Food (gluten free), feet and fun

Gluten Free Restaurant Experience

2009-05-26T16:43:00.007-06:00

There's not much more stressful for me lately than going out to eat - whether it's at a restaurant, or someone's house, I can never be sure if my meal will be gluten free. This isn't always a bad thing...it's forced us to eat more at home, and that's good for our health and our wallets (though our grocery bill has increased, we're spending less eating out, so it works out).

Our friends and family don't always understand why eating out is such a major event for us though, so I'm forever going through my schpeel of why cross-contamination risks are so high at a restaurant, and how I have to be careful about everything.

I often find myself googling restaurants before we go out to see if they have a gluten free menu, or if anyone has ever posted anything about their gluten free options, so I thought I may as well start sharing my experiences too.

This Sunday, after the hubs' hockey game, a bunch of us went out to eat after the game.

We headed off to the nearby Original Joe's bar

I asked the hostess if they had a gluten free menu. Nope. But she pointed out their salads, and soups.

Ok, I figured I'd go with the greek salad - low risk for cross-contamination there...or so I thought.

I made sure to tell the waitress that I couldn't have any bread or croutons or anything on the salad - I didn't want to take the chance on someone adding croutons to it, or throwing a piece of bread on top, and me having to suck it up (re: pay for food I wouldn't eat) since I didn't say anything.

Well I got a good ten bites into the salad (it was a really big salad - I don't think I even made a dent in it), when I uncovered something.

A green one of these:

Oh great. This is just the thing a celiac girl does not want to encounter!

As soon as hubs heard me sigh, he knew something was wrong with my salad.

A friend called the waitress over right away; I told her calmly that the salad had pasta in it, and that I would get very, very sick if I ate it. She offered another salad, I politely declined. They took my salad off the bill.

The thing that was so disturbing about this experience was that the restaurant was really dark - and my salad had a lot of green in it. I very, very easily could have eaten that rogue piece of pasta. Which would have sent my stomach into a rogue state of it's own.

I don't know if I'll ever try and eat at Original Joe's again. It worries me that their salad ingredients are obviously so close together that different sides get mixed with one another - I remember frequently finding a piece of pasta in my side caesar salad from there when I used to be able to eat anything... I only remembered that right now though.... So, next time I'll stick with the diet coke.

BUT, if you CAN eat gluten, then I highly recommend the Double Dog from OJ's. It's one of the greatest hot dogs I've ever had - and they make some mean fries!

Chicken Tonight!

2009-03-18T18:12:00.004-06:00

In our house, hubs does most of the cooking lately. It used to seem "fair" since he got home from work before I did...but now I get home from work before him...like, an hour before.

Usually I use the time to go for a run, or do some other work out - this keeps me off the couch and away from the kitchen!

On Monday, I used the time to go grocery shopping (usually a job we do together since I'm surprisingly useless in the grocery store...alas, I digress). I had decided on the way to the store that I would buy a chicken - a whole chicken - and I would roast it using the roasting pan I bought at Christmas.

My mom often uses this Barefoot Contessa recipe to roast chickens (and turkeys!), so I decided that I would use it too.

This recipe is a one pan wonder! You throw in potatos, carrots (I used baby - less prep!) and chop up an onion. THEN, you STUFF the chicken with a lemon, a head of garlic, some thyme, salt and pepper. Rub the chicken with butter, season with salt and pepper, and throw it in the oven.

I had it in at 425 (convection) for 53 minutes - good thing I checked it then...my meat thermometer (haha, I still find it funny that I even know what that is!) told me that the chicken was at 175 - perfect for a bird without stuffing you're going to eat!

Here's how she looked when she came out of the oven:

As we devoured this tasty bird, hubs says to me "This is the second best meal you've ever made!". I look at him, grinning, and ask "What was the first best?" - he told me lasagne (I do make a mean lasagne - gluten filled OR gluten free!). Instead of stopping there, he tells me "but I can't think of a third best meal". So in three years of marriage (six years of being together), I've only made two memorable meals (though I've made the lasagne numerous times). Wow. Not only is he a schmuck for pointing that out, but I really should be working on my cooking/baking/creative skills!

After supper we decided to make chicken broth with the carcass. So I called up my MIL, and she sweetly walked me through the directions - she started with "ok, get out a big pot". Hahaha, she knows I need all the help I can get. When I told her about her son's comment on my "two-best" meals, she asked if I smacked him. HA. She's fab.

Anyways, here's the broth - with MIL's instructions! Lets hope this turns out...

If you need a great roast chicken recipe, try this one! It is sooooo delicious!!

Feet and Fun

2009-03-18T07:25:00.002-06:00

I combined "feet" and "fun" last night...

I went for my second-ever massage last night. Ooh la la, was that ever heaven. Well, if heaven begins with pain induced by another and is immediately followed by bliss as the muscle releases... ok, terrible analogy.

This massage concentrated on my legs. My right hip has been tensing up during my long runs, and I figured that I may as well try and be proactive about it and get a massage, rather than waiting until the discomfort turned to injury and having to react with physio.

I booked in for a massage every second week for the next two months - my last one being the week before my marathon (p.s. I'm running a marathon on May 17). Seeing those weeks on the calendar made this all very real to me. I actually have to run the race I've already paid for. Right.

