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Menu Plan Monday-Cinnamon

Cheryl Harris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:38:40 +0000

Wow, back to menu planning! It’s been so busy ‘round these parts. I’m doing a Celiac webinar series starting next week, I just finished writing a CEU course for RDs on Celiac and Thyroid, and finally got my website newsletters as a blog… Whew! I need a vacation thinking about all of it. I’ve also posted a review of Dairy Free Gluten-Free Kitchen and Banana ‘Scream.

I do find menu planning helpful, and hope to get back to it more often. Heather of Celiac Family is our hostess this week, and she has chosen one of DH’s favorite foods: Cinnamon! Did you know cinnamon is high in antioxidants and may help stabilize your blood sugar?

Our menu this week will be all about simple:

Monday:
Beef stew with root veggies (I love the veggies, E loves the beef—it works)

Tues:
Simply Yum Quinoa

Weds:
Leftovers

Thursday:
Chicken with roasted garlic and roasted cauliflower

Friday:
Out on a date!

Fun stuff:

Just finished making hazelnut meringues, and next week is tuxedoed strawberries, so I’m due for a breather.

Review: Gluten Free Makeovers

Cheryl Harris — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:53:24 +0000

Better late than never, yes? I got a copy of Beth Hillson’s Gluten Free Makeovers

I think it was in late October—right before our annual huge baking binge…er…party. And so I was not really up to cooking! And then my camera died, and then construction and then…so yes, it’s taken a while.

I was eager to review it, because Beth has such a great reputation. As usual, I made two recipes: one for royal icing, which you can see decorating the NinjaBread Men, and the other was Quinoa Sesame Wonder Bread.

The Royal Icing was awesome because this was a super easy recipe, and the icing was very easy to work with and stayed firm. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again, although I’d totally cut the amount in half.

The Wonder Bread intrigued me because I have a recipe with quinoa, sesame seeds AND one of my co-workers named it wonderbread! However the similarities stopped there with ingredients, and Beth’s is a much simpler recipe (mine is much higher fiber and I will have to post it sooner or later!)

I struggled to follow Beth’s directions because I’m so set in my ways. I.e., in my brain, you just always proof yeast and use parchment and….so on. But since I was supposed to be reviewing, I did my best to follow as written, and indeed, it worked as promised! I did use parchment anyhow because I’m so lazy about clean up.

The bread rose beautifully, kept well and the recipe was a keeper. A friend has half in her freezer and I will do my best to update this post when she updates me!

Regarding the book overall:
pros: The recipes I made were great, I wouldn’t hesitate to make either/both of them again, and many looked wonderful. I think the Challah will have to be high on my to-make list! There are also quite a few dairy free subs, which I think is a fantastic plus.

Cons: many of the recipes have very specific flour combos. I.e. there’s a basic blend, a cake blend, 2 bread blends….since I’m someone who doesn’t cook anymore, I’d hate to make those up each time. HOWEVER, I have no doubt that those blends are just an extension of the fact that Beth is a great baker! I do wish, however, there was one blend and some sort of conversion between the two (i.e. add extra cornstarch for the cake flour, or whatever).

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book and it’ll have a happy place on my bookshelf!

Medicare Covers Obesity Counseling (sort of)

Cheryl Harris — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:58:10 +0000

I generally post on food and my thoughts on health, but I feel like this is important enough to make an exception! Medicare has decided that only physicians, nurses and physician assistants are qualified to provide people who are very overweight with nutrition counseling services.

Let me start off by saying I don’t really have a horse in the race. I don’t accept Medicare and obesity has never been my primary area of interest or practice. But no matter how you look at it, this is a huge problem.

Most doctors receive little to no nutrition education–1/2 a day, tops. Nurses receive about 20 hours.

That’s it.

Is that who we want supporting weight loss and behavior change?

I’ve had the pleasure to know many fantastic doctors and nurses, and despite their huge among of knowledge and skill in their field, they rarely have the training or experience for intensive, long term nutrition counseling. Unlike RDs, they didn’t get training for 5 (or more) years on nutrition and behavior change.

And think about it. How long do you have to wait to see your primary care doc? Can you see them being available sessions for weekly sessions for weight loss clients? I’m afraid this just doesn’t compute for me.

To the best of my knowledge, nurses and doctors that accept Medicare are increasingly squeezed and overworked. So not only do they lack the knowledge, they also lack the time to give quality services or learn more so that they’re able to.

Lots of people stand to lose here. As far as I see it, the only people who benefit are those selling surgery or diet pills/shakes, and there’s been some question of conflict of interest among those who made this decision.

And this isn’t even a matter of debate over RDs vs CNS vs other nutrition or coaching degrees. At the end of the day, if the people who can provide this service according to Medicare don’t have the time or training to actually do it, people simply miss out on this benefit. Or, people will only get support if they can afford to pay for it out of pocket. It also makes it more likely that people wanting to lose the weight will fail, because they won’t have the support the need.

