Anytime I find an interesting dip/spread recipe, I flag it. I just so happened to find an interesting spread recipe of Artichoke and White Bean for the February Secret Recipe Club on a blog about Sustainable Cooking for One, http://groundcherry.wordpress.com. She blogs about cooking a mostly gluten free diet for one. A great concept because sometimes you really only need a meal for one. This spread is flavorful, filing and so good on flax crackers or veggies!

Artichoke White Bean Spread

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: None!

Serves: 6-8, or 1 with leftovers for the week

Ingredients (including my changes)

1 15.5 ounce can artichokes
1 15.5 oz can cannelini beans
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp thyme

Directions

Drain beans and rinse.

Drain artichokes, reserving a few tablespoons of the liquid.

Place beans and artichokes in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add the olive oil, thyme, and pulse until combined. Add in 1-3 tablespoons of reserved artichoke liquid until you have the desired consistency.

Serve with veggies, crackers, or spread on some good quality bread.

Good Earth is one of those Twin Cities restaurants that has been open for 20+ years, serves really great organic food and is always packed. Friday night we went to dinner with a Scott’s family, some family friends and my good friend Stacey. I think we had a party of 10 and we were a tiny bit loud We all chatted jobs, trips, wedding, dentistry (Stacey is a dentist and at least once a night she gets a question or two) and food. Thank goodness everyone in Scott’s family loves food too.

A winter focused menu, Stacey had a pear and winter vegetable risotto, Scott had a ginormous bean and vegetable burrito and I had a pomegranate chicken with red quinoa and kale.

All of the food was so delicious! I just had the few leftover bites of my chicken and I am off to nap. This past week was insanely busy with job searching activities and I know this week will be just as crazy. Fingers crossed that an offer comes in later this week or early next. I have had 5 in person interviews, 10 phone interviews and at least 2 more in person next week. Some of my references were called late on Friday and I am staying hopeful that is a good sign… this girl needs to get back to work. I think know I am starting to drive Scott a bit crazy

The people who own the big trampoline gyms are really hoping that all those adults want to channel their inner child. Scott and I did a date night to Sky Zone, basically a big warehouse that is filled with huge trampolines.

Since this was my first foray into jumping on a trampoline that wasn’t in someone’s back yard I figured it might be wise just to go during an open jump time to try it out. I wasn’t quite ready to sign up for a fitness class yet or playing dodgeball either. But jumping around for an hour was something I thought I could handle.

I was wrong. Really wrong. Jumping around on big trampolines for an hour is really hard work. I was exhausted after 30 minutes and really sore the next day. Who knew   I think sometimes you forget how hard you really used to play as a kid. Even though I quickly realized how hard it was I think I want to try the fitness class. I am guessing it would be a really good workout!

I have been lifting weights for almost 10 years. I started at the Rec Center gym at the University of Minnesota, after I graduated I joined Bally’s, and eventually Lifetime Fitness. When I first started lifting weights I looked to magazines like Self, Shape and Fitness for tips but as I progressed I started looking at websites and buying books and experimenting more with my lifting routines. Now that I have almost hit the 10 year mark, I pretty much write my own programs with a little inspiration from websites, books, magazines or blogs by certified trainers. Weight lifting isn’t a fad for me, it is a lifelong program, and I don’t do it for a certain event. I do it for me! I want to live to be strong and healthy.

With my routine and schedule solidly figured out I have a list of my weight lifting must haves:

• Gloves, it might be kind of girly but I am using mostly free weights and my hands are really sensitive. I didn’t use gloves initially but after some tore up hands with blisters I quickly went out and bought a pair.

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• A small notebook. I write down my program with the exercise and reps to ensure I know what I am doing each day. I have had the same one for almost 3 years! A 5×7 notebook with a plastic cover has worked really well for me.

(Source)

• My iPod Nano. I will not work out with out it. I need the distraction and it keeps me motivated.

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• Books for ideas. A few of my favorites are New Rules of Lifting, New Rules of Lifting for Women, and the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises.

• Websites like Oxygen, and Bodybuilding.com

40 degrees in January does not really mean cold in Minnesota but it still feels like the kind of weather where you want to curl up with a blanket, watch a movie and eat a steaming bowl of soup. Especially one that takes less than half an hour to make.