My first-ever massage was a couple of years ago. It was on day one of a two-day bike tour (the MS Bike Tour - awesome cause!!). After being on my bike for hours, it felt oh so wonderful to get rubbed down.

Until...

The massage lady went after my girls. As I had never had a massage before, I didn't know if this was normal or not...and I was in the middle of a large room full of other people getting massaged - which I guess made this a little more "ok"... She attacked my booblets the way I imagine a mammogram machine attacks 'em. Squished 'em in between her hands like they were hamburger patties.

Yeah. Still not sure about that one. Obviously it traumatized me a little.

Back to the present... I'm not going to run today - my legs are feeling quite tender from the massage (I bruise really easily, so I wouldn't be surprised if my legs are black and blue already). But I'm going to run tomorrow - according to my running partner, tomorrow my legs should feel light and springy. HA. I'll take whatever I can get!

What?

2009-03-12T12:58:00.002-06:00

I gained ten pounds.

WHAT?! GASP.

I'm training for a marathon, so I guess I've been feeling like I can indulge a bit more than I really should.

Well, that's over now. Time to reel it in and get back on the healthy train!

I've been using SparkPeople for a year and a half to track my nutrition and my exercise - it's a great site, I highly recommend it!

My gluten free taste buds

2009-02-11T12:11:00.002-07:00

My taste buds have gone gluten free.

Suddenly, the GF stuff is tasting GOOD. And I mean "heads back to the freezer twice in one night for GF banana bread" good.

MIL bought me a bag full of goodies from a GF baker on the weekend... I ate the whole box of macaroons (umm, probably 6 cookies...yikes), a butter tart, and a cherry tart in one day. HA. I cut up the banana bread and the corn bread and put them in the freezer - trying to keep them out of my reach (and off my hips...).

The other night I started to put the banana bread in the microwave to thaw it a bit, when the hubs suggests just eating it frozen. So of course I tried - and holy crap, was it ever good. (I was raised on eating dainties out of the freezer - Grandma always baked way ahead of any occassion, and I always, umm, raided the freezer. And I wonder how I packed on the pounds?!?).

At first everything GF tasted like cardboard...but now...now stuff is tasting good. I don't know if it's just because I've forgotten what "real food" tastes like or if the stuff actually really does taste good...

Gluten free baking

2009-01-21T13:56:00.002-07:00

I know, I'm terrible at updating this blog.

Sorry.

I've been doing a bit more in the kitchen lately - my last adventure was Martha Stewart's Curried Carrot Soup.

It was RIDONCULOUSLY good!

One of my friends is coming over this weekend - she's been gluten free for eight years. She's going to give me a baking lesson. Hehehe. I hope some of what she teaches me sticks!

My meeting with a dietician

2008-12-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, December 05, 2008
Had my meeting with the dietician today...

Strangely enough, I went to junior high with her! HA. She came out to the reception room to get me and we both did a double take. Too funny. Especially funny was that she didn't know that I was married to my hubs (who also went to junior high with us), so that gave her a surprise. HA.

Anyways. We started the session off with me asking her some general questions I had about Celiac Disease and about living gluten free.

My questions and her responses:

Q: deep fried items: only eat things fried in fresh oil?
A: I didn't ask this exactly - but she mentioned to only have fries from a dedicated fry fryer. This one is a no-brainer. Ok, many of these questions were no brainers, but I needed a professional to give me the answer...know what I mean?

Q: things like pumpkin pie: can I just eat the filing? Or is that too close?
A: No "just eating the filling" of things like pumpkin pie. Once the filling touches the crust, there is cross contamination.

Q: baking - need to be worried about baking/cooking for others with regular flour?
A: This one surprised me: she suggested maybe wearing a mask and/or gloves to bake with regular flour. I don't know if I will do this...but it is something I will certainly consider.

Q: what kitchen utensils need to be dedicated as GF?
A: Toaster, wooden spoons, cutting boards, AND baking pans. I was really surprised to hear that baking pans should be dedicated as GF. I guess hubs and I are going shopping...

Q: are there any nutrients I need to focus on getting (and how) now that my diet is limited?
A: Nutrients that may be lacking: B Vitamins. She suggested taking Centrum daily (apparently centrum is GF). She suggested that I have a "micronutrient bloodwork panel" done - I'll ask my doctor about this when I go for my physical in February.

Then she started taking my history - asking me what I eat and when, how much I work out, fun stuff like that. I brough my mom to the appointment, and my mom was shocked at the way I eat (or maybe just at how I could rattle off my "typical day" so easily, but that's what happens when you track your food and you eat the same thing most days). Then I talked about how much I worked out (but I downplayed this because I was a little embarassed).

The dietician suggested that I get more milk in during the day - she started by saying that I should be having 3 cups of milk a day. When she could see that I wasn't buying that, she told me that if I start doing a vitamin each morning, and one glass of milk (but don't necessarily take the vitamin with milk - she said to check with the pharmacist on this one), and thenincorporate some margarine, eggs, or fish into my day, I should get a more balanced day. That seemed more reasonable to me.

She seemed quite happy with my typical day overall - and I must say, I was pretty proud to be able to go through my day and have it be so healthy and balanced (and not be lying!).

