A Whiff of Granola

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[Ugh, ignore the time stamp at the bottom. I didn't realize it was permanently on there until after I'd shot these photos.]

As I write this, I can smell the maple goodness of some freshly baked granola wafting in from the kitchen. The granola is still in the oven, but it’s not being quiet about it. That granola is here, loud and proud. It’s going to be effing good. And it knows it.

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with granola for the past few years. To be fair, I think a large amount of anything is likely to cause severe gas and bloating. <– Eating a lot of granola will make you have that. So will chocolate. But granola seemed a lot easier to cut out of my life than chocolate. Obviously. (Though I know some people that would disagree.) I also didn’t understand its reputation as a healthy food. It just seemed like a lot of carbs, and by the time I added protein and fruit to it, I was looking at a highly-caloric breakfast. For a while, it remained a topping on oatmeal and the occasional afternoon snack. And then for a while, I didn’t really see the point in it.

In high school, I had a pretty skewed sense of what was good for me. One time, I decided to cut out sugar. For three months: January 1st to March 20th, my birthday. And I did it. But I did it in a weird way: I cut out anything that could be labeled as a dessert, even if it was made with unrefined sweetners, and I cut out anything that directly said ‘sugar’ in the ingredients. Granola was, however, still a healthy food in my mind. So one time, when I went out with my friends to get dessert and they all got ice cream, I opted instead to– yes– get granola. I made them drive me to Whole Foods where I bought a container of the most delicious Cherry Almond Granola from their bakery. And then I ate the entire container.

this was, of course, the night before I was supposed to leave for Spain with a friend’s family for her 18th birthday. I didn’t immediately feel the effects of the granola after I ate it, but I definitely did the next day. On our way to the airport, through security, and on the 6/7-hour plane ride. If our plane made it to Spain in less than scheduled time, I’m sure I had something to do with it.

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This recipe was inspired by a recipe taken from the granola recipe in the Kripalu cookbook. If you’ve ever been to Kripalu, you’ll remember the granola. It’s so good, and I’ve never had any like it anywhere else. This comes pretty close though, and somehow homemade granola always tastes amazing.

6 c. rolled oats.

3 1/2 c. rye flakes.

2 c. coconut flakes.

2 c. sunflower seeds.

3/4 c. barley malt.

2/3 c. pure maple syrup.

1 T. pure vanilla extract.

Sprinkle of salt.

1 c. raisins.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Combine wet to dry and mix well. Lay granola flat on a baking pan, making sure granola is even throughout pan (I used 2 pans). Bake for 50 minutes, taking the pans out halfway through to stir granola to ensure that it cooks evenly (I didn’t do this the first time, and the outer edges burnt). When done, let granola cool for 30 minutes. Mix in raisins, if desired. Store in an airtight or sealable container– I used a huge ziplock bag.

I really think granola is one of the simpler things to bake. It’s so easy, and once you get the hang of it, you can really experiment with different ingredients and flavors. It’s perfect with almond milk, oatmeal, or even eaten with your hands. Or on ice cream. Or yogurt. Or anytime.

Eating Up the Christmas Spirit

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Funny story. Remember that time I said I was back to blogging and even posted a picture of Jack Nicholson from The Shining? And then I never wrote anything after that?  And that was a month ago? That’s not a story, those are just facts. And it’s now December 14th and I’m promising you the same thing.

I spent a good portion of my Thanksgiving vacation on the couch watching TV. Is there such a thing as binge-TV-watching? If so, I did it.

Then I spent the past three weeks of my last Fall semester turning in a research paper about The Departed, worrying about my future, trying to exercise, and filling up my social calendar. And my stomach– with cookies!

Sort of. I’ve actually reached a really great place of food balance and understanding how much I need vs. want. I’m not perfect all the time (and there’s always the fear of jinxing it by saying stuff like this in an open forum), but I like where I am. Except for right now, when I’ve stuffed my face with extra Christmas cornflake wreaths.

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Making wreaths is an annual Christmas tradition. Ever since I left for my freshman year of boarding school, my mother has (per request) painstakingly labored over pot after pot of sticky marshmallows, green food dye, and wax-paper fingers. It’s not an easy task, as I found out when I tried to make these over the holidays one year.

PS. Don’t try to make these into Halloween wreaths or Hannukah wreaths. I’ve tried, and they just look like snot.

I even convinced my mother to send me a package while I was in Paris last Christmas. And much like every other kind of food I encountered over there, I ate them in one sitting.

