Hello, friends!  Yes, I am still alive.  Yes, I did miss this weeks recipe ReDux post and yes, I swear I have a perfectly good reason (even though I hate excuses).  On Saturday, I got back from 2 food adventure, city exploring and perspective filled weeks right in the heart of our nation's capitol.  I was in Washington DC!  Now you're probably wondering how I was provided the good fortune to take a 2 week vacation and I can assure you while at many times I pretended it was one, I was there to work.  

I am very fortunate that my dietetic internship program affords interns 3 weeks (or more if you find other opportunities you are excited about) to search for experiences in an area the DI itself does not expose you to.  I have always been interested in policy and government.  I took poly sci classes for fun during undergrad, I get excited about presidential election season, I was involved with student government during my undergraduate career, and sometimes I listen to NPR and CSPAN for fun.  Stop gasping.  I'm in agreement with you on my nerd status.  Anyway, the obvious takeaway from that is clearly policy and government regulatory agencies that relate back to food, nutrition and agriculture would be of great interest to me.  So, I set up an opportunity with Food Directions in DC, which lead to me having one of the most exciting and perspective filled 2 weeks of my DI thus far.    

Food Directions has their foot through so many doors in Washington.  They attend congressional hearings, participate in seminars, attend discussions, and have relations with so many regulatory agencies and big players in the food industry.  At FD, they have to keep up-to-date on all the happenings in food and nutrition for their clients.  I was fortunate to be a part of all it for the 2 weeks I was in DC.  From monitoring the media and Federal Register, to drafting blog posts, to attending hearings and seminars, and even conducting background research on client projects, I can say I learned more about the current face of nutrition that I had in my almost 1 year as a dietetic intern.  From GMOs to Country of Origin Labeling, I was able to stay on top of all current issues related to food, nutrition and agriculture and I LOVED IT.  

This DI has provided me with a lot of uncertainty and in many ways, I think it's supposed to--not one specific experience has clicked for me screaming, "I'm your life's passion!".  While I still have much of that uncertainty, there is clarity beyond it all.  Clarity that I could see myself involved with all the policy, regulations, and communications regarding these incredible issues that shape the careers of all food and nutrition professionals.  Clarity that I can finally see a short term path to my professional future, rather than my long term goal of working towards becoming faculty at a university and teaching.  I enjoyed every minute of my time in DC--from all the great food I sampled, to the experiences I gained with Food Directions.  DC is truly a wonderful place full of opportunities and I cannot wait until the time my life brings me back.

Much of my time with Food Directions was spent summarizing "top takeaways" from seminars and current events in food and nutrition so for you, I will provide you with my top takeaways of two weeks in DC.  

1. DC is a place you go to gain perspective on everything.  Life, the U.S., your career, everything.  
2. There is so much to see and do, two weeks is certainly not enough time to cover it all.
3. ALL.  THE. FOOD.  There was just no physical way for me to eat everything I wanted to eat.  I'm sharing some photos below.  Perhaps a post dedicated to food I ate will be coming later this week (time dependent of course).  
4. DC is a very fit city--fitness boutiques and gyms and joggers everywhere.  Probably more exercisers on the national mall than actual tourists.  I wish I was kidding.  This lead me to discover one of my favorite parts about the trip on an early morning run through the national mall:  The November Project.  Seriously, I'm obsessed.  The whole idea of November project is building a fitness oriented community and I could not believe how many people show up (probably close to 200!) for these grueling workouts that involve running the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.  Then they give each other sweaty hugs after.  They seem cool.
5. Price.  DC is expensive.  Food, transportation, and even rent is a small price to pay to live among all the excitement.  
6. I could see myself living here some day.  

Enjoy these photos from my trip!

Time for some spring cleaning.  But not the boring type.  

The boring type would be cleaning my closet or bathroom.  I'm talking the food involved type.  Spring cleaning my fridge!  So this month, the Recipe ReDux theme is "Spring Cleaning."  It wasn't difficult to realize that I had some ingredients that needed used up.  Honestly, some of my favorite meals are thrown up by looking at what is in my fridge and just going with it.  

So where have I been these past 5 weeks?  Busy.  Gosh I'm a terrible blogger.  Guys I'm so sorry.  So I'm in the food service rotation of my dietetic internship and if your at all familiar with food service, the hours aren't typical and there is food around me ALL DAY LONG.  Sounds like a good thing from a money standpoint (and a food lovers perspective) but it probably isn't... but I'll get to that later.  Because I haven't been preparing many of my own meals for the past month and a half, I haven't really been cooking or grocery shopping.  Hence, no recipes recently.

