Tag Archives: food

Salt & Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas!

07 Sunday Dec 2014

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Anyone else out there have a snack that puts you over the edge in a food high…like once you start you can’t stop?  Oh yeah, for me it’s salt and vinegar potato chips.  I can’t remember my “first” (hmmm, but they say you always do), but I do remember that feeling of OH SHIT THESE ARE GREAT…and my mouth feeling all raw and curled up inside after ingesting too much salty and vinegar-y goodness.  So worth it, although I probably chugged a ton of water later.

I still have a weakness for potato chips, but given my shift in nutrition habits over the past year and a half or so, I try to keep it in moderation.  But boy it’s hard sometimes!  I find it’s best to simply not have a bag of chips on the kitchen counter lying around.  It’s too tempting to pop a few, and before you know it the bag is empty in a couple of days.  And those days are far in the rear view mirror here.  If I do indulge in chips it’s a small bag on rare occasions, maybe an afternoon snack to go along with my apple, or enjoying some (not the whole bag!) as part of a box catered lunch for a work event.

Now I’ve stumbled upon a fantastic substitute for these potato chips…using roasted chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans).  WOW!  And this recipe is SO easy.

Serves 3 (or maybe just 1 or 2, hee hee)

  • 1 15 oz (425g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 1/2 C (625 ml) white vinegar
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp (2 ml) fine grain sea salt or coarse sea salt plus more if needed

Place the chickpeas and vinegar in a medium saucepan.  Add a dash of sea salt.  Bring the vinegar to a boil and cook for about 30 seconds, and then remove the pan from the heat.  Some of the chickpea skins will fall off but not to worry.  Cover the pan and let the chickpeas soak in the vinegar for 25 to 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 C).  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Drain the chickpeas in a colander, discarding the vinegar.  Shake off any excess vinegar – no need to dry the chickpeas.

Transfer the chickpeas to the baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil.  Massage the oil gently into the chickpeas with your fingers until fully coated.  Sprinkle with the salt.

Roast the chickpeas for 20 minutes, and then give the pan a gentle shake to roll the chickpeas around on the pan.  Roast for 10 to 15 minutes more, until golden and lightly charred.

Cool the chickpeas on the pan for 5 minutes.  They will firm up as they cool.

Notes:  Turn on your range fan and open a window when boiling the chickpeas in the vinegar, as the vinegar smell is very strong  (Really, trust me on this).  Now, if for some reason you have leftovers after making this snack, cool them completely and then store them in a container in the freezer for 5-7 days.  To reheat, simply toss the frozen chickpeas on a baking sheet and roast them at 400 degrees F for 5 to 10 minutes, or until heated through.  This restores the chickpeas to their former crunchy goodness.  YES!

This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, sugar-free and grain-free.

From the Oh She Glows cookbook, by Angela Liddon.

Buon appetito!

Weekly Food Prep Ritual!

13 Sunday Apr 2014

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One of the habits we are practicing in the Lean Eating for Women program I started back in late July is to plan our meals.  Planning sets us up for success, whatever that might look like!  For me, that means preparing meals for the upcoming week on Sundays.  And each night during the work week I take some of what I’ve prepared and get my lunch ready in a Tupperware to take to work with me.  While I do like my job, our work cafeteria is pretty lame.  [Getting the runs on my first day after grabbing a seemingly innocent slice of pizza for lunch, and hearing how others have gotten sick after eating from the salad bar was enough to scare me off.]  And we’re in a rural part of suburbia where there aren’t too many choices for going out to eat.  Plus, that can add up and get expensive over time.  Preparing and bringing my own food sets me up for success – the choices I make are mine alone and work for my own personal food and nutrition journey.

Have I mentioned I’ve dropped 33 lbs since I started this journey last July??  That’s just under 15 kg for my metric readers, by the way!  I’ve been weight training 3 times a week, doing some sort of cardio 2-3 times a week, and resting one day a week (usually on Sundays).  Now, of course, we’re going for excellence, not perfection here, people!  If I’m sick it’s not a good idea to work out and I will have zero energy.  Knock on wood I’ve been injury-free during these past 9 months so that has not been a problem.  And when the gym was closed for Christmas, no excuses!  I met up with a friend at a school playground with some stretchy bands and did a playground workout bundled up in the cold!

So…food prep starts with making a shopping list and budgeting some time for the actual food prep of course.  I am single with no kids PLUS I really enjoy grocery shopping, so this is pretty effortless for me actually.  One of the biggest habits we are learning in Lean Eating is to consume veggies and lean protein at every meal.  Yes, that means breakfast too!  Some of my favorite foods to prep include…

  • Chicken
  • Quinoa
  • Polenta
  • Mushrooms
  • Red bell peppers

I also make sure I have other veggies stocked up for the week such as fresh spinach, baby carrots, green onions and flat-leaf Italian parsley.

