Your Basic Motivation Monday Stuff. And Dancing Frappuccinos.

Last Monday, 6:47 a.m.: It's going to be hot today but I feel ready for my eight miles. I can't leave until 9:00, after Muffin gets on the bus, so plenty of time for breakfast and more water.

During the run I struggled with the heat. For most of it I imagined a huge Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino dancing on the path in front of me.

It never occurred to me to search for frappuccino gifs before.

Making healthy decisions when I'm well-rested and well-hydrated it easy. Making them when I'm tired and hot is not so I'm very pleased with myself for not pulling out my phone and ordering a frappuccino to be ready when I passed the Starbucks near my home. Instead I made a mint mocha protein shake at home. It wasn't the same, obviously, but it wasn't bad and I know it was better for me.

I didn't get my eight miles, though. I barely got seven and the last mile was mostly walking along shady, tree-lined streets. The temperature rose twelve degrees while I was running. I think losing some of my fitness means I've lost some of my heat acclimatization. Burundi, India, Mali. Summers in Rhode Island, Florida, Washington, D.C. I'm a lover of heat and humidity. It's a lot harder to face it now, though.

This morning I had six miles on my training plan. I had to do a little shuffling around of workouts. Muffin was home sick last Friday when I'd planned on this six-miler. We had a busy weekend but I did manage a short run/walk while she was in karate on Saturday and she and I walked together on Sunday morning. (A walk at her pace does help me get my steps in and encourages me to drink plenty of water but it's hardly a workout for me.) Looking at the week ahead, today and tomorrow are really the only days I have time for significant workouts so I have no choice but to make it work. Six miles today and the climbing gym tomorrow, then whatever else I can squeeze in all the other days.

Despite temperatures falling a bit it was still hot and sunny out there this morning. I did my six miles. I did pull out my phone a quarter mile from home and order an iced latte with soy milk to pick up when I ran by that Starbucks. I came home and drank it with leftover roasted garlic and broccoli quinoa salad.

This morning I tried on a pair of shorts from last summer and they almost fit. They are the gauge I'm using rather than the scale. Maybe all the quinoa and ab workouts are starting to pay off.

This is the last week of school for Muffin. After that my schedule will be all out of whack and I have no idea what I'm going to do.

Glutened!

I've been gluten-free due to celiac disease since 2003. For the most part I've been awesome about managing it and the gluten-free market has improved so significantly since then that I sometimes just stop in the grocery store, staring in disbelief at all the choices that didn't exist ten years ago. I've lived in and traveled through several countries without major incidents. I don't get to eat every delicious food that crosses my path. I give up a lot of treats just because I can't be certain. I always remind myself that my health is worth more than that one amazing dessert.

I had gluten once in Bamako, in July 2014, within days of my arrival. I knew what I'd done; I recognized the pattern of my gastrointestinal distress as what happens when I eat gluten. As a precaution I went to the doctor to rule out parasites and food poisoning because I was in a new country with different food safety practices and germs I hadn't been exposed to before. They treated me for dehydration. I lost several pounds. It was a shaky start to my time in a new country but I recovered.

The culprit of the gluten was unexpected but quickly determined. Beef brochettes at a pizza place. There was so much flour being tossed around the kitchen with abandon that it covered every food inadvertently. And thus the psychological aspect of celiac disease set in. In a place where I already felt isolated by being an outsider, I couldn't frequent one of the most popular expat restaurants with my friends. One time I tried drinking a glass of wine while my friends ate but it was hard to smell the pizza and the grilling meat and watch everyone else enjoy it while I couldn't even eat the inherently gluten-free dishes.

For almost three years, all over France, Mali, Austria, Kenya, and the United States, I avoided gluten until a few weeks ago. There are two pizza places in our neighborhood and they both do a decent gluten-free pizza. I still prefer the one I make at home but sometimes I want to have pizza in a restaurant with my friends and family so I've come to rely on these two restaurants. I ordered my usual gluten-free pizza for pickup to take to a friend's house for dinner.

The pizza in question.

 By the time we sat down to eat I was so hungry that I ate two slices before I realized it was too delicious to be a gluten-free pizza. I'm not going to lie. After the initial horror of discovering it I was tempted to eat more since I was going to get sick already. But I didn't. I did finish off Mike's beer, since I hadn't had real beer, other than an occasional tiny sip, in so long.

Then I anxiously awaited the pain in the lower left side of my abdomen that usually signifies gluten poisoning. I barely slept that night, wondering if it was the gluten causing my sleeplessness or the nerves of waiting for the symptoms that caused it. By the next morning my stomach was still fine and I began to question everything that had happened. It wasn't a relief to not be sick. It was more nerve wracking than usual, knowing that I'd eaten gluten but my symptoms weren't manifesting in their usual way.

By about noon I realized what was going on. Inflammation. I'd never had it before but I knew it was a common symptom for many people. Full body ache. Exhaustion. Skin so sensitive I recoiled when Muffin tried to hold my hand. My plan had been to bring my pizza leftovers back to the restaurant to find out what happened with my order. By the time Mike got home from work I could barely get off the couch without great discomfort so he took them back for me, explaining to the manager that I was too sick to go myself.

