Lesson learned: always check your school email. I had one class canceled yesterday and I came to school fully expecting to be in class right now but ANOTHER class was canceled. Its pretty fantastic! Yesterday was especially nice. Because I planned out my workouts before classes started I am taking this week to see if I can make all the workouts and if its do able. Yesterday I went to an awesome morning yoga class. Because my first class of the day was canceled there wasn’t any time pressure and I was able to make sure that there was ample time to get home, shower and eat lunch before I have to go to school.

The yoga class itself was amazing! There were some elements of power yoga but for the most part it was just gentle stretching which my body needed. During meditation the teacher came around and gave shoulder massages with lavender oils. I will definitely be going back to that class on a weekly basis. Not only was it a great class but  I really enjoyed starting my week with some mind clearing yoga and meditation.

Last night I tried  a new meal: garbanzo bean flat tops. I adapted it from Super Natural Cooking.

I started by taking 1/2 of a can of garbanzo beans washing them, and combining them in the food processor with 1 egg, and sea salt.

Mix in the food processor until it has the consistency of hummus

Then combine in a small bowl with a small handful of cilantro, 1/3 cup panko, a small amount of lemon zest, and 1/4 cup onion, diced. Stir the ingredients together until well combined.

Let sit for two mins and then shape the mixture into 4 mini patties.

Prepare a large skillet by heating it to medium low heat. Use 1 tablespoon canola oil in the pan. Let it heat up and then add the patties.

Let the patties brown and then flip over. It’s important to keep an eye on the patties so that they don’t burn. It took about 5 mins for each side to brown.

Then, one they are off the heat top them off with the toppings of your choice! Avocado would be tasty but I was out so I used cheddar cheese (I peeled it with a vegetable peeler) and spinach.

I paired the flat tops with a side of baked sweet potato “chips”

I also saved one which I just enjoyed for lunch. Yes, it does heat up well! Which is good because I’m back in school and on campus dining option leave a lot to be desired. Can I also tell you about my flat top obsession? I haven’t prepared a sandwich with a top in a couple of months. Who knows why. I just prefer my sandwiches topless!

I’m off to do readings. I forgot how much time actually goes into law school readings. Whoops.

Hope you’re having an awesome Tuesday!

Today was the last day of my vacation. I got to read the New York Times, relax and most excitingly go shopping. I went to pick something up at Kmart (which you will get to see next week!) and I was right across the street from The Grove so I decided to stop in and shop. Immediately after I stepped out of the parking garage I saw JCrew and had to stop in. If you know me at all you know I have a J Crew obsession and I also had some Christmas money.

I browsed around the sale section and other areas of the store admiring all of the cute Spring clothing. I hesitated for a second above a pair of pants but decided to try them on anyways. I recently went through my closet and took out everything that didn’t fit. This included all of my pants that weren’t jeans so as you can imagine I have a bit of a hole in my wardrobe.

And then the greatest fitting room moment ever happened.

Size 4 pants. Size small top. Bam.

When I first made the choice to live a healthier lifestyle I didn’t really have a set goal in mind. I knew I wanted to be healthier and more active. I knew that, by doing so, I would lose weight and along the way I had some ideas about what a number might be. I gave up the idea of a scale number a while ago when I got rid of my scale.

Of course, when setting out on anything there are public goals and private goals. From the time I first started my healthy lifestyle I had an idea about a size number I wanted to see if I could achieve. I only told a handful of people and I didn’t put too much emphasis on it throughout the past year but it was always in the back of my mind. I knew that I would ONLY do what was healthy for me and thus the number might not be attainable. If my body settled at a bigger size than so be it. I’m not on a “diet” so it wasn’t the finish line and I didn’t even know if it would be achievable. I didn’t want to set myself up to fail (what I perceive to be the problem with “diets”) and thus I was totally OK if I never hit that number.

Well, it is. I went from an 8 (lets not lie for the sake of vanity, my pants were really tight) to a 4. It was the best fitting room moment ever and I will not lie, I’ve had a lot of bad fitting room moments.

