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My Goals–Dec Sanity Challenge

Cheryl Harris — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:54:37 +0000

I am so glad that the December Sanity Challenge is underway! Since it first came to mind a week or so ago, life has become increasingly INsane. I left my job at Kaplan Center on Tuesday, which was very sad, but the drive became too long and it was a huge physical drain. Instead, the plan has been to work at home, and I’ve started working on some nutrition education webinars AND now it seems, am very close to committing to write for a nutrition magazine, too (details to come…) Somehow, just like that, I forgot about my plan to take more time to relax. How does that happen so quickly??!!?? Also, I was nominated by NDVDA as Emerging RD leader for VA so I’ve been working on pulling together my application and letters and such.

The new things are delightful, but they also require TIME MANAGEMENT, which is not traditionally one of my strengths. I’m like one of the cats, I get distracted by whatever flits by. (Or for anyone who watches the Daily Show or has seen the movie Up, SQUIRREL!) So I will need to seriously build some structure in order to meet these deadlines and take care of myself, too.

So my sanity goals this month:

Exercising 3-4 times a week. Ideally, Mondays, Weds, Thurs and Saturdays, and doing my fun PT exercises daily.
Waiting at least 2 hours before making Internet purchases. Hopefully by then I’ve figured out that I don’t need whatever wonderous toy they’re selling
Meditation twice daily.
6 desserts in December. That’s it.
Writing a schedule next Tues.
Heading off on a silent retreat this weekend! Way to get off to a good start.

Anyone else?

December Sanity Challenge

Cheryl Harris — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:57:00 +0000

‘Twas the night after Thanksgiving…and I realized that I had already bought more than I needed, committed more than I intended, and slept less than I wanted. And it wasn’t even December yet! So it dawned on me—how about a December Sanity Challenge? Surely I wasn’t the only one who easily gets swept away in the craziness.

Here’s my confession: I love making candy. Always have. I mean, really love it. Fudge, pralines, chocolate covered orange slices, brittle…you name it. Yes, I’m a Registered Dietitian, most of it I can’t even eat because of my allergies and intolerances, but that hasn’t stop me from making batch after batch! Perhaps I owned a bakery in a past life and was used to making food for an army? I totally get carried away with it and take a fun activity and push it to excess, and that takes so much of the joy out of it, even if it’s just once a year. I fully believe I can balance my desire (and love) of giving with my need for self-care, even if that means a little moderation. I’ll be posting more on how I plan to reign in my inner over-baker.

Pictured to the left is the great Zen Master Houdini and Mr. Dude. Happy Hou, clearly, does not need a sanity challenge. However, we humans usually do.

So here’s the scoop on the December Sanity Challenge. It can be on whatever YOU need to work on to stay sane during the holiday season:

Balancing commitments to others with commitments to yourself
Getting in physical activity
Creating a happy balance around food
Getting enough sleep!
Making wise financial choices
Focusing more on living beings than material “stuff”
Whatever else speaks to you along these lines

The challenge—post on what you plan to do to make your holidays sane, happy and healthy. Make it specific! Not just “I’ll get more sleep”, but “I’ll get at least 7 hours of sleep, 5 days a week”. Not just “I won’t go crazy making desserts”, but “I’ll make a maximum of XX desserts, and space them out over XX time”. You know what you need to do to keep this doable, and writing it down will help you get there!

As a little added incentive, for each post on your intentions and your progress you link back here or one of the other co-hosts, you’ll be entered to receive a $50 gift certificate to Nutsonline.com (they are not sponsoring, I just wanted something with healthy gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, etc. options)

And so I asked some of my favorite peeps around the web to join me in hosting a December Sanity Challenge, and here’s our line up:

Dec 1st Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness (me)
Dec 8th Iris of the Daily Dietribe
Dec 15th Valerie of City Life Eats
Dec 22nd Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl

I hope you choose to join us, too. Grab a badge (many thanks to Valerie!)and we’re good to go!

Menu Plan Monday Jan 19th

Cheryl Harris — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:37:16 +0000

What a week to stay snuggled and bundled up! When I mentioned to friends that our cats tend to do the “furry yin yang” in the winter months, I was met with blank stares. So this is what it looks like, even though we may need to put “yin” on a diet…. Moral of the story is that when the world gets cold, snuggle up! I’ll have to work on that advice.

Book of Yum is our host for this week, and her pick of lentils or dal is perfect for this chill. I’ve been eating more than my share of dal in the form of Amy’s Curried Lentil soup, though I haven’t made dal myself. However, I just got a copy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and will be trying his recipe for dal. And, of course, once I see all the other lovely posts, I’ll have to search through for inspiration.

When I’m not cooking, or eating, I’m talking to other people about food. I’m a Registered dietitian in Alexandria, VA. I’m hosting a healthy recipe contest, so if you’re interested in submitting a recipe and winning some fun prizes, hop on over! Due to the cost of shipping, winners must be in the US or Canada (sorry!)

