let the baking begin! May 2, 2012

Well, finals are next week and that can only mean one thing – excessive baking. Due to the fact that this is the LAST round of finals of my undergraduate career, the baking epidemic may just be worse than usual. Lucky for me, I am surrounded by a solid group of lovers of all things baked that I can spoil with all of my treats. First of all, my friend Jared’s birthday was Monday…a perfect excuse to make the Texas Sheet Cake that I have been eying since the moment I got my Joy the Baker cookbook.

I didn’t have a sheet pan, so this turned into 2 round cakes, but it worked all the same. Now I have one cake to give away and one for us to keep! Which meant I could sample the cake before giving it away without the awkward moment of giving someone a cake with a good chunk missing

I also made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies…just because. Now I have a huge container of the heaviest brownies known to man and nothing in particular to do with them. This could be dangerous. Good thing my family is headed into town tomorrow night for our annual athletic banquet. If you read this before you come – prepare for brownie/cookie dough heaven!

Again, I don’t have a 9×13 pan, so the brownies are a bit thicker than probably intended originally, but they baked just fine and I managed to get the cookie dough layer on without totally overflowing the pan.

I am almost certain this is only the beginning of the baked goods that will be coming out of my tiny kitchen in the next week or so. Did I mention that I can’t wait to have my very own kitchen to spread out and bake in?? I can’t wait.

Oh, yeah – what do you do when you are halfway through making pasta for dinner and open up a moldy jar of pasta sauce (besides eat cake + brownies for dinner)? You could add beans + salsa + avocado + cheese, but since you (ahem…I) eat Mexican for practically EVERY other meal, you might want to restrain yourself. How about some sundried tomatoes, feta, and a little pesto? Good idea. Delicious too!! Almost as good as Mexican….almost.

potato coconut curry April 30, 2012

Within the past year, I have developed a serious liking for Indian food but I have never really attempted to make it at home. Until last week. There are a few potato curry recipes that I have pinned, but I always seem to be missing at least one ingredient. So, I came up with my own recipe. I would say it is far from anything authentic, but it certainly took care of my Indian food craving

Potato Coconut Curry

• 1 tsp. coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 4 small red potatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 cup light coconut milk (from a can)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 tsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 cup frozen peas
• salt + pepper

1. Heat oil in a saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Toss potatoes with salt and pepper, then add to pan and cook until browned and slightly softened – about 10 minutes.
2. Add onion + garlic and cook 1 -2 minutes before adding chickpeas, tomatoes, and coconut milk.
3. Reduce heat to medium and stir in spices.
4. Simmer, uncovered, 20-25 minutes until sauce is thickened and potatoes are tender.
5. Stir in peas and cook an additional 2-3 minutes until peas are heated through.
6. Serve over rice – I cooked mine with some of the extra coconut milk!

This is great as leftovers too! I was eating it cold out of the fridge while I waited for my pan to heat up I like that the sauce thickened up in the fridge, but since I had some coconut milk left, I went ahead and added some I heated the leftovers to create more sauce.

Garam masala is just a mix of several spices including coriander, cumin, and cinnamon. If you don’t have any, you could definitely just throw in some of these spices or add more curry powder.

For an update from my hotel grocery experience, here is a Chipotle-style burrito bowl that I created in my room Friday night.

Never mind that I ate the same thing for lunch Saturday on the way to the meet…and that I was tempted into going to Chipotle when we stopped for dinner Saturday night, where I got pretty much the same thing again. Black beans + guac never gets old.

 

 

on the road again April 27, 2012

Despite just getting back from a 5 day trip to California on Sunday, we are now in Iowa for another track meet! Luckily, this hotel is much nicer and more centrally located. After yet ANOTHER Subway foot long Veggie Delight last night (of which I have eaten no less than 5 in the past few days), I made it my mission to brave the sidewalk-less bridge that stood between our hotel and the grocery store. I decided to just scout it out while I ran and end my run at the store because I find that it is easier to deal with traffic when running than when walking. It totally ended up being easier than I thought with a wide median I could walk down.

