One rotation down, two to go!

It's hard to believe that this week was the last week of my clinical rotation. It's hard to believe that today was the last day. It feels as though no time has passed between taking my first step in the hospital door, only having a slight idea of what clinical dietetics meant, and now, leaving the hospital for the last time capable of functioning as an entry level clinical dietitian. Since that first day I have seen, heard, experienced and learnt so much. I can now do TPN calculations without even thinking. I don't need my little yellow sticky note to remember what to ask patients when I assess them for the first time. I can write a follow-up progress note. I can converse confidently with patients about cardiac, diabetic, and renal diets. And I am no longer scared to track down a nurse to ask about my patient. I feel like I finally fit into the hospital scene.

 

Next week will be different. I no longer have to wake up at 5am to be at the hospital by 7. I won't get to spend time with the clinical dietitians. I won't get to hear their stories and discuss our always entertaining patients. I won't get to read patient charts to learn their history. I won't have to avoid the medical group as they do their rounds and take over the nurse's station. I won't get to use my Spanish to interview patients. I won't get to be a part of the hum drum of the hospital atmosphere. Instead I get four weeks of vacation; I guess I can't really complain.

 

I've always been advised by other Registered Dietitians that it is best to start out as a clinical dietitian to get broad exposure to different disease states. It's been in my career plan for the past two years, but now I know what being a clinical dietitian really means. More importantly I know that even though it's not my passion, clinical dietetics is interesting and appealing to me for a short term career. I no longer see it as "two years of work experience I have to grin and bear", clinical dietetics holds its own challenges and opportunities for me to grow and learn even more about how nutrition applies to the disease process. I guess now I understand why it's an important background to have. 

 

Next on my plate is my administrative rotation. New hospital, new staff, new experience. It starts in January. But for now, I can relax and enjoy being an adventurous twenty-something.

A New Look

So I finally decided to switch over to the blogger-beta. As a result you can now search my recipes by category instead of just reading through the post titles.

I am messing around with some of the formatting so you might see a few more changes over the next week or two. Hopefully I can figure out how to get my sidebar all the way down the page, because that really bugs me.

This is a picture of the phyllo wrapped cod I made the other day. A simple throw together from freezer ingredients.

Irish Oatmeal Soda Bread

(11/07) After making this dish again, I have decided that the tweaked recipe below simply does not do Irish Oatmeal Soda Bread justice. So if you are going to make this, stick to the original recipe not the tweaked version below. The wheat germ and buttermilk are irreplaceable.

In case you haven't noticed, I have a new favorite food blog listed on the right. My friend K has finally decided to join me in the blog world and you can find her at Damn Delicious. She and I are constantly swapping recipes back and forth. This girl knows how to pick 'em and is definitely not afraid of a little adventure in the kitchen. The recipe below is one of my favorites from her, a quick and easy crusty bread that goes perfectly with that hot bowl of soup for those cold winter nights.

Irish Oatmeal Soda Bread**

• 7 oz whole wheat flour



• 2 oz plain flour



• 2 oz oatmeal



• 1 teaspoon baking soda



• 1 teaspoon sugar



• 1/3 teaspoon salt



• 1 large egg



• 10 oz soymilk

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mold dough into a round loaf and turn out onto a baking sheet. Score the bread into six even slices. Bake 50 minutes or until a knock on the bottom produces a hollow sound. Enjoy!

**The above recipe has been tweaked based on what was in my cupboard. The original recipe calls for 6 oz whole wheat flour, 1 oz of wheat germ, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 10 oz buttermilk.

Run Wild!

Yesterday I participated in the California Academy of Sciences Run Wild! 5K. Man what a race. T, C and I all ran the race however, we didn't exactly run it together. T's a cross-country/marathon runner so there's no way I could ever keep up with him and C kept telling us how far behind us she would be. Regardless we were together at the start and met up to be together at the finish. The people-watcher in me loves races just to observe the different types/groups of people that show up. The athlete in me loves the sound of hundreds of pairs of shoes hitting the road and using that last bit of energy to get past five more people right at the end of the race. Then there's the runner's high that you experience as you cross the finish line before you expected to reach it.