To cook the chicken, I usually roast two breasts. I’ll line my broiler pan with tin foil and drizzle a little olive oil on it.  The chicken breasts go in the pan and I douse them with lemon juice and garlic salt.  I might sprinkle some paprika on one and some tarragon on the other.  Play around and experiment with different spices!  20-25 minutes at 425 degrees is about right to cook the chicken, but it’s good to test and cut into the chicken and make sure it’s cooked through (meaning, no pink).  I usually bring one to work for lunch and dice up the other one to throw into an omelet for dinner later in the week or maybe to toss with some veggies.

I’m falling in love with quinoa! But I will admit the flavor can be a little bitter depending on what I eat it with.  Sometimes a small blob of pesto helps.  But I’ve also discovered blending some red quinoa in with the regular tan-colored type cuts the bitterness too.  1/2 cup of each in a pan with two cups of water, boil for 15 minutes and then let rest, covered for about 45 minutes until all the water is absorbed.  Put it in a Tupperware and you’ve got a nice batch of quinoa that will keep for over a week in the fridge.

What about polenta?  This is a “neutral” food that goes with just about anything.  I buy it in a tube, slice it up and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to ‘toast’ it slightly.  And I might sprinkle it with a little pink Himalayan sea salt.

I also spend time slicing up some fresh mushrooms and dicing a red bell pepper.  I’ll sauté the mushrooms very lightly in a little olive oil and add some garlic, lemon juice and minced flat leafed Italian parsley.  The mushrooms and bell pepper each go in their own separate Tupperware in the fridge.

NOW with all of those ingredients I have endless combinations of lunches and dinners to get me through a busy week!  The secret is to take that time to get your foods cooked and ready to go.  After work I immediately go to the gym and work out.  When I get home I shower.  By this time I’m feeling good but a little tired and not really in the mood to spend a lot of time making myself dinner. BUT with my veggies all chopped and ready to go I can crack a couple of eggs and whip up an omelet with the diced chicken, mushrooms, bell peppers and some fresh spinach thrown in!  Voila!  Easy, quick and nutritious!!

Or for lunch during the work week, the night before I will pack up a Tupperware with a few pieces of sliced polenta, some quinoa and throw in some of the diced red peppers, mushrooms and some spinach leaves.  I might even add a small blob of hummus or guacamole and sprinkle in a few black Kalamata olives. The next morning I throw it into my lunch bag, grab an apple for my late afternoon pre-workout snack and off I go!  I’m usually on conference calls all morning and through the traditional lunch hour, so I typically will eat lunch at my desk, listening in on calls with my headset in mute mode.

See how investing a little time on a Sunday sets me up for eating success?  What are some of YOUR favorite meal prep rituals?

Extra, Extra Lazy!

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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Ahhhh, bliss.  It’s a 3-day weekend and I’m feeling so lazy and luxurious!  My weekends tend to be either jam-packed full or with absolutely nothing going on.  And for nearly the past year, one weekend a month had been dedicated to work – by design.  That’s actually not been so bad – our entire team goes into the office and works two shifts spanning from around 8pm on a Saturday night through lunchtime on Sunday.  Sure, that next Monday everyone is a little groggy in the office, but we all were in it together and that makes it understandable.  And that’s the world of IT for ya – when things need to be deployed we have to work when most everyone else is asleep.

So.  Many of you know since last July I’ve been immersed in the Lean Eating program for women.  Guys, there’s a program for you too by the way!  THE best habit-based coaching I’ve ever done.  I’m learning and practicing habits I will keep for LIFE!  Amazing stuff – really and truly.

Sundays are typically the days I do grocery shopping, meal planning and food prep for the week ahead. I might still do that today even though my company has the holiday tomorrow (President’s Day).  Which is truly bizarre – I haven’t had President’s Day off in 6 years!  (Other than when I was unemployed the first half of 2010).  Yeah, I think I will still do food prep today.  Just one less lunch to prepare for the work week ahead.  I’m actually going to have lunch tomorrow with a guy I worked with over 10 years ago.  He and his wife are moving back east so this will be a sad farewell, but I’m looking forward to seeing him.

What does meal prep look like?  I may do some more detailed posts on this down the road, but it’s basically about setting yourself up for success for the week ahead.  Getting groceries and preparing food on Sunday so it’s easy to grab and go when you head out the door to go to the office or school or whatever you are doing every morning.  Who has time in the morning to chop up veggies or cook up some quinoa or steel-cut oats before heading out the door?  Maybe some of you do, but I sure don’t.  But if I spend my Sunday getting veggies chopped, cooking up a batch of quinoa and slicing and broiling up some polenta brushed with a little olive oil (which I love), then it’s easy to throw a mixture of that in a small Tupperware in the morning and throw it in my lunch bag.  Maybe with a small handful of fresh spinach on top, some baby carrots, a couple of black olives and a small blob of hummus.

