Blogs / From Jenn

Taking My 31st Birthday to Chill, Reflect and Enjoy

January 30, 2012 by Jenn

This was like me on my birthday—except I was in sweatpants and sitting in my living room. Credit: Kashirin Nickolai

Last year, I made a big deal about my birthday. I was turning 30 and entering a new decade, which both excited and terrified me, so I think I really wanted to make it something special to commemorate with friends, family and general overindulgence. But this year? Well, I just turned 31 years old last week, and it was probably one of the quietest birthdays I’ve ever had. Which was just how I wanted it, truly.

I’ve always been one who’s prone to do some self reflection, be it by meditating, reading something inspiring or doing some yoga. And I especially take time out to do so on my birthday. More so than the New Year, I like to look at where I’ve been and set intentions for where I’d like to go—and how I’d like to go there (with more compassion, passion, etc.)—during my next year of life.

Instead of taking a full Saturday or Sunday to do this, which has been my previous modus operandi, this year I took my whole birthday to, well, celebrate myself. As self-indulgent as it sounds (and it was!), I took an entire day off of work (mostly—I did pop in on FBG’s social media here and there) and set up a “schedule” for myself. It went a little something like this:

7 a.m.—Wake up, eat a healthy breakfast involving my Vitamix and leisurely drink coffee
8 a.m.—Chat on the phone with friends and family
9 a.m.—Meditate, read, check email and social media
10 a.m.—Easy yoga
11 a.m.—Watch Oprah, while cutting out images of magazines for my dream board
Noon—Healthy lunch
1 p.m.—Walk the dog
2 p.m.—Make my dream board while listening to pop music, dance wildly from time to time
3 p.m.—Write down my intentions for the year, paste on the back of my dream board and hang in my office
4 p.m.—Do a little work, eat a cookie
5 p.m.—Foam roll, then meditate some more
6 p.m.—Go out to dinner with my husband and have one too many glasses of red wine, plus tiramisu

After dinner? Well, that’s just none of your business on my birthday. Hehe.

The whole day was pretty glorious, I have to say. I didn’t become enlightened or anything, but I feel more focused and ready to take on a new year of life as a slightly more evolved person than I was last year. And, really, isn’t that all you can ask for when it comes to birthdays?

Are you like me? Do you like to reflect and take extra time for yourself on your birthday? —Jenn

What’s in Jenn’s Pantry? And Tips to Improve It From a Nutritionist!

January 27, 2012 by Jenn

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Yep, that would be my pantry. A somewhat chaotic mix of this, that and everything in between, it’s where I go for cooking inspiration and, well, storage. (Hey, the organization makes sense to me…)

Similar to an earlier Question of the Week where we peeked into each FBG’s fridge, this week we’re showing you what our pantries look like. (Funny how removing one little letter in “pantries” could make this question totally different.) But, wait, there’s a twist! In addition to just showing our kitchen cabinets off, we’ve also shown them to nutritionist Keri Glassman, who is working with Arnold/Orowheat Sandwich Thins for its Smart Eating campaign, to get her opinion on what’s good and what could be made just a bit better.

But before we share what Ms. Glassman thought of my pantry (I’ll admit this was a bit eek-inducing for me!), let’s look at this mess, shelf by shelf. We’ll start bottom left because that section seems the least cluttered. We’ve got almond milk, canned pumpkin, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, pumpkin pancake mix from Trader Joe’s (how did that get in there?!), tuna, salmon, almonds, corn meal, and two flours that were left over from my gluten-free baking adventure—quinoa and coconut.

Next shelf up, things get a little spicy. (Get it? I kill myself.) There are you usual spice standbys like chili powder, marjoram and basil, but fun stuff like Garam Masala and my favorite cajun-spice blend, Slap Ya Mama. Also co-mingling on this shelf are honey, bread crumbs and rice paper wrappers. I have no idea why.

