FitFeat

Archive for January, 2011

Purple Potato Eater

Jan 31

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking | 7 Comments

Hi FitFeat friends!

I ran across some purple potatoes at the store recently and I couldn’t wait to get them home and eat them!

Aren’t they pretty when they’re sliced?

They even bleed purple juice…!

I melted a little coconut oil to rub on them, then sprinkled them with sea salt and herbes de Provence.  In my opinion they were just asking for the lavender mixed in that spice blend.

I spread them out on a baking sheet and roasted them in a 375 degree oven.

Apparently, they cook really fast compared to white potatoes.  I actually went a little too long at 15 minutes, so keep your eye on these to keep them from getting TOO done.

Crispy and delicious!

And the best part about PURPLE potatoes is that in addition to the great things like fiber and potassium that you’d usually get from a white potato, you ALSO get the added benefit of anthocyanin - the phytonutrient found in darker fruits and veggies (Greek origin “anthos” meaning flower and “kyanos” meaning blue) – which is a potent antioxidant, as well as being anti-inflammatory and a cancer fighter.

If you’re interested, you can click on purple potatoes and anthocyanins for some further reading.

It’s always beneficial to our health to eat a wide array of bright colors (since each color is associated with different phytonutrients) as well as enjoying a varied diet to stave off food boredom.

Have you tried some “new to you” foods lately? If not, I encourage you to visit the produce section and pick two new items that you’ve never tried.  It makes cooking more interesting when you pick something new, then go home and look up ways to prepare it and learn about the health benefits.

– Shari B.  =)

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Soup + Salad + Cookies = Delicious Week

Jan 23

Posted by Shari B. in Natural Chef Culinary School | 4 Comments

Hi blog buds!

How are you?  Hope you are having a fabulous weekend.  Anyone going to watch some championship football today?  I’m rooting for both Chicago and Pittsburgh to win – I think that would make a great Super Bowl.  Plus I am about the only person in the state of Colorado who really liked Jay Cutler when he was our Broncos QB and I was SO mad when he was traded away to Chicago.  So now I’m kind of a closet Bears fan.  ;)

I like to work on homework while football is on in the background.  It makes the perfect background noise, and I can holler out a “woo hoo” every once in a while.

It’s been a busy week since I last checked in (I sound like a broken record don’t I?).

Wednesday brought some snow to Boulder and it took me exactly FOUR hours to get home.  Visibility was terrible and then it got dark.  I’ve had some sketchy drives in bad weather, but this one was definitely the longest.  I think it took a few hours for my knuckles to return to their normal color. 

By Friday it was back to this (much improved!):

It ALMOST looks like I’m following the same car!  Ha ha!

So this week in school we were studying nutrition for Heart Health and Cancer.  We wrap up the module tomorrow.  Which means much of our kitchen time is over!  We’ve cooked our way through our entire 299 page Recipe Workbook!  And it’s so interesting to see how we have “matured” in the kitchen – as a group we are much more calm and relaxed when we are working than when we first started school.  Funny how that happens!   The next module is all on business/client services as well as working on our graduation showcase.  WOW, time is flying.

Here are the recipes I was assigned this week:

IMPROV: Creamy Mushroom Soup with Shiitakes and Nori (completely dairy free, cauliflower is used to create the creaminess.  I pureed half of the soup smooth and kept the other half lightly chunky and then mixed it back together to serve.  It turned out DELICIOUS!):

IMPROV: Roasted Brussels Sprouts over Endive Salad with Toasted Almonds and Dijon Vinaigrette (I saved the endive hearts to use on the plate – such a dork, right?  I’m really loving Brussels sprouts, especially when they are well roasted – this one turned out great as well):

Not IMPROV: Lemony Almond Cookies (egg whites, ground almonds, lemon zest, honey … cookies!):

It’s really been a couple of delicious weeks at school.   I’m hoping to get assigned something a little more challenging in tomorrow’s class.  I have soups and salads down pat by now.   ;)

What is the YUMMIEST thing you’ve cooked (or eaten out) in the last week?

Have a wonderful day friends!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

Sinus Clearing Snack (or Dehydrator Onion Rings)

Jan 15

Posted by Shari B. in Adventures in Dehydrating, Recipes | 4 Comments

Hi friends!

Wow, I’ve missed you guys!  How have you all been?  I’m getting a TON accomplished on my project list, but I have to admit it’s been a little tough to stay away from blogging!  So I thought I’d pop in today to say hello and share a few fun things from the last 9 days (and at the end I’ll talk about that snack referenced in the title).

We had a pretty good snowstorm and some FRIGID subzero temps hit us last Sunday into Monday, so I had my first sketchy (and S-L-O-W) commute to school of this winter season.  But what a gorgeous drive it was.  I took this photo from my cell phone driving along at about 50 mph so it’s not the best quality, but it’s still pretty.  I never get tired of looking at the scenery here.  Check out all the colors!

