soy... joy?

a quick word of foreshadowing.

this is a whopper post!
appreciation, recap of my last few days/foodie dates, and a little ditty on soy for y'all.
you've been warned :)

a quick word of thanks.

to all you guys who have been reading/comment/making suggestions on my calorie and wheat posts...

YOU ARE THE BEST!
it's incredible to have this new circle of people who understand me, have insight, and can help me through the tough times.
(special shoutout to averie, katie, and emily! thanks ladies... and many more!)

and a quick weekend recap (so far!).
i had GREAT workouts this week... what a blessing! i got all 5 days in - 2 lifting days, 2 runs, 1 walk/jog with mom in the sunshine! i also had a great thursday with momma. we went shopping for her some new shirts for spring and me a new sports bra...

i was ready for the spring weather alright!

but first, we had to eat.

because i couldn't be more obsessed with grilled veggies,

we went back to california pizza kitchen (my second time this week!)

and we split the grilled vegetable salad with grilled shrimp ($16.75)

yummmmmmmmmmm i want another STAT.

the shrimp were freakin' ridiculously good!

and i did find a sports bra... wonders never cease!

it's crazy hard to find one for me.

Under Armor Head Gear Zip Front "Endure"

yay for companies who make freak sizes!

i would definitely recommend this one if you are like me, and have a small ribcage.

they come down to a size 30!!! so rare. fabulous.

unfortunately, mom didn't find any clothes.

darn... we have to keep shopping :)

we were pretty wiped out when we got home, so i made us an lazy easy dinner that actually was heavenly!

scrambled eggs with garlic and onion powder, S&P, and laughing cow wedge on rye wasa crackers spread with sundried tomatoes and italian herbs

i love these crackers!

          because my little sister's coming home from her spring break trip today (!!!), i baked up a double batch of natalie's millet-oatmeal bread for her school lunches when she gets back.
          and because she's allergic to oats, i substituted buckwheat flour in for the oat flour. it adds a nice depth and protein to the bread that the oats kinda lack (if you've had GF bread before, you know what i mean!). i also substituted maple syrup for the molasses (i used it up a while ago... oops!) and added in some herbs for flava flav!

then friday i got to spend some time with my freshman year roomie!

clearly i have a red polka dot fetish. i'm ok with it.

...and eat Ellwood's thai spring rolls! (and some zucchini that's m.i.a... hmm)

i MIGHT have been hungry.

appetite before blogging sometimes...

shoutout to my local girl brittany, who blogs frequently about ET.

as a sidenote: i'm also pretty jealous she gets to go there often, and is in cali.

loser.

anyways, i also got to go out for AMAZING pizza with some beautiful friends to bottoms up pizza. since it was dark in there, i would have felt weird using my flash...

you guys feel the same?
i got the maggie malay, which had their amazingly fresh tomato sauce, local roma tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts, and just the perfect sprinkle of feta cheese on top.

so far today,
i've met up with an awesome girl at whole foods for brunch (hey hunter!).

she's my host/buddy from the passover celebration. her dad was so interested in why i was taking pictures... he wanted to see my blog! i was honored :). i had some questions for her about starting my wheat-free test tomorrow (she's gluten-free), and she was super helpful.

i had the split pea soup. pretty darn tasty!

i wish it wasn't cold enough out to crave soups anymore though :(

...boo?

and now... soy joy?

          as i've mentioned before, i try to stay away from eating a lot of soy because of my mom's breast cancer. when she was on chemo, she did a lot of research on the possible contributors, since her cancer wasn't hereditary. although you can't "give yourself" cancer, you certainly can create an environment conducive to the cells' growth, and she wanted to learn how to prevent that for the future.

          at that time (around 2006), there were some very conflicting findings on whether or not soy was safe for daily consumption. some studies "had proven" that soy is helpful for preventing heart disease, obesity, and certain types of cancers. they claimed that asian countries have been consuming soy for thousands of years, and since they have the lowest rate of illnesses, soy must be the cure (especially in place of animal proteins). other studies "proved" that soy is, in fact, very harmful in human consumption, and acts like a phyto-estrogen in the body, which accelerates the spread of estrogen-fed cancers (like my mom's).

          since then, new health reports have come out each year, yet it still seems unclear whether it is something we should be comfortable with accepting as 100% safe.

my opinion?

oh, so glad you asked!

my theory is this - based on a few years of careful googling research since my mom's diagnosis, i don't have much i can say for certain.... what i can say is this: any time the media "discovers" a new superfood that cures EVERYTHING and has no flaws, be careful. food is just that... food. it is not a miracle drug, it is not your comfort, and it is not your enemy. it is fuel for your body. you guys know that i LOVE me some food, but everything in it's place... moderation. and that's how i feel about soy. think of soy like chocolate; just because it's healthy does NOT mean it's ok to hammer down a pound on christmas (sidenote: i know! darn.).