 

This time I made my goal of placing in the top ten of my age group. Unfortunately I didn't beat my pre-injury race time from last christmas but I am definitley getting back to where I was and now I have a goal for my next race. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be in the top three for my age group.

 

Race Name	Date	Time	Pace	Age Group	Place	Overall
Run to the Far Side	11/27/05	28:35	9:11	20-29	26th	453/4000
Santa Monica Christmas Run	12/10/05	23:48	7:41	20-24	11th	149/1072
Run Wild!	11/26/06	25:53	8:21	20-29	10th	184/1667

Fried Parsley with Sun-dried Tomato Cream Cheese

I originally encountered this dish during the closing dinner in Mexico this summer. I'd never heard of fried parsley before but as soon as I had tasted it I knew I would finally have a use for any future left over parsley. Really simple to make this one is sure to be a crowd pleasure not only for it's taste combination but also for the texture combination.

1. You can buy preflavored cream cheese (the original dish was served with chipotle cream cheese) or you can flavor your own. For this recipe I added 2 teaspoons of sundried tomato paste to one tub of spreadable cream cheese. If you are flavoring your own cream cheese, make sure the flavor is subtle enough not to overpower the flavor of the parsley.


2. In a pot with high sides, preheat vegetable oil over medium heat. If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot. Dry the parsley as much as possible before frying. Unfortunately no matter how dry you think your parsley is, it will still splatter when frying, so make sure to use a splatter screen or be ready for some cleanup afterwards. Remove parsley leaves from the stalks, throw into oil, and fry for approximately 45 seconds. Remove the parlsey from the oil and dry on a paper towel. You may place the fried parsley in the oven on warm while you fry the rest to prevent it from turning soggy.


3. Serve the fried parsley and cream cheese with slices of french bread. Spread the bread with a light coating of cream cheese and then smash the bread, cream cheese side down, into the parsley. Enjoy!

Couscous Stuffed Peppers

One of the food blogs that I often find myself perusing is that of smitten kitchen. If you haven't checked out the link on my page I suggest you do, but only if you have time to drool over her gorgeous pictures. I came across this recipe of hers in a post about how she doesn't always post pictures of the foods she cooks. Even though the picture didn't turn out to her liking, I was definitely hooked and now I can cross another food I want to make off of my list. This is the original Feta and Couscous Stuffed Peppers Recipe and below is my recipe with a few modifications.

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth


• 2/3 cup whole wheat couscous


• 2 tsp olive oil


• 1 cup chopped onion


• 3/4 tsp fennel seeds


• 3/4 tsp oregano


• 1 zuchinni quartered and sliced


• 2 yellow squash quartered and sliced


• 4 large bell peppers


• 3 tbsp tomato paste


• 15 oz canned chickpeas drained and rinsed


• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

In a small pot, boil the vegetable broth and add the couscous. Bring back to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let stand. In a large skillet, or wok, combine olive oil, onion, fennel seeds, and oregano cook over medium heat until fragrant. Add zuchinni and yellow squash, cook until soft.

While onions, zuchinni, and squash are cooking wash the bell peppers. Cut the stems and the top 1/2 inch off the peppers, remove the seeds and membrances. When onion/zuchinni/squash mixture is soft add tomato paste and mix well. Add chickpeas and couscous and mix well. Add tomatoes and gently mix.

Fill each of the peppers with the vegetable couscous mixture. Place peppers in a baking dish, bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Serve immeadiately.

Easy Peasy Broccoli Quiche

This recipe comes from my cooking buddy, Kate. As usual this recipe is super simple to throw together and comes out absolutely delicious. Originally it was a crust-less quiche, but since there are so few ingredients I took the liberty of making a few modifications. It has now become a true eye-ball it recipe.