I find that eating two small afternoon meals works best for me.  I do my workouts in the evenings after work, and having a small snack around 4pm makes me feel ready and confident for my upcoming workout.  Typically that late afternoon snack has been a plain nonfat Greek yogurt sprinkled with 5 or 6 walnuts, but ever since trying plant-based eating exclusively for a couple of weeks, I find that reintroducing dairy into my diet makes me feel bloated.  And gassy.  Yeesh.  Maybe I have a mild intolerance I never realized?  Who knows.  So I’ve switched to either a couple of slices of polenta or some baby carrots with hummus.

Along with trying plant-based eating, our program also had us experiment with Paleo eating.  I’ve enjoyed Paleo (also known as ‘primal’ or ‘ancestral’) eating in the past so this was nothing new to me.  But I do find that I do OK with polenta and hummus…neither of which officially is Paleo, because polenta is corn-based and hummus is legume-based.  My coach says that’s OK – what’s best for me doesn’t have to be strictly vegan or strictly Paleo, for example.  What a relief!

I do know I’ve been dropping more poundage and feeling leaner and more energetic since I’ve cut way back on grains and dairy while increasing my veggie consumption.  Do I miss grains and dairy?  Honestly, no!  Is it worth indulging, knowing I’m going to feel bloated, miserable and rip farts for a good half hour afterwards?

I don’t think so!

Hello, 2014!!!

12 Sunday Jan 2014

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YES! How joyous it was to toss 2013 into the recycling bin (the calendar tossing is SO symbolic to me) and start a new year off fresh!  Some of you who tune in here regularly know how the last part of 2013 went right into the crapper.  The break up with J.  My Grandmother’s passing.  My nephew’s scary hospitalization for 2 weeks after not feeling so great at Thanksgiving.  And that was just November!  [My nephew is fine now, thank the Lord…he came down with an auto-immune disease and had a 17 hour transfusion of antibodies flushed through his little 6-year-old body to fight it off and to get that 104 degree fever down.]  Scary and stressful…

So now it’s a new year and I couldn’t be happier!  Happy for fresh starts and happy to get back to the routine.  The holidays are done, whew.  They were brutal last month and I went through it all in a sad, numb fog.

Many people love the ritual of starting new and better habits with new years resolutions, but I am overjoyed that my exercise and nutrition habit is 6 months old already! So January is a turbo boost to all of that…I’m going to be amazing this year and finish up this year-long program fabulously!  Yes, the gym sure gets packed this time of year!  Soon it will thin out again to us regulars.  And I’m proud to call myself an evening regular there too.  Nice to nod and smile at the familiar faces every night.

So, not a whole lot of profound ramblings today…I’m just happy, content and getting reset after the sadness of November and December.  I’m so happy that’s all in the rear view mirror now.   I’m feeling back to being Me again.

Cheers to 2014, everyone!

Random Tuesday Ramblings

08 Tuesday Oct 2013

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Surprise!  It’s fivenineteen here rambling away on a Tuesday night, not Sunday afternoon!  One of my followers (who is a dear friend, check’s in the mail) teased me a little that it’s been awhile since I last posted!  Yikes, she’s right!

I had probably one of the most blissful weekends I’ve had in probably a year.  Just basking in the glow of a glorious sunny weekend in October (yes, even in Seattle), which is as rare as white tigers.

What a wonderful surprise last Friday to hear from J…typically we each just chill out separately on Friday nights as we’re pretty pooped from the workweek.  I go to the gym, come home, shower and cook a light dinner.  Wow, what a far cry from my hard partying college years…am I turning into ‘that person’ we all swore as 21-year-olds we’d NEVER be?  Yep, I guess so.  So for a very cool change of pace, he offered to come over and cook us dinner after I got home from the gym!  WOW!  Color me happy!

And what did he bring?  Boneless, skinless chicken breasts he’d been marinating all day, a sweet potato to make fries with, and some frozen peppers for a side dish!  I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t ever even dropped a hint as to what I’d like to try eating, and he nailed it!  This is EXACTLY an example of a meal we would be encouraged to try in the Lean Eating for Women program I’m nearly 90 days into.  No meal plans, no calorie counting, no forbidden foods…rather, food can be plotted on a spectrum from Better to Worse.  And we’re encouraged to add things to our food, not take away.  As in adding more veggies and trying other alternate sources of carbs, for example.  Voila…here it was!  We peeled the sweet potato, sliced it up into French fry-shaped pieces, sprinkled some spices on top and baked until crispy!  And grilled the chicken and sautéed the pepper medley!  YUM!

