Save life, not face.

According to the American Association of Suicidology, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2011, 39,418 suicides were reported. Suicide is the 12^th leading cause of death in the United States. (2012)

I've talked a few times about suicide prevention on the blog.  And the recent suicide death of Robin Williams, brought it back into light why it’s so important. The reaction to his death brought up another important point, the pressures that people face.  While I was aware that Robin Williams had suffered from depression many people were so surprised that him, a comedian, would die that way. 

So many people wear a mask, while they are silently struggle. Afraid to talk to even their closest loved ones because of the stigma behind mental illness. Thinking themselves a failure rather than some one who is has a health condition that needs tending.  In fact, sometimes the people in lives encourage this. “Just suck it up” “Put on brave face”.  As an engineering grad, I saw it manifest another phrase “Maybe you just can’t hack it (as an engineering student)”

A few years ago I saw an article on the "most stressful colleges" in America. One of the parameters, "Does it have a STEM program?"  I'm glad I never saw that while I was a student, that can be very disheartening. Just knowing the fact your major exists makes the school a more stressful place.

College is quite an experience for young adults as it, add to it 18-20 hour semesters, math problems that take days to finish, and yes even the fact of missing out on fun some of their friends have.  MIT has one of the highest suicide for a college in the country and many other high on the list are known for their Science Technlogy Engineering and Medical (STEM) majors. Often times when an engineering students attempts suicide, they return school and the consensus becomes “ they just couldn’t hack it”.   To me that’s the same as telling a football player broke their leg, they just couldn’t “hack it” as a football player.  It’s true that some people do find that changing their major is the best option for them but with proper support from family, university , and specifically their department I feel many people could still succeed.

I look back at the people in my life I’ve known who’ve died from suicide and the celebrities whose talent I admired. They all seemed to be on top of the world.  I wonder, did they have someone to talk to? Did it even occure to them? Having a mother who’s a “mental health expert” <- she hates it when I call her that, but because of her I knew about mental health from a very early age and all the forms it takes. Just like physical health, sometimes it’s very temporary like a cold or average headache like when you have nightmares and can’t sleep all weekend, sometimes it’s more like a broken leg like when someone close passes away or postpartum depression, and sometimes it can be something you have to manage your whole life like diabetes or asthma.  Such as me and my ADD.  Most days I can focus decently, some days I am amazingly productive…then there are days when I forget what I’m watching on tv in between commercials, lol.

I did want to end this serious topic on a lighter note.  Talk with your friends, family, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc. Don't be afraid to express your feeling and in turn don't be afraid to listen. I'm awful at giving advice but I can still listen. Life isn’t about saving face, it’s about living life.  Through failures and good times, it really is all worth it.

The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24 hours every day with trained counselor available to assist someone in crisis. 

         1-800-273-TALK (8255)        

Getting Creative in the kitchen

Vegan Orange Cardamom
(decorated for a wedding shower)

This engineering baking life has been running me tired.

Still, I've been super creative in the kitchen lately. Mostly thanks to the people in my life. If I had a nickel for every time someone suggested a cupcake/recipe to me, I'd be in a commercial kitchen by now.   A customer suggested  Orange Cardamom vegan cupcakes.  A security guard in my office building thought that
blackberry merlot cupcakes would be amazing,  decided to go with a Chocolate merlot cake and blackberry merlot icing and I have to admit he was right!

One of talents is being able to just go into a kitchen and bake a new idea without referencing a recipe.  Baking isn't like cooking though, precision counts and it's taken lots of baking to be able to do that. Admittedly these days because of the business I will write down a suggested recipe that way I can keep track and tweak as neccesary. Allot of times when I test recipes I also admit that I use some shortcuts that don't go into the bulk baking for the business but make for experimenting much easier.  Here's some tips that I hope will help you out whenever you want to try something new in your baking life (or get your baker friend to do for you)

1. Self Rising Flour: For allot of people the hardest thing about just "baking up something" is the ratio of flour:salt:baking powder:baking soda.  For cakes, muffins, some brownies, and cookies, self rising(SR) flour (aka "biscuit flour" back home in the South) is a great shortcut.  Being a southern girl,

   

   Strawberry Cheesecake Chiffon cupcakes w/
   Strawberry Creamcheese icing
    (made with SR flour)

