Problems as a Pastry Chef

As you all know, we have SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the amount of refined sugar we eat in our house. We rely on the natural sugars of fruits and raw honey to sweeten anything that needs to be sweetened. Grapes have frequently been too sweet for me to eat lately. I can only eat about 3 MAXIMUM so, imagine how it must be test tasting the pastries that I am hired to do.

This last week I had a wedding I was hired to do in Estes Park. Imagine my concern when I realized that I haven't eaten refined sugar in 3 months and that I will be up to my elbows in it while baking these cakes. Good news here is that I was able to get rid of a LOT of refined sugar and white flour that was in our house. Bad news is, I have to taste test to make sure I have enough flavoring in the cakes and icings. The reason this is bad news is because, SUGAR IS TOO SWEET!

The flavor of cakes I was hired to make were: yellow cake with chocolate buttercream icing, pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing, and chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream icing. I took a small piece (about the size of a half stick of gum) of cake top, that I had cut off to level out the cakes, and tasted it with the cream cheese buttercream. I couldn't even swallow, I had to spit it out. Of course my girls had to try after they saw my reaction. They didn't mind it, but I don't really think they notice the difference like I do. After that, all I could taste was sugar. Not even the chocolate buttercream tasted like chocolate, even though I used bittersweet chocolate. I didn't trust the taste buds of my children and since we are ALL eating the same things, I didn't really trust the pallets of my mom and husband either. 

My prayers were truly answered and my burdens lightened this weekend when my brother, Regan, come and spent a few hours with us on Saturday. He immediately became my designated taste tester.  I don't think he minded at all! Especially when I had him taste the chocolate buttercream.  ;)

I am continually amazed at how much sugar I used to eat. Even when I wasn't really thinking I was eating a lot of sugar. And I am completely floored at how sweet sugar actually is. So much so that it sends shivers up my spine to even taste test it. The last time I made a cake before this last week, I was able to taste test just fine. I was able to keep those scraps in my home and have my family eat them. They would be our "snacks" in the middle of the day or desserts after dinner. I couldn't bring myself to keep them around this time.

The cake turned out beautiful. I am ALWAYS grateful to be hired to do cakes. I LOVE baking and decorating cakes. It really is my passion. The cake turned out beautiful.

I hope the bride and groom enjoyed their cake and I hope the guests enjoyed theirs. Even though it was too sweet for me.  ;)

Wiser Choices

This last week I went to Salt Lake City for an essential oils convention.  I was gone for about 5 days.  This meant that I had 5 days to eat out.  Eating out isn't an easy thing when you are trying to eat more healthy.  We all know this.  We have all experienced it. I was DETERMINED to continue to eat healthy.  In fact, I was actually more worried about my family keeping the way of eating than me. I was assured that they ate good and I am grateful for that.

I left for the airport on Wednesday around lunch time.  I didn't eat before I left so I needed to pick something up at the airport.  The food choices at the airport are NOT the best.  BUT, there are a VERY small handful of places that I could go.  I decided to go to Woody Creek Bakery because I knew that they would have a whole grain bread option or even a salad that I could get.  I admit that a ham, or turkey club sandwich often sounds good.  But in my mind, I need to consider the rest of the day, "What did I have for breakfast? What am I going to have for dinner?" If there is a possibility that I might have meat for dinner, then I shy away from things that contain meat (Rule #5). I opted to get the veggie sandwich on whole grain bread.  It was GOOD!!! I ate about 2/3 of the sandwich and then I was done. I even threw away the cookie they gave me. :)

The rest of the week went like this:

Wednesday Dinner:

• A half  of a Roasted Vegetable Salad at California Pizza Kitchen with a mushroom flat bread (The flat bread only because it was free, but I couldn't eat it all.)

Thursday Breakfast:

• Peach and Mango smoothie, with almond milk instead of OJ from The Blue Lemon.

Thursday Lunch:

• Was provided so it was Subway with a Cesar salad.  The sandwich I picked was on wheat bread and I couldn't eat it all.

Thursday Dinner:

• I had the awesome opportunity to have dinner with one of my dear cousins. We went to a bar and grill called RedRock. I HAD to order the mozzarella sticks, but I only ordered 3. (Mozzarella sticks are a SUPER Achilles heal for me.) My cousin ate one while I savored the other 2.  :)  For dinner I ordered a Caprese sandwich with sweet potato waffle fries. How can you pass up waffle fries???!!! (I could only eat half my sandwich and I only ate about 8 fries.)

