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September 2nd, 2010
I haven’t had this in a while! A yogurt mess!
It was made with goat yogurt, cantaloupe, banana and bran buds. So refreshing and a nice change from oats.
Midday I had a green smoothie. It wasn’t your regular green smoothie with spinach or kale. It was made with SPIRULINA!
Spirulina:
- Is a type of blue-green algae.
- Is a microorganism that grows on the surface of lakes in warmer climates.
- Is 55% to 77% protein by dry weight
- Is a source of five essential amino acids, which the human body cannot make
- Is rich in potassium and also contains calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, and zinc
- Contains vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3, B6, B9 (folic acid), and B12 (the actual amount of available B12 is in dispute)
- Is rich in essential fatty acids and contains vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E
- Is often praised as an immune system booster due to its high antioxidant content
- May be effective in fighting allergies
The research on it is promising however, further research is needed to fully qualify spirulina as an effective preventative treatment against specific diseases. – source
You can buy it in pill or powder form and the standard dosage is set at 2g to 3g per day (1/2 teaspoon – 1 teaspoon).
It smells quite strong and I’m sure by itself would taste quite strong as well! I probably put over 3g of spirulina powder into my smoothie and I could definitely taste it – so 2-3g seems about right.
Along with the spirulina went almond milk, banana, cantaloupe, mango and a bit of hemp powder. Next time I might try and make a chocolate smoothie with it!
Last night I had some fresh tomatoes on hand and decided to make my tomato sauce once again. Usually when I make it I switch it up between using just garlic or just onion and sometimes I use both. This time I decided to, instead of only letting the onions cook for 5 minutes, let them REALLY caramelize.
This is when they first started to brown. Mmm, sweet caramelization!
They are so simple to make too!
1 – Slice onions into long strings or dice them
2 – Set your pan to medium-low heat (low and slow is the way to go!)
3 – Add in a tablespoon or two of oil
4 – Add in the onions and stir around. You can add in a bit salt and sugar (or agave) if you like
5 – Stir stir stir until they start browning
6 – Keep stirring until they’re at your preferred darkness. (Remember to keep the heat on the lower side, you don’t want them to burn!)
You can leave them a bit lighter like my picture above. Or get them really dark like this:
- Source
I LOVE caramelized onions. They add SO much flavor. You can use them for sauces, top salads with them, put them in sandwiches or veggie burgers..or just eat them plain 
Alright, I have a crazy busy day today that I need to get started! Enjoy your almost Friday!
Ever tried spirulina?
What would your ideal meal with caramelized onions be?
Definitely some sort of roasted veggie sandwich with goat cheese would be SO delicious with caramelized onions!
September 1st, 2010
It’s September, isn’t it?
I saw the leaves start turning colours, I felt a coolness to the air…but I didn’t want to admit that it’s almost Fall! However, I’m comforted by the fact that it isn’t TRULY Fall until the September Equinox on September 22nd…. And I guess pumpkin doesn’t sound so bad either.
I was on dinner duty once again last night. My mom requested a salad, something with quinoa and a veggie. I tend to make quinoa one of two ways. 1) My Lemony Quinoa or 2) My Quinoa with Veggies. However, once I got my quinoa cookbook, I discovered there is a whole WORLD of quinoa that I’ve been missing out on!!!
So I decided to shake things up last night and make a Quinoa Casserole. I modified the original recipe a bit, so here is my adaptation!
QUINOA CASSEROLE
First I cooked some onions, garlic and veggies in olive oil and then tossed in 1 cup of quinoa in a saucepan 
Then I added in 2 cups of of liquid (you could use water or veggie stock) and cooked until the liquid was almost gone.
Then I stirred in 1/2 a cup of unsweetened almond milk (you could use any type of milk you like) and 1 egg (or one egg replacer) to bind everything.
At this point I could have added in ricotta cheese and/or sour cream or Greek yogurt.
However, I just stuck with a huge pile of shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack!
Oh. Baby.
I mixed it all together, added in some S+P and baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.
And TA DA!
It was good, however, I can see why stronger flavors like sour cream were supposed to be included because it was definitely mild tasting. I would recommend adding in some cheese with BOLDER flavours like old cheddar, goat cheese, parmesan or any strong flavoured cheese.
Cheesy Quinoa
This is something you could have for breakfast, lunch or dinner – because of the egg it is almost reminiscent of a frittata.
On the side I made something I haven’t had in a while – Spaghetti Squash!
It is so much fun to eat!!!
I made it simply with a bit of earth balance, S+P and herbs.