   SR flour is a staple in my house. If you recall my post last spring on wheat flour, you'll recall that SR flour is low in protein. It has about the same amount of protein as SoftasSilk cake flour (slightly more than my Brand of choice: Swan's down) so you can experiment with chiffon cake recipes with this flour too!  It's best to go by weight when using self rising flour though that being said if you go by volume adding about 20% more than the equivalent AP flour amount it should work out.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Jams and Reductions:  Some of you know that I'm not a fan of chocolate cake. It's just not my thing, I much prefer creamy, fruity, and/or caramelly goodness.  Especially fruity goodnes.  Adding fruit to baked goods is art and a science. When it comes cake and icing, concentrated flavour is the
   
   way to go.  Now some of you will use flavorings such as Lorann's, which is okay. Sometimes I use jam, personally I don't ever buy jam with gelatin, HFCS or even regular corn syrup and I'm kinda picky about pectin. So needless to say I don't have a bunch jam in my life.   I like to use real fruit so the best way to get that flavor concentrated is to reduce it.  Fresh or frozen, when I use fresh I add a bit of water, about 1/2cup to 3 cups of berries/2 cups of apples, add sugar to taste, spices if that's part of the plan (ginger to strawberries, cinnamon and ginger to apples, cardamom to pears, etc.)
   
   This also great when you want to get wine, liqueurs, really into your baked goods.  I reduced blackberries and raspberries in Trader Joe's Merlot for the Chocolate Merlot cupcakes and Blackberry Merlot icing. I sieved it so there were no seeds.  It's also great because you can make a larger batch and store it in the fridge. This can also work with some hard liquor: whisk(e)y, bourbon, gin, southern comfort (is that hard liquor or liqueur? I feel a blog post coming on that!)
   
3. Read a book:  If you can't just get started on coming up with ideas or if you're wondering "hmmm... can I really make Pear and Rosemary scones?" (answer: yes you can and should! well if you like both those things)  A food pairing guide is a great way to go.  I have two go-tos: The Flavor Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes and Ideas for the Creative Cook  by Niki Segnit and Ratio: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman.
   
4. Infusions: Earlier this year I came up with a vegan Chocolate Chai cupcake. (I don't like chocolate cake but these are so good!). To really pack in that chai flavor, I ground the chai tea and mixed it in

   

   Chocolate Chai Cupcakes
   made with chai infused coconut milk

   the flour. I also steeped the chai into the coconut milk that was used in the cake and frosting.  I'll infuse lavender, rosemary into butter. With flower waters: ginger into orange blossom water and jasmine into green tea. Infuse herbs into oils (ground vanilla bean into coconut oil!) Sugar is another good place for infusion: with grated citrus zest, vanilla bean,  tea, coffee, etc. Keep it in glass jar a few days before you bake with it so the sugar can get a chance to absorb all the awesome.
   
5. Break the rules:  When my sister-aunt would come from college and we'd try a new recipe it always seemed like she'd get to the sugar part and say "Nah, we're not adding all that sugar" and reduce it by 25-50% without blinking.  The recipe always turned out great.  One of my fave suburban holdover recipes is Cheese Squares, an ultra convenient recipe that consists of about 3-4 ingredients: Crescent rolls, cream cheese, lemon (optional), and egg wash.  The original recipe I found had 2 cups of sugar but we had only a little over a cup of sugar in the house so I just used that...planning to use some powdered sugar for a glaze to make up the difference.  But it was pretty sweet with just one cup, in fact these days I make it with 3/4 cup sugar. I couldn't imagine 2 cups of sugar.
   
6. Think outside of the box:  Want coconut flavor? Try coconut milk, coconut flour, canned wet coconut, steer clear of flaked or use unsweetened.  Ginger? switch from powdered to grating fresh or dicing crystalized.   Use Maple syrup, blackberry honey.  Grind tea into baked good, steep chocolate

   

   Tired of sweet potato pie? try sweet potato cake!

   in wine reductions, top things with pink sea salt. Read a Norwegian cookbook, go to a wagashi making class,  make a baked good version of your favorite ice cream. Make something vegan just because. Make cheesecake with goat cheese.  Try a savoury cheesecake.
   
