Vegetarian Cuisine

Time to Veg Out!

Long time no type! I haven't been keeping up with this blog as much as I would like, but this was a pretty busy trimester at school. The first few years of college didn't consist of nearly as much homework, mainly because I was cooking all the time and didn't have much written homework. Now I'm getting into all the hardcore nutrition classes, which leaves me little time to relax and catch up on my TV shows and blog posts! So, before the winter trimester gets too far in, I figured I'd fill you in on the lab I just finished....Vegetarian cuisine!

With this class, we received extra credit if we went either vegetarian or vegan for the entire 5.5 weeks. Without being able to cook for myself and limited to dining hall food, I decided to just go vegetarian, which means omitting meat from my diet, including fish. I was able to consume dairy products like eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, etc unlike vegans who could not. This was my first time attempting this, so I decided to start taking a multi-vitamin, fearing that I would not consume enough nutrients based on the dining hall food! My diet went pretty well, eating a lot of salads with a lot of beans, grains, veggie burgers, and of course fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds.

The class was very interesting, learning so much in so little time. We learned how to sprout beans and grains, how to make cultured dairy products like yogurt and sour cream, what occurs during fermentation and why it is healthy for you, the process of making tofu, and how different herbs are used for their healing properties! And that's just the beginning!

For my presentation I had to make sour cream from scratch! It was so easy! To make it you mix heavy cream with a little cultured buttermilk and let it sit out at room temperature for 32 hours! So easy and much better than store-bought! I also had to make Labneh, which is a lebanese yogurt cheese. I just had to let yogurt strain for 48 hours in the fridge. 

Briefly speaking, we made such a variety of vegetarian foods. I'm only going to touch on the main points. We had a variety of days where we focused on different ingredients and menus. We had a day just vegan, a lacto-ovo day (dairy and eggs), nuts and seeds day, grains, fruits, vegetables, and healing foods day. 

Some of the dishes I prepared included black bean burgers, vegan meatballs, raw pumpkin pie, berry bean smoothie, wild rice salad, enchilada with quinoa, ricotta cheese gnocchi, and more! I have so many recipes, so if you feel inclined to cook vegetarian, let me know! I have so much information I learned in this class that I would love to share!

The next lab I will be sharing with you is Athletic Performance Cuisine!

Summer's come & gone...

Yes, I know it has been a LONG time since I blogged on here! It has been a very….busy, exciting, exhausting, entertaining, and educational summer! I’d have to say though, I loved being home!

So where do I begin…

            Well with the help of my friend Michelle, I got a job at Pleasant Dale Park District as a camp counselor! It was actually a lot more fun than I expected, being able to go on field trips every Thursday, pool every Wednesday, and bowling every Tuesday! My fellow counselors were fun to be around and the kids always had a good time! I even got to put my culinary skills to the test by making puppy chow and english muffin pizzas :P

I continued with my other job as a gymnastics instructor at Bridgeview Park District. There you go, another job dealing with kids....starting to see a pattern here? I've been here for 5 years. I love teaching gymnastics and I get that feeling of excitement when one of my students gets a trick they've been working on for so long! I knew when I was that young my coaches were just as excited as I was when I learned something new!

Job #3: I worked at Greco's on the weekends! This is the Italian restaurant I interned at for my culinary degree. I really enjoy working there, even though I'm one of the youngest ones. I was nicknamed 'Scooter' and even the Hispanics that worked there called me Scooter in Spanish! I thought it was funny. But besides the heat-filled kitchen on long summer nights, I did laugh a lot and had a good time! 

Last but not least, in the beginning of the summer one of the workers at Bridgeview Park District (where I teach gymnastics) asked me if I wanted to teach a nutrition class at the park district! I agreed right away! Even though I still had one more year of classes to go, I accepted! It took a lot of hours over a period of days to prepare what I was teaching but it went well! The class was over two days and was called 'Healthy Snacking.' I showed a few cooking demos: granola, healthy nachos, and hummus. I received good feedback from the audience, and I got some practice public speaking!

The rest of the summer, besides working has been enjoyable...being a part of the color run, having a finale viewing party of The Office, visiting Hayward WI where I went fishing, kayaking, and relaxed, making a quilt to take with me to school, going to a Sox game, line dancing, and apple and raspberry picking! And I can't forget to mention all the quality family time spent at home!

 

So that leads me to now....back in Denver and ready for another school year! I'm ready for whatever God has planned for me throughout this year. When I left for school my mom had this verse for me on the table...which was a verse she gave me the last time I went back to school...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go"                       -Joshua 1:9

I will be blog posting all the interesting information regarding nutrition in weeks to come! God Bless!

Snooze

Can you tell I'm a foodie!?  aka a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink).

Yet another place those visiting Colorado have to check out! It is such a popular place! We got there around 12 and had to wait an hour to get seats! Anyone who I talked to about this place loved it! Here is the website and you can see the full menu on there as well!

