Food #6 Learning From Young Pros

Sometimes amazing opportunities just land in your lap. As a substitute teacher, I usually work a classroom one or two days in a row and then move on. This year I was given the opportunity to do a long term substitute job at a local high school. I am loving it! I have been able to teach Child Development (one of my college majors) and cooking. Yes, cooking! I have two classes of Cooking 1 and then the Pro Start Restaurant class.  My units to teach in Child Development are on genetics and the reproductive system. They even have the simulator babies to start taking home including a car seat!

It didn't take long to get caught up to speed in the Child Development or Cooking 1 classes, but the Pro Start was way beyond me.  These are high school students who really know how to cook in a restaurant kitchen. Once or twice a month, they run a cafe in the school for teachers to eat lunch at. The students are responsible for management and running the front of the cafe as well as running the kitchen in the back. 

 

This is the front of the house or the cafe. It is small and very nice. I am standing by the cash register and the door to enter. Teachers pay to come eat at the cafe. Each student has to run one cafe a year where they are the manager, plan the menu, and then assign the rest of the students jobs. One day we do a run through and cook a small amount. Then the students give me the grocery list depending on how many teachers sign up. I get to do the shopping! Then they do the real thing for about 30 teachers. It has been really fun. 

We did the unit on salads and garnishes and they made some really good food and some fun garnishes. I get paid to teach, sample food, grade, test, and go shopping. This has been one of the best sub jobs so far. They even gave me a lap top and trusted me in Skyward. That is the student system that I just happen to have worked in for over 14 years so I didn't need any training there.

Needless to say, these amazing students have taught me a few things. There are some great students out there that have a passion for learning, who are well disciplined, and who appreciate a substitute teach that is studying at home so that their time in class is not wasted.  On top of that, I am learning some great cooking skills and I have a great kitchen to work in. Just look at this place! Teaching doesn't get any better than this.

 

 

 

Just some of the fun garnishes they made with whatever they could find in the kitchen. 

Sometimes Life Happens!

I have know Corinne since I was 3 years old!

I appoligize for not posting in a very long time, but sometimes life happens and we get very busy. I don't blog for money so the need to post often isn't a high priority. What is a high priority is the fan requests :) I get from my friends!

Life has been busy since last September. I have had one daughter's family move out of the basement to Oregon and another daughter's family move in the basement. At lease now I get to see the 6 month old twins more often!  I love being a grandmother and seeing the next generation grow and develop. I am so proud of the way my children are raising my grandchildren. I am actually working on my third book that will be interesting to all so being watching for future updates.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

So what has happened in the last seven months? Well, I put on a mega reunion for my high school in California, traveled with my childhood best friend to LA and Vegas, the grand twins Boston and Lyla were born, I traveled with my travel buddy to Antarctica, Argentina, and Chile, and lost 5 pounds then gained 15! Life is so fun and full of changes.

Iceberg in Antarctica

                                                                      Since I like to focus on healthy living, lets look at the weight issue first. I love food and have a few food items I cannot control myself around. One of them is chocolate milk with Nestle's Quick. It is the bane of my existence. I cannot have it in the house because I will drink 2-3 glasses a day. I cannot say it is the reason for all the weight gain, but I traveled for almost the entire month of January and didn't gain any weight! I was eating out for a month. After arriving home, I have downed two large containers of Nestle's Quick and a lot more milk than I usually drink so what else could it be? Maybe the fact my exercise has been sporadic? Maybe because I only get 4-5 hours of sleep a night?

Healthy Habits and Enjoying Exercise:
Whatever the cause this has to stop because I have what I call my pain threshold. It is a specific weight that if I go above all the pain intensives by triple. I have more hip issues, more numbness in my toes, more back issues, and need a new wardrobe! So how do you take the first step to change? I started by signing up for a 5K for every month starting this month. I have actually gone to bed twice this week before midnight, and I am back in the books studying nutrition. I am way behind in my college independent study course on nutrition. It saddens me when my friends look at themselves in the mirror and see fat when I look at them and see beauty. I guess I need to apply that to myself because all I see is fat right now. With the weather so nice a good walk outside is one of the best things to do. I don't want to be skinny, I want to be healthy.

Fun Food:
I am totalling enjoying the meal situation here. I buy the groceries and my daughter cooks the dinners. She is a great cook and is trying new and healthy foods all the time. I think she needs to start a food blog. She has a great blog on her adventures with the blessing of her twins. Look her up at: http://littleivielane.blogspot.com/

So be watching for weekly blogs, I hope, on healthy habits, enjoying exercise, and fun foods. Maybe my daughter will  even let me share a few of her recipes. Better yet follow her on Pinterest, she has a board on the recipes she tries. Have a great week and remember "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page"        St Augustine

My beautiful twin grand babies!

