The Breakfast of Champions and other Delectable Things I Want to Share

It’s funny how much seems to change when you’ve slept. When you don’t sleep, eating healthily and exercising won’t mean diddly-squat; you’ll retain water, gain weight, crash, and be a crying mess like I was last week. This is even more significant to those with thyroid problems, because insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common.

So what is the sleep-diet connection? To paraphrase this WebMD article by Denise Mann:

"Exactly how lack of sleep affects our ability to lose weight (or in my case, maintain it) has a lot to do with our nightly hormones. The two hormones that are key in this process are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the ‘go’ hormone that tells you when to eat, and when you are sleep-deprived, you have more ghrelin. Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating, and when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin.

More ghrelin plus less leptin equals weight gain."

I noticed this immediately after the first night fully slept. Not only was I not starving, I was also fuller on less. My exercising had been plateauing for months, and it improved literally overnight. I had a more pronounced belly pooch than ever, making me extremely self-conscious and aware of my weight, and it flattened within twenty-four hours.

That being said, I’m a different Morri than I was a few days ago… and loving it.

Food, I noticed, had lost its luster since my SMI started. I didn’t enjoy it as I once had, nor did I enjoy shopping for it. I made recipes, and I loved making them, but my well-rested body savors the process even more. 

When I wake up, I smile.

When I eat, I can appreciate it.

Which brings me to the title of the post. I always became so frustrated with my 2:30 a.m. breakfasts, because I usually wanted to put more effort into the meal. But when you’re starving and tired, you don’t want to use up the little energy you have. To think, months of breakfast ideas neglected because of SMI. Months of the same breakfast bake, the same flours, the same cooking process, the same feeling of exhaustion and anger and…

You know what? That’s enough bitterness for today. This post is about breakfast, and a yummy breakfast at that.

On Saturday, Mama Dazz and I ventured out to MOM’s Organic Market, and I reveled in the experience like it was my birthday. Shelf after shelf had products that were Morri-friendly, and I had forgotten how much I missed going on foodie adventures.

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Why do I like MOM’s? Well, the location in Alexandria is a breath of fresh air, currently with tomato plants for sale outside and an arrangement of delights inside. You are greeted by sincere smiles, personnel willing to help you and answer your questions, and delicious produce grown with love and the environment in mind. We went there for raw apple cider vinegar and came out with bags of cool stuff. Funny how this seems to happen quite a lot...

Anyway, here is a list of a few of the treasures from our MOM’s excursion that I am officially in love with:

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 Eden Foods Organic Ume plum vinegar

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 New Grist gluten free beer

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 Coco Hydro all natural coconut water electrolyte mix

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 Wax Orchards fruit-sweetened dark chocolate sauce

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Vega One all-in-one nutritional shake (single packets, natural and chocolate flavor)

Saturday was a great day of gastronomic proportions. I’d forgotten how much I loved the creation of a meal, the excitement of trying new products, and the beauty of the simple things.

I’m particularly excited to share my Vega One experience, because it was part of the breakfast that I’m sharing with you today. I bought the two flavors to try them out before buying it bulk to see if I liked it, how it managed my blood sugar, and how it affected my body. My plan was to have a nutritional shake with the apple muffin recipe I promised to make three weeks ago. And let me tell you, it definitely was a Breakfast of Champions combination.

I made the shake with the natural-flavored Vega One single-serving packet, 1/2 a frozen banana, and 275 ml Almond milk (vanilla, unsweetened). It wasn’t overly sweet, and it reminded me of cake batter in terms of taste. Plus, it is dairy, gluten, and soy free with no added sugar, all things I look for in a protein powder. It is also a favorite of the Pure2Raw twins, Lori and Michelle, and you can find a list of their other favorite plant-based protein powders here. So while I’m ordering Vega One in bulk, enjoy this much belated muffin recipe.

It's great to be back.