Monday:
Thai Beef curry with broccoli (didn’t make it last week)

Tuesday:
Dal with papadams and roast cauliflower with cumin seeds

Weds:
Roast turkey with pureed fennel soup

Thursday:
odds and ends:
Asian style gingery soup
Maybe quinoa?

Friday:
Garam masala chicken
artichokes with a lemony flax dipping sauce

Baked goods of the week:
to be honest, my appetite has been tiny lately, hence the scarcity of recipe posts! I’m thinking of making a meringue from Susan O’Brien’s Gluten free sugar free cooking for friends. For me, maybe hazelnut mesquite cookies. We shall see.

Pecan Pie: A flash from the past II

Cheryl Harris — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:25:39 +0000

Growing up, pecan pie was my favorite food. When I eventually found my way into the kitchen, it was no surprise that perfecting pecan pie was my first project. To me, they’re so perfect that it’s impossible to describe the decadent, golden, melting, perfection. *drool* When I was a grad student in California and my boyfriend (now husband) was in New York, I mailed him (what else?) a pecan pie for our first anniversary. BTW, they do ship well!

Life changes as it always does, and most of the ingredients are now off-limits for me. I adapt most things, but some things are too perfect to mess with. I love to bake, and to feed the people I care about. And when the pie comes out of the oven, I take a whiff,and it takes me way back to all of the pecan pies I’ve shared with family and friends over the years. It’s an instant time capsule.

I must admit, I make fewer pecan pies than I used to. When I heard about the Better Batter pie contest, I figured it was time to send this recipe out into the world for wider enjoyment. Even better, the recipe is super simple! You can use your favorite GF crust, and I’ve included my GF crust recipe of choice below. I do it in the food processor to keep it simple. It literally takes less than 10 minutes, and your friends will be so impressed!

THE Pecan pie: a step by step guide to utter lusciousness

3 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla (regular works, too)
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup bittersweet or semisweet chips

Preheat the oven to 350

1. Lightly beat the eggs.

2. Melt butter in a glass (microwave safe) measuring cup. This can be done by microwaving for 30 seconds or on the stovetop. Swirl butter around cup and add to the beaten eggs.

3. Add 1 1/4 cups corn syrup to the measuring cup. The leftover butter will help it slide right out!

4. Add in sugars and extract, mix well to combine.

5. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.

6. Pour into prepared fresh or frozen pie crust.

7. Use pie shields or make the out of aluminum foil. Essentially, you just want to crimp the foil around the exposed crust.

8. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover pie loosely with foil. Bake for a total of 60 minutes or until the
top springs back slightly when gently nudged. If your crust doesn’t brown enough, remove the covers.

9. Serve and accept complements! It will serve about 10, however, when my husband is around that number is greatly reduced.

Crust:

1 1/4 cups Better Batter flour
1 Tablespoon sweet rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted cold butter
4-5 tablespoons of cold water, milk or orange juice

Put flours and salt into the food processor. Cut the butter into cubes and add in. Pulse in short bursts until the mix has a sandy consistency with a few chunks the size of lentils.

Move the mixture to a bowl and stir in the liquid a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough forms a cohesive ball. Put the ball between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and roll out as flat as you can.

Peel off the top layer of paper and flip the dough over onto a pie plate. Press down into place and arrange the crust so it looks pretty. The dough is easy to work with and you can patch it easily if it rips.

Best of all, this dough keeps well in the refrigerator or freezer.

This is my submission to the Better Batter Pie Contest. I heard about Better Batter a few years ago on the Sillly Yaks list from Naomi. I was intrigued by all of the rave reviews! I do like playing with whole grain flours for much of my baking, but this works really well for my old pre-GF recipes that I don’t have the time or patience to reinvent. It does work amazingly well as an easy 1:1 flour substitute.

GF and allergen friendly treats giveaway

Cheryl Harris — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:01:18 +0000

I love Larabars. They’re simple, delicious, wholesome and yummy. So when a box of new flavors of Larabars showed up on my doorstep, I was delighted, then frustrated. The good news: they look luscious. The bad news: my body doesn’t seem to like dates anymore. But that’s actually good news for you! I’m giving away these new Larabars to a lucky reader. There are 3 of each:

PB cookie
Chocolate cherry
Chocolate hazelnut
Coconut cream pie

They are, of course, gluten, dairy, egg, corn, soy and sugar free, and vegan to boot. Also included: a bottle of Salba (one of my favorite things to bake with!) I recently won a recipe contest they hosted and got a case of the big bottles (at the rate I’m going, that’ll keep me a good 4 or 5 years), so I’m happy to share. I need to post the recipe soon, too. There are also 2 bags of GF/CF cookies.

Leave me a comment, and I’ll find some random way to pick a winner by Sept 15th. Because of shipping costs, I’m limiting entrants to US and Canada.

This seemed like a good way to celebrate my new web “home”! I’ve moved to www.gfgoodness.com and now have RSS or email feeds set up. The irony of having a “GF and healthy” website where I’m posting decadent chocolate hazelnut cakes didn’t escape me. Granted, I still do my very best to use whole foods, natural sweeteners, and more wholesome versions of everything.

Yum.