Creating a Life & Creating Fun Recipes

October 31, 2013 By Laura

Who doesn’t love a holiday?

Especially one that lends itself to so many inappropriate jokes…

Step 1…

I know Halloween isn’t technically a holiday (i.e. we still have to work), but it one of my favorite festive events. I won’t be party-ing it up this year, so I’d like to ask all of you benevolent ghouls to have an extra drink/Reese’s pumpkin/costume fun for me.

Not to worry, I plan to taking a nice walk through a neighborhood to scope out the trick-or-treater costumes ~~while trying not to look like a creeper~~. Watching all the kids having so much fun in pursuit of a sugar-high is the best part anyway. Well, second only to knowing I don’t have to come home and try to put an over-stimulated child to bed. 😉

Kat is in the spirit too! She has some new to share… I think you’ll agree that she deserves to celebrate a little extra tonight…

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Creating a Life & Creating Fun Recipes

by: Kat

Even when you think you have it all figured out, you still have a chance to change and create.

It just occurred to me recently how much change has happened in my life this year that I don’t even really recognize my life (Editor’s note: that happened to me a couple of years ago… crazy, isn’t it?! Life is so good.). With all the changes happening, it is a chance to really think about how I want to create my life, and how I want to see thing unfold.

This year, I graduated, leaving the perceived safety of an academic environment, spent a summer barely working while studying for the bar, started a new relationship, our families of animals (3 dogs and 3 cats) have come together in one home (yes, I now have pet hair-I only had two hairless cats for the longest time)…

…and I’ve OFFICIALLY PASSED the bar, so I can try to stop working just part-time and really practice law. (Editor’s note: SO insanely proud of you. I can’t wait to celebrate your success!)

I got SWORN IN yesterday! This is me signing my attorney’s oath.

Now – how do I create my life so that it feels good – so I’m doing work that inspires me, motivates me, and fills me up? How do I navigate a home-space so different from where I was comfortable for so many years to have an even more comfortable, more happy environment? I have options, and I’m excited (and nervous!).

All of this change has sent me right back to therapy. (Editor’s note: you’re a smart girl – I should have done that when change was busting my balls.) I have an awesome new creative, holistic therapist helping me use my personality strengths so they can be guiding my new life (instead of letting those not so pretty reactive parts shine through)!

Also, Happy Halloween! To those of us not handing out candy…

And you can also get creative by being wickedly inappropriate. (Editor’s note: I think it’s a boy…)

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Or you can be boring like me and go about your daily life making recipes inspired by your cravings.

Lately, I have been craving EGGS. You can only eat so many over-easy eggs with toast in one week before you really want something different (Editor’s note: blasphemy!). I saved some sautéed peppers, onions, and mushrooms from a pizza night and used them to make this Pesto Omelette.

What I love about this recipe is that it really creates a great meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and it’s loaded with healthy fats, protein, minerals and vitamins. It’s also super fast, and the pesto/drunken goat cheese combo make it super special!

I have a ton of fall recipes I’m getting ready to hone in on and share. First is my Butternut Squash with Brown Butter Sage Sauce (Editor’s note: you needed a taste-tester for that, right???). This will be happening soon, along with a new surprise squash I’ll be getting with my next veggie delivery! So stay tuned!

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Pesto Omelette

2 large organic eggs
2 ½ T coconut milk
2-3 T sautéed veggies
Garlic salt, to taste
2 T pesto
2-3 T drunken goat cheese, sliced
2 T coconut oil
Sliced tomatoes (optional)

Preheat a nonstick pan over med-high heat and add coconut oil.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until they fluff up a bit, add the coconut milk and whip a little more (this is important for any fluff).

Pour the mixture into preheated pan, add garlic salt evenly over the entire mixture. Stir vigorously with a rubber spatula for 5 seconds, then add the sautéed veggies, cheese, and pesto to one half of the egg mixture.

Let it cook until you start to see that most of the eggs on the side without the veggies is forming a solid mass. Lift the pan so that the excess liquid/egg mixture distributes, and then use your spatula to loosen the edges from the pan.

Shake the pan to loosen the eggs, and slide the spatula under and around the side without the veggies. Let it cook for another 45 sec – 1:15 on each side.

Plate and serve with sliced tomatoes.

***

The thinkThin bar giveaway winner has been selected! Check out the original post to see if YOU won this treat.