Apple Spice Muffins

60 g Buckwheat flour

60 g Garbanzo bean flour

60 g Mesquite flour

60 g Almond flour

1 tsp. Sea salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Cloves

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

120 g Unsweetened applesauce*

240 g Whole milk yogurt*

2 Large eggs*

1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced

1 tsp. Baking soda**

1 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar**

Coconut oil, for greasing the muffin tins

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Combine the flours and spices in a medium-sized mixing bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the applesauce, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla, and then add it to the dry ingredients.

Fold in the apple to the batter along with the baking soda and apple cider vinegar, and let it sit on the counter for five minutes.

Pour the batter into a regular-sized muffin tin and bake for 30 minutes or until done (which can be seen by poking a knife down the center and the blade comes up clean).

Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing.

Serve warm or place in the fridge for later consumption (and FYI, they freeze beautifully).

Makes 10 – 12 regular-sized muffins.

*If you can recall from my most recent muffin post, I stressed the importance of the wet ingredients being a room temperature. But since this recipe doesn’t have any fat such as butter or oil that would otherwise harden in the presence of cold ingredients, it isn’t necessary. 

**In place of baking powder, I usually do equal parts of baking soda and apple cider vinegar/cream of tartar. But if you if have baking powder on hand, homemade or otherwise, replace both baking soda and vinegar for the same amount.

Do You Know the Muffin Method?

There are a couple of recipes that I seem to have trouble with, the most notable being muffins. I know, in comparison to pâte à choux or popovers, you’d think that muffins would be easy-peasy lemon squeezy. They are very persnickety, and demand a lot of attention to detail.

The first time I attempted to make gluten free muffins for this blog was for the GFRR. To remove some of the fat and sugar content, I substituted butter for avocado and the sugar for a little maple syrup. After a few other recipes, such as my cornbread rounds, I noticed that there was a greasy crumb to my muffins and I had no idea why.

I learned that muffins/quick breads need a certain amount of “sugar” to balance its “fat”, no matter what you use in place of both. If you omit one the other will cause an imbalanced product, too greasy and/or too dense and chewy.

I started doing research on baking the “perfect” muffin after my chocolate muffin recipe didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. Fearing that it wouldn’t be cooked after the designated time had elapsed, I baked them for an additional fifteen minutes. They were baked through all right, but they didn’t have the crumb and overall texture I was looking for. If I’d taken them out after thirty minutes, as Ruhlman instructed for his muffin ratio, I’d have been golden.

They still tasted pretty amazing though.

After reading up on "The Muffin Method" from The Balanced Pastry Chef, I learned a thing or two about muffins: how they differ from cupcakes, how to get a peak versus a dome muffin top, and why it’s crucial to keep the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls before mixing together. Ah, the joys of food science at its best.

So what did I learn from the two muffin recipes I created? Well,

1. Do not over-bake. Seriously.
2. Keep the wet and dry ingredients separate before combining, and make sure all ingredients are at room temperature (as in, between 70 - 72ºF).
3. If substituting fats and sugars, make sure that you keep the ratio of ingredient types balanced.

Next time I want to try baking muffins at a higher temperature for those majestic peaks I read about, maybe baking half the batter at a lower temperature to see just how different the tops actually turn out.

The story behind these muffin recipes differ, as one was made for the ultimate indulgence and one was to go back memory lane with every bite. The chocolate muffins are meant to be a treat, something that says “Late Night Snack”, while the apple muffins were made with breakfast (and the doctor) in mind. Like the chocolate, I did not skimp on the apples with this recipe. There were apple chunks and applesauce in there for double the apple love, tasting more like a moist coffee cake in a muffin package. Mama Dazz and the boyfriend really liked this one, but I’ll post it another time this month.

For now, indulge yourself and "... keep the doctor away" later.

