Interesting Article

Read an interesting article about the food trends of the last decade on CBC. Here are some of them:

Allergies: Rising awareness about food allergies and disorders such as celiac disease forced chefs to adapt, says chef John Higgins, head of Toronto's George Brown College culinary school. But, he notes, the great chefs rose to the challenge. "It's mind over matter," he says.

My take on it: It's unbelievable how much restaurants and chefs will accommodate you now. You can ask for nearly anything and they know how to prepare it the way you need it. I think this is a huge step in the right direction. It also makes life so much easier for people with allergies and food intolerances. The variety and ingredient substitutions are almost endless. Awesome!

Portion control: Gone are the days when Sunday brunch equals a large buffet, says Higgins. Nowadays it's more common to find people ordering individual plates, which he adds is much more "normal dining experience."

My take on it: While I like the way they've presented this and I do think that it's good that we're moving away from the buffet mentality, portion control has introduced an entirely new beast, the 100-calorie pack. I loathe the thinking behind the 100-calorie pack. While I can't argue the fact that they are convenient and do present people with a reasonable portion of that particular food, I see them as a stepping stone on the path to healthy eating. A person will not be able to say they are in full control until they no longer need the 100-calorie pack and they can bring home the real deal. Besides, the added packaging is not very green.

Blending sweet and savoury: The mix of flavours took off in kitchens and store-bought goods alike. "Salted caramels and bacon-flavoured chocolates are de rigeur at chocolatiers and coffee houses," says McCauley.

My take on it: Hmmm... what else is there? Chocolate covered bacon, chocolate covered pretzels, peppered strawberries, any more that I'm missing? I love sweet savoury combinations!

Convenience: "We have wanted more and wanted it faster since World War II, when our housewives became Rosie the Riveters," said McCauley. "Convenience is still king." Today it takes the form of prewashed and cut vegetables, frozen desserts promising homemade qualities and coffee drive-thrus.

My take on it: My favourite convenience foods include bagged salads, pre-packaged veggies in steamer bags, fresh design-your-own salads, roast chickens at the deli...

Bubble tea: In the early part of the decade, shops devoted to the Taiwanese drink filled with tapioca pearls began popping up across North America.

My take on it: LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I love this freaking sweet concoction! Strawberry milky slush with pearls please!



What are some food trends you're loving/hating lately?

Hey Life, you wanna give me a break for a while?

I don't know if I've mentioned this to many of you (I know I've mentioned it to one of you), but I think I'm going to give up my regular Weight Watchers meeting. I just don't think I can do it anymore.

I have so much going on, I'm not even sure what to do with myself. I was back in the office today and all hell broke loose, like it does EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm tired of it, and I'm exhausted. I was informed this morning that I am working tomorrow evening and on the weekend. Great. Welcome back. I forgot that my life belongs to all of you.

I also have my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow night after my first 8 hours at the office.

Tomorrow will go something like this:
~ Wake up, get ready, take dog to daycare, get to the office by 8.30am
~ Get something ready for the weekend's work
~ Lunch *sigh*
~ Continue to work on the weekend's stuff
~ Run up to the hospital to visit gramma post-surgery (which I'm pretty anxious about)
~ Get to my WW meeting early so I can prepare the meeting ahead of time
~ Run my meeting, which is always chaos and runs late (through no fault of my own)
~ Snack, so I don't eat my arm off?
~ Go back to the office, work for another couple of hours if I get off lucky
~ Home for dinner circa 9.30pm

This entire situation is just no fun. It's constant chaos for me. It's not fair to me anymore, and it's definitely not fair to Stephen and the puppers. I'm out of the house at least 4 out of 5 weeknights during the week. That's just not right.

My meeting is the fastest growing meeting in the city and I do love my members. Besides all that, this meeting is mine and has been since it only had 3 members. I now have over 30. It will make me sad to let it go. There are lots of problems with it though. There is hardly a week that goes by that we leave the meeting on time. That just means that I get home for dinner extra late and very starving.

I just think I need more time for me and my boys. I spend too much time doing the things I think I should do and not the things that are the right things for me to do, like taking the time to look after myself.

I guess I don't know what to do. Advice?

Get Back!

Back to life, back to reality... *sing it with me people*

I'm back to the office today after a wonderful and knowledgeable week in Toronto. I had such a great experience there this time. Lots of great friends, good food, walking(!), and shopping. Oh and there was that course I was on too, that was pretty cool.

Today's the day I put all of that behind me and jump back into my regular life. I'm back at the office today, back at the gym tonight, and back to everything else the rest of the time.

