Sweet Potato Baked Oatmeal

January 21, 2013 By Laura

I am not a morning person.

That’s an understatement.

After hitting snooze too many a few times, I’m forced to race through my morning routine. I squeeze in a quick workout, shower, try to make my face look presentable for work, and inhale breakfast. This means I NEVER have time for something a decadent as baked oatmeal.

Then light bulb went off. Pre-Baked Oatmeal. I made this Raspberry version last spring, but wanted to create one for the winter months.

Sweet Potatoes are one of the seasonal items I most look forward to. The sweet potato helps to bind these bakes together, and provides a creamy texture that is excellent against the chewy rolled oats.

Aside from the pie-like taste they add, sweet potatoes also pack a ton of nutrients. They are rich in Vitamins B6, C, D, and are good sources of iron and magnesium.

When you freeze them, all you have to do is pull one or two out and pop it in the microwave to defrost. 45 seconds later you can be ~~shoveling~~ delicately eating your oatmeal on the run.

Yes, this baked oatmeal recipe was created to be made in advance to freeze… however, I dare you not to eat one hot out of the oven. I “iced” mine with a mixture of Greek yogurt, cinnamon, and a couple of drops of liquid Stevia.

Sweet Potato Baked Oatmeal

1 ½ C canned or mashed sweet potato
1 egg
½ tsp almond extract
¼ tsp maple extract
3 C rolled oats
1 T cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
20 drops liquid stevia
¾ C Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners, or grease with cooking spray.

Mix together sweet potato, egg, milk, and extracts. Stir in oats, spices, baking powder, and sweetener. Mix in milk and stir until combined.

Pour batter evenly into tins. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy a few fresh, and allow the remaining to cool completely before placing in a freezer bag for storage. For a quick breakfast, remove muffin from the freezer and microwave ~30 seconds (until warmed through).

Makes 12 muffins.

Notes:

Use a flax egg (1T ground flax + 3T water) to make the recipe vegan
Use Gluten-Free Oatmeal to make these gluten-free
Can sub ¼ C sugar for the Stevia
Using Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla rather than skim milk saves you 42 calories in this recipe

Be sure to check out Silk Pure Almond website and Facebook page to see more delicious, creative recipes!

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with Silk and FitFluential, LLC. All opinions are my own. Learn more about Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened on Facebook andTwitter.

***

Thank you all SO much for all of your support during the past weekend’s race. It was SO much fun, and we didn’t come in last. 🙂 I’m working on a recap!

Are you a morning person?

What is your favorite “quick” breakfast?

Strange But Good Mornings

January 18, 2013 By Laura

Strange doesn’t wait for 5 o’clock!

Neither does my mother… she’s in Mexico! 😉

Remember Kat’s “Amazing Kitchen Mistakes” post? We’ve been on the same wave-length eating similarly, so I apparently am also making happy accidents.

Have you ever under estimated how much is left in a bottle? I thought there was just a drop of butter extract left when I dumped it into my oatmeal… it was more like 1/2 a teaspoon. I thought I’d ruined it. Too much extract can be nauseating (and I don’t need more of that!). It turn out, too much butter extract in your oats is like eating cookie dough for breakfast. Strange, but unbelievably good.

Cookie Dough Oatmeal

1/2 C oatmeal
1 C water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp butter extract
1/4 tsp vanilla
5-6 drops liquid Stevia
1 T peanut flour (or nut butter, to taste)
My toppings: pomegranate arils, Greek yogurt, more cinnamon

Cook oatmeal as usual, adding flavors in the last 2-3 mins (or when your microwave finishes). Stir in peanut flour when just done, adding addition liquid as needed.

Add toppings. Inhale.

I’m not the first person to do eat quinoa in the morning… but it’s still uncommon enough to be strange. And it’s good!

What took me so long it beyond me, but quinoa for breakfast is amazing. If you haven’t tried it, you must. Particularly this cinnamon-y version. The heaping scoop of cinnamon with the coconut butter had me dreaming of an airport treat that shall not be named.

I just realized this looks a lot like the oatmeal above. I had a lot of pomegranate.* Sorry.

