Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

September 19, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Even though it’s not officially fall, let’s face it, it’s time for all things fall. I love everything about fall. The weather, the leaves, the football, but most of all, the pumpkins. Yes, everyone goes gaga over all things pumpkin and pumpkin flavored this time of year, but my love for pumpkin is year round. I have a stock of canned pumpkin in my closet and all my pumpkins on display all year long. Most of the candles I own are pumpkin scented and I may have 3 things of pumpkin hand wash stocked up. With this adoration of pumpkins, I thought it was time to put up a pumpkin cookie recipe. These are easy to put together and taste like fall in cookie form. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie

1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown rice flour (could also use coconut flour)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp coconut oil
heaping 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350

2. Mix together all the dry ingredients ad set aside. In a separate bowl. mix all the wet ingredients until well combined. Add the wet to the dry and use a spatula to combine.

3. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat, drop a teaspoon of dough on the sheet and flatten lightly with your fingertips. The dough will be sticky so be gentle.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are brown around the edges. Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

You’re about twenty minutes away from a delicious fall dessert! Feel free to add in raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts, or even chocolate chips if you wanted. Just mix them in after the dough comes together. These could even constitute as a healthy breakfast cookie and who can say no to cookies for breakfast?

You thought I was kidding about the pumpkins

How To Start Cooking

September 17, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I am a big supporter of making your own meals. There is no better way to know exactly what you put into your body than to make a meal yourself. The home cook is starting to make a slow comeback. Things like food network and celebrity chefs, have helped make it “cool” to get back in the kitchen. I’m all for this, no matter what your reasoning to cook might be. Some of you though still avoid the kitchen like the plague because you just can’t cook. No matter how many times you try, you just can’t get a meal together. You never learned how to cook or you just never had any interest. But I am here to tell you, if you have decided to eat healthier, you’re going to have to learn how to cook. The good news is that it really isn’t that difficult. I’m going to give you a few tips on how to feel confident in the kitchen and put together some simple, tasty, and healthy meals all on your own.

Start Simple

You don’t have to be able to make elaborate dishes. You don’t have to spend hours performing complicated cooking techniques to put a meal on the table. Start with very basic meals. Things like dried pasta, grains, salads, and baked chicken are all very easy to make and very healthy. Try spaghetti and tomato sauce. All you have to do is boil some water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. For the sauce, all you need is a can of tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, and some simple seasonings like oregano, basil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Heat that in a small saucepan until it bubbles and voila, you have a super easy meal that even a beginner cook can handle. The slow cooker is also the new cook’s best friend. It is easy to add the right ingredients and then let your slow cooker do the rest. It’s hard to mess up and you usually end up with a delicious meal. By choosing meals like this, you can start to build your recipe repertoire and start to feel more at ease in the kitchen. Once you get a handle on these simple meals you can start to expand to more complicated ones or start to play with different flavors and ingredients.

Watch Food Network

Watch any cooking show really. Many of the things I have learned how to cook, I have watched on cooking shows. One of my favorite shows is Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Each episode focuses on one ingredient or technique and then goes into simple ways on how to prepare that food. Alton really does a great job teaching the average Joe how to master some really simple dishes. If you don’t have cable, you can find a lot of cooking shows on YouTube or Netflix or Hulu. Find a show that you can watch and take some notes from the pros on how to cook some really delicious food.

Talk To Other Cooks

You don’t have to start going around to restaurants and bugging the chefs for their secret recipes, but start talking to other people who cook a lot. Start with people in your family who tend to be the ones preparing the meals, whether it’s your mom, grandma, uncle, or cousin. Ask them what they like to cook and how they do it. Watch them prepare a meal and ask to give them a hand. Not only will they most likely appreciate the help, you can learn a TON from watching others cook this way. Almost all of the basic cooking skills I have are from watching my mom make dinner for our family. She wasn’t a 5-star restaurant chef, just a mom who wanted to feed her family well. She stuck with simple ingredients and meals that she knew we would like and to this day her food gives me comfort. Being around other people who cook can help you with your own kitchen adventures, so start talking!

