Enjoying Troy
Today was a pretty low key day. I woke up pretty early to get in a short two mile run. I tried to work some speedwork into it. I did 2 miles in about 20 minutes on the treadmill. It was a nice wake up call!
A smoothie for breakfast followed. (Recycled smoothie photo!)
In my smoothie this morning:
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 packet of Nutribiotic brown rice protein + flax
- handful of frozen cherries
- 3 fresh strawberries
After my run, I spent the morning with my good friend Marcie! I’ve known Marcie since 8th grade (we were in drama club together!) and she is also a blogger for the Hellions of Troy Roller Derby team. 🙂
We hit up the Troy Farmer’s Market this morning.
It was so busy! There were tons of tables to buy produce and baked goods galore! I only ended up leaving with one thing, though: KALE! I’ve never had kale before, so I wanted to give it a whirl. I got this whole bunch for $2.50.
I was tempted to buy lots of things at the market, but I didn’t give into temptation.
After the market, Marcie and I went to Brown’s Brewing for lunch. I originally thought they had brunch here, because the last time I was here back in March, they had a brunch menu. Apparently, they discontinued the brunch, which was sad. I wanted eggs.
Instead, I ordered the black bean & barley burger.
Instead of having the fries on the side, I ordered a side of sauteed broccoli. It was tasty.
The burger was amazing. I think it was the best veggie burger I’ve ever had. I wish I could re-create it! I may try in the future.
Marcie is also a really great photographer, so she gave me some tips on how to use my point and shoot camera better. I think I’m getting better already! 😉
After lunch Marcie and I went to some local troy shops. Last year I found a shop with all handmade jewelry called the Paper Sparrow, which I fell in love with. We went there today to find that they have a new owner and are now called the No. 5 Anchor Boutique. (Click this link if you want to see the type of handmade things they have there.) The stuff in there was gorgeous. I bought this handmade headband to replace one I got at the Paper Sparrow that I lost last month.
After shopping around the streets of Troy, went to X’s to O’s vegan bakery.
Surprisingly they had a brunch going on with vegan pancakes, tofu frittatas, and roasted root veggies. Next time we will have to come here for brunch! But Marcie and I decided to split a vegan, soy free, gluten free oatmeal cream pie!
Best decision ever.
It was so good! The oatmeal cookie was dense and tasted like an oatmeal cookie. The frosting inside was a bit gritty, but not in a bad way, the texture was different, but I didn’t mind it! It was delicious. Half of this cookie definitely hit the spot!
I also got some jasmine green tea!
The tea was great. Jasmine green tea tastes like a flower in your mouth!
But, I really loved this bakery…I see myself here again in the future. 🙂
After enjoying Troy, I came home and crashed for two hours! I guess I needed to catch up on sleep after going to midnight showing of Harry Potter on Thursday night!
And then I went to work on the kale.
I decided to try kale chips for the first time, buy roasted the kale in the oven with sea salt and olive oil. It was a kale failure. 🙁 I burned it!
Charred to a crisp. But at least the pieces that weren’t burned were still good. I will try again next time. I still have about half the bunch of kale leftover!
Dinner was some butternut squash quinoa that I made a few days ago in a huge batch. I was inspired by a recipe I found on Meals and Miles. It was pretty good! I plan on bringing the leftovers to work this week for lunch!
My question for this evening: besides putting kale in smoothies and making kale chips, what are some other uses for this leafy green?! I’m stumped.
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11 Comments
Heather
LOVE that handmade store! (perfect for handmade christmas 😉 )
Moe
I’ve been stumped with kale too in the past! Its flavor is a lot stronger than other greens like spinach. My best success was as a side. I put it in the pan with a few tablespoons of water and a few more of milk and as much creamy cheese as I can get! Goat cheese is good. Sauté into low fat version of creamed kale! No matter how I make sauted kale, I always add some water since it doesn’t retain much of its own. Good luck!
Courtney @ Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life
I’m glad you mentioned that bakery…I drive by it all the time and have been wanting to check it out. Perhaps tomorrow morning will be the day. 😉
Jen
DO IT! And we still should do the farmer’s market together soon. I will go there any time! 🙂
Cynthia (It All Changes)
Kale in soup is great. It cooks down and doesn’t have the bitterness. Butternut squash and kale soup is wonderful with cumin and some other things.
Courtney
I like to sautee kale with olive oil and sea salt and use it as a bed for an over easy egg. Yum. I also make a white bean kale soup that’s really good. It’s from allrecipes.com
Amanda
I was at the farmers market & I went to xoxo – how funny! I had the oatmeal cookie & my daughter had a chocolate chip blondie. Both were great!
Dottie
My daughter in MA sent me your link! I live in Guilderland.
I put kale in all kinds of veggie soups and stews that are cooked for a fair amount of time., also use collard greens that way. Just throw in a couple of handfuls, chopped. Sometimes I keep bags of them frozen around because I can’t use that much at once. Also just saute kale with garlic and olive oil, can add some veg or chicken broth and continue cooking til tender. Or saute or steam and dress with lemon juice or umiboshi vinegar.
Nice blog! My daughter and I both like to be inspired by others on our health and fitness journeys.
Jen
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Julie @ Honey B.
Good try!! I find that a bunch of kale lasts me a long time. Especially since my husband doesn’t like it too much. Oh well, more for me!!
Kat
Kale salad! I do one part kale to one part spinach (regular lettuce works well too but I like spinach better) and cut it up nice and small, taking out the biggest part of the stem. I mix up a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper and toss it with the greens. I top it off with a little shaved parmesan cheese. Delicious! (I actually ate kale salad for more than 20 days in a row last month – I lost count! The obsession has cooled but I still always have kale in the fridge.)