Late Night Chocolate Muffins

60 g Cocoa powder
60 g Mesquite flour
60 g Blanched almond flour
60 g Quinoa flour
120 g Maple sugar
1 tsp. Sea salt
2 Large eggs, room temperature
240 g Whole milk yogurt, room temperature
113 ml Unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
Cocoa nibs, as garnish

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Combine the flours, maple sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.
In a quart measuring cup, blend together the eggs and yogurt until you have a smooth consistency.
With a hand mixer or a whisk, add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined along with the baking soda and cider vinegar, and then slowly pour the butter until all has been added.
Pour the batter into greased muffin tins, about three-fourths the way, and lightly garnish with a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the blade of a pairing knife inserted in the center come out clean.
Let it cool in the muffin tins for 10 minutes before popping it out onto a cooling rack.
Serve warm with coffee or a glass of milk.

Makes 12 muffins.

The Great Green Experiment

To celebrate the majesty that is the spring season, albeit a little late, I took photos of all things green around the house. 

Oh, and inside of course.

I love the color green. It’s the color of life, found on many of the fruits and veggies we eat on a daily basis. And besides purple and dark blue (and sunflower yellow, dusty pink, sunset orange... I think you get it.), all shades of green are beautiful to me.

Except, that is, for this color. I call it "muck monster vegan muffin green". 

I shudder to think of the monster I created with spinach, banana, and way too much almond milk in my experimenting with vegan baking. It tasted… okay, I suppose. But it was a spongy pudding type of creation that even I couldn’t pass off as a delicious accident. 

Maybe it was just an off day (or week), but I’ve been feeling like my recipes/posts have been less than awesome. There was a sense of “going with the flow” experimenting and naïve optimism in the beginning of this blog. Now it seems to have progressed into wanting perfection every time I take something out of the oven.

But perfection doesn’t happen every time. Sometimes there’s something missing and you don’t know what it is. Sometimes it takes two or three (or five) times until you get it right. And if everything I made was a godsend to the tongue, I think I’d get rather bored.

No, having flops keeps me humble. It’s like a science equation or mathematical theory you were [un]certain of its success, and when they sometimes fail I look on to figuring out why. 

I think the reasons why this particular recipe failed had to do with the following: I didn’t pay attention to the ratio of ingredients; the batter was too wet and didn’t have the correct binder to keep the muffin together or help it to rise; and, probably the most relevant, my ignorance of working with vegan binders.

So for those who are vegan AND gluten free, I give you major props.

Despite the recipe not turning out as well as I’d hoped, I did enjoy the combination of flavors and think it would be delicious in a smoothie. It also gave me the stubborn perseverance to make a green muffin, even if it wasn’t vegan (or as green). This time it turned out as scrumptiously as I’d hoped it would, with exceptionally green ingredients to add to its already bangin’ nutrition content.  

Sweet Green Spiced Muffins

60 g Garbanzo bean flour
15 g Coconut flour
15 g Flaxseed meal
30 g Pumpkin seed flour*
1 tsp. Matcha powder
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Spirulina powder
75 g Dried cranberries
14 g Cocoa nibs
240 ml Unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or your "milk" of choice)
122 g Unsweetened applesauce
2 Large eggs
Stevia, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Mix together the ingredients thoroughly in a medium-sized bowl, and then pour the batter into greased muffin tins.
Bake for 40 minutes, and then transfer them onto a cooling rack for a few minutes until serving.
Serve warm with your favorite nut butter and enjoy at any time of the day.

*If you don't have pumpkin seeds on hand to turn into a fine powder with your food processor, feel free to use pistachio or opt for hemp protein powder instead.

Makes 9 regular sized muffins.

From Weird to Wonderful

Last week was, for lack of a better word or possibly the best word to describe it, weird. As in, The Twilight Zone weird. Or Weird Al weird. Or falling down the rabbit hole weird. I’m sure you get it. It was weird, and it wasn't the kosher kind.

Stress and uncertainty can do a lot of things to a person, particularly when you aren’t quite sure what it is you are stressed or uncertain about. While I was sick it felt like I was eating all the time. I felt better by Thursday, and rock climbed three days in a row. At the same time I was playing around with various supplements to enhance my health. Some days it worked while on other days... not so much. My hormones and emotions were playing Ping-Pong in the very back of my consciousness, coloring my perception of reality. Again, there were days where I was aware and bright eyed. But on most days, I didn’t like it at all.

