A Pursuit of Healthy

Every now and then my husband shows me a recipe he thinks looking amazing. He's almost always right... yes I said it. He gave me the best cookie recipe ever that I made last Christmas and handed out to neighbors and friends. So when he showed me this recipe for hummus last weekend, I was excited to give it a try. We love hummus but it's not something I've ever made myself, and at first I was a little wary of using cannelini beans instead of the more traditional chickpeas. This is White Bean Hummus and it's delicious!!!

White Bean Hummus

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
1 can white (cannelini) beans, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
Fresh basil, to taste
Fresh lemon juice, to taste
Salt and pepper

Preparation Instructions:
Put beans, garlic and basil into food processor and blend until smooth. Add basil and salt and pepper. Blend again. Add olive oil, while food processor is on, until you reach the desired consistency. I don't think I used the entire 1/4 cup, probably closer to 1/8. Serve chilled with fresh veggies and pita chips.

Enjoy!

Okay, so I'm not a runner. Every large chested girl in the world is in this club with me and knows that the struggle is real. Having to wear two sports bras doesn't exactly help you be a good "runner", and it sure as hell doesn't mean you're going to enjoy it.

Deep down I have always wanted to be a runner. I see those lean, fit people running down my street looking all in shape and properly winded (I have asthma and tend to sound like a freight train while running) and I get super jealous. I would love to be one of them. I even married an excellent runner, sheesh. So a couple years ago I decided I was going to run my first 5K. I downloaded the nifty Couch to 5K app on my phone and I started running almost daily. It was slow going but I did it! I finished the run alive and did it under 30 minutes, which was my goal!
 

Running to the finish line! Don't judge the dorky look...I was just relieved to be alive.

Then the race was over and I went back to my couch potato ways.

Running for me is 1000% mental. I am constantly at war with myself. Here a little sample of the conversation going on in my head for ya:

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning from around April-September, is get up early(ish) and head to our local Farmer's Market! Usually it's like pulling teeth to get Luke to go, but this Saturday he got up with me and off we went. The place was packed, as usual, but that makes me happy because all of those people were out supporting their local farmers and, hopefully, they care just as much about knowing where their food comes from. I really like how our farmer's market is ran because a person from the committee who runs it goes to each and every vendor's farm to ensure that what they claim about their food is actually truthful. So when they're telling me their veggies are grown organically with no pesticides or hormones, I don't have to wonder if that's just an advertising ploy. This week I picked up some amazingly perfect peaches (I had one for breakfast this morning and was just blown away by it...I think Luke was concerned that someone could go on and on about a peach as much as I did), fresh green beans, basil and the focus of today's recipes, zucchini! They were absolutely enormous zucchini too, so just 2 of them will last through a couple recipes. Oh and I only spent about 10 bucks for all of that. Not too bad! I'm happy!

I got home from the market and was thinking of all the ways that I like zucchini best, and I kept coming back to this recipe, Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread. It's so delicious! It's a "quick" bread, which means it doesn't use yeast, and it's sweet just like banana bread. This one is doubly awesome because it has a bunch of lemon zest in the bread itself and then you pour a lemon glaze over the top. Amazing! I made the recipe into 2 smaller loaves rather than 1 large one because I wanted to take some to share with friends we were seeing last night, and I don't need that much sweet bread laying around my house or I'll eat it... all. Don't be weirded out by zucchini being in something sweet, you can't even really taste it and it just makes the bread so so moist. You do see some green flecks in there, but just grate it smaller if that bothers you. Enjoy!

Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread

Prep Time: 15 min. | Total Time: 1 hour | Difficulty: Easy

Bread Ingredients:

·         2 cups cake flour (all-purpose works just fine too)

·         ½ tsp. salt

·         2 tsp. baking powder

·         2 eggs

·         ½ cup canola oil (I only had vegetable on hand)

·         1 1/3 cups sugar

·         2 tbsp. lemon juice

·         ½ cup buttermilk (see note about this below)

·         Zest of 1 lemon

·         1 cup grated zucchini

Glaze Ingredients:

·         1 cup powdered sugar

·         2 tbsp. lemon juice

·         1 tbsp. milk

Preparation Instructions:

1.      Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside.

2.      In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together.

3.      Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well.

4.      Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined.

5.      Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

6.      Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes, testing with a toothpick to check that the loaf is done.