But I would TOTALLY eat is as regular spaghetti, with tomato sauce! Such a great alternative to pasta 
The salad was green leaf lettuce, tomatoes and HEARTS OF PALM! HOP’s are so yummy. They are my favourite in salads.
Especially with strawberries and toasted pecans. However, I didn’t have strawbs on hand, but I did manage to make some delicious pecans to go on top.
Agave sweetened, toasted pecans.
If I want to make a big batch, I’ll use my oven roasting method. But for these it was just Pecans, Agave, saucepan, heat, DONE.
Dinner = Success!
FOAM ROLLER HELP!
My last run went well, like I said and I’m planning another one for this afternoon. However, I am still experiences a bit of hip pain after my runs. (I injured my hip while training for a half marathon this year). I think I need to invest in a foam roller for myself. Do any of you have one? Any recommendations? Any places you know of to get one (even online)? I may just hit up a sports/exercise store here and see if they have one. But if there are any you would recommend or any good places to get one, let me know!
It’s a new month and almost a new season, so what are your goals for September and the new season?
My goals for the new season are
- To get into a regular schedule here at home. I’m sort of bouncing around and would love to be on more of a set schedule
- Run a race
- Finish all my grad school applications!
- Read 2 new books and
- Make another blog video!
August 30th, 2010
Summer is drawing to a close, school is starting, my brothers are back from camp/work and this is the first time in 6 years that all 5 members of my family are living together under one roof! 
True, I’ve come back for visits between school sessions when I lived in Montreal and for holidays when I lived in Toronto and New York. But I am actually LIVING at home again (at least for now)! It’ll be interesting to have the 5 of us together again…chaos might ensue!
I guess we won’t be quite as crowded as the Tanner family though
And… I am back on my salad kick. I guess I just couldn’t stay away!
Saturday evening I had dinner at Joey’s, a popular, hip, yet casual restaurant.
I got The Beach Salad (but switched out the chicken for shrimp)
I was greens, avocado, strawberries, pecans and goat cheese + shrimp. And a sweet poppy seed dressing the rounded everything out. It was tasty!
And lunch yesterday was a big pile of quinoa, which made it’s home on top of butter lettuce, grapes and mint. 
Plus a seriously awesome evoo, lemon juice, dijon, agave + mint dressing.
I had a second helping of just quinoa w/ dressing– mmm love that stuff
And yesterday I finally managed to get outside for a run! I did my usual route (that I haven’t actually done in FOREVER!) I like to change up my route a bit and take some different streets to make it longer/shorter. My route today was 3.65 miles.
MY STATS:
- Distance: 3.65 miles
- Duration: 36:50 (average of 10:06)
- Mile 1: 10:16
- Mile 2: 9:59
- Mile 3: 9:58
- Mile 3.65: 10:11
It was a challenging run. It started off nice and easy but once the sun/heat came out near the end of the run, I was dying to walk! But I pushed myself and made it all the way! That’s not to say that walking during a run is bad. Halfway through my run I actually took a 1 minute walking break.
There is a well known walk/run method called The Galloway Method. It is based on the idea that “runners can record significantly faster times when they take walk breaks because they don’t slow down at the end of a long run”. I have never purposely tried it (sometimes I’ll take random walking breaks if I’m tried) but when and if I train for a half marathon again I may!
Questions: Do you have a big family/crowded house? Ever tried the Galloway Method?
Something to Check Out:
My super awesome friend JH, who has appeared on the blog many times, recently launched a website with her friend Emily called Sea Turtle Rodeo which showcases their original comedic writing, sitcom The Low Road, podcast and tons of other entertaining stuff. They are hilarious and you should definitely check them out!
August 28th, 2010
Dried Mango.
Not the leathery, dry, no sugar added dried mango. The good stuff. The delicious, chewy Philippine Brand sweetened Dried Mangoes! I buy these in bulk at Superstore and they are my CANDY! I’ve tried other brands of dried mango and nothing compares!
You know what else is great? Having a dishwasher.
Living in NYC I almost forgot what it was like to have one! It makes life SO much easier. I remember in my chemistry class in NY we were all discussing how our New York wish would be to have a dishwasher. And then our professor said “I have a dishwasher!” and we all said “YOU DO!?!” and she said “Yes… My husband” har har. But seriously, I like her thinking
Speaking of cleaning, I purchased a new set of cleaning products for my family to try out. The Martha Stewart Clean brand of products. 
They have:
- 99+% plant- and mineral-based, biodegradable ingredients
- No added fragrances, only a natural, clean scent
- No artificial colors or preservatives
- No sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)
- No ammonia
- No animal testing or animal by-products
- Recyclable packaging
And they actually WORK- unlike a lot of natural cleaning products out there. So far, I’m very impressed.