From the weirdness came a beacon of light, though. This was the week the boyfriend was up from Harrisonburg to talk with students at GMU for the job fair. We talked about us, about hypothetical and/or future hard decisions, and we walked from it hand in hand, a better couple and better friends as the result. This may have been the underlying stress I didn’t know I had, because after our many heart-to-heart conversations, I’ve been sleeping a full night’s rest without waking up, and I’m not randomly hungry or mindlessly munching.

It was the domino effect, and it poured into the other aspects of my life. I became motivated to continue working on my resume and taking it seriously. With my sleeping well, I wasn’t as hungry and had the energy to run longer (view updated fitness regimen here). I am managing my time more efficiently, and thus have time to write a post or two… maybe three.

Starting this week, I’m managing recipes and posting a lot more regularly than I have been doing. I want to do at least one every other day, but I’d like to have around twenty posts a month. So be on the look out for more recipes, philosophizing, random pictures of food, adventures, health updates, and restaurant reviews.

My blog is changing, hopefully for the better, because I have been neglecting it terribly. I loved how much I learned my first month blogging, and recently I’ve been treating writing like it was a chore instead of a pastime. If I want to be the change I want to see in the world, I have to make the effort to develop and nurture such a feat.

I’m back from the Rabbit Hole, dear readers, with a new recipe for you.

As you may know, most of my breakfasts have consisted of breakfast bakes for a couple of months now. Some of them have been solely made with buckwheat flour or garbanzo bean flour, while others have had additional flours like coconut, CGF oats, or flaxseed meal. I like to keep the base around 275 to 350 calories, and incorporate fruits, veggies, and spreads for a higher nutritional content for an extra 100 to 200 calories. Calories don’t matter that much to me anymore, and I can happily say my breakfasts keep me going until 11:00, an impressive 4 – 5 hour stretch.

Recently I made a carrot cake breakfast bake and, loving it so much, decided to make a batch of muffins with a few modified adjustments and some added ingredients to make them cake-like and moist. The base is essentially two breakfast bakes combined to make 8 – 9 muffins, so if you eat four or six (yes, they’re that yummy) in a sitting, don’t worry about it. They hold well and don’t crumble on you, perfect for eating right out of your hand. Eat them with a smear of honey or stevia-sweetened cream cheese, almond butter, or simply them as is in all of their glorious muffin-ness.

Eat well, my friends, and enjoy. 

Carrot “Bran” Muffins

60 g Buckwheat flour
28 g Coconut flour
16 g Flaxseed meal
120 ml Carrot juice
120 ml Filtered water
10 ml Unfiltered apple cider vinegar
15 ml Coconut oil, room temperature
2 Eggs
60 g Unsweetened applesauce
80 g Thompson (or Sultana) raisins
2 medium Carrots, finely grated
45 g Unsalted pistachio meats, finely chopped (by hand or with a food processor)
1/2 – 1 scant tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cloves
1/4 tsp. Ginger powder
Stevia, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the ingredients (sans the coconut oil, the grated carrot, raisins, and pistachio).
Fold in the remaining ingredients and let the batter sit at room temperature for fifteen minutes.
Pour the batter into greased muffin tins (I used a 3 oz ice cream scoop like this one to keep it even), and place in the oven to bake for thirty minutes.
When set, remove from the muffin tins to the cooling rack (I didn’t wait that long to take a bite).
Serve slightly above room temperature or chilled.

Makes 8 – 9 muffins.

