Thursday, September 9, 2010

Bitten by the Cooking Bug

Part of my new School Year's Resolution is to bust stress in creative ways. For example, practicing violin, learning how to use all the cool features on my Mac laptop, reading a book FOR FUN, and going to the gym. I refuse to have a repeat of last school year which involved coming home and wasting too much time on too much TV when I could actually be doing something productive.

Last night as I was leaving work feeling tired and stressed out, I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to cook. And not just cook but cook from scratch! So I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and purchased what I needed to make a "Less Mess Chocolate Cake" from an American Girl cookbook that's been sitting on my shelf for years. Not one to cook from scratch I called my mother asking all sorts of domestic questions. "What is cook and serve pudding?" "What type of flour is used in cake?"   Her response to my questions: "I'm happy you've decided to start cooking but you're going to get fat if all you make are sweets!" Hmmm....well I'm still making that cake but point taken. Next onslaught of questions. "Which brand of bread crumbs do you use in broccoli casserole?" "Special K cereal has high fructose corn syrup. Is there a cereal substitute for Special K/Cottage Cheese Loaf?" (Classic Adventist moment. Ha!)

My kitchen shortly became a flurry of activity complete with the appropriate aesthetics: ingredients spread out everywhere, trails of flour across the countertop, and measuring cups piled high in the sink. Since I was on a role with this cooking adventure I decided to whip up some muffins from Trader Joe's. They were from a box mix labeled "Triple Berry Bran Muffin Mix." A cake and muffins now baking in the oven.....my week wasn't stressful at all.

In the end the cake looked like mud and tasted only slightly sweeter than mud. I ate a piece out of principal and the whole experience was so confusing I promptly threw the rest in the garbage.  I used Splenda instead of sugar and I'm wondering if this was a mistake. I will bake another one soon with real sugar and let you know.Thankfully the berry muffins turned out to be DELICIOUS. I am very grateful that the healthier option was the one that worked although a delicious made-from-scratch would have been a great ego boost.  The muffin mix only required adding 2 eggs and water and you can't go wrong with 7 grams of fiber and only 1.5 grams of fat and 11 grams of sugar per muffin compared with most muffin mixes. The ingredient list is quite short and in big print which is always a good sign.

So go buy some Trader Joe's muffin mix and stay tuned for more stories of my cooking adventures!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Back on the Bandwagon

I'm a little embarrassed.  A little ashamed. I have not blogged for a WHOLE YEAR.  

This past year had a fair amount of stress.  As a teacher, it is so easy to get burned out if balance is not maintained. Balancing school life, church life, social life, and personal life, while fitting in regular exercise, healthy eating, and plenty of sleep can be an exhausting if not impossible endeavor.  Even though my work hours were 8am to 4pm. I usually ended up being at school until 5pm or later. On nights where there were athletic events, I could be there until 9pm.   Healthy habits and blogging quickly slipped down my list of priorities.

And so I confess that I fell off the track. Exercise? Completely went out the window. Sleep? 8 hours is for pansies! Healthy eating? 50% of the time. And my mood? Well when you neglect exercise, sleep, and healthy eating, the end result is not pretty.

So I am pleased to announce that I am ready to get back on the bandwagon! I created this blog as a way to stay on track AND stay human.  If I ate a box of 6 ice cream bars in 2 days (which did happen last week), I wanted to be able to blog about it and brainstorm as to how I could keep that from happening again.  Look for a new post at least once a week if not more often.  I'll be posting more photos of meals I have prepared plus writing reviews of health products I'm testing out.  Thanks for reading!