She talked about how some people gain weight when they go gluten free because they don't realize how calorie dense the GF products are - I think it's a blessing that I count calories because I have been hyper aware of the calories in all of these products. I mean, one slice of GF bread is usually 120 calories - no wonder people gain weight if they don't realize that!!!

She walked me through a list of "safe", "be cautious of", and "don't eat" foods. Something new for me: I should not be eating anything with "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" or "hydrolyzed plant protein" in the ingredient list unless I check with the manufacturer and see if the product is gluten free. Umm, don't think I'll be doing that, so those two ingredients are now on my "don't eat" list! Also, she suggested that starch may not be safe, but this is contrary to what I've read elsewhere, so maybe I'll research this one a little more.

She gave me a list of places that I can shop for GF products locally, and some other useful websites and such. She did go over eating in restaurants, and how it's good that I am calling/emailing ahead, etc. She mentioned that buffets and potlucks should probably be avoided because there is a high risk of contamination (for example, if people use the same tongs in the potato salad as they did in the green salad - or if something is made at home, but they don't realize that I could get sick because they cut bread and cheese with the same knife...stuff like that). So I will just make sure to either bring my own food to these events, or eat before I go...or some other strategy.

She told me that I must be very, very careful - and that it's hard to be TOO careful. I'm quite worried that I'm going to seem like I'm just being fussy, but she reassured me that this is my HEALTH and that there are things that are just not ok (for example, I can not just pick croutons out of a salad - I must have lettuce that has never met croutons! And fun stuff like that).

It was a useful session. She encouraged me to go to some other sessions that are happening - my mom and I are going to do a gluten free cooking class at the end of January together.

So that was my meeting with the dietician. It was interesting. It made me feel better about how careful I have been with ingredients and cooking methods, and it also made me feel really proud of losing 25 pounds over the past year! Oh, another thing - when she asked how much more weight I wanted to lose, I told her that I thought I was done losing weight. This was kind of surprising to me! I may have said this because my mom was sitting beside me and she thinks I should stop trying to lose (but it's not her decision!), I may have said this because I'm so close to my 130 goal that it didn't seem worth mentioning that I wanted to lose another five pounds, or it may have been because I actually *am* good with being 135. Ha. So many options.

If you read all of this, claim your gold star - you deserve it!!

GF Butterscotch Chip Cookies

2008-11-23T12:56:00.004-07:00

My MIL (the sweetest MIL ever) has been buying me all sorts of gluten free stuff ever since my diagnosis...once a week or so hubs comes home with a bag of goodies from her. See, I said she was the sweetest!

This week she found a whole gluten free section at a health food store she was at...so she bought gluten free flour and pizza crust mix, and some xantham gum (a binding ingredient that many GF recipes call for). She also bought me a book "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy" by Bette Hagman.

Even though it's a cookbook, it has a large introduction - and that's where I'm at in the book! I must tell you, a line in there made me feel so *normal*. Hagman writes "There are other foods that cause some celiacs to feel many of the same symptoms they had before diagnosis. Soy, eggs, citrus fruits, chocolate and MSG are just a few of the common offenders. Other include shellfish, nuts, legumes, apples and yeast" (pg.3).

Why did this make me feel normal?!? Because chocolate and apples and nuts are SO HARD on my tummy that I don't eat any of them any more, but I thought maybe I was just going crazy. Reading that this is common - WOW. The best part?!? These things MAY cause the same symptoms as gluten, but they do not cause the same *distress* - basically, if I'm willing to put up with the pain, I can have any of these things because they aren't doing my insides any further damage!!! YAY. I'm still going to stay away from this stuff for a while - I want to get my tummy used to this gluten free life, and then I may try reintroducing these!

SO - my culinary adventure. Phew. Went for an awesome trail run this morning with my running group - we went on trails I never even knew existed, which I always think is so bizarre considering how long I've lived in this area. ANYWAYS. I started thinking that today would be a good day to make cookies.

Since I've never baked with gluten free flour before, I was prepared for this experiment to be an absolute flop - but it wasn't!!! These cookies turned out really tasty!! Probably too tasty for a girl on a diet. HA. But hey, we watch what we eat and workout a bunch for a reason, right?!?! RIGHT.

In case you're interested, here's my recipe -

Gluten Free Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/5 tsp vanilla
Just less than 2 cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
1/2 tsp Xantham Gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Package Hershey's Chipits Butterscotch Chips

Nutritional Info (per cookies)

Fat: 3.9g
Carbohydrates: 9.9g
Calories:74.1
Protein: 0.4g

Preheat oven to 375.

I used a stand mixer to make these cookies - it whipped them up like magic!

1. Cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar.
2. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.
3. Add flour, xantham gum, baking soda and salt. Blend until mixed.
4. Add the butterscotch chips.
5. Drop by tablespoon full onto a pan.
6. Bake for 7 - 9 minutes - watch them closely as gluten free flour cooks much faster than regular flour.
7. Let cool shortly on pan after removing from the oven (otherwise they will crumble).

Enjoy!