*Did you hear the FTC found “POM Wonderful health claims to be deceptive?”

Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Quinoa

1/2 C quinoa, cooked with a cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp coconut butter
1 tsp ground flax
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
Milk, to taste (I used ~ 1/8 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
My toppings: pomegranate arils, Morningstar maple breakfast sausage

Stir it all together, top with your favorites, and enjoy!

In order to kill two craving with one stone for Meal 2, I added a poached egg to the last of my mom’s Matzo Ball Soup. The strange part isn’t even the egg. It’s HOW I poached it. My lazy arse poached that thang in the microwave.

Let me be the first to tell you that runny, silky, yolk porn goodness streaming into a hot bowl of soup is heaven on a spoon. So good that I wanted to be spooned after it was over.

Microwave Poached Egg

1 egg
1/2 C water
1 T apple cider vinegar

Fill a small bowl (I used a cereal bowl) with water. Add 1 T of apple cider vinegar (this is important – it keeps the egg white intact). Microwave until boiling hot, about 2 mins.

Crack the egg and gently drop it into the water. Whites will begin to cook/thicken, and you may need to use a spoon to carefully direct them around the yolk.

Microwave for another 20-30 seconds. Remove immediately from water and place in soup, atop salad, on bread, etc.

Now for the link up! The rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above.

In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂

***

This time tomorrow I’ll be in a forest in FLA… in the midst of an 8-hour adventure race. Ahhhh! #strangebutcrazy

Also, I forgot to mention I was featured in FitFluential’s Ambassador Spotlight yesterday! Check it out here.

Have you ever made breakfast quinoa? What are your favorite mix-ins?

What #strangebutgood creations have you enjoyed lately?

Cramming 101: Endurance Training and Recovery

January 17, 2013 By Laura

Endurance isn’t for the weak.

It also probably should not be prepared for in a cram session.

This Saturday I’m doing an adventure/orienteering race that my cousin talked me in to. 8 hours in the woods with a GPS. They give you the start, the finish, and a couple of mandatory check points along the way. It will be running, hiking, mountain biking, and canoeing. ~~I hope I live.~~

Some of you may not know it, but before I got into lifting seriously, I was a runner. I was a decently fast 5K’er, loved adventure races (hellllloooo Tough Mudder) and ran a few Halfs. I wanted to run a full but one day my knee said no. If I ever want to run distances again I need to have surgery. That won’t be happening.

All of this to say, I haven’t been running in 8 months! Saturday that changed. My cousin recommended I get 6 hours of continuous exercise/training in before the race. Cramming.

Kat agreed to keep me company for half of that by taking me on one of her trail run/hikes.

Kat and Me

13 STEEP miles in 3 hours. We hiked up steep incline filled with wet leaves, leapt over creeks, and ran power lines. It was the perfect day for it – record high 75 degree temps and partly cloudy.

~~I was sore half way through.~~

Nutrition is something I struggle with. I have a hard time eating or drinking during a run – it makes me slosh and cramp. In our 3 hour run, I just ate a mini über Lara Bar (the one with the nuts) and sipped some water. Will have to be sure to take in more fuel while biking and canoeing this weekend.

We finished (thank you, Kat, for being patient with me) and did a little yoga to loosen up. I chugged water.

Kat dropped me at my place where I ran up to pee, change shoes, and eat. In that order.

I broke out an old favorite for fuel:

Sweet Potato “Cereal”

1/2 sweet potato, bakes and cubed
1 scoop protein powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Unsweetened almond milk

Place sweet potato in a cereal bowl. Mix together remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, adding milk until the mixture thins to a milk consistency.

Pour protein milk over the ‘taters and inhale.

Then I grabbed my bike, water bottle, and a GU and took off. (Note: Espresso GU is tasty!)