The two top shelves are pretty boring, so I’m leaving out a photo: sugar, flour, vanilla, baking spices—nothing exciting and mostly stuff that stays up there and out of reach for a reason. But the bottom right shelf? Well, there’s a bevy of tasty. Tamarind paste for when I make pad thai, mango butter (love this stuff on sandwiches and even burgers!), jams, that weird yet incredibly convenient low-sodium chicken broth paste, mushroom powder (for the vitamin D, baby), sea salt, dried beans, barley, couscous, pasta and seaweed for my occasional sushi-making endeavors.

And lastly, there’s the middle-right shelf, which is a cornucopia of more exotic spices. There’s some dry rub for that good barbecue that Kansas City is known for, more sea salt (this kind is for sprinkling on, the other kind is for grinding—common sense would put them on the same shelf, but logic doesn’t always apply in my kitchen), and then a bunch of spices I bought in bulk and on the cheap at a local Indian market. You can see a sliver of the Tandoori powder at the bottom left, and then there are bags filled with curry powder, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, ground cumin and ginger powder. Behind all that is a little sushi rice for previously mentioned sushi-making.

So just what did the nutritionist have to say about my pantry? Well, some good suggestions. In Glassman’s own words…

You have a lot of good things in there! I see quinoa, pumpkin, herbs and spices and it’s great that you have the mango butter, sea salt, salmon, seaweed and barley!
Great job with the almonds—let’s add in other nuts for variety like pecans and walnuts. You can also add in more ancient grains like amaranth. I see you have chickpeas, so you might like lentils as well.
Whole-wheat bread crumbs are hard to find, but you can use wheat germ mixed with flax seeds to coat chicken or fish.

Dude, such great advice! (And I didn’t seem to do too bad, eh? Hooray!) I’m definitely planning to round-out my nut buying (wow, there are a lot of jokes to be made there), work lentils into dishes (she’s right—I love ‘em) and try that wheat-germ-flax-seed combo for coating chicken and fish. Yum, yum, yum. A big thanks to Glassman for the expertise!

What do you think a nutritionist would say about your pantry? Any items that stand out as something Glassman might love—or want to swap out? Dish! —Jenn

Taking My Green Smoothies to a New Level—the Vitamix Level

January 23, 2012 by Jenn

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For years I’ve heard a lot about the Vitamix on different blogs and websites. When I first heard about it, I was like “$450? Well, you have to just be crazy to get that. How can it possibly be worth all that?” And then, I started making more smoothies.

At first, a basic blender was fine. A frozen banana and ice were a bit of a challenge, but protein power and strawberries were a breeze. And then I started getting more adventurous. I started adding frozen spinach…then kale…and then I wanted to add EVERYTHING healthy in. But homie wasn’t playin’ that. (Homeybeing my blender.) And homey burnt out, not once, but twice. So it was obvious I needed to invest in a quality blender.

And then I used the financial thinking that gets a lot of us in trouble: Well, what’s the point of getting something mediocre? I might as well buy the best! Screw the rest!

And so I began my campaign to convince my wonderfully frugal husband that yes, I—no, we!—needed a blender that cost roughly as much as a set of tires for the car. I began with casually mentioning this cool “new blender” that was out there and how it could basically crush rocks. Then, I started complaining a bit more loudly about our current blender. (For the record, I already cussed at it a lot.) I make green smoothies for me and my husband just about every morning, so I had ample opportunity to do this. Next, I began bringing up—usually while eating a big salad for dinner—how awesome raw food is for you and how you can eat SO MUCH MORE produce when you’re juicing/blending whole foods. But, you know, not with a little blender like ours. Like one of those other blenders.

Well, eventually, I got him as excited about the whole dang thing as I was. So much so that he ended up doing his own research, and concluded that, yes, the Vitamix was the way to go. (We could get a juicer, but then you have the pulp to do something with, which just seems like a hassle to us.) Before I knew it, we were striking a deal with ourselves to forgo our usual Christmas presents to help justify such a large purchase. And it is a large purchase. I almost had a panic attack when I pulled out my credit card for it.

After anxiously awaiting its arrival on our doorstep for 10 days, our Vitamix has become an essential part of our food preparation. I used it six times in the first 24 hours I had it—three smoothies, a massive round of mango daiquiris, fresh cranberry salad dressing and chocolate-banana-avocado pudding. In the two weeks I’ve had it thus far, we’ve probably used it two to three times a day, and holy goodness gracious it makes a joke of my previous blender.