So, when I was tasked with spring cleaning my fridge, there wasn't much to go through.  However, I had recently bought a bunch of eggs on sale that were going to go bad, and had some veggies that were on their last leg, in addition to some chicken sausage in the freezer and then BAM!  This recipe was born.  Frittatas are no brainer recipes that you cant mess up.  Throw in whatever you need to eat into the mix and then bake.  Couldn't be easier.  The best part is that I've had a grab and go breakfast for days now.  Just pop a slice of the leftover frittata in the microwave and you're good to go.  For those of you unfamiliar with frittatas, think of it as basically a crustless egg pie.  SO DELICIOUS.

So if you've made it this far in the post, congratulations!  I wanted to take a minute to share with you some of my personal observations while temporarily joining the world of food service management.  Having the majority of my meals provided for has been nothing short of wonderful.  However, it has put me in an environment forcing me to make choices I haven't had to make in a long time.  As many of you know, I am a huge advocate for the concept that nutrition is dependent on us making educated choices; weighing the decisions of the food we eat.  I don't think of any one food as good or bad.  I think of eating as a series of choices.  I think that it's okay to eat that cookie, as long as you understand that it might be less filling than eating Greek yogurt with fruit.  Eating is all about understanding the choices we make in order to achieve balance.  My typical stocked fridge at home is mostly filled with healthy snacks, fruits, and veggies so making the smart decision is usually pretty easy for me.  However, being in an environment where all the healthy and less healthy options I could ever dream of are readily available has been nothing but challenging.  I have made the conscious choice to pick the options like curly fries and cookies instead of fruit and baked potatoes.  Having the less desirable choices around is tempting and choosing to not eat them is not easy.  I've even gained a few pounds these last few weeks, however, I don't fall back on my opinion.  Eating is not about the food options available, but the choices we make in order to achieve balance.  I've chosen to eat cookies every day.  That's my choice.  It's not the fault of the facility I'm working in that I've gained a few pounds.  They have not forced me to eat a cookie with lunch every day.  I've decide to.  I'm using this as a way to reflect on the experience.  While I understand why some people may not always agree with my nutritional perspective, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on these past few weeks and relate it back to my soapbox.  

I like this recipe a lot.  You can literally throw in any veggies or meats you like.  Get creative with your frittatas and tell me what add-ins you'll use!  

serves 6

Today I bring you one of the best breakfasts (or brunches...if you like to sleep in).

Pancakes are the best.  Second comes eggs but I can't wrap my head around calling eggs the best breakfast when I eat eggs for literally every meal of the day.  Like yesterday's lunch for example.  Anyhow, calling anything "loaded" automatically gets my attention.  Does it get yours?  When I hear that a recipe is loaded, I envision so many delicious foods incorporated within one delicious recipe.  Hopefully this does not disappoint.  I loaded my version up with bananas and blueberries (my all time favorite pancake combo).  I think that creamy bananas make all pancakes better, balanced out by sweet yet tart blueberries.  YUM YUM YUM.  Load your pancakes up with your favorite toppings!  These are fluffy yet durable pancakes and they can hold the toppings.  I really wish I got a photo of just how much fruit is inside those bad boys.  And don't forget about the oatmeal!  There's oatmeal in these guys!  And I've recently become obsessed with oatmeal so having that as a mandatory ingredient for these pancakes was necessary.

So... oatmeal.  Have you ever actually run out of oatmeal?  I didn't think it was possible.  But guys... it is.  I know that's a really random thing to share with you all.  The past week was kind of random.  I can't really put my finger on why.  Likely because I haven't had a "normal routine" for a while.  And granted my normal isn't "normal" but I think it threw me off my game a little.  We conducted interviews all week for future interns to my dietetic internship.  Not gonna lie, listening to 31 applicants was exhausting.  The catered Panera lunches helped, but definitely exhausting.  These interviews were not on a regular schedule either so I'm sure that goes with some of this weirdness I felt last week.

But actually... GUYS!  It felt like summer last week.  And by summer, I mean mid-west summer.  Like we jumped from being in the low 20's to being in the 60's!  People were walking around in shorts and flip flops here.  Which is crazy because it wasn't that warm!  Like wait until August and it's 90 F.  Those fools will feel silly.  I was able to run outside last week!  The snow melted and it was wonderful.  I actually was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt.  It makes marathon training more fun.  Today the high is 75 F here in Peoria (is that record setting?  it must be).  I just remember this time last year it was cold and icky out.  I know I'm an adult who just used the word icky.  Get over it.  But really, can't wait to run after work today... it would be a waste of such a gorgeous day if I didn't.