Steak Kabobs & Savory Rice Muffins

Even two days after Sunday (as I publish this post… make that three), the day of baby showers, concerts, and blog events (oh my), I still am at a loss of words to poetically describe what is forever engraved in my mind. I mean, how can one illustrate the love and happiness I saw in that restaurant?  What fun to see children and adults alike as they attempted to trick others into mentioning anything baby-related to get one another’s clothes pins for the coveted prize. How can I efficiently write about the magnificence and the beauty of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and cycles of life, coming together to celebrate a new life coming into this world in August? The aroma of the food was heavy in the air, delicious and spicy and warm. There was rice, tandoori, kabobs, fritters, salad, fruit, rice pudding, and cake. 

Truthfully I only ate some of the rice, a few salad pieces, and a bit of the chicken, but I can happily say that I was not glutened… and it was good. So good, in fact, that Deshi Spice is definitely a restaurant I intend on trying again. Mama Dazz also wants me to dabble in the cuisine, so I’ll have to ask our neighbors how it’s done.

And then, there was the concert.  

The Indigo Girls were just as amazing performing live on stage as I remember Mama Dazz and I singing along to their CD on our many adventures. Their music was our soundtrack in Arizona, in North Carolina, at various beaches and for plenty of day trips. I grew up with their voices influencing how I perceived the world around me, making it a more vibrant and profound place to be in. Their words echoed everywhere I went that it seemed like all my experiences were all just one Indigo Girl’s song. I couldn’t tell you which of their songs are my favorite, because I don’t know them all. The majority of the songs they sang on Sunday were ones I’d never even heard before. But they still affected me like they always have. I stared down from my box seat on the upper level of the pavilion, much of their bodies saturated with the stage lights, very much in awe and entranced with the music that surrounded me. I was so overcome with emotion that my eyes filled with tears more than once, and even now I couldn’t tell you why. 

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The Indigo Girls. These women are supernatural, with voices singing loud and clear, whose spirits are even larger than Wolf Trap has a capacity to hold. 

 

Oh, and let us not forget the band that not only introduced them, but is part of their tour: the Shadowboxers.

Like the Indigo Girls, the Shadowboxers also hail from Atlanta. The members seemed to be around my age, as they mentioned having graduated from college in May (I mention this because life after graduation seemed so unreal to me, but seeing these post-graduates eased my mind regarding my own future… mainly because they were clearly doing something they loved). They have quite a unique sound that, much like the Indigo Girls a decade before, immediately had me spellbound. Their voices harmonized wonderfully, the instruments were very well played, and they had this New Band look to them that I hope they never lose. The fun they had simply being at Wolf Trap was apparent the minute they walked on stage. They jumped and they danced. They smiled and they sang. They were having a ball, and it was a pleasure to be part of it. 

And thank you, Dad, for sharing it with me. Happy (early) Father's Day.

I wish these talented individuals all the joy in the world. For those in the United States, be sure the look up where their tour is heading, because it is something that will stay with you forever. I promise you it is worth the travel.

Tonight’s – well, last night’s – dinner was inspired from the cuisine Mama Dazz and I enjoyed last weekend. Leftover rice and raw vegetables are very abundant in this household, and I wanted to find a way to make some room in the fridge but still make the meal interesting and different. Lisa from Lisa’s Kitchen specializes in healthy Indian cooking, and my adaptation of her rice muffins was the perfect accompaniment to the kabobs. 

Steak Kabobs and Savory Rice Muffins

For the Kabobs:
16 oz Tri-tip steak
1 Yellow bell pepper
1 Red onion
1 Roma tomato
8 Garlic cloves
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil

4 Wooden skewers, soaked for six hours
Aluminum foil
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Cut the steak, pepper, onion, and tomato into manageable pieces, leaving the garlic cloves whole.
Place the pieces onto the skewers, and put the kabobs on a baking sheet lightly greased with the olive oil (there will be leftover onion chunks that can be put around the pan).
Rotate the kabobs so the olive oil is evenly distributed (drizzle more if you prefer), then shake the desired amount of salt and pepper on top.
Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and put it in the oven for 35 – 40 minutes.

Makes 4 kabob skewers. Serves 4 people.

