Cycling Foodie

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I had a fun training ride with a friend today. There was just enough of a breeze to burn a few extra calories, but not enough to make it uncomfortable. I do need to start getting some longer rides in and soon! The 2014 Tour de Cure ride will be here before we know it!

I’ve been noticing lately that the daylight hours are starting to get a little longer again. It’s not quite dark at 5pm, and it’s getting light before 7am. Sweet! I am so looking forward to my pre- and post-work rides again!

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Along the bike trail ...

Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day for outdoor activities. I saw dozens of cyclists on the trails, but I did not have a bike with me. I did, however, have a camera and I was at least able to get out for a couple of nice walks and enjoy some lovely scenery.

Hot air balloons are a common sight in Northern California Wine Country, and they were out yesterday morning. It was a calm, sunny, but chilly morning. Maybe someday I’ll try a Hot Air Balloon adventure …

Balloons Over Wine Country

Coming down for a vineyard peek ...

heading back up ... and now closer ...

The wires! Watch out for the wires!

A lovely pop of green in the vineyards!

Looking North towards Healdsburg

This photo doesn't quite capture the way the sunlight made this horse's coat glisten. I should show this to my hair guy!

Well, I am back in Davis today with a huge to-do list so I had better get to it!

Blog. Ride. Chores. A little work catch up. More chores. Get caught up on some recipe stuff.

I have to get some longer rides in very soon. The 2014 Napa Valley Tour de Cure will be here before you know it! This will be my 6th Napa Valley Tour de Cure – if you would like to donate to my ride, please click here. I am far from reaching my goal this year, so please consider making a donation. It’s a great cause and every bit helps!

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Wow, oh, wow! Is it beautiful out there this morning or what?!

I am so happy that I got to grab a quick ride this morning before heading out to take care of some family stuff today. Oh how I wish I could just get on my bike and ride a century today. If you’re out there riding, please ride a few extra miles and enjoy today enough for me, too.

I have to get some miles in very soon. The 2014 Napa Valley Tour de Cure will be here before you know it! It is time to get out and do some training. This will be my 6th Napa Valley Tour de Cure – if you would like to donate to my ride, please click here. I am far from reaching my goal this year, so please consider making a donation. It’s a great cause and every bit helps!

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This was a Klein kind of day.

This  morning started out with a quick ride in Davis. I got about 20 miles in and got home before the winds picked up too much, but they definitely added a little work to my ride. I planned it so that I did get a lovely tailwind on the way home, so it was well worth it.

Today I got to hike with a friend at Skyline Wilderness Park in Napa, California. It was a perfect day for a hike – loads of sunshine, clean air, and just a hint of chill in the air that warmed quickly as we worked our way up to Lake Marie. After hiking, a home cooked dinner at a friend’s in the hills of Napa.

I think this was a pretty good way to spend the last Saturday of my vacation. Hiking will be great cross training for my Napa Valley Tour de Cure! Please consider sponsoring my ride – proceeds benefit the American Diabetes Association.

On our way up to the lake.

Lake Marie

The rules ...

Hmm ... perhaps a group picnic next time?

I hope you had a wonderful Saturday and got to enjoy some great time with family and friends.

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The 2014 Napa Valley Tour de Cure will be here before you know it! It is time to get out and do some training. This will be my 6th Napa Valley Tour de Cure – if you would like to donate to my ride, please click here. I am far from reaching my goal this year, so please consider making a donation. It’s a great cause and every bit helps!

Look at this beautiful weather! Perfect for a 70-mile training ride.

Pleasants Valley Road, just past Cantelow Road.

Looking for a Tour de Cure in your area? Find your local Tour de Cure here. There are routes available for every skill level – children & adults, novice, intermediate, and advanced cyclists. This is a very well supported ride with rest stops and SAG crews. It is a ride, not a race. There is something for everyone and the proceeds benefit the American Diabetes Association. The mission of the American Diabetes Association is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Full information is available here.

You can also follow the Tour on Facebook. You can follow the American Diabetes Association on Twitter, or check out some informational videos on YouTube.

I hope to see you at the 2014 Napa Valley Tour de Cure – come ride with me!

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I have been officially chided by a colleague at work for not posting these past few weeks. (You know who you are, MV, and thank you for getting me blogging again.) Life has been handing me a few challenges recently, so I have been doing a bit of juggling and have certainly dropped the proverbial blogging ball.

I am now officially on vacation, so I will do my best to post just as much as I possibly can!

