I hate that commercial!

That Filet-O-Fish commercial annoys the crap out of me. Seriously. I was minding my own business walking down the hallway at work and I heard the a vibrating noise…then the song…and a few people laughing. I turned around and it was a guy who actually had the song as his ringtone. I almost threw up.

That song sucks.

Anyway, I promised a review of my homemade coconut butter, and here it is.

I found it on HEAB’s blog. I knew I had to try it only because it is SO expensive to buy. It’s around $10 a jar!

Stage 1: Food processor

I measured out about 1 cup of  Organic Medium Shredded Unsweetened Coconut (thanks Dennis for running around Wegman’s to find this for me!) and put it in the food processor. I left it on for about 3 or 4 minutes.

 

Step 2: Coffee grinder

The consistency was still a little rough, so I thought the coffee grinder would help. It was the perfect machine for what I needed. I didn’t want to use the blender since I wasn’t making that much, so the coffee grinder was the perfect size.

I only had to blend it in the coffee grinder for a few seconds to get it to perfection.

Check it out. It’s smooth but still has a slight coconutty feel to it.

(In the jar) You ca see that it’s still a little smooth. What I liked about this was that it’s never too hard. I don’t need to warm it up or fight with it to get a spoonful of it out. It’s not too sweet, not too plain, and I think it’s actually BETTER than the Artisana coconut butter. I will be making it on my own from now on thank you very much.

I have to thank HEAB and CD for this recipe, but I also have to thank Dennis’s sister Chris for getting me on the coconut kick. I’ve always loved coconut, but when Dennis got sick a few years ago, Chris sent us a jar of organic raw coconut oil. She explained why it was good for us and that we should give it a try. Dennis hates coconut, so the jar was all mine. Ever since, I’ve used coconut oil over any other type of fat about 90% of the time. So when HEAB had a jar of coconut BUTTER on her blog I knew I had to try it. They are both very different but both oh-so-good. Yum.

Springing forward with Teff on the mind

Although I hate losing an hour of sleep, I love daylight savings time. Love it. I especially loved putting the clocks up when I was a bartender. Everyone would get so pissed that we were closing an hour early, but it was so worth it.

I fought the urge not to go back to sleep after feeding the cats this morning when I remembered I had something new to try for breakfast. Teff!

I read about Teff on HEAB’s blog a while back and have been anxiously waiting to try it. I came across it by accident yesterday and was so excited, I immediately sent her a text letting her know I found it. It took everything I had not to rip the bag open as soon when I got home from the store to try it. I know it might sound weird but I love hot cereals. Trying new things is so exciting for me, especially when I read so many great reviews from other people.

The consistency of Teff reminds me of Wheatena.

I used to eat it when I was a kid, so I was pretty excited to dive into this.

I cooked 1/4 cup Teff with 1 cup unsweetened soymilk, and added some cinnamon to flavor.

source

Then I mixed in a spoonful of Peanut Butter & Co.’s Cinnamon Raison Swirl. I don’t use this peanut butter very often because it’s so sweet but it’s really good in small doses.

My photos came out really crappy, so I borrowed the photo above to show you what it looks like. It’s very grainy, and it has a very unique flavor to it. It gets a thumbs up from me. My next experimental grain is definitely going to be millet.

Here are some other HEABified eats from the week: 

My friend Gina made me an awesome batch of hummus last week. It’s seriously the best hummus I’ve ever had. I’ve been making my way through the container since I already put in a request for more, but I was running out of ways to eat it. Until I remembered Humnut sauce.

 

You can read all about Humnut sauce here. This idea sounded very interesting to me when I first read Heather’s post about it. I steamed a package of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots (except I always take the carrots out and eat them raw while the other two are steaming because I don’t like cooked carrots) and topped them with 2 tbsp. of Gina’s amazing hummus and 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast mixed with a little water to thin, and a little bit of garlic powder. Underneath all those veggies is a cup of brown rice.

I also made my own coconut butter. But that is something I’ll save for tomorrow since I want to get my long run in before it starts pouring again.

Happy Sunday!

Another $20 wasted

Well folks, I wasted another co-pay visiting a doctor that told me exactly what I knew she was going to say: “You have IBS.”

Really?

I told her everything. All of my symptoms, everything about my past, about my eating habits, etc. The one thing I didn’t do was mention IBS. I was trying so hard to avoid using those three letters because I didn’t want her to throw it back at me. And I really don’t believe it’s IBS. (The symptoms of IBS are similar, but I don’t have many of the classic symptoms. IBS has a lot of the symptoms that Ulcerative Colitis have, but on a much less severe scale.)