Number of Servings: 52

(I can't get the picture to load...but they look like cookies! HA)

Gluten Free Dining Out: My first three experiences

2008-11-12T11:45:00.001-07:00

(Written on Wednesday, November 05, 2008)

What a two weeks it has been! Got a wisdom tooth out, was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and came on vacation to Palm Springs.

The first week of my diagnosis was relatively easy in terms of food choices because all I was able to eat was yogurt, pudding, applesauce and ice cream. Kind of like a forced gluten free diet to ease me into this!

Well, this week has been a little bit different. I'm slowly reintroducing solid foods into my diet (yay!) and we've eaten out a few times in the Palm Springs area. I thought I'd share those experiences with you...

Dining Out Experience #1: Bruch at Las Casuelas Nuevas

This brunch is AMAZING. So amazing I was NOT going to miss out on it. I thought that this would probably be a good brunch for me since it is a Mexican restaurant, and they often use corn tortillas, and other GF (gluten free) items.

I emailed the restaurant ahead of time. I explained what I was unable to eat, and asked what I could eat off the brunch.

The manager wrote back within a day, and told me that he spoke with the head chef - he gave me a list of items that I could not eat (like Chile Relenos, and the sauce for the enchiladas). He did not list the obvious things like the waffles or the breads and cookies, hahaha - he knew I was smart enough not to go near those things. HA.

Anyways, I felt AMAZING going into this meal. I knew what was safe for me to eat - how empowering.

We headed to the buffet...I got an omellete, and mexican potatoes - YUM! While I was standing in the omellete line, one of the chefs brought out this huge plate of bananas covered in coconut with chocolate sauce. My chin hit the floor. I asked him "Is there any flour on that?" - he told me "NO! Just bananas, coconut and chocolate!!". WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! What an amazing dessert! I had it TWICE, hehehe.

I was also able to eat beans, shrimp fajita filling, and then I put some strawberry waffle topping into a bowl and put some whipped cream on top of it - just like having a waffle!!

This meal was AMAZING. I did not feel left out - there was no way I could have tried everything on the brunch anyways, so it's not like I would have had room for all of the stuff I now can't eat anyways.

I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to anyone!!

AND, I also highly recommend emailing the restaurant before going - you're more likely to get in touch with a manager...and they are the ones who are accountable to what goes in the food.

Dining Out Experience #2: Dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

This is another one of our favorites! Delicious pizza...but what was I going to eat?!?

I went onto their website before our trip - and was able to check out the menu. I found that many of the wraps listed that you could have flour or corn tortillas. I thought this would work out...I could just have the corn tortillas!

We got to the restaurant and on the menu they listed that you could get a Gluten Free Pizza Crust for an extra $5, but that it would be prepared in a non-Gluten Free facility (of course, it's a pizza place....duh). Hubs suggested I get that and not worry about the extra cost, but I usually get the BBQ Chicken pizza, and I doubted that the bbq sauc was GF, so I leaned towards a wrap.

I said to the waiter "I can not have any gluten - I was looking at this Chipotle Cheese Chicken Taco. Would you be able to confirm for me that there is no flour in it - that the chicken isn't breaded or anything, please?". He snarkily said to me "Well, I don't know if that is gluten free, but I do know it will be prepared in a non-gluten free facility". Yes, thank you, I read the menu already too.

Anyways. He came back and told me that there was no flour on the chicken. Alrighty - hook me up!

The tacos were great...I'm a little suspicious of the sauce that was on them though. My stomach hurt the next day - it could have been because the meal was spicy though...

Learnings: waiter's may not know ANYTHING about the menu. Don't trust them blindly. I should have started off with "I have Celiac Disease, I can not have any gluten - would this meal be safe for me?" or something along those lines. I can NOT be shy about telling people what I can't have.

And another learning.... this could be a fun experience. I NEVER would have tried the tacos had it not been for my diagnosis...and they were excellent!

p.s. if you CAN eat gluten, go to Sammy's!!! It's soooo good!

Dining Out Experience #3: Dinner at the Yardhouse

The trusty Internet served me well again! On a whim I checked out their website before we came down here...we sometimes go to the Yardhouse when we're here, but it's not a MUST VISIT like the other two restaurants I've already mentioned.

Well, much to my surprise, they had a Gluten Free MENU posted on their website!

So, I printed it out, and brought it along to the restaurant.

When the server came to the table, I pulled out my menu: "I have Celiac Disease, and I can't have any gluten. I printed out your gluten free menu - can I order from it? (he nods yes) I would like to ask you about this shrimp rice bowl..." It was THAT easy!

The meal was just ok. But an awesome restaurant to go to if you like beer - they have a ridiculous selection.

*****

So that has been my experience with dining out and being a celiac.

The biggest lesson: the onus is on you as an individual to be prepared. Don't expect your server to bend over backwards to accomodate you - that's YOUR job!

I will be emailing restaurants more - I think that is the way to do it!

I don't want this diagnosis to be a "house arrest sentence". It's nice to eat out. I think I'll still be able to...it will just take a little work. But really, no more work than figuring out how many calories your meal will be ahead of time.

It's all in the planning...

My blog has readers? Oh, and mashed potatos.

2008-10-29T08:16:00.002-06:00

Ok, I was very surprised to get three comments on my blog yesterday. HA. It's nice to know that people read this stuff!

