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Sesame Root Veggie Fries

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I can be really lame.

Saturday night I put the French station on Pandora and curled up in my PJs to finish my book for tonight’s book club,  The Sharper the Knife, The Less You Cry.  It’s my turn to host this week and I terrified everyone with promises of cleansing food.  A flurry of emails volunteering meat, desserts, and wine followed.  Whatever – I think my food is good!  😉

Anyhow… Saturday while reading I snacked on lavar and kombucha… and it was one of the most glorious nights ever.  Cheers to fermented tea, PJs, and being lame.

Here’s what I thought of the book:

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking SchoolThe Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World’s Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun, easy read. The book is well-written; it isn’t going to be a classic, but if you love food you’ll enjoy it. It is an eye-opener for anyone who’s dreamed of going to Le Cordon Bleu. I don’t know that I could stomach some of the butchering they were required to do! The best part is that she includes recipes for some of her favorite dishes.

View all my reviews

That pretty much sums up my weekend.  I worked out with 2 friends on Saturday morning (2 separate workouts – I was gassed!).  The second work out was followed up with this Butternut-Cherry Bomb protein shake… I made one for my “normal” eating workout buddy too and she loved it despite its color!!!  It kind of made my day.

Other than that it was an anti-social, errand-running weekend.  Perfectly punctuated with fries.  Surprise, I got a little too excited over dinner.

These baked Sesame Root Veggie Fries were better than the real thing to me!  Disclaimer: I don’t actually like white potatoes.

The seasoning I came up with is one I’ll be repeating in other dishes – the sweet coconut oil combined with the nutty sesame seeds, a little cayenne heat, and a touch of cinnamon made my taste buds jump for joy.  It was like some Thai-fry-fusion gloriousness.

Served with a side of dijon-spiked lentils.

I loved the parsnips.  They were the most french fry-like of the mix, and their milder taste lets the seasoning shine.

The beets didn’t wow me.  They weren’t bad, but their flavor overpowered the rub.

You know it’s good when the decision about which piece to save for the last bite is a tough one.  The sweet potato ended up being the last bite – that added sweetness from the potato made it seem almost like dessert.

Recipe at bottom of post.

This week was killer for weights.  I’m still “meh” on the cardio… I attempted to run again on Friday and had to give it up after 1.25 miles due to the pain.  Saturday I was able to tag along with a friend to a spin class.  It was awesome! Such a different workout for me.  A different workout that meant I was so sore Sunday I didn’t do my final BodyRock fit test.  That’s going to happen over a lunch workout today – I can’t wait to see the progress, and to start the February challenge!

I also checked out a new workout in this month’s Food & Wine.  This is a routine I could get into.  Who’s with me? 🙂

Workout Recap (2/13 – 2/19)

Sesame Root Veggie Fries

Inspired by YumUniverse

  • 1 medium beet
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 parsnip
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 – 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp liquid coconut oil
  • S+P, to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place sesame seeds, cayenne, and cinnamon into a small food processor (I use my Magic Bullet) and blend until seeds are broken into tiny pieces (~20 secs).

Slice veggies into thin slices and spread evenly across a foil-lined baking sheet.  Pour melted coconut oil over the veggies, sprinkle seed mixture over it, and toss until evenly combined.

Bake for 30-45 mins, tossing once halfway through.

Enjoy!

***

Sunday I was honored to make the FoodBuzz Top 9 for my Butternut Thyme Hummus.  Thanks for the Buzz, friends! 🙂

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Is anyone else in a book club?  What is the last book you read?

Comments

  1. No shame. We all neeeeeed those weekends now and again. Since I was out of town this weekend, I’m really glad to have today off from work to run errands and finish up some laundry. (what fun…)

  3. Looks delicious. I need to get some root veggies. I’m not in a book club, but I got sucked into the Hunger Games trilogy. I’m on the third book.