Lots and lots of cookies have passed through my kitchen of late. I’m working on some new recipes – some healthy, some not so healthy, but hopefully you will find all of them delicious. Here are a few of the recipes I’ll be posting soon:

Peanut Butter Kisses
Snickerdoodles
Peppermint Mocha Cookies
White Chocolate Cranberry & Lemon Cookies
Apple Coffee Cake Muffins (whole grain, low sugar, and low fat)
Chewy Ginger Cookies
Spiced Nuts
Greens, Apples, Pecans with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Herbed Goat Cheese
Caesar Salad (if I can talk someone into being a guest blogger)

Oh, and I am very excited to say that I did get permission to publish the Irish Apple Cake recipe, so look for that. Trust me – you will want to add this to your list of recipes for special occasions!

I am also hoping for nice weather and to get some good cycling in over the break. The weather forecast looks promising! MUST get some training rides in and SOON!!!

Are you looking for a year end tax deduction? Consider donating to my 2014 Tour de Cure ride! Click here to donate.

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We had a bake off at work today. I sampled almost everything – except for anything with pumpkin. I am sad to say that I missed the chocolate cream puffs; they won the “Best Overall” category! Here are a few pictures of the entries. I think I got pictures of almost everything that was entered. I promise – there were some healthy entries – not just pure decadence.

Here are a few of my colleagues’ amazing entries … this was a tough competition!

Best in Show! Chocolate Cream Puffs.

1-2-3-4 Cake

This was buttery and moist.

Pumpkin Nut Bread

I heard that this was fantastic - moist and delicious!

Cookie Butter Fudge

You know that TJs cookie butter? Here it is - made into fudge! It was sweet and festive!

I also got the baking bug this week and made a few entries …

... speaking of decadent ... Turtle Brownies

Classic Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Need I say more?

For Turtle Brownies, the secret is more in the technique than in the recipe. Make your favorite batch of brownies. While the brownies are baking, make your favorite caramel sauce (or use a good quality store bought caramel sauce – don’t skimp on this – invest in a good caramel sauce!), coarsely chop about 3/4 cup pecans, and measure out about 3/4 cup good quality dark chocolate chips. Make sure everything is ready to go the minute the brownies come out of the oven. Pour about 3/4 cup of the hot caramel sauce over the hot brownies, carefully spread out from the center to about 1/4-inch from the sides. Sprinkle the pecans over the caramel, then sprinkle the chocolate chips over the pecans. Allow to cool completely before cutting. I usually make these a day ahead and allow them to cool at least overnight. Do not cover them until they are completely cooled and the chocolate chips have set. You can make these completely from scratch, or you can use your favorite mix and pre-made caramel sauce. It’s up to you!

Irish Apple Cake ...

I’ll have to ask permission to post the Irish Apple Cake recipe. It was given to me by a young Irish woman I met a few years ago. It is adapted from her Grandmother Minnie’s family recipe. I was pleased my cake came out perfectly because I had not made this recipe in a few years. I suspect one will show up at another holiday event before the end of this year.

Now for the lighter items …

Lemon Raspberry Tartlets - Low Fat

Classic Meringues - Fat Free

These meringues were also to be filled with the lemon curd and/or raspberry jam. I made my Low Fat Lemon Curd recipe, making it also low sugar by using C&H 1/2 & 1/2 ,which is half cane sugar and half stevia. I am just discovering this product, and look forward to playing with some more recipes. The raspberry jam was also low sugar.  The meringues were not as pretty as I would have liked, but that’s because I used a zip-top back instead of a pastry bag with a nice tip for piping. I just didn’t do a very good job of piping this time. They weren’t the prettiest I’ve made, but the meringue itself was very good.

I have been looking for some lighter alternatives to traditional holiday baking treats. I love meringues, but they’re so sugary. I was quite happy to find this recipe on MyFoodAdvisor – affiliated with the American Diabetes Association.

As you can see, mine turned out a bit darker, but I that that was because the oven did not maintain a consistent temperature. For both the cinnamon and vanilla meringues I used the same base recipe. I just omitted the cinnamon for the vanilla meringues. The cinnamon meringues would be great with coffee or tea. The vanilla meringues we served with the lemon curd and/or jam. They’re good on their own, too!

Cinnamon Meringues

Spicy-sweet and as light as air. These won the "Best in Health" category!

Vanilla Meringues

Crispy vanilla meringues waiting to be filled with cool, tart-refreshing low sugar lemon curd.