So, let me tell you about my first gluten free cooking adventure.

It wasn't that exciting...but still.

As I'm still recovering from a wisdom tooth removal, I'm only eating soft foods - last night I thought I was well enough to have mashed potatos. Woohooo.

This may be hard to believe, but I had NEVER made mashed potatos start to finish before. Sure, I've done the mashing... I've done the peeling... But I had never done the actual BOILING, so I had no idea how long to cook the things. HA. (I'm 26 - you'd figure this is a skill I would have acquired...but no. Oh well).

So, I quartered about seven potatos - left the skin on! - and threw them in a big pot of water. Boiled them. Took them off the heat when a fork went in them smoothly. BUT - I forgot to keep an eye on how long that took. Bwahahaha.

Anyways, then I threw the potatoes into my Kitchen Aid mixer, plopped in half a cup of sour cream, some garlic salt, salt and pepper, and whipped those bad boys up.

I had heard that the KA mixer made awesome mashed potatos - I heard right!!!

They were soooooo creamy and delicious! No more hand mixing mashed potatoes for me!!

Next time I'll put more seasoning in... but I was pretty happy with them.

Yes, I have a feeling that my gluten free cooking is going to be a tad boring for a while, but that's ok by me!

Now I have a question for my fellow celiacs...

Do you still cook with regular gluten products (ie. flour) for your families?? I still want to bake cookies and muffins for my hubby, but I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to be AROUND gluten flour etc... What do you all do???

Diagnosis: Celiac Disease

2008-10-28T16:24:00.002-06:00

I haven't been in the kitchen much lately, hence no blogging!

The reason for my hiatus is two fold:

1. Got a wisdom tooth out last week. Have only been eating pudding, yogurt, applesauce, ice cream and soup. I thought I would like having an excuse to only eat ice cream. I was wrong! I can't wait to eat real food again!

2. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease on Friday. That's right - no more gluten for me!

So, I guess this blog will now document my adventures in gluten free living! I was very sad about the diagnosis at first, but now I'm very realistic about it - this is what it is. It is ONLY a change in my diet - sooooo simple compared to what many other people have to do for their health. I consider myself blessed to actually know what's wrong with me.

We are going to Palm Springs this week for a vacation. I have already emailed some of our favorite restaurants to ask what parts of their menus I can enjoy...so far it looks like we'll be able to go to all of the places! Yes, I will be ordering different food than usual, but that's no big deal! It will be just like experiencing everything for the first time!

So....join me on this magical journey!

What to do with all these apples...

2008-10-06T13:20:00.003-06:00

This weekend my in-laws brought over two bags full of apples from their new backyard... They've got three apple trees to contend with - wow.

I decided to begin my apple adventure with some apple muffins. I found a recipe online, and tailored it for us. I'm not sure if I should be playing with recipes yet...I'm still working on this whole "flavor" thing... oh well. I won't learn if I don't try, right?

So here it is:

Whole Wheat and Oat Apple Muffins

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour, 3/4 cup
Flour, white, 3/4 cup
Quick dry oats, 1 cup
Baking Powder, 1 tsp
Baking Soda, 3/4 tsp
Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp
Salt, 1 dash
Vegetable Oil, 2 tbsp

Milk, 3/4 cup
1 Egg
2 Medium Apples, peeled and chopped
Applesauce, unsweetened, 1 cup

Combine all dry ingredients in mixer bowl. Mix with a whisk.

Plop in all wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on the low speed. Batter will be wet and lumpy.

Spoon into greased or paper lined muffin tins. Cook at 400F for 20 mins.

Makes 24 muffins.

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 24
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 71.2
Total Fat: 1.9 g
Cholesterol: 8.3 mg
Sodium: 123.2 mg
Total Carbs: 11.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.5 g
Protein: 2.3 g

I thought these were really tasty. Probably could have added some nutmeg or something to spice them up.

Later in the day I used 6 more apples to make an apple crisp. Ridiculously delicious, and also ridiculously unhealthy. Don't have any pics of the crisp...just the sweet, sweet memories.

BA's Blueberry Muffin Adventure

2008-09-20T09:13:00.003-06:00

Woke up this morning with a complete fry-hangover.

You read right. A fry hangover. After Trev's hockey game last night, we went to the Outback for supper. We shared Cheese Fries. (I apparently forgot about my diet for the moment). I'm paying for that decision this morning.

So, instead of going for a run this morning, I decided to find a blueberry muffin recipe. I had bought (most) of the ingredients for Krissy's muffins, but alas, I forgot the applesauce. I had fresh blueberries in the fridge though, so I decided to search the trusty interweb.

After a bit of searching, I found this recipe. Looked on the money to me, since I still had buttermilk left over from last week's experiment.

Did a little tweaking - ended up with the recipe below.

Ingredients

1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup blueberries, preferably fresh

Directions

1. Line 12 muffin pans. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat egg and into it whisk the buttermilk and melted butter.
2. Make a depression in the center of your dry ingredients. Into it pour the liquid ingredients, all at once. Stir just enough to combine the ingredients. 12 strokes should be enough. Mixture will not be smooth. Quickly FOLD in the blueberries. (Tip - lightly coat the blueberries in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom).
3. Spoon the mixture quickly into the muffin pans and bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from pans. Cool completely. Enjoy!