Like last March when I though for sure I’d lost a pant size only to realize that my thighs hadn’t lost any weight. Or trying to fit my arm holes into sleeves that didn’t fit. Or trying on a pair of pants only to realize that the pants wouldn’t go up past my knees. We’ve all had those moments, haven’t we?

Any ways, I put the above outfit on and paraded out of the fitting room and examined myself in the main mirror and told the lady working in the fitting room about my weigh loss. It was awesome and I celebrated with a latte. I was the same size (or forced myself to believe I was the same size even though I was really a bigger one) for so long. It’s weird to think I’m not that person anymore. And truly, I’m not that person anymore. Bigger Katherine didn’t run half marathons, she didn’t take good care of herself and she was always hoping something would change but I never took action. I won’t harp on it too much since I posted on almost the same topic a few weeks ago but I am so happy today for all I have worked for.

On that positive note: I made a delicious, healthy and vegan (I love when that randomly happens) dinner. I was inspired by the stir fry I made the other night and came up something easy: Avocado Fried Rice.

I cooked a little over 1/3 of a cup short grain brown rice.

I’m buying all my grains in bulk and transferring them into plastic bags. I know it’s terrible for the environment but its a new system and I plan on reusing the bags.

While the rice was cooking I prepared bok choy.

I ended up chopping up 3 stalks but not before finding a stow away…

I actually wasn’t too freaked out by this… hey at least I know its fresh. I put the little guy outside and continued on.

Once the rice was done I cooked up the bok choy…

Added the rice

and topped with an appropriate amount of soyaki (>2 tablespoons).

Now here is the truly genius part. This is just a plain, actually rather boring stir fry until we top it off with THIS:

Half of an avocado. You might ask, what does this add? An appropriate response would be “what doesn’t this add?!” The avocado was super creamy and fresh tasting. Nothing makes something light and creamy and delicious like an avocado. This is a different variety of avocado than I typically buy. I was told that the type is Fuerte by the man at the FM and that it would taste “buttery”. Um, sold! It was very buttery and delicious. Normally I don’t buy avocado because I just don’t use it that frequently and it goes bad fast once cut into but I see many more fuerte avocados in the near future. This meal was good, cheap, quick, easy and the creaminess of avocado and the soyaki flavor together were very interesting!

Tomorrow is my first full day back at school. I don’t have class until almost 2 so I have morning yoga planned. As for right now I’m going to eat some delicious homemade biscotti (because I have awesome friends who just send me delicious baked goods in the mail) and watch Desperate Housewives. Side note: my spell check doesn’t know biscotti. How is that even possible?  Hope you’re having a good night!

How was your Saturday? Mine was lazy. I start back to school on Monday so I spent today chilling out and it was awesome.

I started my day with an amazing bowl of oats which included delicious crystallized ginger. Putting the ginger in the oats was great because they have a little bit of sugar which sweetened up the oats a bit. I love me some crystallized ginger!

I added some unsweetened coconut to the oats also because I have a ton left over from my baking adventures. I love the unsweetened coconut. The ginger was already sweet so I didn’t want any more sugar in my breakfast.

Tasty! This will be a repeat breakfast. I love the crystallized ginger because you get the ginger flavor but its slightly less pungent.

After breakfast I went to the Farmers Market which was hopping today.

I’ve been doing a great job of meal planning since I got back from Chicago. Going with a set list helps me stick to the plan and avoid purchasing oddities like this humongous cauliflower…

I had a number of things to purchase. I also had to get eggs. I always buy local and un caged organic eggs.

I like to know that the chickens are “happy chickens that like to hang out in their area”. I’m also debating switching to local butter and local meat. I don’t often buy meat so I think local organic meat might be a good upgrade.

I also was delighted to find and new snack at TJ’s:

Mini wheels of brie?! Yes please! I enjoyed this with a few pretzels and it was just enough cheese. Thank you Trader Joe’s!

After lunch I went on a 7.35 mile run. I haven’t run more than 5 since before winter break and it felt good to get out and got for a nice long run. I went faster than I did for my 5 miler on Thursday and it felt great! I feel really good about this upcoming year in races. Should be a good year in running! I stuck to my training plan (for the most part) this week. I didn’t totally keep it but that’s OK because I was sick and I was getting back into serious running after a break. Overall I logged 16 miles and it feels good to be back!