On Saturday we headed over to an Oktoberfest party.  The consulting agency I was with prior to the one I’m currently with has a food palooza of sorts every year, and all of the staff cook incredible meals from scratch and serve up to their current and alum consultants!  One of the big advantages of working with a boutique agency for sure!  Normally it’s a summertime seafood theme, but this year they changed it up and did Oktoberfest. They had tons of brauts, streudel, salads, sauerkraut, handmade pretzels, mustards made from scratch, desserts and of course lots of beer for tasting in custom-made steins we got to take home as party favors!  Even some quinoa-stuffed mushrooms for a veggie/vegan option and a kale salad – I need these recipes!

Then we went home, changed our clothes and tackled more of my Garage.  Which is now the most organized room in my house thanks to J’s help.  Yes, the popcorn ceiling scraping continues in the master bedroom/vanity next week…after a major delay which is fodder for another post.  Most of my garage is below ground level and there are some problems with drainage….whenever it rains water seeps through small cracks in the concrete.  Lots of fun being at the bottom of a super steep hill.  J mixed up some concrete (we used a spoon I sacrificed and some plastic keg cups as you have to do it in small batches) and patched up a few of the cracks, after first drilling out the loose concrete where the leaks are coming from.  We’ve got more to do, but it’s a great start and has provided HUGE peace of mind for me…I’m worried about the water seepage and the damage it might be causing elsewhere.  We’ll check and see how it’s working and continue with the rest of the wall later.  This concrete mix is so powerful you can even use it under water!

Tough football weekend here…U of W Huskies lost a hard fight against Stanford, and the Seahawks’ 4-0 winning streak got snapped in Indianapolis last Sunday.  UGH.  The boys were playing the refs as well as their opponents much of each of these games, I swear!  The chitter chatter in the gym locker room tonight was still going strong!

And hockey season is underway…yes! Go Canucks!  A FULL length season this year with no Lockout!  I’m still enjoying my own personal hockey sabbatical, which could definitely become permanent but that’s OK – 9 years was a great run.

And I have other fitness goals now which have my full focus…and they’re working!

Equinox Weekend

22 Sunday Sep 2013

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Funny how I started poking around online for “Equinox pictures” and all of my search results pulled up the car!  Hadn’t even heard of it before!

Ahhhh, the Equinox.  One of those turning points in our calendar where summer slips away for good.  I do love fall and the changing rhythm of our seasons but I also get a little whiney when summer goes poof.

Know those great days where you feel like you’ve had a whole weekend in one day?  When you don’t really have any specific plans and the day just spontaneously unfolds into its own deliciousness?  That was yesterday – Saturday.  And today just feels like a fabulous bonus day.  A day for laundry.  Blogging.  Seahawks football. A workout and some grocery shopping and food prep for the week.  Yep, that’s about enough for one day.

Yesterday was filled with late summer sunshine and that crispy feeling in the air where you can just feel Fall is right around the corner.  J and I spent the day over in his neck of the woods.  We were planning to go to a concert which was a fundraiser to save one of the old theaters in town, but we both were craving time outdoors – we weren’t in the mood to sit indoors, as fun as it would have been and for a good cause.

So, we grabbed a late lunch at the Buzz Inn restaurant at Harvey Field in Snohomish.  Damn, what a glorious day it was!  Nothing like relaxing outdoors (in mid September) in the warm sunshine and just watching small planes take off and land.  Not a care or a thought in the world.  And there’s a skydiving center right there at the airport so every so often the sky would suddenly fill up with skydivers landing in the field.

tandem_smallNow, skydiving is probably not going on my Bucket List anytime soon, but it sure looks fun…and watching the skydivers float by, glide in and land was relaxing.  That probably sounds a little odd but it was.

Then we drove to the Stocker Farms farmers market to poke around.  So much amazing, bountiful fruits and veggies…and local honey!  I couldn’t resist and picked up a small jar.  Oh, and a cucumber too.

Hmmmm, I’m trying to get more adventurous with veggies and incorporating them more regularly into my meals.  There was so much beautiful squash, plums, apples and on and on at the farmers market – I just didn’t know where to begin.  I knew I needed a cucumber to chop up for my salads to bring to work, but beyond that my mind was blank.  Oh well, it’s a start! Eating more veggies is one of the things we’re practicing in the Lean Eating for Women program I’m about 7 weeks into.  On the subject of eating local, one of our program coaches quipped, “buying tomatoes flown in from Peru makes about as much sense as flying there to crap them out.”  Too funny…and point taken.  When I’m at the grocery store I’m going to pay more attention to where the food comes from!  And maybe start shopping at a farmers market for fruits and veggies!

I look outside today and it’s like someone turned off a light switch.  It’s grey, cloudy and starting to rain.  It’s days like this where I can close my eyes, smile and remember the warm, sunny days and wonderful summer memories.

So, How’s that Lean Eating Program Going?