And this affects pretty much everyone, because either the hundreds of dollars that could go for nutrition counseling will now be tens of thousands for surgery, or increased medical expenses. So, if you’re so inspired, you can call your government representatives
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.

And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled program of munchies and stress relief.

Thanks for Beginnings, Middles and Ends

Cheryl Harris — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:27:06 +0000

Giving thanks is super easy this year because I’ve had so many wonderful things happen just in the past few weeks:

Nomination for Emerging Dietetics Leader of the Year from the Northern Virginia Dietetics Association
Quotes in the Washington Post
A nice mention in the Washingtonian Blog

It’s been a real whirlwind of a November! And as really amazing as all of those have been, it’s the people in my life that I am most grateful for.

I am beyond grateful to my husband, who is such a wonderful source of support. I am so grateful to my clients, and it is such a blessing to me to be able to have the privilege to work with and support so many lovely people. And I am grateful to the two beautiful furrballs (purr-balls?) who make me laugh and light up my life in so many ways.

I’m grateful for new beginnings (a new project!), and I’m even grateful for the endings (leaving my old job at Kaplan ). Leaving is sad, and it’s painful but in a normal, natural sort of way when you have to give up something you’ve treasured that’s beautiful, but simply no longer fits.

And, of course, I’m grateful for the mystery of what’s ahead in the new year and beyond. And the apples from the Farmer’s Market waiting to jump into my pot.

Wishing you and yours many blessings…and ability to savor them, too.

Menu Plan Monday-Nov 21st

Cheryl Harris — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:06:01 +0000

It is beyond me how it could be Thanksgiving already. Our plan was to visit E’s great grandma, but she just passed away, so…plan b is to chill out and have an extremely low key Thanksgiving, which sounds about perfect. I know that may sound boring, but I’m in the middle of job transitions and construction at home, so no obligations is truly a beautiful thing. All I want is applesauce, and I’ve got a bunch of apples from the Farmers’ market, so that should be super easy.
If you’re still hunting, the Washingtonian Blog was nice enough to have a gluten-free T day roundup! and I have my Thanksgiving newsletter and recipe roundup here.

And my camera picked an appropriate time to stop working, so no pictures, but my goodness, I shouldn’t have a hard time finding a sale to get a new one.

Our hostess this week is Heather of Celiac Family and the theme is Thanksgiving. If you want to host upcoming weeks, I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.

Monday:
Curried chicken and cauliflower

Tues:
Leftovers (I’m at class)

Weds:
Beef Stew

Thurs:
still up for debate…

Friday:
out for dinner. Not Thanksgiving dinner, but a fun, tasty GF dinner, most likely at Mike’s American Grill

Menu Plan Monday–Spooky Treats

Cheryl Harris — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:14:32 +0000

I hope it’s as beautiful where you are as it is here! Yes, it’s a hair chilly, but oh, the leaves. I am absolutely loving our new house with all of the beautiful trees. And we have the happiest squirrels ever because we have an ungodly number of acorns. I mean, they don’t even have to work for it. Life is good all around.

I still have a bit of a dragging cold, I’m taking a late class Tuesday nights and we’re having a party Saturday, so it’s a super simple week. Heather, the wonderful new MPM hostess has chosen the theme of spooky delights. We’ve got that covered…not spooky treats, but Halloween treats! Our menu for Saturday includes pumpkin brittle, pralines, chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate banana bread, a pineapple/raspberry crisp and white bean chili.

Monday:
Curried collards w/beef

Tues:
leftovers (BBQ chicken and carrots for E)

Weds:
Chicken and broccoli

Thurs:
Herb salad with salmon

Friday:
Whatever I can scrounge!

Menu Plan Monday–Sweet Potato

Cheryl Harris — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:17:39 +0000

I am wishing for at least one more weekend day…it flies too quickly. Always when a chill hits the air I start scrambling for extra moments to spend outside.

Last week,the Fund for Jennie auction ended, and Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl was the winner, so I’ll be Skyping with her GF Support group in a few months. I also posted some of my thoughts on Choosing Joy

This week the theme is Sweet Potato (for real this time!). Amanda of Gluten Free Detroit Metro is our hostess, so head over and give her some love. I somehow thought that was the theme last week. And I fully intended to have sweet potatoes! We got a veggie box from Arganica, and they said there would likely be sweet potatoes. Lots of yummy stuff, yes. Sweet potatoes, no. So I will have to try to grab some this week. Or I will have to eat sweet potato chips to compensate.

Onward to the menu!

Monday:
Nightshade stew with fresh fennel

Tues:
Chicken breasts w/fresh herbs and steamed broccoli. Maybe quinoa

Weds:
Mahi Mahi with Kale Pesto

Thurs
Something with beans…I need to hunt out a fun recipe

Friday:
Leftovers, as usual

A Fund for Jennie

Cheryl Harris — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:51:23 +0000

EDITED: price is now starting at $50! That’s way under what I normally charge, but if no one bids, no $ goes to a good cause!
——————————–
I read about fellow blogger Jennie of In Jennie’s Kitchen on Ginger Lemon Girl’s blog, when people were making a pie for Mikey. Mikey was Jennie’s husband, and died suddenly of a heart attack. Of course, this also leaves Jennie and her two little ones with not only a physical and emotional hole in their lives, but a huge financial one, too.

