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Natural Chef Culinary School Recap: Breakfast, Eggs and KIDS!

Nov 1

Posted by Shari B. in Natural Chef Culinary School | 3 Comments

Hi blog buds!

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.  I put out a post last night about my Halloween costume, in case you missed it, as well as our Pumpkin Carving adventures.

One of our school days last week focused on Breakfast and Eggs.  Of all things to be assigned, I was given the Improv Bar and Smoothie.  (Our improv recipes are where we are given a list of ingredients we are allowed to use, and no others.)

Well, of course I thought that would be a piece of cake because I do smoothies all the time.  Nothing to it, right???  Not so fast…

I started on the “bar” first.  I decided I wanted my bar to be something raw and along the lines of a Larabar, with dates, coconut butter, coconut flakes, pepitas, dried fruit, etc.   My intention was that I’d throw them in the freezer for a few minutes before serving in order to allow coconut butter to harden a bit.  Messing around with ingredients in order to get the right consistency, while not following a recipe, was taking up all of my allotted time and the clock was ticking.  Finally I got them formed and into the freezer, and moved on to the smoothie.

With only a few minutes to spare, I threw some protein powder, frozen berries, mint and kefir into the VitaMix and blended.  By the time I searched high and low to track down enough small glasses to put them in and try to get them evenly poured, I was out of time for any more tweaking or testing, let alone garnish for all of them.  I figured I’d just slice a quick orange slice for our ‘single serve’ plate and what do I do?  SLICE MY FINGER!!!  Dag-nabbit! Here I go again with the Glove of Shame.  This is what I hate about having to rush!

In my defense, look at this knife.  It just LOOKS mean, doesn’t it?  It has a blood thirsty gleam if you ask me.  ;)

And since I keep hitting the same spot, I now have a little permanent divot out of the tip of my finger.

Yes, it appears small.  But I think I’ve lost more blood on these three cuts than I would had I donated blood!

All in all, the bars were well received, but the smoothie… not so much.  It really was an epic fail.  Way too much kefir, too chalky from the protein powder, and nothing like the smoothies I make in my own kitchen.

Here is my single serve plate – the bars are dusted with coconut flakes and topped with goji berries:

And our whole breakfast buffet, including freshly made almond milk, granola from scratch, fresh juices, unpictured eggs en cocotte, unpictured goat cheese souffles (they were still cooking):

It was one of those days where I went home a little dejected, feeling I could have done a much better job.

Later on at home, since I didn’t get to even TOUCH an egg in class on EGG day (don’t even get me started on that), I decided to make my own poached egg, using one of the techniques that our instructor demonstrated.

My poached egg turned out beautifully (a win for the day, wahoo!) and tasted great as well:

(If you guys are interested, I’ll write a separate post on the different techniques for poaching eggs.  We learned a few in class, and I know of a few others.  Let me know in the comments section if that’s something you’d like to see as a post topic.)

***

One of the highlights of this week:  I was able to do some externship hours with my instructor, Christine, for the Growe Foundation. Their tagline is “Educating Children about Eating and the Environment.”   This session was with a group of 4th and 5th graders.  They are divided into two groups and each group has an assigned “Head Chef” that wears a big chef’s hat.  They all get aprons too!  The “Head Chef” sends their respective teams to gather ingredients and equipment.  The recipes for the day I was there were Quesadillas with Scallions & Red Peppers and a “slaw” of Jicama, Carrots and Apples.  They cut and prep all the food, cook it, and then serve it up on plates. (And then I wash the dishes, LOL!)  :)

I love the idea of this, because I remember how inspired I was by Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.  This felt along the same vein, showing kids how quick and easy it can be to prepare their own healthy meals and snacks, using fresh ingredients.  And maybe with some of them it will stick – and possibly even rub off on their parents at home.

I will definitely be back for more externship hours if they’ll have me.

Do you know if any foundations or programs in your local schools that do something similar with kids?

OK, friends – have a MAGNIFICENT Monday and I’ll see you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Indian Spiced Quinoa

Oct 12

Posted by Shari B. in Natural Chef Culinary School, Recipes, vegan | 10 Comments

Here is the recipe for the Indian Spiced Quinoa from my homework assignment that I promised to share with you.  I’d love to know what you think if you try it!

This is a super easy recipe that provides a lot of flavor punch for the small amount of effort involved.  You will definitely want to use the dates and FRESH mint leaves (as opposed to dry) – the power of the fresh flavors in those two ingredients makes all the difference in this recipe.

