My Ridiculous Schedule. Because...life.

I'm a little stressed right now. It is a little after 8:30 pm, I need to go to bed in 45 minutes.

Tomorrow my alarm goes off at 4:30 AM so I can teach Bodypump at 5:45. From there I'm going to my first day of summer school to set up my classroom and write my lessons for the summer. I'm there until 1:00. At 2:00 I have a curriculum writing meeting until 4:00. At 7:00 I have my summer training program for the fencing team.

Basically, I'm going nonstop for 14 hours.

This is the one pro about ketogenics...my breakfast and lunch is prepped and ready to go, all I need to do is pack it up. My dinner is also prepped, so I just have to reheat it when I get home from fencing.

I will admit, Christian and I both cheated a bit yesterday. From what I've read, most dieticians agree that a cheat meal is more acceptable than a cheat day, and that's what I allowed myself at my friend's bbq. I've been focusing mostly on staying hydrated this week for two reasons: 1) it's really hot out, and 2) I've been teaching bodypump all week. I did have a beer at the bbq (couldn't resist...my friend was drinking one and it just looked so good), but other than that I stuck to water. Other than the beer, I had a veggie burger, some chips and dip, and dessert - specifically, a slice of the peach blueberry pie I brought. It was delicious, no regrets.

This brings me to my point. People have been asking why I'm dieting. I'm not doing this to lose weight. I'm doing it to see more results from my workout regimen. My core is definitely where I struggle with muscle tone, and I really hope this will help.

On Friday I'm going to post a recipe!

New lifestyle, new diet!

*tap tap* "Is this thing on?"

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog. Mostly because life has been all sorts of crazy for the past two years.

To recap: yes, I'm still teaching ESL in the same high school. That's the one thing that didn't change. I've also become a fencing coach. Most recently, I've added Les Mills Bodypump instructor to my resume. For those of you who are unaware of Bodypump, it's low weight/high rep strength training. I've been a loyal participant since 2012, and this past March I finally attended a training, then submitted a tape of myself teaching about a month later. The taping was beyond nerve-wracking, but I passed and now I'm teaching every Thursday morning!

After Day Two of Bodypump Training. This was one of my favorite weekends (yes, I'm wrapped in a snuggie). These are some of the strongest women I've met, and I'm so happy to call them my friends.

Screenshot from my Bodypump assessment tape.

Right around the time of my last post, I also met Christian. I'm lucky to have met someone who not only puts up with my crazy schedule, but will also wake up at 4:30 in the morning and go to Bodypump with me (and help me mid-class when the mic starts acting up).

We are goofs and life is good.

In short, things are going well, but life is crazy.

In the midst of all this, Christian and I have decided to start following a vegetarian ketogenic diet. We're doing this for different reasons. Christian is doing it to lose weight. I'm doing it to aid my workout regimen. When I'm not careful about my diet I find my post-workout recovery time is longer and I reach muscle fatigue faster during my workouts. Also, we are planning a vacation for mid-August and I want to rock the crap out of my Victoria's Secret bikinis.

The new focus of this blog will be the ketogenic diet we are following. This will include meal plans are recipes. I'm very excited to blog about this, because I think it will help keep me on track with my progress.

Our current plan is to review our progress by the end of the summer and then revise or continue the diet from there.

If anyone else has done or is currently doing ketogenic and has any tips, please let me know!

Next post will have this coming week's meal plan.

Adventures in homemade bread crumbs and roasting veggies

Most of you know how much I love farmers markets. Going to the one in Montclair is one of the highlights of my weekend because it usually sets my menu for the week.

This year I've noticed one of the market hilights is green tomatoes. A friend once made tried green tomatoes for me last summer and I've been dreaming of then ever since, so I've started eating them as a side dish for lunch. The difference is that I've taken to roasting instead of frying them.

I've done the same with eggplant recently. I bought two eggplants at the farmers market this past Saturday. Yesterday I breaded and roasted one of them to eat with penne arrabiata.

Why roast? Well, for starters, I kind of suck at frying food. I don't know why, but whenever I try to fry something it either burns or doesn't fully cook. Plus, cleanup with roasted vegetables is a little easier. Also, its a little healthier. That all being said, I'd love to try grilling green tomatoes in the near future.