  4. I need more of those fries in my life!!
    I can imagine the sweet potato fries must be amazing with their sweetness + cinnamon + spicy!!
    Weekend? What weekend? Haha why is it that I have trouble remembering what I did during the weekend =)

  6. Most (if not all) of my weekends are like that!! I’m sure that will all change when I move back to london though! 🙂 Btw first insanity workout (after fit test) done – I felt sick and my ears were ringing afterwards. Sign of a good un if you ask me!! The only thing I’m struggling with is the food, on my third meal of the day and I feel stuffed! All clean and healthy though so shall see how it goes! Will fill you in properly when I’m a bit further through with it! Hope your relaxed weekend has left you recharged and ready for another week! 🙂

  9. I’ve never been part of a book club, although I LOVE to read. I haven’t been doing as much reading (other than audiobooks) recently, just been overwhelmed with *stuff*, so I don’t have a lot of sit down and veg time.

    I kind of miss the bodyrock workouts – or I guess “strength” stuff in general. After the marathon, it’s coming back! It’s just not been the time to add it back in after my overtraining bout with these two big races.

    Your fries look delicious!

  14. Girl, your workouts are NUTS! Seriously. I wish I could work out that much and then look like you haha. Doesn’t work that way for my body. I end up building WAY too much muscle and then I am bulky. I think we had this convo already? lol, my bad.

    Your veggie fries look AMAZING! Nommy Nommy

    • Just use lower weights and higher reps! Make sure you extend fully too – that helps to ensure you develop “longer” muscles rather than bulk. Or use you muscles to make more of those delicious-looking cookies and send me some. 🙂

    • Come one now! Those things melt in your mouth! Besides, it’s actually a shirt for the band Sugarland. 😉

  19. Root veggies will kick white potatoes in the behind any day of the week. Especially when in “fry” form. Those seasonings sound fantastic.
    My weekend was productive but a little lacking in the fun department. Sometimes those are just necessary though.

    • Thanks! I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t in love with white potatoes.

      That, they are. It’s good to TCB sometimes. 🙂

  20. I totally have that book on my shelf! I just keep having books come in off my hold list at the library and getting in the way. [And I must be lame because to me, when I get an e-mail that I’ve got books waiting for me, I feel like it is Christmas. :)]

  24. I never go out on Friday nights – partly because I teach Saturday AM, but also because I love a chill night where I get from work a little earlier and can just relax without trying to do homework!

    Do you think your cleanse has anything to do with running energy – I know it doesn’t with the pain, but sometimes when I’ve changed my diet or am eating less “power” foods, I feel weaker on my runs and that changes my stride which can exacerbate my hamstring troubles.

    Either way, I’m sorry – I know how frustrating it is to want to run but be unable too!

    • No… the problem start before the cleanse. And when I did the cleanse before I did some of the most weekly mileage I’ve ever done. I’m faithfully doing my strength training an low-impact cardio. *sigh*

      Thanks for checking in. 🙂

  25. Did I see 45 pound bar bells up there. Damn I can barely pick up the 10’s. Don’t forget I am quite a bit older and more than a tad behind, I think I will stick with yoga. I like the root veggies and the dijon spiked lentils sound cool.

  27. oh my… I loooooveeeee sesame seeds………. I am going to try this this week. I have a rutabaga that I’m making fries with! he is so ugly, but I hear they taste very good! PS I had komboucha again yesterday. Now, a trip to WF is incomplete without it!

    • This is perfect for your Lent vegetarian-ism! 🙂 I’ve done rutabaga before too – with a “cheese” dip.

      I was there too! they were out of the Fire though. Boo.

  30. Yup, I’m right there with you…I love going to the Food & Wine website – they have tons of delicious recipes, beautiful photographs, and the best part is I can count on their recipes to include alcohol, which I enjoy cooking with. I’m a pretty big fan of root vegetables, first and foremost because they are very nutritious but also because they’re incredibly versatile! Love your blog and feel like we’ve got a lot in common, girly! Hope you’re having a great week!

    • I am the same way with F&W – I have an embarrassing amount of their magazines on my coffee table too.

      Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting!

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