Now, though, things are a little different. Back to normal. I live four hours away (at college) and I don’t think it makes sense for my mother to spend money sending me cookies in the mail when I could just make them myself. I have a kitchen, after all. And a car. And money. So there aren’t really any excuses. In fact, it’s even better to make them here at college– so many more mouths to feed!

At home, it’s a fight between my brother and me to see who can consume the most. One of us wins, and then we make more and play the game all over again.

This is one of those recipes that probably originated in the 50′s: cornflakes, marshmallows, butter, and green food dye. That being said, it’s also a really easy recipe. Messy, but easy. And ever so festive!

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My mom has a go-to recipe for these that she usually uses, but I don’t have the book with me at school here. I looked online for the recipe that most matched the one in my memory (using big marshmallows), and found a good one on epicurious. I also substituted Earth Balance for butter without any problems. I just wouldn’t substitute the marshmallows for vegan ones… it’s already been tried, without success.

Key tips before making these:

Have a bowl of water on hand to dip your sticky fingers in.

Stir the marshmallows frequently so that the butter doesn’t start to burn. It funks up the taste.

Most important: make these for a purpose. Like a holiday party or a family dinner. If not, you’ll eat the whole batch. I know this from experience.

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There aren’t a lot of pictures of my work, because I really wanted to avoid getting green goo all over my camera. It’d be helpful to have a husband or a boyfriend in a situation like this. Instead, I’ll make cookies by myself and get green marshmallows all over my face. Come to think of it, I think I know why I’m single…

In keeping with the Christmas palette, check out my sheets. Flannel, baby. It really IS the most wonderful time of the year.

IMG_0649Leave it to Garnet Hill to make flannel sheets with Christmas sheep.

I’m Back…!

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According to the interwebs, this quote is actually from The Terminator. I thought it was from the Shining. (confession: I haven’t seen either.)

[source]

I wasn’t anticipating this 3-month-long hiatus from blogging. I had every hope that I would sail into my senior year of college as a multi-tasking extraordinaire.

Clearly, that didn’t happen. Somewhere along the Art of Conversation in 17th century France, the American Civil War, What It Means to Be Human, and the Religion of Scorsese and Coppola films, blogging fell to the wayside. It also had acappella, café work, TA-ing, Peer Tutoring, Article writing, working out, and just plain living to contend with.

Clearly, I go to a liberal arts college. What a smorgasbord of courses. 

So blogging ceded its priority in my life, but just for a little while. Now that it’s Thanksgiving Break (my first time at home since late August), I have oodles of time to work on a few new posts. And I want to! I’m craving it. I miss looking at my blog every day.

Usually upon arriving home for break, I run around the kitchen like a tornado looking for all the goodies that I’m deprived of while at school (even though I know full well that this isn’t true). I look in all the secret stash hiding places: top shelves and bottom drawers are usually jackpots. I think something about the excitement of being at home leads to my transformation of what others normally refer to as The Cookie Monster. The only difference is that I usually opt out of the bright blue fuzzy suit.

Today was no different. After arriving home from a stressful, traffic-ridden drive, I mindlessly roamed around the kitchen assessing all levels of baked goods and chocolate. I quickly discovered my mother’s stash of homemade whole wheat chocolate chip cookies (the clear tupperware container didn’t help much), and proceeded to eat the rest of them. To be fair, they were pretty small, there weren’t a lot in there, and I was weirdly aware that I was stuffing my face. It is going to take me awhile to digest them though. Woof.

This little moment with the cookies comes on the tail of some recent overindulgences with other sweets at school, and my health is suffering for it. This break is the perfect time to remind myself how good I feel when I listen to my body and feed it the fuel that it needs. And I’ll need that fuel, because this will be a week of some much-needed exercise. I’ve kept up a relatively consistent exercise schedule– and a pretty varied one at that, which keeps me on my toes– but my workout motivation corresponds directly to what I put in my body. The more junk food I eat, the less energy I have to work out (even though it might be more necessary). And the opposite.

As I said, I’d like to use this break as a way to catch up on all aspects of a healthy life, indulgences included. A friend mentioned outlining some goals that she wanted to accomplish over break, or even just things that she wanted to do. I love this idea.

Over Thanksgiving Break, I’d like to:

Cultivate Balance. Indulgent days followed by healthy days, or indulgent meals followed by healthy meals. Or indulgent food groups followed by healthy food groups. Balance can happen any day, any way.

