We survived....GENUARY!

This past Christmas, as my brothers and I were riding with our mom to the location that we were to take our annual family Christmas card, we were discussing words that we absolutely hate to hear or use. (Disclosure: my brothers are 19 and 10 years old.) While the stereotypical hated words were mentioned, i.e. "moist" my youngest brother said in a very serious tone..."I just really hate when people say the word...GENNNNUARY." He meant the word "January" but drug the word out so that we actually thought he was going to say the word "genuine". Laughter erupted from the backseat of the car and we have been talking about how much we loathe GENUARY all month. Exciting news...WE'VE ALMOST SURVIVED THE DREADED GENUARY. 

Things are finally settling into a routine, internship, gym, gym, school, gym, school, internship, and finally my beloved lazy Fridays. Fridays I usually go to the gym (big surprise there!) and then spend the rest of the day on the couch with Netflix and whipping up things in the kitchen. Last night, I had to fight my brother for the kitchen while he made his own version of fried rice (and left me with the dishes) but i made some great cookies to eat while watching way too many episodes of SNL on Netflix! They were mostly healthy and gluten-free! 

I mixed 1 super ripe banana, some oats, about a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a handful of chocolate chips together. I placed them in small goops/balls on a baking sheet and baked them at 350 for about 10 minutes. They were DELICIOUS. Washed them down with some vanilla soymilk & I was one happy girl. 

These cookies were the perfect comfort food to help me survive the last few days of Genuary. I am looking forward to fresh starts in February with the new month! Keep up the good work, yall! xoxo

Beating the Post-Holiday Blues

Wow! I'm on a roll! 2 posts in 2 days. Today I am home, in bed with ample amounts of coffee & candles because it is a SNOW DAY...with absolutely no snow. We got ice and freezing rain last night, so all of the schools are closed, and my family and I have decided we are quarantined to our cozy house. This time of year is always extremely difficult for me. I love the holidays and always have an extreme sense of let-down once they are over. I have been working hard to combat that feeling this year by stepping up workouts, creating fitness goals for myself, experimenting with clean (and not so clean) recipes, and looking forward to all of the fun and exciting things that this new year will bring. These include summer concerts, beach trips, and the 4 days of off-the-grid fun and music at my beloved Floydfest. Below are a few pictures from last year's Floydfest & pre-festival volunteer work, I have been looking at photos of fun to get myself out of the post-holiday funk as well. 

Focusing on health has also been one of my coping techniques for dealing with winter blahs. If I exercise regularly, take vitamins, drink lots of water, & eat healthy foods it helps my immune system so I can avoid colds and other illnesses. Being healthy also helps my mental and emotional well-being. One thing I have been trying to focus on recently is a consistent bedtime routine that has helped tremendously with my quality of sleep. I brush my teeth, wash my face, then put on lotion (trying to combat this awful winter, lizardy skin), and do a bedtime stretching routine. Stretching helps to relax my muscles before sleep and helps me to sleep soundly through the night. Below is an example of really good bedtime stretches that I found on Pinterest.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/239324167673159335/

A good night's sleep helps me focus throughout the day to tackle workouts, schoolwork, interning, or whatever else the day throws my way!

Last night, I made this dijon-maple chicken for my family for dinner and they LOVED it. Absolutely no leftovers. I thought I would leave the recipe here for you guys if you'd like to try it. The recipe is very simple with only 4 ingredients, chicken breasts, dijon mustard, maple syrup, and red wine vinegar. The recipe calls for cooking the chicken in the oven but I did mine in the crockpot so that it would remain extra juicy, and so that I could put it in during the afternoon when I had time and it would be ready by dinner time. I also doubled the recipe since I was making it for the whole family. Very, very good!! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful year so far and I hope that these techniques help to brighten your dreary January days a little. 


