Happy Queen Vic­to­ria Day every­one! Hope you’re all enjoy­ing this beau­ti­ful weekend!

I wish I could say that I was able to get out and run and bike but unfor­tu­nately, I’m still nurs­ing this pesky injury and thought it best to take the entire sec­ond week off just to be on the safe side. My chiro, who I pray to daily, sug­gested that I let it heal before I go back to my usual train­ing sched­ule. So, that being said, I was resigned to the hot, stinky gym and the lovely step­mill. I actu­ally enjoy that machine and find it nice and chal­leng­ing but on a beau­ti­ful sunny morn­ing, who really wants be work­ing out indoors?

On a good note though, I’m feel­ing much bet­ter and I think I might give a short run a try tomorrow.

I always know it’s spring when I see big bunches of aspara­gus on sale at my local Longo’s. I decided to turn this yummy veg­gie into a deli­cious and light soup accented with fresh tar­ragon and lemon zest. Each spoon­ful screams fresh­ness! I also whipped up a batch of roasted veg­gies which looked and tasted a bit like a rata­touille, but so much eas­ier to pre­pare. It works really well with grilled chicken, fish or even as a fill­ing for an omelet.

That’s it for now.…Have a great evening!

Aspara­gus Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 bunch aspara­gus, cut into 1-​inch pieces

3 shal­lots, minced

1 gar­lic clove, minced

2 cups chicken broth (or more, enough to just cover asparagus)

¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh tarragon

zest of ¹⁄₂ lemon

salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium-​sized soup pot, over low heat, saute onion and gar­lic in oil, until fra­grant and softened.

Add aspara­gus and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken broth, increase heat to high and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to sim­mer and cook until aspara­gus is soft, approx­i­mately 10 minutes.

Add tar­ragon and lemon and sim­mer for an addi­tional 5 min­utes. Sea­son well and remove from heat.

Trans­fer to blender and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.

* Sorry no pic of this one!

Roasted Mediter­ranean Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 egg­plant, diced

2 red pep­pers, diced

1 large sweet onion, diced

1 gar­lic, outer paper skin removed

bun­dle of fresh thyme

2 Tbsp bal­samic vinegar

1 Tbsp agave, honey or sugar

2 Tbsp capers, drained

¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh parsley

salt and freshly ground pepper

Pre­heat oven to 425 degrees.

Arrange veg­eta­bles on foil-​lined bak­ing sheet; toss with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper.

Roast for approx­i­mately 1 hour (toss­ing gen­tly every 20 min­utes), or until very tender.

Remove from oven; squeeze out gar­lic cloves and toss with vine­gar, capers and chopped fresh pars­ley. Sea­son with salt and pepper.