forgotten blog site

Hello blog,

I nearly forgot you existed.  I haven't had any food revelations lately...greek yogurt, chia seeds, peanut butter and chocolate fiber bars, a whole lot of fish...It sounds like a healthy diet, except for the inordinate amount of chocolate I manage to consume during the day.

There's been a steady supply of coconut water in my fridge.  Mango juice has also made a reappearance.  Both have a good percentage of potassium.  I'm trying to find a good way to add electrolytes without the calories.  I was introduced to smart water not too long ago.  I made the mistake of leaving the hotel one day without a source of hydration.  I was dizzy and light headed by the end of the day. (Not that water or fluids weren't available elsewhere.  With all the walking we were doing, I just wasn't drinking enough.) It really helped with hydration while I was travelling.   It's currently on sale at Target, so I added a (small) supply of it to my pantry.

I got five pound of ruby red grapefruit yesterday.  I ate one this morning, and they are delicious.  I love citrus season.  Louisiana only had satsumas which I wasn't super impressed by.  Yay Florida.

I'm Bad With Change

Was it ever the case that comments could be seen from the main page, without having to click on the individual post or the comment link on a post?  Because I would like that better.

Hi blog.  Do you miss us?  :(

Fall 2012 Foodie Goals!

Now that I'm going to be living in Tampa, I hope to have friends again.  Also, now that I am free from New Orleans, my hair won't hate the water anymore and I can switch back to a natural shampoo.  Perhaps even no pooing.  We'll see about that.  I really got away from my natural habits in New Orleans because it was hard to find natural products and I didn't have much success with them.

I would really like to join a CSA in Tampa, but it's so expensive up front (like $500) - and I'm broke after this move, new apartment, etc.  It's no secret that I'm thrilled to have Publix back in my life, but I hope to shop for produce at this cute little farm stand near my house.

Chia is definitely something I need to add back into my life.  Fiber in general actually (sorry Carolyn, I know your issues with fiber).

Drinking more water is a serious goal too.  I was really bad at that this summer at Trinita - and just haven't gotten back on track.  It's rough being homeless, yo.  My schedule is all out of whack.  My stuff is all over the place.  It's like constant chaos.  But it all ends tomorrow.

I can't think of anything else for this right now - but I'm sure there are more goals.  Comment or edit to add yours!

Several New Things

So, "recently," I've tried several new things.  The picture on the left was stage one - a preliminary but momentous event.  Stage one included making Choffy and keeping a good supply in the refrigerator so that I didn't have to clean that french press everytime I wanted a cup!  (This idea, as well as the knowledge that you can unscrew the bottom of the press part to clean it is owed entirely to Eileen.)  Also, I finished off a bag of quinoa, cooking it just in plain water and crushed red pepper.  It was pretty good.  I also ended up adding to it some of the Trader Joe's low sodium chicken stock goo that I got when I went there with Sharon.  It was fantastic, and I still have several packets left and they don't expire until next year!

Finally, the most momentous part of all of stage 1 - discovering and cleaning the BLENDER!  We have had a blender this whole time!  Oh my gosh!!  Of course, I didn't have any berries yet nor did I quite know how to use the thing, but it was a good find.

Picture 2, Stage 2: Mastering the Blender.  It turns out that if you are trying to blend frozen berries and ice cream instead of yogurt, they both have to be warmed up a little first.  This was my fourth go at it, I was an expert at this point.  The bags of frozen mixed berries say they contain 4.5 servings, so I open a bag and split it as evenly as I can estimate into two freezer ziploc bags.  So hopefully over two servings of fruit in each bag.  Then I leave one bag in the fridge overnight before I make the stuff.  The next day I put a big bowl of ice cream in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.  Then I blend them together and split that mixture in two, eating one immediately and putting one in a cup in the fridge for the next day.  The "pint" shown is the whole shebang, two days and two servings worth.  The first time I made it I had reservations about the taste - I thought I might have to use chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.  But now I really like it!  In fact, when I ate this batch I thought, "I can really taste the vanilla in this - I could use even less ice cream."  Also, I've been adding a teaspoon of chia seeds to the mixture when I eat it.  A good way to up the intake without making that gel too thick to drink.  I think it also helps the smoothie stick with you longer.  That is all I have for now, enjoy!

afternoon snack

I've been looking for things to munch on today and decided to try a ginger syrup I found at the health food store.  A healthy way to do this can be tricky since 1/4 cup of the syrup is 60g of sugar.  I came up with this:

1 cup of greek yogurt
a handful of blueberries
about 1/4 mango chopped
1 tablespoon of ginger syrup drizzled over the top

It was yummy goodness.  I should have taken a picture before hand.  Perhaps I'll try it again tomorrow.

edit: I was at the market today and had an epiphany.  Dried fruit!  It travels well and goes well with yogurt.