With a little planning, it really isn’t all that hard to eat well on the road. We have a fridge and a microwave in our room, but I think I still could’ve done OK without those as well. First up – pre-cooked rice and quinoa!

These don’t have to be heated or anything and are the perfect base for a healthy meal on the go. I figured I could eat one tonight and then take one to the track tomorrow to have for lunch. You never know when or where the bus might stop, so I have found it’s best to just be prepared or else I end up starving and eating whatever I can find at the first gas station or random restaurant we stop at on the way home :/ This doesn’t just apply to track trips though – these ideas work well for any meal away from home, whether that be a road trip or just a day at work or school.

To go with my grains, I got some black bean soup.

This was only $3.50 and I can definitely get 2 meals out of it (with a little creative storage of leftovers in a coffee cup with lid ). There were also “just add hot water” options, but the price per ounce would have been much greater (grocery shopping nerd alert). I also didn’t think I’d be able to get hot water on the bus or at the track if that is where I decided to eat this.

To go with my bean + grain mixes, I also grabbed a jar of salsa and some guacamole, which was cheaper than the pricy, unripe avocados. I always have salsa on hand at home anyway, so it will be an added bonus to have some left.

For another meal, I got this:

I haven’t had this exact one, but their other varieties that I’ve had are awesome. And I figured that, if worse comes to worse, it wouldn’t be terrible if I didn’t get to heat it up first. Room temperature Indian food > random gas station/fast food any day.

For snacking, I grabbed baby carrots, a HUGE box of strawberries ($1.88!!), 2 mangos ($0.68!!), a few bananas, 2 Greek yogurts, and some granola. Oh, and some sparkling water There was also a great salad bar, so I grabbed a small salad for lunch today and was so impressed that I managed to not go nuts and end up with a $15 salad. Kept it at just over $4! With some of the homemade bread I brought from home + fruit, it was a great lunch! And much better than yet another $5 foot long from Subway.

Maybe I got some weird looks walking down the median in my running clothes with hands full of groceries, but I definitely saved money and the hassle of trying to find something decent to eat.

In the few days I was actually at home and able to cook my own meals, I came up with a great chickpea + potato curry dish that I’ll share soon! I have some leftovers and I might experiment with the spices a bit more, but I think it turned out pretty good

problem…solution April 24, 2012

I run a lot. Sometimes I need a little more than water to replenish after a hard workout or race.

Problem: Gatorade (and other sports drinks) contain a whole mess of high fructose corn syrup, brominated vegetable oil (??), and artificial colors. Plus, these drinks can be pretty caloric and I generally prefer to eat my calories rather than drink them. Not to mention that Gatorade generally gives me heart burn (because I’m 85 years old).

Solution:

I found this on a last minute trip to the (amazingly awesome) Dillons that just opened by my apartment (replacing the tiny, ancient Dillons across the parking lot) before leaving for a meet last week. I could tell I was desperately dehydrated (as usual) and that I needed some electrolytes in addition to just plain water but I just have trouble ignoring that Gatorade ingredient list. I mean, if I need my body to be functioning at its best for a competition, it doesn’t seem like the time to be filling it up with chemicals. This sports drink uses fruit and vegetable juices for flavor and color and has no shady ingredients.

**I also just stumbled across this natural Gatorade?! I haven’t seen it anywhere and it probably costs an arm and a leg, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out!**

Problem: It was $1.45 for this tiny bottle which I easily destroyed before I even got home.

Solution: Keep supporting companies like this so that some day natural sports drinks will be as affordable as the 75 cents for 32 ounces of Gatorade.

My hydration dilemma is not over.

Problem: I HATE water. Sure, it’s OK after a run or when it’s ice cold, but other than that, I struggle to get 48 ounces a day….96 ounces if I’m SUPER on top of it, but this rarely happens. Yes, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables and drink milk but I know I don’t drink nearly enough for someone who runs as much as I do, especially now that it’s getting warmer out. I’ve tried so many things to get myself to drink more and some have definitely worked (like having 2 water bottles, with one in the fridge getting nice and cold and one with me at all times) but most of the time, just the thought of drinking water makes me cringe. It just doesn’t sound good!

I notice a visible difference in how I feel throughout the day and while running when I’m dehydrated vs. hydrated, so this has to be fixed.