Gingerly set out may be a better way to describe it. I was tired. What I considered to be “flat” ground before seems quite hilly. I rode about 15 miles (had to stop for air in my tires and forgot to re-start my RunKeeper app). After I loosened up a bit, it turned into a fun ride. I followed Atlanta’s new Beltline Path and got to see the city in a whole new way. I even took a tour to ride the Krog Street Tunnel (infamous for its graffiti):

Krog Street Tunnel

I decided to get back on the path and head back when I rode past a woman on her porch yelling at her neighbor, “Don’t mess with me or I will HURT your dog!” Scary lady.

Honestly, after I got back within a mile of my place I’d convinced myself to call it quits at 5 hours. I was tired, sore, bored, and hungry. Then I ran into Carol and her sweet puppy Bailey! She was walking home from an afternoon at the dog park, so I joined her to catch up. 30 mins walking there, then another 30 back to my house = 6 hours DONE.

When I got home I was famished. I would have eaten my right hand (I’m left-handed). Instead, I stood in the door of my fridge and ate half a rotisserie chicken with my bare hands. After washing my hands, of course.

Then I cleaned my sticky self:

And finally it was dinner time. Burger topped with avocado, black bean dip, jalapeno, and pico de gallo, with a side of house-made crinkly-crispy sweet potato fries dipped in sriracha and mustard. Then… there may have been an (unpictured) apple pie milkshake. I’ve been boycotting the burger trend (I HATE Yeah! Burger), but Grindhouse Killer Burgers changed my mind.

Yes, it’s Junk-Free January. I needed calories… and it was junk-free-ish. The meat for the burger is freshly ground by a small North Carolina producer and delivered every day, and the bun is a soft potato roll made by a Pennsylvania Dutch bakery. The sauces are homemade. The shakes are homemade. I have no regrets.

Then I crashed. And got hungry again. Banana. Cottage Cheese. Protein powder. Cinnamon. Face plant in bed.

Then, in the wee hours of Monday morning, I got the stomach flu. I think I would have gotten sick despite the cram session… but it probably didn’t help. In the future, I’ll plan better. Thank you all SO much for the well-wishes!

2 days ’til race day!!! I’m eating my carbs and doing to light workouts to prepare.

***

I was nominated for something I’m really excited about: Top Health and Fitness Blog of 2013. I’d be honored to have your vote! It’s really easy – no registration required. Click here to Vote.

How do you fuel before/during/after races?

What is the toughest race/physical activity you’ve ever done?

Coca-Cola’s Anti-Obesity Campaign + WIAW

January 16, 2013 By Laura

Coca-Cola is fighting obesity?!

Something feels fishy.

When you make your money by selling sugar… can you really be an anti-obesity voice?

[pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”30%”]”The biggest single source contributor to child and adult obesity in the USA is sugar-sweetened beverages,” says Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.[/pullquote]

Monday night Coca-Cola will begin airing a two-minute video on several national cable networks, It talks about the range of beverages produced by Coca-Cola, and how they voluntarily began offering water, juice, and lower calorie options (let’s not talk about the additives in diet drinks…) in schools.

Damage control? Most certainly. But should we complain or be happy they are making a positive move, regardless of the motivation?

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This WIAW post is terrible. I admit it. I’m doing what I can to eat anything at all in order to recover from this stomach bug. There weren’t any real “meals, ” so I’m calling them all snacks.

I did eat all of this randomness with blessing from my trainer:

Be sure to click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see everyone else’s (more appetizing) meals!

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Snack 1:

I wasn’t sure what to expect from my stomach when I woke up, but I figured kombucha green tea and a couple of Go Raw Spirulina Super Chips.

Snack 2:

Crackers stayed down so I decided to move on to bread. Half an English muffin made by my mom with TONS of peanut butter and some fig jam. It was the jam.

Snack 3:

I had to go home (Mom’s Internet is down = deal breaker), but mom sent me with homemade matzoh ball soup. I swear this is the perfect sick food.

Mom makes the best matzoh ever. And we’re not Jewish.

I chased that with a Lemon-Ginger Kombucha. Reed’s was a new brand to me. I liked it, but Buchi Fire remains my #1.

Snack 4:

Right before my next feeding, I got an email from my concierge that a package had arrived. My iHerb delivery!!! I shuffled down to collect it, and made snack #2 with some of its contents.