         

          i am not a nutritionist/doctor/prophet (yet!... except the prophet thing), but my understanding of soy is this:  it is a natural, healthy food... in it's pure, unadultered, non-GMO form, in moderation. my issue, however, is this: the average american eats far more food/calories than we should, and an increasingly large percent of this is soy. incase you haven't read a nutrition label in the last decade, soy protein isolate is an additive to many prepackaged foods, as well as soy lecithin, which is used as an emulsifier/binder in almost all baked goods. if you eat protein bars/shakes/loaf bread/candy/cookies/cereal/anything, i can guarantee you that a good percent of your food is soy (breakfast examples: quaker oats? yep. luna bars? definitely.). the problem i have is not the soy itself, but the fact that it has been processed to death in a factory's lab after being genetically modified for profit (more than 80% of soy products are chemically created!). that, and i don't feel good about eating so much of something that has such mixed reviews on it's effect on breast cancer risks. knowing that soy has estrogen-like effects on the body, i question its ability to interfere with my hormones, and down the road with cancer.

just one more thing.
          a guy friend of mine recently confided in me that for the last year, he has been going to his physician for decreased energy, no sex drive, and breast tissue growth (!). let me just say that this guy is a college lacrosse player, lifts weights weekly, and is sexy as all get-out. the doctor had NO idea why this was happening, given his current health/lifestyle, and eventually gave up, prescribing him chemically-regulated testosterone... at 21. WOW. so i randomly asked him, out of curiosity if he got much concentrated/processed soy in his diet...?
... oh, only a few protein shakes a day!
i suggested to him that before he commit to a life of hormone therapy, he research for himself the effects of soy. maybe try switching to another source of protein and testing if it helps, just to see. the doctor NEVER questioned or considered his diet as the culprit. guys, please educate yourselves. never blindly take my word as law! or anyone elses, or the t.v., or your nutritionist. double check everything! in all of my mom's yearly checkups, never ONCE did the doctor ask her about her habits - diet, sleep, stress, exercise, nothing. they have a lot to consider, and sometimes not all of the important questions are asked.

i'm not saying that soy is evil, or that it causes cancer.

i employ a "better safe than sorry" policy.

if i have concerns, i skip it.

and i have a fair amount of concerns. so i rarely indulge.

we will never know the answers to life's questions unless we pursue them.

fair? thoughts? i'd really love to hear your opinion/experiences.

- r

p.s. - the little sister just got back from florida safe, tanned, radiant, and full of life. in food news, mom made these delicious burgers for dinner! go mom!
and a coupon for crofter's superfruit spread!

friday foodzzzz

i'm not quite sure why i'm not sleeping right now... i've been up since 4am and it's past midnight.

body, we need to talk. insomnia is SO 2009.

i didn't toss and turn or anything. i was just up and at 'em at around 4 something. it was a good thing, however, because shortly after my little sister got up to leave for her spring break. she and her buddy are driving to tampa, florida!!! when i was 18, there was NO WAYYYYY my mom would have let me do that. but i'm happy for her :)

some of her swag i picked up from wf...

cashew cookie larabars, justin's maple almond butter (!), ener-g brown rice bread, and cream of buckwheat. you know, normal stuff.

to send her off right, i made her some banana bread millet:

½ c millet

1 reaaaaally ripe banana (not sad to see him go!)

3 prunes

1 packet stevia

1 c milk

sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg

splash vanilla extract

how I did it, and what you shouldn’t do
I toasted my millet in the bottom of my pot first. That was all well and good. But I got the crazy idea (hey, it was 5am!) that it would be a good idea to go ahead and boil the milk in the micro so I could just add it right to the toasted millet. Sounds good, right? Well apparently I’m the only one who didn’t know that hot pot + hot liquid = hot explosion on your countertop.

it does.

after I washed the milk foam from all over hell and back, I brought the millet back to a boil, then cut it down to simmer for years and years… ok, more like 25 minutes or so. She loved it, so that’s all good.

because i'm a terrible blogger before sunrise, no pic. but here's another egg wrap to add to my growing collection:

1/2 c egg whites, pinch salt and pepper, garlic and onion powder, sauteed mushrooms.

sex on a plate!

after breakfast, my mom and I were supposed to go on a walk in our nice weather (it got to 85 here in Richmond!!), but she didn’t sleep much either, so we rescheduled until tomorrow. I went to the gym and started reading some new james patterson book. I got about 5 pages in, got bored, and talked to my friend zach for the rest of the time on the elliptical. today was an easy cardio day, so not too worried.

upon my return, i promtly snacked my face off on what else? cottage cheese oats!