Chia gel

I was making dinner and realized I forgot my morning chia seed dose. I added the gel to my dinner, and it worked out very well. The seeds were moderately visible and there was very little difference in texture...much better than if I had taken a tablespoon of pure seeds and added it to the entree.

Updating...

Okay, this is going to be a weak update.  I have no pictures prepared.  However, I can say that I'm still using the chia seed.  It was featured again on Dr. Oz somewhat recently.  I was SO EXCITED.  I'll have to look for the clip on his website and put it up here.  He was basically talking about how it was good for keeping you feeling full and kind of off-handedly mentioned that it was good for your heart as well.  But I can say that I had to have a full physical in August, and my doctor was really impressed.  I don't have numbers on my cholesterol and blood pressure etc. from previous physicals to compare, but I know that before this August she always commented that she can tell I work out and I'm healthy.  This time, she actually said "wow" twice, and she said it like she meant it.  Apparently, my triglycerides were fantastic.  So take that anecdote for whatever you think it's worth.

I regret to report that I actually have not been working out much since the semester started.  I feel very stressed and crunched for time.  I haven't made my hearty breakfast soup much either, so I'm pretty much counting on improving the quality of what I'm eating and how I'm exercising in December.  This is not a good trend.  Although, I finally got to the point where I said I have to stop all homework no matter what at 10pm, so I am getting a decent amount of sleep.

Choffy.  More on that later.  :)


Carolyn

We will update the blog THIS WEEK!

I don't have much to say about healthy things - except that I've been eating a lot of oatmeal lately and hope to participate in a half marathon in February. The oatmeal, while I prefer to soak it overnight (although 24 hours is better) to neutralize phytic acid which impedes nutrient absorption, I sometimes just cook in the morning. It is so fast! I always thought it would take a long time; it doesn't. And I eat it with brown sugar and walnuts - and think of oatmeal mornings at Trinita. OK, I never actually at oatmeal at Trinita before this summer, but whatever. I had so many Trinita firsts this summer: oatmeal, BINGO, Spanish-speaking children, buying cigarettes for the families, I'm sure there were more.

I need to go ahead and register for the half marathon. Now, I do not plan to run the entire thing, or maybe even any of it. You just have to be able to maintain a 16 minute mile pace. I can do that walking. It's at Disney. I have no idea why it sounded like a good idea - but now I'm kind of excited for it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/greek-gazpacho-recipe/index.html

This is something I'm really looking forward to making when I get back to NOLA next week. It sounds so cool and delicious, not to mention full of veggies. A perfect end of summer treat.

Carolyn and I were talking about coming up with different things that we can write about weekly on the blog regarding food, health, etc.

I frequently read www.kitchenstewardship.com and Katie, the lady who owns the blog, is completely on our same wavelength - plus has an EXTENSIVE blog about it. You may want to check it out. I'm interested in learning more about soaking grains - but I'm also going to try to eat "nothing white" once I head back to school so I'm not sure those who go together.

Speaking of Trinita and health and being crazy.....

I am just wondering what food errors are being made in the middle room???? Are there Little Debbie Nutty bars by the thousands??? Are there endless M and M pretzels being consumed??? On the upswing, there must be fruit around because of the theme.

I, myself, just bought a half gallon of butter pecan. This is a really bad thing. The good thing is that it is all natural......lol Well, that doesn't help when I finish a cone and then go back for a little more and a little more. Oh well. It's summer.

:)

The Soup of Champions (etc.)

I'm pretty excited because, as of last night, I have now successfully made the soup of champions twice!  And I find it delicious!  I actually really like it.  But, who doesn't like chicken broth?

So to make it, I put two cans of Swanson chicken broth in a pot and start to heat it up.  I chop up some carrots and put them in when the broth starts to boil.  Then I set the timer for 30 minutes.  When I start the time, I also put whole wheat pasta into a second pot (of just water) that I've brought to a boil.  That cooks for ten or eleven minutes.  Then I strain the pasta and use that pot to cook up some quinoa.  This is like the heartiest soup I've ever had.  Oh yes!  And the spices.  I put in 3 or 4 teaspoons of the Bob's Red Mill spice mix, which seems to be mostly chili and then some other spices as well.

Even though there is a lot of salt in the broth, I am considering this a healthy meal.  I really like eating it in the morning, because I can just take the pot from the fridge and put it on the stove to heat up.  There's no actual preparation.  I am thinking of trying to put more vegetables in it.  Does anybody have any suggestions?  I absolutely will not put in any kind of bean or pea.  But maybe lentils.  

