Scenes From A Chicago Summer

August 8, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Even though I have lived in Chicago for about three months now, I still can’t believe it sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I love this city, but if you had told me that one day I would live here, I would have laughed. If you had told me that I would absolutely love it, I would have thought you were crazy. But it’s true, I live in this beautiful city and I totally love every minute of it! I thought that today I would share the pictures I have taken these past few months. Some of them are from my runs along Lake Shore Drive, some of them are from my walks all over town, and some of them are from places Adam and I have gone this summer. These have been the scenes of my Chicago summer. Enjoy!

Lake Shore Runs

I am so incredibly blessed to be able to end all my runs right at the lake. Most days I get a beautiful sunrise, or waves crashing up onto the steps. It’s a really neat way to end my run and start my day.

Walks all over town

Everyday I try to get out for a walk. I have literally walked all over the place, seeing the sites, getting to know all the streets and shops, and seeing the things that this city has to offer.

View of downtown from Belmont Harbor

I literally live down the street from Wrigley. It is AWESOME. GO CUBBIES!

Random guy playing the marimba right across from Millenium Park. He was pretty good too!

Excuse my finger, but a pretty nice shot of the skyline other wise

Had to race a summer storm home on one of my walks

Super foggy day on the lake. It was eerie and cool

Things to do, people to see

There are literally thousands of things to do on any given day in Chicago. Adam and I have tried a few things out and love what this city has to offer!

Windy City Rib Fest. He was a happy boy

The aftermath of a 1/2 rack of ribs. He says it was worth it

Listening to a band at a street festival

More food. Enjoying an italian beef at Portillos. The boy loves his food

Kind of hard to see but that couple down by the lake just got engaged! I was a total creeper and clapped after the dude proposed. Sorry I’m not sorry!

Seriously, this summer has been amazing and I am beyond blessed to be able to live in Chicago. I can’t wait to see what else this town has in store for me!

Craving Conundrum

August 5, 2014 / ktbuchs87

The word craving can take on a positive or negative meaning. It all depends on your view. Many times it takes on a negative connotation. It’s something that needs to be controlled, fought, and denied every minute of every day. You have to have willpower to deal with cravings and you have to be strong to fight them off when they arise. This is how I used to view cravings.

I have had a complicated relationship with food. I have had many food “demons” to deal with along the way and I have had to have an incredible amount of willpower when it came to changing my eating habits. Because of my past experience with this, cravings were always something that were bad. I felt that a craving was a moment of weakness that had to be fought and avoided at any cost. To cave would mean I was weak and I would beat myself up. It was a vicious cycle of feeling out of control and not feeling strong enough to deny my food urges. Clearly it wasn’t working out for me.

I know many of you might feel that way too. Maybe you have had a rough time with food and you have come to view a craving as a bad thing. While I don’t like to place the blame on too many outside sources, the media does have a part in the way we view cravings. So many fitness and health websites or magazines put out articles with tips and tricks to fight your worst craving. They tell you if you have enough willpower you can fight off the evil craving and stick to your healthy ways. I gobbled those articles up and tried all their tricks like counting to a hundred and waiting for the craving to pass or drinking a glass of water when I got a craving. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn’t. Everytime they didn’t I felt like there was something wrong with me. Why could I not control myself? What was wrong with me?

Nothing was wrong with me. I’m human. It isn’t weak to have a craving for ice cream or pizza, that doesn’t somehow make me a failure. Once I realized this, I started to work on changing my idea of craving. I read more scientific articles and journals about cravings rather than relying on the grocery stand magazines. Turns out that researchers are finding that craving certain foods might be your bodies way of telling you that you are deficient in a certain nutrient. Nobody goes around saying, “Man, I’m really craving a big bowl of brussels sprouts!” They do say that they could really go for some chocolate or potato chips or pizza. Well, a craving for chocolate might mean that you are low on magnesium and should eat some nuts. A craving for potato chips could be a sign that you need some calcium and should fill up on dark, leafy greens. Our bodies are amazingly complex and for the most part are able to tell us exactly what they need. Our job is to learn how to listen and interpret those signals properly, then act accordingly. Cravings are one of the bodies signals that it needs something. The problem occurs when we misinterpret that signal and think that because we crave chocolate ice cream we need to eat that chocolate ice cream. In reality, we need to learn what our body is really saying when it craves chocolate ice cream.