Using quick cook ingredients like flavored chicken sausage, dry cheese tortellini, beef broth and roasted tomatoes provide nice complex flavors. I found everything at Trader Joe’s and found roasted tomatoes with green chilies that added just a hint of spice and smokiness. This soup was thick, full of greens and is perfect for a cold day.

First time using my new Fiesta dishes in Plum, I seriously love this color! My goal is to get to 8 different sets in 8 different colors. I am at 6, maybe family members will buy more colors for my birthday in a week (hint hint).

All the excitement from Thanksgiving until January in the wine industry is about Beaujolais. Some of the excitement is good and well, some of it is from those snobs who think it is just too cheap. But that excitement in November is about Beaujolais Nouveau. This is just Beaujolais.

When I was at Swirl Wine Bar last week for Girls Big Night I joined their 2 bottle wine club. Reasonable price for 2 bottles and tasting notes. The January bottles were Beaujolais. At $24.00 and $19.99 this is not cheap wine. This is open up a bottle, decant for a few hours, sit back and enjoy kind of wine.

Most Beaujolais comes from France and is aged for 6-8 months in either French oak or concrete tanks. Really good Beaujolais can be hard to find because the French can be a bit selfish and want to keep the wine all to the themselves (shocking, just shocking). But this wine seemed to make it out ok and it was terrific. A beautiful medium shade of red with blackberry and a nice acidity. I took a tiny sip before decanting and wasn’t in love but after sitting in my Reidel decanter for a little more than 3 hours it opened up very nicely.

I am looking forward to trying the second bottle in this months wine club selection.

January was my first month participating in Foodie Pen Pals and it was so much fun! What’s not to love about getting a fun package of food in the mail from a blog friend? I received my package in mid January and it was the perfect timing. Filled with fun snacks like Cliff Bars, Luna Bars, Peanut Butter and my favorite item, Flax Pizza Snacks.

My box came from Julie in Chicago and she writes Girls with a Stethoscope, all about her adventures of being a new nurse in the Chicago area. Thanks for all the fun snacks Julie. I loved them!

Want to join Foodie Pen Pals? Email theleangreenbean@gmail.com and get on the list for next month. Curious about how it works? 

1) On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact each other and a  mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

2) You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. This will ensure everyone receives their goodies in time to post about them. There is a $15 spending limit for the contents of the box.

3) As the end of the month you post about your goodies

I love getting food related packages in the mail, a chance to try someone’s favorite local item or their snack of choice. Yes please! Lindsey from The Lean Green Bean runs Foodie Penpals. Each month you are matched up with a person to send a $15 box full of goodies to as well as receiving a box. This was my first month and I received a box from Julia who writes A Girl With A Stethoscope, she details her life as a nurse, meals and workouts.

The items:

Newmas Own Alphabet Cookies

Cliff Bars

Luna Bars

Peanut Butter

Flax Snax

My favorite? The cookies. Very tasty, organic and they were the perfect snack in between trying on dresses a few weeks ago. Thanks for all the great snacks Julia! I loved them

How does it work?

-On the 5th of the month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you can choose to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.

Want to join? Email Lindsey: theleangreenbean@gmail.com

Plain boring chicken? No thanks. Give me something with a little flavor and that is easy to prepare on a weeknight. Enter pineapple salsa chicken, very easy! 3 steps. That’s it. 3 steps, 3 ingredients and you have one dish to clean.

I am a Midwestern girl, from growing up in Wisconsin to moving to the land of 10,000 lakes for college; the Midwest is so much of who I am. One of the things that most Minnesotans and Wisconsinites do is snowmobile. Somehow I have managed to go 30+ years without sitting my behind on one.

That changed yesterday. I went on a vintage snowmobile (3 sleds from the 1970′s that have been restored) ride. Scott, his dad, a friend and myself. We headed out to drive around on a chain of lakes. Since this winter has had a teeny tiny amount of snow, we went to drastic measures to drive these snowmobiles.

At least the lakes has a few inches of snow and we could drive around for a few hours. A stop for beer and bloody marys and an afternoon spent driven around the lakes. I was bundled up as I possibly could be and even got turn at driving.

I can’t wait for more snow to take these out on an actual trail!

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