Gluten, gluten everywhere

January 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

As January nears its close I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve done so far to reach my 2012 resolutions. This year I hope to make my New Year’s resolutions the basis for my monthly resolutions each month–instead of coming up with new things to obsess over in 30-day increments, I can obsess about the same few things all year!

That’s what we call streamlining.

One of the resolutions I’ve been pretty failtastic at so far has been my resolution to go gluten-free. While my home is stocked to the gills with brown rice pasta, gluten-free bread products, and less-than-tasty tortillas, I appear to have forgotten that I only spend a few days a week at my own digs these days.

I’m not giving up on this resolution just yet, but I’m starting to realize the switch over may not be as instantaneous as I thought. It may take time to sneak all my gluten-free (and meat-free, because he’s a vegetarian) goodies over to The Fellas—this can be particularly tricky because many of the vegetarian “meats” that he keeps his fridge stocked with are primarily made from wheat gluten and he only has a microwave which cuts back on the roasting of vegetables and boiling of rice and pastas. I try to infiltrate his man-cave as gingerly as possible—as to not appear to be moving in. For now I’m going to aim for gluten-free at home, and be as discerning as possible the rest of the time.

How are your 2012 resolutions faring so far?

Breakfast


Egg white omelet with spinach and feta
Gluten free bread with raspberry jam

Lunch


Split pea soup

Afternoon snack


I took a tea break this afternoon for some Cinnamon protein loaf, and peach decaf tea

Dinner

The Fella and I met up for dinner post work. We’ve been trying to get a seat at Westville for months now and every time we pass by the tiny restaurant it is packed. Tonight there just happened to be a window seat with our names on it. It’s all in the timing.

We had an appetizer plate of roasted potatoes in a chipotle sauce; roasted zucchini and tomatoes with mozzarella, brussel sprouts in a honey mustard glace and soy sauce marinated tofu

For dinner I had the vegan dogs with sauerkraut and roasted butternut squash

Exercise: 45-minute elliptical, abs

Kim

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Live and in Internet Color

February 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

I have a whole new appreciation for chewing.  Chewing. Chewing. Glorious chewing!

I’m sure you’re all tired of reading about my cleanse, but are you tired of watching about my cleanse?  Because I made a video!  This is all a part of my New Year’s Resolution to get back into Webshows.  Now, those of you that remember from the Daily Special and Pretty Imperfect days, well I had a professional production crew behind me on that one–so it’s not like that, at all.  This little video is just me, a flip cam, and my laptop…still I’m pretty impressed by my meager technological prowess.  I even made a YouTube Channel for The Kim Challenge, so I can start posting more videos!  Hopefully I’ll get better at this thing as the year progresses.

So if you’re cable is out, or you’re just wondering what my voice sounds like…check it out: I’m animated on the Internets!

Now on to the food, the real food, the non pureed food.  I feel like I need to reach out to every infant I know and tell them what a great thing they’ve got to look forward to!  Chewing, all the cool kids are doing it.

Seriously, you can tell you love food when you wake up multiple times in the night wondering if it’s time to chew yet.  I kept things simple, mainly because Organic Avenue sent me an email telling me I could have fruits, salads, and steamed veggies.  No dairy, nuts, grains, or legumes, and no meats.  I improvised a little with dinner because I didn’t want another salad, but I feel like I’m still within my cleanse breaking boundaries.  They didn’t send me any instructions for tomorrow so I’m thinking I can start incorporating other foods back in.  You know, now that my stomach remembers how to move and stuff.

As I said in the video (but my guess is that not all of you are going to watch it, so I’ll repeat it here) while this experience certainly wasn’t as easy, enlightening, or magical as I was anticipating, now that I have some distance from it I can certainly see the benefits.  My body really does feel clean inside.  Kind of empty,  but empty in a good way, in a way that makes me want to only fill it with good things from now on.  I’m also down 6lbs, which is a nice little ego boost even though I’m pretty sure it’s just water weight.  Speaking of water weight, a major bonus of this experience was feeling like I lost a lot of bloat I didn’t even realize I had.

I’m glad I did it, but I don’t ever want to do it again.  I don’t usually go for the ‘extreme’ version of anything diet related (mostly because at heart I’m a total extremist and I don’t want get to that crazy obsessive head space I definitely occupied when I was younger), so this was a little outside my comfort zone.  Sometimes going outside ones comfort zone is a good thing, but I think next time I’m feeling like trying a detox I’ll go for a slower more food based version.

Have you ever done a detox, extreme or mild?  What was your experience?

Fruit

Fruit

Salad

I think I might have gone a little overboard with the veggies.  I was really excited.

Soup

I made a simple cauliflower soup which was basically just organic vegetable broth, cauliflower, onion and garlic all pureed for tasty/easy to digest goodness

Kim

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Soups on!