Speaking of running... these pancakes make the BEST post run meal.  They have all sorts of delicious things in them and I top mine with peanut butter.  So these are loaded with oatmeal, banana, and blueberries and topped with peanut butter pretty much making them the best ever.  Are you ready for delicious?  These kept me full for hours yesterday so be warned.  Next time I make them I'm adding dried cherries and walnuts and blueberries and chocolate chips.  YUM-O.  Tell me what you put in your pancakes!  I want to know.  

You guys, I used to be bad at making cookies.

But look at those beauties, no way I fail at making cookies anymore.  I figured out my problem.  When I bake cookies, I try to make them "healthy cookies."  Substituting ingredients, swapping things around, and it never works in my favor.  No matter how scientifically I think about it.  So I went with my gut, and decided that I would make real-deal cookies.  The kind that has butter and sugar and lots of amazing fillings.  Because everything in moderation, right?  Let's just say moderation was tricky with these bad boys because they were "so good you have to hide them in the freezer cookies."  

So like I said before, when I get too experimental with a cookie recipe, it never works out in my favor.  I have to give credit to Jessica, because her oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is literally the best.  I used her recipe and made a few tweaks to it to give it that coffee, walnut and sea salt flare you're oh so curious about.  I have to also give credit to Cait as well because I was scouring the web to see who else had done this before and she's clearly a coffee lover like me.  

So I see so much potential for creating new types of cookies with the base of this cookie recipe.  I've already had requests for trail mix cookies.  Which is actually one of my favorite types of cookies.  You know, putting allllll the dried fruit and nuts into the cookie?  But not raisins, because I hate raisins.  If you love them, I apologize.  But don't add them to the coffee cookies, because that would be weird.

Remember all those new years resolutions we all made related to food, health and fitness back in January?  If you're like me, it's probably a struggle to keep up with them.  Life can get to you.  I totally understand.  Adopting healthy habits is all about baby steps.  One little change at a time.  Why not make it your mission to adopt these healthy habits now?  January may be over, but March is National Nutrition Month and it's a fresh new opportunity to make leading a healthy and nutritious lifestyle a priority.  To learn more about 5 healthy habits you can adopt this month, check out my post on the Miami University Dining Blog.  

I bring you the first of many posts inspired by Chopped and the sauce I've been putting on everything this week (like this).

Last weekend, one of my good friends sent me a text basically begging me to take part in a monthly cooking challenge where we made up our own mystery baskets and prepared an original recipe.  You know if food is involved I'm usually game.  The timing for this idea couldn't have come at a better time, because our first basket was inspired by this contest, which we both conveniently forgot to enter.  So, our secret ingredients were:  

• Shredded Italian cheese 
• Red pepper
• Greek yogurt 
• Chicken

I didn't want to go full on Italian, which these ingredients were basically begging me to do.  Then I realized I hadn't celebrated Pizza Night in months.  At that point, pizza felt like the obvious decision.  A south of the border twist on a pizza.   

Recently, one of my friends introduced me to the magic that is Penzeys Spices.  Now, these spices were definitely more than I'd normally spend, but I picked some unique spices that I thought would be worth the price tag for top notch quality.  I could not pass up the chance to use my chipotle pepper spice in this recipe.  I'm actually obsessed with it.  I don't know how I seasoned food without this spice in my life.  Seriously.  It's da bomb.  The spicy, smokey flavor of the chipotle seasoning matches perfectly with the sweetness of the roasted red pepper.  It's the perfect match.  I've been eating this sauce on everything since it's inception.  The recipe I'm going to give you makes way more than you need for a pizza (which is totally the point, because leftovers are great for EVERYTHING).  This sauce not only works with this pizza, but it's great as a salad dressing, egg sandwich topper, or even as a substitute for mayo in a turkey wrap.  

So, there's a requirement for pizza night and that requirement is eat your pizza with a glass of wine.  So you should probably get on that right now.  Besides, I used a store bought pizza crust this time so this recipe is super quick.  So get cooking.  And after you make your pizza, tell me about your favorite pizza toppings!  I like spicy toppings, like chipotle seasoned chicken!

*Disclaimer:  one day in the future, my pizzas will be normal shaped.  For now, weird shapes are more fun.

Serves 4 (recipe makes two small pizzas or 1 large pizza)

I've got a chocolate recipe that your heart will fall in love with...