What are you doing to create your life so that it feels good to you?

What exciting fall recipes or ingredients are you playing with?

Sexy Food + WIAW

October 30, 2013 By Laura

Food is sexy.

Food porn is a real thing.

But what about food costumes? Forget the “traditional” sexy cat. This article brought to light a new concept: sexy food Halloween costumes.

With costumes like this, sriracha has no need to invest in advertising!

Then we have bacon. Whats sexier than a salty piece of meat?

Sure, they’re good for a laugh… but would you really wear one of these costumes? I guess a lot of people would. If they didn’t make money, no one would sell them!

GiGi clearly thinks salad qualifies as sexy. (← hilarious video!)

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This WIAW I am 10 days from my next figure competition! My food may not be sexy in the traditional sense of the word, but it tasted pretty good! 🙂

Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else delicious creations!

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Breakfast:

As usual, I started the day I with my Aminos and ACV morning cocktail. I swear it’s more energizing than coffee.

My breakfast was a new effort to have a quick hot meal in the morning. I normally make my oats the old-fashioned way in a pot, but I decided to try a (partial) overnight protein-right creation. Overnight oats, microwaved in the morning with egg whites.

It worked really well! Even better was the almost-empty Nuttzo jar I transferred it to. Easy to eat in the car and even more decadently delicious when I reached the hot, creamy, nutty butter at the bottom. Food porn at its best!

Peanut-Coffee Oats in a Jar

1/4 C rolled oats
1/2 C coffee (I used peanut butter mocha flavor)
1 T peanut flour*
1 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
Stevia or other sweetener, to taste
1/2 C egg whites
Almost-empty nut butter jar (optional, but highly recommended)

In a small bowl mix oatmeal and spices. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, add egg whites and microwave to cook. I cooked mine in 3 30 second intervals, removing to stir each time so eggs blended in rather than scrambled

Pour into a jar, if using, and top as desired. I used strawberries.

*Peanut flour from iHerb. Use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order!

Mid-Morning Snack:

I have a serious addiction to my Chocolate Beet Protein Shake. Perfect post workout cool down, topped with rice cakes.

Protein shakes are great to make in advance and freeze to take to-go during the week. I pop it in the microwave on defrost of about a minute and a half and it’s the perfect spoon-eating consistency.

Lunch:

I’ve been craving red meat lately, so I bought super lean ground beef and mixed it with pico de gallo to make burgers.

Eaten atop an arugula and cucumber salad with a side of cassava (yuca) chips. ZooPals ears make for the perfect sexy chip holders.

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

I tried another new fish from the farmer’s market this week: perch. It’s pretty commonly found (I think), but I’ve never chosen it before. I love its richness, but perch is a small fish so there were quite a few teeny bones. At least I didn’t have to floss…

The veggies were a pre-roasted mix of carrots, purple sweet potato, asparagus, zucchini, and garlic. Eating the rainbow is sexy, no?

Dinner:

Dinner was a quick saute of white asparagus, turban squash, sugar peas, and sage in lemon juice, coconut oil, and paprika, along with baked chicken (made during Sunday food prep) and some unpictured almonds.

Dessert:

No more diary before my competition means no more Greek yogurt bowl desserts. And no more peanut butter (goodbye, Nuttzo).

This isn’t going to stop me from having dessert though! I made a Banana-Peanut Butter Mugcake using peanut flour and banana. I topped it with cocoa powder sauce. What’s sexier than a peanut butter, banana, and chocolate ménage à trois?

Banana Peanut Butter Mugcake

2 T peanut flour (or peanut butter)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp no sodium baking powder
1/2 small banana, mashed (~50g)
1 T unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 T egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
~4-5 drops NuNaturals vanilla liquid stevia
Optional: cocoa powder sauce

Place dry ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Add banana and wet ingredients and mix until smooth.

Transfer to a large, greased (I use PAM) coffee mug and microwave for ~1 min.

Tip the cake out onto a plate and top as desired. My cake was topped with cocoa powder sauce (cocoa + cinnamon + stevia + water), cacao nibs, and unsweetened coconut flakes.

Makes 1 cake.

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Don’t forget to enter the ThinkThin protein bar giveaway – contest ends at midnight!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Do you prep breakfast in advance? What is your favorite?

Pumpkin Rum Bread Pudding

November 29, 2011 By Laura

One Thanksgiving meal isn’t enough.