Now it’s time to work off the bake! Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend for a good training ride or two. The 2014 Napa Valley Tour de Cure will be here before you know it! For information on how you can register for the American Diabetes Napa Valley Tour de Cure 2014, please see here! Join me in Napa, California on Sunday, May 4, 2014 – take the ride of your life! If you want to help support my ride, please click here and make a donation. Every bit helps.

I have also been hearing about another sugar alternative – Monk Fruit. I’ve ordered some Monk Fruit In The Raw. I’ve read that this natural sweetener tastes more like sugar than stevia does, so I am looking forward to trying it. Keep an eye out for some new, lighter recipes for healthier holidays.

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Creamy, Smooth, and Delicious!

One of my colleagues at work mentioned that she puts oats in her morning smoothie. I’ve tried it a few times and it is wonderful! It lends a creamy mild sweetness that’s hard to beat. I like to use steel cut oats, but you could also use old fashioned (rolled) or quick oats, too. Just remember to use plain oats, and not pre-mixed sweetened oatmeal packages. If you have a Vitamix, you can simply add the raw oats with the rest of the ingredients. If you have a standard blender, you may want to soak the oats in the water, a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator – use about 1 cup water to 1/4 cup steel cut oats. You could also make oat flour in a food processor by pulsing the oats until they’re very fine. The oat flour will blend more easily in a standard blender.

Green Smoothie Shooters

This morning I added 1/4 cup of steel cut oats (about 170 calories total) to this recipe, which makes 2 large smoothies (plus these two cute little shooters). In addition to the oats, this smoothie has 2 big handfuls of baby greens (kale, spinach, chard), 1 1/2 cups water, and 12 ice cubes. It’s got one peach, about a cup of pineapple, and 2 scoops of whey protein.

Yes, the oats add a few calories, but I think they’re worth it. Oats provide heart-healthy soluble fiber, which has been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Oats are also a good source of minerals and protein, and numerous studies have shown that oats have many health benefits.

Oats can be a good breakfast choice for diabetics, too.

For more information on how to incorporate green smoothies into a healthy diabetic diet, be sure to check out this article on the American Diabetes Association website.

For information on how you can register for the American Diabetes Napa Valley Tour de Cure 2014, please see here! Join me in Napa, California on Sunday, May 4, 2014 – take the ride of your life! If you want to help support my ride, please click here and make a donation. Every bit helps.

Click here for some more great nutritional and health information information about oats.

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Winters, in front of Steady Eddy's

I got a nice ride in this morning with a friend. She’s got a brand new bike and we had a nice, pretty leisurely ride to Winters, out and around Lake Solano, and back. It was a little breezy, not quite cool, not quite warm, and it got really cloudy.

We got about 40 miles of riding and lots of good chatting in.

When I got home, I made a green smoothie with organic baby kale, kiwi, pineapple, banana,  nonfat Greek yogurt, and vanilla whey protein powder. It was interesting … not too sweet, a little tart, and really refreshing and satisfying. I accidentally made a huge batch, so I froze some. I’ve found that these smoothies actually keep pretty well in the freezer. If you get the mixture just right, it freezes like a sorbet and could make a light, healthy dessert. That works best with berry or peach-based smoothies.

This weather makes me want to bake bread, so I did! I made a multi-grain bread, based on this recipe, but just changed up a few ingredients based on what I had on hand. In place of the oat bran, I used steel cut oats. I increased the pumpernickel by a cup, used 1 cup of high protein unbleached white flour, and reduced the whole wheat flour by 2 cups. Otherwise, the recipe is pretty much the same.

Whole Wheat, Oat, and Pumpernickel Bread

I have a pretty good idea that breakfast tomorrow will involve toast. This batch made 4 rustic loaves. It would make 2 large loaves using loaf pans. I just prefer the rustic style. I love that crust.

Is the weekend really almost over? It feels like it just started! Before we know it, the holidays will be here, and then the 2014 Tour de Cure! Join me for the ride! Sign up here. Can’t ride, but still want to help? Donate here!

So, I guess I’m still feeling chatty after my ride today … thanks for spending a few minutes with me to read this!

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Klein Q-Carbon Pro

Heading out soon on my new ride …

Aaah … the bike collection grows.

Different rides do need different bikes, you know.

Have a wonderful day! Here’s hoping you have the chance to get a nice ride in today. It’s going to be a great training day – warm, but not hot, and just enough of a breeze to feel it.

Cheers!