So today is Recipe Redux day and you know what that means.  I'm blogging with a theme:
Favorite Chocolate Matches
Does your chocolate need a friend? This month’s posting will be after Valentine’s Day, so you may have a bit of extra chocolate around. What’s your favorite chocolate match? Be it traditional peanut butter or something more exotic like cayenne + chocolate. Show us your favorite healthy chocolate combo recipe.

I was going to share this recipe with you this month anyway, because after demoing it at a wellness center earlier this month, I fell in love.  My heart fell in love; literally and figuratively.  For those of you who didn't know, February is heart health month.    This recipe is very heart healthy, and I like it when my heart is healthy.  Don't you?  

I'll tell you the truth when I first saw people of the internet making puddings with avocados, I was quite skeptical.  Like how could chocolate and avocado actually pair together?  How could you get a pudding our mousse from something that grows from the ground?  Well, it works.  Avocados are rich, creamy and blend up in the food processor to creamy perfection.  Full of heart healthy fats, you can feel good about eating this pudding and there is NO DAIRY IN IT.  That's right!  So I guess you could say for those of you who follow special diets, that it's pretty much appropriate for everyone:  paleo, vegan, vegetarian, dairy free.  I think people who don't like fun are the only ones who'll be opting out of this recipe.  

While I think the avocado and chocolate make pretty great friends, you can absolutely jazz this up with even more exciting flavor pairings.  I like adding cinnamon, which you'll see in the recipe below.  A little sweet and a little spicy...it's perfect.  But you could change the flavor however you want!  Use coconut milk to get a coconut and chocolate pairing.  Add ginger.  The options are endless.  If you want to be super sneaky, serve this one to kids and don't tell them what the secret ingredient is until after they tell you it's awesome.  After you thank me for getting your kids to eat something green, tell me what your favorite chocolate pairing is!

So I thought I'd write a post that wasn't necessarily a standard recipe, but instead a recipe of sorts for conquering a busy week.  Like my week.  It felt like the week would never end, going from meeting to meeting, a million projects to accomplish and very little sleep.  This is the week of weeks where you'd probably eat a lot of McDonalds.  Or fast food.  Whatever you fancy.  Trust me I get it.  But with a few simple tricks and a little preparation ahead of time you can have some key weekly staples ready and prepared for your week.

Become a master veggie roaster.  I'm telling you.  I've never been the biggest fan of raw veggies but you roast them off in the oven and I'll eat the whole entire cookie sheet.  No joke.  Roast a pan or two of your favorites (I like squash, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and carrots) and keep in the fridge ready to go for the week.  Eat on a salad, scramble with eggs, or serve as a side dish with a grilled meat.  You'll have the hardest part about making dinner already prepared, which will hopefully motivate you to use the veggies in healthy meals all week long!  To roast the veggies, preheat your oven to 425 F and roast veggies of choice for 20-40 minutes, depending on the vegetable.  Vegetables should be fork tender.  Season veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper.  For an added kick of flavor, I like chili powder!

Make your own snack mix.  This sounds like a no brainer, right?  I get bored of the standard healthy snacks.  I don't know about you, but just eating a handful of walnuts or almonds is far from satisfying for me.  It doesn't give the flavor or bite I'm looking for in an afternoon snack.  Instead of paying buckets of money for store bought trail mixes create your own!  Chocolatey, salty, sweet and savory, it's all up to you.  This week I went chocolatey making one with chocolate fiber one cereal, dark chocolate chips, cinnamon spiced pepitas, walnuts, cashews, and golden raisins.  The options are limitless.  Store in an airtight container and measure out by 1/3 cup servings and you'll be good to go for the week.

...and the best part of the busy week; meeting Alton Brown!  So I saw Alton's tour when he performed in Cincinnati, OH.  I may have mentioned it here.  Anyhow, he posted some coordinates saying come here for a flash signing, so I did.  I was able to go on my lunch break (thank goodness).  A brief conversation, a few photographs, and one autograph later, I had met one of my favorite TV food personalities.  So cool.  And he was exactly as you'd expect him to be.  A little goofy, super friendly, and very chatty.  It pretty much goes down in history as the best lunch break ever.  I even reminded him of the two empty seats in the front row when I saw him in Cincinnati and he got a good laugh out of that.  Who doesn't show up to a show when you've purchased front row seats?  How rude.  

Good luck conquering your weeks.  I know you can do it.

OH HEY GUYS.  Life has been crazy.  Ranch makes it better.

