Lent

Growing up I had several Catholic friends who would give something up for lent. We were Lutheran, so my parents never asked us to go without.

However, for the past few years I have considered giving something up for Lent, but never made the pledge to follow through. However, now that we have a baby, I feel like it would be a good lesson to instill in our youngling.

But the real question is WHAT should I give up? I figured that because I am a foodie and value eating, the item in question should be food-related. However, I want it to have a deep emotional connection, something that is a fair representation of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us on the cross - something that I would truly miss. In addition, it would be nice if by omitting this item from my diet I would actually be improving my health. Here are some of the options that I considered:

• Chocolate - eh... an easy choice, as I have been known to regularly indulge in my beloved Green and Black's organic 85% dark chocolate
• Wine - I am still breast feeding, so I have not been enjoying wine regularly
• Sugar - a definite contender... however, we will be in NYC for another week and I really can't control the exact ingredients in everything that I will be eating, so this might be difficult
• Coffee - I only enjoy a single Americano each morning, so it's not a significant sacrifice

After much deliberation, I decided to give up all simple sugars and refined flours completely. I do strive to keep most sugar and white flour out of my diet; however, out of convenience they have started to creep in... mostly because I have not been making the time to cook and bake items myself.

But all of that stops when we get back home from NYC. Until then, I will ensure that I am making conscious food choices at every meal - asking questions, making special requests, etc.

I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight; however, I am not as lean as I was pre-pregnancy and I know it is because I have not been completely dedicated to my workouts and eats. Today I rededicate myself and would love to see you do the same.

"Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?" Luke 9:25

Did you give something up for Lent? If so, what was the most difficult thing that you have ever gone without?

Good Morning from NYC!

Hello strangers!

Matthew and I accompanied Allan on his business trip to NYC. He is here for an Über fancy Target photo shoot while Matthew and I are working from the hotel and site seeing.

Before leaving Minneapolis last week, I stocked up on clean goodies at Trader Joe's for the plane and hotel room, because the closest Whole Foods is 1 mile away and I knew that I wouldn't have time to run there every day. :) So, we have organic dry roasted almonds, dried mango, unsweetened trek mix (in single serving baggies), a box of Cherry Cashew Pure bars, organic apples and organic bananas.

I absolutely LOVE these bars!

We have been visiting lots of amazing restaurants in the Meatpacking district and Chelsea - many of them organic or sustainable! Pastis, Spice Market, One Lucky Duck, Le Pain Quotidien, Swich and The Green Table to name a few!

Our first night here it rained cats and dogs, so we geared up and walked the mile from the Hotel Gansevoort, where we are staying, to the Whole Foods in Chelsea to stock up on baby items and bottled water (a necessary evil).

By the time we were back to the hotel Allan was soaked, but I managed to stay quite dry in my new North Face rain jacket and boots.

Matthew also stayed dry in the stroller and its new rain gear.

Allan has the nice camera on the photo shoot with him, but when he gets back tonight I plan to download all of my yummy food pics and post them.

Matthew and I are running out of things to do that are baby friendly and within walking distance, so I would love to know your favorite pastimes in NYC - organic clothing shops, site seeing, clean restaurants, etc.

What should we do for the next week???

Yoga on the Brain

Lately my body has been yearning for yoga.


The week of Christmas was my "rest week" between Stages 3 and 4 of New Rules of Lifting for Women. I broke out my stash of yoga DVDs, as I usually do on my week off from weightlifting and interval running, and I don't think that there was an unsore muscle in my body! Actually, I think that the DOMS on my week off was worse than it has been since giving birth to Matthew.

Following my week of yoga, I have had a difficult time motivating myself to lift weights. Every time I pick up a dumbbell I stare longingly at the Sony Bravia LCD opposite our work out area and wish that I were practicing yoga instead of watching DVR'd soap operas. But last week, I reluctantly picked up the weights and began NROL4W Stage 4.

On Thursday, I spoke with my best friend and she also has yoga on the brain! We determined that it must be our bodies' way of calling for calm during such a chaotic time of the year. I promptly decided that I would give in to my mind and practice yoga this week.

I own a few yoga DVDs (Karen Voight Yoga Power and Yoga is Yummy). However, if I am practicing on a regular basis (more than 3 times per week) I like to supplement my practice. Yesterday I decided to check out the On Demand offerings from Comcast. ExerciseTV usually has a handful of intermediate to advanced yoga classes and yesterday was no exception!

At first I tried Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown Level 1 class, but really couldn't get into it. I was constantly looking up at the screen to see what she was doing instead of focusing on my body's movement. After some frustration, I switched to Yoga Sculpt and was at peace. I completed the class dripping in sweat and feeling challenged. It was wonderful! This week I plan on trying the following new OnDemand yoga classes:

• Pilates Fit with Tandy Gutierrez
• Awakening Yoga 2
• 10 Pound Slimdown Yoga
• Lose Weight In 8 Yoga Sculpt
• Chakra Yoga

Merry Christmas

Allan created this wonderful video to serve as our Christmas letter this year. I am so proud of it that I wanted to share it with all of you!

2010 // Peters Christmas from Allan Peters on Vimeo.

2010 was a good year for the Peters family. We were blessed with a baby boy, Matthew. Instead of a Christmas letter, this year we decided to make this video since it's so hard to capture the true joy of a child in a still image.

Wishing you all happiness this Christmas season and into the New Year.

Music: David Crowder Band // How He Loves

Pumpkin Love

I have been completely in LOVE with pumpkin lately.