It only comes once a year – why limit yourself to just one wonderful meal on that day? Especially if you’ve just run 13.1 miles.

Friendsgiving part 2 occurred at one of may favorite local haunts – Diesel. It’s more of a bar, but does serve up some tasty food. Except on Thanksgiving. This holiday they were serving drinks and the feast was a potluck. BYOF.

Potluck Thanksgiving in a bar = BEST idea ever.

We had 21 feet of food (yes, measurements were taken). 3 turkeys (the spicy dry rub was wonderful), a duck, soups, stuffings, collards, mac ‘n cheeses, desserts… if you could imagine it, someone had brought it to share.

Those Tostidos didn’t get opened

Incredibly, most of the food was homemade and quite good. Better than average, in fact. I went back for ~~seconds~~ thirds.

The most fun to look at dish of the night:

Mac ‘n Cheese with a Bacon weave

Despite being totally stuffed, dessert remained my weak spot.

Let’s pretend I didn’t sample all of this

My contribution was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. In fact, I made it twice over Thanksgiving. Both times to an enthusiastic reception.

As soon as I laid eyes on chocolate chip Panettone I knew it was going into bread pudding. Pumpkin bread is better with chocolate chips… why not pumpkin in chocolate chip Panettone pudding? In the bar-potluck spirit, I added some booze – dark rum was made for sweets, IMHO.

Pre-bake photo opp

Half-baked

The pumpkin made this pudding especially creamy and the dark rum brought out the sweetness of the Panettone. Because it is a sweet bread, you don’t have to add a ton of sugar to this recipe – just 1/2 a cup in total.

I’ll even go out on a limb and say this is one of the best dishes I’ve ever made. I don’t say that about just anything!

My dish on display at Bargiving:

It’s all I can do not to make it again right now…

Pumpkin Rum Bread Pudding

by Laura Hall

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Keywords: bake dessert Panettone pumpkin rum Christmas Thanksgiving fall winter

Ingredients (16 servings)

1 chocolate chip Panettone, cut to ~2 in cubes (~7 cups)
1 C heavy whipping cream
1/2 C milk
1/2 stick salted butter (melted)
3 eggs
1 1/4 C pumpkin puree
3 T dark rum
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cubed bread in 9 x 12 pyrex.

In large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Add sugars and cinnamon and stir until combined. Pour evenly over bread and toss to ensure cubes are all covered.

Place in oven and bake for 40-50 mins, until pudding is set and top is beginning to brown. Allow to cool ~10 mins before serving.

Notes: You can use other types of breads, though you will want to increase the amount sugar (Panettone is a sweet bread). If you don’t like rum, you can cut back or omit it entirely.

***

Coming back to work this week was a terrible shock after 4 days off!

Are you still eating leftovers?

What is your favorite variety of bread pudding?

Halloween Pumpkin Roast

October 31, 2011 By Laura

Halloween is the perfect day for roasting pumpkin.

Touchdown!!! (John Bazemore/AP Photo)

Before I get into that tastiness, I need to talk a little football. In addition to being Halloween weekend, it was a HUGE football weekend. Georgia Tech‘s Homecoming game was against the undefeated Clemson Tigers. Tech won pretty 31-17, making me one happy girl Saturday night. 🙂

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Every fall people go crazy over the return of canned pumpkin to grocery store shelves. While the canned stuff is good (and convenient), it doesn’t hold a candle to homemade pumpkin puree.

Don’t use your jack-o-laterns for this.

Recycling is good, but those are different pumpkins. What you want to use is the smaller Sugar Pie Pumpkin, which has a sweeter, softer flesh. They can be found at most grocery stores.

Gutted and ready to roast

Yes, it is slightly more time-consuming than opening a can. The end result is well worth it. There is just something about the flavor and the texture that is much, much better. It will take your pumpkin pies and breads to a new level of delicious.

Post-Roast Pumpkin

You’ll notice a huge difference when using it for non-baking purposes too. I love mixing it in my Greek yogurt, smoothies, and pasta dishes.

Some people lick batter out of bowls… I may have done something similar with this pumpkin skin.

Yesterday I even mixed my pumpkin puree with coconut milk and cayenne and used it as a marinade for my tempeh before pan-frying it. Lunch doesn’t get more fall than that!