  • 1 cup quinoa (measured dry)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 1 orange pepper, chopped (feel free to use red or yellow)
  • 1 finger of ginger, peeled and minced
  • ½  teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 3 medjool dates, pitted and minced
  • Mint leaves from 3-4 sprigs, finely chopped

Directions
Soak quinoa for 30-60 minutes prior to cooking.  Rinse well, drain and set aside.

Melt coconut oil over medium heat.  Add shallots, orange pepper, garlic, ginger and garam masala, stirring often until peppers soften, about 5 minutes.

Add quinoa and stir well to coat with spice mixture.

Add vegetable broth.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until quinoa begins to look fluffy and liquid has absorbed into the grains.

Allow to sit uncovered for 3-5 minutes.  Using a fork, mix in dates and mint leaves.  Serve immediately.

Adapted from ‘Carla’ at www.food.com (Garam Masala Basmati Rice)

Health Benefits

Quinoa:  Often thought of as a grain, but actually a seed, one ½ cup serving of quinoa provides 251 mg of potassium, as well as 4.5 grams of complete protein (www.calorieking.com).  Quinoa has a macronutrient breakdown of 71% carbohydrate, 14% fat and 15% protein (www.nutritiondata.self.com).  It is also an excellent source of manganese, magnesium and iron.  Originally a South American crop, it has an interesting Colorado connection, as it was brought here in the 1980s for cultivation by two Americans (Murray 2005, 348-349).

Dates: Dates are a delightfully sweet treat that should be a part of any diet, especially for individuals looking for whole, natural solutions for fueling their endurance exercise. This glucose-rich fruit is easily digestible and highly alkaline (Brazier 2007, 142) providing an astonishing 262% more potassium than an orange per ounce yet providing a relatively low caloric count of 23 calories per pitted date (Murray 2005, 272).  Studies have shown dates to be rich in both antioxidant and anticancer compounds, bringing new meaning to the coined term “The Tree of Life” for the date palm that bears this fruit (Murray 2005, 273).

Sweet Red Bell Pepper: Bell peppers are considered one of the highest nutrient-dense foods based on the ratio of their nutrient level to calories, at only 20 calories per 3.5 ounce pepper.  A one cup serving of bell pepper will provide you with 291% of the RDA for Vitamin C and 105% for Vitamin A (www.whfoods.com).  The red pepper is superior to green from a nutrient standpoint.  Eating bell peppers is thought to be protective against cancer, heart disease, strokes, cataracts and cholesterol levels.  Because bell peppers are members of the nightshade family (which have been thought to worsen the symptoms of arthritis), people suffering from arthritis may choose to reduce or eliminate their consumption of these particular vegetables.  (Murray 2005, 167).

Bibliography

Bauman, Edward. Eating for Health: Your Guide to Vitality and Optimal Health. Pengrove, CA:  Bauman College, 2008

Brazier, Brendan. The Thrive Diet: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life. Philadelphia, PA: DeCapo Press, 2007

CalorieKing’s www address www.calorieking.com.

Livestrong’s www address www.livestrong.com

Murray, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2005

SELF NutritionData’s www address www.nutritiondata.self.com

The World’s Healthiest Foods’ www address www.whfoods.com

***

Shari Becht is a Fit Living Coach and ACE Certified Personal Trainer.  She is extremely passionate about teaching people how they can take the steps to fit healthy living into their busy lives.  She has decided to take her love of nutrition one step further by enrolling in the Natural Chef Culinary Program at Bauman College and will graduate in Spring 2011.

If you or someone you know could use some help learning how to fit more “FIT” into life, please feel free to email her at shari [at] fitfeat  [dot] com.  For more information, click here.

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11 Weeks Till 26.2

Mar 1

Posted by Shari B. in Marathon Training | 20 Comments

Happy Monday friends!  (Is it really here already?)

Which means another installment of MARATHON MONDAY!

When I was growing up, a phrase my mom often used was, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Try as I might, I seem to break this rule more often than not.  I’ll definitely be breaking it today as I recap my 14 miler from this weekend.

To sum up this run in one word:  DISCOURAGING.

To start with, I had a pretty rough night of sleep leading into which doesn’t make for an energetic start to a long run right off the bat.

Since our meet up time was planned for 7:45 this week, I ate my pre-run meal at 6:00 am.  Two slices of Ezekial cinnamon raisin toast with almond butter on one and coconut butter on the other.