12 Thursday Sep 2013

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A few people have asked me how things are going with the Lean Eating for Women program I started back in late July.  WOW!  I did this through the entire month of August and now all of a sudden it’s mid September!  YES!  I’m still doing this…I’m not giving up!  This is a year-long journey, and I am so happy to have tons of support all around me.  People like J, my family and my friends.  And a few co-workers who I trust to share what I’m doing.

Ironically, my work environment, the place I spend the most of my hours, is not conducive to this life changing journey of mine.  Work is an all-out Food Palooza every day.  I’ve probably blogged about this before.  Someone is always bringing in donuts or pastries and passing them around to everyone.  The DBAs in the cube farm near me love to bring in ice cream for themselves every week and since I sit near them they always offer me some too.  We’re always chatting about what we’re doing for lunch – who’s going out to lunch and where – or who volunteers to go pick up takeout Chinese.  People sometimes get offended when I politely decline the donuts they’re passing out.  That’s OK – that’s their stuff to deal with, not mine.

We even had an ice cream social at work this week as a nice thank you for all that we’ve been doing these past couple of months.  200 people descended on the large meeting room near our cafeteria and it was a make your own sundae set up with our Directors and VPs scooping up ice cream for us.  Fun!  I did have one scoop of chocolate ice cream and ate it slowly.  Interestingly enough, it didn’t taste that great.  Kind of metallic and yucky!

Now wait a second, why the heck am I blogging on a Thursday afternoon, you might be wondering?  Well, I woke up not feeling that great this morning with a slightly sore throat.  So I knew I didn’t have a lot of meetings today and just stayed at home and slept.  I am feeling a lot better now.  I probably slept with my mouth open and it got all dry and irritated!  Too funny.  What a relief!  I simply don’t have time to get sick!

Lean Eating is a habit-based coaching program.  Who wants to get overwhelmed having to learn everything they need to do all at once when starting something new, right?  That’s a guaranteed formula for failure.  Rather, this program has you start out small, just doing one or two things every day, repeating them.  And you track your progress on a private site to show whether or not you did your habits that particular day.  As time goes by, exercise programs are introduced, and now we’re just starting to practice some food-based habits.  Every habit builds upon the other one.  Get off track for a bit?  No problem…tomorrow is a clean slate!

We also are provided some reading material online every day and a short assignment to reflect on how you can apply the lesson content into your own life.  And, you track your progress online to show you’ve completed that day’s lesson.  If you get behind, it’s easy to catch up and see which ones you still need to do!  This was perfect for me, as I was in Kansas City in late July for Silpada National Conference right when the Lean Eating program kicked off so I missed the first few days of the program.  In retrospect that wasn’t a big deal at all, but I remember at the time I was a little worried as I had no idea what to expect!

The Precision Nutrition coaching team is very grounded.  Each of us in the program is assigned a coach, and there are online forums and private Facebook groups to hook up with to share ideas and ask questions.  My coach sends her group a short video message every week and we can book appointments with her to chat over the phone or Skype.  I would bet there isn’t one scenario they haven’t been through with the thousands of clients they’ve worked with!  So, no excuses!  Practice your habits, do your workouts and complete your assignments!  And it’s all with a sense of humor too – I don’t feel like I’m in a military boot camp at all!  And did I mention how easy it is?  Meaning, I just read what I’m supposed to do that day, do it and note online I completed it.  They include short videos showing how to do the exercises and I just print out the exercise list for that day and take it with me to the gym!

Getting exercise is becoming a habit with me again. I remember now how great I feel after a workout and how it helps me unwind mentally.  I’m at the gym 5 nights a week, I do something active outdoors once a week and have one day off.  I looked at my stats and I’ve been 93% compliant with getting my workouts done over the past two weeks!  YES!  High Five!  I feel great and have noticed some subtle changes in my muscle tone.  I’m down 7.5 lbs (3.4 kg) and can see the double chin slowly going away. Some of the exercises that were super hard at first are now getting slightly easier.  This has been a huge wakeup call for me.  I turned 46 in May and have never had a naturally thin, fit build.  After losing 35 lbs 10 years ago I gained about 60 lbs back!  This is not healthy!  So that’s why I’m doing this.  Regular exercise is essential for me to be the best me…YES!

I am a ‘peeker.’  I want to peek ahead and see what the program content will be toward the end.  I want to know exactly how we’ll shift into maintenance mode once the program wraps up next year. I want to know how to manage things like life that will conflict with the time I’ve budgeted to exercise every day. Hell, when I cook I like to open the oven door and peek at what’s cooking and inhale the aroma!  Peek peek peek!

Well, the Lean Eating website must have been designed with peekers like me in mind.  There is new content posted each day….and we can only peek ahead two days!  Ha ha!!  If you try to peek ahead further you’ll get redirected back to today’s info.  Well done, PN!