I was struck by Jennie’s story, because I can’t imagine a world without my darling Mr. Dude. I have an ode to him below, but first, the more universally relevant part:

And so, I saw on Gluten Free Girl about Bloggers without Borders and I wanted to participate. My auction is for what I do best and love most!! A 75 minute in person or phone nutrition session, OR a skype session with your local Celiac support group or Mom’s group with me, a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist/Certified Wellness Coach. I’ve been teaching classes and seeing clients for 10+ years, and have done gobs of presentations for groups ranging from the FDA to videos funded by CSA to Institute of Integrative Nutrition and local Celiac Chapters. For more about me, sessions and presentations see my website.

The starting bid is ~~$150~~50 (presentations are usually much more, so keep it in mind when you bid!) That’s where we’ll start the bidding.

Donate through this link
Bid on this auction
Create your own auction

If you would like to donate to A Fund for Jennie, please click on this Bloggers Without Borders button. It will take you straight to the PayPal account. All the money donated for Jennie will go through Blogger Without Borders, a non-profit organization created by Maggy and Erika to turn the well wishes of this food blogging community to concrete action.

I know I’m late…but really wanted to participate. And there are still ongoing auctions! Diane of the WHOLE Gang has a great one, too.

And now, and ode to E (aka DH, aka Mr. Dude) As the saying goes, behind every strong man is a strong woman. But in this case, behind a strong woman is a very loving, patient and wonderfully strong man. In the 13 years I have known E, he has enriched my life in more ways than I can count! He has helped me do what I love best, and helps me be the best person I can be. He’s enabled me to give to others and to spend so much time teaching, volunteering, and otherwise making the world a brighter place. I get the credit, of course, but there’s no way I could do it without him behind me.

Once when I was in grad school and absolutely miserable, we were on the phone (I was in CA, he in NY) and tearfully I said that he was my strength. And he said, “no, my love just gives you the courage to find the strength in yourself.” And of course, as soon as the words popped out of his mouth, we both knew they were true. He’s supported me through Lyme, a cancer scare, years of disability and chronic pain and many losses in our lives. And he’s supported me through laughter, giggles, chocolate, love, and joy. I feel tremendously grateful to have him, his love, his support, his warmth in my life, and I am so sorry that Jennie lost HER Mr. Dude. To me, that would be the worst loss of all.

This auction will end 9 pm Sept 12th EST.

Menu Plan Monday Sept 5th

Cheryl Harris — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:32:47 +0000

I don’t know about anyone else, but it doesn’t feel like a Monday! I am enjoying peace and quiet time, and I hope everyone else is, as well.

If you haven’t already, please check out my last post, which is an auction for a class/session with me to benefit Jennie of In Jennie’s Kitchen. She lost her beloved husband suddenly, and bloggers without borders is raising money on her behalf. It also inspired me to write about my appreciations for my husband and all of his support.

Our hostess for this week is Angela of Angela’s Kitchen, and she’s chosen eggplant. I must confess. I hate eggplant. And okra. And that’s about it. All other veggies I like or can’t eat due to allergy. So no eggplant for us this week.

I’ve somehow managed to offend my knees, so I’m having a lot of trouble getting around, which translates into much less inspired meals. It’s a bummer, for sure.
Monday:
Baked chicken with fresh herbs and garlic roasted cauliflower(using the last of the stash from our garden)

Tues:
Simply yum quinoa

Weds:
Salmon on a bed of baby greens with herbs

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:
Curried collards

Menu Plan Monday-Melons Aug 22nd

Cheryl Harris — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 22:08:16 +0000

Hope everyone is enjoying the tail end of summer! We’ve got some tomatoes growning,

The deer came through and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Either that, or our neighbors like plant stems.

Last weekend I baked a bit. I made Elana’s Chocolate Cupcakes from her cookbook and I made Betty Crocker brownies with a hazelnut filling and chocolate frosting. What can I say, we were entertaining. Both were excellent. I also posted a review for Gluten Free in Five Minutes. If you’re a microwaving GF cook, this one is for you!

Heather of Celiac Family is our kind hostess this week, and she’s chosen melons. I’m very sensitive to melons in a funny way. I get dopey, I get drowsy, and *poof!* I’m asleep. So there are no melons on our line up.

Onto the menu:

Monday:
Quinoa and Kalamatas with sautéed mache and arugala (my new favorite)

Tues:
Leftovers, I hope

Weds:
Nightshade stew

Thurs:
White beans, pesto and broccoli

Friday:
Leftovers or out to dinner. Either way, no cooking.