Peanut flour
Growing Naturals’ Chocolate Protein Powder (SO good!)
CarbRite bars
Collagen
Probiotics
Resveratrol (antioxidant… and “supposedly” anti-aging)
Creatine (I’m going to try it… stand by)

If you haven’t tried peanut flour or the Growing Natural’s rice protein yet, I highly recommend both! Use code USO924 for $5-10 off your order.

The thing about being sick is that you end up carb-loading. I needed some green and protein to help me heal! A green smoothie bowl with my replenished protein powder was in order.

Healing Green Smoothie

2 C raw spinach
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1/2 banana
1/2 in piece fresh ginger
1 stick fresh cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp ground)
Pinch of Guar Gum
Ice + water, to taste
Toppings: pomegranate arils and oats

I put it all in the Vitamix and let it run until I had “ice cream.”

FYI: banana and ginger are both tummy-soothers, cinnamon is anti-bacterial, and pomegranates are antioxidents!

Snack 5:

Anything involving peanut butter sounded good to me today. Apples are good for the tummy. Naturally I needed to have both.

Mom had been telling me to eat Greek yogurt for the probiotics… that sour-ish taste didn’t appeal to me, but I finally found a way I could do it: Apples and zucchini with Peanut Yogurt Dip.

Peanut Yogurt Dip

1/4 C Greek yogurt
2 T peanut flour
3-4 drops liquid Stevia
Unsweetened almond milk (to desired consistency, ~2 T)

Meal 6:

I don’t know why this sounded good, but I wanted something chocolate. I mixed up the dregs of a cottage cheese container with 1/2 scoop of my chocolate protein powder and some almond milk. Then I crushed a rogue bag of airplane pretzels on top. Tasty.

***

The protein count for the day: I have NO idea.

Don’t forget to join the Strange But Good link up this Friday!!! 🙂

What do you think about Coke’s anti-obesity ads?

What is your comfort food when you have a tummy thing?

Flu Fighting + Oatmeal Cookie Shake

January 15, 2013 By Laura

This was going to be an “easier” week leading up to my big race Saturday.

I just didn’t realize how easy…

About 1:30am on Sunday I got sick. Stomach flu sick. Hence the super-late post today.

At 4am I was a little worried I was going to pass out and texted to see if my mom was awake. The woman never sleeps, I swear. She was at my door in 30 mins. Yup, I’m almost 30 and I call my mom when I’m sick.

I actually feel really lucky that I didn’t get it worse. My little sister had it last week and she was in the ER getting fluids! When I felt like I could make it in the car, Mom took me back to her house where she nursed me back to health.

Ginger Kombucha with bananas. And a flamingo. Sure to make the sickest patient smile. I ♥ my mom.

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Enough unpleasantry! Let’s drink cookie shakes!

You may remember this creation from last year… it is on my “sick craving” list today. Thankfully, it’s one that would actually be good on my tummy since it uses Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla and bananas (bananas are good on an upset tummy, FYI).

Appropriate for breakfast or dessert, this is one tasty batter. The mix of oats, banana, flax, and coconut flour give it a fabulously doughy texture. I almost wanted to put the mix in the oven once I blended it.

Nutritional yeast may seem like a weird addition, but it has a rich, nutty taste that compliments the sweet flavors in this dough. The vanilla and cinnamon add to the cookie flavor, and – if you have it – the butter extract just adds a hint of “fresh from the oven.”

Oatmeal Cookie Shake

1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/4 C rolled oats (use gluten-free for a GF shake)
1/2 banana
1.5 tsp ground flax
1 T coconut flour
1.5 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp butter extract
7-8 drops liquid stevia
1/2 C Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla
Ice, to taste
1/8 tsp Guar Gum (optional, but this addition will make your smoothie thicker)
Toppings: crushed walnuts, raisins, cacao nibs (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a high-seed blender and blend until smooth.

Add toppings and drink your dough!

Notes:

Nutrition will vary based on the protein powder you use.
You may leave out the protein powder; however, I like the addition because protein is good for muscle building/recovery and it makes this even more filling.
Using Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla rather than skim milk saves you 25 calories in this recipe

Be sure to check out Silk Pure Almond website and Facebook page to see more delicious, creative recipes!