Tomorrow is my last day of vacation. I plan to run a few necessary errands and relax and enjoy my Sunday New York Times!

Hope your weekend is groovy too 🙂

Its no secret… I’m warming up to tofu.

Let me explain.

The first time I had tofu was when I was probably 10. It was at Kama Kura in my hometown and I was chowing down on some sweet miso when I encountered some little tofu bits. Tentatively, I bit into one. I did NOT like what I tasted. I took personal offense to the texture and didn’t like the flavor (no offense to Kama  Kura). Since that time I have been adverse to tofu.

I started to take baby steps back to tofu at a Nasoya event last October. I tried tofu creations that were tasty and that I could re create on my own. I definitely felt myself warming up to tofu. In the past few months, while I didn’t actively buy any tofu I tried it at Akira and several other restaurants. Finally, last week, I got the guts to buy and cook tofu.

This is not a recipe post because I didn’t attempt anything fancy. I made a stir fry that any old person can make. I probably oversauced it with soyaki (Bartol style for all of those Simmons alums out there). And I have to say that I enjoyed the tofu prepared this way. It was light, but filling.

I think the key was marination.

Short on veggies. I added garlic, egg, broch, bok choy and red onion (one of these things isn’t like the other).

It was colorful and pretty until it was soyakied within an inch of its life. I blame it on my apprehensiveness when it comes to tofu (which is dissipating).

I mixed it with short grain brown rice. I just discovered the bulk section of Whole Foods. Great deal! I got a ton of brown rice for $3. Budget FTW! I made two portions and I have to say that this was actually pretty tasty and very filling. I will continue to eat meat but much of the time I don’t prepare meat at home because it’s expensive and moderately time consuming. I have leftover tofu and I definitely have recipes from the Nasoya site I want to try (I’m looking at you Moroccan Tofu).

Do you like tofu? Have you always liked tofu? Any tasty recipe suggestions?

Hello blog world!

I woke up today feeling even more congested than the day before. I hate having colds and I am a total baby about it. But in the spirit of positivity I am choosing to view this as a good thing. It has to get worse before it gets better, right? I managed to be a little bit more productive today than I’ve been for the past few days which is a good thing because one of my classes starts tomorrow. I really hope this cold goes down. I don’t want to be that girl in the first row with the tissues.

Another reason I had a pep in my step today? It was the first day of my new training plan (which can be viewed here –> also linked on my races page). Day 1 called for yoga. Rather than snotting all over Yoga Co I decided to do at home yoga on Exercise TV.

I am terrible at stretching so it felt good to stretch for a change. I definitely need to do more yoga cross training. That was my hips going “snap” “crackle” and “pop”. I did “zen in your den” and it was great.

Last night I had something pretty great too: risotto style barley with citrus and spinach from Super Natural Foods. I’ve never had barley before and I was excited to give it a try.

I started by sauteing two cloves of garlic, one shallot and 1/4 of a medium yellow onion in EVO and seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook for about 4 mins, until soft.

Then I added 1 cup pearled barley to the onions and garlic and stirred until coated.

Then I added a 1/2 cup of white wine and cooked until the wine was absorbed.

Then I added a 1 cup of water at a time, mixing each cup until it was absorbed. The water should simmer. The barley will start to puff up.

Make sure you continuously stir. This might take a while but it is so worth it. By the end the water doesn’t need to be completely absorbed at the end, just mostly absorbed.

While you are stirring zest a lemon, zest an orange, and peel and cut an orange. I used my favorite kitchen tool: a peeler that makes “twists” for cocktails!

When the barley has absorbed three cups of water total I turned the heat down and added 1/4 cup of creme fraiche (my good old friend!), the oranges and zest, and a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.

I mixed this  on low heat until the barley had absorbed some of the creme fraiche.

Then I added and handful of spinach and stirred until mixed and wilted.

I got some awesome spinach from the farmers market last week and I’m loving adding it to everything.

Top with a bit more parm and serve!