I can now stuff it with more kale than my grocery store practically carries. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I stuff a lot of kale in there.

And I make one hell of a green smoothie.

As I go about perfecting my green and kale smoothie recipes, I’ll be sure to share them here, but in the meantime just know that I’m trying it all—grapefruit, pears, carrots, celery, collard greens, almond butter, berries, ginger, liquor. Not everything tastes great together—but it’s still amazingly blended to a consistency that is so smooth it’s almost unfathomable that it was ever anything but a drink. Let alone a cruciferous vegetable.

I almost can’t believe I’m saying this, but, for me, the Vitamix was worth every single penny. Some people buy flatscreen TVs. Others buy high-fashion shoes and clothes. I apparently buy blenders. Or, more accurately, one blender (seven-year warranty, baby!).

Do you make kale smoothies or green smoothies? Have a Vitamix? Want to get one? Think they’re ridiculously expensive? Sound off in the comments! —Jenn

Teaching Myself How to Cook—And Then Learning to Love the Creativity of It

January 16, 2012 by Jenn

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You can never have too many cooking utensils! Credit: PlayfulLibrarian

Back in college, when I started cooking for myself, I was a meticulous recipe follower. While I’d help out my mom with dinner sometimes and make chocolate-chip cookies occasionally in the years leading up to college, I wasn’t really comfortable with making anything that didn’t result in eating leftover batter. Seeing that a life fueled by chocolate-cake batter isn’t really the healthiest of diets, I dove into the world of healthy cooking with a subscription to Cooking Light magazine, which pretty much taught me the ins and outs of healthy cooking. After a couple years of making their recipes, I ventured on to more foodie cooking endeavors from Eating Well, America’s Test Kitchen and various other cookbooks and blogs.

As the years went by, I started getting creative with my cooking. I’d swap black beans for pinto beans, or Greek yogurt for mayo, or quinoa for couscous. And then, I got braver. I’d add more veggies—carrots, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes—into a recipe, double or triple the garlic (no vampires up in my house, that’s for sure) and play around with different spice combinations. Eventually, cooking became more than a skill—it became a way for me to be creative. (This post is proof.)

I tend to communicate a lot—I write a ridiculous amount—so cooking is a way to turn my brain off and play. I know that many don’t like to cook, but there’s something about turning on some good tunes and just focusing on the rhythmic chopping of an onion or the soft simmer of a spaghetti sauce. Nothing overly complicated or complex (although I sometimes find that a fun challenge, too)—just me, some healthy ingredients, a glass of wine and a quiet mind. After a long day, there’s just nothing like cooking it all out to unwind.

As someone who likes to “do stuff,” (probably too much stuff, as I’ve mentioned before) cooking is a best-of-both-worlds hobby that allows me to relax while I actually produce something that’s pretty awesome: a healthy meal. Sure, not all of my substituted-out and swapped-in creations are culinary keepers, but I rarely regret a night in the kitchen. (There was that one time I almost set the house on fire with “blackened” plantains…but that was years ago!)

Does cooking relax you like it does me? Or does it totally do the opposite and stress you out? —Jenn

My Biggest Loser Watch Party

January 9, 2012 by Jenn

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When I watch The Biggest Loser (as I do faithfully every week), it usually looks something like this. (I like to call it screen-by-screen action.)

Turns out though that when you add a little of this:

And a few of these:

It’s way more fun!

I’m not sure why it took me so long, but I hosted my first impromptu and informal small gathering for The Biggest Loser 2012 premiere. It’s normally me, my hubs and the dog watching while I Tweet live during the show, but last week it was so much more fun to have buds around. We drooled over Bob and Dolvett, complained about the couple who had to go home early (oh, the unfairness!) and giggled at comments on Twitter (of course we were also Tweeting away).

Plus, did you see the snacks? With air-popped popcorn from Trader Joe’s (of course), guacamole, fresh baby carrots—and some two-buck Chuck and leftover sweet treats from the holidays—it was just the right mix of BL-approved and FBG-approved (say it with me now…all good things in moderation!) noshes.