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with Silk and FitFluential, LLC. All opinions are my own. Learn more about Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened on Facebook and Twitter.

***

The endurance cram-session post is coming. I swear… unforseen circumstances. Ugh.

Do you have a stomach bug miracle cure? I have to be 100% by Saturday!

What is your favorite milk? I will never go back to regular again.

High Fat Fail + 5-Spice Roasted Veggies

January 14, 2013 By Laura

Ever think something sounds fun… only to learn it is just the opposite?

I wish I didn’t make this mistake so often…

Last week I decided to experiment with a high-fat/low-carb diet. Nut butter, oils, avocados, nuts, egg yolks, red meat… it sounded like a brilliant idea! Notsomuch.

Nut butter needs toast or oats. ‘Nough said. It turns out that all of those thing are delicious… but much better with a carb. Runny eggs need a piece of bread to soak up the goop.

Red meat is better on a bun… but this was still good:

But it wasn’t just the carbs that had me regretting the high fat thing. Regret is the wrong word. I learned a lot, and I do not regret that. Here are the side effects:

Constipation – this was the worst; I am grumpy without a good morning poop (TMI?)
Gas/Bloating – I could clear a room in 5 seconds
Lower energy – I felt like I was in slow motion
Slower muscle recovery time – leg day soreness lasted FIVE days
Hunger – fat digests faster than carbs, so I would eat and be hungry an hour later
Lower veggie intake – veggies have carbs and I found myself cutting them in order to keep my carbs low
Flat muscles – even after a hard bicep day I didn’t have the same “pump” I usually do

Hard workout, yet pretty flat-looking

PLEASE do not take this as a deterrent if you are on/want to try a higher fat diet yourself. Like I said in the ab/nutrition post, diet is personal. This was just my experience. Don’t be afraid to experiment! You will learn a lot about your body.

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One of my favorite things about Heather’s Meatless Monday challenge is that it forces me to try new things. Like this week – Turnips.

I know I’ve had turnips before… but I can’t remember when! After a little research I learned that turnips are a lot like rutabagas, and have a potato-like taste (but better…. I hate potatoes). Long ago I made Rutabaga Fries, complete with a vegan cheese sauce. I liked it, but for some reason I don’t often buy veggies in that family.

Sunday while on my weekly grocery trip I picked up a turnip. When I got home I realized I had no idea what to do with it… but with potato on the brain, I decided to make a roasted veggie dish using another fun find: a purple sweet potato! It tastes a lot like a sweet potato, but slightly less sweet.

I diced my new finds and tossed them with the usual suspects: oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, and rosemary. Then I decided that such cool veggies couldn’t be treated in such a pedestrian manner. And that’s how I ended up with Roasted Turnips & Purple Sweet Potatoes with Five-Spice. And brussels, but that’s too long of a title. 😉

A little sweet from the ‘taters, heat from Chinese 5-Spice, and a whole lot of staying-power from the starchy. I’ll be enjoying this in my packed lunches at work all week. If it lasts that long.

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Five-Spice Roasted Turnips & Purple Sweet Potatoes

1 turnip
1 purple sweet potato (can use regular sweet potato)
1/4 C red onion
1 T fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp olive oil extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder*

Preheat to 450°F.

Slice turnips and potato into 1/2-inch-thick cubes. Toss with onion, rosemary, oil, garlic, and 5-spice in a roasting pan until well coated.

Roast for 20-25 mins, stirring once halfway through.

*Note: Chinese 5-spice can be found at most major grocery stores and Asian markets. It’s a blend of Szechuan pepper, cinnamon, fennel seed, cloves and star anise.

***

I told some of you today would be it, but the 6 hour endurance training cram session recap is coming tomorrow… sorry!

Have you experimented with your diet? What did you learn?

Have you ever seen a purple sweet potato?

Strange But Good Re-Imaginations

January 11, 2013 By Laura

Strange doesn’t have to mean all-new.