We’re in the Therapeutic module at school and learning about cooking for diabetes/blood sugar control and candida at the moment.  Yesterday my improv recipe assignment was Kale with Arame, Ginger and Sesame.  It may not be the most colorful dish, but it turned out very nicely and felt very warming from all of the fresh ginger. I left the kale leaves raw, cutting them into very thin ribbons (known as a chiffonade cut) and then lightly dressed them with sesame oil and tamari (use your hands to “massage” the dressing into the kale – this will wilt it slightly and help to increase it’s digestibility).  I cut the kale stalks into tiny pieces and sautéed them with grated ginger (about 2 TBSP), minced garlic, sesame oil, tamari and vegetable stock (to keep it from sticking without using too much oil).  Then I added the soaked and drained arame (seaweed) to the sauté.

Using the raw kale as the “bed” I then topped it with the sauté mixture followed by some toasted sesame seeds.  Extremely mineral rich and full of fiber.

Some of the other photoless recipes I’ve done with our improv assignments have been:

Spicy Gingered Bok Choy with Arame and Goji Berries
Baked Mung Bean and Brown Basmati Burgers
Curried Adzuki Bean Soup
Skillet Tempeh Reuben with vegan Thousand Island

I am enjoying this segment of school a lot.  I’ve had the opportunity to work on recipes alone which has been a nice change.  I can’t believe how fast time has been flying by.  We only have 6 weeks left!

So yesterday for a snack, our Kitchen Manager set out some DELICIOUS no-fry onion rings that he’d made in the dehydrator.  They were insanely spicy and insanely good!  He listed off the ingredients he’d used but no amounts so I came home last night and tried to recreate it.

Now let me warn you first:

1. These are CONCENTRATED onions so they pack some punch.  Not only will your house smell like onions while they dehydrate, but your BREATH will rival that of a dragon’s after you eat them.

2. Keep a mint handy for the sake of your friends and coworkers -OR- you may only want to eat these in the privacy of your own home.

3. If you are eating these around your significant other, make sure he/she eats them too so that you can BOTH have dragon breath.  Share the love.  One person with bad breath is no fun.  Two people cancel each other out, especially when it’s time to kiss goodnight.  ;)

4. I have a feeling these will clear out your sinuses.  Mine sure seemed more open after a few bites of these!

But the flavor of this super healthy and LIGHT snack is definitely worth the breath and the long wait during dehydrating.

Dehydrator Onion Rings

Credit for this recipe idea goes to Chef Nelson Schwab, our über-creative Kitchen Manager at Bauman.  I’m not sure if he used the same measurements or not but here is my interpretation.

  • 1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into rings
  • 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
  • 1 tablespoon almonds, finely ground
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • pepper to taste
  • water at the ready

Combine all ingredients except for the onions and water in a mini-chopper or Magic Bullet (or you can do this by hand in a mixing bowl – it just takes longer).  Add just enough water to create a dressing that is about the consistency of thin pancake/crepe batter.  Pour dressing into a Tupperware bowl, throw in the onion rounds, seal the lid onto the bowl, and shake well until all of the onions are well coated.

Place on a dehydrator sheet lined with either parchment paper or a Teflex liner.

Dehydrate overnight at 105 degrees and up to 20 hours or until your desired level of crispiness is reached.

Action shots!

Batter:

Onions after tossing in the batter:

Before dehydrating:

After dehydrating (amazing how tiny things get when you remove all the water!):

And time to snack:

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!  Let me know what you think if you give them a try!

(If you don’t have a dehydrator, no worries!  Bake ‘em in your oven. Start with a low temp around 250 and keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.)

Until next time,

– Shari B. =)

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Warp Speed Ahead and Time for Hiatus

Jan 6

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 9 Comments

Hey there blog buds!

Hope your new year is off to a great start!  Back to reality after a really wonderful and relaxing holiday break.

Check out some of the delicious creations we’re back to making in school (still can’t get a good shot of food in the very dim banquet hall lighting):

Steamed Halibut with Mustard Sauce

Steamed Tempeh with Mustard Sauce & Roasted Veggies

Ginger Lemon Spritzer

Collard Dolmas with Quinoa & Feta

Skillet Tempeh Reuben over Massaged Kale

We’re in the “IMPROV” phase of school now, where we are given a recipe title and an idea on ingredients, but no measurements or instructions.  It’s been really fun so far!  This week has been focused on Digestive Wellness.  The halibut was amazing – and I’m still suffering from sticker shock when I saw how expensive it was.  That photo above at the top was $25 worth of halibut – only ONE pound!  We really are fortunate at this school that we are treated to wonderful, healthful ingredients to cook.  Truly your proteins should be healthful and as free of toxins/pesticides/hormones as possible, so that’s one area where you don’t want to skimp on quality.

***
A CHANGE to FitFeat

The next two months are going to go by in a blink.  Do you ever start thinking through all of the things you need to accomplish by a certain date and it just takes your breath away?  I’ve spent quite a bit of time over break with thoughts swirling around in my head of the projects on my plate.  That’s a big part of why I really made an effort to relax and recharge over holiday break while I had the chance.

