Erica

The Elliptical.

October 16, 2012 by Erica

I used to scoff at Salt Lake City gym-goers. We live in Utah, people… who wants to be sweating in a stinky basement when you could be outside in the mountains? Wellllll I had to put my foot in my mouth recently when I walked into Planet Fitness, signed my name on the dotted line, and hopped on the elliptical.

My first half marathon is coming up – eek! – this weekend, and I managed to hurt my knee about 5 weeks ago. My training was going really well, too, and I was finally starting to think I could actually run 13.1 miles! But the pain in my knee cap, once it started, got worse until I couldn’t train through it anymore. Now I’m not so sure I can run 13.1 miles… but I think I’m still going to try. Hence my new BFF: the elliptical.

I did most of my workouts on the elliptical during college and the few years afterwards. I had a lot of knee pain then, similar to what I have now, and even had knee surgery in 2009. It’s really just been the past year that my knee has let me get back into running. I never hated the gym, but I’ve really fallen back in love with running in the past year, and the thought of trading in my weekend trail runs for a blinking machine was really hard!

I’ve been trying to make the elliptical fit my half marathon training plan – doing 4-5 workouts a week, and doing the same duration as I would have if I were running. That means usually 30-40 minutes a day, but also means a “long run” on the weekends. 90 minutes of dripping sweat onto the elliptical… that was my Sunday morning! But you know what? It hasn’t been that bad! I think my Kindle makes it just slightly bearable. (Did I mention I read A Tale of Two Cities in a week?) It also doesn’t hurt that I’m definitely half asleep for the first half of my workout.

My knee has been feeling fine, and often it actually feels better after a workout. This weekend I tried out a 3 mile run to see how my knee could handle it, and came to the conclusion that it probably won’t keep me from jogging the whole race this weekend (knock on wood!). My prediction is that the first half of the race will be fun, and the second half will be HARD. I was also unreasonably sore after my little 3 mile run, so don’t count on me going down any stairs come Monday!

I should also mention I’ve been icing and foam rolling like crazy, and have gotten a few massages to loosen the muscles of my left quad. I found an awesome massage school in Salt Lake that has super discounted prices – $25 for 50 minutes with a student masseuse – now that’s a bargain! I’ve got another massage tomorrow, and if it buys me even 1 more pain-free mile on Sunday, it will be worth it.

Sooo wish me luck on Sunday… and tomorrow morning at 6 AM when I’m on the elliptical!

Willamette Valley By iPhone

October 4, 2012 by Erica

Hah! As if all my pictures weren’t taken on my iPhone.

This past weekend, Nate and I headed to Oregon to spend a long weekend wine tasting in the Willamette Valley. We had planned this vacation in the summer, when he got his class schedule and realized he’d have this Monday off. I’ve been looking forward to it for months!

Last spring we spent 5 days in Napa, and it was the best vacation we’d ever taken together. Doing the same thing this year (but this time with pinot instead of cabernet!) sounded excellent.

We flew into Portland Friday evening, picked up our rental car (Frankie the Ford Focus!), and headed down to Newberg, OR. We spent the next three days doing nothing but visiting vineyards and planning our next meal! It was pretty much heaven.

We did multiple tastings each day, ranging from a private tasting with the owner/winemaker at Belle Pente to tastings at much more established wine bars in town. It was all delicious! We restrained ourselves and didn’t buy any bottles to bring home. You’re not allowed to send/bring wine back to Utah (plus we were tasting expensive wines!), so we opted to just enjoy it during our vacation.

Most vineyards were bottling while we were there, in preparation to start harvest on Monday. It was fun to be there at harvest time and see the grapes looking so ripe. When we were in Napa last Easter, there were barely any leaves showing! This was quite a bit different.

Favorite wineries:

Archery Summit – This was our first stop, and had an awesome little outdoor tasting area with some of the most beautiful views we saw. We liked it so much, we went back on Monday!

Carlton Winemakers Studio – This is an amazing co-op where several local winemakers come together to use the same winemaking facilities and tasting room. Two of the winemakers were in the tasting room with us! I loved the Hamacher 2011 Willamette Valley pinot noir, the Andrew Rich 2010 Willamette Valley Verbatim pinot noir, and (surprisingly) a Rose from Retour Wines (that wasn’t on the tasting menu and I didn’t think to take a picture of, so I’m not sure what year!).