Am I happy about it? Sure. I mean, my life is by no means exciting, but it isn't bad either.

Am I sad about it? A bit. I don't like thinking about not seeing my friends in the big city for a while. In fact, there's nothing in the works for a future visit yet. But I'm sure it won't be long.

On a side note, I weighed in this morning for the X-Weighted challenge I signed up for. I lost 1.4lbs last week. YES!

That Was Odd

Tuesday night is a crazy night for me. It's the night I lead my Weight Watchers meeting. This means that I rush from the office to my meeting, then home. I don't get home until at least 7pm.

Getting home late is a disaster for many reasons, mainly because I don't eat for a very long time before running into the house. And when I run into the house, I just want to eat ANYTHING. Disaster. Couple this with the fact that I'm taking a cake decorating course on Wednesday. This means that I bake either a cake or cupcakes on Sunday, and have to make fresh buttercream icing on Tuesday night when I get home from my meeting. All of this just leads to disaster.

But tonight, tonight was different. I was driving home and I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Steve and I just do what we want on our own for dinner on Tuesdays, which makes it easier, allows him to eat earlier, and also allows him to eat what he wants, which is usually hamburger helper or kraft dinner (tonight's choice was KD with lots of veggies in it - YAY Steve!).

Back to what I was saying... I was driving home trying to figure out what I would eat for dinner. I needed a protein, a starch, some veggies, and an oil. My first thought was pasta, since you can easily get all of those things in a pasta dish of some sort. But I just didn't feel like getting into a big mess in the kitchen. Then I thought... edamame!

I came home, counted out half a serving of baked tostitos, covered them in yves veggie ground chicken, some leftover sweet potato burrito filling, some BBQ sauce a la BBQ chicken nachos, some edamame, and a teaspoon of chili olive oil. Under the broiler. Served with tofu sour cream. Sooo delicious! And filling.

Luckily I only ate about a tablespoon of buttercream. That stuff's just hard to resist. Thank goodness there's only one more week of the course after tomorrow night.

Health Report

I'm not sure if you've all been following my boring health issues, but for anyone who has been following, I wanted to send you the latest report.

I think I mentioned that my allergy tests came back and they indicated that I have a severe allergy to dairy. This is extremely sad news. I can live without milk and yogurt, but having to limit cheese and ice cream will be a serious challenge.

But there's a bit of a silver lining. I've decided to make compromises. This means that I will be splurging on coconut milk and soy ice cream, as well as really REALLY great cheese. The stinkiest I can find. I figure there's no more excuse to eat less-than-stellar cheese. Eating cheese won't kill me, it may just cause me acne, or it might not once the majority of the dairy is out of my system for a while. I figure a pimple now and again is a small price to pay for delicious cheese.

I've also gotten my hormone test results back. It turns out they're a bit wonky too, but not too too bad. I have a low level of progesterone and a slightly higher than normal level of testosterone. This means that I was heading down the road to PCOS. Thank goodness we caught it early! This means that what I have going on right now is completely reversible! Whew! I really consider myself lucky with this one, since PCOS means it may be difficult to conceive and carry a child to term, along with all kinds of other side effects like insulin-resistance, and the inability to lose weight.

The slightly higher than normal level of testosterone hasn't had many ill effects on my body yet, although it almost definitely played some part in my skin issues as well. And luckily again, it's not a high level, only very slightly above the normal range. I am now taking saw palmetto (an herb usually given to men to control prostate issues) to level out my testosterone production. My naturopath seems to think that taking the saw palmetto, along with zinc daily will get me back to normal in no time, probably by spring.

Thank goodness I decided to see a naturopath! I couldn't thank her enough at my last appointment. She really has changed my life. She did more for me in 3 months than my family doctor has done for me in 10 years. Phenomenal.

Hungry Days

Don't you just hate those days when you feel like your leg's hollow and you're desperately trying to fill it with food?

Today is one of those days. Yes, I've had protein at every meal. Yes, I've had plenty of fruits and veggies. Yes, I've had more than 3L of water today. Have these things helped? NO!

In times like these, there's one snack I turn to for help. Popcorn. Popcorn is a low-calorie snack that you can stretch out for a while. Popcorn is actually fairly filling too. And popcorn can taste however I want it to. We have no shortage of flavourings for popcorn - shakers that taste like salt & vinegar, dill pickle, BBQ, cajun - the tiny little jars fill one shelf of our snack cupboard. Sometimes I dip my popcorn in a dip, or barbecue sauce, or salsa. Sometimes I melt peanut butter in the microwave and have it with that, or sometimes I sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on my popcorn.

Is it the best snack choice - no, but it sure is better than eating a lot of other things.