Friday Breakfast:

• Blueberry and Strawberry smoothie with almond milk instead of apple juice from Nordstroms eBar. (This was actually my favorite smoothie.)

Friday Lunch:

• Bruschetta with herbed bean paste, sauteed spinach, and diced tomatoes with a side house salad from Caffe' Molise. (I couldn't eat all the bruschetta and yes, "Caffe'" had 2 F's in it.)

Friday Dinner:

• Black Bean Ravioli with fresh spinach in a bell pepper and tomato sauce from The Blue Lemon. (The Blue Lemon QUICKLY became my favorite restaurant.)

Saturday Breakfast:

• Three of us ordered different things and shared so, I had a 1/3 of a veggie omelet, one berry crepe with orange cream, and one lemon blueberry pancake with buttermilk dressing from The Blue Lemon. (I couldn't finish the pancake)

Saturday Lunch:

• Raspberry Chicken Salad with a side order of Sweet Potato fries from the Blue Lemon. (I only ate about 10 fries, and they were normal skinny fries.)

Saturday Dinner:

• Vegetable Lasagna from The Garden Restaurant (I could only eat about 2/3 of this dish, but it was really good.)

Sunday Breakfast:

• Scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a tiny bit of oatmeal from JB's Restaurant in our Hotel. (It was a breakfast buffet.  I was SO happy to see melon.)

Notice I didn't have any desserts.  I was asked several times if I wanted a bite, but I graciously, but firmly said "No". And with every meal I had water to drink.  There are healthy options out there.  We just need to be aware of the choices and ASK to have things changed if it isn't what you want.  We can say, "Dressing on the side." or "No cheese.", but remember you can also say, "I want almond milk instead of juice."

Because I made the choices I did, I was able to still lose weight while I was out of town.  How many times have you been able to say that? "I lost weight while I was out of town!"  For me, this was the first time.  I think it also helped that I was walking all over downtown, but I know that if I hadn't made those wiser choices, then I wouldn't have lost what I did.  EVEN WITH THE WALKING!

Camping and Nutrition

When I think of camping, the first thought that comes into my mind is fire and then s'mores. This last weekend we went on our very first real family camping trip.  This was the first time that the kids have ever camped in a tent, aside from sleeping in it this last July when we went to Utah and slept in the yard at my in-laws.  We left on Friday when it was snowing.  Aside from a VERY cold first night, it was fun to get away and create a new adventure with the kids.

I knew I wanted to stay on the healthy side of eating while we were camping.  We didn't take supplies for s'mores and we didn't take any candy, or processed foods. It has always bugged me when I have gone camping and people bring sugar loaded food for snacks and meals. Then they don't have any appetite or energy because they are "snacking" on their candy all day long! There are ways to satisfy that "vacation sweet tooth" without the sugar loaded foods.

I found recipes that would be easily adaptable to our new lifestyle. Believe it or not, but every recipe can be easily adapted. Everything we ate was made from fresh ingredients.

The first night, Friday, since it was freezing, I made a Vegetable Dumpling Soup on the camp stove, with some modifications.  I added garlic for one thing, but instead of using white flour for the roux and the dumplings, we used fresh ground whole wheat flour.  The soup was AMAZING!  And it totally hit the spot considering we were all bundled up in our warmest coats and clothes and still shivering.  We had a difficult time getting our fire started because everything was wet, but eventually we got it going and not too soon after just wanted to get to bed.

For breakfast Saturday morning I made Campfire Breakfast Burritos.  I scrambled some eggs on the stove and then I stuffed whole wheat tortillas with the eggs and some cheese.  I then wrapped them in double layers of tin foil and we put them on hot coals to get them toasty warm and melt the cheese.  When they were ready to eat, we topped them with all natural sour cream, salsa, and diced avocado.  They were my favorite meal!  SO GOOD!!  We served them with grapes on the side. It really was a "crowd pleaser".

Lunch was Campfire Mac & Cheese. This was the easiest Mac & Cheese I think I have ever made from scratch.  Of course I made some modifications.  First thing was using whole grain elbow macaroni.  I had precooked it here at home so that I could just dump it in the pan and cut out some prep time. Instead of individual pans, I used a disposable casserole tin pan and I added thawed frozen broccoli and fresh mushrooms to the mix.  I then covered it with two layers of tin foil and we cooked it on some hot coals.  It didn't take long and it was pretty yummy. The kids really enjoyed this meal, after all, they LOVE Mac & Cheese! Grapes were another yummy addition to this meal, on the side of course.  ;)