I waited for 35 minutes to see her and was out of her office in 20. I KNEW this was going to happen.

She wrote me a prescription for some kind of med to help me with the symptoms, suggested I try it for 2 weeks and if it doesn’t work, I need to see a GI specialist.

I probably won’t take the meds since she said there were a lot of weird side-effects that come along with it (shocker) but I will take the Prevacid she prescribed for the massive heartburn I get. If I’m going to get any kind of relief from meds, I’ll take it from this for now. But there HAS to be a better way.

I also feel that doctors hate how much research we do on our symptoms. I really don’t think they like to be questioned. They’re the ones that went to school for this stuff, so who are we to walk in with ideas of our own?

I explained how my symptoms (which include ADD, type O blood, sinus issues, migraines, and my father had very similar issues with his stomach as well)  point to gluten allergies, but since I’m not a doctor, I don’t want to be the one to make that call. She just smiled and said, “It’s obvious that you do a lot of reading, but I still think it’s just an IBS issue.”

I’m very frustrated but I’m sure I’ll get to the bottom of it soon. Until I do, I will continue to be gluten free because right now it’s the only change I’ve made that has seemed to work, even if it is just a little bit.

On a happy note, I found some Teff today at Harris Teeter. I’m so excited and I can’t wait to try it. It’s another HEAB inspired idea and I’ll be writing ALL about it tomorrow morning.

One step closer

So I finally made an appointment to see an internal doctor today on Friday. “Finally!” is what you’re probably thinking right? Well, truth be told, I really don’t like doctors.

Well, I wouldn’t say I don’t like them—I just don’t trust them. I just feel like they’re too quick to throw a name at whatever you might have wrong with you and try to medicate you rather than actually LISTENING to your problems and try to help you find the source.

True story: I had a primary doctor 5 years ago that tried to give me Prozac because I mentioned I was having a stressful day. I was a newspaper reporter at the time and yes, I was stressed by  my job at times … I had deadlines every day. But I loved the job and never felt overwhelmed about it—maybe about meeting a huge deadline or interviewing a political figure but never about the job itself. Anyway, he wrote me a prescription for Prozac and convinced me that it was OK to take it. Just because I’m a naturally high energy and anxious person does not mean I need to take meds (I never filled the prescription) This happened more than once, not just with this doctor and not just this situation.

I must admit that I’m also a little jaded after everything Dennis and I went through with his UC. I would just rather try to take care of things as naturally as possible, but since my stomach issues have been going on for … well … my entire life…I think it’s time to finally get some real answers. (FYI I have tried to get answers before but since it comes and goes my doctors never really paid too much attention to it)

So there you have it. I’m finally going to see a real live doctor on Friday and I’ll be sure to let you know all about it. 

I have been feeling slightly better since eating gluten free, and my face/skin is finally starting to clear up. It’s just been very frustrating trying to figure things out on my own. I’m ready for some answers. Real ones.

So one thing I’m wondering is if there is something I should be sure to mention or look for or ask about while I’m there. Sometimes I get nervous when I’m at my doctor appointments and I forget to mention things. Should I make a list? Should there be a list of questions I should ask? I just want to be sure I don’t get rushed out of another doctor’s office.

The importance of fuel

I know how important it is to fuel during long runs, but I was stupid today. My running group are an amazing group of people who provide snacks and water stations at the 3 and 4 mile point of our runs. (well just water and Gatorade at the 3 mile part, the snacks are at the 4 mile point) The problem is that there are mostly cookies and candy at these stations. Since I’m trying to stay away from gluten and I don’t want to eat gummy bears, I didn’t eat anything today. I don’t like the whole idea of eating processed sugars just to finish a run. It goes along with the whole I don’t want to eat shit just because I run a lot ideal that I’ve discussed before. I try to bring dried fruit with me but I forgot. So I didn’t eat anything at the mile 4 mark.

My plan was the run 9 miles today, but after I got to mile 5 I started to hit a wall. I was kicking myself for not grabbing something to eat at the water stop and my legs started to get really heavy.

Every step I took was a challenge. My legs were pissed at me. But I kept pushing on and I started thinking of things to get me through, reminding myself that it’s OK to slow down because after all, this is just a training run. I started thinking of Forrest Gump and how he just kept running and running…which kind of made me laugh. So I ran 8 miles instead of 9 and felt completely satisfied with that.