My good friend Margaux suggested to me the sweet potato pancakes....boy was she right on with my kinda taste! Here it is!

Buttermilk sweet potato pancakes with caramel sauce, pecans, and ginger butter!

They had the perfect fluffiness and were perfectly dressed with caramel and the crunch factor of pecans topped it off! And I've never had ginger butter until today, and it was delectable.

Amy had a combination of hash browns, an egg, bacon, and a blueberry pancake!

"Hey I just worked out, so now I'm gonna pig out!"

-Amy Karst

We were talking to one of the workers and they are looking at more places around the country to get some of these eateries! (For all my Chicagoans, that's one of their potential places!)

Make sure you visit here though. I can't stress it enough! I told the worker it was my first time and he responded by saying, "Where have you been, living under a rock!?" 

So yes, they are all environmentally friendly and all that jazz, which is pretty cool. But the main reason to come here is for the amazing breakfast food. Mmm mmm good. 

Breakfast is amazing so don't Snooze...wake up for it!

d Bar

Yet another fun place to visit here in Denver! Marty and Rebekah Joyce, two wonderful people in my life, visited Denver over Christmas and found d bar! I haven't gone here the whole time I've been away at school, and they suggested it and gave me a gift card to go with Jessica, my previous baking and pastry roommate.

This cute little place is a Dessert bar (d Bar)...makes sense. It is a really cute but VERY small restaurant. They serve a lot of foods as well. I've been recommended their mac and cheese, and pulled pork, but they change their menu from time to time so I didn't see the pork. We decided to go on the cheaper side because we're poor college students, so we got sweet potato fries...and man did we make a good choice!

Here is the rest of the food menu!

Now for desserts....oh desserts....
I'm surprised that Jessica and I aren't blood related, because we are both so indecisive! It took us a great deal of time figuring out what to choose. With some suggestions from our waitress, I chose the dessert named "Pink" and Jessica chose the creme brulee!

Now do you understand why it's called pink? It took us the whole time she was making it to realize why! haha...
So the main item of the dessert is that white thing everything is sitting on. It was a buttermilk panna cotta, which is an Italian eggless custard. The dark pink on top is a prickly pear sorbet, the pink stuff in the way back is micro sponge (wierd texture, kinda like fluff), the light pink on the right side of the panna cotta is a raspberry cloud, and the brown is an almond crumble. It was so delicious and super filling! The best part of it all was we got to see them make it right in front of us! Here's some more pics!

Here's Jessica's dessert!

She had vanilla bean creme brulee with almond, orange and caramel biscotti! So delicious and beautiful!

As I said, they change the menu so this is pretty much the same menu as we saw, with a few changes.

So once again, I highly recommend this place for a date night or just a hang out with friends! It's definitely a place to visit, and ask to sit at the bar, even if you have to wait! It's worth it because you get to watch them make the dessert right in front of you!

Remember, STRESSED is DESSERTS spelled backwards!

Enjoy the little things in life...stress less and smile often!

Red Rocks Workout and Sunrise Service!

Did you ever think you felt so in shape until you try something new and feel like you're about to pass out?? I did! On Saturday April 6th, my supervisor from my work study job at JWU lead a workout at the Red Rocks Amphitheater! This large natural theater holds 9,450 people for concerts and events, and hundreds of people that work out every day!

We took buses to get there, which was about a half hour from the school....and the workout started at 10am. Right when we got there, we got going. My supervisor Jen was a huge motivation and constantly kept encouraging us and pushed us to do more and try harder! We did a variety of stairs, climbing up the big stairs, running up the mini stairs, (which were more height appropriate for me) running from one side of the bleachers to the other, and running up and down semi-steep ramps.

It's so crazy to see how many people were there and how motivated they were! Just witnessing this helped me understand why Colorado is one of the fittest states in the nation, and the state with the lowest obesity rate! People were full of energy and seemed to always want more, doing extra lunges in between stairs, jumping up the stairs, and carrying backpacks to increase the weight. MORE MORE MORE! You know what I wanted more of.....SLEEP! But thats not the Colorado way! I pushed myself and had an awesome time!

If you enjoy exercising (kind of an oxymoron there...lol) and seeing the beautiful red rocks, this is definitely a place to visit whenever you're in Colorado! I highly recommend it!

There's Jen telling us what to do next! Always with a smile on her face!

The view from the top! Yes, it was over a hundred rows..... O_o

Just a bit sweaty after the workout....lol

JWU getting those abs of steel!

The whole group from JWU at the end of the workout

This is a bit off topic, but I also came here for the Easter sunrise service. It was an awesome experience and is something everyone in Colorado should experience. We praised God and listened to a nice Easter message as we watched the sunrise. God's beautiful creation was breathtaking, and even though it was cold...it was completely worth it. 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion" says my soul,

"Therefore I will hope in Him"

Lamentations 3:22-24