What do you eat on your "hungry days"? How do you like your popcorn?

If You Don't Like Sappy...

don't lick spruce trees.

This is my post-TOI sentimental moment. A little different than my Saturday evening attempt at a sentimental moment. :-) And I don't consider myself an emotional person, but I can't hold this in.

I think this weekend really changed me. Really.

I went to Toronto thinking the weekend would be fun, but I was surprised at what it turned out to be. I spent the weekend with amazing, warm, accepting, vibrant females - something I don't have the chance to do often on such a grand scale. Any future opportunities to do so will not soon be passing me by.

Over the years my friends have thinned out as we've gone about living our lives, and I'm lonely sometimes thinking about it, and I'm sure a lot of us can relate. I can't feel the same kind of lonely today. I have a lot of new friends who feel my oldest friends. I cry thinking about it - I've teared up so many times today. Before this weekend, I didn't feel like I had a lot of close friends, but now I feel like I have a lot of great friends just within reach. I'm really sad that we can't be geographically close everyday, but that will make the times we'll see each other that much more special.

Knowing each of you online has been a real pleasure, if not a daily adventure, but meeting each of you in person has changed everything. The virtual personalities I interact with everyday have turned into vibrant women that I can now picture in my mind, and your typed words can now be matched with your expressions and mannerisms.

This weekend has renewed my faith in myself a bit too I think. I conquered a physical and psychological challenges in my two day trip. There were people climbing those stairs, young and old, all individuals from any kind of background, all striving to achieve the same goal. That's what life is about.

Now I'm ready to move on to the next challenge. I'm going to try to challenge myself more often, daily even, and I'm not going to settle for laziness or apathy quite so easily.

To the women of Toronto: I have no way to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of you, but I'll keep trying to for a long time. You made an insecure small-town girl feel at home in one of the largest cities in the world. You opened your arms to a complete stranger and gave me a warm hug that I still feel as I sit here typing this.

I left little pieces of my heart in Toronto. I brought pieces of you home with me to replace what I left.

Vegan Pizza?

Yes, vegan pizza. That's what I had for dinner tonight. I can't believe I can even say that. That makes me feel good. Say it slow with me... vvveeeeeggaaaannnnnn pppiiiiizzzzzaaaaa. Mmmmmmmm....

I started with my favourite homemade pizza crust, which I make from a Moosewood recipe. It is so good, and very healthy.

I topped it with a tomato sauce, veggie pepperoni, veggie salami, peppers, onions (from our garden), vegan "cheese", and green olives. It was really quite delicious.

This weekend I'm planning on playing with tofu. I'm going to take the time to try at least two new recipes involving tofu, one of which is a vegan mayonnaise recipe. I will be posting pictures, so stay tuned!

Tofu

Since getting my allergy test results last week, I'm very excited to try all of the foods I thought I was allergic to, including tofu.

Last night I tried tofu. And I liked it.

We used it in a stir fry with some scallops,lots of veggies, and a ginger sauce. It was really good! This will make it much more tolerable to be allergic to dairy, since there are lots of great things you can do with tofu.

This weekend, I'm going to make a mayonnaise substitute with it.

I also made some vegan cookies called tropical delights. I'm trying to find a substitute for the cookies of the same name I sometimes get at the Second Cup. It turns out that the original cookie is made at Nature's Own Bakery in Barrie. Neat. Anway, these cookies are soooo good - filled with papaya, pineapple, dates, oats, coconut, and cashews. My first attempt was delicious (and addictive), but not the consistency I'm looking for, so I'm going to try again, also probably this weekend. When they turn out the way I'd like, I'll definitely be posting photos!

October - The Most Glorious of Months

God did wonderful work when he conceptualized October.

There isn't a single thing I don't love about October. I actually think this month defines me in some strange way. I think that people have pairings with types of everything, you know what I mean? Like there's one of every type of thing that would be our partner. Well I know without a doubt that October is my partner. I have nothing in common with March, and little in common with July. But October and I were meant to be. The colours, the weather, the seasonal foods, everything about October is perfect.

When October rolls around I get this wonderful feeling that comes about. I feel like retraining, and remembering, and rethinking, and redoing, and reminiscing. I want to get in touch with old friends, and make new friends, finish old adventures and start new adventures. October makes me want to be the very best manifestation of me. It's so cleansing.

I feel like getting in touch with old friends and boyfriends, and I feel like having girl time with my sister and my girlfriends, and I feel like being tucked inside at home with Steve and Samson. I feel like walking through the woods and making soup and pickles and tea, and other delicious treats.

I love October.