To the manager's credit, according to Mike he was horrified. My receipt said "gluten-free" on it and my crust was clearly not their gluten-free crust. He looked up the name of the person who prepared my order so he could yell at him. He refunded us for the pizza and gave Mike a gift card for fifty dollars. He told Mike he wanted the chance to make it up to me personally, once my appetite for pizza from their restaurant returned. Two days later the manager called me to see how I was doing.

I was much better, gluten-wise, by the time he called, but the gluten weakened my immune system enough that the horrible cold Muffin had had, that I'd thought I'd successfully fended off, moved on in. I was still on the couch, although from a chest cold and sinus infection rather than inflammation.

And the thing is, unlike when I have the gastrointestinal problems from gluten, I never lost my appetite, even for pizza. Again the psychological games spring up, having to rebuild my trust with that restaurant. But a week later I was at the other restaurant enjoying a pizza while the waiter talked about how they recently changed to a new gluten-free crust that customers said was tastier than the old one. (It was pretty good, as far as gluten-free crusts go.)

Mainly I'm angry because it was one more setback after a winter and spring of injuries and illness. One more week that I couldn't run as much as I wanted to. A few more days that I couldn't do any kind of workout. It was while I was sick on the couch that I signed up for the two ten-mile races for later this year. I'm tired of being sick and injured and I really want to stay on track.

Time for Some Changes

I got caught in the rain this morning.

Dang! I completely forgot about the movie challenge. I'll pick it back up soon. I still have a lot of great movies to talk about.

I've been jotting down a lot of notes and random sentences and paragraphs the last few weeks. They are not going to become one very long blog post but I think it's time to start developing them into something I can share.

Last week I signed up for two ten-mile races, one in July and one in October. I haven't raced any distance since the Marine Corps Marathon last October. My longest run since then has been about seven miles and that was back in March when I thought I was going to run a half marathon in April. I knew I wasn't ready for it, though, between the injury and some other health issues that cropped up so I backed off running and started doing some serious thinking about my health and my habits.

I'm recovering from an injury that came up during marathon training, disappeared with ice, stretching, and rest, and then hit me like a sack of bricks during the race. At this point I feel like I will probably be managing it for the rest of my life, but at least I can manage it with stretching and strength training and cross training. It's my IT band across my left hip and sometimes in my left calf. If I sleep wrong, I wake up in the middle of the night with pain in my hip and I have to figure out how to fall back to sleep and rearrange my workout routine for the next day.

Since I turned forty a little over a year ago I feel like I've been in a constant battle with my body. One friend put it this way: At forty plus one day, all your warranties start expiring. I know my body isn't the same as it was in my twenties and my thirties and there's only so much I have control over of my forty-year-old body. I'm not thrilled with my body right now. Summer clothes from last year don't fit and it's not because I got so muscular from marathon training. It's because I've eaten too much macaroni and cheese.

I'm trying to come to terms with the difference between accepting my body and accepting the changes that I have to make in order to maintain a body that I want. I need more quality rest. I need more water and less sugar. I need more stretching. I need to make the time to be cognizant of the little changes I need to make regularly in order to fit back into those favorite shorts and skirts from last summer. I'm pretty sure that eating less junk food and exercising more is going to be cheaper than buying new clothes.

I'm not on a diet, other than the gluten-free one that I have to be on. I am being more aware of the calories I choose to put into my mouth, although I've decided that some of those calories are going to be chocolate and wine. I've got a ten-mile race training plan that involves a lot of cross training in order to take the pressure off my injury-prone areas while still building strength and endurance. I'm making my family eat more vegetables, since I'm the one who does most of the grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking, and I'm not inclined to make different snacks and meals for every family member. If I'm putting this much effort into our food, it's going to be good for all of us.

One of the things that has held me back from wanting to make some changes is struggling with how my child might perceive these changes. She's six. I don't want her to know that I'm unhappy with my body right now. I want her to see exercise as a fun activity that sometimes we do as a family and sometimes Mommy and Daddy do as individuals, and that eating healthy gives us the energy for everything we do, whether it's swimming with friends or going to work or school.

This is hard. 

Seeking Out Running Opportunities

Sunday morning we decided to stop at a cafe for breakfast before doing a little grocery shopping. Since I can't eat gluten and I don't like eggs, breakfast is one of the hardest meals of the day for me to eat out in Africa but most of the time I can get some fruit and yogurt, and if I'm lucky, a little bacon. This restaurant was out of fruit plate, however (despite a bustling fruit market just down the block), and bacon. As I drank my surprisingly good coffee and munched on half a stale Lara bar I'd had in my purse while watching Muffin eat waffles and Mike eat pancakes, I felt discouraged. 

Then the channel on the television changed from a nature show about whale pregnancies to a marathon and waitstaff who hadn't been interested in serving us materialized to watch. I got up to watch, too. I didn't know until later that it was the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. I couldn't hear most of the French commentary and there were no graphics on the screen informing me of anything other than distance and time. It didn't really matter, though. I watched and I felt happy. 