I made my date snack to take along during the run, this time using coconut butter in the pit ‘void’ rather than coconut oil.  I also crumbled half of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar into a baggie to bring in my Camelbak.


It was 26 degrees at the start of the run and a little breezy so I took a fleece and a light windbreaker plus a scarf with mittens since we’d be running directly into the wind during the first half.  My calves were still sore from the Thursday run in my VFFs and for some reason my low back was stiff, so I arrived about 15 minutes early to get in a good warm-up and do some stretching before we took off.

At about the 5 mile mark, I was really feeling blah.  Just wasn’t feeling the run this time.  The spotty night of sleep wasn’t helping the situation.  My heart rate was running high, staying between 175 and 180 bpm so I kept trying to run a bit slower to bring it down.  I really prefer to keep it under 170 on the flats.  I had my fuel at this point because I was hoping for a little energy boost.

Finally we reached the 7 mile mark and turnaround point. As soon as we headed back the other direction, it became very clear that we’d been running a pretty good incline during that first half.  I knew we were running “upstream” along the creek, but didn’t realize how “UP” it was.  This is the elevation graph from my Garmin:

From there until mile 9,  I felt so much better.  My HR was back down to 164.  My knees weren’t screaming as badly.

We used the ‘walk one minute at every mile’ strategy again this time, which my heart rate was thankful for:

But unfortunately it didn’t seem to offer the same relief to my knees.

The run just seemed to drag on forever.  I felt cranky the last few miles and spent a lot of time ‘in my head’, questioning my desire to run a marathon.

I already knew I was going to be miserable the rest of that day.  Bags of frozen edamame weren’t going to cut it this week.

Gonna have to bring out the big guns:

I picked up 20 lbs of ice on the way home and built a torture chamber ran an ice bath in the spare bathroom.

I did two rounds of immersion of my knees and lower legs in the ice bath.  I had a hot bath (with Epsom salt) waiting in the other tub as soon as I got out of this one.  I’m not kidding you, my lips were BLUE!

Throughout the rest of the day I iced my knees three more times with bagged ice.

From a “FUEL” standpoint, since I was in such a hurry to get home and finish stretching, I scrapped the planned banana and glutamine drink.  While buying ice at the gas station, I got a GREEN MACHINE  by Naked Juice to chug in the car.  This juice is so high in sugar that I would rarely choose to drink this any other time – but is why it was perfect for replenishment directly following a workout where I’d burned 1,237 calories.

I drank the whole bottle.  66 grams of carbs (56 of which are sugars) and 800 mg of potassium.  After I was home for a while I had a hard-boiled egg for a shot of protein and two Umeboshi plums for a sodium boost.  I also took ginger root capsules AND bromelain for inflammation.

Then to top the day off, while I was in the car driving back from the run, I got a weird tickle in my right nostril like I inhaled something funny.  And I had one of those sneezing fits where I thought I was going to run my car off the road!  It was about 10 huge sneezes in a row and then my right eye got really squinty and watery.  It was BIZARRE to say the least.  I don’t know WHAT it was, but I felt like I had a cold the rest of the day:  I sounded congested and my nose ran nonstop.

I’m thinking I’m developing an allergy to distance running.  ;)

The best part of the whole run?  The SUN was shining and it was 50 degrees by the time we’d finished.  (I have to find a silver lining somewhere, right?  :) )

I didn’t have a stellar day and I had a lot of “pros and cons” running through my head the rest of the weekend (cons are currently winning) and questioning whether the knee pain is worth it.  The thought of having to add 12 more miles onto the distance I just completed almost brings tears to my eyes.   We’ve adjusted our training schedule to accommodate some out of town trips for each of us in the upcoming weeks, so from here on out we’ve planned the long runs for every other weekend.  So I’m hoping that putting some distance (no pun intended!) between this long run and the next will give me some time to regenerate some excitement. I know not all runs are great runs.  I certainly don’t expect that.  I’m okay with having runs where I’m just not ‘feeling the groove’.   It seems that every other run so far has been one without pain (meaning one is good, one is bad, next is good, etc.), so maybe when it’s time for the 16 miler, that will be the day my knees decide to be happy.  Time will tell!

Did I mention the sun was shining that day?  ;)   Ha ha!

Have a marvelous Monday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

PS:  If you didn’t get a chance to see it, you have to check out yesterday’s Sunday Comedy post.  It’s short and it will bring a smile to your morning!

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