I forgot to tell y'all somethin'

I volunteer a couple times a month at a free health clinic in Durham.  My friend Hillary is a volunteer as well, who mentioned it to me and asked if I was interested in volunteering as a RD with them.  Apparently, patients had requested to meet with a RD...AMAZING, I KNOW!!!

I saw my first victim, I mean patient, the first week of March.  HIPAA so I will not say anything other than, like most individuals in our country, this patient needed to lose weight.  I discussed some super simple, very basic things to change and encouraged a little more movement.

We had follow-up visit last night, patient lost a good deal of weight!!!!!!!  I almost did the happy dance!!!  

In my previous RD life, as most of you know, I dealt with a lot of terminal illness and forgot how great it feels to really make a difference in someone's life without using pharmaceuticals.  WEEEEEEEE  or as my friend Jeremy says "Whoop-de-Whoop!!!"

Peace, love, nutrition. ~ Colleen

Oh Friday, you were once a restful evening

Wow, week 1 on the blog front and I have not posted in a few days.  I blame school, which is a good excuse.  We are at the end of the semester.  I am pretty sure professors sit in planning meetings and say "Oh, I have a great idea lets make EVERYTHING due the last 2 days of a semester."  Sweet, thanks guys.  PA school is already fast paced, but end of the semester is a SPRINT.  Who needs sleep?  I know I don't.

I have not cooked much this week.  I made a delicious quinoa with broccoli and pineapple dish and then chili and cornbread casserole.  Ate on the two this week and plan to do more cooking this weekend and next week on break.

Only change I made to Quinoa pineapple delicious dish was I added some red pepper flakes, roughly 1/4 to 1/2 tsp for a little kick in the mouth.

Then for the chili and cornbread recipe, I was not pleased.  I thought the chili was very bland.  I even added 2 tsp of dried basil and extra garlic, still no go.  I think it needed some tomato paste and sauce, more than the crushed maters.  I do not eat red meat too much, but chose from Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, NC a local NC farmed grass-fed ground beef of 90/10.  The cornbread I used gluten free all-purpose flour.  I found that I had to cook the casserole for an extra 10 minutes to get brown and done.  

Next time, I will make my own chili and use the cornbread recipe.  I loved the cilantro.  Cilantro, Basil and Mint are my favorite herbs.  If cilantro didn't seed so quickly I would grow it in my window sill.

my window sill herb garden needs some help with variety

The weather is warm...I recommend these music artists.  

Numero uno 

Numero dos 

Numero tres

Tomorrow - cocktail fun while studying Geriatrics and sunbathing while studying Dermatology.  ooops-la

Pizza and Beer

Obviously, by the first post I am a HUGE, HUGE BEER FAN!  I mean I love beer.  I swoon over beer.  I crave a good beer after a long day.  And a close second is PIZZA.  My friend Ellen aka E Dub, she is a wonderful cook and dietitian extraordinaire with pediatrics.  She has a great pizza dough recipe, which I made weekly.  Friday's I instilled a pizza, beer and wii or other fun thing at my apartment with some of my "boys" in PA school.   We will have to switch it up now, which last Friday was Asian Night or Azn Nite as the email stated.

My first gluten-free grocery shopping tour involved looking for gluten free pizza dough, which I found in the freezer section.  I decided to make this on Saturday night.  Let me tell you...this dough was a BEAST to roll out, very sticky and gooey.  I used cornstarch at first to attempt to soak up some of the gooey factor then got smart (a very fleeting moment)  and rolled it out on cornmeal...ahhh much better.  I proceeded to load it up with my favorite Mediterranean theme - artichokes, sundried tomatoes, feta, red onion, spinach, broccoli, mozzarella - on a marinara sauce (homemade thanks Giada)  I had very low expectations for this pizza pie, but was pretty darn surprised, browned well, the cornmeal added a nice little bit of texture and I was satisfied.  Washed that pie down with one of these bad boyz.  Yeah, I LIKE IT LIKE THAT!

Tonight I decided against cooking, long day at DPAP and a tough first night back at Crossfit.  So I thought, cold pizza I heart you.  Ummm took a bite (please not in the picture 1) and thought this tastes very familiar...hmmm ohhhh yeah just like Elmer's Glue I used to put on my tongue as a kid and wonder "why isn't it drying?"  Because of saliva you fool!  So a little re-heat in the oven at 350 and back to satisfaction.

Now on to The Federal for a drink with a friend...

P(dot)S(dot) If you like (or love as in my case) CO2 in your H2O, and you dislike plastic bottles galore then I highly recommend this.
And this for produce.

And the Beer Days are Over

As I sit here studying for my surgery final tomorrow I hear Florence and the Machine "And the Dog Days are Over," which inspired the title - the beer days are over - much to my chagrin.  1 week ago, I decided to stop denying it and take the plunge to gluten-free.  First degree relative, autoimmune disorder, adult acne (ahh i admit) are all linked to gluten so apparently a gluten-free diet can correct the adult acne and improve autoimmune disorder.  We shall see first hand.

I kicked and screamed and swore like a sailor, I WILL NOT CHANGE MY DIET! - Says the former Dietitian who would complain - "no one listens to my suggestions, why are they asking for my opinion and help!"  In a matter of 16 hours I went through 4 of the 5 stages of change. 

I've created this blog to share recipes I have tweaked to gluten free, share some laughs, some links to my favorite things online, and whatever else I decide to share.  Expect a lot about my loveness monster aka Fiona Friday - my Bugg.

I hope yall enjoy!

Leen

First recipe I tried was Lemon Rosemary Turkey Meatballs - I love EatingWell Magazine and I prepare at least 75% of the recipes from each month.  This one I changed the flour to cornstarch since it was only for binding the balls and to thicken the sauce. For every 2tbsp of Flour = 1 Tbsp Cornstarch.  Then bought some gluten-free panko breadcrumbs.  I served with Quinoa pasta and steamed spinach with balsamic vinegar, S&P. Voila!

I'm a sucker for porcelain measuring spoons.  Like and Love!