We visited the Parc National du Mali on Saturday for a short hike. There's a fitness trail with some crazy 1970s-like workout equipment, but it looks fairly new. I hopped onto a few machines and felt like I was in a Jack Lalane video, or the Ben Stiller Daniel Day Lewis treadmill sketch from Saturday Night Live. Muffin had a blast trying out all the equipment. I envision myself jumping into the car as soon as she gets on the school bus in the mornings to get to the parc early to run the trail up the mountain before the heat of the day sets in. I caught site of a track from our hike up the mountain, too. 

Mike thinks our neighborhood is fine for me to run in, I just need him to take me out a couple more times so I get the lay of the place. We have a treadmill coming in our household shipment. There's a gym at Mike's office. I can run laps around the field while the rest of the expat community plays ultimate frisbee on Sunday nights. There's a hash club here. There are ways to run. 

I didn't plan my gluten-free foods in advance of arrival in Bamako as well as I should have, so I'm hesitant to try too much running or working out quite yet. I'm making strides with grocery shopping and our housekeeper but everyday living and figuring things out in a new place is still taking up a lot of time and energy. One of the cookbooks I mailed to myself arrived last week, one that I'd already jotted down French translations for our housekeeper in Burundi, so I was able to ask our Malian housekeeper for the right ingredients without consulting the dictionary again. I hope some of my gluten-free mixes arrive this week so I can have crepes and make quick breads. I stocked up on local peanuts, popcorn, and honey to try making some kind of peanut-popcorn snack this week. The local yogurt is good and our housekeeper has a fresh, pasteurized milk source. Yesterday I found a good avocado at the fruit stand, which I overpaid for, but my housekeeper says it hasn't been good weather for them this year, so everyone is overpaying for the good ones. We are eating mangos like they're going out of style, because they might be soon. The rainy season has been unusual and we are eating produce while it's available.

Today is a "surprise" holiday -- you never know until the last minute which day will be the holiday for Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Mike has the day off so we are contemplating getting outside for a bit, exploring a new place. I have enough bottled water and peanut packs for a day hike.

The Gluten-Free-Free Void

We learned last week that Muffin does not have celiac disease. She has been gluten-free her whole life as a precaution. My brother and I both have celiac disease but neither of us exhibited symptoms and were diagnosed until we were in our twenties. Genetically there was a very good chance the same would be for Muffin. While living in India we could not get Muffin tested accurately; conversations with pediatricians and nutritionists showed that they didn't even know what I was talking about when I said, "gluten free." Once we were back in the United States for good, I made an appointment with her American pediatrician who made arrangements for Muffin's blood screening. She ate gluten for two weeks and never exhibited any symptoms. Three different screenings were performed and not a single antibody was present in any of them, so her pediatrician is confident she doesn't have celiac disease.

I'm relieved that she doesn't have celiac disease. It makes school, parties, and all other times out of the house so much easier. But there's also a void. (I know, another void; see yesterday's post.) I've spent so much time over the last three years worrying about Muffin's diet as well as my own but I hadn't realized it until I suddenly only had to worry about myself again. I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for gluten-free cooking now that I no longer have to nourish a child with it. I don't have to prove that gluten-free alternatives are just as tasty as their glutenous counterparts. She can just eat the gluten foods with Mike now. I feel like I can get by with mediocre food, or just skip most treats altogether, since it's now only me who needs to eat gluten free. I wasn't expecting to feel this way.

Indian Cooking Lessons: Chicken Biryani with Gravy and Raita

With our few weekends left we've decided to have our housekeeper come in for some over-time on Saturdays to teach us how to cook some of our favorite dishes. Yes, at any time over the last two-plus years I could have learned these things but it's difficult for me to concentrate with Muffin underfoot, I'm often busy with other things so our housekeeper can cook quickly while I work, and Mike wants to learn too. So on Saturday mornings Muffin goes to two hours of music and art class and Mike and I have cooking lessons.

Hyderabad is known for its biryani. It's a layered rice dish. It's the reason we moved here when given the option of several Indian cities. Chicken biryani is the first dish our housekeeper made for us and it's remained our favorite. Muffin has grown up on it. One of the reasons its imperative that I learn how to make it is so that I don't deprive Muffin of one of her favorite foods. Moving to the United States is going to be a shock to her and I want to continue making some of her favorite Indian foods to ease her transition.

So, to the best of my ability, I have transcribed my notes from watching my housekeeper make chicken biryani and making it myself under her supervision.

If anything in the recipe is too confusing please let me know. I've been living with it for a while now and it makes sense to me but it's not helpful to others if it doesn't make sense to them!

Chicken Biryani 
½ kg chicken – boneless chicken breast cut into one-inch pieces or quartered chicken with bones
½ kg yogurt
bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems chopped
bunch of mint, leaves and stems chopped
2 chilis (mirchi or serrano), chopped
1 big spoon garlic-ginger paste
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
juice of 2 small limes
2 tsp salt

Put all of the above into a big pot to marinate for 30 minutes. 