Things I’ve been doing for years are strange. ~~Just ask my mother.~~

Many of my recent Strange But Good recipe creations were born out of old favorites. Re-imaginations, if you will.

Oatmeal has always been a sweet treat for me. When we had oatmeal as a kid (usually on a Brinner night), it was doused with brown sugar and raisins. And butter. When mom wasn’t looking, I added more. ~~I cannot believe I’m on obese.~~

I’ve seen versions of savory oats on Instagram and finally had to try it for myself. Boy, am I glad I did!

I took my davory oats in the direction of Mexico. I did cook my oats with cinnamon, but the toppings made that cinnamon a savory compliment.

Savory Mexican Oatmeal

1/2 C oatmeal (cooked)
Cinnamon, to taste
Runny egg
Black bean salsa
Cumin
Nutritional Yeast

Prepare oatmeal as usual, adding cinnamon. Place cooked oatmeal in a bowl and add toppings. Devour.

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Cauliflower pizzas have been an obsession for a while now. I took my (cheese-less) crust and topped it with seafood Strange But Goodness:

Salmon Cauliflower Pizza

Cauliflower pizza crust
Wasabi paste
Salmon
Spinach
Yellow Pepper
Red Onion

The following day I repeated the crust recipe, except I turned it into pizza minis! These were awesome to keep in the fridge during the week for little pizzas, or re-heated under the broiler to make crackers for my salad.

One Cauliflower Crust recipe gives you 4 minis.

Mini Cauliflower Pizzas

Cauliflower Crust Crackers with a trout-broccoli slaw salad

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You guys saw this Simply Snackin’ jerky on WIAW. That one was a Strange But Good Flavor – Beef with Cranberry and Blueberry.

Yesterday I tried another version. This one is Teriyaki Chicken with Mango and Papayas. I can’t get over how good these are! Fruit in jerky… who would have thought?!

The company is offering a discount of you’d like to try them for yourself. Enter SSjan2013 for 10% off at check out.

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Now for the link up! The rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instragrams of your creations. 🙂

***

Junk-Free January is still going strong! I've been experimenting with a high-fat diet... and I'll post about that on Monday. It's been an adventure.

Have you ever made savory oats?

What have you eaten lately that's earned you stares from co-workers/family/friends?

Setting the Tone for a New Year + Amazing Kitchen Mistakes

January 10, 2013 By Laura

Life is full of failures.

I am going to discuss one on Monday, in fact.

Sometimes they are happy accidents! One of my favorite stir-frys happened because I couldn’t figure out how to use my spiralizer. This Indian Ginger Tempeh Stir-Fry happened when I wanted zucchini pasta but failed to spiralize:

Or how about last week when I accidentally sprouted a spaghetti squash I’d planned for my meal? That forced me to come up with this Sweet Potato Chicken Salad Strange But Good (don’t forget tomorrow’s link up!) creation:

Breaking my jaw playing roller derby was a fail… but without that experience I would have never come up with one of my favorite oatmeal discoveries: Blueberry Pie. Made smooth enough to slurp thanks to an immersion blender.

Jaw-breaking in action.

Or how about when you leave for vacation thinking you’re going to Argentina, but end up in Chile? That was one FUN fail!

All that said, don’t be too discouraged by fails. Trust in what will be and happy accidents you shall see.

And now I’ll shut up and let Kat tell you about hers!

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Because I blog bi-weekly, this is my first opportunity to say, “Happy New Year!”

I had an A-typical New Year’s Eve, which I used to help me set the tone for the year. I went to a hot yoga class that lasted from 10:30pm-12:15am. Yep, meditating, thinking about goals, who I am, who I have been, and who I want to be this year. It was amazing! I felt centered, and was happy to bring in the New Year thinking about health, community, and grounded-ness. (Editor’s note: Remind me to do this next year.)

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

I want to share a couple of my goals, so you all can partially hold me accountable. First, I want to say, “No,” more often – in work, in family, and in social aspects of my life. This seems easy for a lot of people, but it give me knots in my stomach just to think about possibly disappointing someone.