Solution:

I’ve known for awhile that I like this stuff (I could go to town on it when I was younger), but I haven’t drank pop in almost 7 years and a little part of me kind of viewed this as pop. It’s not. It’s sparkling water and for crying out loud if that’s what it takes for me to hydrate, then so be it.

Problem: The store brand (on the left) has some ingredients I’m not too excited about, mainly artificial sweetners. I’m not a fan of these because a) they have not been proven safe and the general consensus of the research I have read is to avoid them b) …they’re artificial. Not natural. Engineered in a lab. So, the natural foods aisle saved me again. Kind of. Right next to my new favorite sports drink was an organic sparkling water. Half the size and over twice as expensive (65 cents to $1.95). And? It didn’t taste nearly as good. In fact, I had to mix it with the other just to be able to drink it (otherwise it tasted like….water. Or plain sparkling water, to be more specific, which tastes even worse than plain water to me).

Solution: Stick with the cheaper sparkling water in small bits for now. It REALLY helped me hydrate and I figure that it certainly isn’t as bad as the Gatorade I might otherwise drink. And I won’t replace all of my water consumption with this. It’ll just help out if I have some around so I can drink a bottle on those days when water sounds particularly unappealing.

corn tortillas April 16, 2012

So, I just made my own corn tortillas!! And it was SO. easy. Who knew??

I planned on making Mexican tonight and thought of the corn tortillas in the fridge that never quite made it into the freezer because I got sick of trying to chisel a off a tortilla or two from the giant freezer burned mass every time I wanted to make chips. Stuff just lasts so darn long in the freezer…but then it gets freezer burn   Anyway, I had a feeling my non-frozen tortillas were past their prime. Of course, never one to waste, I planned to eat them anyway. Then I remembered these amazingly thick + delicious looking chips and the fact that I bought masa harina (corn flour) a few weeks ago, which happens to be pretty much the only ingredient for corn tortillas. No stale tortillas for me! Luckily, it was after this plan was devised that I discovered my probably stale refrigerated tortillas covered in milk that had leaked from my roommate’s shelf above mine in the fridge. Awesome.

These were so easy to throw together. It goes without saying that I didn’t wait the full hour to let the dough rest like the recipe on the package suggested, but they still turned out fantastic. I made 1/4 of the recipe to end up with 3 tortillas and, after cooking in a hot skillet, cut them up and toasted them in the toaster oven for tortilla chips. I really liked that I could control the thickness of the chips too because I am big on texture. I made one tortilla pretty thick, so those chips were a little chewier than the others and I loved them. You must try this! Masa harina is only a couple of dollars per bag and pretty easy to find at your local grocery store. Corn tortillas usually have a pretty reasonable ingredient list (unlike most flour or wheat tortillas), but you can’t get much better than corn flour, salt, and water. Besides, what could be better (and cheaper) than a nice homemade tortilla?

today’s lunch March 30, 2012

Today was one of those wonderful (rare) days where I get to run BEFORE I eat lunch. It is a glorious thing to be able to eat without worrying about paying for it later in the middle of an already painful workout. Somehow, I have managed to go the entire week without making bread, so I needed to be a little creative to come up with something substantial enough to refuel my tired muscles.

I tossed my sweet potato with olive oil, salt + pepper, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and onion powder before roasting it in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I topped it off with salsa, extra sharp white cheddar cheese, green onion, cilantro, and an over easy egg for some protein! What a flavor-packed, nutritious lunch. Don’t get me wrong – I do love my usual giant plate of fruits + veggies that seem to work with me the best for afternoon running, but this was an awesome change-up

Also, my friend just told me about this new show on PBS called Food Forward. It’s about our food system and how people are working to make it better by reducing processed foods and improving school lunches and what-not. I can’t wait to check it out! Click the link to watch a trailer! Now, I think I’ll go finish reading that Food Network Magazine up there

cinnamon sugar cake March 28, 2012

One of my teammates and training partners is from Mexico and wanted to learn how to bake, so we have been doing some “lessons” lately. I really love talking with her and learning more about her culture. Apparently baking is a very “American” thing to her. They aren’t big on sweets like cakes, cookies, and pies, so it is pretty special there if you know how to bake.

