In an attempt to remain calm, organized, and healthy during a pretty crazy semester I’ve started meal planning. Each weekend before making my grocery list, I’ll flip through magazines and bookmarked recipes to determine three recipes to make for dinner during the week. It’s kind of a laborious processes, especially when feeling like it’s 1000 times easier to just eat at Whole Foods every day. But this system has been working pretty well and ensures I have meals that are portable.

I decided to try a new twist on potato cakes this week. The potato gets such a bad rap because of it’s tendency to become deep fried, but baked potatoes are high in fiber, potassium, as well as vitamins C and B6. Add in some fresh kale and crispy pancetta for an easy dinner that can easily be reheated.

My most searched recipe is this simple blackberry scone. It’s a personal favorite, so I’m glad other people have enjoyed them as much as me. It’s not exactly berry season in DC, but organic blueberries were on sale last week and muffins sounded like a nice treat during this gloomy time of the year. In an attempt to expand my gluten-free baking I wanted to try a sweet cornmeal muffin (plus cornbread always reminds me of summer).

Blueberry-orange cornmeal muffins (adapted from Everyday Foods)

Muffins

• 1 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp xantham gum (omit if using wheat flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 cup blueberries

Glaze

• 2 tsp orange juice
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat over to 400F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl whisk together 1 cup flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, xantham gum, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter, vanilla, and orange zest. Add to flour mixture, stirring until combined. The batter will be stiff.
In a small bow toss blueberries in 1 tbsp of flour. Fold blueberries into batter. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until set. Allow muffins to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
While muffins cool, prepare the glaze by stirring together orange juice and confectioners sugar. Drizzle over cooled muffins and allow the glaze to set for about 5 minutes.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This was my first attempt at adapting a recipe into one that is gluten-free and I’m really happy with the results. The cornmeal  helps with the texture of gluten-free flour and gives the muffins great flavor. It might be snowing/raining, but these muffins remind me that spring and sunshine will be here soon.

(Photo Credit)

It’s been over 13 months since I last wrote about the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, which is legislation that sets standards for all meals served in school and funds programs like the National School Lunch Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

In that 13 months a battle in Congress began about a number of the changes to nutrition standards for school meals. The new bill increases the amount of fruits and vegetables served, eliminates any fried vegetables, and reduces the number of starchy vegetables that can be served in any school receiving federal funding. Unfortunately, Congress block several provisions and decided that pizza is a vegetable.

On Wednesday, the First Lady revealed the new regulations as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that align the nutrition of school meals to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Schools are now required to:

I never know what to say when people ask me what my favorite food is. There are too many choices and how can I really just pick one. But the truth is that pho is my favorite food. It’s what I wanted for my birthday dinner, it’s what I want when I have a cold, it’s what I want when I’m having a bad day. Pho is just good food. But it’s not something that can easily be made at home.

While flipping through the Whole Foods flyer I found a $1 off coupon for Pacific’s soup starter. Pho in a carton? Why not.

It couldn’t be simpler to prepare. Cook rice noodles. Heat broth and add thinly sliced steak once boiling. Put noodles in bowl, pour broth and meat over noodles, top with whatever you like.

I wish that I could say this was the best darn pho ever, but it’s not. The broth is darn close, a little too sweet and missing some depth of flavor. I think adding a bit of soy sauce or fish sauce would make it. But let’s be real. I ate one of my favorite meals on a cold January night with little preparation and time involved. Until I move to Vietnam and have unlimited pho access, this broth is easily going to be one of my new staples.

This was the first week of my last semester. It’s kind of hard to believe how quickly the time has gone, but the new wrinkles, lolling headaches, and regular student loan e-mails remind me how much has gone into this journey.

I realized in my first week back how quickly I feel the pressure of school, two jobs, trying to stick to a running schedule, and all of the basic responsibilities of life. But after running between both jobs and a meeting about my thesis, I realized how lucky I am to be able to do something I love. It doesn’t happen every day, but there is usually one moment in a week to remind me of that.

I might not love everything about school, but the little moments in work keep me going. And I realized that I need to do more little things for myself to make this semester a little more cheerful. I rarely make breakfast for myself beyond reheating large batches of oatmeal or throwing together a bowl of cereal. But pancakes have always been my favorite breakfast treat.

Oatmeal Pancakes

• 1/3 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (omit if you used vanilla flavored milk)

To make a batch of oat flour, measure 1 cup of rolled oats and blend in either a mixer or food processor until a flour develops. This takes a few minutes, but you don’t need a great blender to do this. Mix it regularly to break up any clumps of larger pieces.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Combine all dry ingredients and mix together. Add wet ingredients and whisk until well combined. Allow batter to sit for about 5 minutes to thicken. Pour batter into the preheated pan and allow pancakes to cook until the edges are set and bubbles in the batter are uniform. Flip and cook the second side for another 2 minutes.

Top with whatever you prefer. I stuffed my pancakes with peanut butter and banana slices, topped with a little drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Because we all need to celebrate the little things in life.

I’m starting to think that becoming an adult means acquiring kitchen gadgets. During college, I had a pretty simplistic kitchen. The basic pots and pans. But then I got an Artisan mixer, the ice cream maker attachment, a rice cooker, and crock pot. Then came multiple sized muffin pans, loaf pans, and this Christmas brought a food processor and doughnut pan. Did I really need a mini doughnut pan? No… I don’t really even eat doughnuts. But after making pumpkin doughnut holes this fall, it seemed like an appropriate thing to ask Santa for.