The real trick I've learned with these recipes is that good breadcrumbs are key. This past week I've started making my own from scratch. Its beyond easy to do and I highly recommend doing this with stale bread instead of throwing it out. If you don't have stale bread on hand, all you have to do is toast some bread until it's crispy. Rip the bread into pieces, then chop in a food processor until you have crumbs of equal consistency. Some bread might produce bigger crumbs than other. I recommend using sandwich buns for a finger crumb. Next is seasoning. The seasoning is entirely up to you. For the green tomatoes I used salt, pepper, and cayenne. For the eggplant I used salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. Just be sure not to overseason!

To roast green tomatoes or eggplant, follow these steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 425. Grease a baking tray.
2. Slice the vegetable (you should get 6 slices out of the tomato and 8 out of the eggplant). Prepare two bowls by putting the breadcrumbs in one and an egg whisked with a tablespoon of water in another.
3. Dip each slice of the vegetable in the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Coat evenly and place it on the baking tray.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, then flip each slice over and roast for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.

If you have any other favorite breadcrumb or roasted vegetables recipes, please share!

recipe: whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi

Full disclaimer, I've only tried to make pasta once before in my life. I made an attempt at making pumpkin ravioli in 2009. To call it a disaster would be an understatement. Not to say that my first attempt at gnocchi wasn't a slight disaster, but I'm chalking that up to the fact that I was on my third glass of wine by the time it was ready. No regrets, it was hot in my apartment, the wine was chilled, and I was getting a little frustrated! That all being said, the end result was incredible.

To make this recipe gluten-free and paleo friendly, simply substitute the whole wheat flour with one cup of arrowroot powder.

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes

2 cups almond flour

5 tbsp whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of garlic powder

1 egg white

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Poke the sweet potatoes with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes or until soft. Remove from the oven and let cool.

2. Peel the potatoes and place into a large bowl. Mash well (Side note: if you don't have a potato masher, a sturdy metal whisk will do the trick). Add the almond flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and garlic powder. Mix well to combine.

3. Whisk the egg white until frothy. Gently fold it into the sweet potato mixture. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

4. Dust a work surface with whole wheat flour. Roll out a handful of the chilled dough into a long, thin rope. At this point, if you know that you will not be eating the entire recipe's worth of gnocchi in one sitting (it serves four), separate the dough into four equal ropes, wrap whatever you want to save in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge. It keeps better this way. Cut the dough into one-inch segments. Use a fork to slightly flatten each segment.

5. Prepare a pot of boiling water.Working in small batches, drop each piece of gnocchi into the water. Let cook for about one minute. When they float to the top, remove with a slotted spoon. Place in colander to drain.

At this point, your gnocchi is done. If you'd like to take the recipe one step further, I recommend pan searing it. You can use butter, ghee, or olive oil for this. I chose a tablespoon of olive oil and seared each piece for about two minutes on each side. I then browned some garlic in the oil to make a quick aioli sauce to put on top of the gnocchi. For added protein and iron, I threw in some chickpeas and wilted spinach, then topped it all with some grated parmesan.

If anyone tries this recipe, please let me know how it turns out!

The Deception of Processed Food

The FDA posted a letter to their website yesterday (04/14/2015) declaring the packaging for Kind bars are misleading and need to be changed. The packaging for these bars claim that they are healthy and use a "+" sign for the names of certain bars.

Unfortunately, the nutritional content of four of types of Kind bars do not stand up to the claims made by their packaging. According the FDA, food cannot be considered healthy unless it has less than 15% of calories from saturated fat. This is violated by  Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot, Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut, Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein, and Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants, all of which contain 2.5 grams of saturated fat, which exceed the percentage of calories from saturated fat. Furthermore, the FDA does not support the claim that these bars are rich in protein or antioxidants, let alone the use of the "+" on the packaging. Using this sign suggests that the bars contain at least 10 percent more of the daily recommended intake for vitamins and minerals as compared to an appropriate reference food, or that the food is fortified with vitamins and nutrients in accordance with certain FDA policies.

What this really brings up, though, is how oblivious we are as consumers when it comes to processed, packaged food. For the most part, unless you see a nutritionist or study nutrition, it is easy to ignore that handy nutrition fact label and just believe whatever claims a company makes on the front of the packaging. As more companies have made the move to put nutrition labels on the front of the product, they're still giving you the bare minimum (and can you blame them?) The problem is that every time we as consumers become hip to how food is packaged, the very smart marketing teams hired by these ridiculously large companies still find ways to sneak unnecessary sugar and fat into their foods without the majority being aware of it. Think about it...how many people fell victim to the "all-natural" scheme from a few years ago? Sure, your chips are just made of potato, oil, and salt, but it's still high in fat and sodium.