7.      While still warm, make glaze and spoon over the bread. Let the glaze set up before cutting and serving. 

Notes:

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have buttermilk on hand…ever. So I learned about a nice little trick and I use it whenever I need it buttermilk. For this recipe, measure ½ cup milk and add ½ tbsp. lemon juice. Let the mixture sit for about 5-10 minutes. Done! Voila!

To grate the zucchini, I use my box grater set on bunch of paper towels on a plate. I grate the zucchini directly onto the paper towel and then when I’ve grated all that I need, I pull the corners of the paper towel in to a nice little bundle and squeeze out all the excess water. You’ll be amazed at how much water will come out of just 1 cup of grated zucchini. But then that’s why everything zucchini makes everything moist and delicious!

You can used bottled lemon juice if you need to. But really why would you if fresh lemons are an option. And you’re going to need the zest anyway. I used 1 good sized lemon and got all the zest I needed and had excess lemon juice. 

Everyone has at least one recipe that they make really well and have perfected. Salsa (or pico de gallo) is mine. This is my go to for any get-together we're invited to and during the summer I make it almost weekly. It's fresh and delicious and versatile and....oh so amazing.


It couldn't be simpler, you only need 6 things (I forgot to put the seasoning in the picture...oops)...


This is our puppy, Monroe. She's my cooking buddy. Usually she watches half interested from her favorite rug, gets bored with me and leaves to go sleep on the couch.


This was later when I was done chopping and I woke her up with my camera clicking, which she couldn't quite figure out if she liked or not.



I mean it, make the salsa, you'll love it!

Fresh Salsa

Prep Time: 20 minutes  |   Total Time: 1 hour  |  Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 6 plum (Roma) tomatoes
• 1/2 large red onion (or 1 small)
• 1-2 jalapenos, depending on how spicy you like your salsa
• Cilantro
• Lime juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

I've become a food-blog addict! I love food and cooking and eating and nutrition, and apparently I talk about it so much that my friends and family saw it only fitting that I start my own blog. So here goes!

My name is Linnie...hi! I am a former professional photographer, pre-med school student (was not accepted though...it's okay really), dietitian wannabe! I am very passionate about healthy cooking and eating, and treating our bodies with the respect they deserve by living a healthy active lifestyle. This summer I am in the process of applying to the Masters Program in Dietetics and Nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical School. I am so excited about the future this career holds for me and can't wait to begin helping people understand more about their bodies and the role food plays in their lives and well-being.

All of my adult life I've struggled with keeping a balance in my life. Juggling work, school, family life, being a wife/friend/daughter/sister/aunt/niece and taking time for yourself on top of all of that is not easy. I am just like everyone else, I have good days and bad. I get all excited about a new workout regimen just to stay committed for a week and then go back to my lazy ways. I am not overweight, but like most women I have been unhappy with my appearance for most of my life and have just lacked the motivation to do anything about it. This summer I took a step in the direction of getting my health and fitness under control. In mid-April, I started working with a personal trainer and implementing a pretty serious diet (I hate that word, lets call it a nutrition plan). I'll be done with my 12 week Transformation in mid-July and am so excited about the progress I've made. Being active nearly every day of the week, and eating only healthy whole foods has helped me reach goals I've made for myself and feel the best I've ever felt! It's amazing how good you can feel when you eat right!

So what will you find here? FOOD! I plan to, of course, post my favorite recipes (mostly healthy) and meals that we eat. I believe in balance overall, and I know that if I deprive myself of things that I'll go nuts when I finally get to have them, so don't freak out on me if I post a cheesecake recipe once in a while! I have a heavy background in science (from preparing to apply to medical school) and am somewhat of a chemistry nerd, so I'll post every so often about specific macro and micro nutrients and what they do in our body. I believe understanding how our body reacts to foods and what it does with the nutrients they provide helps us to make better choices. Also, I would love to post and talk about big shifts that are happening in our country to allow for healthier eating and educating consumers.

A disclaimer...I am not a chef or professionally trained cook. Everything I know about cooking, I learned from watching my mom and just practicing on my own! I've always loved to cook, it's a form of stress relief for me. I can remember making treats for my mom and her coworkers while I was in middle school and delivering them on my bike. I love to try new things and just love eating! Another disclaimer...I am currently not a nutritionist or dietitian. My goal is to become a dietitian and I am taking the steps with my education to become one in the not-so-distant future, so the information I provide you is from things I've learned in classes I've taken and research I've done on my own.

I thank you so much for visiting my new little blog and I hope you stop by often! Please feel free to comment and let me know exactly what you'd like to see. Anything you want to know about specifically? Questions about anything? Certain recipes you're interested in? Ask away!