September 20, 2010 by 7 Comments

I have been fantasizing about soup non stop lately.

Not that kind of fantasizing, what kind of pervert do you think I am?!

Soup is my favorite food group.  Okay, technically not a food group, but by golly it should be!  It should be deemed “the comforting yet nutritious food group.”  And, we would all eat it and be merry and warm inside.

There are so many reasons soup is the best thing since bread (period, sliced or not bread rocks):

  • It can be an entire meal, or just a starter
  • Cheap!
  • Very little time or culinary prowess necessary to make tasty sustenance
  • Healthy (well, unless you’re pouring in the cream, but I generally stick to broth based soups)
  • Soup freezes well
  • It’s like a big bowl of love in your tummy.

Okay, maybe a the last one is a bit dramatic, but I’m a soup fan.

Now that there’s a little crispness in the air I can finally break out the soup pot and start simmering.

First thing I did when I got home today was softened some carrots and onions, added dried split peas and vegetable broth.  While that simmered I got ready for my evening spin class.

Upon my arrival home was a nice piping hot bowl (or six) of split pea awaiting me.  For approximately $4 I have lunch for the entire week–I am a money saving genius!

I can’t wait to make lentil soup, kale and white bean soup, spicy squash soup, chickpea and escarole soup, and the list continues…

What soups are you looking forward to making this Fall?

Admittedly not the best picture, but here’s what goes into my split pea soup

  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups dried split peas
  • liberal amounts of salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder

Heat heavy bottomed stock pot, add tablespoon olive oil, carrots, and onions.  Allow carrots and onions to soften, approximately three minutes.  Add broth and peas.  Bring broth to a boil, then back down to simmer.  Add salt, pepper, thyme, garlic, and stir.  Cover and allow to cook until peas are soft (approximately 30-minutes), stirring occasionally.  When peas are almost done I use an immersion blender to make the soup creamy–not completely, I leave some chunks.

This may be completely in my head, but I find that my soup is spicier when I use the immersion blender.  I tend to think it has something to do with grinding and distributing the pepper.

Okay, now onto the rest of the food:

Oatmeal with low fat sour cream
egg
coffee

Lunch

Chicken noodle soup

Whole grain bread, turkey, lettuce
apple

Dinner

Split pea soup

Whole grain flat bread with hummus

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

From the mouth of a babe

February 25, 2010 by 2 Comments

Cuteness Alert: On the subway home from work today there was a 4-year-old-ish girl who used “inadvertently” correctly in a sentence, which made me smile uncontrollably.  Then, as we left the station she held the door for like 15-people until her father said she didn’t have to hold it for everyone, just the next person after her.  I’m not usually an “awww, cute kids” type of girl, in fact, I’m not 100% sure that procreation is in my future, but if I do have kids one day, I want them to be just like her.  I’m a sucker for an impressive vocabulary.

Okay, I just had to share that, it MADE my day.

While I have acknowledged that it will take me a few months to kiss my day job goodbye (being responsible is such a drag) the whole place has become much more bearable now that I know that it’s not a permanent part of my life.

Today, as it was told to us that we were going to be more micro-managed than we already are (and believe me if they could send someone to accompany us to the ladies room and wipe for us without getting sued, they would), I just laughed.  My poor co-worker on the other hand almost started crying.

I told her we could quit together, but alack, she likes the security of having a steady income.  From this moment on I have to keep a log of my work, every minute of everyday.  Who knew there were billable hours at non-profits?  A sure sign a company is going down the tubes is when they start looking for people that aren’t working every second of every day.  Who doesn’t take a little Facebook break once in awhile?

Is it wrong that I secretly hope that I get laid off?  Ahhh, unemployment checks, those were the days.

I remember back in the day (this summer) while I was on unemployment the state made me go to an employment counselor who told me I should be a Kindergarten teacher.  I tried to explain that I’m not really a kid person to no avail.  Week after week this guy would try and convince me a career in early childhood education was my mission in life..until he looked at my blogs.  Then, very surprisingly, he told me that I need to keep doing what I’m doing and find a way to make it work.

A very smart man that unemployment counselor (minus the Kindergarten teacher thing), I should have listened to him from the get-go.

My stomach wasn’t awesome today, but it was a lot better than yesterday.  I was going to go to the gym, but I figured I’d wait till tomorrow to test my luck.

Breakfast

Apple sauce

Chocolate milk

Lunch

Brown rice California roll

Dinner

Left over kale and white bean soup

Kim

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It’s all about perspective…and soup

February 23, 2010 by 7 Comments

Today is a day of renewed perspectives.

I found out this morning someone I know passed away this weekend.  He was more an acquaintance than a friend; a good friend of friends that I knew and liked and saw in the circles we both circulated in fairly often.   It’s really sad.  He was only a couple of years older than I am.  I guess in a way it reinforced this sense in me that I need to start living the life I want.  Life is too short to spend it being unhappy.