Chicken marinating with yogurt, spices, and herbs

In another pot...
2 medium red onions, sliced
pinch of salt

Heat up enough oil to completely cover the onions for deep frying. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and fry until deep brown. Remove onions from oil and drain on paper towels, allow to cool. Save the pot and the oil!

Cover onions with oil...

Fry until golden brown; drain and cool until crispy

Back to the chicken pot
Add about half of the onion oil to the chicken pot (save the frying pot and the rest of the oil). Start cooking on high heat, bring to boil. Boil for 5 to 10 minutes, then reduce to low heat.

In a medium pot
½ kg rice
sprinkle shazeera seed (taste similar to caraway seed)
2 Indian bay leaves (English bay leaves can be used)
3 black cardamom pods (green okay if black is not available)
pinch salt 

Add to a medium pot and cover with water plus about one inch. Cook over high heat until boiling. The rice should not get fully cooked; it needs to be a little hard.

Aromatics in water, waiting for rice

Back to the chicken pot
Crumble about two-thirds of the fried onions and add to chicken pot.

In a small cup
Prepare food color: About 1/3 cup milk with orange color powder. Set aside.

In the rice pot
Stir rice occasionally. When it boils, take it off the heat and drain. Remove bay leaves. Spread the rice over chicken mixture and smooth off. Spoon food coloring over the rice in swirls; crumble the rest of fried onions evenly over the top. Spoon 1 to 2 Tbs of onion oil over top of rice. Cook on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. To test for doneness, press a spoon into the rice. When it’s firm, it’s done.

Finished with fried onions and food coloring

Gravy
Toast 1 Tbs white poppy seeds; grind to a fine powder then add 1 – 2 Tbs water and grind into a paste. Set aside.

1 medium red onion – chop into large chunks
2 chilies – chop
2 medium tomatoes – chop into large chunks
1 large handful mint
1 large handful cilantro
½ tsp each cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, and chili powders
½ cup yogurt
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2-3 large pinches of salt

Grind in the blender until smooth. Add to the frying pot that still has oil in it from frying the onions. Cook on low or medium flame for five minutes until the oil separates. Add a big spoonful of ginger-garlic paste and the poppy seed paste. Simmer for a few more minutes.

Raita 
Grate one large cucumber and mix with a cup of yogurt. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of mustard or cumin powder to taste. Carrot, tomato and/or onion can also be used along with the cucumber.

To serve, spoon through all the layers of rice, yogurt, and chicken and place on a large plate or broad, shallow bowl. Add some of the gravy and some of the raita. Dig in!

My taste-tester

The key is to use the same proportion of chicken, rice, and yogurt. Using a half kilogram, or about one pound, makes enough for four to six people. All the other spices and seasonings can be adjusted to taste.

When I made it myself, with our housekeeper watching, it tasted great but not quite the same. I think I went a little light on the spices and I know I didn't use enough salt. The recipe includes approximations of what my housekeeper uses; I used about half the amount of salt and my teaspoons were a little scant. You can make the biryani less spicy by not putting in fresh chilies and by using less chili powder. Then, you can make the gravy spicier for diners who want their biryani with more kick. Muffin also prefers plain yogurt to the raita, so that's another option for those who don't want quite so many flavors.

Stay Hydrated -- Important for Baking as Well as Running

It's been a while since I've made macarons but I decided that Muffin is old enough to appreciate the work that goes into them now (she loves them; her favorite books from when she first started picking out books are macarons cookbooks; she knows that when Daddy travels to Bangkok or Singapore he comes home with macarons). We needed a project for today and I thought this would be novel enough to hold Muffin's attention. Plus, the dry weather is perfect for baking them -- even though it's monstrously hot outside (108 F / 42 C) so it's a little insane to be lighting the oven. We stayed well-hydrated with ice water and took cooling breaks in the air-conditioned parts of the house. And we had a very fun morning with a delicious reward.

The last time I made them I used Cecile Cannone's Macarons: Authentic French Cookie Recipes from the Macaron Cafe. This time I used Berengere Abraham's Macarons. I found Abraham's recipes to be, not easier exactly, but less labor intensive because they are in smaller quantities. There's a lot of waiting time, though, so they are not "quick and easy." Good if you like to clean as you go, bad if you have an anxious kitchen helper. As you'll see from the photos, having a smaller quantity means there's less room for mistakes if you want beautiful, photogenic macarons. I think I'll stick with Abraham's, though, until I become more practiced. Cannone's large batches can be saved for a big Christmas party. Abraham's are for having a couple people over for coffee.

We were inspired by the photo of the raspberry macarons, but we used store-bought jam instead of making our own. Muffin requested strawberry jam in half of them and raspberry jam in the others.

Mine

Muffin's

Muffin was so delighted with her work that it was worth the heat and the "wasted" batter of her imperfect cookies. I think she wants to do this every Sunday now. When we're back in the U.S. I want to take Muffin to Cecile Cannone's bakery in New York to see if "Madame Cecile," as Muffin calls her, will autograph Muffin's book.

Happy Diwali!

