Quick & Healthy Breakfast - Oatmeal with Fresh Rainier Cherries, Pecans, & Maple Syrup

Rainier Cherries

 Like most moms, I am always looking for a quick, but healthy breakfast for both me and my children. It has become a family tradition that in the summertime I take the kids to go pick cherries at our local orchard, Orr's. They have a great farmers market and pick your own produce.

My favorite cherries are Rainier Cherries. These are not the bright red cherries that you are accustom to. No, these are cherries have a beautiful pale yellow flesh that is encased with a blush outside. They are sweet and tart at the same time. I look forward to them each summer.

This summer Orr's happened to have a great special they day we arrived. $10/bucket. We picked three full buckets, or nearly 18 lbs of cherries. Needless to say, cherries have been coming out of my ears.

For breakfast this morning, I thought I would try to speed up finishing up the cherries. I am a big fan of oatmeal, but I try to avoid the instant oatmeal that is loaded up with sugar.  I use Mom's Best Plain Grains. It is a great plain oatmeal with flax seed added. Below is a great recipe of how to jazz up plain oatmeal without packing on the extra sugar.

Oatmeal with Rainier Cherries, Pecans & Maple Syrup

1 packet of instant plain oatmeal
3/4 cup water
1/2 c. chopped fresh cherries
a handful of pecans
splash of milk (almond milk is great, too)
a drizzle of maple syrup, the real stuff.

Directions:

Cook the instant oatmeal as directed. In my case, I popped it into the microwave for 90 seconds. While it was cooking, I assembled the rest of the ingredients: chopped the cherries, grabbed the maple syrup and pecans. For the pecans, I place them into a sandwich bag and smack them with the back of a large wooden spoon. (I find this is faster and if the kids are not fully awake, the noise helps get them moving.) By the time the oatmeal is cooked, I am ready to assemble

In the bowl of oatmeal, I add the toppings. First the cherries, then the pecans, followed by a splash of milk (just enough to cover the top), and then a quick drizzle of maple syrup. I think it makes a difference if you use the real thing.


Enjoy!

What to do when a friend drops off 2 gallons of milk and some fresh picked raspberries - Make Custard with Red Raspberry Rum Sauce

Milk and Freshly picked Red Raspberries

My dear friend, Mary, is headed off to Maine. While I will miss her while she is gone, it also means, her fridge needs to be cleared of perishable items and I just happen to the recipient of 2 gallons of milk and  just over 2 quarts of freshly picked Red Raspberries.

While I am fan of raspberries and can gobble them up on my own, my family needs a bit of coaxing. At the same time, I have been working my way through an old family cook book that I was given a few years ago for Christmas. This book is a collection of hand written recipes mixed with cut out recipes from newspapers and magazines from the early 1900's. It is a real prize.

Combine the two situations and I ended up with Custard with Raspberry sauce.  The best part of this recipe is most of the work is done by the oven, so I can keep watching physics lectures and studying for the MCAT.

Custard:

6 eggs
1 quart of milk (4 cups)
dash of salt
scrapings of 1/2 vanilla bean or a dash of vanilla extract
1 cup of sugar
butter or spray for the pan


Red Raspberry Rum Sauce:
1 quart of Red Raspberries
a shot of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum
a dash of salt
a dash of vanilla extract (or just throw in the scraped vanilla bean)

Make your own water bath

Crack the 6 eggs and pour them into a bowl. Mix aggressively for at least 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of sugar, (I used vanilla sugar.), a dash of salt, and a dash of vanilla extract or scrape part of a vanilla bean.  Mix well. Add 1 quart of milk. ( You could also use half and half or cream if you are wanting something a bit richer.) Pour the mixture into an oven proof container or bowl. Set that inside of another larger container or bowl. Add enough water in the larger container to reach about half of the smaller container. Carefully place in an oven that has been preheated to 300 degrees. Let is slowly bake for one hour.

Red Raspberry Rum Sauce

In the meantime, gather a saucepot and add the raspberries, a shot of rum, a dash of salt and a splash of vanilla. Add about a cup of sugar (again I used vanilla sugar). Let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes on medium heat.

When you can run a knife in the center of the custard and it comes out clean, you know the custard is cooked through.

With the sauce, you have options. You can leave it with the seeds and bits of raspberry or if you prefer a smoother sauce, you can pour the sauce through a strainer lined with cheesecloth.

Let the sauce cool a bit and the custard cool a bit. When it is time to serve, a spoonful of custard (or two) and a drizzle of sauce and you are ready to dig in. Such an easy dessert and just delish! Thanks, Mary!

Making Cookies with Emma

One of the more difficult aspects of this process has been to still find quality time with the kids where I am actually mentally present. It has been tough. Most of the time my thoughts are on the MCAT, paying for all the testing and application fees. I feel like I am mentally absent sometimes when I am with my family. But today I found a few minutes with my youngest one. In between studying for the MCAT, and putting in the garden for fall harvest, we found time to whip up a quick batch of cookies.