This goal is in support of my second goal, to stop stretching myself so thin. I tend to take on way too much, and some things I do become a little bit less “quality.” So, in order to enjoy what I do more, and to have more quality, I have to reduce quantity. These are lofty goals. I also started a journal for the first time since I was 12, to help keep me working towards my goals and thinking about them often.

I later got to celebrate with a holiday party, a West Side Story theme. I got to get all dolled-up, and I was SO excited to get dressed up and dance the night away. My feet and legs were definitely sore afterwards!

I’m also back on track with all of my runs and work outs. I didn’t mention it, but December was rough for me and threw me through a loop.

I’ve also been cooking at home like a madwoman! I had a New Years Day party with mocktails and healthy food to start the New Year catching up with a few friends.

Many didn’t make it due to hangovers and being out way too late, but it was still fun! The mocktails were delicious, but too sweet, and kept me up all night from sugar! I made Indian food, pop-corn (Kat-classic), and a number of other fun dishes with lots of fresh fruit and veggies.

Eating and cooking more at home, for me, means many unplanned meals, sometimes just throwing whatever I have in my fridge together, and last week, amazing kitchen mistakes!

I was making dinner for a friend this week, and I had left over quinoa and brown rice, extra fresh broccolini, kale, and sweet potatoes, and some random tofu. So I just got started, and this is what ended up happening:

Amazing Kitchen Mistake

I sautéed the veggies with fresh ginger and garlic, re-heated the quinoa/brown rice combo (about 75% quinoa, 25% brown rice), and felt like the dish needed something else. Tofu. The tofu preparation was the amazing mistake. I wanted to sort of “fry” it, so I coated it with some brown rice flour mixed with cayenne, salt, and white pepper. I carefully coated each cube and placed it on a plate for frying. But I totally forgot cornstarch! This would have gotten the flour mixture to stick to the tofu and fry properly. Instead, when I put it in the hot coconut oil, the flour started to stick to the bottom, and it wasn’t going very well.

So, to save the tofu, I took part of a box of Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger Soup and poured some in the pan with the tofu, stirred and scrambled the tofu with the soup and flour mixture, let it simmer, and made THE most delicious scrambled tofu I have ever had. (Editor’s note: will you plase make me a mistake too?)

Amazing Tofu Carrot-Ginger Scramble (Mistake)

1 block firm Tofu, 1 in cubes (which are later scrambled)
½ C brown rice flour
Salt, Cayenne and White Pepper to taste
2 T Coconut Oil (for frying)
~ ½ cup of Carrot-Ginger Soup (Trader Joe’s or Imagine Brand)

Follow the directions above and serve with the brown rice/quinoa mixture and sautéed veggies! This was definitely a healthy meal too!

It feels good to give. I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t also say that I’m donating blood today. It’s SO important. I also tend to be low-iron so I’ve had an iron-packed diet this week.

Note some things you should eat to pump up your iron (Editor’s note: I read this in an Arnola accent):

Sunflower seeds
Sun-dried tomatoes
Lentils
Raisins
Black beans
Pumpkin seeds

All of these give you almost as much iron as a big steak, and is less harmful to your body if you ingest too much iron because they contain nonheme iron. They also give you more per serving than the dark, leafy greens that are often recommended. If you eat whatever, nothing can compare to the iron-filled foods like liver, clams and mussels. And don’t forget dark chocolate and cocoa powder! Check out their nutrition facts for confirmation!

Additionally, I have a theory about blood donation for my own health. I think it promotes cell-regeneration throughout my own body! Do something good for others, while doing something good for yourself!

***

I echo Kat’s thoughts on the importance of blood donation. My dad suffered from cancer for 4.5 years and made it as long as he did largely in part to blood, platlet, and bone marrow doners. Click here for more info on becoming a marrow donor. It only takes a cotton swab!

What amazing kitchen mistakes have you had that you want to share?

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Snack 1:

Snack 2:

Snack 3:

Snack 4:

Healing Green Smoothie

Snack 5:

Peanut Yogurt Dip

Meal 6:

Flu Fighting + Oatmeal Cookie Shake

Oatmeal Cookie Shake

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