I firmly believe that the world gives back to you what you put into it, and I will be honest when I say that since my mother has been sick I have really lost a lot of my sense of self.  The whole experience really crushed me, and while my mom has been slowly recovering, I don’t know that I really have…until now.

I feel like, actually quite suddenly, I’m feeling a lot more like me.  Maybe all it took was the permission, figuratively of course, to let go of all that anxiety and start focusing on all the good things in my life, as opposed to walking through every day with this overwhelming feeling of dread.  I was putting out some seriously depressing mojo these last few months!

Things are changing though.  I’ve decided to be pleasantly selfish and spend more time focusing on me, my needs, and what I want.  One of those things is to get back to my roots, back to the stage/screen.  Which is why it’s so exciting that I have an audition tomorrow!

Now, I won’t get into the probabilities of me getting the spot as opposed to not getting the spot, I’m just really excited that I have an audition.  It’s my first audition in a while, once, not so long ago that was as normal a part of my life as breathing now it’s something to celebrate.  It feels like my life is coming back to me.  It feels good.

I made the executive decision to shake up my fitness routine tonight.  Instead of going to my oh-so-centering yoga class tonight I hit up a spin class, I needed something  energetic to get me going.  Yoga always makes me sleepy.

Speaking of exercise we have a Rockin’ Body Giveaway Winner…Emily!


Emily was chosen at random with the Random Number Generator.  Emily, expect an email from me asking for your mailing information.

Okay, now onto the food:

Breakfast

Smoothie with kefir, strawberries and peach slices

Snack

1/4 cup mixed nuts

Lunch

Banana, Greek yogurt, Granola

3 carrots sliced

Dinner

I came home from spin class and made one of my favorite soups

Kale & white bean soup with chicken sausage

Mmmm. Comfort.

Kim

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Veggie Daze

December 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

I have an ongoing battle every week to conquer my produce bins.  Every shopping excursion consists of bags and bags of fresh fruits and vegetables that inevitably rot somewhere in the depths of my produce bins.

I start out with the best of intentions.  But really my grocery store eyes are bigger than my real world stomach.  I’ve tried to curb this behavior in the past but the truth is I just get really excited in grocery stores.  There’s something about the produce section that reaches the inner depths of my happy place. Whatever floats your boat I guess…

With the knowledge that I’d have a house guest this week, I went even more overboard than usual, which means that last night I had to think of some vegetable heavy meals for the week.  I decided to boil a head of cauliflower and turn it into soup for my lunch this week. Which was really quite tasty and very low fat and low calorie.

The wonders of vegetables never cease.  One of my favorite things to do with vegetables is to bulk up meals.  Armed with a pretty tiny tuna filet (my mom’s favorite fish) I decided to stress that little pescetarian wonder as far as I could by surrounding it with roughage.  Kabobs are wonderful things.  One 5oz fillet made 4 kabobs!

Yeah, vegetables are pretty awesome.  Now if only I could stop being so darn ambitious at checkout, fresh produce is really expensive.

No Cream of Cauliflower Soup

  • 1 Head of Cauliflower cut off stalk
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 Medium Onion
  • 3 Cloves of garlic cut into slivers
  • Some (1/4 cuppish) parsley (or not depending on your tastes)
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

In a large heavy bottomed pot boil salted water.  Once water is at a boil add in cauliflower and let cook for 4 minutes.  Drain cauliflower and set aside.  In empty pot add olive oil, onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Let cook about 5 minutes till onion is soft but not caramelized.  Add cauliflower and let cook for another 3-5 minutes.  Once vegetables are integrated add 4 cups of vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Remove soup from heat, and in a blender, food processor, or in the pot using an immersion blender (which is what I use) blend soup till cauliflower is no longer chunky, but soup is a smoothish consistency.  Taste, add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with parsley.

Now for the pictures:

Breakfast

Smoothie: Soy milk, banana, peanut butter and chocolate syrup
Persimmon

Lunch

No-Cream of Cauliflower Soup (recipe above)
Greek Salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil
Clementine

Snack

My drink of choice: Grande no foam soy latte

Dinner


Tuna kabobs  over couscous and avocado

Kim

Filed Under: Daily Confessional, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Soup, Soup-e-doop, Soup-e-doop-e-doop-e-doop

November 26, 2009 by 4 Comments

Today I did something I never do.  I skipped breakfast.

I don’t think you understand how big a deal this is for me.  I grew up with the firm belief ingrained in my very being that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Skipping breakfast would be like slapping your mother.  It’s a big deal, a big no-no.

After the past few days of eating I was feeling like if I didn’t do something to get back to my natural eating queues quickly I would spend the next few weeks feeling bloated and cranky and eternally stuffed to the gills.  So, this morning I made the very conscious choice to not eat breakfast so that I could remember at some point during the day what it feels like to be hungry.