You are not less of a person because you crave “bad” things. You are not a failure if you resolve your craving for a cookie by eating a cookie and you are not doomed to be a slave to your cravings forever. Start to look past the initial craving and see what it is that you really need. If you are constantly craving one certain thing, meet with your doctor or other health professional to see if you are nutrient deficient. Then find the healthier alternative to your craving. Once you start learning what you really need and making the right choices, it will be easier to interpret your cravings and get the things that your body really needs. It will be tough at first to not eat the potato chip and do the work to find out what you’re actually craving. But the more and more you do it, the easier it becomes. If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up. Remember you are a human being and no one is expecting you to be perfect. Being healthier is all a learning process, one that lasts a lifetime. It’s ok to make mistakes and fall. How you react and what you do to change after those mistakes says more about you than the actual mistake. Pick yourself back up and get right back to it!

Tarka Dhal

August 1, 2014May 16, 2015 / ktbuchs87

I never expected to like Indian food. Growing up, we had never tried any Indian dishes and it was something that just wasn’t on my radar. Once I started to change how I ate, I branched out and tried a variety of different types of cooking and I started making a few simple Indian dishes. Yum! I love the way that most Indian dishes focus on the spices rather than the main bulk of the ingredients. Most recipes start working with the flavor of the dish before they start adding in the main ingredients. The way most people cook is to season their food later in the cooking process, almost as an afterthought. One of my favorite Indian dishes is tarka dhal. It’s simply cooked lentils that are garnished with spices. My version is kind of like the comfort food version of this particular dish and will make you feel all good inside. If you have never cooked/eaten Indian food before, have no fear! This meal is simple and tasty. The ingredient list may look long, but it’s mostly spices and things that you probably already have on hand. Give this yummy tarka dhal a whirl and let me know what you think!

Tarka Dhal

olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped finely
1 tsp black mustard seeds (you can also use yellow)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup red lentils (or whatever variety you have on hand)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/3 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala (you can find this at most grocery stores, if not use curry powder)
1/2 tsp chili powder

1. In a large pan, heat olive oil over high heat and add onions. Saute for about 3 minutes and then add in the mustard seeds. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the seeds start to pop.

2. Take off the lid and add in the garlic, fenugreek seeds, ginger, and salt. Mix together and then add lentils, tomato paste and water. Bring this to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes

3. Stir in the tomatoes, lemon juice, and cilantro. Simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the 1/2 cup coconut milk. Remove lentils to a serving dish.

4. In the same pan you just cooked the lentils in, heat a little more oil over high heat for a a minute or so. Turn off the heat and stir in the garam masala and chili powder. Pour this spice mixture over the lentils just before serving.

This is a really good meal to introduce someone to Indian food because these flavors aren’t too overpowering and it is a relatively simple dish. Make a huge batch and freeze some for meals later or use for lunches for the week. Enjoy!

How To Eat More Vegetables

July 30, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I can bet that you have been told that you need to eat more vegetables. It seems to be the first thing that comes out of peoples mouths when anything remotely close to eating healthier is mentioned. Eat more fruits and vegetables! In all honesty, it’s good advice even if it tends to be overstated. The problem is that the advice stops there. We’re told to eat more vegetables but not necessarily how to do it. A lot of people have bad associations with vegetables. Some were forced to eat them as kids or were served mushy tasteless dishes that made them believe all vegetables taste the same, gross. Maybe you want to eat more vegetables but you have no clue how to go about doing that. My post today is going to focus on simple ways to incorporate more vegetables into your meals. It doesn’t have to be complicated, tasteless, or boring and the more that you eat vegetables the more you will come to love them as much as I do!

Roast Them Up

This is my absolute favorite way to prepare vegetables. It’s an amazing way to add great flavor to your vegetables and it works on virtually any vegetable. I roast everything from sweet potatoes to zucchini, cabbage and beets. If I can slice it up and add a little olive oil to it, I can roast it. If you have a hard time enjoying the taste of vegetables, this cooking method is for you. Simply preheat your oven to 400-425 and prepare a baking pan with a piece of parchment paper or a Silpat. Then take your vegetable and cut it up into bite size chunks and place them in a large bowl. Add a few tablespoons of oil (I alternate between olive oil and coconut oil) and whatever seasonings you like (try Italian blends, curry powder, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, or even just salt and pepper) and mix everything together. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on the pan and roast for 20-45 minutes depending on the vegetable you are using. I usually rotate the pan halfway through the cooking process. Once you start to get a nice brown edge, your vegetables are done! You can eat them as is, add to salads, or stir fry’s. Roasted vegetables also keep really well in the fridge and make great leftovers.

