Kitchen Escapades

I have a lot more free time this semester and I've been having a blast cooking new and fun things.  I want to become as independent as I can from the grocery store. So far, I'm making my own yogurt drink (kefir), mung bean sproats, bread, tortillas...etc. This kind of cooking is little different than the normal dinner or lunch, but I find it a lot more exciting. I'm still eating the same things I normally eat...college food, like quesadillas and pb&js, but now with healthier ingredients.

Here's an update on the gluten free week!

Day 4:
Breakfast-
EnviroKidz Cereal and Snowville Milk
Lunch-
Homemade corn tortillas with a fried egg and melted cheese
Apple
Dinner-
Kefir, strawberry, blueberry, banana smoothie 
Cottage cheese w/ canned blueberries

Day 5:
Breakfast- 
The usual cereal and milk
Lunch-
Eggs w/ cheese
Kefir fruit smoothie
Chocolate
Dinner-
Jimmy John's Unsandwich
Chips

Anyway, it's now the end of my gluten-free week and you probably get the gist of days 6-8 without me listing out the details. This week felt great but it's hard to tell why, so we're having lasagna for dinner! Wheat noodles may tell me something, but you never know.

Stay posted for Bike and Build updates and more!

Day 3 - Gluten Free

Today was my third day of being totally gluten free and it's working out! If this week goes well, who knows, I may stay gluten free for the most part. It's as hard as I thought. You simply have to get used to eating and buying a couple different things...like rice noodles, various grains for baking, cornmeal...etc.

Breakfast-
Kefir w/ honey
Cereal w/ snowville milk
Lunch-
Noodles&Company Pasta Fresca w/ Rice Noodles!
Chocolate
Dinner-
Homemade tomato soup
Green beans
Dessert-
Frozen yogurt

Gluten-Free Week

Starting yesterday I decided to go gluten-free for a week. While I don't have many symptoms, there a part of me that thinks I may be gluten intolerant. Regardless, I think we eat too much wheat and I'm on a mission to eat more of good kinds of grains. It is tough to switch immediately to gluten-free, but I've done pretty well for two days. Here's what I've had so far:

Day One:
Breakfast - 
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Hot Cereal (with brown sugar and raisins...this is an old favorite!)
Apple
Lunch -
Avocado w/ salsa
Chicken
Dinner - 
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Homemade Kefir (a newfound love)
Dessert -
Pomegranate Blueberry Sorbet
Snacks - 
Dried corn
Chocolate

Day Two:
Breakfast -
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Lunch - 
PB&J on white rice gluten free bread
Apple
Chocolate
Dinner - 
Sausage and Beans
Masa harina and buckwheat corn bread
Snacks - 
Kefir

I keep you posted on the week to come...hopefully it's a success!

Training, Dancing, Kefir, and Bread

So, indoor training isn't going so well in terms of biking. More often than not, the good stationary bikes at the gym are broken or acting too silly to get any kind of workout. I've been swimming more than anything else, which I have really come to crave. Though, I must admit, when there's freezing rain coming down outside it's a bit difficult to will yourself to jump into a cold pool. Beyond the swimming, there has been ample swing dancing as my swing dance team is preparing to compete next weekend. While I love swing dancing and have had a blast working on our routine, I do believe it is somewhat destroying my feet and knees. It worries me waking up with knee pain, when I will be biking everyday for 10 weeks and relying on knees heavily.

Anyway, on a brief sidenote I have begun to make my own homemade bread as well as homeade kefir. I recently obtained some kefir grains, which originally came to the U.S. from Russia in 1940. Everyday now I've been drinking my kefir in the morning and replenishing the grains with fresh milk. It feels so good to be making my food with my own hands. This will of course be very different during my Bike and Build trip, however, I will start the trip with a strong body fed for months with only the best natural homemade goodies!

Life is Distracting

Well, life distracted me from this blog, how ironic? It's a good things though, it means I'm living in the world and not in this computer screen.  School has begun, meaning a hectic couple of days, and then a hectic couple of months.  My roommate has agreed to do a lot of cooking, yay! This means less planning dinner while trying to focus on economic development and global politics.

I'm going out swing dancing tonight...it's been so long (well 2 weeks, but that's too long).  I can't wait! If you don't swing dance, you should, it's so wonderful. Anyway, that's all for now, I'm off to study worldly topics.

And the cooking begins...

On the menu for last night: Dal with basmati rice. Yum!

This recipe is so simple, though it does take some time (and patience when you're hungry). To begin make rice: 1 C rice to 2 C water...boil and then simmer for about 45 minutes. Done!

Now on to the Dal. Pick any lentils and then boil them for about 10 minutes...1 C lentils to 4 C water.  In frying pan, heat up A LOT of butter. Then add a bunch of Indian spices. This time around I used coriander, ginger, pepper, salt, and curry powder.

Then, add your lentils to the butter and spices and simmer for a while, occasionally stirring. 

Have a quick taste and then your set. I like to sprinkle a little feta cheese on top too! Delicious!

No Motivation for Groceries

I have absolutely no desire to go to the store to buy food, so I'm in the scrounging stage.  Tonight I made some delicious "just add water" bran muffins, which should last me, breakfast and lunch, until I leave for the weekend.  Despite the fact that these muffins are from a box, I love them! They bring back childhood breakfast memories and they're actually really tasty. 

I promise my cooking will get more gourmet...I have lentils in the cupboard for dal and rice to go along. And I want to make chanamasala...it'll be fun.

P.S. I had a successful 26 mile bike ride today. And though I almost got lost, it was great.  I'm finding all kinds of new places to bike.