Don’t Be Afraid To Mess Up

If you have never really cooked before, chances are you’re going to have a few mishaps in the kitchen. That is totally fine and most home cooks will tell you they have had their fair share of whoops moments. But it’s good to have those mistakes because then you know next time what not to do. Sometimes, you’re just going to make a meal that is totally inedible. That’s ok! Don’t give up after one bad meal. Keep trying and soon you will be able to avoid most of those missteps. Although, every once and awhile you will do something silly like try to steam vegetables without any water and wonder why your pot of broccoli is smoking. I swear I have never done THAT before….

Read Recipes

I know that I am probably a little bit of a weirdo, but I read cookbooks like they are novels. Sometimes there are tips and tricks written in the description of the dish that most of us skim over. By reading the whole thing, you might learn how to better prepare the meal. Take the time to read everything that goes along with the recipe and get everything you can out of it.

Don’t be intimidated by the kitchen, no one is expecting you to be the next Iron Chef. Getting some basic techniques down like cooking grains & meat, or roasting vegetables can be enough to get you started cooking your own healthy meals. Many of the recipes that I post here on the blog are simple enough for a beginner to handle and offer a lot of wiggle room for learning. Give any one of them a try and start getting more confident with your cooking!

Home Improvements: Dawson Update

September 15, 2014September 15, 2014 / ktbuchs87

This was a busy weekend! Adam and I have lived in Chicago now for about four months and he has been working at his new job at Aon for about three months. We have slowly been making this place our home and these past few weekends we have been working on some home improvements. Staining shelves, painting furniture, and painting the dining room and kitchen. It’s been really exciting! I remember as a kid HATING going to hardware store or sitting around for what seemed like HOURS while my parents debated wall colors or new furniture. It was pure torture. But now I find that it’s exciting to debate wall colors and new furniture and I don’t mind spending time at the hardware store. Guess I’m getting old! Oh well, I thought that I would share some pictures of some of the things that we have been doing around here and share some exciting news about what I have been doing for the past few weeks!

Ikea shelf before and after

Last weekend we stained this Ikea shelf that we have been using as a pantry in our dining room. It’s actually a very dark brown, not black like it looks in the picture.

Dining room before

Dining room after!

This weekend we painted our dining room and I absolutely LOVE it. We went with red (torch red if you want to use the fancy name!) and I think it looks awesome. It’s nice to finally have some color in the apartment instead of a bunch of white. I was a little worried that we went too bold with the red, but it works so well. We also added some of this same red in the kitchen….

Kitchen cabinets before

Before

Kitchen cabinets after!

We didn’t want to have two rooms painted the exact same color but we wanted to add a little something to the kitchen. I really REALLY don’t like having an all white kitchen. Not only is it a little boring, you can see every speck of dirt and grease which drives me bonkers! Painting the cabinets with a little bit of the red made the kitchen just a little less boring. I love it!

Kitchen island Adam built me.

Last weekend I also painted this kitchen island Adam built me from an old vanity. It used to be plain white and now it is a light grey. Kind of hard to tell the difference, but it looks much better.

In other “home improvement” news, these past few weeks I have been taking an online course to become certified as an Advanced Sports Nutritional Advisor. I finished on Friday and got my certificate. I am really excited to finally be taking steps towards some of my career goals. This upcoming week I am going to be getting myself organized and ready to start working with clients. I will let you know more details once I have those ironed out, but I hope to work with not only athletes looking to improve their performance with nutrition, but others who just want to have a healthier lifestyle for life. I promise to keep you updated with all of those developments!

I hope that you all had an amazing weekend and are enjoying to fall weather that is starting to work it’s way into the midwest. Anyone else been doing some home improvements lately? Let me know in the comments. Have a great Monday!

Eggplant Lasagna

September 12, 2014January 29, 2016 / ktbuchs87

Just fair warning, this recipe will take some time to assemble. But it is VERY worth it. While it might not be a quick weeknight meal, you can make it ahead of time and just pop it in the oven when you’re ready to eat. It’s got a lot of flavor and a great way to get in some healthy vegetables.

Eggplant Lasagna

For the “noodles”

2 medium eggplants, washed and sliced lengthwise

For the tomato sauce

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

For the ricotta “cheese”

1 cup white beans, soaked and rinsed (or one can, drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp Italian seasoning

1. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into thin noodle-like slices. Lay out onto a paper towel, sprinkle with salt and cover with another paper towel. Let rest for 15 minutes. If you’re cooking your own beans, cover with water bring to a boil, and then cover and lower to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the beans are soft.