Dinner was, of course, foil dinners.  You can't go camping with out foil dinners.  I think it is in the "Camping Must Do's Handbook".  ;)  Instead of individual foil dinners I used another disposable casserole tin pan. I added sliced potatoes, carrots, garlic, and cabbage to the pan.  (I wanted to add onion, but I accidentally only brought one onion and I used it in the soup the night previous.) Instead of ground beef, I used an all natural Kielbasa.  We love Kielbasa.  I think I even mentioned that in a previous post.  It just bursts in your mouth with all those awesome flavorful juices. PLUS, it is cured and therefor you don't have to worry about raw meat juices running all over and making sure it is cooked. I covered it with two layers of foil and we sat it on more hot coals to cook.  I had brought some Poupon Mustard to have with it and it was DELICIOUS! But it needed onions.  ;)

The last meal of our camping trip was Oatmeal for Sunday breakfast. I cooked it on the camping stove in milk.  It scorched a little because of the stupid pan (too thin on the bottom. Next time I'll use the thicker pan.), but it wasn't terrible.  We had some pecans, cinnamon, and honey as toppings for the oatmeal along with fresh peaches. Everyone liked it, even with the slightly scorched taste.  The honey and cinnamon helped mask that.  :)

I would say that our efforts to maintain a healthy way of eating while camping was a success. The food was delicious and easy.  It kept us fueled for daily activities, our hunger fulfilled, and we didn't have to resort to prepackaged, over sugared, processed foods.  It wasn't hard at all to maintain the healthy lifestyle that we are following. I can't wait for our next trip! Next time, I might even throw in some healthy desserts.  :)    

Birthday Cake

We have a very busy week in September.  My birthday happens to be tomorrow.  My mom's birthday is 3 days later and then my daughter's is 4 days after that.  We affectionately call this week "Birthday Week". 

My daughter is VERY "excited" about desserts. She ALWAYS asks if she can have a dessert after dinner.  In fact, before starting eating healthier we would frequently have ice cream in the house. It started to get to the point that if we told her that she couldn't have dessert because she had it the night before, she would break down in tears. It was quite scary that she would have such a strong reaction about dessert. That hasn't happened since we started to eat healthier.  She seems more inclined to take "No" for an answer. 

Well, now that our birthdays are this week, she asked about birthday cakes.  To be completely honest, I have NO desire to have a birthday cake.  In fact, tomorrow is my birthday and we are going camping!  NO birthday cake on the menu!  I started to think about a birthday cake that I could make for my daughter.  I have had some strong personal objections to actually making the cake, considering it has a TON of sugar and white flour.  I just don't feel right making something for my kids that goes against what I am trying to teach them about health.  Not to mention, it just does NOT sound good! When she asked about birthday cakes, I told her that it would be OK for us to have cakes and cookies on more of a "special occasion" basis. Well, the special occasion is here and I can't go back on my word. So, yesterday I started to do some research about natural sweeteners.

I was introduced to a natural sweetener called sucanat by my chiropractor and his family.  I have made cakes for them that are made with whole wheat and healthier alternatives to your typical cake including sucanat.  Here are a couple of links to healthier alternatives to refined sugar:

TIME

Whole Foods

Fit Day

I've decided that I will make her a cake, but I won't be using sugar or white flour.  I desperately want my kids to choose health over habit or availability. And I think that this is the first step, to show them that you can still have what you love, but having it in a healthier way is better.

Sugar

I remember in culinary school, one of the chefs said that if you travel to another country and order dessert, it wouldn't be as sweet as it is here in the United States. He then said that, the United States has an incredibly over powering sweet tooth, that we are obsessed with sugar.  I would have to agree.  Think about all the foreign restaurants that we now have in the United States.  Hardly any of them have actual desserts from their place of origin.  They all have desserts that cater to the tastes of the American people so that they can survive the industry. 

 My husband said once, after he had gone to the store for me, that he had heard somewhere that if you want to eat healthy then you need to shop around the outside of the store, not the inner isles.  The inner isles are what holds all the processed, added sugar, GMO, MSG, etc etc kinds of foods.  He had noticed this because everything that I had sent him to the store to get were in the outer parts of the store. 

I saw this trailer this morning circulating through Facebook.  I can't WAIT to see this! 

So, Katie Curic has this "challenge" for America.  She challenges us to go "sugar free" for 10 days.  Here is the problem of going "sugar free".  Artificial sweeteners are just that, ARTIFICIAL.  They aren't natural. I can't stand the taste of artificial sweeteners.  I used to use Splenda before I had my middle child. Ever since I was pregnant with her, I haven't been able to stomach the taste of artificial sweeteners.  This was over 9 years ago. 