And, according to my trusty Sparkpeople (recipe site), here is the nutritional information for these bad boys.

Amount Per Serving (12.5 servings per batch. hehe. Every ounce counts!)

Calories 126.0

Total Fat 5.2 g

Saturated Fat 3.0 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g

Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g

Cholesterol 26.7 mg

Sodium 193.9 mg

Potassium 26.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate 17.4 g

Dietary Fiber 1.5 g

Sugars 2.0 g

Protein 3.1 g

Here's how they looked coming out of the oven. Is it normal that the berries "bled" so much? Hmmm....

I'm not so artsy with my picture taking... but here they are:

Hopefully they help with the fry hangover... I will workout today. I will workout today. I will workout today.

Hubby's rating on the muffins: "(shrugging) Meh, I'm not a huge blueberry fan; but I like them" and after finishing his whole muffin: "...it's not like they're disgusting". (hahaha, he'd not be impressed to know I just wrote all of that. Muahahhaa).

Well, another adventure complete.

So not on the diet

2008-09-15T20:42:00.003-06:00

Food: PB Cookies
Feet: 4.91km run - gorgeous weather, happy to be outside.
Fun: Watering trees with hubby. Watching The Hills.

So this mixer is seriously hurting my diet... Well, maybe it's more ME than the mixer, but I'd much rather blame an inanimate object!

Tonight's experiment: PB Cookies.

This is my favorite recipe, and always turns out great. I was SUPER impressed with how they turned out - but next time I will press down the balls with the back of a fork...they look like there's something missing without the little lines!

Super-easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (don't use low fat - they don't taste right!)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

Pour all ingredients into a bowl. Mix.

Form into 1" balls, place on a cookie sheet. Press down with a fork.

Bake at 325 for 15 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes. EAT.

Now, I MUST find some diet friendly things to make in my mixer. On my run I started thinking about pudding and jello. Though I'm pretty certain you don't need a mixer to make jello (HA. Yes, I'm very green in the kitchen).

OH, Trev said these were delicious tonight! I lovvvvvvve it when he likes what I make!!!

Coffee Cake Muffins

2008-09-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

The finished product:

First foray with the KA Mixer

2008-09-14T09:33:00.004-06:00

Found an awesome sale on my KA Mixer, so off Trev and I went last night to buy it!

We got the white one. I was hoping for the Almond colour, or something really fun like the lime or light blue - but alas, white was:

a) on sale
b) in stock
c) sure to go with our white appliances.

Set the bad boy up and broke him in this morning!

I decided to make Coffee Cake Muffins from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (since this book seems to be a staple in most kitchens, I won't write out the recipe, but if you'd like me to, just holla!).

First of all, I made a mess - see exhibit a.

My brown sugar was very hard, so I put it in the microwave with a small dish of water - a trick Trev has used before. Well....the water exploded. EVERYWHERE. So strange. At least it was just water: easy to clean up.

Continued on with the baking. Probably not the best way to break-in my mixer, but oh well. The mixer whipped it all into shape in about 30 seconds. Zoom!

I'll put up a picture of the finished product in another post since I can't get it to load here...

They were okay. Nothing spectacular. Would likely add a bit of fruit to the mix if I make them again.

Calories: 180
How I feel about eating two of them for breakfast: unsatisfied. HA.

I don't think that Sunday morning Mixing will (or should) become a part of my routine... When I was training for the half, I would get up and run on Sunday mornings...a little healthier than getting up to bake! But I am committed to finding some healthy ways to use my mixer!

And I'm committed to finding another race to sign up for - must get that running motivation back!!

The feet business...

2008-09-12T16:05:00.004-06:00

So I did a half marathon about a month ago. It was sooooo fun! Looking for another one - I'm thinking about a February half. Seems like a good idea, until you consider that the weather here is generally awful in February...but that just makes it more of a challenge!

Here I am crossing the finish line (white shirt)!

Back at the blogging?

2008-09-12T15:40:00.001-06:00

I've been reading so many fabulous food blogs lately that I want to start my own... so I figured why not come back to this trusty blog I started oh-so-many years ago...

Hoping to get a Kitchen Aid mixer this weekend, so what better way to celebrate than by blogging about the experience?

Now to choose the colour of mixer...and to find the best sale!

come home soon!

2006-11-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

So while I was in Victoria away at school for three weeks, my hubby got a tad lonely. Apparently his way of telling me to come home early was to get into a little fight at hockey...the goal post won!

School for me, in the meantime, was fabulous. It was my second of two face-to-face times...it's an online program, so you do a face to face, then a year online, then a face to face, then a year online. So, I'm pretty close to finishing my Masters! Wooohoo! I'll be done June 2007 - I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

So here's a picture of the hockey injury that brought me home a day early (wasn't that nice of me - to come home rather than spend a day shopping?!)

Networking

2006-08-16T14:32:00.000-06:00

Well you always hear "it's not what you know, it's who you know" - so here it goes. This is a great networking tool:

More oak

2006-08-11T09:36:00.000-06:00

Thought I would post this picture - it shows the deep purple/red colour in our family room, and also shows our oak fireplace. Goodnes gracious. I think we may just eventually put a gas insert into it, since we won't use wood (the glass doors do nothing to keep the sparks in the fireplace, and I don't want burn marks on the floor or area rug). Still thinking of something to do on the mantle...