   When folks ask how I come up with some of the flavors I say thinking outside the box is the biggest thing. It's the part of baking that reminds me the most of my day job.  In engineering as well as baking being able to come up with new ideas and being able to implement them is very important.
   
7. Keep a recipe journal of results and ideas: I get so many ideas from my own random brain, friends, coworkers, etc that I had to start writing them down. Also when I'm in the kitchen I write down the ratios I use so I will have recipe if it's a winner or if not I can go back and take a look and see what I need to tweak. While I was writing this post I looked back at my recipe journal (which has baking and cooking notes) and I have made some very random things over the past 5 years. lol. It's a fun look back.
   
   Hope this helps you out!
   Do you have any tips for when you get creative in the kitchen?  

5 things I didn't know about losing 20lbs

When it comes to blogging I have been doing just awful this year haven't I?  Life has continued to be super busy.  Training, training, training. Easter orders for Engineered Cupcake. Taking Amtrak like a fiend.  Exercising like one too apparently lol.

New Year's Eve in Augusta with my BFF

I wanted to wait till I was pretty sure I'd "really" lost 20lbs as my weight fluctuates a pound or two. So as of yesterday I actually have lost almost 23lbs. And this is what I've learned

1. 20lbs isn't that much   I admit when an "average" side friends laments to me about wanting to lose 20lbs I look at them and wonder "where in the world could they lose 20lbs from".  Most of pants still fit. Some of my blazers are getting due to be taken in. For the most part though, it's nothing major. Honestly I barely noticed the last 10lbs till I looked at a picture.
2. Haters steady hating  I'm going step on my arrogant engineer soap box for a moment and let you know it isn't easy being this awesome.Besides my neighbors, who think I'm losing weight because I'm getting married -_-.   For the most part the Y I frequent is awesome with chill people but occasionally I run into 2 different kinds of folk. 1. The skinny-average sized girl who tries to out-perform me when we're exercising next to each other.  >_>  Once a week I get on the bike for 65 minutes, that's a long time. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't trying to lose a whole bunch of weight 2. The disheartened overweight person. This usually is someone who recently started exercising more, usually over 40 (not always though) and they will actually talk to me. "I don't know how you can do all that, I get so tired. I'm never going to be able to that"
   But here's the the thing, I have a semi-active job where I'm out in the field 1-3 days a week. I've been exercising semi-regularly for the past 2 years. For the most part I've always done some sort of exercise. Even when I was over 400lbs. So my body's used to it and even though I hadn't done much cardio last year it got back into the swing of things.  Everybody is different. You can't compare yourself to someone because they're the same age or size (or bigger) and think you should be able to do what they do.
   
3. Exercise helps sexual frustration.  Hey I'm grown, I'm just keeping it real.  Besides isn't going to the gym a better alternative to going to the bar and picking someone up?  That's what I thought. Even exercises you think would make it worse like pole dancing, actually still help. lol
4. Talk it out  I normally am not the type to talk about my weight loss attempts. Because when I was younger that meant people (most of who were older than me) side-eying me when I ate icecream and giving me advise I didn't ask for. This go around, I've told allot more people.  Of course there was the family weight loss challenge, but I also mentioned it to my new co-workers...I'm not quite sure why I did that. I was either super pumped that I had lost 15lbs or I was trying to convey that I'm in fact I'm a relatively healthy person. It's been nice to share with my friends something I dedicating a good amount of time to.  Them, my family, and my coworkers have been very encouraging. And when we go out and I get that next drink or I order a milkshake, no side-eye. Just me texting them next day with "last nite was hella fun....I need to go to the gym today. lol"
   



Late March (most recent in same dress)

5. Eating enough food is very important. I have to admit I should probably apologize to a few people for those last 2 weeks of March when I wasn't eating enough calories and vitamins and got a mini-bout of paranoia.  I got super anxious and it didn't dawn on me it was the fact I wasn't eating enough. I thought it was the ADHD or I was drinking too much caffeine. But a few days there, woo I lost it. Why am I telling you this? Coz the struggle is real. It happened. lol. Why wasn't I eating enough? I didn't feel hungry and this is the hardest part of dieting. Once again back to my days of chubby child 46 would tell me "don't if you're not hungry". I learned that doesn't always work after my surgery and I missed a couple days of eating. And today I still feel bad about eating when I'm not hungry. I'm not sure if it's directly because of the surger or the increased exercise. I think it's a combination of the two. So I bought some more protein powder and I'm trying to meal plan but it is hard. I think in keeping with my 5 a day pledge maybe I can start by just planning what 5 fruits and vegetables I'm gonna eat and figure out how I'll eat them as it comes to me. 