Like Tish has pointed out before, doing fitness-y things is way better with buds. And I’d have to agree. Sure, mine involved wine and TV, but it still inspired us to keep up a healthy lifestyle.

Do you watch The Biggest Loser? Make it a social gathering? I highly recommend it! —Jenn

Breakfast With the Youngest Fit Bottomed Girl

January 2, 2012 by Jenn

Jenn’s Goals for 2012: Polish Up My Healthy Habits

December 30, 2011 by Jenn

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The pull-up bar will be mine. Mwahahaha! Credit: Thomas R. Stegelmann

Each year I set goals for the New Year. Not because it’s what you’re supposed to do, but because I like to sit back, take stock of what happened in the past year, look at where I am now and dream of where I want to go. Then I mark out a few ways to get to where I want to be in the New Year. While you could call these New Year’s resolutions, over time (and after digesting the great ideas of our readers!), I have preferred to call them goals.

I’m not sure if it’s because of all of the New Year’s hype or what, but resolutions don’t seem to have sticking power past February for me. But goals? Well, that’s something you don’t stop working towards until you reach it. (At which point you set another goal!) So with all of that said, here are my goals for 2012!

Jenn’s 2012 Goals

1. Clean up my diet a touch more. Yes, this 2012 goal is a bit vague, but going “paleo/gluten-free/and dairy-free 80 percent of the time” didn’t quite have the same ring to it. After last January’s experiment to go vegetarian, I definitely learned that my body does better without dairy (seriously, cheese might as well be a butt plug for me) and that while I do want to eat meat, I want to only eat the local, organic and free-range stuff that I really trust. After falling off the paleo/gluten-free and dairy-free bandwagon over Christmas (fully my choice and I fully enjoyed every bite!), my body is definitely now telling me that eating clean is how it feels and performs best.

2. Stretch three times a week. Flexibility has always been the forgotten element in most of my workouts. This past year I did yoga once a week, maybe twice, but I really need to make stretching a priority. So this year, my goal is to continue doing yoga one to two times a week AND foam roll and stretch at least every other day. It’s as simple as me doing it while I watch TV in the evenings or taking a break during the day to take care of myself. Easy!

3. Flow with life more often than not. Not to get too hippity-dippity up in here, but in 2012, I hope to tap more into my intuition and give up such rigid control of my schedule, be it work, working out or in the bedroom.

4. Do 10 pull-ups in a row. Originally, my 2012 goal was to do an unassisted pull-up. But last week I did my first one. Which was awesome (!), but threw my goals-for-2012 plan totally off. So now I’m going bigger and better. Ten pull-ups in a row at the Fit Pit or bust!

5. Make fewer goals. Yes, I understand the irony of this, but I’m being only slightly tongue-in-cheek with this non-goal goal. It ties closely into goal No. 3, but I generally want to stop working so hard for something in the future and instead stop to smell the flowers and enjoy what I have right now. ‘Cause what I have is pretty dang awesome.

Do you have any of the same goals for 2012? Tell me about yours! And stay tuned for next Friday when Erin shares her goals for the New Year! —Jenn

Happy As a Clam and Cutting Myself Some Slack

December 26, 2011 by Jenn

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This Christmas, my only goal was to be happy as a clam, or this lamb. Credit: Grzegorz Łobiński

After my first gluten-free baking extravaganza, I’ve been enjoying a cookie with my morning coffee almost every day of the week. Yes, it’s a treat and not something I’d want to make a daily habit, but this time of year when I’m filled with the holiday spirit? Game on.

After years and years of obsessive calorie-counting, deprivation and then subsequent overeating (because you can only eat “perfectly” and work out like a banshee for so long before your primal hunger kicks in), I’ve learned to cut myself some slack (much like FBG Erin). And during the holidays (for me, this week between Christmas and New Year’s is holiday perfection with plenty of quiet reflection time), I cut myself just a bit more than usual.

Sure, I still hit the Fit Pit a couple of times a week (even last week!), but today when Erin, her husband and her little one came over for breakfast (waffles, eggs, kale and French press coffee, of course!), did I feel bad about missing a workout? Heck to the no. Erin and I only get to see each other a few times a year, so, yes, indeed my regular day-to-day life needs to hit pause.