Make Soup or Stew

Soup is another easy way to get in more vegetables as well as large quantities of vegetables. You can add vegetables to any soup you’re making and bulk it up with extra nutrition and flavor. You could puree a variety of root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or parsnips, and after you have roasted them, add either broth or water or even almond milk to make a creamy soup. Or you could blend up a variety of vegetables from your garden like tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini and make a refreshing gazpacho on a hot summer day.

Sauces and Dips

This is another favorite way to add more vegetables to my meals. Make sauces and dips out of them! You can make a simple homemade salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and cilantro. Or maybe you’re a guacamole fan. Try making your own homemade spaghetti sauce and besides the tomatoes, add in zucchini and carrots. You can even make creamy sauces with cauliflower or try a vegetable based spread like baba ghanoush. Kids especially like dipping things in sauces and this is a really good way to get a little extra nutrition into their meal without fighting over broccoli.

Drink Them

While I think that juicing is a great thing, I am also a big fan of eating my meals. But I know that for some people juicing their vegetables is what works best for them due to time constraints or they really can’t handle the taste of eating vegetables. If this sounds like you, try juicing your vegetables or adding them to smoothies. Leafy greens are very easy to add into your drinks and as long as you add some fruits like apples or pears, you don’t have to feel like you’re drinking grass. If you have a juicer, you can juice pretty much any vegetable quickly. I like the combination of carrots, beets, spinach, apples, and a little bit of ginger, but get creative and see what flavors you like. Remember though, if you can, it’s better to eat your vegetables so that you can get all the fiber and nutrients that fruit and vegetables have to offer. Sometimes, just drinking juice can leave you feeling hungrier sooner than eating those same foods would have.

Salads

I know this one sounds obvious and is probable one of the least favorite ways for people to get their vegetables in but salads don’t have to be boring or taste yucky. There are so many ways to spruce up a salad, like adding more vegetables, dried fruits, nuts or seeds, herbs, and topping it all with homemade dressing. Salads are a great way to get in a TON of vegetables into one meal as well as a great way to use up all the odd leftovers you have in your fridge. Start with a base of some type of leafy green (think outside the romaine and iceberg box and try kale, arugala, collard, watercress, or spinach), and add whatever you want. Try leftover cooked chicken or fish, roasted sweet potatoes or cauliflower, raw almonds or pistachios, dried (and unsweetened) cranberries or goji berries, add pumpkin or sunflower seeds for a little extra crunch. And the dressing options are endless and just as simple to make. Give salads a chance and you might just fall in love with them.

Eating more vegetables shouldn’t make you want to run screaming to your nearest bakery and shove as many donuts as you can into your mouth. Incorporating these healthy foods into your meals is simple and only takes a little bit of effort and creativity. So now that you know what to do, go eat your vegetables!

Watermelon Soda

July 25, 2014 / ktbuchs87

It was hot last weekend and I felt like having soda. I haven’t had soda in years because who needs to be drinking all that sugar or chemicals? But I have seen recipes for “healthy” sodas and thought that I would give it a try. I had a bunch of watermelon that I needed to use up and all I really had to get for this was the sparkling water. You can use whatever fruit you would like, but I think that watermelon works well because of it’s high water content. So if you’re looking for a tasty and refreshing way to cool off without overindulging, give this watermelon soda a try!

Watermelon Soda

3-4 cups watermelon, cubed
1-2 cups sparkling water (make sure that has no added flavors, just water and CO2)
2-3 tbsp lime juice

1. Place watermelon into a blender and blend for a few minutes until it is liquified. Now, if you want to have a more slushie type drink leave as is and pour watermelon juice into a pitcher. Otherwise, place a sieve or fine mesh colander over your pitcher and pour the watermelon juice through.

2. Add sparkling water and lime juice to the pitcher and stir together. If your watermelon and sparkling water was cold when you made this, serve right away. If not just chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

That’s it! Pretty simple right? I left my soda as more of a slushie and it was delicious! I recommend drinking this right away as it will get less fizzy and fresh as the days go by. You could even make this an adult beverage and add rum or maybe gin. It would be a fun drink to serve at a BBQ or party!