Ingredients

1/2 onion, finely chopped

minced garlic to taste

herbes de provence to taste

1 head broccoli, chopped

5 eggs

milk

salt and pepper to taste

frozen phyllo pastry, defrosted

Preheat your oven to 400F. Put a large pot of water on to boil. While you wait for the water to boil, sautee the onion, garlic, and herbes de provence in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. When the onion/garlic/herb mixture is translucent/soft remove from heat and set aside. At this point your water should be boiling, blanch your broccoli (1 minute is enough), pour into a colander and rinse with cold water. Whisk together eggs, milk, pepper and salt.

Line a 9 inch pie dish (preferably glass) with thawed phyllo pastry or pastry of your choice. Spread the onions across the pastry, followed by the broccoli. Finish the quiche by pouring egg mixture over the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 400F. Remove quiche from the oven, let stand 10 minutes to set, slive and serve.



This is definitely a make again and again type of recipe. Next time I might try without the crust and with a pinch of nutmeg instead of herbes de provence. Or I could throw in a different combination of vegetables. Or try a different pastry base. Or add cheese. The possibilities are endless!

Blog Post # 50

Can you believe it?! Fifty posts ago it was the beginning of the summer and I was preparing for 3 months of vacation. Since then I have spent two months in Mexico, watched a friend get married, created a food blog, experienced a birth and a death, started (and almost finished) my clinical rotation, been to London and turned 25. Not bad for 5 months. The original intention of this blog was to document my two months of living in Mexico. It was a chance to combine scrapbooking with journalling, all the while keeping those important to me up to date on my adventures.

 

To be completely honest, I didn't think I would continue when I got back to the US. But due to the requests of a very important friend I have kept going and I guess you could say blogging has become a part of my life. If I don't post at least once a week, I feel bad. If something funny happens during my day, I think about when I'll have the chance to write about it. But most of all I find comfort knowing that my friends and family, those who really matter, know what's going on in my life.

 

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I thought I would take a moment to share some of my thanks. I may not always have a chance to call you, email you or write you a letter, but I do think about you daily and am glad that I have some kind of medium to keep in contact. So, thank you for reading the first 50 posts and I hope you continue to read because there will be many more to come!

 

8 Reasons Why Today is Fabulous

In no particular order here they are:

1. 90210 the complete first season is available on DVD.
2. It's 90 degrees outside and it's November 7th.
3. It's election day which means I get to walk to my local polling place and vote!
4. I presented my case study this morning to the hospital dietitians, the dietetic services director and my professor. They were very impressed.
5. Keith Urban's new cd is available at Target ($9.98). If you buy it there you also get access to advance purchase tickets for his upcoming tour.
6. Sugarland's new cd Enjoy the Ride is also available.
7. I ate breakfast with my Dad this morning.
8. I ran 2.2 miles this evening.

Only In LA

• It's November and today it is 83 degrees.
• It is difficult to get to the airport because the streets and freeways around the airport are closed due to filming of "Live Free or Die Hard" a movie starring Bruce Willis.
• There's a line to get into H&M in Pasadena.

Vegan Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup is one of my all time favorites besides my mom's leek and potatoe soup. I find canned soup a bit too salty so today I decided to make my own. The following recipe is a combination of internet recipes, the one from the back of the split pea bag, and just general messing around in the kitchen. I like to use lots of herbs instead of salt and by using minced garlic and a food processor this recipe is soup-er easy to make.

• 1 onion, diced


• 2 bay leaves


• 2 tsp minced garlic


• 2 cups split peas, dried


• 1/2 cup barley


• 8 cups water


• 2 cups carrots sliced


• 2 cups celery sliced


• ~2 tsp basil (to taste)


• ~2 tsp thyme (to taste)


• pepper to taste

Combine onion, bay leaves, minced garlice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a large pot. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent, about five minutes.

Add peas and barley; stir well. Add water and let simmer over medium/medium low heat for 1 hour or until peas are soft. Keep an eye on the fluids, you may need to add more water.

Add carrots, celery, and seasonings. Let simmer for 20 minutes more. Taste and adjust flavorings as necessary. Enjoy!