Baby Carrots

You have heard me ramble on before about how I do not really like baby carrots.  And I don't - they taste funny and they are wet.  And they appear to last way too long in the refrigerator.  Basically, they creep me out.

But alas, they are a cheap, convenient snack and I often resort to them with the basic idea of  'If I'm not hungry enough to eat baby carrots, I am not that hungry.'

So this week, I am eating baby carrots and I am miserable.  I want celery, peppers, apples, pears, grapes, clementines.  But baby carrots it is - my budget allows me pretty much one 'snack' fruit or veggie a week.

I decided, out of sheer boredom, to figure out exactly what a baby carrot is, why it is slimy and why they seem to last forever.  Now, I am not going to give you a bunch of links (okay, well, here is one) - I literally typed the questions into my google search bar and read the first few relevant web pages that came up...this is not a scientific research page people...just a blog by a chick that doesn't like baby carrots but eats them anyway. 

Here's what I found out:

What are baby carrots?  Baby carrots are made from big carrots that look too funny to sell in the grocery store, so they make them into baby carrots...or, as I found out, 'baby-cut carrots.'  No shocker there - onto the more intriguing stuff.

Why the heck are my carrots always wet and slimy?  Okay, this surprised me a little.  This is because the manufacturers add water to the bags of baby-cut carrots because...wait for it...people actually prefer their carrots wet.  Okay - eeww.  And if I am offending the wet carrot lovers of the world, sorry.  But really, eewww.

And finally, why do they never go bad?  Now, I clearly prefer big, normal carrots but I find that they go rubbery pretty quick.  So what is the deal with baby-cut carrots?  Why do they last so long?  Okay, this took me a little longer to find the answer to and it has me a little skeeved.  The carrots are rinsed in a bleach solution to preserve them.  Bleach.  Okay...so apparently this is perfectly fine and harmless and whatnot.  But...

I think I am officially over bad tasting, slimy, wet bleach carrots forever (as soon as I finish my current bag).

A Real Run

It was a Halloween Weekend Running Miracle.  Meri and I had an actual, successful long(ish) run! 

So lets get some perspective here, okay?  If you are new to running, or training for a 5K or some other shorter distance, any miles that you log are fantastic...I do not in any way want to downplay those miles with this post.  I can still remember, clear as day, the first time I ran 4 miles.  It sucked...until it was done and all I could think was "Holy crap, I'm a runner - I ran 4 miles!!"  Those 4 miles were nothing to sneeze, wheeze or cough at.

Flash forward a ways to when I was training for my first, second and third half marathons.  Long runs were 10-13 miles...those are the long runs where, now, I can really pat myself on the back.  I have not had a long run of that distance since last January or so. 

For me, there is a certain threshold to cross before real distance training begins...it is the magic 6 mile mark.  The first 3 miles of any run suck - it takes at least 3 miles for my legs and head to start working together.  Once my body figures out that its running, it begins to cooperate for miles 4 and 5.  Those are pretty good miles.  But oh to get to mile 6...by mile 6 you are in rhythm...and once you are in that rhythm, miles 7 and 8 feel pretty good.  So the threshold is to complete the 6 mile run...then tacking on miles gets a little easier.

This Saturday morning, Meri and I completed our first 6 mile run in a long, long time.  And it was great!  We felt like runners again!  I still have a hard time calling 6 miles a 'long' run.  But I have no trouble calling 7 miles a long run.  So here we go miles - I have crossed the threshold - bring it on!

Chips Can Be Good For You!

Okay, so lets be clear...Chips are not usually considered health food.  But neither is chocolate and we all pretty much still eat it - in moderation right?  That is how I feel about chips.  In fact, a lot of Fridays all I have for dinner is Sweet Potato chips and guacamole.  Thats all I want and thats what I eat.  It is a (high calorie) indulgence.  I make myself feel a little better though by choosing all natural chips with few and recognizable ingredients.  One of my absolute favorites in the brand Food Should Taste Good.  In fact, here are a few pictures from this fall trip to the Long Island Vineyards featuring the Sweet Potato and Olive flavors:

Hungry yet?  Lucky you!  Because right here is a link to get a coupon for a FREE bag of Food Should Taste Good Chips.  WooHoo!

** FYI, the link brings you to Facebook, where you have to "like" the company....I love Food Should Taste Good Chips, so I have no problem with "liking" them on Facebook **

Still Here

Hi All - Just a quick post to let you all know that I am still alive.  This week has been exceptionally busy, which has resulted in not only missed blog posts but also missed workouts.  In fact, with the exception of gentle yoga Monday night, I have had unintentional rest days since Sunday.  Eek!   The result is that i am cranky, tired and achy.  More achy than anything.  I am hoping to get a lunch break at some point today and hit the treadmill...I'll let you know how it goes!

