Monday, August 16, 2010

Mushroom Tartlets

August 16, 2010

Crazy day at work today, so much so that I didn’t even eat lunch until 3:30. Oh well. That is how it will be for a while since we are short staffed and about to loose two more. Ouch! I got home about 6 and get going on dinner right away. On the menu for this evening were Mushroom Tarlets, the last two ears of corn and the leftover roasted broccoli from last nights dinner. I opted for an easy meatless dish that would make extras since this week is going to be just as busy as today was. We have two big meetings this week at work, I have a jewelry party and book club as well.

 

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry, cut into 12 small rounds

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus a bit extra for the muffin tin

1/2 a small red onion

1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 tsp dried thyme

2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Salt/Pepper

Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

 

Directions

 

Preheat oven to 375. Heat oil over medium heat, add red onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes. Stir in thyme, salt/pepper. red pepper flakes.

 

Mist the muffin tin with a bit of olive oil, add cooked mushrooms and top with Gruyere and add the puff pastry rounds. Bake about 25 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

 

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Use a paring knife to cut around each tart and flip over on a plate so the pastry is plate side down.

 

 

 

This made a great dinner, quick and very flavorful. It was make a unique appetizer if you used mini muffin tins and the puff pastry shells and filled each one with just a few mushrooms and a bit of cheese.

 

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The winner of the Ball Canning Starter Kit is:

 

 

Melanie Krauseneck- I would do tomatoes from my garden!

 

Melanie please contact me with your mailing address- mellissa@afitandspicylife.com

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A New Kind of Yoga

August 16, 2010

For the past year I have been developing my yoga practice by taking classes at CorePower Yoga, Lifetime Fitness and now LifePower Yoga. LifePower is a new yoga and pilates only gym owned my Lifetime Fitness. The first location opened in Minnesota this weekend and Mike and I had a chance to go take a Yoga Wall class.

 

When I looked at the grand opening schedule and saw a demo for Yoga Wall I knew that had to be the class we tried. It was an hour long demo where the instructor walked 6 of us through an hour long series of postures using the straps hooked up to a wall with an anchor system. We did downward dog, side twist, a few inversions and a final savasana. All the poses were done with the assistance of straps and we used the height of the wall to suspend ourselves. It was a truly unique experience. We left feeling strong, nicely stretched and worn out from just a short series of postures.

 

Since you are not allowed to bring cameras into the class I found a few online images that give a pretty good idea of what a yoga wall looks like, how the straps are used and the type of postures look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This video clip is long but so amazing, I am truly inspired but her strength and flexibility!

 

 

 

 

Now I have to decide if I want to upgrade my membership so I can take classes at LifePower Yoga and get my yoga and gym memberships combined down into one. I am guessing it would save some money!

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