This pic was taken at our gift opening. Holy smokes - had no idea how tired you get after a wedding!

What a pretty hutch

2006-08-09T10:11:00.000-06:00

This is the beautiful hutch that my grandparents bought us as a wedding gift. We also bought a dining room table to match. Very pretty. The crystal in the hutch is just part of a collection that my grandma has been building for me for the past few years. I have changed the order of the shelves a bit - not pictured are our wedding toasting glasses, the picture of us toasting (other picture here!), and my tiara. Had no idea what I would do with the silly thing (tiara!) after the wedding, but it actually looks really pretty in the hutch. This is the only place in the house that anything wedding-y is displayed.

Photography Disaster

2006-08-04T14:26:00.000-06:00

So while the photographer, Bruce Benson, at our wedding took some nice pictures, he gets the grade of F. Let me tell you why.

He lied. He ignored. He was just not easy to deal with.

Our wedding was in January - he told us since our wedding was in the off season we would have the cd's with our pictures on them in 2 weeks (this normally takes 8 weeks he told us). Well, 8 weeks after the wedding I hadn't heard from him. So I called - he set up an appointment for us to come pick up the cd's. He didn't bring the cd's. UGH. Brought us the cd's over three consecutive days the next week (why he couldn't bring them all at once escaped us).

Going through the pictures I took notice of a lot of pictures missing...

-pictures from before the ceremony of Trevor, of our friends, of the string quartet...all pictures that friends told us after the wedding had been taken
-our first kiss. Can you believe a wedding photographer missed this one?
-a huge family shot that I know the photographer was there for
-the bouquet toss

Sadly I could go on. Fortunately friends and family have pictures of most of these moments.

We asked for explanation over why the pictures were missing. Never got one. He just kept ignoring my emails and calls. Finally Trevor emailed him. Guess what? The guy wrote back to him right away apologizing for the terrible service. UGH. Finally last week (6 months after the wedding) we received the developed proofs. I will not use him to produce our wedding albums, I will not recommend him to friends.

Please don't use this photographer: http://www.brucebensonphoto.com/

Regardless, we had a great day. This is one of my favorite photos - are you surprised that it is yet ANOTHER photo that the "professional" photographer missed?? This photo was taken by Trev's aunt - I'm making a kissy face at her six-year-old.

Egad, no bedskirt?

2006-07-28T08:27:00.000-06:00

Woohoo - the picture worked. So there you have it. The walls didn't turn out like I expected - apparently we picked a pretty light colour for all of the walls other than the feature wall. Oh well. I'm sure as soon as we do some decorating it won't seem so bland. You can also see the oak trim around the windows and as baseboards - that's ALL over the house. Sigh. I must admit, the oak doesn't bother me as much now that we have a fresh coat of paint...if this becomes our "forever" home, we will definitely change out all of the oak. For now though, we'll live with it!

Beyond the wedding

2006-07-26T09:39:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's true, there is life beyond the wedding. Hard to believe but true!

So, one of the things we did during our first few months of marriage was build furniture - lots of it. When we bought stuff from IKEA we knew what we were in for, but when we bought our bedroom suite online from sears.ca we certainly weren't expecting to have to build the furniture - it took hours and hours and hours. It looks good now that it's put together, but we are both already looking forward to a new suite (that won't be for years, but it's fun to dream).

Here's a pic - you can see the boxes of the dresser, mirror, and chest of drawers in the corner. Man, that was a lot of work! (Hmm, picture won't load right now, guess I'll try again later...)

Hair, makeup and all that glitters

2006-06-22T08:29:00.000-06:00

Spent the evening talking about weddings last night. One of the couples on Trevor's football team is getting married next June. So fun to talk about dresses and bridesmaids (although all of hers are married, none wish to be called matrons...I don't blame them!) and the carpet of their venue... Oh weddings.

I realized I should write about some of the fabulous businesses I used.

First - the dress. I went to ONE store: Denilore Bridal. They were fabulous. I went in, told them I did not want poofy and I did not want a train. I tried on four dresses that fit that description, and we bought the third one. That was it. The perfect thing about my dress: the colour. Suddenly, not only did I have my dress, but the colours for the wedding were also chosen - hooray! The store was fabulous - so friendly and helpful. There we found the tiara that I wore by accident. I was being my usual "oh I'm not wearing a veil or a tiara, but I'll try one on to shut you up". Turned the tiara upsidedown so it didn't stick up, and voila, it was decided I would have a tiara!

Next - the hair and makeup. Thank goodness I asked a friend for a referral on this one, for without asking I never would have found Sandy, owner of Radiance Pro Makeup and Hair. My maid of honor, Kelley, and I went in for a trial just before Christmas. Perfect timing really because Kelley had a Christmas party to go to that night, so she certainly wasn't "all dolled up with nowhere to go". Anyways - Sandy right away made sure that my hair and makeup would be the stunner...you see, Kelley has TONS of hair, I have very thin, fine hair ... so needless to say, Kelley's hair is elaborate no matter what! I'm so glad we went in for a trial; it gave us a chance to get to know Sandy, and Sandy a chance to know us.