I want to go a step further with the "challenge" and say go ALL NATURAL for 10 days and see how different you feel. I PROMISE, you WILL notice a difference.  I never thought I could go without sugar, ESPECIALLY being a pastry chef.  But I have.  And I don't regret it one second.

Set Backs

Yay!!  I'm so excited I get to write my "Set Backs" post!  Today I weighed myself and I had gained a pound. (I'm not so concerned about my waist measurements because it is hard to remember where I measured the previous weeks.)

Every journey has bumps in the road.  What kind of adventure would it be if we didn't experience highs and lows?  Think of a roller coaster.  How fun would it be to wait in line all that time to only get in and stay flat the entire ride?  Not fun at all.  Kinda like the train ride at the zoo.....BORING!! We need to experience the highs and lows to appreciate the road that we are on. Not only the highs and lows, but the excitement, disappointment, and surprises.  Emotions are great things.  They truly give us the push or pull that we need and they let us know what we like and don't like. What could I possibly learn from this journey if I don't have bumps in my road, or hills that I need to climb?

This last week wasn't the greatest week, hence my 1 pound gain.  (I'm starting to think that the reason why I am not bothered by the fact that I gained a pound is due to my experiences with past diets.  I was "desensitized" from the disappointment.)  I'm actually NOT surprised that I gained weight this week.  Many factors contributed to this weeks gain.  I started the week by biking a 5K with my son in tow, which was GREAT! (This is not a contributing factor.) BUT, this week was that one "special" week in every woman's life. ;) Thursday I felt SO terrible that we ordered pizza, thin crust.  I've eaten pizza before and haven't gained weight so, why this week? I had desserts to make for a memorial I attended yesterday for my mentor from culinary school (I am a pastry chef.).  So, Saturday we got Chinese food because I was baking and busy all day Saturday.  I've eaten Chinese food before and haven't gained weight so, why this week? As I mentioned, I went to a memorial for my mentor from culinary school.  Take note, there were about 20 chefs there and about 10 of them contributed to the food.  There was a TON of food. A ton of GOOD food! I ate the stuff that was pretty good for me, veggies and whole grain bread, but I did have one salted caramel truffle about the base size of a nickel. (About put me in a sugar coma too.) So, why this week?

I've been thinking about it all morning.  I honestly believe that I started to take my weight loss for granted.  I started getting "cocky".  I also didn't pay attention to my body's "not hungry anymore" signals and I didn't exercise as much.  Well, I am humbled.  I can't take this journey for granted, thinking I can eat certain things and get away with it.  On occasion is OK, but not every day.  And not paying attention to my body's signals isn't OK.  I have felt bloated and crappy all week, but that isn't an excuse to fall back into the habit of eating things that aren't good for you. Not to mention that maybe, just maybe, another reason why I have felt bloated and crappy all week, besides the obvious, is because I didn't eat right.  I ate pizza  for two days and Chinese for 2 days.  The majority of my eating this week wasn't healthy and I saw the results of it this morning.

So, what am I going to do? I'm going to start paying attention to my body again.  Our bodies are remarkable vessels! They know EXACTLY WHAT we NEED AND how MUCH we NEED.  We just need to listen to it.  I NEED to listen to it. I need to remember that this new way of living isn't MY doing, it is doing what God WANTS me to do.  This wouldn't be happening without him and I need to give thanks for this tool he has given me.

Set backs aren't set backs.  They are an important part in any journey.  Something that we need to experience to get us back on track. They are opportunities for improvement. 

Masterpieces

Last night I watched a movie.  It didn't have great ratings, but I have learned to not pay attention to ratings and judge a movie by MY standards.  This movie was "Moms Night Out".  I LOVED it!  It starts off with a woman, a mother, who is trying to get up on Mother's Day to blog. (This is NOT the reason why I love this movie.) The movie then moves onto how motherhood is hard.  And let me tell you, it depicts it quite well in the first 10 minutes of the movie. No, the first 30 minutes of the movie.

Parenting IS hard.  Each person is unique in their own special way.  My oldest has an imagination that Disney himself would be impressed with.  My middle child has the gift of making friends with anyone and every one and our youngest is 3 years old and right now it seems that his "talent" is finding ways to get into trouble with EVERYTHING! I am holding out hope that this "talent" changes though.