Looking around the house, we happened to have half a bag of milk chocolate covered toffee bits (Don't ask me where the other half went to? LOL) With a quick google, I found an Emma approved recipe, Brown Sugar Toffee Cookies. Based on cookie making experience, I made a couple of quick modifications to the recipe. They turned out excellently. These were so good, I had to pour a cup of milk to make the snack complete.

Brown Sugar Toffee Cookies

2 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup milk chocolate covered toffee bits

Combine dry ingredients. Set aside. With an electric beater, whip the butter, shortening, and sugars together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients, one half of mixture at a time. Mix well. Stir in toffee bits. Bake 11 minutes in an oven that was preheated to 350 degrees.

This recipe made exactly 3 1/2 dozen. We used a small ice cream scoop to dole them out. Enjoy!

Tip: To ensure even distribution of the toffee bits, stir in 1/3 a cup of the bits at a time. It really makes a difference. 

The Devil Hill....A Lesson in Falling

A day or so ago, I found out that my application to the only medical college I applied to was denied. The denial process is quite cold and impersonal. My name on a web page with a hyphen followed by a single word - denied- is how a crushing blow was delivered. It was 1:37 am when I checked the website to find out if I was offered an interview. Stunned, tears of exhaustion and defeat streamed down my checks. In my stunned state, I emailed my mother. She deserved to know as soon as I knew. This is as much her dream for me as it is my dream for myself.

It has been a long 5 months in my life, and yet again, another dream was crushed. Needless to say I spent the rest of the night somewhere between crying silently and bawling my eyes out. Finally exhausted I fell asleep, only to wake a few hours later and get the breakfast for the kids.

Later that morning, I told Emma, my youngest, first. With big tears filling beautiful blue eyes, she hugged me tightly for as long as she could. Letting go, she brazenly said to me, "Well, you are just going to have to get back up and try again. Just like me and my bike." As she finished her matter of fact statement, an enormously innocent grin came across her face, and my heart, which had felt nothing but sadness, brightened. The honest innocence of an eight year old can bring you back to reality faster than anything. She is something else.

In the afternoon, when Nolan and I were alone, I told him the news. His face held many complex emotions - frustration, sadness, and secretly happy. He gave me a hug and then pulled away to bury his face in his pillow, trying to hide the tears trickling down his cheek. I tried as best as I could to comfort him. Later, while in the kitchen, he found me. Pulling me into a hug, he said to me, "At least you'll get to spend more time with us. You can always try again."

A text message to Savannah to break the news was followed by an immediate phone call. For a sixteen year old, that is a pretty severe response. She was confused and a bit stunned, then sadness followed in her voice. I just did not have anything else to give to her at that point.

A message to my husband to give him the news. "Why?" What could I tell him. It's a roll of the dice. It was a rough day, but all day long, even in my emotionally exhausted state, my thoughts continued to return to what Emma had so innocently stated about her bike. You see, Emma had to conquer what we have come to loving know as the "Devil Hill". It is part of an asphalt track at her elementary school where she would sometimes ride her bike. The hill is steep and the site of a very bad bike accident that has left her a scar on her forehead. My husband and I encouraged her to go back to that hill and conquer it, rather than letting it beat her. It took some time, but she did just that. She got back up, got back on her bike, and conquered the "Devil Hill." What kind of role model would I be, if I gave up?

So like my courageous daughter, I am going to get back up and try again. I know this is meant to be.

Garden Fresh Zucchini Lasagna

The garden has been producing amazing amounts of zucchini, so much so, we are having a hard time keeping up to eating it all. I have grilled, fried, sauteed, shredded, mixed, baked, breaded, well, you get the picture. We have eaten a lot of zucchini. So, it is time to start putting some away for the winter. What a treat it will be to pull out a pan of this amazing lasagna in the dead of winter and be transported back to summer.

Sauce:

5 Red Peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 Green Peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 White Onions, coarsely chopped
1 Zucchini, coarsely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 Ribs of Celery, chopped
2 cans of petite tomatoes
2 Cups water
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
3 Bay Leaves
2 tsp Dried Basil
2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 T Fresh Thyme
1 T Fresh Tarragon
1 T Fresh Sage

In a large sauce pot, cook onions, peppers, celery, garlic, zucchini for 15 minutes or until everything is softened. Add the herbs, tomatoes, water, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the vegetables are very soft, nearly 90 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Blend with immersion blender or a regular blender. If you use a regular blender, you will need to do it in batches. Be very careful not to splash the sauce on you.

Once blended, adjust seasoning if needed. ( Add more salt, pepper, herbs to reach the flavour you like.)


Filling:

2 48 oz containers of cottage cheese
1 56 oz container of ricotta
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 10 oz box of frozen spinach, thawed, and squeezed to remove any water
1 tsp basil

Just dump everything into a large bowl and mix.

Layers:

Zucchini sliced on a mandolin. The number of zucchini needed is going to depend on what size your zucchini are. Because ours are from the garden, they are on the large size. If you are using zucchini from the grocery store, they are a lot smaller, so you'll need about a dozen. From the garden, 4-5.