Anyway, I was sharing my new Joy the Baker cookbook with her and we started with some simple trail mix (a.k.a. monster) cookies. They were delicious and she was so surprised at how easy it was!

Next, she wanted to tackle a cake. I sent her  list of the various cake recipes I have and we decided to try something a little different – a cinnamon sugar cake with brown sugar buttercream.

It turned out great! My “student” was also surprised at how easy it was…and that we could make our own frosting that didn’t come out of a can!

I just love sharing my love of baking (and cooking!) with people and helping them learn how easy it is to make things from scratch rather than relying on processed foods from a box!

 

broccoli alert March 12, 2012

There have been so many new things going on in my kitchen, I don’t know where to start! First of all – have you ever tried Pepperplate?! Ummm…best app ever. I was looking for some kind of grocery shopping/recipe app and this was the first one I came across. I wanted one to help me actually buy ingredients so I could try new recipes instead of just looking at them and then never making them or forgetting one or two things. I couldn’t tell if it was legit or not but I downloaded it anyway and I love it!

On my computer, I have a little button on my bookmark toolbar that allows me to input recipes straight from websites. I mean, I don’t even have to copy and paste. All you do is hit the button and a side bar comes up, then you can just DRAG the info into the correct field (ingredients, instructions, picture, etc.). You can then add saved recipes to the different days/meals on your monthly planner, build menus, or even add to a shopping list – you can even scale the recipe (1/2, 1/4, double, etc.) BEFORE adding it to your list! It gets better. I have the app on my phone and my Kindle too, so I can see the shopping list (or even full recipes, if needed) while I’m at the store and I can prop my Kindle up in the kitchen with the recipe pulled up while I cook! The system was truly put to the test for the first time tonight and it was great!

Last week I selected this garbanzo bean salad that met all of my criteria for a good recipe – delicious, nutritious, easy, and nothing really crazy that I wouldn’t have on hand or wouldn’t be able to use for something else. Little stuff like specific oils, spices, etc. can really add up and just aren’t practical on my little college student grocery budget!

Oh my goodness gracious was this ever delicious. And filling! I cooked up some fluffy millet to go underneath and I already can’t wait to take care of the leftovers.

I also got a new cookbook last week – the Joy the Baker cookbook to be exact! Joy’s blog is one of my absolute favorites to read because she is so funny and real…and her food is AWESOME. I can’t even tell you how many of her recipes I’ve made and gotten rave reviews. In fact, I’ve had a request for her spiced apple cake (I REALLY need to get a bundt pan) that I will be making this week…even though I’d rather be working my way through the 100 new recipes in the cookbook! We did make some trail mix cookies on Saturday night while watching one of our teammates tear it up at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships though, so that’s one recipe down – 99 to go! The cookies were quite delicious and made for a perfect evening. Baking + track? Doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me

In other news, I wanted to make curried millet last week to use up some chickpeas…until I realize that I was out of millet. And curry powder. Problem. So, I winged it. I was going to sub rice but had to take one of my roommates to the store anyway and was able to pick up more millet. I made it more of a Mexican dish by subbing chili powder, cumin, and coriander for the curry and turmeric. I also added some diced bell pepper and swapped out the dried fruit for mango! I definitely didn’t have the spice combination quite right but I was hungry and it was certainly edible. I think with a little more tweaking though, I could be onto something! Definitely needed some lime juice. If you haven’t tried millet before, you must try it soon!

