook the sweet potatoes over medium-high heat until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain the potatoes, rinse them in cold water, and drain them again. Set them aside to cool briefly.

Place the bell pepper, black beans, celery, green onion, and cilantro in a large bowl. Add the potatoes, mixing lightly.

Combine all the dressing ingredients, except for the oil, in a food processor and puree together. Drizzle in the oil and continue to process until thick.

Pour about three-quarters of the dressing over the potato mixture and toss to combine. The result should look moist but not runny. If it seems dry, add the remaining dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Cover and chill for at least 2 hours or, even better, overnight.

Serve cold. The salad keeps well for several days.

Anyway, here is our favorite pizza dough recipe.  The resulting crust is crisp, yet tender and has a great flavor. It became our goto dough recipe the first time we tried it!

Tani’s Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 t salt
• 3T olive oil
• 2t active dry yeast
• 1/2 c water, warm
• 1 t sugar

Directions

1. Add yeast and sugar to warm water (Use the temperature recommended on the yeast package…although I just use warm tap water with good success.) Let stand for 5-10 min
2. Combine flour, salt, olive oil and yeast mixture in food processor.  The dough should come together in a ball.  If there is no moisture in the air, slowly add additional warm water until dough comes together.
3. Turn out dough onto floured surface and knead.  Form into ball, coat with olive oil, place in oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let stand until dough doubles in size, about 30-60 minutes.  Put it in a warm place if your house is cold!  I normally throw it in the oven and place a container of hot water in the bottom of the oven.
4. Divide dough into 2 or 4 balls, roll out and enjoy!  You can top it with whatever floats your boat…just bake the topped pizzas at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked through and golden on the edges.

Some notes:  I totally recommended using a pizza stone.  Some suggest corn meal on a seasoned stone to prevent sticking.  I use the corn meal (mainly for texture) *and* use parchment paper (for ease of transport on/off pizza stone).  Finally, infusing some olive oil with garlic to brush over crust before topping is FABULOUS…and I like to use the leftover for dipping crusts.

Oh!  And this dough works well for stromboli, too!!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 6 ounces fresh fettuccine
• 1 1/3 cups chicken stock
• 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts with liquid
• 1 1/2 cups (about 1/2 lb.) grilled chicken, sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
• kosher salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Start boiling a pot of water for the pasta.
3. Add bell pepper and cook three minutes or until soft.
4. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so.
5. Add Stock and vinegar, bring to a boil, and simmer until reduced by half.
6. Add pasta to water and cook until al dente
7. Add sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and liquid, chicken, and basil.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Once pasta is cooked, drain, add to sauce, and mix thoroughly.
10. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

• Bacon
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery hearts, diced
• 1 pint button mushrooms, diced
• 3 leeks, chopped
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 2T butter
• 1T herbs de provence
• 1t ground coriander
• 1 pint 1/2 and 1/2
• 1 box chicken broth
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. In large stock pot, render fat from bacon.  You may drain some of this and substitute some olive oil.  Add butter.
2. Saute carrots, onion, celery, leeks and mushrooms until tender.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add chicken broth and potatoes.  Bring to a boil over high-heat then cover and simmer on medium-low until potatoes are tender.
4. Temper 1/2 &1/2.  Add to soup.
5. In blender or food processor, blend soup in small batches to a smooth consistency.  Be careful to only fill halfway and use a towel to hold the lid on!!
6. Season to taste then serve as is, or garnished with cheese, croutons, green onions and/or bacon.

• 4 chicken breasts
• 4 slices swiss cheese
• 4oz. thin sliced deli ham
• dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• flour
• 1 egg
• Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Pound out chicken breasts so they are even and about 1/4″ thick
2. Lay 1 slice of swiss and about 1oz. of ham on each chicken breast
3. Add a little dijon mustard
4. Roll each chicken breast tightly with other ingredients inside and set aside
5. Place flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs each in a separate dish, adding salt and pepper to bread crumbs if desired
6. Fill large skillet with about 1/4″ of canola oil and set burner on high
7. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
8. Take each chicken breast and thoroughly coat in flour, egg, then bread crumbs
9. Place breasts in skillet and allow to brown on all sides then place in oven safe dish
10. Place in oven for 20 -30 minutes.

In past posts I talked about a couple foods that are so common in the pantry, Quinoa and Barley. I have a few more here to talk about from that March issue of Runner’s World.

Almond Butter

According to the article, almond butter has about the same amount of fat as peanut butter but almost twice as much monounsaturated fat which is good for maintaining healthy cholesterol levels. Additionally, it has magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and Vitamin E. Honestly, I was really skeptical about almond butter. I have to say I was plesantly surprised. The texture is off for sure; Much more runny and a little on the gritty side when compared to peanut butter but once the flavor hit, I was hooked. Almond butter tastes sweeter and is much lighter than peanut butter. From now on, it’s “Almond Butter Jelly Time”. Update: Sorry Almond Butter but celery only has room for one partner and that is Peanut Butter. We tried but it just didn’t work out.

Soba Noodles

Soba noodles, made from whole grain buckwheat, offer a good alternative to pasta. They are a little thicker and chewier than your typical pasta but based on my experience, you could use them in place of pasta and nobody would even question it.  Soba noodles will definitely stay stocking in my pantry. In addition to good taste, soba noodles contain rutin, a phytochemical that has been shown to lower blood-fat levels. And a 2003 Canadian study found buckwheat to regulate blood sugar levels in diabetic animals.

Bison

I discovered bison burgers several years ago when I ended up at Ted’s Montana Grill with some friends. The bison burger tasted much lighter and less greesy than a traditional beef burger. Burgers aren’t my favorite meal in the world but if I had to pick, I’d choose bison over beef. Bison has much less saturated fat than beef and typically have higher levels of omega-3′s due to the fact they bison are typically grass fed and ranchers are banned from using hormones in bison.

That’s it for now. Now get out to the grocery store and switch up the menu a bit; Keep your body guessing.