2. Preheat oven to 350, brush the salt off the eggplant and lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.

3. In a medium saucepan, saute the onion until soft. Add in the garlic, oregano, basil, and fennel seeds. Stir to combine then add in both cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce. If you want a thinner sauce, add in the vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a boil then lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.

4. While the sauce is simmering, place the cooked white beans into a food processor or blender and pulse a few times. Add in the rest of the cheese ingredients and blend until smooth.

5. Now it’s time to put everything together. In a 9 x 13 casserole dish place a thin layer of the tomato sauce, then a layer of eggplant noodles, then a layer of cheese, and then a layer of tomato sauce. Keep layering until you run out of ingredients. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Let it rest uncovered for 5 minutes, then cut and serve!

Whew! I know it seems like this is a lot of work, but it is really worth it. Make this over the weekend when you have a little more time and then have delicious leftovers for lunch during the week. To save more time you can use jarred marinara sauce, just make sure to read the ingredient list. Or make a few batches of these, put them in the freezer and then pull them out when you need a quick meal. Enjoy!

How To Stay Hydrated

September 10, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Water is important. Not to be Captain Obvious here, but without water you and your body do not function. Your body needs an adequate supply of water to carry out it’s everyday normal functions. Water helps move your blood through your system, which in turn helps your organs function, which then make you function. Water helps you perform at your best, not just with normal things like breathing but also with tougher things such as exercising. Being dehydrated even just 1% decreases your performance by 5%. Water also helps to keep your metabolism going, your skin glowing, your hair shiny, and your appetite in check. Just to make things even tougher, you’re constantly losing water. Not just through sweat, but even things like exhaling cause you to lose water. So you NEED to make sure you’re replacing all that water loss.

Summer time is usually when we really keep tabs on our hydration. Nothing like 90 degree weather to help remind you to drink water. But as we start to enter into fall and the colder months you still need to keep tabs on your hydration, maybe even more so than in the summer. During the winter (I know, I know, you don’t want to even be thinking about winter, but it’s coming) it is so easy to forget to drink water throughout the day. You’re not sweating profusely, the sun isn’t blazing down on you, and let’s face it, snuggling in front of the fireplace with a big glass of water doesn’t sound too cozy. But the colder months tend to be drier which can suck moisture out of your body. And because your body needs all that water, you have to make sure you replace it.

If you find it hard to get enough water into your day, or you need some ideas on how to make water a little more fun (it can be a little boring sometimes), here are a few tips to help keep you hydrated and healthy!

Carry a refillable water bottle with you all the time. If you have water with you at all times it makes it easier to remember to drink water throughout the day
Find a fun water bottle. It might sound silly, but having a cool or new water bottle might make you drink more water. A while back I bought this camelbak water bottle and the straw was so cool that I found myself downing about three full bottles a day. While I didn’t enjoy running to the bathroom every 2 minutes, I did get adequate water intake!
Add fruit. If you’re one of those people who hates the taste of water or thinks it’s so boring, try adding some fruit. Think beyond lemon or lime and try fresh berries, watermelon, or even things like mint leaves. Having a little natural flavor can help you to drink more water
Try some ice. For me, the idea of a room temperature glass of water is not appealing. Adding ice cubes to your water can help make it more palatable, plus ice cold water may rev up your metabolism and help burn more calories.
Eat high water content foods. While you still need to make sure you are drinking water, you can also eat your water. Foods that have a high water content can help to contribute to your overall water intake. Eat things like celery, lettuce, leafy greens, or melons (especially watermelon!) to help your water.
Set a schedule. If you’re really busy throughout the day and just forget to drink water, set a reminder on your phone to have a glass or so every hour. Or you could do this and make sure that you’re drinking a certain amount by certain times during the day.

Making sure that you get enough water is a really important part of being healthy. The rule for a long time has been eight 8 oz glasses a day, but don’t focus on a certain number of glasses or ounces. As long as you drink water throughout the day, you should be properly hydrated. If you workout, make sure you replace the extra water lost through sweating. Unless you’re an Olympic athlete, just stick with plain water. You don’t need any fancy rehydration drink full of vitamins and electrolytes. A healthy and balanced diet along with enough regular water will help you function just fine! Long story short, go drink some water!