An exciting announcement

Prologue:  about a month ago I posted "I have an exciting announcement to tell you later today!" on a social media account of mine.  I then got tons of messages asking if I was either getting married, having a baby and/or moving home. Oh to be a southern late 20-something.

Well my friends as I mentioned last week, allot has happened in the past couple of weeks. The biggest change is that I am finally in the fun and exciting world of energy engineering!

Say what? Weren't you just exclaiming about a year at CESC and how we should donate to CESC. Yes, that's true...and you should still donate to them because what CESC does is amazing and I wouldn't be where I am today without all that learned and was able to do at CESC.

Right before the holidays a friend of mine forwarded a job posting to me.  I semi looked over it and ignored it, lol. I like CESC and I was really finding my stride in LED case lighting, refrigeration projects, and Title 24 (The state green building code, new version goes into effect July 1, 2014). Then she texted me "Did you check out the posting?".  YAs a more technically minded person, writing is hard for me. It's one of the reason I started this blog to improve my non-technical writing.  To appease my friend I took a look and line by line I couldn't believe what I was reading...

 Association for Energy Affordability (AEA) is a rapidly growing nonprofit energy services and training organization which is dedicated to achieving energy efficiency in buildings in order to foster and maintain affordable and healthy housing and communities... AEA West is seeking a Junior Energy Analyst/Energy Engineer to join our tight- knit, talented team of “Energy Geeks.” The candidate must be starving to learn, but ready to contribute. If you are passionate about energy conservation and renewable energy, you love buildings, and you’re seeking to learn from an experienced organization in a hands-on environment, this is the place for you. (!!! this totally sounds like the place for me)

 Okay so an engineering position at a non-profit...I didn't even know that existed? So what else are looking for?

 He or she is expected to be a self-starter, an independent problem solver, and a strong team-player.   Oh you mean like a certain cupcake business owning, volunteer training, engineer who up and left her home to move nearly 3000 miles away alone? 

Responsibilities: The Junior Energy Analyst may be responsible for:

• Conducting energy audits and in-field energy assessments, on-site diagnostics, field data collection and analysis
• Performing energy modeling and building simulations
• Preparing energy and green building assessment reports based on analytic findings which include detailed equipment specifications and cost savings analysis
• Energy efficiency program implementation

Wow, sounds similar to what I do now...up a knotch or so. energy modeling!? OH-YEA!

I got to the bottom to see what impossible to meet qualifications they wanted and the good times kept rolling


Minimum Qualifications:

•  Bachelor’s Degree in engineering, architecture, environmental science, construction management or other sustainability related focus, with a demonstrated interest in energy conservation and building science preferred
• Knowledge of building systems including lighting technologies, building envelope, mechanical systems and combustion science

 Additional Qualifications Desired:

•  Basic knowledge and understanding of Title 24 and other building codes
•  Familiarity with local, state and federal incentive and rebate programs
•  Sound technical writing skills and experience
•  Building Performance Institute (BPI) certification preferred.
•  Experience with the use of energy modeling software a plus, i.e., EnergyPro, TREAT, eQUEST, DOE2 programs.
• ~ Minorities and women are encouraged to apply ~

Minorities and women, I'm both of those! It was like reading my resume, I suddenly felt so inspired and churned out an cover letter and resume.  Everyone I told about the job said "A non-profit green engineering job...It's perfect for you"

The hardest part was leaving CESC, that and trying to interview for a job when you have one.  I wouldn't have so qualified if not for CESC, ironically AEA does the multifamily version of CESC does in Marin County so I'll still be working for the same energy watch programs.

So far the new job has been intense. That engineer struggle ^_^ I've ready 2 books, taken 4 tests for 2 certifications and travelled down to Orange County (Southern California).  It's definitely a challenging position but I've learned so much already. Everyone is so nice and willing to answer my tons of questions. And my position counts as a junior engineering position for the California board of engineers and surveyors!