1/2 c cottage cheese

1/2 c old fashioned oats

packet stevia

1/2 tbsp liquid crack (a.k.a. white chocolate wonderful!)

also, i daily consume about 10932043 cups of this:

deeevinee.

I threw myself at the bed for an hour after eating. It was gooood...

Eventually I reemerged, then went to California pizza kitchen for lunch with the boy!

 I hadn’t been in ages, and I totally forgot to take a picture because I was so hungry! the line to get in was CRAAAZY long today because of the nice weather, and the boy and i were not pleased. I got the grilled vegetable salad…

credit-o. because i was too hungry.

omg – it’s heaven. It has pretty much every grilled veggie you could ask for! grilled corn, asparagus, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, and avocado. I didn’t even need salad dressing it was so good.

The boy and I shopped in urban outfitters and levi’s for a bit before he had to go back to work. I got a scarf!

And I wore it. Obviously.

... still squinting from that flash.

and i finally got to wear sandals!

After that, I pretty much sat inside on this gorgeous day like a bum.

But… I won my first giveaway!!! Tropical traditions coconut cream concentrate!

If you guys have any ideas on what to use it for, please share! Thank you to Stephanie!

Later, mom and my older sister and I got a girl’s night out! We graced Tara Thai with our presence.

 It was fantastic, as usual.

i ordered the plah goong - cashew shrimp in lime-chili sauce!

i get it everytime. i try so hard to pick something else, but it's just that good!

and now, food porno, friday style :)

we're pretty heavy drinkers, us three.

mine.

mom's.

kristen's.

sense a shrimp theme?

us too.

right before that, i was totally vanna white-ing my plate, but mom couldn't get the camera to work.

so now, i'm just cheesin'.

and my nightcap:

trader joe's berry blend, sprinkled with stevia.

so good frozen.

well i'm finally hittin' the sack. hope you guys had a great friday!

tomorrow i am going bikini shopping (eek!), then to a friend's house for a little pre-easter dinner.

i also have a post planned on soy... stay tuned :)

- r

cake wrecks

sometimes in the kitchen, you gotta make a few disasters before you appreciate a product that comes out gorgeous.
that is the story of my week this week. in fact, i got so frustrated i didn't hardly take pictures of my recipes. at all. but i will thrill you guys with the written word this week... :)



first recipe - made for my little sister who is allergic to practically EVERYTHING. she just got allergy tested again and discovered a few more things she needs to cut from her diet (namely: sesame seed, cinnamon, ALL grains + oats, and most nuts). she's actually the reason i started cooking (shoutout to my girl rach!), so i owe her thanks. her only request after ten years of eating as a nut-free celiac?  PIZZA!
p.s. - this was the ONE recipe this week that didn't fail.. but i've made it before! (cheating? nahhhh)

the gluten-free goddess's millet-buckwheat wraps 

(used as pizza crusts, i got 16 small crusts)

Whisk together the dry ingredients:
1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour (i used brown rice because i was out... oops)
1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (i doubled this because we're garlic addicts)
1 teaspoon thyme
(i also added in a few spoonfuls of flax to bump up nutrition... maybe 3 tbsp?)

Add in:
3 tablespoons olive oil (i used two)
1 tablespoon honey or raw agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon light tasting vinegar (i used apple cider vinegar)
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 2 eggs whisked with 4 tablespoons hot water (i just used 2 eggs)
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup hemp milk (or non-dairy milk) (i used regular milk because she can have dairy just fine)


directions: beat the wet ingredients into the dry mix until the batter is smooth. It should look and feel like a thick pancake batter (though it appears strange and goopy at first, keep beating).

rebekah's directions: i heated up our pancake griddle and made these just like pancakes. the batter was reaaaaaally thick, but i wanted them to be to make a heartier crust. to make her pizza, i headed up our pizza stone, topped the "crusts" with her favorites, and baked them for about 10 more minutes. she loved them, and they are flexible enough to use as pitas for sammies!




