"keen-waaah"

Talking about food today.

So I have recently been experiencing a health food renaissance and trying out bunch of new recipes and foods that are new to me. My search turned up Quinoa ... my new favorite grain. Is it a grain? I do not know it may actually be a seed... but whatever it is it satisfies my need for a carbohydrates with my meal without feeling like im eating empty carbs. Sure, its not necessarily low in calories (but not ridiculously high either- if you eat a normal serving size) Quinoa (pronouncd keenwah) is chock full of protein, fiber and tons of vitamins. As someone that doesn't eat a ton of meat, having this source of protein is amazing, and quinoa turns out to be pretty comparable to rice in its uses in recipes- so subbing out turns out to be pretty easy.

I love mexican inspired food so the other day, I made baked chicken and rice with black beans ( see link below for recipe) but instead of yellow rice, I subbed in quinoa, and since I cant eat dairy, I subbed in soy cheese. The recipe turned out surprisingly delicious and I felt good about eating it.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1873369&adsqs=raid:1920117

I also made my own granola the other day because I am sick and tired of looking at granola nutrition information and seeing 20+ grams of fat per serving. I'm pretty sure those tree huggers we refer to as being "granola" would be pretty pissed off it they realized how much butter or oil goes into regular granola recipes. So, i found a low fat granola recipe ( see below) and modified it a little. Instead of honey, i used agave nectar, and I added coconut and dried cranberries. Another protein and carb packed snack that also makes a great cereal.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/LOW-FAT-GRANOLA-1277620


As for training... things are going pretty well. I just gave Sly, my tri-bike, a pretty substantial makeover by changing up the handle bars and areo bars and stem. At the recommendation of the trusty local bike shop guy specializing in bike fittings, I shrunk town the "cockpit" of my bike to better fit my frame. I noticed a difference in my first ride, and I only hope it gets better from here. We have experienced some warmer than usual weather here in chicago the past couple days, so i have been taking advantage by going out for nice long rides. running at this point is going well, except when my IT band(s) start acting up. but I am working really hard to remedy that, as you all know.

Ok- the next post will be more racin and training oriented, ill even get a pic of the changes on my bike up. but for now, im sleepy, and a little hungry from all this food talk.