http://rachelschultz.com/2012/07/11/worlds-best-chicken/

Bring It On, 2015

Today is January 13, 2015 and this New Year has already been one of my favorites. I am still on a nice, long holiday break from grad school & getting to spend lots of time with my family back at home. I have had time to experiment with recipes that turned out great, like gluten-free breakfast casserole for Christmas morning, or my new-found obsession, overnight oats! I have also tried recipes that failed disastrously, like the gluten-free cauliflower pizza casserole...YUCK.  
I have also begun tracking my gluten-free recipes and workouts on Instagram, which has been a new adventure in keeping myself accountable for living a healthy life. The account is @glutenfreegradschool so give me a follow or few likes if you feel so inclined. 
I just got back from an amazing trip to New Jersey & New York, while still keeping myself accountable and working out every day! 2 days I did home workouts in the at-home gym of the house we stayed in, focusing on arms with free weights and using some of the Insanity workouts. The 3rd day my workout was a 5.6 mile walk through New York City shopping (and dragging my boyfriend the whole way)! 
I have been trying to navigate a full gym since the New Year but am doing my best to remain patient and focused. I have a few New Year's Resolutions of my own that I'd like to share. 
1. DO LESS. Relax more. - I am a busy bee. I managed to finish my first semester of grad school with straight A's, while losing close to 10 lbs, making new friends, and basically running a household. I love to be productive and get things done, but I often forget to slow down & enjoy doing nothing.
2. DO MORE YOGA. - I took a hot yoga class in the fall right when classes started and it was the most amazing thing. I want to take the time to slow down and do more yoga to better my body and mind. 
3. EAT MORE SALMON. - this one is only kind of a joke. My mom and I were laughing about New Year's Resolutions on New Year's Eve and had the revelation that if we made a very simple Resolution, we could actually stick with it. Since neither of us are big fish eaters, we realized that if we ate salmon one time in 2015, we would have kept and met our resolution! We bought salmon last week & plan to keep our resolution, unlike many unsuccessful people who make long-term, hard to reach goals. :) 

I am spending the morning drinking coffee, listening to Dave Matthews Band (my favorite!) & blogging. While this isn’t exactly doing nothing, it is relaxing for me & I am starting the morning with good vibes. I will eventually get myself together and head to the gym for either cardio or legs, but for now I am enjoying these quiet moments before the spring semester starts next week. I will leave you with my favorite recipe for the best ever overnight oats that I have enjoyed numerous times this break.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe, and relaxing 2015!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

-1/2 cup gluten free oats

-1/3 cup milk (I’ve used 1%, but my favorite was Vanilla Soy Milk)

-1/4 cup non-fat vanilla (I’ve used banana here too!) yogurt

-dash of vanilla extract

-a couple tablespoons of reduced fat peanut butter (I vary this, it depends on how much peanut butter I feel like using that night)

-a couple tablespoons of either chocolate protein powder (I use on mornings I’m lifting) or chocolate flavored Carnation Breakfast Essentials powder mix

Combine all ingredients in a container with a lid (Tupperware, Mason jar, old butter container- anything with a lid!) and stir. Place container in the refrigerator & go to sleep!! In the morning just grab a spoon & enjoy! No cooking, no heating, just wake up and your breakfast is ready! 

Ya’ll know I am not the most specific person when it comes to measurement and recipes; I really just wing it on these oats and play around with different amounts. I plan to experiment with other ingredients for overnight oats; I just can’t get over how good the chocolate and peanut butter ones are! Stay tuned for other recipes, if I can ever bring myself to branch out!

Falling for Fall

WOW...they tell you that grad school is hectic but holy cow. I really thought that I would be posting on here weekly but it has been almost four! A lot has been going on in the last four weeks...more football games and tailgates, midterms, papers, reflections, interning,coordinating a friend's wedding, and trying to stay in them around 5 days a week. Through my Master's of Social Work program at Radford I am interning at a crisis stabilization/respite home for individuals with intellectual disabilities, most with co-occurring mental illnesses as well. I stay busy, that's for sure. On those days, I either go to the gym very early or use them as my rest days. Staying full enough to avoid getting HANGRY can prove very difficult on such busy days, especially because I never know quite what I am walking into when I arrive in the mornings. I usually try to pack some snacks to eat throughout the day and a salad if I know that the house is serving a meal that I can't eat. Last week, the house was serving barbecue crock-pot chicken and I thought I would try some. It was DELICIOUS! So good, in fact, that the very next day I made it for my brother and boyfriend for dinner in the apartment. It was so simple and so delicious. 