I'm getting back into that whole, being sent all over Central IL to spend 40 hours each week working dietitians only to come home to grad school homework.  Let's put it this way.  I'm not in the mood to think creatively.  Food consists of lots of eggs.  Lots of eggs.  Because who doesn't love eggs?  And the fact they've been on sale recently may be a part of it too...

Anyway... this past Sunday was the Super Bowl.  While football happened, I think we can all agree the real winner Sunday was left shark.  So there was a gathering of sorts for the game.  I'm sorry I meant for the "Katy Perry concert featuring football."  Sorry I'm not very funny.  This gathering was a bunch of the dietetic interns so clearly it was more or less a healthy Super Bowl party.  And this amazing ranch dip was made.  Shout out to Katie (or should I be blaming her...) for making me dream of ranch this week.  

I'm all for making things from scratch, don't get me wrong but I've been craving ranch like no other and wasn't about to go to the store to buy extra spices when I had 2 packets of ranch seasoning right at home.  Do you ever just have those moments where you want something right away and don't want to wait?  That's the story of my life.  I love instant gratification.  Like if I have an insane cookie craving, I have no patience to wait and defrost one from my freezer, or bake a batch from scratch...NO I have to run to the store and buy cookies.  My impatience can almost be an inconvenience sometimes.  But not with these burgers.  Ranch seasoning makes instant gratification exactly that:  instant.  Hence the inspiration for my ranch burgers.  Ranch tastes good on a burger so why not mix it in?  You could totally make the ranch seasoning blend from scratch but when you're busy, who wants to spend more than 20 minutes cooking and cleaning?  I'd like to argue that this meal took 15 minutes to make.  That's right; I dare you to come time me.  

While the burgers cook, you prepare the ranch dip.  Who doesn't love ranch dip?  This is creamy and tart and has all the ranch flavor you love.  And I made it with Greek yogurt!  So it's got protein and it's low in fat.  It's the best because it's healthy ranch.  If you aren't a Greek yogurt fan, you could always do light sour cream and half yogurt.  It's a good way to ease yourself into becoming a yogurt dip lover.

I suggest you eat your ranch sliders with your ranch dip.  Maybe even on a delicious bun with avocado, sriracha and some sharp cheddar.  Excuse me while I go make that sandwich now.  And if you're feeling extra crazy, some baked green bean fries to dip in that ranch?  My mouth is watering.

You guys.  I'm apologizing.  

I've been distant.  To be exact, I haven't posted in 4 weeks.  I swear I've been cooking.  Let me tell you a little about my life this past month and maybe you'll forgive me?  I hope you'll forgive me.  I've been busy working.  Working on research and working at my seasonal job.  For those of you who don't know I work seasonally at Nordstrom in the active department.  It's a wonderful way to make some extra money on the side plus, who doesn't like getting a discount on nice things?  It's pretty much a win win.  The research is for my grad program.  You know, because that's what you do as a graduate student.  And if we are being honest, I wasn't that productive on it.  I got distracted by my family...and my dogs.  I know...excuses.

Let's address the other elephant in the room.  The title of my recipe does say pork.  To all the Jewish mothers and grandmothers reading today, I'm sorry.  I saw a friend post a pork recipe and it just sounded good.  Thus inspiring this recipe, this post, and my first ever experience cooking a big hunk of pork.  Saying it that way sounds delicious...doesn't it.

So you guys, I think I'm ba-curious.  Have you ever heard of the term?  Well supposedly there are vegans and vegetarians who break the habit for bacon.  Ba-curious people are people who make exceptions in their diet for bacon.  Can we call me the kosher version?  I'm a Jew who enjoys my pork on the rare occasion.  Shoot me?  

So this slow cooker recipe is so simple it's stupid.  I can't do just sweet.  Always sweet and salty.  Or my favorite:  sweet and spicy.  And it just so happens this month's #RecipeRedux challenge is all about spicy and smoky flavors.  Sweet apples paired with spicy sriracha, and smokey paprika and cumin make for the perfect sweet and spicy apple cider slow cooker pork.  Seriously, it's delish.  I had to mess around with the cooking time because it wasn't as tender as I would have liked the first time I made it but let me tell you it's pretty great.  Especially since it's my first time cooking pork loin.  And just a side note, you can use pork tenderloin, which is a superior cut of meat and much more tender cut of meat than the pork loin, but it's significantly more expensive.  Both work, it's up to you.  Happy eating, friends.  I like serving this on top of mashed cauliflower and a with a dollop of BBQ sauce.