I felt myself starting to freak out just a bit, wondering how I’ll ever get it all done.  When that happens, I know the next step is to sit down and capture everything on paper into a set of project plans so that I can see it as manageable chunks, rather than panicking at the big picture.

Outside of all of the school stuff and externship hours (I still have 30 left to track down), the big thing on my plate is getting everything pertaining to my next business up and running.  Especially the business plan, client forms, website, etc.  Busy times!  But also very exciting.

This all means that I’ll be taking a bit of a hiatus from regular posting on FitFeat.  When I started the FitFeat blog I was off work for a summer and had a LOT more free time than I have now (or will have for the immediate future).  After getting my projects listed and timelines set, it became clear that the hours I usually dedicate to blogging need to be redirected to completing all those items for finishing school and transitioning my business.

As time permits, if I have something great to share like a new recipe or workout or article (or just a simple hello or photo message!), I’ll definitely get out here and write.  It will be hard for me to stay away, because I think about ideas for the blog constantly.  I hope you’ll keep FitFeat in your Google Readers, RSS feeds and subscribed by email so that you still see the occasional posts as they are published.  I’m not hanging up my blogging hat completely – I just need to dial it back quite a bit over the next couple of months.

I didn’t want to have a bunch of time pass by between posts and have you all wondering where I went, which is why I’m posting about this.  I’ve had a couple of blogs that I follow do that – one day they are posting all the time and then all of a sudden you never hear from them again!  It’s like reading a book that has no ending -  I still wonder what happened to those bloggers that I used to follow.  I promise not to do that to you!  :)   I’ll keep you updated here and there!

I definitely want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who read regularly and comment regularly – I hope you know how much I appreciate each and every comment that hits my inbox!

OK friends, all that said it’s time for me to get busy!  I’m off to get working on the new website and I hope I’ll see you on the next post!

Make it a GREAT day!

– Shari B. =)

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A Vegan Italian Feast and the DDSD Winner

Jan 1

Posted by Shari B. in Cooking, Do Something Daily | 7 Comments

Hi FitFeat friends!

It’s 1-1-11 today!  Can you believe how fast 2010 flew by?  I hope that you all had a lovely New Year’s Eve celebration!

Pics from last night’s meal:

Dairy-free Caprese Salad:

To make Tofu “Mozzarella”:  Drain firm (organic non-GMO) tofu and cut into desired shapes.   Soak in very salty water for 8 hours or overnight.  Then drain and pat off with a paper towel. (If it still feels too spongy, you can lightly press out some of the excess water by covering it with another paper towel and placing a heavy platter or pan on top).

I could not find fresh basil at any of the stores I had been to this week, so I decided to use spinach and arugula as my salad base and then make a basil dressing using this squeezable basil (2 Tbsp basil squeeze, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1.5 Tbsp balsamic, stir):

Top the salad with roma tomatoes and the tofu “cheese” and then add the dressing.

Fettuccine Alfredo Primavera:

For the Alfredo sauce I combined a dairy free nut sauce with a cauliflower puree:

  • 1/2 head fresh cauliflower, steamed for 20 minutes
  • 1/2 cup vegetable stock
  • 1 cup cashews (soaked all day, then drained and rinsed)
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

Add all ingredients to a blender except for the olive oil.  Blend until creamy then with the blender on low slowly drizzle in the oil.  Pour into a saucepan and heat on low (covered) until it comes up to serving temperature.

(This yields a 3 cup batch of sauce, so in my case I pureed the cauliflower and stock separately and then mixed them all together once they were in the saucepan).

For a vegetarian version, I coated some brown rice fettuccine noodles first with some of the sauce, then topped that with some baked spaghetti squash, some sauteed mushrooms, chopped broccoli and sundried tomatoes, then drizzled some more of the sauce over the top.

For a meat-eating version I made a Chicken Broccoli Alfredo:

We found a Basil Pesto marinated free range chicken breast to use from a local Colorado company:

And of course there was a little of this:

It was a delicious New Year’s Eve and we were having such a good time we didn’t even break out the Wii!

***

OK, OK, I kept you in suspense long enough – it’s time to announce the winner of the drawing for the Eating for Health book and a free coaching session.

You all impressed me with your dedication throughout the month!  I hope that you enjoyed having a reason to stay accountable and get your body moving every day in a month that is filled with rich food and a lot of social outings.  I know it helped me to get moving even if some of those days were just going for a walk.

The four eligible participants were:

1 Cindy
2 Jen
3 Joan
4 Julie

And the winner selected by the Random Number Generator is:

JULIE!!!  Congrats!

I hope that you all feel like winners for having done such an AMAZING job this whole month!  Thank you so much for participating!

With that I’m off to enjoy not only the New Year holiday but also my 9th wedding anniversary… here’s a link to last year’s anniversary post.

Happy 2011 everyone!

– Shari B. =)

»crosslinked«

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