...I can't believe it. I finally have done it. The dream is real!  I'm an engineer.

Epilogue: one of the ladies from the church I went to in college congratulated me by saying this job should make me better wife material. Oh being Southern can be such a treat sometims.

Celebrating Pi Day with Grasshopper Pie

Hey Y'all,

Long time. no blog!

It has been a ridiculously busy month and I can't wait to blog all about it: I've been to so many places in the past month it's crazy:Georgia, South Carolina, Los Angeles, Muir Woods, Yosemite National Park...and I can't wait to blog about Yosemite.  Today's post however is about my 3rd favourite holiday.

After my birthday and Christmas, it's Pi Day. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. So the distance around a perfect circle divided by the distance across it, or the diameter.
 It's a day for baked goods and math, practically a day built for baking engineers.  Engineered Cupcake was started shortly before Pi Day 2013.

Last year I made French Silk Pie. This year I'm planning on making Grasshopper pie. I say planning because I just got back from Orange County, California 11pm last night and by 7:30am was doing work.
Grasshopper Pie is a mint chocolate pie, a retro classic. There's about 12 dozen recipes on the web for them but they mostly come in 3 different types

Marshmallow based: I don't know what it is about Americans and mallows. And yes if you're a first time visitor I'm American. I like mallows and all but they're a bit too sweet. for me and allot of the store bought ones have high fructose corn syrup. I think it's a 1950's thing. That said these grasshopper pies are sweet, simple to make, and often  a crowd pleaser, easily made vegan with Ricemellow fluff.

Frozen: This usually involves taking ice cream and/or whipped cream (occasionally marshmallows), mixing it together and freezing it. In terms of "convenience recipes" this is my preferred method.
It's pretty easy to find a chocolate cookie crust with simple or ingredients (or make one up with newman O's),and get some Mint icecream.  This recipe from is Mod Meals on MendenHall (NC girl!)  my fave.

Custard based: This version takes allot of patient but was the way that I made it up from when I stopped making the mallow based until I came up with this new version about 6 years ago.  I basically used the recipe from Epicurious.

Silky smooth method: This my favourite, basically it's based off of one my favorite pies. The pie that I made for Pi Day last year in fact: French Silk Pie. I contemplated drumming
out another type of pie. But outside of the fall/winter's sweet potato pies I rarely just bake pies for the sake of it. I'll whip up somebody's favorite if I'm headed to a party
or wine class. Besides so many people just think there's only one way to make a french silk pie Like most french silk recipes this has raw eggs so be sure to use fresh pasteurized eggs.  This recipe also has not 1 but 2 liqueurs. Which lead one of my 15 year old cousins (now a sophmore at UNC Asheville) to say "Oh it's a naughty grasshopper pie!" . It was funny and cute so the name stuck.


Naughty Grasshopper Pie

Crust
2 cups Chocolate cookie crumbs: (newman o's, chocolate wafes, etc)
1/2 cup melted butted
1 deep dish pie pan
Chop cookies i food processor. Stir in butter well. Transfer to pie crust and pack down well.

You can bake this on 350 for a firmer crust but make sure it's completely cool before you add the filling.
If you need this in hurry you're a bit inpatient (like me) you can just refrigerate it well.

Filling
3/4 cup  Butter room temperature
1/2 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
3 ounces white chocolate (if more than 60% cacao use 2oz)
2 tbsp cream de menthe
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. let butter soften to room temperature
2.  melt chocolate with cream de menthe, set aside
3. whip butter until smooth
4.  add sugar, one quarter at a time. allow ample time so mixture is smooth not gritty
5. add chocolate scrap sides
6.  add vanilla
7.  beat in eggs, one at a time. Be sure that each egg is fully incorporated before adding another egg. Filling will be light brown and quite fluffy.
8.  Pour filling into COOL pie crust. Wrap with clear plastic wrap and let chill at least 2 hours (4 is preferred but I know how it is...) 

Topping:
1.5 cup heavy whipped cream
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar sifted
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp mint Bailey's (optional.