Lemelson Vineyards – We stopped here twice, too! Our favorite was the 2010 Cuvee X pinot noir.

Argyle Winery – They focus on bubbly as well as pinot noir. The 2009 Knudsen and the 2008 Spirithouse pinot noirs were my favorite!

Domaine Serene – Another beautiful outdoor tasting area. I think their 2009 Yamhill Cuvee pinot noir was my favorite… but I wasn’t keeping such good track by that point!

Stoller Family Estate – They had just built their new tasting room 3 weeks before and it was gorgeous!

(We didn’t drink much wine, did we?!)

Where we stayed:

We spent the first night at a cheaper chain hotel in Newberg, so that we could splurge on a bed & breakfast the next two nights. We picked the Lobenhaus just outside of Carlton. We were the youngest people staying there by at least 25 years, but it was a great place to come home to after a day of wine tasting.

What we ate:

Pasta and pizza at the Dundee Bistro, delicious sandwiches at the Red Hills Market, gnocchi and risotto at Paulee, and Tapas at La Rambla. For the short distance from Portland, I was shocked at how un-vegan-friendly this area was in general! I guess French cooking and wine country just go together? There was hardly a vegan item to be found on any menu, although everyone was very nice about accommodating vegan requests. Although I have to say that by Sunday night my resolve had broken down a bit, and I ate quite a few tapas with cheese on them at La Rambla. I won’t beat myself up about it once in a while… and they were so good.

When’s my next vacation?!

Chocolate Coconut Energy Bites

October 3, 2012 by Erica

There’s a new love in my life – sorry Nate. Luckily, there’s room here for both of you.

(I take that back… our kitchen is about 18 square feet. There’s no room for anyone but the cook in here!)

But I’m talking, of course, about my new food processor. I finally broke down and bought one about a month ago, after pinning one too many delicious hummus recipes that I couldn’t wait any longer to try. Before I got into food blogs, I thought I could hold out until I got married someday and registered for a food processor… then more recently, I told myself I’d just ask for one for Christmas… and next thing you know I was on Amazon with my credit card in hand.

Anyway, this thing is magical, and I can’t believe I waited so long to pull the trigger. I’ve spent hours in the kitchen every weekend since, making hummus after bean dip after hummus to take full advantage. But the #1 most delicious recipe I’ve processed up so far has been these chocolate coconut energy bites.

After trying out several other energy bite recipes, some with chocolate and some with coconut, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t come across one that combined the two. So I tossed all my favorite ingredients in the bowl of my new Cuisinart and processed it up!

Chocolate Coconut Energy Bites

makes 10-12 bites

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw almonds

12 medjool dates, pitted

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for rolling

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp chocolate chips (optional)

pinch of kosher or sea salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup water, as needed

Directions:

In a food processor, process almonds until finely chopped.

Add in oats, coconut, cocoa powder and vanilla and process until crumbly. Add in the chocolate chips and pinch of salt and pulse until the chocolate chips are chopped.

Now, with the food processor running, pour water slowly in through the feed tube until the dough balls up on the blade of the food processor. (This took about a 1/2 cup water in my case, but can vary.)

Done processing! Add your extra shredded coconut to a small bowl for rolling. Scoop out about a tablespoon of the dough at a time, roll in the coconut, and place in a tupperware or plastic bag. I like to wet my hands between every 3 bites or so to keep them tacky so the coconut sticks.

Store in the refrigerator. They will keep for a week or more, if you can keep your little paws off them!

Welcome to Coffee & Quinoa!

September 23, 2012 by Erica

I think it’s about time I started my own blog.

It’s been about a year since I discovered the food blogging world, and in that time, my world has come to revolve around food (even more than it already did). I’m now cooking dinner almost every night. I’m trying out new recipes every week (and spending my whole paycheck on groceries as a result). And I’m constantly thinking about food! Whether it’s what I want to eat right now, or what I’m going to cook for dinner tonight, I just can’t get my mind off of it for more than a few minutes.

So it’s time to share the food I’m fantasizing about and cooking up in my little Salt Lake City kitchen. First real recipe post to come soon!

Connect