For the rice muffins:
5 oz Brown rice flour
2.5 oz Glutinous rice flour
2.5 oz Potato starch
8 oz Short grain brown rice
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
5 oz. Milk
2 oz. Water
2 oz. Butter, softened
3 lg. Eggs
3.5 oz Ricotta cheese

1 tbsp. Agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
In another mixing bowl, stir in the wet ingredients with the rice.
Add the wet ingredients with the dry until a consistent batter it formed.
Place the batter in a greased muffin tin, filled to the rim.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

Protein Packed BBQ (Beef, Bean, & Quinoa) Patties with Cornbread Rounds

Arr! Thar be photos ahead!

As the spring semester comes to a close, exams are just around the corner and student anxieties are on the rise. Last week alone I was going to bed late working on one thing or another, and then having to get up early to do something else. By Friday the family and I were doing the finishing touches for our weekend camping trip (some of the photos are posted), and it happened.  

 

(Various photos of the fam at the campsite)

I crashed. 

The maypole ceremony

My heart was beating so loud from my chest it felt like the bells of Notre Dame were tolling. I had a slight fever at 99°F, and simply standing took the breath out of me. Tears streamed from my eyes in panic, my mind racing from one thought to another. I didn’t have time for this; I had packing to do and things to help out with. Nausea resulted from the simultaneous pains from my head and stomach, and my limbs were shaking. Mama Dazz sent me back to bed to lie down. I ended up sleeping for two hours.

The Burt-man in thought

This is what happens when your body to tells you to slow down while on Armour Thyroid.

As mentioned previously, I was/am a Worrier. Once I become worried, it takes quite a lot of effort to calm me down. I used to have anxiety attacks quite often. I was so busy focusing on things I couldn’t control or the lists upon lists of things I had to do that I forgot how it affected me in the present. 

Things don’t bother me as much anymore. I’ve had a lot of training in this department: people, books, philosophies, and life in general. I discovered Taoism the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college from The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff. (Actually, I had the idea of Taoism in my head before I knew what Taoism was. It was a there’s-actually-a-discipline-to-my-personal-beliefs kind of thing.) The idea of simply "being" had such a phenomenal impact on my teenage brain that I spent that summer and the semester following feeling one with the Universe.

But here’s the reality: simply being is freaking hard. When there is more money leaving your wallet than there is coming into your bank account, classes to attend, drama to avoid, the whole “Oneness with the Universe” concept seems like a hard thing to accomplish, no matter how noble and desirous it is. There is one part of Taoism that has never failed me and saw me through the bumps in the road: trusting the Universe to sort itself out.

I learned that summer to get out of my own way, to trust in the precise workings of the Universe to smooth out the rough edges. Sometimes the end result may not be what you wanted or expected, but it almost always is what you needed. The lessons in our lives will continue repeating themselves until we get the message, until the lesson is learned. We are happy when we focus on the things we can control and miserable when we focus on uncontrollables.

This reminder was a hard one for me to grasp. 

 

(More fab fam photos)

Regardless of the Friday morning feeling useless, the rest of my weekend camping was a blast. My extended family and I packed multiple cars and headed to Stanardsville, Virginia, to celebrate the coming of May (also known as Beltaine). Groups that ranged from two to fifteen people were there with the overall census of fewer than two hundred pitched up tents and outside kitchens. Many were dressed in a Renaissance festival or gypsy garb, while others stuck to typical camping apparel. There were venders selling an assortment of wonders surrounding a large bonfire circle, next to the maypole where the May King and Queen were handfasted. There were train cars modified into living quarters, each with a bathroom, a kitchen, a common area, and a bedroom. Drumming and laughter could be heard throughout the night while various holistic arts were taught during the day.

 

 

I thought this was the coolest thing!

I was still rather lethargic from Friday morning’s episode, so I didn’t wander from camp often, except to see the maypole ceremony, to visit a family friend for lunch, and to use the facilities. Much of my time was spent taking pictures of the people I loved, the campground, the food, and reading Gaiman and Pratchett’s Good Omens.