Anyway, there was a point in the movie where she starts to feel like a huge failure and that she isn't happy in this life that she dreamed of because she doesn't feel like she gives her kids enough or that she is enough for her kids.  The "actor" (and I say "actor" because it is Trace Adkins the country singer) that plays opposite her in this scene proceeds to tell her that when he was younger he would stay up at night just so that his mom could come home from work and tuck him in.  She would say the exact same thing to him every night.  In a more condensed version, that God loves him no matter what. By the end of the movie, she is more relaxed and is able to see things in a different light.  She blogs, "I am His masterpiece."  This is why I LOVE this movie. I am a masterpiece.  And I am FINALLY starting to see myself this way. I want EVERYONE to know that YOU are a GLORIOUS masterpiece.  YOU are an important brush stroke on this canvas of life. Each one of us is a MASTERPIECE.

Not only is this journey allowing me to lose weight and become healthier, but it is also allowing me to see through the dense fog that was my depression.  The fog is starting to lift and I am starting to see a different person.  And it makes me happy. 

My Husband

Yesterday morning I woke up to my husband asking me if he looked like he had lost some weight. Twilight zone, right?! He has been noticing that his pants aren't fitting him like they used to.  I answered him with a, "Ya, maybe.".  I asked him to write a few things for the blog.  Honestly, I think I scared him by doing so because he needed a day to think about what he would say.  (Hahaha!) Love you honey!!  Here are some of his thoughts: 

"I have always been skinny,  When I was 16, I was 6'1" and 140 pounds. Almost 20 years later and I'm the same height, and just a little heavier.  The most I've weighed is about 175.  I have a hard time gaining any weight regardless of what I eat.  

I have been eating more healthily along with Sierra and the rest of the family, and it has been great. I’m not in this for the weight loss. I know this is the right way to eat. I’m doing it for the general health benefits and to support Sierra. But I’ve also lost about 10 pounds since we started. I have a tiny bit of belly fat that I’ve been losing, but what I really need to do is gain some muscle."

I Know.  I really want to hate him, but I love him too much.  ;) And believe me when I say that I have gone through EXHAUSTED efforts to put some fat on this man.  He eats a TON of food and then usually eats the rest of mine, but I have been the one to gain the weight. It really is quite frustrating. He exercises, but he isn't too consistent with it. He knows this.

"I ride my bike to work occasionally. There’s a pushups training program to get to 100 consecutive pushups that I was following for a while, but I tapered off at some point and never made it to 100. I think my best was around 40. I also installed a pullup bar in the garage, and I do pullups on it occasionally, but I’ve never been consistent with that, either. There’s also the 7-minute workout that I’ve done occasionally, but again I’ve never been consistent at it. I really like body weight exercises. Pushups and pullups work lots of muscle groups, and they don’t require a gym membership or any special equipment.

I really admire Sierra for the change she's made in her life.  She's inspiring! I’m amazed at her consistent weight loss progress - the chart in her spreadsheet shows a consistent loss of almost 2 pounds per week. I need to do the same thing with exercise, and make it a permanent part of my life. I’m just not sure how to do that and make it stick."

We are finding that we have a "problem" with consistency in our house. (Hahaha)  My husband is an amazing man.  He is extremely supportive of me and our children. He is the BEST! He works hard all day and then comes home and often takes over for me.  I love him more than words can say. He has done SO much for me, and now I think it is time for me to help him.  I need to be the supportive wife and help him be more consistent with his exercise so that he doesn't waste away, I mean, so that he can gain muscle. This isn't just MY journey anymore.
  

Quinoa Salad

Today is Labor Day.  Every year our ward does a Labor Day 5K in the morning and then they have a BBQ for lunch.  This year I decided to take a quinoa salad.  It really was quite tasty.  This is the recipe, with a couple tweaks.  ;)

Fiesta Quinoa Salad
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1 cup corn
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, peeled and cut
1 cup black beans (I used both black and dark red kidney beans)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 purple onion, chopped (you can also use scallions/green onions)
Dressing
1/4 C Olive oil (I actually used a blend of chipotle infused olive oil and regular olive oil)
1-2 T Prickly Pear juice
2 limes, juiced (1/4 C total)
Salt and pepper, to taste
a touch of honey (I used honey because I actually had put too much salt in.  It was yummy though.)

Directions

• Rinse quinoa in a sieve. (This is very important or else your quinoa can taste bitter)
• In a medium sauce pot, combine water and quinoa.
• On high heat, bring water to a boil.
• Adjust the heat to low, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender.
• Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and chill until cool.
• In a serving bowl, Place the cooled quinoa with the corn, tomatoes, beans, avocado and cilantro.
• Stir gently to combine.
• In a small bowl, stir together dressing ingredients.
• Serve dressing on the side or drizzle over top when ready to serve.

And here is a picture.  :)

Enjoy!!!