Taking a break every now and again is good for the soul. Taking it easy around the holidays does a couple of things. First, it helps me actually begin to miss working out. I miss the sweat, the feeling of accomplishment and my gym buddies. Second, I realize how good working out regularly and eating clean really does make me feel. A few days of eating processed foods and not moving much is a sure-fire way for me to remember why I choose—and enjoy—healthy foods. Third, despite all the things I just said, sometimes you just need to chill. Most of us work too hard and push ourselves to be everything for everyone. This year, my only goal for Christmas was to be myself, accept others for who they are, and choose to be happy as a clam. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good goal for every day of the year.

So this week, I’m going to the gym when I can, not beating myself up when I can’t, taking time for myself to reflect on the year, and enjoying that extra holiday cookie here and there in addition to my usual healthy diet. Here’s to being happy as a clam now and into 2012!

Do you cut yourself some slack this time of year? —Jenn

Getting My Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Baking On

December 19, 2011 by Jenn

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Each year my immediate family gets together for a day of holiday cookie making. I don’t do a ton of baking throughout the rest of the year, but I really, really enjoy this holiday tradition of ours where we spend all day baking far more cookies than we could possibly eat (thank goodness for neighbors and friends!). However, this year, our holiday-cookie-bake-a-thon had a fun twist to it—we went gluten-free with most of the recipes.

My mom has been following a gluten-free diet since Thanksgiving and, by doing so, has pretty much eliminated severe stomach issues she had earlier this fall. Being that I a) want my mom to feel good and b) am always a sucker for a challenge—especially one where you can try new fun ingredients, this year’s day of Christmas festivities was an exploration in gluten-free baking. Sure, I’d made these cookies once, but it was just for a review. This was the real-deal, man!

So, like any good blogger, I hit up Twitter and gluten-free-living blogs for some recipes. After searching through many great suggestions, I settled on Gluten-Free Soft Molasses Cookies from Gluten Free Girl and Quinoa Pumpkin Cookies from Gluten Free Goddess. I liked that both were festive, not overly complicated and yet also unique (the molasses cookies called for a decent amount of spicy fresh ginger and the pumpkin quinoa cookies used coconut oil as a replacement for shortening—l0ve).

Up first? The Soft Molasses Cookies.

This recipe called for most of the ingredients in grams. I guess this is because with gluten-free baking and all the different kinds of flours out there (more on that later) that you can use, it’s more accurate to use weight than a cup of this or a cup of that. So out came my food scale. I’ve had this since my (thankfully former) obsessed calorie-counting days. Glad it came in handy for a more noble purpose!

After mixing everything together (flour, eggs, molasses, etc.), the dough had to chill, so we whipped up gluten-free cookie recipe No. 2: The Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies! I already love quinoa, so I was psyched to use quinoa flour. (I couldn’t find flakes, which the recipe calls for, at my local Whole Foods. Darn!) For this one we also used coconut flour, brown rice flour and tapioca starch. All three were totally new ingredients for me. Whee!

Here’s me and my husband Ryan mixing the batter for these delicious non-gluten guys. Seeing that there was no egg in the batter, we sampled the dough often. You know, just to make sure it all tasted okay. (Note: The Kitchen Aid Mixer is the invention ever. I don’t know how I ever made cookies of any kind before it.)

We dropped them by the big spoonful on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and boom, gluten-free cookies that tasted a little coconut and a lot filling with chocolate chips, raisins and chopped almonds.

Next it was time to roll out the sugar cookies and gingerbread. Now, my dad is the man when it comes to rolling dough out. So, we let him do his thing. Then my mom (shown below) and I decorated the heck out of them.

My grandmother, who we all lovingly call Nana, was there to taste-test our creations, too. Both Nana and our dog Siena seemed to approve. (Everyone truly loves holiday baking day!)

Hours of rolling dough, decorating and baking cookies later, the molasses cookies dough was chilled out enough to roll into balls and then coat with raw sugar. (The recipe wants you to chill the dough overnight, but I found a few hours in the fridge to work just fine.)