Oh. Can we take a minute to celebrate how light it is at night again?? This last picture was taken before that happened and it is a little depressing… Also, I am totally addicted to roasted broccoli. To the point where I (accidentally) spent over $6 on broccoli for the week awhile back. And I’ve started a roasted broccoli revolution among my roommates. At least one person makes it every night. EVEN my meat-and-potatoes-loving-don’t-feed-me-anything-colorful Iowa roommate. AND our smoke detector only goes off when broccoli comes out of the oven. We have re-named it the broccoli detector.

lunch March 3, 2012

I’ve probably said it a million times, but random meal combos are always the best. My lunch lately has consisted of a giant plate of fruits, veggies with some hummus, and a slice of bread because I have found that this seems to be the most agreeable with my stomach for afternoon practice (it only took my 5 years to figure this out…) But, seeing as how I usually do my grocery shopping on Saturday mornings, the options are slim on Fridays. I had an apple, a kiwi, a few carrots, no hummus, and no bread. I did have some wheatberries for a grain stand-in, as well as half of a lemon, 1/4 of an avocado, and some other random items. I just started throwing things together and ended up with this:

Wheat berries, tuna, black pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, diced avocado, and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese. I really wasn’t sure how this would taste but the saltiness of the cheese was perfect with the tuna. I can’t wait to eat this again!

This would be perfect for an on-the-go lunch too. Wheat berries are the whole grain of wheat before any processing occurs. Because of this, they are packed with fiber to fill you up, as well as other important vitamins and minerals, like manganese. You can’t get much closer to a whole grain than that! The tuna and avocado provide protein and healthy fats that, along with the fiber from the wheat berries, will fill you up and help you avoid that mid-afternoon slump. I balanced it out with some carrots and hummus (I ended up just going to thee store a day early) and some fruit (apple, kiwi, pineapple) on the side, which would also be easy to pack and take with you.

You could make this quick salad on the weekend, then portion into individual containers and it would be ready to grab as you run out the door in the morning. I also clean and cut things like pineapple, melon, or salad greens when I get home from the store so they’re easier to deal with when I want to make a quick lunch. Give it a try! I guarantee it is much more delicious satisfying than any pre-packaged or frozen meal out there…and there’s no waiting in line for the microwave required!

stars + soap boxes February 27, 2012

This weekend, I took a tropical fruit adventure into the world of starfruit! I’ve always wanted to try starfruit because they look delicious…and stars are my favorite shape They were on sale for 98 cents this week at the store, so it was the perfect opportunity to try one!

The verdict? Disappointed.

My roommate put it best – “I would buy one and cut it up to use as a fancy decoration on a plate, but then I would tell everyone ‘don’t eat it!!’” She also said it smelled like really good soap when we were smelling them in the store (everyone smells their fruit before buying it, right?), which was true…but that is also exactly how it tasted. It also had the texture of a watermelon. I was expecting somethings softer, smoother, and more tart. It was a fun little taste adventure though! Perhaps these exotic little fruits are better cooked?

Also, today I was reading an article about food labeling and the confusion that can be created by use  “all-natural” and other similar terms due to the fact that they are not regulated in any way (organic is really the only such term that is regulated). People tend to see this term and automatically think “healthy”, but I have seen all kinds of products with the term “all-natural” plastered on the front and wondered what on earth they were referring to.

The article had some frustrating statements such as wondering what “process” everyone was so afraid of regarding processed foods (hmm…perhaps that the original, perfectly healthy food that came out of the ground has been stripped of many nutrients and probably isn’t even recognizable anymore?) and another arguing that a minimally processed product made of butter and sugar is no healthier than a packaged “processed” dessert. I would actually argue that it is healthier. The processed dessert probably had all the fat removed/replaced and all kinds of other things added, making you unsatisfied with one serving and/or craving more. The minimally processed dessert may have *gasp* real butter (saturated fat) and sugar, but I can almost guarantee you don’t eat as much of it and you know there isn’t a barrage of chemicals or other man-made craziness (hydrogenated oils a.k.a. trans fats -  which are worse than saturated fats – for example) doing who knows what in your body. I would much rather enjoy one cookie/piece of cake, etc. made with real butter than 10 low-fat, low-calorie, sugar free, 500 ingredient desserts from a box meant to taste “just like your favorite dessert but without the guilt”. I will just take my favorite dessert in small quantities to be enjoyed on occasion please and I won’t feel guilty in the slightest.

Along these same lines, the article directed me to this page on the Whole Foods website that gave me just one more reason to wish I had one near-by. Label reading can be tedious, even for a grocery store nerd/foodie like me. I like that Whole Foods tries to make it one less thing for me to worry about by doing the bulk of the label reading for me!

I will get off my soap box now