1. Nota bene (Note well) For best results use chilled beaters, bowl, and very cold cream please. 
2. Beat in   cocoa, into cream till slightly thickened.
3. Add sugar to taste beat till soft peaks
4. add Bailey's and beat till slightly stiff peaks
5. Using a piping bag pipe onto pie (I use a Atco 21 tip) 
6. Garnish as desired I use chopped Andes candies

Get this: next year it will be 3.14.15 what's so great about that well Pi is: 3.14159265359. I sense a Pi Day party in my 2015 social calendar.

P.S This is an extra special Pi Day for me as it's my first Pi day in engineering work. More about that in the next post!

Ode to 7 and 5 things I didn't expect about losing 10 pounds

Happy birthday to me!

Did I ever mention that my favourite holiday is my birthday? First I have the pleasure of being born on the 7th day at 7pm weighing 7lbs...(and yes Jasmine has 7 letters).  Can you guess my favorite number? Yep, it's 7. Did you know that 7 is mathmatically defined as a happy number?
A happy number is defined by the following process: Starting with any positive integer, replace the number by the sum of the squares of its digits, and repeat the process until the number equals 1 (source). So with the number 7:

7^2 = 49
4^2 + 9^2 = 97
9^2 + 7^2 = 130
1^2 + 3^2 + 0^2 = 10

1^2 + 0^2 = 1

Isn't that neat? (This is what happens when your Dad studied math in college)


Also,i t's the coldest month in Augusta, Georgia and the best chance for snow around then.  Which meant a snow day!   It's also right around the Superbowl and I had an amazing party for a very dull game. I'm barely clinging to my 20's and 30 is gunning for me.

As I mentioned before the family is doing aweight loss challenge happy to say that I am making my first place lead . I reached my first goal,  down 10 more pounds by my birthday. Last night when I went to the YMCA, I was a bit nervous.  I definitely have been eating a bit more foods I shouldn't be in the past week.  But I was happy to see that I had made it.

People often recount how it feels to lose 30,50, 100 pounds but that's somewhere I've been before. FYI Losing 100lbs feels really odd, good but odd.  I thought it'd be neat to point out those things I've never noticed before.

1. Increased Energy The first few days of increasing my cardio and decreasing my animal product intake was rough. I'd come home and fall straight asleep. That still happens sometimes but when I wake up and right after exercising I have so much more energy. Is it a good thing when an ADHD kid gets even more energy? lol. 
2. I indulged way too often -  Muffins in the office, free sake at my fave Japanese place, 2 Martini Dinners, eating candy 3x a week. These were complete norms last year. Because I have been going to the Y, I was able to lose the weight I gained after accident and keep it off. Still, I was "treating" myself way too often. When I think ahead and say "I don't need this mediocre candy, I'm baking chiffon cake in 2 days!" I could persevere! lol. The week before the super bowl I  kept repeating "x more days to wings and ice cream" and y'know what? It was totally worth the wait. 
3. My local YMCA has an awesome women's center I've been going to the Y for over 2 years and January is my least favorite month it's so busy. One day there were no machines available on the main floor and one of the staff suggested I check out the womens center on the 3rd floor. It's actually like a whole mini gym upstairs.  Quieter, calmer and a much better stretching area. They have cardio machines and a good amount of weights too. It's definitely my default workout area.
4. Haters goin hate -  I track my weight 2 ways, weightloss since the beginning of the challenge and from my highest weight.  It's been over 10 years since I lost the bulk of that weight with the aid of WLS and some people think that shouldn't count.  Allot of that is a lack of understanding that mostwls patients gain some weight back. In the UK up to 30% get back to their original weight. 10lbs down for the challenge and over 150 since the highest. I've lost a good size person...isn't that crazy? 
5. Nice and slow's the way Believe it or not, I actually did talk to my doctor when I started my weight loss plan. She suggested that I do 30-60 minutes of low impact cardio several times a week. I think sometimes when you're overweight but have decent fitness level we have a tendency to overdo it. Going hard on the elliptical for 20 minutes on the elliptical was my default. Nowadays I do 45 on the exercise bike, working up to 10 minutes nonstop on the rowing machine, and 10-15 on the elliptical. On the higher impact day I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, rowing machine and then go lift some weights.

