After a fun weekend, Monday snuck up on me like it always does. But I was determined to make it a Funday Monday. Why does Sunday get all the fun? I’ve also been thinking a lot more about my health lately and have been making excuse after excuse for not making a change today.
Well, today was the day that I was going to make that change. While I’ve been better about making it to Crossfit 2-3x a week, my eating habits were embarrassing. Either I was traveling or had visitors or was just too tired—but enough is enough. Today that was all going to change.
- I melted into a puddle after Crossfit, and man, did it feel good! (In case you were wondering, the workout was walking lunges with a 15lb plate, burpees and situps. 3 sets of 21, 15 and 9. And then a 2000m row afterwards. And yes, I was already feeling worked out after the warm up. Smh.)
- I made juice. Lots of juice. I turned on White Collar (my latest Netflix obsession) and made four mason jars of celery-kiwi-kale-pineapple-spinach-apple-ginger juice.
- I tried a roasted garlic and beet soup recipe that I found on a friend’s wall. (Thanks Lindsay!) I’m one of those people that even when “relaxing” I need to be productive. A lot of the time that means spending time in the kitchen, experimenting. (Thank you YouTube for all the videos on how to clean and cut vegetables I’ve never cooked with before! I don’t know how it tastes yet because I won’t be eating it until tomorrow, but it was pretty easy to make.
Whatchya need:
3 medium-sized beets
6-8 garlic cloves (unpeeled) (And some garlic seasoning if it’s not garlicky enough)
Some olive oil
A leek (I used 3 small ones)
Some fresh thyme
Few shakes of dried bay leaf (I couldn’t find fresh ones)
Salt and pepper for seasoning
3 cups of water
Lemon juice (as I’m typing this I’m realizing I forgot to add this in, whoops!)
A medium sized pot
A blender
Parchment lined foil (yup, there’s such a thing as a combo parchment foil paper! I didn’t have any though, whoops!)
Whatchya do:
Preheat the oven to 400. Wash the beets and then wrap them in parchment foil with some olive oil drizzled on top. Stick the beets in for an hour.
Make another packet and stick the garlic with some olive oil in there. Put this in the oven with the beets at the 30 minute mark. While the beets and garlic are being roasted, clean and chop the leek. (Check out the video that helped me! ) Set the leek aside.
By now the beets and garlic should be ready. Remove both at the same time and let them cool. Once they’ve cooled down, skin the garlic and set aside. Peel the beets and quarter before setting them aside as well.
On the stove, heat some olive oil over medium heat and cook the leeks for 6-8 minutes. Add in the garlic, beets, thyme, bay leaf and 3 cups of water. (I thought about using broth instead–might try that next time.) Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it come to a boil and then simmer for a few minutes. Once it’s cooled a little, stick it in the blender and puree. I put it on the soup setting for about 20 seconds. Taste. Reseason. Blend again. Repeat until you’re satisfied.
In the comments on the recipe, someone said the soup tastes best after it sits for a day. Good thing I’m not eating it until tomorrow!