I loved having a dinner with a little citrus! It brightened up my dinner and tasted light and summery- just what I needed on a rainy night. The barley was very filling and yummy when cooked with wine and parm. The recipe makes two servings so I enjoyed it again tonight with a side of roasted veggies. This is going to be in my regular dinner rotation form now on and I need to find more uses for barley.

Have you cooked with barley before?

And for dessert?

Hot chocolate + cayenne because a little heat never hurt anyone.

Hope you had a great Monday!

How did you spend the first day of 2011? I mostly walked around my house in pjs leisurely baking a quiche. This is what I love about vacation: complete freedom to spend and entire day baking one delicious dish. In all seriousness, the Flour Cookbook is challenging my baking abilities. I’m not a big baker, I prefer cooking because I can improvise. Because of this my baking techniques definitely need to be refined and this quiche was a good way to do it.

Why quiche? Because flour quiche is the best ever! It’s the lightest quiche I’ve ever had. It melts in your mouth and the crust is super flaky. The last time I had it was in Boston last May and I can still remember the taste of the filling. It’s one of those dishes you just can’t get out of your mind.

Direct from the source

Yum.

The crust of the quiche is actually pate brisee like I made for cranberry and pear crostata. I actually made it the night before and just rolled it out in the morning. I fitted it to the pan and refrigerated it. After it was sufficiently cold I blind baked it. I’ve never blind baked before. I used rice from the bulk section of Whole Foods to weight down the crust.

While the crust partially baked I made the filling. The basic “insides” were simple enough to make.

plus half and half and heavy cream, yum!

Another reason I love the Flour Cookbook is that Joanna Chang offers variations on all the dishes. She instructs how to make bacon and caramelized onion, ham and cheese, and smoked salmon and cream cheese. I opted for spinach, zucchini and feta because I had all of the ingredients on hand and it sounded the healthiest. I wanted to be as healthy as possible while consuming half and half and egg yolk 😉

After all the ingredients were together I poured the mix into the shell and let it bake.

Golden brown and delicious.

Behind the scenes:

I felt like the edges got a little over cooked but the bottom of the shell was flaky and baked to perfection.

deeeeeelicious.

Don’t worry, between the mac and cheese and this I’m ready to get back on the healthy horse.

I even made this side dish for my dinner:

Greens can be pretty too 🙂

No recipe because I really want you to buy the Flour Cookbook. I know this is cruel and unusual punishment so treat yourself and buy the book.

After my New Years plans fell through I decided that the best way to ring in the new year by cooking something fantastic. Really, what are the holidays if they aren’t an excuse to eat? With all the free time I have I’ve been on a major cooking spree. Mostly I’ve been trying new healthy recipes and I know I talked a big game about my detox but new years should be a time of celebration. Thus, when deciding what to make one thing was abundantly clear; I knew I had to go to the source of fabulousness, the Barefoot Contessa. I’ve made a variation of her M&C before but I decided to splurge in a big way and make her grown up mac and cheese. Why? It calls for three kinds of cheese, will make a ton (which I can freeze and save) and its a major caloric splurge. What better way to end the healthiest year of your life than in a cheese coma?

The LCC kitchen prepares for battle (with Prosecco obvs)

I’m getting better at my new camera 🙂

First things first, you need to cook your bacon. Yes, bacon (I told you it was good). Ina says to bake it which I’ve never done before! It was super easy.

While the bacon was baking Izzy wandered in to the kitchen, sat next to the oven and started basically crying. I don’t like to give Izzy human food for many reasons and I didn’t indulge her desire for bacon at first. Then I called home and my mother talked me into giving her a little piece of bacon. Iz loves her Grandma. Izzy was very proud of herself but of course when I fed myself she was very interested in my plate.

pretending she's not interested. This is a sham. She is watching every movement and waiting for the perfect opening to steal my bacon

While this scene was unfolding I boiled the pasta. I made very few substitutions to this recipe (if barefoot says whole milk, I use whole milk) but I did swap out white pasta for brown. Here’s to health!

Let the pasta cook and drain.

Then it was time to make the sauce. This is similar to all barefoot’s mac and cheese recipes in that you make a basic white sauce and add cheese to it. The first step involves butter and flour. Then you combine warm milk in the butter and flour mix and whisk it until thick and reduced down.