Time? 8.12 miles in 1:11:44, average pace 8:50.

I’m going to need to be sure to have a snack with me from now on so I don’t have to work so hard to finish my runs. I’d love to be able to run my 1/2 i under 2 hours but this might be a hard pace for me to keep for five more miles. However, I have time to get my time down and I have to remember to eat!

Oh, and did you know that the Olive Garden has a gluten free menu? I didn’t, and as we were running errands today, Dennis wanted to stop for some soup, salad and breadsticks. I don’t really care for chain restaurants but I know how much he loves that special. I figured I’d find something I could eat, and all I had to do was ask a few questions about breading on the chicken before the server brought out the gluten free menu. They bring food in specially from another kitchen and cook it to order. The server said that their chicken is coated in a light layer of flour and is already prepped beforehand. So it’s basically re-heated when you order it. Good to know.

Check it out:

Dessert on a whim

I’m not exactly sure what made me want to have dessert tonight since I haven’t really been feeling 100%, but I always have a sweet tooth after eating dinner. Since I’m trying to stay away from gluten, I don’t have many dessert choices in my house.

I took a banana, peanut butter, and some gluten free chocolate chips and made this:

I melted a tbsp of chocolate chips and spread it onto of the PB. The only problem was that it was too sweet; I think I used too much chocolate. But I think for a normal person, this would be perfect.

It was really good.

For dinner I made a grilled cheese sammich with garlic hummus and sprouts with steamed asparagus and a chopped tomato. I drizzled a tiny tiny bit of olive oil on the asparagus and tomato, and sprinkled some garlic powder on top.

 

I really really like this Food For Life Brown Rice Gluten Free bread.

If I find out that my problem is not a gluten issue, I will continue to buy this bread. I love how it’s sweetened with fruit juice. It’s really good. I’m a huge fan of the Food For Life products-mainly the Ezekiel line, so I’m really glad that this bread did not disappoint.

Team Challenge Update:

I know I’ve said it before, but the foam roller is an amazing little invention. After last Saturday’s 8 mile run with my running group, I started feeling a slight pain in my hip area (which I complained about a few weeks ago.) I took Sunday off and then Monday morning, I ran 5 miles. However, it was still bothering me toward the end of the run. So the trainer at my gym asks, “Well, have you ever used a foam roller?”
Why yes, I have actually! I just haven’t used it for this because I didn’t know exactly what to roll.

30 seconds later I was on the floor rolling the crap out of quads. I started by the hip and the worked my way down until I felt an area that was tight. Yup, that’s where it hurts…right in my middle outer quad area. It’s so strange how a tight muscle in the quad can cause pain in my hip.

Long story short, I’ve been using it every day and the pain is pretty much gone. The foam roller has cured my knee problem  (I was diagnosed with Patello-Femoral Syndrome in 1998, but found out last summer—11 years later—that my problem was a tight IT band. Read the recap on that here and here the people in Harvard’s athletic department are amazing) and now this mystery hip thing. Thank you foam roller!!

Chickpea curry love – Channa Masala

After experimenting with different dishes, I’ve found that my favorite Indian dishes are mostly vegetarian. I don’t know if it’s because I find that they’re not as heavy as others, but I fell in love with Channa Masala when I ordered it a few weeks ago from an Indian restaurant in Alexandria.

Channa Masala is chickpeas cooked with tomatoes, onions, ginger, and your typical Indian spices (tumeric, coriander, garam masala) and sometimes includes potatoes as well. I decided to try making it at home and I can’t believe how good (and easy to make) this is! And it’s gluten free!

Channa Masala – adapted from Cooking Light (obviously this is an Americanized version, but it’s still really freakin good)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  fresh chickpeas (I used canned beans that I rinsed well to rid off the salt)
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 3/4  cup  organic vegetable broth (I used low sodium veggie broth)
• 1/2  cup  chopped seeded tomato
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/8  teaspoon  garam masala (I’m fortunate enough to live in an area where they sell spices such as these, but you can always order these spices from places like Penzeys.com)

Preparation

Sort and wash the chickpeas, and place in a large saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above chickpeas; bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt, cumin, and pepper; cook 1 minute. Add chickpeas, broth, and tomato; cook 5 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat; stir in chopped cilantro and garam masala.

I served this with brown Jasmine rice. I really like brown jasmine rice because it doesn’t TASTE like brown rice, so you still get the authentic flavor with the all the health benefits of brown rice.

 

So good. I spent so many years of my life being scared of Indian food, and I’m kicking myself for waiting so long.