Enjoy movement each day. I’ve rediscovered my love for 5Ks, whether on the treadmill or outside (but I’m a wuss when it comes to cold weather). I love pushing myself on these short distances because I can focus on different things, whether speed, incline, or just pushing myself. I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten faster, too. Even a mindful walk will count. Or a great yoga session, by myself or in the studio. Anything goes, as long as I enjoy doing it. Forcing myself into any structure here only backfires.

Integrate meditation into my day. I know that meditation is the key to cultivating mindfulness that will help my relationship with food (which is often so mindless). But I “never have time” to practice it, or I always forget. Even if it’s just 5 minutes of meditation in the morning, I think including it in my daily routine can only benefit me.

Be grateful. How fitting for Thanksgiving Break. I have so many things to be grateful about, and I’d like to remind myself of little things each day.

So there you have it. Perhaps I’ll add some more (specific) goals to the list in the next few days, but this is where my mind is at right now.

Time to unpack, do some laundry, take a (much-needed) shower and go to bed!

This time, I’m reminding myself to eat my veggies. I’m sure you all have that under control.

BarTaco

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West Hartford, CT is home to many great restaurants. Recently a friend came to visit me, and I asked her where she’d like to go out to dinner. “Oh, I don’t care,” she said. “What kind of food is there?”

I told her to pick a country and we’d probably have a restaurant for it. Spanish. Mexican. Afghani. Burgers. Pizza. Japanese. Italian. Steak. Chinese. Argentinean. Jamaican. Greek. Mediterranean. Irish. Thai. French. The list goes on.

Barcelona is a great Spanish restaurant in town that also has locations elsewhere, mostly in CT but its newest in Atlanta, GA. They’ve been expanding in several ways; they just opened up a new TexMex style restaurant on Farmington Ave, BarTaco. It’s got a great beachy theme to it, and all the waitstaff wear plaid shirts, white jeans, and navy converse. Classy beach style.

There aren’t many restaurants in WH with huge patios, so BarTaco stands out with its open air seating that spills out onto the sidewalk. It’s hard to miss when you’re passing by, so my family had put it on our list of must-visits.

I’m not really doing a restaurant review here, I’m just recounting an experience I had at a new local restaurant. It was very good, but I didn’t walk away vowing to eat my last meal on earth there. Yes, I say that sometimes. Mostly to myself. The menu is inventive, definitely, and portions are small (for small prices) so its easy to be aware of how much you eat.

[perfectly portioned guac.]

[a trio of salsas.]

[chicken taco for Rad, cactus pad taco for me.]

[cheesy quesadilla.]

[grilled corn.]
[fried plantains.]
I left lunch very pleasantly satisfied, though I’ve just finished off more than my share of homemade puppy chow. Intended for my brother, demolished by me. It’s time to go for a run!

Site Improvement

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[a young computer genius.]

HI HI HI. Like my new header? I’m super into it. I’m super excited about it. I made it. I drew/painted each graphic separately by hand and then I uploaded them all on Pixlr and then I made a collage. It took awhile. My header before was also handrawn, but the graphic was so small that it looked super pixelated and poor quality. I’m so proud of this header, and I hope it is here to stay!

One of the reasons I didn’t post this last week was my frustration with customizing my blog. I had little motivation to post in an outlet I wasn’t excited about. I just wasn’t into my blog layout, header, design, font, etc. Everything about it seemed wrong, and I don’t know enough about web development (html and css) to change that.

So I spent the last week educating myself. I’m still pretty much a nube, but at least I know how to make a webpage that says. “Hi World, This is Louisa.” No but actually, that’s the only thing the webpage says. In Times New Roman.

 

In an effort to alleviate the boredom that has set in during this last week of summer vacation (I’ll curse myself for saying that come November), I even bought an “HTML for Dummies” book.

But as we all know, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor was my future superblog. Because that’s what it’s going to be, once I better understand markup and stylesheets and do more with my life than sit at home watching reruns of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Bruuuuuuuuce.

There’s also a ton of organization that goes into blogging. Who knew. But all the really intense bloggers out there, so I’ve read, are all incredibly organized with their themes and posts and material and designs and general lives. I’m not saying I’m a disorganized person, but I write very little down. I archive very little. I hate saving old papers and I hate checking things over. I’m realizing there is still so much I need to develop, like my blog purpose, my intended audience, my site design, and my material. I need to get on this, the quality of my blog is at stake!

I have no doubt we’ll all see some upcoming changes. And upcoming updates. I go back to school next Monday, and all that’s left between now and Clinton, New York is a few appointments, 7 hours left of summer employment, a computer software upgrade, and a special appointment on Sunday. On Monday morning, I’m outta here.