2 boxes of pre-cooked lasagna noodles.
6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Assemble the lasagna:

1. Spoon enough sauce into the pan to cover the bottom well.

2. Place a layer of zucchini.

3. Spoon a thin layer of the filling.















5. Place a layer of noodles.

6. Place a thin layer of sauce.
7. Place a thin layer of zucchini and start the process all over until the pan is filled.
8. Top with a layer of sauce.
9. Top with a layer of mozzarella cheese.

I par-bake mine at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Because I use aluminum pans, I let them cool and them cover with an aluminum lid.  This made 4 pans of lasagna. Off to the freezer they go.

Note: You could also substitute eggplant for zucchini. I made a pan of that. You can also forget about the pasta for an all vegetable lasagna. Experiment!

Restarting my study log for the MCAT

So after a break from the campaign trail, followed by recovering from the campaign, getting back to being a mom and wife, and gardening to reclaim my soul.....now it is time to get serious about daily studying. The exam is not too far away. The goal has been set for August 15th at 8:00 am.

Sure I have been studying a bit here and there. Working on physics mostly. But my study habits have not been near what they were and I have stopped blogging regularly. So starting today, I will be back at the routine. As a result, I will be reworking the study routine.

I am learning that becoming a DOC has little to do with intelligence and more to do with discipline, perseverance, determination, and beating your mental blocks. At the end of this portion of my journey, I am sure I will be stronger as a person. Just need to keep pushing forward.

Returning after being on the Campaign Trail - Lessons Learned

I have been working on this post for a week now. Trying to ensure that I convey what I learned, not just my emotions. Over the last five months, I took a break from my pursuit of medical school and conquering of the MCAT to make a new friends and fight for my state - in truth, I took a break to manage a congressional campaign. The lessons learned. Wow. There are so many. 

Now that I am back in my Chick-Fil-A booth, returning to my studies, I feel it may be time to reflect upon the last five months, the lessons learned, the people met, and how that 5 month break will make me a better physician.

1. Listen more, talk less. 

This is a lesson my family and close friends have been trying to teach me for years. Listen. Listen to the body language. Listen for what is really being asked. Take a microsecond to reflect and then give a short answer. Don't get trapped by revealing all your thoughts and feelings on a subject. Just answer the question. 

2. Don't judge - you don't know another person's story. 

Traveling through seventeen counties, you meet a ton of people. People from all walks of life, political stripes, economic backgrounds. Each person has their own story and often times what you think the story is - well, you're flat out wrong. As I write this, I am reflecting upon one person in particular. I judged too quickly. We were on opposing sides, therefore, my initial view was tainted. I allowed that point of view to construct my opinion before I even had a real conversation with this individual. I was wrong. (Yes, there is it is in bold print.) I was flat out wrong.

In politics, it seems that everyone has an alternative personality. An armor of sorts that they develop to protect themselves from the slimy cronies lurking around every corner that are trying to destroy them. When you first meet someone, you are meeting their armor, not them. It takes time and more time for most of them to let you know their real story. I think meeting patients for the first time will be the same. They will have their own armor and story. I will have to build trust with them in order for them to tell me their story. 

 3. The person who speaks less is usually the one who actually wants to fix the problem.

The public as a whole is frustrated with government - both sides. Very few problems get fixed. Part of this is our fault as an electorate. We are uneducated about the process of government and how things work. Heck, most of the time, we don't even know when the election is. 

As a patient, I have often found that the doctor who speaks the least amount of words often fixes the problem the quickest. They just go straight to work solving the issue. Politics is the same. The candidate that speaks the least actually has the most to say. They are just to busy solving the problem to talk.

4. You never know when the ride will end, so enjoy it. 

If you know me well, you know I am a work-a-holic and a person that loves to be on a project. If you are on a project with me, it's awesome. If you are my family or close friends, it is awful. I believe in saying yes, and figuring out the rest later. I tend to think I can do all things, it's just a matter of prioritizing at that moment - some might say, "Triaging." One could argue that my family often suffers because I am riding the ride. However, that is a view from the outside in. 

If you have seen me on the campaign trail or on a project, you have probably met Emma, Nolan, or Savannah, and maybe even, Brooke, my little sister. You have probably met Becca, my dear friend's daughter, or any of a number of their friends. Every project I have ever taken on, I have always taken the kids in my life along for the ride. I want them to experience life, all the opportunities it offers and all the challenges it provides. How are they suppose to know how to deal with real life if they don't ever see it. Besides - you never know when the ride might end, so work hard and enjoy the journey. 

 5. Never meet a stranger.

When meeting new people, find common ground. We are all human. You have something in common with everyone. Everyone breathes, everyone feels (even if it is only a little bit), everyone has an experience that you can learn from. Ask good questions, listen to the answers, and find common ground. When all else fails - I revert to hugs. You just can not go wrong with a hug! 

6. Give someone a chance.

This one is a very personal lesson for me. Someone took a chance on me. I have never managed a campaign before. Heck, I have worked a total of 9 official months in politics before this race. I owe someone a chance. A chance at winging it. A chance at googling staff titles and responsibilities. A chance at doing their best. A chance at coming up short. A chance at changing the world one mistake at a time.