It's Diwali time again! India's Salute to Fireworks, er, Festival of Lights. I've gotten so used to the fireworks (this is our third Diwali) that I'm a little sad this is our last holiday here. Next year Muffin and I will be making laddu and rangoli in chilly Rhode Island November weather and we will most likely not be lighting any fireworks. (Maybe I'll pick up a few after Fourth of July and save them...)

We did not have the same fireworks extravaganza that we had last year. We declined invitations to several parties because I've had a cold and Muffin hasn't been sleeping well. My mom is arriving on Thursday so we are in preparation mode while trying to nap as much as possible. It was a quiet holiday at home. We took our traditional holiday walk around the neighborhood to view the rangoli and our housekeeper made a rangoli at our house. We also made laddu with our housekeeper, the traditional sweet made of lentil flour, ghee, and sugar. (I'm having some laddu and tea right now.) We finished off the day by going to our rooftop patio to watch the fireworks from around the city.

Around the neighborhood:

At our home:

Happy Diwali! May your days be full of light and your nights be full of sleep, if you need it.

The Amy Sedaris Ghost Cake

I know I'm a little late, so bookmark or Pinterest this one for next Halloween.

I bought Amy Sedaris's I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence when it first came out several years ago. I love so many of the crafts and recipes but I'd never gotten around to trying any of them. About a year ago, though, Muffin became obsessed with the book, especially the pages with ice cream on them and the pages with ghosts. I looked forward to her being old enough to do the craft projects. When I made her a pair of tissue ghosts, she was ecstatic. My next project was the ghost cake for a Halloween party.

It was really quite simple, since I'd already tested cake mixes and frostings (back for Muffin's birthday party). I followed the photo in the book for the shape of the ghost. I cut out the shape of the head and used those pieces for the arms. I secured the arms with toothpicks and frosting. I used a white cake mix so that crumbs wouldn't be seen through the frosting. For the frosting I made sure to use white butter (no yellow coloring added) and I didn't add any vanilla so it was as white as it could be. For the mouth I cut a chunk of chocolate.

While I was working in the kitchen, I gave Mike and Muffin the task of testing the flaming eyes. I'd been saving egg shells all week so the two best ones could be used on the cake and the others could be used for practice. The instructions in the book call for sugar cubes soaked in lemon extract with an additional teaspoon of lemon extract added to the eggshells. We didn't have lemon extract, so after experimenting with vanilla abstract and whiskey, we determined that whiskey produced a nice, blue, glowing flame that lasted long enough for everyone to ooh and ahh and take some photos. (Don't worry, we didn't use the good whiskey from the stash. If you have any Teacher's Origin, India's finest, this is the best use we've found for it so far.)

Boo!

Muffin loved the ghost cake. I was laughing at myself the whole time I was working on it, the lengths I go to for such silliness.

Book cover image is from Amazon. Book link is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Motivation Monday -- Busting Through Holiday Sweets

**I decided to put this up early, because I need the motivation now, not on Monday.**

Between local holidays -- Dussera, Eid ul-Adha, and Diwali -- and American holidays -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas -- there is a lot of food consumed between October and the New Year. I love making treats and eating them; we'll be on holiday for a few days so we'll have our share of travel food as well. But I want to stay healthy and active and I want Muffin to be healthy and alert for school, so the whole family has to stay on track.

This year I am back on the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge at Run to the Finish. I found the challenge to be a great, fun support system last year even though I fizzled out toward the end and didn't win any prizes. I'm in it to stay healthy and make a few running friends, even if they are virtual (although it would be nice if some of my real-life friends joined me, too!). I have been a disaster lately, with excuses piling up. But the weather is cooling off, I've finished my courses for the year, and I may even have a treadmill nearby to use -- where I can wear shorts! Excuses are starting to wear thin.

One of the hard parts for me is meal planning to make sure I keep myself properly fueled. Last year I considered myself in the 5K/beginner mileage part of the challenge. This year I've moved myself up to half-marathon and marathon-level mileage. My goal is to keep myself in half-marathon condition, even if I don't get the chance to run one any time soon. Higher mileage results in a much faster turnaround from mommy to monster if I don't have good food NOW. I can only eat so many Kind bars and I hate protein powders and protein bars so real, quick food is essential.

To combat that, I'm already filling my freezer with pre-chopped fruit for smoothies, pureed vegetable soups, soup stocks, pre-cooked beans, loaves of bread, fresh gnocchi, fresh tomato sauce... all things that my housekeeper or I can make ahead of time and then I can pull out when running hunger strikes me. And all things that are healthy proteins and carbs and enjoyable for my family as well. Gluten-Free on a Shoestring and The Homemade Pantry are my go-to books right now. I'm learning that the processed stuff just doesn't make me feel as good, both mentally and physically. Yes, I'm expecting an order of one of my favorite instant soups to arrive soon and yes there is a case of Annie's gluten-free macaroni and cheese in my pantry as well as several jars of my family's favorite brand of peanut butter. I do love some of my processed comfort foods and don't plan on giving them up altogether. But if I can replace a few things, such as pressure-cooked beans rather than canned and fresh tomato sauce rather than jarred, we will be a little bit happier and healthier.