Healthy Habits #4 AND Enjoying Exersice #3

Since I am planning a major event in California in October, my time has been drawn away from writing. Hopefully I will get back to more frequent posts soon.

I have watched "Fed Up" three times this week. I still shake my head in disbelief and learn something from it each time. If you haven't seen it, it is a must see. Have you ever noticed that the FDA, who controls putting labels on food, has deliberately chosen to leave off the percentage of daily recommenced sugar intake? The government & other groups say to those of us over weight that we need more discipline and we need to exercise, while they continue to lie to the American people about what they are putting in our foods.

By the time you have had a bowl of most cereals, glass of juice, and a piece of fruit for breakfast, you have already surpassed your daily recommend percentage of sugar. The food industry surrounds us with unhealthy processed foods at the check out stands, in our school, and places of work and then tells us it is our own fault for gaining weight. The line of 'calorie in = calorie out' isn't so equal. The people who made this documentary are selling nothing and gain nothing, so why would they lie? The challenge?
For 10 days:
1.  don't eat any unnatural sugar (fruits & vegies are fine)
2. Don't eat any processed foods, you know things in a box, fast food, etc
3. COOK! Actually cook fresh foods.

Personally, I am trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup, sodium nitrate, and anything I can't say on a label! Interesting fact, my weight gain corresponds with the years they started changing foods and adding crap, and entering the work world where cooking became a chore instead of a time to spend with family cooking.

Now on to the fun part of my week! I bought an elliptical and have actually used it 4 times in a week! I also talked my daughter into doing the 'Obsticles of Obesity' 5K. On this one we had to do the course in a blow up suit so the thinner people in the crowd could see how had some things were to do. This was my 6th 5K this summer and I have two more I want to do! It has been a lot of fun doing these crazy 5Ks. I am not a runner, so this has been great. Find something you enjoy doing and go do it!

Fun Food #5

Beating Mindless Eating

I found this report absolutely fascinating and true. So how do we stop this overeating spiral that we are all caught in?

For me the best thing is not to have food in the house that I don't want to eat. I also try asking myself "Why am I really eating this?"  The answer is usually, "because it is there."  Every time I walk by the candy dish with M&M's leftover from a baby shower, I grab a handful for no reason. I go to the kitchen because I am hungry, find nothing worth eating, and then grab something that is all carbs.

This process is really a total relearning of how we were raised eating and it is hard!

Fun Food #4

Food is so much more fun to write about! Since I started this blog, I have made better food choices and still gained weight. No fair! Part of this has to do with the doctor adding 3 new medications to my routine.  I don't like meds and am really bad at remembering to take them. My LDL is way too high along with my triglycerides. Knowing my dad passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 63 isn't comforting.

But I am on the right track and learning a ton from my nutrition classes. I am loving all the fruit this summer and still learning how to make great health food. One of my favorite treats now is kale chips. By eating kale chips and juicing fruit, I am doing pretty darn good.

I don't have a lot of self control so for me it is best not to have food in the house that is not healthy. We had a lot of great fruit and salads for the 4th of July.

I love this vegie dish that Rachel taught me. It is healthy and delicious! You can find the recipe on my Pinterest or at http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/08/summer-vegetable-tian/

Food Fun #3 - Urban Farm & Feed

In my quest to eat more healthy, I joined a farm share. How it works is I paid for farm fresh food from May to October. Every week I have a pick up with a variety of farm fresh foods. Urban Farm & Feed is a family farm that does not spray their food and they raise happy chickens! Each week I receive a dozen eggs and several veggies with a newsletter with recipes.

Several times I have received food that I have no idea what it is! I just post pictures of the veggies on Facebook and my knowledgeable friends clue me in as to what I have.  For several weeks I have received peas (in the pod) kale, radishes, turnips, lettuce, Arugula, and a variety of herbs and edible flowers.

I have made cards with pictures so I can learn to identify them each week and I add some recipes to
the cards. Still not sure what to do with collards or chard, but we have had some fun with learning new recipes. Tonight my son-in-law decided to make kale chips!

Recipe:
Wash, dry and clip the steams of the kale. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the kale leafs out on a pan and drizzle oil on the leafs, add a little sea salt, and bake for 10-15 minutes. It is that easy and taste like sheets of dried seaweed. I liked it!