Once coated, you flatten them out a little and then bake them to soft perfection. Quite the ta-da and seriously delicious with a cup of coffee.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first gluten-free baking experience. While I don’t have as serious of a gluten-sensitivity as my mom does, I do feel better when I don’t eat too much gluten. Sure, we had to weigh some ingredients and some of the flour costs triple what we’d pay for normal wheat flour, but it was fun. I felt better eating higher-quality ingredients (everything we bought was organic and seemed to have more vitamins and minerals than regular flour), and it was fun to try new funky things (garbanzo bean flour—surprisingly normal now!). My mom didn’t miss out on any of the holiday baking fun and—to tell you the truth—no one could even tell that the cookies we made were gluten-free. Heck, even the sugar cookies where we made a half batch regular and a half batch gluten-free were both equally delicious.

So the fact that we can get together for our holiday cookie baking day (or any holiday really) and no one feels deprived or left out is a huge win for the fam. I’m actually kind of excited to see what other gluten-free recipes I can try!

Do you have someone in your family who eats gluten-free? Does your family make special gluten-free dishes for him or her? What are your favorite gluten-free baking recipes? —Jenn

‘Kitchen Sink Soup’ Is My Speciality

December 12, 2011 by Jenn

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Ever heard of kitchen sink soup? Where you put whatever you have (but the kitchen sink) in a pot and turn it into an edible and hopefully delicious soup? Well, I have no real proof to back me up on this besides my husband’s feedback and my own ego, but I’m going to go ahead and declare myself the Queen of the Healthy Kitchen Sink Soup. I like to think it’s a skill.

Here’s last week’s kitchen sink soup (I probably make some version of kitchen sink soup every other week just to finish off what’s left in the fridge with minimal effort). I like to call it Spiced Mixed Bean, Kamut, Chicken and Kale Soup with Goat Cheese. You know, cause that just rolls off the tongue.

Like any healthy kitchen sink soup recipe, it’s pretty easy to make. First, round up random ingredients you have in your pantry and fridge that might go well together. (Remember, experimentation is the most fun part of kitchen sink soup!) Here’s what I started with:

In general, I find that having a whole grain and/or beans with veggies is pretty much all it takes. In this case though, I got super nutty and added two red potatoes we had just waiting to go bad and some ground chicken to the kitchen-sink-soup party. So after I sauteed my garlic and onions (the base of any good soup) and peppers, I got the pot a-mixing, moving and grooving.

Then, once all slightly cooked with a little olive oil, I added in the fresh tomatoes, dried beans and kamut. Now it’s really looking like a party.

After adding a decent amount of broth and the tomato paste to cover all the goodies inside, I asked myself, “Self, what does this kitchen sink soup need that we have?” And the answer: Kale! (Nine times out of 10 this is the answer I arrive at.)

So after adding about half of the bag of kale plus cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and a dash of crushed red pepper, I got this:

After bringing it to a boil and letting it simmer for 90 minutes, I had tender kamut (it’s a whole grain that takes a bit to cook) and beans, and a dang healthy soup with lots of veggies, fiber and protein. I topped it with a little goat cheese (you could add a splash of hot sauce if you like things more spicy), and bam! Dinner for the week.

The true joy of the kitchen sink soup recipe is that anything goes. As long as things are properly cooked and seasoned, you can mix darn near anything together. While I’d say garlic and onions are a must to start the soup and you do need some sort of liquid to cook it in (low-sodium chicken broth is my go-to, although water can work), the rest is pretty much up to you and what foods are hanging out in your kitchen.

I’ve never made kitchen sink soup the same way twice. I like to challenge myself to add new ingredients—whether it’s a little wine that was left over from dinner the night before, a new soy chorizo I picked up at Trader Joe’s or a spice in my pantry that rarely gets used like 5-Spice Powder. And, I try to pack as much nutrition as I can in every bite—while still making it taste good (my husband and I may have slightly different takes on how often I achieve this goal as I have had a couple too-creative results).

Do you make any dish “kitchen sink” style? What was your biggest success? I’m sure I’m not the only one… —Jenn