It should be noted that at this point my kitchen looked like this:

I am in dire need of more counter space.

I grated blue cheese, Gruyere, and cheddar.

Combined with the white sauce…

and season. I used salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Once it was all combined I poured it into a casserole dish and topped with bread crumbs. I took a sourdough loaf and took out the insides which I mixed in the food processor with basil. I’ve tried to break up cheese in the food processor before (per barefoot’s instructions) and it didn’t work but the bread crumbs came together nicely.

We can call this before:

After!

My (first) portion

I polished this off easily, cooking is hard work after all! I ate a small bit more after this but that was all I could handle. This is delicious and cheesy and baconey as you would imagine but it is also incredibly rich.

Despite the richness I managed to choke a couple of these down.

Salted caramel macaroon from Tavern. Love.

After my prosecco I nursed water with lemon and felt myself get increasingly sick. It’s just a cold but I hate colds and how run down they make me feel. I was pretty out of it by 9 and by 12 when Snooki was being dropped in a ball I was basically passed out. Felt icky again today but I did kick off my year with a 4 mile run and plenty of cooking. Hoping hot water with lemon and lots of sleep will make me feel better for my last week of vacation!

Want to try it for yourself? Here is the recipe!

What did you do to celebrate the first of the year?

2010 was a big year for me discovering new restaurants. When I got my car in May it allowed me to travel beyond Westwood and check out many of the awesome and eclectic restaurants that Los Angeles has to offer. These are all restaurants I discovered in 2010 so while I could eat at Flour everyday for the rest of my life it sadly isn’t going to make the cut.

1. Tavern – Tavern is my happiest place on earth. Between the restaurant, sandwiches, and treats at the Larder Tavern has become my favorite LA spot.

2. Father’s Office – Back in the early days of the blog I went to Father’s Office. Personally, this is my favorite burger spot in LA. They have a delicious traditional burger, great wine and beer selection and the best sweet potato fries I’ve had in LA.

3. Umami – The other best burger joint in LA. Interesting flavors, cheesy tots and more options than Father’s Office. Its second in my mind but a close second.

4. Clementine – Where can I even start with Clementine? I’m there all the time. They have great local, seasonal, fresh eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That doesn’t even account for the delicious treats they have there. Of all the things I had at Clementine the one item that stands out in my mind is the Best BLT.

5. Mozza – They didn’t want me to blog it (the only restaurant that told me to put my camera away) but I did anyways! Mozza is some of the best pizza in LA, even Michelle Obama has eaten there!

6. Real Food Daily – I first went to RFD for a blogger meet up. All my veggie friends we’re telling me how awesome it is and I have to say, they’re right! A great Santa Monica spot with some of the freshest fare in the city. Oh, and the fake bacon? As good as real bacon. There. I said it.

7. Coral Tree Cafe – Coral Tree is a great spot in Brentwood for breakfast, lunch (omg caprese sandwich), and take away. Their curry chicken salad is one of my favorite take away prepared foods.

8. Primitivo – My friend Kelly joined me for several restaurant outing this year (including Umami), this was one of my favorites. Who doesn’t like sangria Sunday? The highlights of this meal were bacon wrapped dates, sliders, and shrimp.Oh and that weird glittery tiger painting.

9. Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada – I went the “best fish tacos” over the summer when I was working nearby. Simple fish tacos with plenty of toppings. Lightly fried, cheap and delicious, these are the best tacos I’ve had in LA thus far.

10.  Green Street Tavern – One of my more recent eats was with my Mom in Pasadena. We loved the atmosphere at Green Street and the food was delicious too! I still can’t replicate the goat cheese orzo but you better believe I’m trying. The appetizers were equally delicious and the pumpkin doughnuts we had for dessert? Unforgettable.

I’m not a big New Years Eve person (to be honest, staying up late, drinking a lot and sleeping the day away isn’t really my scene) but I am making Barefoots Grown Up Mac and Cheese. So much for detox! Whoops! Well, it is a holiday!

I’ll be back tomorrow with my resolutions!