That’s how my day went!
I will save the story for a tell-all book when I am 90, crazy, and bored in a retirement home. :lol: You won’t know what hit you.
Until then, I will tell you about my night…which trumped the DAY by a landslide!
I made thick sweet potato chips… I have never cut the sweet potatoes like this before, but my recent bowl at Kindfood inspired me to cut them this way.
.
Round and round we go.
I find chopping is very soothing at times. It is a bit like mountain biking; it takes all of your focus and brings about an inner peace.
I put the rounds onto a baking sheet and drizzled extra virgin olive oil over top along with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Into a pre-heated oven they went at 400F for 15 mins. on each side. Watch carefully because all will be well until this happens. :whistle:
Sweet potatoes just make my heart warm and tingly inside!
As they were baking, I made a huge batch of couscous continuing my love affair for this fluffy, cloud-like grain.
Then I poured half of a bottle of PC Organic Pasta Sauce and a tiny sprinkle of curry masala and mixed well.
Before I knew it, I had a dinner…
It was pretty good for randomly throwing things into the pot. It wasn’t life-changing or anything though so I wouldn’t go rushing to make it. :tongue:
And this little gem is what I would like to call SUNFLOWER SEED BUTTER FAIL.
I know, EW. :sick: I was going to throw it into the garbage but I figured you might get a laugh out of it.
I was all excited because I thought I was going to have a fun recipe to show you tonight, but no such luck!
This was my first attempt at making sunflower seed butter.
I threw in 2 cups of sunflower seeds and processed for a loooong time. I scraped the sides over and over and nothing. No ‘butter’ formed. I added some cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup for sweetener and I was left with a very bad tasting LUMP of brown POO. :lol: Even the sweetener couldn’t make this taste good. Maybe I should have looked for a recipe first! I’m all impulsive like that.
Eric said, ‘It looks like canned cat food….or something a Hummingbird would eat.’ LOL…what!?
After digesting, I somehow managed to get Eric to go on a RUN with me!
He was SUPER SPEEDY again tonight! He actually sprinted for a bit and he was FLYING!!!! I couldn’t keep up. I am SO humbled running next to a 6’2” giant. I told him I would pay good money for those legs. :lol: I think he was a bit creeped out….
He has so much natural ability with running though. I tried not to drool too much and scare him away. I did 2 miles with Eric and then I dropped him off and ran another mile to round out 3 miles.
The run:
- Distance: 3.05 miles
- Time: 28 mins
- Avg pace: 9:12 min/mile
- Avg heart rate: 155 bpm
- Max heart rate: 178 bpm (sprinting at end)
Mile splits:
- Mile 1: 9:42
- Mile 2: 9:26 (Eric ran a strong 2 miles in approx 19 mins…this included lots of walking breaks too!)
- Mile 3: 8:34 (I wanted to finish very strong)
- Mile 3-3.05: 6:51 (sprinted!)
It was an awesome run! I have really been making an extra effort to run negative splits and run my last mile the strongest. It feels good working on my speed again. All my workouts will be updated in my training plan too.
I came home to find Eric with a total RUNNER’S HIGH rocking out to BTO. My dad would be so proud. I finished off the run with Polly’s Yoga for Runners while listening to Twist and Shout…it doesn’t get much better than that.
Shall we…
Swoon.
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
you and Eric are hysterical. I love it :)
Angela, your sweet potatoes look awesome and I also know what you mean about the long-leg envy… mine is 6’6″ and when we started dating, he took up running with me just to spend time together, but I found out years later that he hated it and just did it to get closer to me!
The same thing happened to my attempt at a hazelnut butter! Except it was the smell that really put it over the top. Haha, its weird how soo many food fails end up looking like cat food though! :P
The key to sunflower seed butter is two things:
roasted sunflower seeds (throw them on a sheet in the oven for a couple minutes until they begin to brown)…. raw taste horrible! the roasting gives them flavor.
also, when I made sunflower seed butter i added some grape seed oil, it really helps! And a some agave syrup (or maple) to sweeten it up (also a must… the sunflower seed butter always needs some sweetness added or it just doesn’t taste right).
good luck!