While he was making that I tried my hand at Roasted Baby Turnips, a recipe that was on our Urban Farm & Feed news letter called "Farmshare Weekly."

Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of vinegar with 1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard (I just used my dried powered mustard), one minced scallion, 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, and 1/4 cup of olive oil (I used my coconut oil.)  Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. 

Heat a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Cut 12-24 baby turnips (2 pounds), stems trimmed to 2 inches; quarter them if they are large. In a bowl, toss the turnips with the 1/4 cup of oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the turnips on the preheated baking sheet and roast for about 18 minutes, until tender. Transfer the turnips to a platter and let cool. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve.

I have made these twice now and really like them. The kids came over for dinner Sunday and my daughter likes spinach leafs over lettuce leafs. We just happened to have some strawberries and blue berries on hand so she made a spinach salad with just the leafs, strawberries, and blueberries. We had some raspberry vinaigrette dressing on hand but I think she ate it plain!

It sure is nice to have the fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer time.

Food Fun #1

My goal with this site is to do three posts a week. On Tuesdays I will try to write something motivational, Thursdays it will be about the food and recipes, and on Saturday/Sunday it should be about exercise. Since I have not started that yet and I am lacking in posts about food, I thought I would write something now.

I grew up in the Oakland, California area. Totally a city girl. I remember in grade school we had an assembly where they brought in a cow so we could see where milk really came from! We did have gardens from time to time, but my mom was a meat and potatoes type of cook. Never had a casserole at home.

Most of my cooking skills I gained in college or after I was married. I married into a farming family. They grew a lot of  potatoes on their 100 acre farm but also had a beautiful little garden. I learned a little and even grew corn and zucchini a few times.

I love vegetables, but never cared for the texture of fruit, so my diet has never been the best. So I am making changes, slowly, but they are happening. To take care of the lack of fruit in my diet, I started juicing off and on about a year ago. I love the flavors of fruit, just not the texture. I try to get up and juice one apple, one pear, one orange, pineapple and carrots in the morning. When I am adventurous I throw in a little kale. I really love this combination and crave the fruit when I go with out it. It is a great way to get my daily allowance of fruit in one drink.

This year, I decided to try my hand at growing some fresh herbs and vegetables. I put in a very small garden that seems to be doing well.  Last night I made lasagna and used all fresh cut herbs in it. WOW, what a difference from the store seasoning packages and it is a lot healthier too. I also enjoy sauteing onions in coconut butter and then adding mushrooms. Makes a great side dish if you like mushrooms!

Recipe for the week:

(Recipe from Urban Farm & Feed in Murray, Utah)

Sauteed Red Russian Kale with Paprika
2 Cups (packed) kale ( center ribs and stems removed, leaves course chopped)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil (divided)
1/4 Cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp Paprika
Generous pinch of dried Red Pepper

Cook kale in large pot of boiling salted water until wilted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to colander; drain. Heat 1/2 of the olive oil in a heave skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon paprika and crushed red pepper; sprinkle with salt (I use sea salt)  Add kale and saute until heated through, about 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and more paprika, if desired. Transfer to serving bowl; drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp of oil and serve.

I actually liked this. It reminded me of a Korean spinach dish I make. Now you know what you can do with kale!

Healthy Habits #1 - Happiness Is A Choice

I have always believed that happiness is a choice. It bothers me when people say, "I will be happy when...." You can fill in the black with: when I get a job, when I get married, when I loose weight, etc. Life is tough, but most of us can choose to be happy while going though the tough times.

I get it, there are people that suffer from depression that cannot make that choice all the time. My late husband couldn't choose to be happy and after battling extremely bad clinical depression for 27 years, he took his life. One of my daughters will always deal with clinical depression and there are some days the demons of that brain disease, steal her happiness from her. But do not have depression.

I suffer from being overweight, chronic pain, bursitis, a lack of nutritious eating, and just bad habits! So I am taking control of my life. This blog will be about my journey to lose weight so the pain will stop. It will be about finding recipes that help you eat healthy and foods that taste great while promoting good eating habits, as well as exercising and a happy attitude. Basically as a school teacher, I know when you learn a concept, you will retain it better if you teach it to someone else. So this is my way of sharing what I learn and teaching it so I can grasp it even better.

Welcome to my journey!


Areas of concern: Large flabby upper arms, flexibility, large thighs, fat rolls around the middle!
Weight: 222 (can't believe I am actually posting that) was at 210 before I moved to a different state.
Eating: Don't get enough fruits or veggies, I eat mostly starches.
Exercise: try to walk a few days a week, I like to do 5K walks every summer
Mood:  HAPPY and loving life!