second recipe - last weekend was my nephew's 4th birthday party! isn't he adorable?

my sister requested a mickey mouse cake for his party, so naturally i stepped in. i picked out a recipe i KNEW could never fail me... one from Smitten Kitchen! she's pretty much a baked-goods god, so how could i go wrong? i had made this SAME EXACT cake probably 938409324 times before, so i thought it would be fine. WELLLLLLL i had a hard time figuring out how many times i needed to double the recipe to have enough batter for mickey's two layers. as well as the two layers for BOTH ears... 6 cakes in all. seems like simple math, but with the different size cake pans... it wasn't so simple (at least, not to this nutrition major!). after multiple hours of getting pissed off at lava-cake, i ended up just making one big layer cake with mickey candles (with mom's LIFESAVING help! thanks mom!). my frustration aside, it tasted great, and logan was thrilled. so this is a half-fail.

deb's best birthday cake

(bastardized by storebought frosting)

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.


(the fail-lava cake part was no fault of deb's! love her! and logan handled the chocolate frosting juuuust fine)

happy 4th, lolo!

third recipe - once again, this was for my lovely little sister. she goes to swim practice in the mornings before school, so she needs a quick boost of energy she can cram in her mouth on the way out the door (at 5am!). i adapted this recipe a lot because of all her food allergies, but it would be delicious as-is (elena uses almonds, coconut oil, and tops it with chocolate (!!!)) the texture when i make them is similar to a larabar. the recipe wasn't a fail, but it took me about 65 times as long as it should have because my brain apparently decided to VACATE my head and i kept forgetting where i put things, measuring wrong, etc. so really i was the fail!

Gluten-Free Cashew Power Bars

(original recipe from elena, adapted by yours truly)

2 cups trader joe's salted cashews
2 tbsp hemp seed
2 tbsp chia seed
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup cashew butter
½ cup almond oil (i wish i had coconut oil!)
1 packet stevia
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract


1. process cashews, seeds, shredded coconut, and cashew butter in a food processor for 10 seconds
2. gently melt almond oil in microwave, then mix with stevia, honey, and vanilla
3. add melted oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste
4. chill in refrigerator for hour, until mixture hardens up some
5. spoon heaping tablespoons into plastic wrap, portion, and freeze until snackin' time :)

elena suggests it makes 20 bars, but i got 14 good portions out of this. gluten-free, nutritious, tastes like cookie dough, and around 200 calories. perfect in the mornings with a banana out the door.

in the end... this was NOT a fail! :)

after a LONG recipe recap and blogger absence, i present to you: the EATS!

kashi bar - eaten on the run to logan's party. i bought these for my sugar-junkie dad a while ago in an attempt to help him manage his blood sugar. i think he thought they were ok, but not sweet enough.

duh.

i kinda thought the opposite - they just tasted like nuts and oats glued together with sugar to me. but i'm not a big bar fan. other than larabar = love.

mama and i at the party, after cutting the DRAMATIC FAIL cake (see above).

we're both pretty wiped out.

and now,

i have a confession to make. i have an obsession. it's a healthy one! sorta. but when is an obsession ever healthy? isn't that the definition of obsession is that it's not a healthy relationship!?!

ah, i digress.

y'all, i'm obsessed with egg wraps. like, no joke. i cannot get enough. i eat one everyday! i would eat more than one if i could affort to buy all those cartons of egg whites from costco.

love love love.

here's one...

with my new peach and mango salsa! more on that tomorrow.

and with avocado... omg.

with salt, pepper, and laughing cow garlic and herb flavor.

'gasm.

as the lovely miss katie would say... the money shot.

prob with laughing cow and garlic powder.

why not!?

and another obsession/habit/love of mine:

cottage cheese, stevia, and annie's graham bunnies.

my version of cookies and cream ice cream (my absolute fave when i ate sugar)

love them.

and a really REALLY dumb question:

what the heck is this???

i bought it at whole foods SOLELY because i had no idea what it was. it rang up "mango" on the receipt, but i've never seen a yellow mango? the only one i've ever seen here in va is the green/reddish mangoes, but i may just be an ignorant fool.

that's highly likely, actually....

the only thing i know is that it tasted incredible. like i-wanna-snack-my-face-off incredible. fruit from heaven!

phew! and lastly:

QUESTION FOR YOU BEAUTIES!

when you make a recipe and it fails, what do you do? quit? try again? revamp/modify the recipe? pick a different recipe!?

- r