Trying to find a simple gluten-free recipe was a challenge. These old fashioned doughnuts also happen to be vegan. You wont find that at Krispy Kream.

Old Fashioned Cake Doughnuts

• 1/2 cup original almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance stick, melted
• 1 teaspoon ground Coffee, chocolate, sugar grinder
• 2 tablespoons sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 mold mini-doughnut pan with cooking spray.
In small bowl, make “buttermilk” by combining the almond milk and cider vinegar. In another small bowl, mix together the water and flaxseed meal and allow to thicken for 3 to 5 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the flaxseed mixture and the “buttermilk” mixture. Gradually add the baking mix and almond meal, and stir until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined but the dough is still soft.

Fill a large plastic storage bag with dough and cut a hole in one end to create a pipping bag. Pipe dough into the pan and bake for about 14 minutes, or until the doughnuts are golden and firm.
Remove the donuts from the oven and turn out onto cooling racks to cool.
Prep the toppings by mixing cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, or girding the coffee + chocolate beans.

Brush the donuts with melted Earth Balance and coat doughnuts with toppings. Serve immediately.

Yea, I guess that mini-doughnut pan was necessary.

(Source)

Once upon a time, I strictly stuck to the gym for endurance workouts, either spin class, the treadmill or elliptical. But after about a year of that, I hit the metaphorical wall and wasn’t getting any stronger. I was also just getting downright bored with my normal routine. I knew I should be including more resistance and weight training into my workouts, but in all honesty the weight room was an intimidating place. I felt like it was a men only zone in the gym, and my waif-like arms weren’t going to cut it.

It wasn’t until Lauren posted The Core (or as I prefer to call it: The Sore), that I felt confident to weight training a try.

It’s still a little intimidating being the only female in the weight room, and sometimes I feel a little funny reaching for the 15 lb free weights when the guy beside me is working with 50 lbs. But, there are a lot of important health reasons to weight train in addition to cardio. It’s also kind of exciting to see biceps for the first time in 25 years (because years of ballet and soccer left my arms in the same shape as they were when I was 10). I found that the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises has variety of strength training moves and modifications to make things more challenging.

Here’s my go to circuit:

• 10 Stiff-leg dead lifts
• 10 Shoulder press squats
• 10 Shoulder press forward lunges
• 10 Seated dumbbell  curls – Do this holding a weight in your free arm and keep it at a 90 degree angle while curling.
• 10 Flat dumbbell presses
• 10 Lying overhead triceps extensions
• 10 Dumbbell rows per arm
• 10 Stability ball jackknifes + pushups
• 10  Seated Russian twists
• 10 Lower body Russian twists
• 10 Lower-ab leg drops – Putting your hands under your lower back will prevent straining.
• Plank with leg raises – I aim for 5 raises on each side, holding for about 20 seconds

Repeat everything 2-3 times. Just remember to do what works for you. Start with a weight that feels easy and gradually work your way up – I started doing this with 10 lb weights. Just be confident and feel free to have a mean look on your face (although I do discourage loud grunting).

I like kale. Especially spicy kale chips. But I’ve struggled to find a way that I can eat it raw. Salads that look like a Crayola box make everything taste better.

{Colorful} Kale Slaw

• 3 stems of kale, shredded
• 1/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup red cabbage, shredded
• 2 tablespoons roasted cashews
• 1/4 avocado, sliced
• 1 lime wedge
• 2 tablespoons ginger salad dressing

On a plate, layer kale, carrots, and cabbage. Top with cashews and avocado slices. Dress with freshly squeezed lime juice and ginger salad dressing.

Doesn’t get much simpler, or colorful, than that. Is anyone else obsessed with the salad dressing served in sushi restaurants? Because I’m kind of in love with this ginger dressing. I’ll take my dressing with a side of vegetables.

The beginning of 2011 feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened, so many changes occurred. I'm glad that 2011 came to an end because 2012 has so many great things in store. In lieu of listing out resolutions, I really only have one goal for 2012: finish my Masters and become Alex LG, MPH, CHES.

With that will bring another move to a new city, a new job, starting life over again. I'm excited to start my career, to find a place to feel at home. Big changes like this typically cause me anxiety and while this period of flux will be hard, I'm ready for it. I'm ready to put away all of the text books, to only have one job to keep track of, to wake up every morning and do something I love. I'm lucky to have put myself on that path.

The one nagging issue has been my blog and other blogs I regularly read. I'm tired of reading blogs about people in relationships, people getting engaged, people having babies. Why cant I find more single bloggers? Because I'm not interested in making a recipe for four when it's just me. Sure, some leftovers are nice but I dont want to eat the same thing every day of the week. And really, do we need a weekly pregnancy update? Maybe my little space will become less food and a little more life. Because really, singleship in the mid-twenties can be hilarious.

Last year there were sticky buns, this year with my new gluten free/dairy free diet, there were cinnabons.

Surprisingly close to the not so healthy chain variety, these cinnamon buns are without all of the guilt (and digestive problems).

Cinnamon Buns (gluten free & dairy free)

Dough

•  1 cup warm original almond milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 egg (or  2 tbsp egg substitute)
• 1/3 cup earth balance stick, melted
• 2 1/4 cups gluten free all purposed flour (I used Better Batter, which includes xantham gum)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

So good, you wont even notice they aren’t the real thing. And your wheat eating family members might even be jealous. Especially when paired with coffee + coconut nog.