It really is funny how we lose track of that feeling. Has it ever happened to you?  Some people tend to look at me like I’m crazy when I discuss my discomfort with my lack of hunger.  Hunger is important, it tells us when to eat!  I know I’m doing something wrong when I’m responding to the digits on my clock as opposed to my internal rhythms to tell me when meal time is.

This is the time of year I hate the most in that sense.  Non stop eating seems to be the norm.  This year I’m going to do my darnedest to not lose track of the natural queues that tell me when to eat and when not to.  I’m not sure if it’s a lost cause, but I’ve written it out loud and that means I’m going to give it my best shot.

Lunch

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I stopped by Whole Foods for lunch, for once the express lane was actually express.
Black bean soup
Whole wheat roll

Dinner

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Okay, I’m getting seriously redundant I may need to let the Udon noodles rest for a while.
Udon noodle soup with shrimp and bok choy

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, may you eat lots of yummy things tomorrow.  Don’t count calories or think about carbs. A holiday is a holiday is a holiday and you should enjoy every bite.

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Liquid Dinner

November 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Last night didn’t really work out the way I’d imagined it, but it was soooo much more fun.  My plan was to go to class, come home, make challah dough for the class I’m teaching tonight, write, do an exercise video and write some more.  Instead I blew off all of my responsibilities to spend the night sipping cocktails with a friend who besides her wedding two weeks ago and her bachelorette party before that, I haven’t really talked to since August.  It was lovely and girlie and I had alcohol for dinner which I do not recommend to the masses, but by the time I got home I just wanted to curl up in bed and enjoy the warm fuzzies I was feeling.

Of course that meant getting up at 4 am to make dough.  Wish me luck, I’ve never taught anything before!

Adventures in early morning bread making!

Adventures in early morning bread making!

Okay, so they’re a little mangled, but considering I was a zombie when I made them I guess they’ll do.

Here’s the food rundown from Wednesday:

Breakfast 11.4.09

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Egg, Oat Bread Toast, 1/2 Grapefruit
Orange juice

Lunch

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Split pea soup and apple slices

The soup was amazing if I do say so myself.

Snack

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Peanut Pretzel Granola Bar

Dinner

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Hot buttered rum.  OMG, they actually put butter in it!  I had no idea.  It’s really yummy when hot, but kind of gets grosser as it cools and the butter congeals-for future drink ordering reference.

I’m starting not to trust my ability to feed myself responsibly.

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Crappy Food Wall

October 27, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I’m pretty sure I never want to eat again.  Okay, that’s a lie, a life sans eating is no life at all.  I have, however, definitely hit the crappy food wall.

Have you been there?  When it doesn’t matter how good it tastes, your body is just over eating anything fried, smothered in cheese, or covered in chocolate?  This weekend was spent on airplanes with a brief layover in Dallas to watch two of the most creative and talented people I know get married in a fairytale wedding.

There was much Tex-Mex to be eaten.  And, oh, how I ate it.  This may have actually been the first wedding I’ve ever been to with really good food.

The best part of the weekend, I mean besides seeing the beautiful couple get married, was being unplugged.  So much of my life is focused around being connected to the internet all the time.  A whole weekend to sit in itty-bitty airplane chairs, take long showers, read a book (actually two), take a walk in a random city, shake my groove thang…it was so nice.

I’m glad to be home now.  Home with my comfort zone of food, home with my gym membership and and room dedicated solely to the ancient art of exercise videos.  (Not that I’ve used my gym membership or DVD collection yet, but I fully intend to…soon, someday soon.)

To celebrate my homecoming, and renewed devotion to clean eating, I came home from work today and made a big pot of white bean and kale soup (vegetarian) to bring for lunch the rest of the week.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s almost impossible to make kale unhealthy.  Fried kale just doesn’t sound all that appetizing.

See doesn’t it all just look super-duper healthy:

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Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing more of it all week long.

Now for the food that I actually ate today:

Breakfast 10.26.09

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Orange juice
Lowfat peach yogurt
Whole grain toast w/organic peanutbutter

Lunch 10.26.09

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I hit up Whole Foods for lunch today, their soup is good, but not as good as mine ;)

Salad with arugala, tomato, carrot, roast eggplant and chickpeas, olives, Asiago cheese, and red wine vinegar
Mushroom barley soup

Snack

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Cashew Cookie Larabar

Dinner 10.26.09

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Stir fry with tofu, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, teryaki sauce, and brown rice

While technically fried, I do try and cut the amount of oil I need, by briefly steaming the vegetables before the pan, and baking the tofu first.  That way, most of the cooking is already done and I only need a little bit of oil to help mesh the flavors and give a slight crisp.

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