The day of the wedding Sandy came to my mom's house and got right to work. First up was Grandma - she was thrilled to be having her makeup done!! Then Kelley, then me, then my mom. We were all pretty calm, laughing and joking all day long. Grandpa really felt left out though! He made sure every time he walked into the room that we all knew that "he was next".

I wanted to get to the hall before all of our guests arrived - I didn't want anyone seeing me walk into the hall, so Kelley, Grandma, Grandpa and I left for the hall at 4pm. The ceremony was set to start at 5:15pm - which really meant 5:30pm (yes, I said 5:15 on the invitation on purpose so that we could get started at 5:30...). Kelley and I practiced the Hawaiian Cowboy linedance while we waited in the basement of the hall. Mom's hair took longer than expected, but that was a blessing in disguise, for she came downstairs just as I was talking with the JP and my dad about our walk down the aisle... I told all of them that I wanted my mom to walk me down the aisle with my dad. Yeah, I was thankful that she was late - gave us the opportunity to do that!

But this was supposed to be about hair and makeup...I highly recommend Sandy!! It was so nice to not have to worry about leaving the house on the day of the wedding. Especially having a January wedding, we really had no idea what the weather would be like - but the weather was beautiful, around -10, no wind. Beautiful for the end of January anyways!

The DJ

2006-06-21T11:28:00.000-06:00

Ok, where do I begin on this one?

We did not have good luck on this front.

Trevor called five DJ companies. Only one called him back: Starlight DJ Services. We met with the owner of the company, he showed us his superb references, we gave him the list of music that we wanted played, we signed on the dotted line.

Can you smell a problem?

First of all, we did not find this company through a word of mouth reference. I highly recommend finding a DJ by a reference.

I hope that our experience is unique, and I think you will too.

Our DJ arrived late (a man hired by the company, not the man we met with...little did I know to ask). No big deal, I was very calm that day. He started asking me all sorts of setup questions, I made sure to tell him that just because we had line dances on our "must play" list that we DID NOT want lots of country played, and then I pointed out our emcee to him and asked him to cover all of that with her. Ok, mini-crisis averted.

After dinner and speeches and cake cutting, the fun was about to begin: the dance. Trevor and I danced to "You and Me" by Lifehouse for our first dance, and then invited everyone there to join us on the dance floor for "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows.

Then the DJ played four country songs in a row. One or two, fine. But four? After we specifically said not much country??

But then the issues began - the music would screech, skip, jump, be fuzzy. It was awful. And this did not happen just once. It happened every three-four songs. It didn't ruin our evening - I was prepared for the worst, for I wanted to have fun no matter what happened. It was funny - our guests booed. We laughed and kept dancing.

I didn't think to go talk to the DJ about it because I didn't want to get upset. It was that simple.

A few weeks later though, I could not get this awful service off my mind. I was worried that other brides would have the same experience, and I did not want that to happen.

I emailed the company, letting them know what happened, and letting them know that unfortunately I would not be able to recommend the company. The owner of the company called me, to tell me that my memory must be foggy because he talked to the DJ after our wedding and the DJ said everyone had fun and that only one song skipped.

Well, yes, everyone had fun. But WAY MORE than one song skipped. The owner refused to hear what I was telling him. Although bad news is hard to hear, I thought that the owner would be greatful to hear my experience - I naively expected an: "I'm sorry this happened, thank you for letting us know so that no one else will have to experience this". Instead I was argued with and told that I was wrong.

Starlight DJ Services would never give me as a reference - but I think everyone should know about my experience. Hopefully my experience was unique. Hopefully it won't happen again.

We did have a blast at our wedding. We did not let the imperfections ruin our party!

The cream of the crop

2006-06-21T10:42:00.000-06:00

Engagement date: October 13, 2005. Wedding date: January 21, 2006. Yep, you read right, we had just over three months to officially plan the wedding. Everyone thought I was crazy or pregnant, or perhaps both (I was, and am, neither!).

I knew that a year engagement would not work - I was doubtful that I could go through a year's worth of planning without becoming a bridezilla. Trevor and I thought a winter wedding would be fun, so we set the date (to a few people's chagrin I must admit!).

Two days after getting engaged, I was off to Victoria for three weeks to begin my studies at Royal Roads University - I am completing a Master of Arts in Professional Communication - the program is delivered online with two three-week residency's. So, Trevor was responsible for getting some of the plans started. His jobs: finalize the invitations, book a DJ, give the photographer a deposit, and rent tuxedo's.

We were thoroughly impressed with our invitations - they were beautiful and created on time by Evergreen Stationers. Thank goodness Trev read the proof a few times though - for the three times that my name appeared on the invite, it was spelt wrong once. Big tip here - we saved a bit of money by assembling the invitations ourselves. They were easy to put together, just putting an embellishment on (one of those do-dads that goes through a punched hole and then clasps to the other side of the paper like a duotang does) and then gluing the top piece of the invite to the bottom piece. While this wasn't a big deal, in hindsight I would just pay the $50 to get the store to assemble the invites.

So, Evergreen Stationers gets my recommendation!