Evolution of Butternut Wontons

Okay Blogfans...this weekend I braved (among about a million other events) my very first food blogger event.  Now, as I mentioned before, I do not necessarily consider myself a food blogger...I mean, I do not even own a stand mixer, recipe cards or a camera...but my friend Amy, along with Jennifer, was hosting, so food blogger I was.

I decided that I was going to have to make something a bit more fancy than a smoothy for this event, so I put on my fall food thinking cap and decided I wanted to make something similar to my summer go-to appetizer of Caprese Salad Skewers.  What are Caprese Salad Skewers?  Only the easiest appetizer ever that actually looks impressive.  Heres what you do:

Caprese Salad Skewers

Get:
Mini Mozzarella balls
Mini tomatoes
Fresh Basil Leaves
Long Party Toothpicks

Put: One of each Ingredient on a Long Party Toothpick

Mix:
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Present Skewers with Balsamic dipping sauce.

Easy right?  I also do a chicken version of this where I soak the Toothpicks for awhile, skewer the tomatoes and roast the tomato/toothpicks together until the skin on the tomatoes just start to pucker.  Then I pan fry or grill some chicken, cut it into bite sized pieces and VERY CAREFULLY (because the tomatoes are delicate) but a piece of chicken on each skewer.  Maybe add a piece of basil or something if you want.

So, I really like those skewers, but they scream summer, not fall, and this was a fall food fest.  So, as I was saying a long time ago, I decided to try and make a fall skewer.  I decided that each Skewer had to have a cube of roasted butternut, a piece of fried sage and a golden raisin.

Can you see the problem here?  Not only would it be impossible to skewer fried sage without it crumbling everywhere, chances are the butternut would slide right off the skewer.  Disaster.

So I decided that I needed to come up with a different vessel to combine my desired appetizer ingredients.  My idea - wonton cups.  Now, I had seen this done before and it seemed pretty easy - you just buy wonton wrappers, push the wrappers into a mini muffin tin and bake.  So I did that.  It was very easy.  Next I did the following:

Butternut Cups

Bake: Butternut squash cubes at 450 degrees until browned

Fry: Sage in a little canola oil

Combine: ricotta (or mascarpone...I tried both) with maple flavored agave syrup (I was out of maple syrup)

Put: Some of each plus a few golden raisins in a wonton cup.

I was pretty pleased with this effort.  I made six as practice the weekend before the food fest and called it a day. 

The next night I had a ton leftover wonton wrappers and roasted butternut...so I decided to try my hand out at butternut ravioli.  Ready?

Butternut Ravioli

Combine: Roasted Butternut, Ricotta, Chopped Fresh Sage, Tarragon, Pepper, Salt, Cinnamon, Nutmeg to taste (lets call this "Butternut Mixture")

Wet: Each side of a wonton wrapper with water

Put: About a tablespoon of Butternut Mixture in the middle of the Wonton

Seal Up: the Wonton (I did this a variety of ways...just get it done)

Put: Wontons in boiling water until they float to the top (this was about 2 minutes...its fast)

Toss: Wontons in olive oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese (I also tossed in some roasted broccoli)

These.  Were.  Awesome.  WAY better than the Butternut Cups (which were still good but not awesome).

I wanted an awesome food blogger recipe.  I also wanted a portable, appetizer like food.  Thus, the Butternut Wonton was born.

Butternut Wontons

Roast: Butternut (I forgot to take a picture of this)

Lower: Oven temp to 350 Degrees

Combine: Ingredients to make Butternut Mixture

Wet the sides of each wonton wrapper and put a little Butternut Mixture in the middle

Seal Up the Wonton

Oil or spray cookie sheet (I actually forgot this step and it was a bit of a mess getting the wontons off the sheet whole...Bill actually saved the day here helping me get the wontons unstuck) 

Dab: Some egg white onto each Wonton for shine (you can totally skip this step)

Bake Wontons until crisp - about 15 minutes.  Keep an eye on them.

Mix: Mascarpone Cheese with some Maple Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup to taste.

Serve

I think it is safe to say that these were a hit at the event.  I heard unsolicited comments such as "These are incredible, who made them" and "Seriously, these are addictive...I am going to be thinking about them when I'm on the couch watching tv later."

So feel free to try them out - they are not hard to make just a little time consuming.  At the very least, I hope this post has inspired some of you to get in the kitchen and create.