Pumpkin-encrusted tempeh salad

The puree can be portioned and frozen for later use (if you don’t eat it all at once). Pumpkin muffins year-round!

Pumpkin puree

The puree is decadent. Fresh pumpkin contains more moisture than canned, making the texture absolutely fabulous. You won’t be able to resist sprinkling some cinnamon and nutmeg on it for a mid-morning snack.

Perfect post-photo shoot snack

Don’t forget to save the seeds for roasting!

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It wasn’t a bad fitness week. Thank you all for your well-wishes regarding my injury. I did make the call not to run my portion of the relay. It was a tough decision, but I just literally couldn’t run more even a mile Saturday morning. Now I’m concentrating on healing up and being able to run the Half Marathon on Thanksgiving. I can’t believe its less than a month away!

Workout Recap (10/24-10/30)

Monday – 4 mile run, 6 min plank sequence, 100 push-ups
Tuesday – Biceps/Back, P90X Ab Ripper X, 100 push-ups
Wednesday – 100 push-ups
Thursday – 6 mile run, 100 push-ups
Friday – Triceps/Chest, Ab Ripper X
Saturday – Shoulders/Butt, 45 mins elliptical, 100 push-ups
Sunday – 15 mins abs, 45 mins stationary bike, 100 push-ups

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Roasted Pumpkin

1 sugar pie pumpkin
olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the “guts” (save the seeds to roast later), and then slice each half once to create a total of 4 pieces. Rub the wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet to bake for about an hour (or until tender).

Scoop the meat out of the skins and puree in food processor.

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Best costume of the weekend: Charlie Sheen with Goddesses.

What was the best costume you saw this weekend (or at work today)?

What food items commonly purchased pre-made do you like to make yourself?

Cinnamon Coffee and a PSA

October 29, 2011 By Laura

The Atlanta Marathon is this weekend.

I am supposed to relay it with a team of 4, running a 7.2 mile leg of it. Wellll… I went for a run on Thursday thinking if I could do 6 then I could certainly do 7. It was going really well – I felt good, no knee pain. Was my running mojo back?!

Celebration penalty. Around mile 5.5 I felt a little pop in my heel/ankle area. I stopped to stretch it out… and kept going only to have to stop again due to the pain. More stretching followed by a limp-run back home. Lots of ice and rest. Still pain.

Friday I had an appointment with my PT to continue therapy on my knee, so I asked him to take a look. He thinks I may have a pull or small tear in my Achilles area. Apparently there’s a muscle group back there (he said a bunch of big words I didn’t absorb) that feels jacked up. He put some electro-thing and ice on it to try to calm the inflammation… but it still hurts ~~like a b*tch~~.

I’m really concerned that I won’t be able to run at all tomorrow and I need to make that call this morning. Backing out last minute sucks, but I would rather do that than hurt my relay team (and myself) worse by failing to finish. So I’m going to try a short jog in a minute to see what I can do. *sigh*

First I need coffee.

Peet’s Coffee sent over some delicious roasts for me to sample as part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker’s program (but you know I’ll give my honest, unbiased opinion). I like to use cinnamon in my coffee, so I selected the Cafe Domingo to try first. I love adding cinnamon to (almost) anything with Latin flavor!

I prepare the coffee pot to make 4 cups. Before I hit start I add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to the grounds. It adds a little extra taste and smells amazing while brewing!

Peet’s Cafe Domingo was delicious – it was more smooth than many I’ve tried without compromising flavor. This is important to me because I drink my coffee black.

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Speaking of drinking…

…in case you are planning to drink this Halloween weekend, I have a little PSA for you.

Eat a lot of strawberries before and after indulging.

A European study done on rats concluded that strawberries can protect the stomach mucous membrane, which is harmed by drinking.

You’re welcome.

***

May I suggest Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal this morning? 🙂

What is the most cleaver Halloween costume you’ve seen?

Would you back out of a relay team or try to tough it out and run?

Creating a Life & Creating Fun Recipes

Creating a Life & Creating Fun Recipes

Pesto Omelette

Sexy Food + WIAW

Breakfast:

Peanut-Coffee Oats in a Jar

Mid-Morning Snack:

Lunch:

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

Dinner:

Dessert:

Banana Peanut Butter Mugcake

Pumpkin Rum Bread Pudding

Halloween Pumpkin Roast

Roasted Pumpkin

Cinnamon Coffee and a PSA

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