Gluten Free Bread from Scratch – the Experiment

02 Sunday Jun 2013

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ingredAnd now for something completely different…bread made from scratch!  Gluten free!  This is definitely going out on a limb in here, for I rarely keep any kind of breads in my house, and while I love to cook I can’t remember making bread from scratch ever.  Maybe a pie crust or cake awhile back, but not a loaf of bread!  And certainly not gluten-free.

Oh boy…gluten free eating.  There is so much information out there about gluten intolerance, Celiac disease and on and on.  So many stories about the benefits of cutting gluten out of our diets.  I am no expert in diet or nutrition.  But I love to cook and thought…why not try a GF recipe?  Maybe try eating GF for a while and see what happens?  I haven’t been diagnosed intolerant, but I haven’t specifically been tested for it either.

One thing to note about GF eating…it can be expensive.  I don’t know the exact reason for this, but one seems to be that the best selections of GF foods are in specialty grocery stores where prices are going to be higher in general.  Now this isn’t always the case 100% of the time – remember this is amateur hour GF blogging in here today.  I’m learning…and enjoying the journey!

Personally I don’t have a problem with spending a little more on food.  Eating out, cooking and even grocery shopping itself are all huge pleasures for me.  Adventurous and fascinating!  I like to say that what we put in our bodies – our fuel – is so essential, so why not make it the best?  And if that means spending a little more, why not?  Now if I was married and raising 5 kids I might think differently about grocery shopping.

I recently picked up a copy of Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking, by Kelli and Peter Bronski.  And I really hit the jackpot with this book.  It’s beautifully written and easy to understand.  It’s very warm and welcoming – not snooty or pretentious.  As you might expect, the first part of the book talks about gluten – what it is and what intolerance means.  It also provides tips on how to navigate the grocery store and how to read ingredient labels.  Gluten is not always going to be called out as “gluten” on a label.  It can be hidden in things like soy sauce or yogurt.  The authors even go on to recommend NOT buying GF things like potato starch or brown rice flour in the bulk food section of the store to save money.  There is risk of cross-contamination with the containers and scoops.  Yikes.

So this weekend I went in a completely different cooking direction and baked a loaf of bread.  I was intrigued by the GF flour recipe that is the foundation of so many of the recipes in this book – breads, cookies, waffles, cakes and pasta.  The authors recommend making a large batch of it (meaning, quadruple their recipe) and storing it in an air-tight container in the fridge.  I made the batch as-is (about 3 cups) and used all of it in the bread recipe.

But first, a trip to the grocery store was in order.  I’m familiar with a few specialty ingredients, and knew the best place to start was the PCC in my neighborhood.  The staff is super friendly and knowledgeable.  If they don’t have something you need, they will go to the ends of the earth to find it for you!  So in this picture we have about $30 worth of ingredients.  See what I mean about pricey?  Much more $$ than your everyday garden variety plain ol’ white flour.  The topper was the 8 ounces of xanthan gum – $12!  What the hell is xanthan gum, you might be wondering?  Well, it basically is the substitute for gluten.  It binds ingredients together like gluten does.  So don’t leave it out trying to save a few bucks!  You won’t be very happy how your recipes turn out.

The one thing that stumped me was potato flour.  I had no problems finding the potato starch, but couldn’t find potato flour anywhere.  So I asked one of the guys for help and he returned with another guy in tow.  They explained that potato starch and potato flour are exactly the same thing.  Hmmm…I wondered…is this true?  I told them that the recipe I’m going to do calls them out distinctly as two separate ingredients.  So they recommended using dried potato flakes and pureeing them in a food processor into a flour.  Sounds good to me!  I don’t know if this is what the authors intended, so I still want to research this further and see if other stores carry potato flour. Or I might just have to poke around online.

I used the bowl attachment of my Cuisinart Smart Stick Blender and it worked beautifully for this basic recipe – about 3 cups total.

Artisan Gluten Free Flour Mix

  • 1 1/4 C brown rice flour
  • 3/4 C sorghum flour
  • 2/3 C cornstarch
  • 1/4 C potato starch
  • 1 T + 1 tsp potato flour
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum

Combine all ingredients and store in an air-tight container in the fridge.  Now for the BREAD…this recipe makes 1 loaf – about 12 servings:

  • 2 1/4 C milk
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1 T salted butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 1/4 C of the GF flour mix (above)
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • 2 1/4 tsp (1 package) active dry yeast

Grease a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.  Heat the milk, sugar, salt and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until warmed and the butter is fully melted.  If the milk heats too quickly before the butter fully melts, remove the saucepan from the heat and finish melting the butter.  Mix the GF flour, xanthan gum and yeast in a large bowl.  Add the warm milk mixture, stirring to combine.  The dough will be very sticky.  Spread the dough in the prepared loaf pan.  Cover and let rise in a warm location free from drafts for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

breadPreheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake the loaf for 40 minutes, or until firm to the touch.