The same thing happened to me when I tried to make maple cinnamon almond butter recently. No matter how much oil I added, it stayed a big lump. I finally ended up making almond butter balls out of it and those are actually really tasty!
That’s so awesome Eric’s getting more and more into exercise! This gives me hope for my husband ;) He’s got the lifting part down, but that’s about it, heh heh.
Hello! Was wondering if you’ve ever tried roasting purple sweet potatoes?
:]
Cheers from Singapore.
mmmmmm sweet taters! Those look fabulous!
Ha! Twist n’ Shout is on my running playlist!!! :D
I LOVE sweet potatoes! YUM!! I am not a huge fan of couscous though! I used to devour it at LEAST once a week but then I got sick one night and attributed my vomiting to the couscous. Ever since I cannot stomach the smell, taste, or texture. blah lol Any foods do that to ya?
I love making sweet potato fries, but I need help – how do you cut them so nicely? Mine are a hack job! I would love to try them in chips like that, but what is the cutting secret?
I have been wanting to make my own coconut butter, but I have the world’s worst food processor. I need a Vita! :)
I must say that I am very envious that your hubby is doing the try-a-tri’s with you. I’ve asked my man a couple of times, but he doesn’t have the time or (mental or physical) energy to train with me this summer. He is outside being active at work this summer, so by the time he get’s home he doesn’t want to work out/train/be active. He wants to veg. Gotta give him that. Maybe next summer ;-)
You know what was sad to find out? Cous Cous is PASTA! It isn’t a grain. I’ve replaced most couscous usage with quinoa or wheatberries or brown rice. Not that there is anything wrong with pasta…but, sigh..
I believe I read somewhere that it is made from semolina wheat, I think Wikipedia. It’s still good. :)
I can never get my sweet potatoes to slice so nicely! I always end up hacking and sawing at them.
That’s awesome that Eric is getting so into this. Muahaha you’re slowly converting him into a runner!
Sorry about the sunflower “poo”. Haha. The same thing happened to my while trying to make nut butter.
Glad Eric is getting into running. :)
I have found that the key to homemade nut and seed butter is to add oil (I add canola oil). Regular household food processors are not strong enough to create a smooth, creamy butter like we buy in the store so adding oil really helps to achieve that consistency.
I love sweet potato fries too but I don’t think I’ve ever tried making them as chips, might have to try that and on top of couscous…that sounds yum. As for the sunflower seed butter, oh well, sometimes we don’t know how stuff will come out until we try it. Kudos for trying. :)
Oh how I love sweet potato fries..love how you cut them in rounds! I had a scary experience while making some this weekend. My glass pan completely shattered as I put the hot pan down on a wooden cutting board..ahh! I was alright but I had to throw away my fries which was the worst part:(
I made sunflower seed butter before and I think you need to add in a bit of oil to get it to that nut butter consistency. That’s the recipe I followed anyways on goneraw.
http://goneraw.com/recipe/basic-sunflower-seed-butter.
My hubs also can just RUN! It’s annoying..haha! He actually has a crazy heart..no joke. We got this test done at the ND and they said he has the heart rate of top athletes. Me, not so much lol!
And no it doesn’t get much better than twist and shout!!
Eric is looking so lean and lanky these days! I wish I could convince my husband to cut out soda and exercise from time to time (instead of playing computer games!) I’m trying to lead by example, but so far no luck :) You’re a lucky lady!
Haha I always remember that song from Ferris Bueller, where he’s on the float with the German (Dutch?) ladies
I searched sunflower on here and this post came up…I’ve been hearing about blended sunflower kernels being used as a base for certain vegan sauces, I wanna buy some and try it out
Those sweet potato fries look so pretty! I make low-carb fries out of turnips and butternut squash. Gonna try acorn squash too, next time :)