Really, the only way to avoid falling victim to these schemes is to give up processed food altogether. I know people who do this, and more power to them. I'll be honest, I am not one of these people. The difference is that I'm aware of what I eat by reading nutrition facts carefully and keeping portions of processed food under control. My point is, we as consumers need to make a more conscious effort to read nutrition facts and be more aware of portion control when it comes to processed food, especially those that contain high levels of saturated fat.

You can read the warning letter from the FDA here: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm440942.htm

five year reflection and the importance of comfort food

Today is the five year anniversary of this blog. Though it's been updated sporadically for the past few years, this blog has shown just how much I've grown since 2010. When I first started this blog, I was a year out of college, supporting myself financially for the first time, and dedicating myself to my year of service as an Americorps*VISTA and my love for cooking. Since then, I've experienced a lot. I've been a graduate student and a substitute teacher. I've lived in apartments with tiny galley kitchens and apartments with incredibly spacious kitchens. I've worked my arm to no end beating cake mixes before my mom handed down her kitchenaid mixer.

This blog has also been there as I've experienced loss. Halfway through my first year of graduate school, I lost my dad. It was very sudden, but I took comfort in the therapeutic aspect of cooking. Despite my ridiculous schedule with work and class, I found time to take care of myself by cooking from scratch as often as possible.

And when the grief was still too much, I found myself in Israel.

I had two clarifying moments: one on Mount Masada, and another in an open market in Jerusalem, Both of these moments reminded me that grief is part of life and that I needed to find something meaningful from the experience. 

I found the meaning in my grief by volunteering for a bereavement camp for children who have lost a sibling or parent. Volunteering with this camp led me to discover running by training for their fundraising 5k. I found myself back at camp last year a few weeks after losing two family friends to a car accident. Being there has reminded me that like cooking and running, being there is one of the constants in my life I've come to depend on.

This coming weekend will be my return to camp in the first time in almost a year. It's caused me to reflect on what I've experienced in the past few years. Since 2013, I've started my full time teaching job, moved into my own apartment for the first time since 2010, and found the time to rediscover my love for cooking. I did most of this reflecting when I went out on a solo hike in the Palisades. 

I've gone trail running by myself before, but always at the same park. This was my first real solo hike and the first time I've ever been to the Palisades. My clarifying moment was looking down the steep incline I was moments away from creeping down, and all I could do was reassure myself that it was nothing I couldn't handle. I feel like I've been doubting myself lately, and it was what I needed to remind myself to stop doubting myself so often and trust my instincts.

I find that this happens to me when I'm cooking, too. As fun as it is to try a challenging new recipe, I sometimes find myself unsure of what I'm doing. Whenever this happens, I can't help but feel like I need to go back to comfort food.

For me, comfort food is rooted in its simplicity. It's simple to make and tastes so good without being complex.

Recently, my go to for comfort food is usually lentils. It's hard to screw them up and with the right amount ginger and spices it feels so good to eat. This week I've been eating red lentil curry with brown rice, which is exactly what I need right now.

I wish I could say that I'm going back to frequent updates, but my schedule still doesn't allow that. I'm planning on gardening again over the summer and plan on focusing on meals made with the vegetables I'm growing (still has not been determined as of now). Regardless, my focus will still be cost-efficient healthy meals that most people can enjoy. Though I've changed in the past five years, the purpose of this blog will be the same as it was in 2010.

Recipe: whole wheat pumpkin honey muffins

The recipe I used for these muffins is unintentionally vegan. I only had two eggs left and had already gone grocery shopping, so I had to make the decision to either use my last two eggs for the muffins or make the scrambled eggs I was craving for brunch. I don't regret my decision...the eggs were delicious!

If you feel strongly about making these with eggs, simply cut the amount of oil in half and beat in two eggs with the liquid ingredients. You can also use half the oil and a 1/2 cup of applesauce. I've been told you can use pumpkin puree, though I've never tried that so I can't vouch for it.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.

2. Place the raisins in a cup and add enough hot water to cover. Let stand for a few minutes to plump.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. Make a well in the center and put in pumpkin, oil, and honey. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Drain the excess water from the raisins and stir in.

5. Spoon into muffin cups so they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops spring back when touched.

Yields 1 dozen muffins