Periodically I will talk about the challenge I always faced when I was very into running in high school and trying to eat better: I wanted to use better ingredients and find more nutritional density to my food but it was almost impossible in the late 1980s.

My fiancé and I were talking about this a little while ago. He said, "It wasn't just that you didn't have the access to ingredients but you also didn't have access to the recipes."

While I would make pizza using wheat flour, I knew of all most no one else who did that (outside of Rocky Rococo Pizza, a Wisconsin chain that had opened in the next town over from mine in Illinois).

Now there is so much out there and I'm willing to explore all sorts of ways to make my food not just be nutritionally better but also have unique flavors.

For a dinner party across the street yesterday, I used the Cooking Light recipe for red velvet cake that uses beets for the color. However, instead of using cocoa, I put carob powder in my version. While I had some issues with the recipe (I don't believe there was enough frosting or filling), I was very happy with the outcome and the taste which wasn't overly sweet but brought together several foods one might not consider before. I also like the lightened calories and fat content- including using Greek yogurt in the filling.