I hardly ever use actual measurements in recipes and it usually turns out okay. For this barbecue chicken I combined:

                                        about 2.5 lbs chicken breast

about a cup and a half of barbecue sauce

about a 1/4th of a cup of italian dressing

sprinkle of garlic powder

sprinkle of black pepper

Combine all ingredients in crock-pot. My chicken breasts were frozen so I left them on high for around 5 hours, until they were fully cooked and beginning to fall apart. I sauteed some broccoli and baked some potatoes to serve with the chicken. Super easy meal that was delicious, gluten-free, and full of vegetables! I plan to use the crock-pot a lot more this fall and winter since I can start dinner before I leave to intern and it will be ready when I get home. I have thoroughly enjoyed fall in the New River Valley so far. This weekend we plan to visit haunted houses, pick and carve pumpkins, and hopefully go for a hike to see the beautiful leaves! Looking forward to the weekend and hopefully having some time for a little rest and relaxation. Until then, it's just another a day in the life of a gluten-free grad student. 

Below is a photo from our first Blacksburg hike to the Falls Ridge Nature Preserve. The leaves are now in their peak of bright colors, I can't wait to take pictures this weekend!

New Beginnings

Hello! 

I am a first year graduate student, working on my MSW. I am also 2 and a half years gluten free, LOVE working out, and am currently finding my way in a new town and at a new school. I have experimented with many different recipes over the past 2 years and things have definitely gotten easier as being gluten free has become more common. Recently I have come across an article on my Facebook NewFeed titled "Science Proves Gluten Sensitivity Isn't Real, People are Just Whiners". After reading the article, as well as the comments by people who have posted the article, I am enraged. 1. A diet choice is a personal choice, and nobody else has any grounds to comment on that decision. 2. Nobody attacks vegetarians or people who are lactose intolerant for having a sensitivity or being "whiners". 3. Why don't the people who have issues with us NCGS's (non-celiac gluten sensitivity) just shut up and appreciate the fact that there is more pizza for them to enjoy when we don't go near it??

Rant aside, I have created this blog to create an accumulation of some of my favorite things. Cooking, trying new recipes, working out, and socializing. I am a social work graduate student, juggling interning, and handling a new living situation that includes my sophomore brother, my senior boyfriend, and his sophomore sister. I often end up planning the weekly meals, grocery shopping, and cooking. I am basically a Mom-in-training. I belong to an off campus gym since I live about 25 minutes from my grad school campus. It's also tailgate season so I have been trying to find healthy(ish) gluten-free tailgate-friendly recipes that will please the picky crowd I try to entertain. A couple weeks ago I made gluten free cheesy hashbrown bacon & egg muffins...(keyword healthyISH). They were a hit! It was an early game so I made them on Friday night so that I could just warm them in the microwave, squirt some ketchup on a plate, and make it look like I had been up cooking since sunrise! 

The recipe follows:

you will need

1 bag (20 oz) frozen shredded hash browns (thawed)
2 tables spoons vegetable oil (I substituted butter)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp milk
6 eggs
3/4 c crumbled crispy bacon
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese



Heat oven to 400 degrees F.Spray regular sized muffin tins with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl combine potatoes, vegetable oil, salt, & pepper. Divide mixture into muffin tins, pushing down to make room. 
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until golden brown.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs & combine milk. Stir in bacon and cheese.Press down into potatoes to make more room in the muffin tins. Spoon egg mixture into muffin tins. Leave a little bit of room in tin for muffin to expand. Cook 13-17 minutes, until golden brown and no longer runny. 

Let sit for a few minutes, then enjoy!
Like I said, I baked mine on Friday night and microwaved them. We enjoyed the leftovers all week! They are great with ketchup or sriracha. 

There is another noon game this weekend so I will have to see what kinds of recipes I can find and try this week! Stay posted for more recipes, workouts, & my adventures of being gluten free at grad school!