On a different note, I started using a new bar of Tom's bar soap.  It's from their new line (which I was reluctant to try but had to since I couldn't obtain any bars from their old line) and it's the exfoliating bar.  I really like it.  I tried some other bars from their new line that I felt indifferent about, but I really like this one.  I don't know if it will work out in the winter, but for now it's excellent.

Chia seed!

My mom is on medication for high blood pressure and of course, I want her to get into the chia seed thing.  She absolutely will not eat a food that she doesn't like the texture of, even if it was mixed in something else.  FORTUNATELY, a store less than an hour from my house (runningfood.com) has made some gel tabs from chia oil.  Of course, this won't have the fiber of the seed, but it still has all the omega 3, 6, 9's.  We have commandeered a jar and she's promised to start taking them tomorrow.  So we'll see!  They also make a chocolate smoothie mix from micro-milled chia seed, which I might try.  Except...I don't know how to make a smoothie.  How do you do it?  Do you need a blender?  Or fruit?  What do you think would happen if I just mixed the stuff with ice cream?

Carolyn

I may be blogging alone these days.....but..

Hooray!
I finally made a good muffin! I made it with my Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour. I added 2 eggs, flaxseed meal (to substitute for xantham gum), baking powder, bananas, apricot jam, and local honey. Really tasty.....for a change!

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour

Well, I cracked open the bag and started baking! I found a recipe for gluten free muffins. I am on my second round of them now. The first round was not flavorful enough, so I am experimenting with ingredients. These came out pretty good. I added bananas, cranberries, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Oh, and I added some local honey that I recently bought. That is another subject!! But, since I mentioned it. It was the first local honey that I think I have ever bought. I read or heard somewhere that local honey is better for you because it helps with your allergies. I don't have them bad, but I thought it couldn't hurt. I was working for a week in "farm country" and stopped by a roadside stand and picked some up. I have to say it was the most delicious honey that I have ever tasted! I will probably contact them to tell them how much I liked it.

As for the muffins, well, they will pass. Gotta keep working on them.

All natural product.....oh, you want it to work?

A few years ago, I had bought my Dad an all natural soap. My Dad likes to save things over long periods of time. He finally used it and said that the nice scent that it once had was now gone. (No preservatives?...yup) He then proceeded to use the soap prior to shaving his face. When he was ready start shaving, the soap had already dried. When he told me about it, I said, "Oh, did you expect it to work, too?" LOL

The lesson that must be taken from this situation is that you cannot expect your all natural products to make you smell good and to work. ....ah, such as life. :)

Happy Holy Week!

Happy Holy Week you Trinita Crazies!! Hey, Carolyn, I am experimenting with some new "strange" things lately. I am trying ginger tea right from the root. I am trying to reduce my gluten, although today was not a good day for that. I am also trying to add turmeric....not even sure I spelled it right....to my diet. We shall see!

A blessed holy week to all!

Strawberry Fields FOREVER

I've started my strawberry seeds and it looks like I'll definitely have three plants and maybe four.  My goal is to transplant a couple to the garden and a couple to containers.  The ones in containers I hope to move back inside when it gets cold again and see how long they'll produce edible strawberries for when they're under the lights inside.  Exciting!  :)  And if the fourth one does come up, I could bring one of the containers to Trinita this summer, if the sisters are looking for any donations to their vegetable garden.  Assuming that these things fruit at all.  I will provide pictures soon.  (This is the second time I've started strawberries inside.  The first time they were alpine strawberries and so weren't that sweet and I also started them in January and grew them almost exclusively under lights.  They were not at all edible until moved outside.  This time, they're regular strawberries and are under lights but in front of a south-facing window and so already are getting strong natural light.  I think this may be a formula for success.)

Not much else is happening healthy-wise.  Although I did get a container of Sustenex, a probiotic, a couple of weeks ago.  I took one everyday for two weeks and now I'm going to take one every other day and space it out more as time goes on.  I'm not sure how I'll know if they make a difference, but I wanted to try it.  Haha, at least nothing bad has happened yet!

Where did everybody go?

Somebody out there must be cooking or baking......I haven't though. ...just the usual stuff. I am due for a Trader Joe's run soon. I need some organic peanut butter, and they have it the cheapest around.

No picture with this one

Well, our family has acquired a bread machine. I thought, "How great, just like Trinita." So, I went ahead bought some ingredients and tried to make it from scratch. Wrong!!!!! It came out dead. There is no other way to put it. I had to scrape out the ingredients and re-bake it in the oven. The result: still dead. It was edible this time, although resembling a fiber brick.

On the up side, I think it was the yeast. Did anyone realize that there are different types of yeast? I didn't use the fast acting kind. Ooops. Well, I'll give it another try. I'll just try plain white this time. No sense destroying good ingredients.