Here’s what my loaf looked like just before popping it in the oven – yum!  I had covered it loosely with a kitchen towel.  My cooking time was a little longer than 40 minutes.  Test by inserting a toothpick in the loaf.  If it comes out clean, the bread is done.

And the verdict?  Wonderful!  The bread turned out very moist, not crumbly.  I tried a slice plain, and while it’s OK on its own I would recommend using it for sandwiches or for dipping in soups.  Great news – it’s a blank canvas!

I’m very excited to try more recipes in this book…buon appetito!

Intuitive Eating Checkpoint…and an Updated Supplements Rollcall

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

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TurmericTime for an off-cycle post to keep y’all guessing…typically I post on Sundays but I was a little tied up and tired last Sunday.  J and I are continuing to tackle my beyond messy garage, and last weekend was focused just on icky cobweb removal and sweeping.  Yep, it was that bad.  Next up is another round of sweeping and then some TLC to seal up the cracked concrete that’s letting in trickles of water whenever it rains.  Yes, it literally, really and truly all “rolls downhill.”  Gotta love living at the bottom of a steep hill, and who knows where the uphill drainage problems lie.  Plus, my garage is mostly below ground level.  Then, we PAINT!

I can’t believe that this Friday marks one month at my new job!  Job shifts can be both abrupt and uplifting when you work short-term consulting engagements as I’ve done since circa 2006, and/but I find they also provide a huge opportunity to revisit my workweek routines and make changes!  How exhilarating!

I continue to practice Intuitive Eating  as a way to swear off the diet mentality once and for all.  And also with the long-term goal to normalize my weight…gradually and without hunger!  This is a daily journey of discovery, and every day I feel more confident about the choices I make and I steer far away from judging myself or criticizing myself on how “well” I did on any given day.  That comes right down to thinking about food differently…meaning, there’s no such thing as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ food. It’s just FOOD!  And what one might typically label as “junk food,” is better known as “play food.”  I love that! 

A new work routine is perfect fodder for reshaping my eating habits.  In my previous job, for example, I would typically skip breakfast as I was constantly running late and was facing an unbelievable 45 minute suburb-to-suburb commute.  What a head scratcher!  Toward the end of that work assignment I discovered Intuitive Eating and I began bringing stuff to work like granola to enjoy with milk (the company provided beverages free of charge) or I would just go grab an early lunch.  And I also started enjoying mid to late afternoon mini meals which I previously had avoided, thinking I would somehow “spoil” my dinner appetite. I brought in meal replacement shakes I had purchased over a year ago for a 5-day cleanse I was too chicken to try and ended up mixing them occasionally with milk – they’re perfect as a midday snack rather than the torture of using them to replace meal after meal for days in a row!  I also started bringing in snacks such as unsalted almonds.  And I started enjoying V8 juice something fierce.  I listened closely to my body’s internal cues and really began Honoring My Hunger. 

Now my work commute has shrunk to a glorious 15 minutes in the morning and maybe a half hour tops in the evening.  And our team has an unwritten rule that no matter how hectic things might be…get away from your desk for 30 minutes and take a midday break!  Granted that break might be at 11:00am some days and 2:00pm other days, but take the break!  We have a significant team presence in Atlanta, 3 hours ahead of Seattle time.  So I am often on conference calls during traditional lunch break hours here on the west coast.  I find that Intuitive Eating works wonderfully in these types of constantly changing midday mealtimes, and I love it!  I’m moving into a routine of eating 2 smaller meals during the day anyway…two “mini lunches,” and it seems to work well keeping me feeling satisfied and not stuffed and bloated.

Given our cafeteria could use some competition of sorts (and given I was royally spoiled by the massive, spectacular food service provided at my previous job), I’m starting to bring more of my own food in to work in a cool lunch tote bag that’s insulated with foil to keep food warm or cold.  What’s in the bag? 

  • Raw, unsalted almonds
  • Organic walnuts (look up ‘health benefits of walnuts’ and you’ll be astonished!)
  • Yogurt-covered raisins
  • A can of low sodium V8 juice (perfect for a midday pick me up; I’ve sworn off soda completely during the workweek – even sparkling water – as it’s no longer free of charge in our work vending machines)
  • String cheese
  • Greek yogurt (I’m still experimenting with what I like and don’t like, but I do enjoy the tangier taste of Greek yogurt compared to traditional yogurt.)
  • Gluten free pretzels
  • Baby carrots

I also enjoy a sweet treat occasionally, such as when someone brings in donuts or other pastries, or when I take a fun swing by a co-worker’s desk who always has tons of small candies in a glass jar. (That’s the “play food” I mentioned earlier; sometimes nothing will do but a couple of Tootsie rolls.)  And I go through water by the gallon.  I gave up Diet Coke in early January 2010, and now I’m losing my craving for canned, sparkling sodas as well.  I do think this has cut down on my tummy bloat, but we’ll see how that pans out long-term!