Eat yo’ veggies!

A Summer Recap

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While I’ve committed yet another long blog absence, the past two weeks had little to do with my qualms about having a food blog. They really had more to do with a lack of a computer as I traveled throughout Rhode Island, Maine, and Canada. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have any experiences to share with you.

Here’s a photographic recap of how I spent my time.

First, there was the Newport Folk and Jazz Festival. I saw Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket, The Head and the Heart, Iron and Wine, First Aid Kit, and Of Monsters and Men… to name a few.

Then Camden, Maine, to see my good friend Gordon. You probably remember him from my adventures in Paris. I had a wonderful time with him and his mother (and his cats). There were cocktails a plenty, and even a schooner cruise in the Penobscot bay!

Then Stratford, Ontario (origin of the Bieb’), for the annual Stratford Shakespeare (and theatre) Festival. I saw Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing, Elektra, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, and A Word or Two, with Christopher Plummer (aka Captain Von Trapp sorryI’mnotsorry). But… I didn’t take any pictures. So if you’re that curious, google it!

Needless to say, it was a a great past few weeks. It wasn’t always easy to maintain my mindfulness practice though, especially when I ate out every meal. But I enjoyed myself, and that’s the most important part. I did make more of an effort to eat better upon arriving in Canada, since my pants were starting to get tight!

Now, I’m back at home and I plan on enjoying the last two weeks of summer. I just accidentally typed “days”… I’m obviously excited to get back to school! Summer has been wonderful, and I’ve accomplished more of what I wanted to do than I thought. But I’m ready to get back to school and see friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in almost a year and a half! And learn stuff, too…

Towards the end of this past week (probably around the same time I noticed my pants were tighter) I tried to really focus on how my body felt while eating certain foods. I’d been eating so much sugar and refined foods during my travels, and I could tell my mood swings, fatigue, and breakouts were the direct results of my diet. I’ve discussed my past relationship with veganism and my current banishment of food labels, but that doesn’t mean I can’t adhere to a vegan diet– especially when I realize I feel 90% better when I’m not eating dairy and meat. I’m still into eggs, but not for every meal. Going into the summer, I wanted to eat 90% vegan and 10%, well, not vegan. After taking a closer look at what I was putting in my body, I realized I was eating 10% vegan; the rest of the time I was filling my body with things that were depleting my energy.

Upon returning home, I’ve tried to remind myself of the mind-body connection and to cultivate mindfulness so that I’m filling my body with things that truly nourish it. This doesn’t mean denying myself of anything, it just means being sure to eat things that my body, not my mind, craves. Brown rice, beans, kale, etc. Simple foods. And yes, I did make a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip blondies yesterday. And they were vegan. And had no processed sugar. And were (and are! There’s still some left! Baking miracle!) delicious. Ultimately, however, my body just functions better with whole foods packed with nutrition. I’m going to try to improve focus on this kind of mindful eating for the next two weeks, so I can go back to school happy and healthy.

Also, I got new sneakers. And a necklace. And a fleece. Bonus points if you can tell me what’s on my necklace!

Tell me about some of things you’ve done this summer, and what you’re looking forward to this fall– or just tell me something!

And don’t forget to eat your veggies.

The Perfection Misconception

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I think a lot of us struggle with the idea of what it means to be perfect. For me, I don’t necessarily attribute perfection to my physical appearance (okay, who am I kidding), but rather to how I am living my life. Am I exercising everyday? Am I eating well at every meal? Am I doing the work I need to do? Am I social enough? I tend to think that everyone else is doing everything right. Exercising 5 times a week, craving vegetables instead of chocolate, and being social butterflies.

I often measure myself against this image of perfection. When I start consistently exercising 5 times a week, then I will be perfect. Or rather, my life will be as it should. Until then, however, I have a lot to work on. When I go a day without eating chocolate, well then, I am a champion. Until then, every surrender to a chocolate craving, however small my indulgence might be, is a failure.

I’m realizing, however, that while I may have relinquished any sort of obsession with physical perfection, my idea of life perfection is pretty skewed. Because even though I think that everyone else has it right, they don’t.

Yes, we can strive to reach a certain goal. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a week where I consistently exercised! And if that happens, congratulations to me. But no longer do I think that such a feat will have marked a sort of “arrival” into the world of perfection. Because the next week may come and completely turn my routine upside down. Maybe I only exercise twice. But such weeks will no longer be seen as “failures,” or returns to the starting line. I so often think of a healthy lifestyle as a rocky mountain: either you make your way to the top with no slip-ups, or you fall down and have to start all over again.