The plan is to see what other little things I discover as the journey continues.

Happy Friday

Tofu Donuts!?

You know what the hardest part about losing weight is for me? The food cravings, lol. I had a dream the other night that I was eating a grilled cheese sandwich (mild cheddar, goat cheese and sundried
tomatoes, fyi) with a Vanilla Bean Milkshake. Doesn’t that sound delicious!?

And temptation is everywhere, I don’t believe that losing weight is about deprivation just self contol  We had donut day in the office  the otherday. So I made vegan donuts. I modified this recipe from a Cookpad recipe, to make it completely vegan and rounder measurements.
Silken tofu is the key to these donuts, that give them a softness that almost (almost) reminds me of that great North Carolina brand: Krispy Kreme.  Admittedly I don't often cook with silken tofu but I think may more.

Cookpad is a Japanese social cooking site, it has some amazing recipes. Personally for me, recipes in Japanese are easier to read than allot of things. But fear not, there is an English version! What I love about Japanese (and to a great extent-Southeast Asian) baked goods is they tend to have less sugar than their American counterparts. I suppose because we're usually drinking them with green tea? We don't like sugar laden foods?

These donuts are so tastey, especially when they’re warm. The neatest part about these 3 of these only have 110 calories or in the words of a great man.."You can eat like 10 of these and still be under 400 calories"

Ingredients
8 oz silken tofu
2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
4 teaspoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
2  teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt

Procedure
Preheat oven to 375 and spray evenly your donut pan with nonstick cooking spray
1. In the bowl of your food processor add in tofu, brown sugar, maple syrup, oil, and extract. Blend until smooth and consistent. Alternatively use a blender.
2. Sift together remaining ingredients (flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking powder, sugar). Whisk to ensure even blending
3. Whisk in tofu mixture into flour mixture. Whisk until smooth.
4. Use a piping bag or zipbag with batter. Cut the tip off about 1/2" diametre hole.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until when lightly pressed they spring back
6. While warm you can put them in bag with some cinnamon sugar for dusting.

Now if you’re listened to the reviews on amazon.com for the mini donut pan than you already have 2 and you can go ahead and bake all 2 dozen. But this batter "keeps" well so the second batch should be fine. Apparently the second time I made them... I had a lot of batter left over and my friends used the batter for pancakes. Nice.

 

And I ate (and ate): veganish

Lemon Israel Couscous

Well the Family weight loss challenge is in full effect.  8 days in, 6lbs down (since Jan 10th) and about 90% vegan . Being a cook that lives in Norcal probably makes eating vegan allot easier. Just like with my vegan and/or gluten free baking for Engineered Cupcake, I view vegan cooking as a fun challenge to create delicious food. Although the one thing about vegan meals is that (for me at least), it involves planning in advanced.
This week I had some amazing meals. I'm surprised at the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables I  ate this week. If you think about it though: 5 cups of fruits and vegetables over 7 days...that's 35 cups of fruits and vegetables! Variety is the key, that could get monotonous real quick.

Monday had lunch with Snow Pea shoots salad with edamame and avocado inspired by this recipe.  For
dinner that night I had Lemon Israeli Couscous with kale and sweet potatoes. Toasting Israeli couscous really brings out an amazing flavor.

Tuesday was couscous left-overs. Carrots with an impromptu edamame guacamole. Red grapes helped save me from the cravings of fruit snacks That night, the baked good cravings had started up. So I made a
pretty wholesome muffin with whole wheat flour, flax, fresh blueberries, and ginger for Wednesday breakfast. Also roasted some brussel sprouts, apples, and onions

Thursday was one of those days when I had ran out of lunch ready left-overs. So I had another muffin for breakfast, for lunch I had brown rice and Saag Paneer (dairy), and snacked on grapes, peppers, and raw broccoli throughout the day. For dinner, I cooked some vegan bacon to go with the rest of the brussel sprouts and had some pan fried tofu.

