Spring Fever: Spring Has Sprung!

The Minnesota winters are so long (Oct-Mar) that by the time April rolls around and the weather starts to get nice (50°-60° daily highs), I long for fresh farmer's market produce, perfectly grilled meats, blooming flowers, green grass, trees with leaves, and warm, sunny summer evenings biking with Allan. It's days like today that bring me back to reality. In typical Minnesota Spring fashion, it is rainy and 53°. Quite a shock from the above average sunny weather that we have been experiencing lately - one day last week it topped out above 80°!

As many of my longtime followers know, one of my favorite pastimes is biking with Allan. We spent a fair amount of last Spring and Summer on our bikes. Since most morning lows have been in the 40°s, Allan has begun commuting by bike to work, which made me yearn to feel the wind on my face. However, being the cautionary pregnant mama that I am, I figured it would be best to ask before riding down the parkway with AP. At my last midwife appointment, I was told that even though I could physically handle biking, it was probably not a good idea because if something happened and I fell off of the bike or hit my pregnant belly on the handlebars it could do some pretty significant damage to my little one. So, the Trek Lime will just have to wait until June to come out of storage.

One of the other Spring activities that I get really excited about is the annual Spring opening of the many local Farmer's Markets. My favorite Farmer's Market, the Eagan Market Fest, does not open until June; however, there are several Farmer's Markets that open the first week of May with cold-weather crops like asparagus, onions, spinach and rhubarb. A handful of the Farmer's Markets do stay open all year long offering local artisan creations, honey, maple syrup, and meats; and if I get antsy enough, we may visit one of these in April - just for fun. However, I love the Farmer's Market for the produce and flowers, most of which will not be available until May.

Here is a glimpse into the MN growing season, compliments of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's Minnesota Grown website:

As the weather gets nicer, which Spring activities do you look forward to the most? Have you been able to indulge your Spring fever yet?

The Birchwood Cafe and a Bike Ride

Yesterday Allan and I ventured out on a 15.6 mile bike ride along the river and to the Birchwood Cafe for lunch where we enjoyed the sun and a very nicely prepared Green meal. Their tagline is "Good Real Food" and it definitely was.

I enjoyed half of a turkey salad pesto sandwich, mango quinoa and hibiscus iced tea. Allan had a turkey burger, blue chips & salsa, and a Naked mighty mango smoothie.

Here are some pics from our outing, Allan gobbled up his lunch before I had a chance to take a picture of it.

My yummy meal!

Quinoa with mango vinaigrette, grapes, onions, green onions,

dried blueberries, dried cranberries, and carrots

Turkey salad sandwich with pesto

We waited to sit outside on the patio and enjoy the magnifent weather!

Even the To Go boxes were sustainable!

Kicked My Butt

Allan and I went on a nice long bike ride along the Mississippi River. We started our adventure at Hidden Falls Park in St. Paul and biked through downtown St. Paul, stopped at Golden's Deli for lunch, up Summit Hill, down Crocus Hill, to Shepherd Road and back to Hidden Falls Park. Being that the bike path runs along the river bluffs, there were lots of hills mostly uphill on our way to downtown and then a few downhills on the way back. However, on the way back we biked into the wind the entire time, and let me tell you, that was not as easy task! By the end of the ride my quads were burning!!!

Today I plan on making Cooler 1 Protein Muffins for my Cooler 1 challenge next week and 2 pans of Chocolate Protein Bars for Allan. Because the Chocolate Protein Bars are difficult to mix, I am going to try using the food processor's dough blade to blend the dough together.

Allan and I have been really loving these Raw Organic Food Bars lately and I would love to find a good recipe that is similar, because they are expensive.

We have tried a few different varieties and have decided that the Chocolate Coconut flavor is definitely the best flavor. We love to throw them into Allan's Twin Six crumpler bag and enjoy them on a beach along the river (which we have done twice in the last week). 

Speaking of Raw Food, pop on over to Gina's blog, where she is giving away a spiralizer.