But that’s not how it works. And I’m finally getting that. Crazy, right? It’s all about handling life as it comes to you. Doing the best you can. I’ve been pretty active the past few days and I’ve been fueling my body well. Fruits, veggies, and curried lentils galore. Minimal chocolate, surprisingly.

But today, I found myself craving chocolate. At lunchtime. So I made a bowl of chocolate peanut butter puppy chow (minus the powdered sugar), and a side bowl of some pineapple and watermelon. Sugary, yes. But delicious. And it wasn’t the start of any sort of binge. I finished lunch and went right back to what I was doing before I got hungry. And I know that at dinner, I’ll definitely be craving some kale. And even if I’m not, I’ll eat kale anyways, because I’ll need to load up on veggies for the day; my meals have been pretty fruit heavy lately. I could easily see my lunch decision as a failure, but I know that thinking that way isn’t going to help me progress in my quest for a healthier lifestyle. Instead, I choose to commend myself on limiting my intake of such foods by only eating them for lunch. I didn’t make them for a dessert and then keep eating them until dinner (has that happened before? uh…).

And while I did exercise today, it wasn’t how I thought it would be. I’m realizing that post-breakfast (after I’ve digested) is my ideal time to workout. Of course, not all of us have that luxury (I know you hate me, 9-5ers). But right now I do, and I’m going to take advantage of it.

This morning, however, I didn’t run out the door at 10 o’clock. I was actually finishing up some artwork that I was really excited about. I figured I would run later. As later in the day came, I wasn’t sure I would actually do it. I told myself it was only a 2-mile run and in my Vibram 5-fingers, which is always a treat for me. That thought made the idea of exercising less scary. And you know what? I did it. After a bunch of procrastinating on the computer, I finally realized that I had nothing left to do on the computer. No more procrastination options. And even though it was excruciatingly hot outside, I swiped on some Body Glide (my inner things are thanking the lord), turned on my iPod (my typical motivation technique), and headed out for two loops around my neighborhood. And when I got back, I hit the ground and beasted out some sit-ups and squats.

I find that once I establish some sort of consistency with exercise, even if I don’t keep up that consistency 100% of the time, I’m more likely to get back on the wagon than fall off for a few weeks. Especially now that I’m loving the side effects of consistent exercise. Weight loss, not really. But just a general feeling of being healthy. Getting your blood pumping. Releasing those endorphins. And working on your mean shorts tan.

I know that I’m living a charmed life over here, it being summer vacation and me working only a few days a week. And perhaps some of you are reading this and rolling your eyes, thinking that I am in no place to give advice because I don’t work a 40+ hour work week or have a family. And perhaps you’re right. But I’m taking my own realizations that I have found emerged from my own lifestyle and urging you to apply such a mentality to your own.

There is no such thing as perfect. Everyone has flaws, even that girl you see outside running everyday on your way home from work. We all have our own problems; they just manifest themselves in different ways. And we’re all just trying to live each day the best we can. And the best way we can do that is by accepting ourselves as we are, and not punishing ourselves for not living up to our image of perfection, whatever it may be.

So today, I have a task for you. Do something nice for yourself. Reward yourself (and I don’t mean by chowing down on a pint of Ben and Jerry’s) for all the effort you make in trying to be your best self. Go for a walk. Take a bath. Listen to some music. Cook your favorite dinner. Buy that shirt you’ve been obsessing over (if it’s on your budget… I’m not advocating shopaholism). Because you’re just trying to get through each day the best you can. That’s not a failure, nor a reason to punish yourself.

I, for one, got a pedicure. It was one of the incentives of my run today. “Go for a run, afterwards you can get a pedicure.” Yes, I’m doing it for myself, but also for the sake of mankind. My feet were/are disgusting. I brought my book, and I enjoyed every minute of that foot/calf massage. And those automatic massage chairs.

And yes, I did shave my legs just for the occasion. I feel so bad for whatever poor soul has to massage my hairy legs. It’s a situation that frequently happens. But no more. Today I was able to sit back and relax without constantly apologizing for my terrible idea of cleanliness.

So go out and have a “Treat Yo’Self Day.” Even if you don’t take an entire day, just try to find a way to do something nice for yourself. Even if it just means taking a moment to thank your body for doing so much for you, or congratulating yourself for something. Bring a little bit of positivity into your world.

Here’s some inspiration.