Who's Cuisine Will Reign Supreme?
Wake up and eat breakfast. Pack up all the food I will need before I leave the house for the day.
Workout
Second breakfast
Get ready and go to work
Mid-morning snack
Work
Lunch
Work
Mid-afternoon snack
Work
Late-afternoon snack
Drive home
Cook supper
Relax a little
Prep food for the next day (As you can imagine, packing second breakfast, lunch, 3 snacks and sometimes even supper takes some time.)
See, I wasn't joking. In the summer during my hard training months, I typically eat something every 2-3 waking hours. If you remember from my July post Knowing What You're Made Of, I found out my resting metabolic rate is 1888 calories, and with activity I need to eat roughly 2700 calories a day when I'm working out. When you're eating tons of healthy food, I end up eating small meals 6-8 times a day. Hence all the snack packing.
I love to cook and bake and eat! Kitchen time is my therapy. I am being much more conscious of what I put in my body these days, so cooking at home allows me to control what's in my food. It helps me recover and allows my body to rebuild itself, so I can push even harder the next day. But just because I view food as fuel, doesn't mean it can't be amazingly tasty too. I have always loved baking (almost any type of pie/cake/cupcake/muffin/cookie/bread is hard to resist), but I haven't really loved cooking. One of the things I enjoy about baking is that everything is precise. You really have to follow the recipe if you want it to turn out right. I know that must surprise you that a math nerd, engineer loves precise measurements and following recipes. But this summer I have discovered my love of cooking because you really don't have to follow a recipe if you don't want to. I really consider them more of a suggestion with lots of room for creativity.
At the beginning of my off-season, I decided to challenge myself to cook at least one new recipe every week this summer. Aside from travel weeks, like my week in Lake Placid at push camp, I have been an A+ student, cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Our spice rack is now overflowing, and I've tried so many new things. Some of my favorite dishes were items I created on my own. Sometimes I'm inspired by a recipe or other times I mash two recipes together. As my mom pointed out to me, most everything in my life is very regimented right now, so it's not surprising I wanted to be creative with my food. I didn't have a single dish I didn't like, which is a success in my book. I didn't buy any lunch meat or take a boring sandwich lunch to work a single day this summer. Talk about breaking out of my shell! Creating things for second breakfast that could be eaten cold, as we did not have a microwave at the gym, was a challenge. I was also stretched by eating vegan with no sugar or natural sweeteners (not even honey, which is my sweetener of choice) the first 3 weeks of my off-season. I love meat and dairy and eggs way too much to ever become a vegan permanently. That's what I know, but it wasn't all bad.
I can now say I have some favorite food bloggers.
Gimme Some Oven, Damn Delicious, Well Plated and of course Sally's Baking Addiction
I cooked with so many new foods and spices I had never used before.
Edamame, whole wheat flour, thyme, Sriracha, bean sprouts, Thai red chili paste, fish sauce, rice noodles, canned adobo chiles, mango, bok choy, fresh ginger, tarragon, kale, canned chopped green chiles, coconut milk, brussels sprouts (Who knew there was an 's' at the end? I've been saying brussel sprout my whole life), fresh dill, shallots, sesame oil, homemade oat flour.
I cooked new cuisines.
Greek, Thai, Israeli, Mediterranean
Here's what I learned.
I love chili powder, red pepper flakes and cumin on lots of things, especially popcorn and roasted carrots. I still don't like raw onion unless it's diced fairly small, but I like cooking with white, yellow, red or green onions. Tomatoes seeds still gross me out, but I really like the taste of tomatoes. Mushrooms, red cabbage and kale are no longer on my hate list. Quinoa and sweet potatoes are a blank canvas for pretty much anything savory or sweet. I love fruit and balsamic vinegar on my salads. Cilantro is my go-to, super cheap, all-purpose herb which can be sprinkled generously on many dishes. I'm addicted to overnight oats of all varieties. Vegan food can be really tasty with some creativity. Eating without any sugar, honey or natural sweeteners is tough, but possible. I could swim in peanut sauce. Seriously. It's so lovely on so many things. Thai is my current cuisine of choice, but Mexican and Greek still hold a special place in my heart. So many spices; so much flavor.
I still love to bake completely lovely and unhealthy things full of butter and sugar, but since that won't help me lose weight for my upcoming season, I will just continue to dream of the day I can cook all the recipes I am adding to my Pinterest board. April (the end of my bobsled season when I will be no longer concerned about making weight) is only 6 months away!
Cooking was just so much fun, and not eating out saved me money. Especially since I eat so much and so often. My food life is now going to be boring again as I travel for the season and have to buy only a week's worth of food at a time before we move on to the next location. So sad. Back to baked chicken, frozen veggies, pasta, eggs, oatmeal, sandwiches and protein shakes. Boring. But back to my exciting home food life I will be dreaming about for the next few months. I ended up making 42 new recipes in 22 weeks. Some came from cookbooks, but I found most of them on Pinterest. At least one new recipe a week, but often two and sometimes three. I learned that portion sizes in recipes are typically not enough to feed me, so I usually ended up one or two portions short. Leftovers are amazing! Food prep takes a little extra time, but packing leftovers into individual portions made life easier throughout the week. The freezer was my friend. I usually ate 3 portions throughout the week and froze one or two for the following week. Variety is the spice of life, but I was more concerned about not wasting all this deliciousness while being able to make more new recipes. I loved some of them so much, I made them 2-3 times throughout the summer. I didn't eat a single boring sandwich for lunch, and I branched way outside of my tacos or grilled chicken rut. So here's all the wondrous new food I enjoyed this summer with the links so you too can enjoy some new recipes too. (Most are on my Pinterest board Must Make Again Recipes) Bon Appetit!
Blueberry Chia Hazelnut Overnight Oats
(Just one variation of many. I generally use the measurements of oats, almond milk and chia and get creative from there. I typically add protein powder, fruit, spices and nuts or maybe even some greek yogurt. Endless possibilities!)
(Just one variation of many. I generally use the measurements of oats, almond milk and chia and get creative from there. I typically add protein powder, fruit, spices and nuts or maybe even some greek yogurt. Endless possibilities!)
Brookies (Brownies & Cookies)