The other day I made these lovely pumpkin donuts.

AMAZING! We gobbled these up while they were still warm.

To clean up the recipe, I subbed the brown sugar for sucanat, butter for coconut butter, nutmeg for pumpkin pie spice and white flour for white whole wheat flour. I accidentally forgot the buttermilk on the countertop, so it didn't make it into the recipe, but the donuts turned out delicious... just a little denser and chewier.

Here is my cleaned up version of Polly's recipe:

Pumpkin Donuts


1 cup pumpkin
1/4 c sucanat
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 c skim milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, let sit for a couple minutes)
1 tbsp coconut butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup white whole wheat flour


Preheat oven to 350°. Prep donut pan by spraying with cooking spray. In a medium sized bowl combine all ingredients with a whisk. Pour into gallon sized zip lock bag. Cut tip off one of the corners and squeeze into a donut pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Let donuts cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and invert the pan onto a plate. The donuts should pop right out of the pan. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy!

Makes 6 donuts.

A Perfect Waffle

A perfectly crisped waffle covered in strawberries
and a light drizzle of pure maple syrup

For the last few days I have been craving waffles! So, last night I indulged my craving by making whole wheat & oatmeal waffles accompanied by a simple, yet delicious egg bake.

Look at all of those nooks and crannies! :)

This meal was so delectable that it doubled as my lunch today!


Whole Grain Waffles

Preheat your waffle iron.

In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients:

2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups oat flour (grind up rolled oats in a blender)
4 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sucanat
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the wet ingredients:

2 cups skim milk
4 egg whites, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp maple extract

Whisk together until just moistened. Do not over mix, batter should be lumpy.

If desired, add 1 cup of berries.

Pour 1/2 c waffle batter onto preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's guidelines.

Makes 8 waffles.

Farmer's Markets

This morning I woke up to the dreary, damp, gray weather that can be common as Fall transitions to Winter in Minnesota and I was reminded of a beautiful Saturday morning that we spent at the Mill City Farmer's Market this Summer.






Unfortunately, this coming weekend marks the end to most of the regular Farmer's Markets in Minnesota. We love attending the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Sunday mornings and I am always saddened by the end of the season.

Here is a glimpse into the wonderful day that we spent as a family at our favorite Farmer's Market.

Hazelnut Ice Cream

This weekend Matthew is getting baptized. As you can imagine, we are super excited and cannot wait for the service. Afterwards, we are hosting a lunch/BBQ at our house for 20+ relatives. Here's what is on the clean eating menu (pictures to come early next week):

• Turkey Burgers
• Turkey Brats
• Steak Burgers
• Bakery Buns
• Burger toppings: pineapple, avocado, romaine, tomato, red onion, etc.
• Spinach and mixed greens topped with chevre, dried cranberries and walnuts with balsamic vinaigrette
• Yukon golds, sweet potatoes and onions, seasoned and grilled
• Guacamole, salsa and hummus with chips, baby carrots and celery
• Fruit
• Homemade Apple Pie
• Homemade Ice Cream

Thinking about ice cream made me relive a recent delicious homemade ice cream experience. A couple weeks ago I made the Raw Hazelnut Ice Cream from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. It was super creamy and ultra delicious.

The hazelnuts gave it a really cool cream soda color and an amazingly complex and rich taste. In fact, this ice cream was so flavorful and rich that I could only eat 1 scoop per sitting - which was perfect for me because I tend to overeat ice cream if I have it in the house.

Chocolate Cravings

Most nights I get completely ravenous around 8:30 PM. Usually Allan grabs a bowl of Panda Puffs and organic 1% milk and sometimes I follow suit and grab a bowl of homemade granola. But some nights granola will just not do - all I want is chocolate.

However, my desire to loose the rest of the baby weight (13 lbs) is usually much stronger than my desire for chocolate, so I came up with the following compromise:

1 cup of fresh raspberries

+

I took 1/4 square of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate and melted it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Then added a little drizzle of agave nectar and stirred it up. Raspberries with dark chocolate sauce... HEAVENLY!

Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate is 100% cacao and needs a tiny bit of agave or maple syrup to balance out the bitterness. But the combination is a beautiful evening snack.

Homemade Applesauce

On Sunday after church, my parents and sister came over to watch the Vikings game, make applesauce, bake apple crisp and eat chili and cornbread. 

We peeled, cored and sliced 3 pecks of local MacIntosh, Cortland and Jonathan apples to make two big batches of applesauce and 2 pans of apple crisp.

One batch of applesauce was just apples for the apple of my eye to enjoy some day soon.

The other was spiked with apple juice concentrate and cinnamon sticks.

Do you mash up your applesauce once it has cooked or do you enjoy it chunky? We love chunky cinnamony applesauce around here.

Purple Pride Smoothie

In honor of the official start to the Vikings regular season, Matt and I made the following super simple smoothie, which I quickly gobbled up. Can you gobble up a smoothie? Anyways, I sure did. :) Even if you are not a Vikings fan, you will certainly enjoy this beautifully filling smoothie.

Purple Pride Smoothie

1/2 c cottage cheese

1/2 c milk

dash cinnamon

dash vanilla extract

1 tsp maca powder

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 banana

1 c frozen blueberries

Place all ingredients in your VitaMix or other high speed blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour into a tall glass, preferably one donning a snazzy Vikings logo, and enjoy!

Do you sip your smoothies through a straw or straight up? I know that I personally love to use a straw with cold drinks.