I also like to fill Muffin and myself up with a healthy meal before we go out to a holiday event so we can eat the treats without making dinner out of Halloween candy. (Not that there's anything wrong with that sometimes; I ate a chocolate bar smothered with peanut butter for dinner two nights ago because it was just one of those days.) I'm trying to eat more beans and chicken earlier in the day though, to avoid that evening hunger crash.

If you are ready to join me, please use the link here to sign up, and please reference me! Thank you!

The challenge runs from November 19 through January 5. I've already started tracking my fruit and vegetable servings because one of the daily challenges and a way to earn points is by eating seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It's a habit you need to work on. I discovered last year that you can't just sit down on the first day and eat seven servings. That's a lot if you're not used to it.

Here's to a healthy(-ish) holiday season!

Book links are Amazon Affiliate links.

Doughnut Dreams

My doughnut pan arrived while we were in Thailand a couple weeks ago and since then I’ve been busy trying out recipes. I’m telling myself I’m testing them for an upcoming charity bake sale, but really I just want to eat doughnuts.

Chocolate frosted.

I blogged about chocolate doughnuts at the Hardship Homemaking blog recently.

Next up was pumpkin doughnuts. I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour but I replaced the regular flour with Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix. The recipe has potential but I made a few errors that resulted in overly sweet, sticky doughnuts with almost no pumpkin and spice flavor. Muffin and I both have a major sweet tooth and these were even too sweet for us. When a two-year-old puts down a half-eaten doughnut and says it’s too much, it’s way too much.

My first error was using coconut oil instead of light olive oil or vegetable oil. I thought it would be a healthy alternative to vegetable oil and it’s cheaper than olive oil. I wasn’t counting on the flavor completely overpowering the rest of the doughnut.

Sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar.

Also, I ran out of white sugar so used half white and half demerara sugar, which is a local brown sugar substitute that has a burnt-sugar-caramel taste to it. I thought it would complement the pumpkin and spice flavors. It was too sweet and too sticky. It was as if the doughnuts had been dipped in syrup when all they’d done was sit on the counter for a couple hours.

For my next attempt at the pumpkin doughnuts I am stocking up on white sugar, I will use a light, flavorless oil, and I am also going to amp up the spices a bit. I can’t find canned pumpkin here so I have to make my own puree and the pumpkins here don’t seem to be as flavorful as American pumpkins. 

I’m definitely doing the pumpkin doughnuts for the bake sale since pumpkins are in season right now in India. I think they’ll be popular among Indians and Americans alike, given the time of year. I’d like to make a second variety of doughnuts as well. I’m trying to decide between the chocolate doughnuts, replacing the pumpkin puree with applesauce for complementary pumpkin pie and apple pie doughnuts, or trying another new recipe entirely – toasted coconut. What do you think?

Eggplant with Basil and Feta

This was originally published at What I Eat on 22 September 2007. We were living in Walnut Creek, California, at the time. Muffin loves the tomato sauce and feta cheese but she’s not a huge eggplant fan. This is still one of my favorite ways to prepare eggplant and Muffin likes to help with the breading. Look for Local Notes at the end of the post to see how I modify the recipe for Hyderabad.

This recipe is inspired by the Crispy Eggplant with Spicy Tomato-Feta Cheese Sauce in the book Vegetarian Cooking for Today. We've modified it quite a bit for our tastes. It's the recipe that convinced Mike several years ago, after we both read Fast Food Nation, that it's not so bad to cut down on meats.

eggplant
1 egg
small bit of milk
pototo starch
bread crumbs
tomato sauce
crushed red pepper
fresh basil
feta cheese

Slice the eggplant into rectangles, peeled or unpeeled, about 1 inch by 2 inch by 3 inch. Let the pieces sit on a plate, salted, for about 10 minutes to draw out some of the moisture. Pat dry with paper towels. Bread the pieces by dipping in potato starch, an egg-milk mixture, and finally bread crumbs. (I use Gluten-Free Pantry Herbed Crumb Coating. I hate the breading process--it seems to take forever. A little trick I have is to ask Mike to do it for me.) Place breaded pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the outsides are crispy and the scent of herbed bread crumbs is intoxicating.

While the eggplant is baking, heat up some of your favorite store-bought or homemade tomato sauce in a small sauce pan, adding a pinch of crushed red pepper. Wash and pat dry some basil leaves. Sometimes I slice them into attractive little shreds. Get the pack of feta cheese from the fridge. Place eggplant pieces on plate, spoon sauce over them, then top with basil and crumbled feta.

It's a very satisfying meal, combining some of our favorite flavors. It's warm and filling for cool weather, but if you can get good fresh basil you have great summery flavor. And everything is better when it's topped with feta cheese.

Local Notes 
Feta cheese is expensive here in Hyderabad but you can find it. I usually get it from Qmart or Nature’s Basket. The couple times I’ve bought it at HyperCity it had gone bad despite being within the expiration date. Basil can be found at Qmart, Nature’s Basket, and Tarkari. To make the dish gluten-free I use Or-Gran rice crumbs from Nature’s Basket seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. I’ve found potato starch at Nature’s Basket, but cheap rice flour purchased anywhere works just as well. Crushed red pepper is often called “chili flakes” here.