Recipe Time
Along with my “keeping it real” white pasta yesterday I had a pretty tasty tomato sauce. And it was really easy to make and tasted so much more vibrant then anything you can get in a jar.
I picked up some gorgeous local tomatoes the other day.
Blanched them until the skin started to peel, put them in cold water to cool and then peeled and chopped them.
I cooked a TON of garlic in some EVOO, threw in the chopped, peeled tomatoes (and their juices) added salt, pepper and some green herbs (basil or parsley would work), let it simmer for 20 minutes and then added in a splash of balsamic and a squirt of lemon juice.
And there you have it.
A simple, bright, flavourful tomato sauce!
Work It Out
After talking about my lack of exercise the other day, I actually motivated myself to work out! Sometimes I get into a funk where you literally couldn’t pay me to exercise and then something suddenly changes and I have all the energy in the world! Yesterday, since it was too hot out to run, I rocked the videos and did Level 2 of 30 Day Shred and the Tracy Anderson Mat Workout. 30 Day Shred kicked my booty. I haven’t done it in a LONG time and it was hard!
Today is a cloudy, cool day and I think I am going to go for a run before lunch. I have no mileage or time frame set out in my mind, I’m just going to strap on my Garmin and see how I feel out there!
Hope you enjoy your weekend!
Finish This Sentence: You Know What’s Great?…
August 26th, 2010
I’ve been slightly lazy on the exercise front lately. Frankly, I just didn’t feel like it.
I think that sometimes my blog posts are a little “sunshine-y”. Like, I ALWAYS eat super healthy and I exercise DAILY and I’m usually REALLY HAPPY. Well, Rachel’s post on Owning It inspired me to try and keep it real, so to speak, more often on the blog. Believe me, I don’t always eat healthy and I don’t exercise daily and of course I’m not always super happy.
I think the reason for this is that, like Rachel, guilt has always played a major force in my life. I did…er do… things based on others approval, second guess my decisions and have to justify my actions. I felt like if I showed “unhealthy” foods such as, I don’t know, white carbs or a DQ blizzard on the blog, it means I’ve failed at being a good healthy living blogger. And that. is. ridiculous. Sometimes a girl just needs a bowl of white pasta and tomato sauce.
For example, my lunch today:
I know that my favorite blogs are the ones written by people who keep it real, so I truly want to try and do that more here. Yes, I am incredibly passionate about eating healthy, natural, whole foods, exercising regularly and engaging in activities that keep your mind and soul healthy as well. And I live by those passions most of the time and want to help others do the same. That is why I want to work in the health field as a Registered Dietitian and Health Coach. But that doesn’t mean I don’t eat cake, skip the gym for a week or have a couple drinks on occasion. I think I have tried to show that a bit on the blog in the past, but I want to do it even more so now. Sometimes when I’m around friends or family who read my blog they feel as if I am judging them for their unhealthy habits. I’M NOT!
I would NEVER want to make someone else feel bad about themselves because they aren’t as “healthy” as I am. PUH-LEASE! I think some people think I only like healthy food! Not even close. Just because I’m a future RD doesn’t mean I don’t crave so called “bad food”! Along with all the healthy stuff I love, there are SO many “unhealthy” things that I love too –
I love red wine, take-out sushi, pasta with white wine and butter sauce, doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles, DQ blizzards, croissants, Starbucks pumpkin scones, cheesecake, greasy pizza, french fries….I could go on 
So there you have it.
I like to post mostly healthy stuff on the blog because I want to show people healthy meals I make, and tell people about the exercise I do to inspire people to get healthier. But I think that it’s important to show the times where I had something that most people wouldn’t consider healthy or talk about when I skipped out on the gym. Because it’s all part of my life and I shouldn’t feel guilty about sharing it!
There are SO many more things I still need to just OWN and not feel guilty about. And I love Rachel’s saying “Sorry I’m not Sorry” and it is something that really needs to be incorporated into my vocabulary! Sometimes I just get tired of being sorry!
Do you “keep it real on your blog”. Do you ever hold back because you feel guilty? What do you want to OWN?
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Welcome to Just Flourishing! I'm Janna.
I love eating, cooking and learning about healthy food. That's probably why I've decided to become an R.D.!
I used to be a ballet dancer and now I keep fit with yoga, running and some exercise classes thrown into the mix.
I believe in treating our bodies as well as we can by eating delicious and healthy foods and being active as often as possible. Why should you ever want less! Disclaimer I'm not a Registered Dietitian...yet! For medical or nutritional counseling please consult an RD, certified nutritionist, or medical doctor. All content on this blog is based on my own personal experience and opinions. It is not meant as medical advice.
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