On Friday I was out in the field, climbing onto things, inspecting things the joys of non-profit energy effiency (I love it!). I drove over 120 miles for work, praise be for Zipcar, wheels when you want 'em.  My field days I definitely need to plan better. I spent most of that day driving resisting fast food. Didn't eat as regularly as I should. For breakfast I had some watermelon and berries. Had salad with greens, peppers, mushrooms, and edamame for lunch with my buddy at sunpower, sipped on chocolate peppermint protein shake the rest of the afternoon. By the time dinner-time came along I was at one of my favorite diners: Can't Fail Cafe, devouring a buffalo tofu salad (with a bit of blue cheese dressing) and Blue Moon beer.

The weekends are always the hardest for me. No regime, no routine, no telling.  Honestly on Saturday, I mostly grazed on a blood orange and raspberry  fennel salad, went and did some grocery shopping and later did some juicing.  Sweet potato, carrot, ginger, apple juice may just be the best thing I've ever drank in life.   Supper was a vegan version of "Beef and Brocoli": Sauteed garlic and onions with shoyu, add the "tofu beef", and then some fresh kale and frozen broccoli. served that with some vegan mashed potatoes.

Sunday I went over to my buddy's place to watch the 49ers/Seahawks game. Their household is on a gluten free kick as is most of the Bay area. So I made sure to eat a good meal before I went over there. Took the left over mashed potatoes and kale, added some soyrizo and made a vegan Shepard's pie in my donburi. That turned into Monday's lunch. A definite East meets west delicious dish.  I brought along some vegan muffins and they served up bacon and brussel sprouts cooked in cream.  The bacon wasn't so bad but my body was not feeling the cream at all. I was standing up after the game and I could feel my body shaking its metaphorical fists at me.  Lesson learned.

While I'd love to take credit for coming with these ideas from pure imagination truth is, Springpad is my go-to source for finding good recipe. In fact, you can find these recipes and more on my "5 a day" Springpad.

Family Weightloss challenge

Remember what I said last week? About resolving to lose weight...

My maternal side of the family is in a "winner takes all" weight-loss (by BMI) challenge. What does the winner take besides "off pounds?" They get all the cabbage, greenbacks, dead presidents, y'know CASH.  lol. Now that's motivation. 

Yours truly is the moderator for the challenge. So I set up the thread and am keeping track of everyone's BMI's on a spreadsheet. Also just keeping the family motivated via e-mail and for those on Facebook with some light-hearted teasing. (i.e Just got back from the Y. Maybe I'll buy some new sneakers with that money I'm gonna take from *tag family members)  

The challenge last for 7 weeks and I have a basic strategy:

1. Eat mostly vegan.   I knew this would be part of my plan. Then I realized Lent starts in the middle of the challenge, then I need to fast. Can I make 1/4 of the year not eating any animal products? Not likely.  Plus I have some dairy, honey in my kitchen that needs to be used. I've thrown in a few break days: Superbowl Sunday and Cheesefare week. 
2. Keep up the 5 a day - That's right, keeping up the 5 cups of fruits and vegetable as a minimum. I finally caved and bought a juicer...Let's see how long I keep it before appliance overload gets the best of me and it ends up at a friends housewarming. 
3. Exercise 4 days a week - This will be the hardest part. So many days after work, I'm just plain tired or I have a very full social calendar. Which sounds awesome (it is) but time-consuming.  Though I realized by drinking less alcohol during the week, I could fit in a quick gym session after some socializing.

I'll be keeping you posted.

Wish me luck!

2013/2014 Resolutions

Happy New Year y'all!

Once again I'm apologizing for disappearing. 2013 was an interesting year in a lot of different ways.

•  celebrated a few awesome 1 yr anniversaries including my first year at CESC  
•  spent a lot more time with my friends
• started my bucket list
•  spent 24 days of 2013 back home
• Did I mention I started a business! Engineered Cupcake in full effect!

It was also a very tough year. I was in an accident around end of May and it totally threw me off for the entire year. Sometimes I thought I should be healing faster than I was, I had to remind myself it'd been less than 6 months. Around December I finally got it and hope that this year everything will gradually get back to normal.  

As far as resolutions go this year, my family has decided to do a weight loss challenge. I have to admit that losing weight has been the last thing on my mind. Just not gaining any dealing with everything going on was the biggest accomplishment. But this particular challenge is for money and that is some good motivation.

That along with signing up for an EIT prep class so I finally pass that test are on my year's to-do list.  Basically, though over anything I'm just aiming for a return to normalcy.