Motivation Monday -- Doughnuts

Gluten-free baked chocolate doughnuts,
courtesy of The Baking Beauties.

Yup, doughnuts. They are probably the food I miss the most being both gluten-free and in India. So as I was browsing my Gluten-Free Recipes board on Pinterest this weekend for healthy foods -- because I'm back in training now -- I opened up this pin, went to the original website, and ordered some of the ingredients I can't find here plus a doughnut tray. In three to four weeks I plan on treating myself to this chocolate doughnut. With sprinkles. The delivery of my baking goodies should coincide with finishing up the half marathon on September 23. After that, an opportunity to do an "Ultra Walk" of a half marathon or marathon distance is on the horizon.

In the meantime, I'm finding an energy boost in the form of replacing my sugary cold coffee concoctions with black tea and a little milk followed by a green smoothie and by replacing rice with quinoa. I've also replaced my Kind bars with a handful of almonds. I polished off 7 miles on Saturday without really thinking about it, except for being a little sleepy afterward -- the result of waking up at five o'clock in the morning, whether you've been running or not. Maybe there is something to this cutting back on sugar idea. (Says she who is making elaborate plans for a doughnut.)

Will run for doughnuts.

Will spend a ridiculous amount of time, money, and resources procuring those doughnuts.

Chinese Peanut Sauce

This was originally published at What I Eat on 13 September 2007. We were living in Walnut Creek, California at the time. 

Muffin is the only toddler I’ve heard of who likes broccoli. Although she likes it simply steamed with a bit of lemon juice (Lemon-eze here in Hyderabad) and ground black pepper, I like to make this peanut sauce for her everyone once in a while as a treat. 

Look for Local Notes at the end of the post to see how I modify the recipe for Hyderabad. 

All this produce from Planet Organics is sending me on searches for new recipes. When I first saw the price of their broccoli, I thought it was outrageous. But I decided to get some anyway. Holy cow! The amount of broccoli they give you is enormous. It's about 3 times the amount I usually buy for a week. Even though I don't love broccoli, it's good for me and I'm trying to eat more of it. And Mike loves it. So, since one of the points of getting this produce delivery is to introduce more fruits and veggies into our diets, surely I can find a palatable way to serve all this broccoli. I add it to stir-fry, I add it to quinoa, I add it to rice. But I need more.

Recently I remembered that a couple years ago I'd made a peanut sauce that I really liked. But I hadn't liked the veggies I'd prepared with it so I put it out of my mind and never thought about making it again. Until yesterday. I found the recipe in my Moosewood and made Chinese peanut sauce and steamed broccoli for lunch. And it was delicious.

1/2 cup good peanut butter
1/2 cup hot water
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. sugar
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1 to 2 Tbs minced fresh cilantro
cayenne, to taste
salt, to taste (if peanut butter is unsalted)

1) Place peanut butter in a small bowl. Add the hot water, and stir patiently with a spoon or a small whisk until uniformly mixed.

2) Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Let come to room temperature before serving.

I used a chunky peanut butter for some crunchy texture. For soy sauce I use San-J Organic Tamari Wheat Free Soy Sauce.

This peanut sauce keeps in the fridge for a couple days and can be used on a variety of grilled or steamed vegetables. Or as a dipping sauce for spring rolls or fried tofu or something like that. Or even as a salad dressing. Add a little water to thin it to your needs.

Now we are down to about one serving of broccoli left. However our next produce delivery is today. We will have a broccoli surplus on our hands.

**Gotta go! My produce arrived as I was giving this post a final edit.**

Local Notes 
I have not been able to find gluten-free soy sauce in Hyderabad, so every time I come back from the United States I bring a bottle or two of San-J Tamari Wheat-Free Soy Sauce with me. You can order gluten-free soy sauce packets from Minimus.biz. If you are ordering through the pouch, the packets are small enough that you can order quite a few and be within the liquid restrictions. They offer international shipping as well. I've bought cider vinegar from HyperCity, in the Waitrose section.

Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloin

This was originally published at What I Eat on 6 September 2007. We were living in Walnut Creek, California, at the time. With my recent trip to the Minerva Pork Shop in Secunderabad, we have a lot of pork tenderloin in the freezer so I went through my old posts for some ideas of what to do with it. Look for Local Notes at the end of the post to see how I modify the recipe for Hyderabad. 

A couple years ago I came home with a handful of fresh, beautiful rosemary from farmers' market and had no idea what to do with it. (I tend to make impulse produce purchases.) A Google search for rosemary recipes led me to this one on About.com.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pork tenderloins, about 2 pounds [1 kg]
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, or about 1 tablespoon dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, halved
salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION: Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking pan with foil, spray with cooking spray and place in oven. Trim fat from pork tenderloins and butterfly the meat, cutting them nearly in half lengthwise. Open the pork tenderloins and lay out, pounding to flatten with the palm of the hand or the bottom of a heavy skillet.

Chop rosemary if using fresh. Rub pork tenderloins all over with cut sides of garlic halves then olive oil, then sprinkle rosemary on both sides.