(Photos of food... XD)

Gluten free chili

I have to admit I was a tad worried about what I would be eating on this trip. I anticipated not being able to eat much of what the others would be eating and packed accordingly: Granny Smith apples, So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk, raw vegetables, rolled oats, a can of beans, raisins, almond butter, almond slivers, two kinds of already cooked rice, potatoes, and canned salmon.

My family wasn’t having that. 

Half of the stuff I brought came back with us, simply because I was accommodated for the main meal. We had two types of chili, both Morri friendly (but one was made with my own spice blend), with quinoa on the side. The breakfasts were also Morri-friendly, but I tend towards hot cereals in the mornings.

And of course, there was coffee.

This weekend further proved how much I love my family, even adding a few more on the roster.

By Monday, I was having an off morning, and it may or may not have been because of the news that the whole world seemed to be watching. Things were not going according to plan. Half of me really wanted to just lie on the couch and watch cartoons all day, to forget how the real world can be a scary and unforgiving place. By my Tai Chi class, that changed completely.

I truly believe Tai Chi is Taoism in movement (which, incidentally enough, it actually is). For the majority of the classes I had been having a hard time memorizing the form, completely forgetting parts and simply frustrated with the right hand being dominant (I’m left-handed) with the sword. Except for slight mistakes that were easily fixable, I was able to do the entire form yesterday, with and without a group.

It was a small victory, but one such as this truly makes all the difference.

And then, there was dinner with the boyfriend. While I was out camping he went to Nashville, Tennessee, to participate in a half-marathon run with a mutual friend. He regaled me with his misadventures and achievements while I cooked up a new inspiration, showing off his new cowboy boots with the smug attitude of being taller (he and I are practically the same size, except he is a centimeter or so taller). In two weeks he will be gone until late August for an internship in Texas, so dinners (any meal, really) like this one will be happening as often as we can before he leaves.

Protein Packed BBQ (Beef, Bean, & Quinoa) Patties with Cornbread Rounds

For the patties
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 c. Refried Beans (I used Trader Joe’s refried black beans with jalapeños)
1 c. Cooked Quinoa
1/4 tsp. Sea salt (may be omitted, as the end result is rather salty)
2 tsp. Crushed garlic
Red chili pepper flakes (optional)

For the sauce
1 c. Trader Joe’s Garlic Chipotle Salsa
1 c. Water

Thoroughly combine the ingredients for the patties in a large mixing bowl.
Place a skillet (I recommend your biggest one) on medium heat with your choice of cooking oil coating the bottom.
Scoop up the mixture in 1/4 c. increments (or larger in you prefer) and form them into patties (give or take, 10 to 12) onto the skillet.
After a few minutes, add the water and salsa into the skillet, cover the pan, and allow to cook for ten minutes.
Flip over the patties, reduce the heat to medium-low, and let cook for another five minutes until done (the result will be softer than your typical burger patty, but it should still feel rather firm in the middle).

Makes 11 patties. Serve with cornbread rounds and a side of French-cut green beans.

* Even though I used 1 ounce less of fat than what Ruhlman calls for, the result still gave a greasy crumb, though it tasted wonderful and had a wonderful crust. (So, to my fellow gluten free bloggers of the GF Ratio Rally, any tips on how to fix this?)

Cornbread Rounds

3 oz Cornmeal
2 oz Arrowroot starch
2 oz Amaranth
1 oz Millet
0.5 oz Agave nectar
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
2 tsp. Baking powder
8 oz. Whole milk
2 Large eggs
3 oz Coconut oil, room temperature)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
Using a blender, combine the milk, eggs, coconut oil, and agave nectar until it has a smooth consistency. (This is important for the coconut oil, as it hardened on contact with the milk.)
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl, and mix the wet and dry ingredients using a whisk or hand-held blender until thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter into muffin tins (greased or wrapper-lined).
The muffins take about 50 minutes to bake, but check to make sure they are done with a toothpick or knife.

Makes 8 – 12 muffins.