And, knock on wood, I’ve yet to come down with any sniffles or illness this calendar year!  I’ve built on the arsenal of supplements for staying healthy post I did earlier this year and thought I’d share what else I’ve discovered.

I take most of my supplements in the morning before heading to work, but also take a few in the evening before dinner:

Morning routine:

  • 1 glass of low sodium V8 juice
  • 1 glass of buttermilk (I know, I know, this can trigger gag reflexes in many of you, but I love buttermilk – I adore the slightly sour and tangy taste and also how it fills me up – that’s my Dad’s genes at work)

Morning supplements:

  • Concentrated fruits and vegetables
  • Antioxidants
  • Double X supplements – I alternate this daily with the two supplements above. This is a 3-tablet turbo boost of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
  • An Omega-3 supplement. This is especially important to me now, as I’m no longer in a position to regularly enjoy some good seared salmon during the day at lunch.
  • Evening Primrose Oil:  I actually take a capsule of this both in the morning and in the evening.  Ladies, if you’re mid 40-something like me and the hormones are a-changin’, this is a great way to even everything out.  It lessens food cravings and cuts back on PMS mood swings (not that mine were ever anything severe, thank goodness) and breast lumpiness/tenderness, which is typical prior to your period.  But check out the link for more, as its benefits go far beyond anything strictly female-related.

Evening supplements:

  • Evening Primrose Oil
  • Milk Thistle and Dandelion – a great protectant of your liver.
  • Turmeric – my goodness read up on the health benefits of this herb…astonishing!  And next time I will likely order a refill through this website for a far better deal than at my local grocery store.  I debate between spending a lot on supplements vs getting a discounted version. 

After all, what could be more important that what we put into our bodies to fuel and nourish ourselves?  Shouldn’t we seek out the very best?  It doesn’t have to be the most expensive product per se, but I’m all for finding a bargain wherever possible.

Cheers!

Coconut Curry…with Your Choice of Meat!

08 Friday Mar 2013

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Oh yeah…back to another great (Easy! Delicious! Satisfying!) new recipe!  AND…a special shout out to my good friend Sara’s new blog, Sixty Seconds with Sara. Welcome to the Blogosphere, my dear!

Sara’s got a wonderful, growing portfolio of recipes and how-to cooking videos.  She’ll show you how just a short amount of prep time in your kitchen will stock your fridge with yummy, portable meals on the go for your busy week ahead!

Now, before I share this recipe, please indulge me in a funny story on how Sara and I met…because frankly the way we met I never thought we would ever be anything close to great friends.  What happened?  She SHOVED ME DOWN ON THE ICE during a hockey game.  Yep, that’s right!  Nearly 10 years ago (man that sounds weird) I took up hockey on a total random whim.  Yes, as in co-ed ice hockey in a local league here in the Seattle area!  My class had 8 weeks of learn-to-play hockey coaching.  And our team was actually formed by splitting up our LTP class into two equally matched teams, and we joined the local league winter season about halfway through in their novice division.  And we were on our way!

But there was a big learning curve still ahead, especially for someone like me who discovered team sports for the first time in her mid-30s.  I was thrilled for the opportunity to push myself physically and mentally, and I also knew I was way, way out of my comfort zone.  What a way to stretch and grow!  It’s one of my proudest achievements of adult life actually (so far!).

So one night my (co-ed) team played an all-women team.  We had played them before and lost horribly (I’m sure some male egos were thoroughly bruised), so we knew it wouldn’t be an easy win.  I wish I could remember exactly what happened, but all I remember is getting shoved down on the ice (and I didn’t have the puck…hello interference anyone?) and looking up and seeing Sara’s eyes glaring at me through her helmet cage.  And I thought man, what a bitch!  What the hell?  Now I laugh about it (and she does too), but at the time I was pissed.  Over time Sara and I got to know each other given we know a ton of people in common, and now she’s one of my dearest friends!

Lamb Coconut Curry – serves 2-4.  Prep time:  45 minutes.

  •  1 T coconut oil
  •  1 pound ground lamb (or beef, turkey, chicken, whatever you like)
  •  1 medium onion, chopped
  •  2 cloves garlic. minced
  •  1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
  •  1 can coconut milk
  •  1 Serrano chile stem and seeds removed, diced finely OR 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  •  1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  •  1/2 teaspoon curry powder
  •  Salt to taste

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add lamb or your meat of choice, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, and allow to brown. Add the onion and garlic, saute for 5 minutes to soften the onion. Then add all the other ingredients and bring it up to a bubble. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

This is great over cauliflower rice (a nice substitute for rice if you are gluten-free) or quinoa (as I did last night)!  The flavors are absolutely incredible, and it’s a snap to prepare!

Coconut oil is a fun change from my usual olive oil ritual, and I highly recommend giving it a try!  My favorite is by Nutiva.

Cheers to hockey, great food and great friendship!