Remove baking pan from the oven and place pork on hot tray. Return to oven and roast for about 20 minutes (about 155° to 160° internal temp). Remove and let stand 5 minutes, then slice.

Rosemary roasted pork tenderloin serves 4 to 6.

We've modified it a bit for ourselves. Last night for the first time we did just one tenderloin, and it worked out much better for our dinner and leftovers needs. I always forget to spray the aluminum foil with oil and it doesn't seem to matter. We love garlic, so we use several cloves sliced into spears, and stick them into the meat for roasting.

On the side I had a small plate of red pepper slices and cucumber spears; it's still summer after all, so we should be eating lots of cool, crisp veggies. I also roasted some potatoes -- a handful of fingerlings, a purple one, and a sweet potato -- with salt and pepper, and I tossed in one of the rosemary sprigs.

Local Notes 
In Hyderabad I’m more likely to throw in some carrots and small onions for roasting (they look sort of like shallots to me, but are called madras onions I think) along with whatever potatoes I find at the store. During the winter I love the pink local carrots that come into season but throughout the year I can find very tasty regular orange carrots. The tenderloins I get here are much smaller than what you’ll find in the United States. Rosemary can often be found at Qmart, Nature’s Basket, or Tarkari.

Super Mommy

I'm pretty proud of myself this week. I prioritized my time, I delegated tasks, and I made this:

and I finished making this:

all for Muffin's birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

How to Make a Very Hungry Caterpillar Party in India
I have to thank Pinterest for the cake idea. I pinned it months ago and kept the idea tucked away in my head, thinking about how to make this in India.

First, when the Consulate placed an order with the commissary in Delhi, I ordered "one" food coloring box. Due to the confusing nature of the order form, I ended up with "one case" of food coloring boxes. I also bought one case of real vanilla extract (intentionally -- I use it a lot for baking) because you can't buy real vanilla in Hyderabad and the fake stuff sold here tastes awful.

Next, when we where on vacation in the United States in May, I tried the King Arthur flour gluten-free cake mix and I liked it a lot better than the Betty Crocker gluten-free cake mixes I'd been using. I bought several boxes of chocolate and yellow -- which actually comes out more like angel food cake -- and did a couple test batches once we were back in Hyderabad to see how the cupcakes would work in my oven. I also tested frosting recipes. I'd been using the Pamela's frosting mixes, and while I love the chocolate, the vanilla always tasted funny to me. I ended up using a butter frosting recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

I used Heritage unsalted cooking butter for the cake and the frostings. I've found it in HyperCity and at the Heritage markets. It freezes well, so I buy several boxes whenever I see it.

I did a little bit of work each day. On Tuesday I made a batch of green frosting. On Wednesday I made a batch of red and kept both in the freezer. On Thursday I took a break. On Friday, with our housekeeper helping to keep Muffin entertained, I made one box of chocolate cupcakes (one box yields 24 cupcakes), one box of yellow cupcakes, and another box of chocolate into 12 cupcakes and one nine-inch round cake. I also made another batch of frosting, dividing it into half blue and half yellow. I moved all the frostings into the refrigerator to defrost for Saturday morning. I sealed up all the cupcakes into Tupperware, blasted the air conditioner and kept my fingers crossed for the electricity, and left them on the kitchen counter overnight because there wasn't enough room in the refrigerator for them.

On Saturday morning, while Mike kept Muffin busy, I started frosting everything. I locked up the cat. I kept air conditioners blasting in the kitchen and the dining room. I ate a good breakfast and a good lunch and didn't drink too much coffee so I wouldn't have shaky hands and drop anything. I cut out little feet and antenna from black felt. I placed the cupcakes on a piece of white fabric (an old tablecloth that had a couple stains in it so can't be used for fancy dining anymore, but works well as a cupcake canvas) and the felt stuck to the fabric nicely. I kept the caterpillar's head in the refrigerator until the very last minute to keep his face from melting.

Several weeks ago I'd ordered official Hungry Caterpillar party supplies from the Eric Carle museum and some cheaper plain green supplies from Oriental Trading. I also found some party stuff at HyperCity and the party store next to Qmart.

Mike and I spent Friday night sealing up the goodie bags and I also finished Muffin's dress that night. Each day for the last two weeks I'd been working on the dress in about five-minute increments whenever I could. It's the Oliver + S Seashore Sundress in Michael Miller Lolli Dot from Fabric.com and red "matching fabric" from a sari shop.

All the work culminated in two hours of insanity. Nineteen kids and sixty cupcakes. We bought samosas from a kiosk around the corner for a savory snack and we had plenty of juice, water, soda, and beer for guests of all ages. We just let the kids go crazy with Muffin's toys until cupcake time, then they went crazy with cupcakes. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Muffin was a little subdued but she loved her birthday cake and she didn't cry when everyone sang "Happy Birthday." That's about all you can ask from a two-year-old.

And we had our housekeeper come in for the afternoon to help with cleaning up. That is a key element to throwing a party in India.

It was a pretty good party, but I'm glad birthdays are only once a year. I can't be Super Mommy every week.