The Beets

Regardless of how awesome the band was on Doug (Killer Tofu, anyone? #90sKid), there was nothing you could've done to make me want to try beets.  While the color is beautiful, it's not a typical color of natural food, and the consistency REALLY weirded me out.  I knew one day I would try them, but every time I considered it, I wasn't ready.

Along came February, and with that, the need to try a new food.  Nothing was really inspiring me.  I seriously considered okra, but after some research, it seemed like a better food to try in North Carolina when I visit my parents during Easter.  We were back to square one, with literally five days left in the month.

Then Rachel, Mistress of Weird Foods, mentioned that she had made herself some deeeelicious beet hummus.  Hummus?  I thought.  I like hummus!  And this got me thinking... I MIGHT be ready to try beets, if I could transform them into one of my favorite Greek condiments (are there any others)?

So on February 29, as if I could've waited any longer, my friend Ashley (Mistress of Vegetarian Food) came over and we made Rachel's Beet Hummus recipe.

Ladies and gentlemen... it was indeed DEEEELICIOUS.

Enjoy!

Beet Hummus

Prep time:  5 minutes

Cook time:  1 hour 20 minutes

Total time:  1 hour 25 minutes

Yield:  14 1/4 cup servings

Ingredients:

2-3 large beets, roasted, peeled, and chopped

1 (15 oz) can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained

1/4 cup tahini (ground sesame seed)

5 T of lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic

2 t ground cumin

1 t salt

2 T extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

To roast the beets, cut off the leaves and roots and wrap them loosely in tin foil.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  When they are finished, let them cool a bit before taking off the foil.  To peel them, simply rub the beets with a wash cloth under cool water.  Works like a champ!  Chop the beets (if preferred.)  Place all ingredients EXCEPT olive oil into a food processor and puree.  Finally, gradually puree the olive oil into the mixture!

You can see Ashley isn't used to taking selfies while eating.

Very pleased with the final product!

Calories (per serving):  94

Total Fat:  5.1 g

Saturated Fat:  .7 g

Cholesterol:  0 mg

Sodium:  248 mg

Carbs:  10 g

Fiber:  2.8 g

Sugars:  2.4 g

Protein: 3.2 g

That Time I Ran Every Day

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking.  Having just come off the marathon, I swore I would take a nice long break from running.  I was pretty pumped about it too.  And then I read this article about taking a local Philly challenge to run at least one mile EVERY day in February.  And I thought, "One mile?  I can do that!"

Ughhhhh.  What was I even thinking?  I thought, if anything, ten-ish minutes of fresh air and exercise every day would do wonders for my mood and my attitude.  It really didn't.  In fact, it made me irritated and angry that after my actual weightlifting workout in the morning, I still had to figure out when I could go out and run.  Twice I ran in the rain DURING school.  Once I ran during a tornado warning.  Once I ran in between glasses of wine.  Quite a few times I ran in sub 32 degree temperatures, while the wind threatened to blow me over into the oncoming traffic in my neighborhood.

But I also ran in 50 and 60 degree temperatures.  I ran in the sunshine and in the sunset.  One day, I even ran 3.5 miles, my longest run since the marathon.  One day it flurried, and that was kind of fun.

Every day we had to post a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #RunStreakPHL.  Here I present to you, my collection of photos.  Enjoy reliving all the emotions (and weather) with me.