Pickled Beets, Lentil Flour, and a Half Marathon

I have to thank a friend for introducing me to her pickled beets this week. They were so delicious. Sweet, spicy, and melt in your mouth, even somewhat nutritious! Unfortunately, she opened their last jar for me to taste them. Which just means there will be pickled beet canning coming up. I am looking forward to adding them to my meals.

In other kitchen news, I bought eight pounds of lentil flour without having a single recipe which uses lentil flour. Its terribly saddening that I am going to have to spend a good amount of time looking through cook books and cooking websites to find recipes which use lentil flour - not! I relish the challenge!

Ooo, lentil bread, lentil crackers... whoa! peanut butter cookies! I will have to try those. Whoa, whoa! Even a 5-min chocolate mug cake recipe with lentil flour, jackpot!

Lastly, I am running 13.1 miles this weekend. For some annoying reason, if you tell people you are running a half marathon or a 10k or whatever, they think you are running a race far away with hundreds of people.

However, since there are no races of that distance in my area this weekend or any near by weekends, I'm running 13.1 miles myself and counting it as if I am doing a half marathon,
which technically I am.
So there.
After this run, I'm going to diversify my workouts and try something easier... like a sprint triathlon!

Anyway, I'm starting at 10am CDT and should finish around noon, so if you would like to cheer me on, please let me know. I'll give you the start/finish line and the route.

Perhaps someone can stand before the finish line and play the Rocky theme or Eye of the Tiger :)

Coping Mechanisms, Or How to Stay Afloat When Your Boat is Upside Down

Emotional upheaval sucks.

Whether a death, a break up, a move, an accident, or just some strong emotional event or change, coping with yourself and daily life afterwards can be a seriously hard endeavor. 

One of the things that I learned while working in a behavioral health unit at a hospital is that using negative coping methods after experiencing large life events can get you in a lot of trouble. (We all know what negative coping methods look like, but just in case you are playing dumb, drinking large amounts of alcohol after bad days is a negative coping method.)

So, now that my boat seems to have flipped upside down far out to sea, I've been looking into coping methods so that I don't just tread water near the site of the accident but get back to shore and start rebuilding. 

Here are a bunch of ones I have learned and some of which I am currently doing:

• Exercising regularly
• Eating regularly 
• Sleeping - which is sometimes really hard
• Praying - After all, I am an Episcopal seminarian
• Writing - pain seems to make me into a poet, and writing out how you honestly feel is cathartic 
• Replacement therapy - which is usually used for those addicted to nicotine, but in my case involves holding a rock instead of my phone
• Art therapy - working on art projects 
• Treating yourself with kindness and gentleness
• Setting straight what you can control in your life
• Baking - I usually do a lot of this one. And speaking of which, the pickles from the last post worked, but they do not quite taste as I was expecting them to taste. I think I am going to make another batch with a different recipe.

While looking up some new ways to keep swimming instead of treading water, I found the University of Minnesota's 101 Strategies For Coping With Stress page. 

Swimming in deep waters is not a new sport. Humans have been dealing with being thrown in the deep end for ages. While swimming in deep water really only means you can't touch the ground, it don't mean you can't enjoy the waters. It just takes a little more effort. 

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Simply Pickled to Meet You

In the wake of emotional upheaval,
I usually cook.
So... look out!
There will be some cooking adventures coming up.

The first is making my own pickles.
This summer I read this great article in the NYTimes about how pickles are very easy and simple to make at home, and really only takes three ingredients: cucumbers, water, and salt.

So I said to myself, I like pickles. I have water and salt. I can get some cucumbers. I have a few (maybe too many) empty glass jars. I too can make pickles!

Yesterday, I put all three ingredients in the jar as shown, and, as the article says, after a day the water has gotten a little cloudy. I am excited about this science experiment and am looking forward to my simple pickles. Perhaps if they are good, I'll get a little fancy with my next batch. ;)

This next week will be a busy one for me, as we are welcoming the incoming student to the seminary, so hopefully I will be back soon to tell you how the pickles turn out.

Summer Bliss

Well, I'm not quite in the throes of summer bliss, but it has been quite the wonderful summer nevertheless.

I also haven't made any more Jewish food. I have gathered some good recipes that I can make, but I haven't managed to make any of them yet. But with the help of some great donors, I have made it past my halfway mark on fundraising! (which you can see: http://www.gofundme.com/to-the-Holy-Land)

I have also been retweeted by Episcopal Cafe which made my day recently.

And I am very grateful for my coach and love, Latro, for helping me run in the heat. We ran a 10K last Sunday, so now I have been in a 5K, 10K, and 15K. I am almost able to say that I have run 365 miles in 365 days (I have 26 miles in 26 days left to go). Latro and his parents have given me running clothes, running shoes, a hat, a belt, and loads of encouragement. Its almost like being sponsored! ;) I never would have been able to start running regularly without Latro and despite its pain and frustration (and the days that I hate it), I am very glad that I have been running. It has been very helpful for my lungs, my thinking, and my prayer life. It has refocused and energized me many days when I have been carrying too much around.

And some days there is certainly plenty to carry around. But, I must go study Greek... γ ι v ω σ κ ε ι ς ;

Shalom!

Grain Free Hamantaschen!

As part of my preparation for my trip to Israel, I am going to be making more gluten, dairy, soy free Jewish food. Today started the food journey off with hamantaschen! 

Hamantaschen is a dessert made for the festival of Purim, which was celebrated in February this year. The festival is a time of celebration, especially commemorating the foiled plot of Haman in the Persian Empire against the Jews during their exile from Israel. Thus, the Hebrew Bible book of Esther is read during the holiday. Despite being a few months behind in my Jewish holiday celebrations, my Hebrew Bible reading class is currently reading and translating the book of Esther, so hamantaschen is particularly appropriate!

The recipe I made was from Edible Harmony. Unfortunately my hamantaschen did not quite turn out as smooth as the pictures. I realized after I started that I used almond meal instead of almond flour. However, they are still delicious and I was able to use my homemade strawberry jam in the middle!

I am also thoroughly enjoying eating the hamantaschen because they look like little tri-cornered hats. If you understand that, try it out. And don't forget to sing My Hat Has Three Corners in German and do the hat dance while you are at it. ;)

Lastly, until I complete my fundraising, I am going to add the donation link to every blog post. 

Have a good day and be wary of those in tri-cornered hats!