the Non-Dairy Queen

13.1 MILES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 16:31:00 +0000

Happy Wednesday friends! Wow, it's been a crazy week!!! The weekend really can't get here fast enough!

Let's talk about mine and my man's training. Um, holy cow, it's been awhile since we've hit the half marathon mark in our miles! I admit, I was excited to hit that number this weekend. I know it makes me sound crazy that I look forward to hitting higher milage, but there is definitely a mental/physical victory that happens when I achieve these goals. I will say, running the longer miles is getting interesting. To break up the boredom, the same ol same ol, we are trying different routes. Um, it felt crazy parking at one of our favorite parks, running to our favorite greenway and then running back to the park where our car was parked. You can't give up at that point…you have to get back to your car somehow (that would be running). Though, the run to the greenway seemed fast to me (well, technically it was faster than I normally run which I think is due to running with cars instead of the peaceful woods), we didn't really plan out the return route well enough. It left us having to run 3 circles around the park and that park in particular is HARD with a lot of hills. We earned that 13.1!

We started the run in 98% humidity which is hard folks! It's like running under water! At about mile 10 the rain finally came it. It felt amazing! Thankfully it brought the humidity down to a cozy 85%. It's pretty crazy that 85% humidity is cozy, but I guess it's all relative at that point.

My fuel for this run was a pack of jelly belly running beans, a strawberry pedialyte (we run with the packets to add to our water bottles on our belts) and a lot of water! After the run I immediately ate my cup of pickles and drank the juice. Did you know that pickle juice is supposed to reduce cramping after an intense workout? Also, I have to admit, I crave pickles like crazy when I sweat like that and all those sweets during running end up gagging me. Tony brought a banana for me too, but I could NOT eat anything sweet. I need to come up with some savory running fuel…

So, the workout breakdown for last week...

Monday - upper body strength training/5 minute plank
Tuesday - ran 5 miles/taught bootcamp
Wednesday - upper body strength training/HIIT/yoga
Thursday - ran 6 miles (best run in a long time!!!)/taught bootcamp/HIIT
Friday - upper body strength training
Saturday - rest day
Sunday - ran 13.1!!!!

I see a here that it looks like I don't work legs at all anymore, but I do. Normally I have some body weight leg exercises going during my HIIT routines. I'm also working on my planks more these days. They are my favorite core moves and I need to get back at them more regularly.

This weekend will be a 15 miler for us. It will be our first time hitting 15! Running with a plan definitely changes things up for me. I have more of an understanding of how my clients feel too with following a plan as apposed to doing whatever whenever when it comes to working out. I will say that I'm feeling a lot stronger on my runs now. I'm not hurting at all like I used to which is weird, but also comforting. It's very interesting seeing how this all plays out...

Amazing Gluten and Dairy Free Fried Chicken and Doughnuts!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:00:00 +0000

The way to my Southern men's hearts is definitely with a plate of fried chicken…but we'll get to that in a moment.

Hello friends! Long time no talk. To be honest, it's been crazy here for a few reasons. Travel for work and getting geared up for the kids to start school. Yesterday marked the first day of the boys being back at school! I can't believe we have an 11th grader and an 8th grader! Time has flown by! It's pretty amazing to see how much has changed over just the past 2 years…

me and the boys before school 2012

me and the boys before school 2014

Tony and the boys before school 2012

Tony and the boys before school 2014

Either I shrunk or the boys grew. Also, dang Tony has lost some weight! Also, we painted the house…which I love! Oh and apparently, you can't even get a smile from teenagers. It's all about the smirk. Must be the cool thing to do these days?

Anyway, the past week and a half has been spent with my men. I decided to treat them to some fried chicken for one of their last fun meals. Nothing gets these guys excited like fried chicken! Bob's Red Mill has a new 1 to 1 gluten free flour that you are supposed to be able to use in place of equal amounts of wheat flour. I tried the mix out a couple of weeks ago on a tester recipe for Bob's Red Mill and the guys liked it so much, they wanted me to try it with my fried chicken recipe. I used a mix of my original recipe and the Chick-fil-A clone I made before. They LOVED it! They were sooo happy! This flour is phenomenal! The flavor, texture and ease of use is perfect!

Gluten Free Dairy Free Fried Chicken

4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Flour

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup almond milk

2 eggs

Peanut oil

Heat enough oil to 350 degrees in an electric skillet or frier to cover the chicken pieces.

Cut the chicken breasts in half or strips. I cut mine in half this time, but next time I am doing strips. Generously salt and pepper the chicken (I think this is a key component along with the double flouring).

Mix the eggs and almond milk in a bowl and set aside. Place the flour, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder in a separate bowl.

Dip the chicken in the flour, then dip it in the egg mixture and then back in the flour to evenly coat each piece. Place on a sheet pan while your oil comes to temperature and all the chicken is coated in flour.

Place chicken in the hot oil and cook until it reaches 170 degrees on an instant read thermometer (your best friend while cooking meat). Flipping halfway through. It took about 25 minutes for a half chicken breast. Place on a paper towel lined platter and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Also, since the fryer was going, I went ahead and made doughnuts! The flour worked like a charm. I just substituted the two flours in the original recipe with the 1 to 1 flour. It was nice to not have to mix my flours. Funny thing about the doughnut recipe, when I looked it up, I realized I made these originally at the exact same time two years ago. They were some happy men that day. Now I've been told these all have to be on regular rotation in our meals…

I'm sharing these on Gluten Free Wednesday.

Perseverance - 10 MILES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 10:30:00 +0000

Happy Monday!!! Who's feeling marvelous???!!!

I know, it's Monday and we all want to be on vacation, but since we all can't be sitting with our feet up at the beach drinking our amazing freshly brewed cup of coffee leisurely watching the sunrise, let's just agree to make this an amazing week. Ok? It is going to be a crazy one here, so I am just going to roll with things and try to stay on task. That will be an accomplishment all on its own.

Thank you all for the well wishes on the marathon Tony and I signed up for. We are both super excited and super nervous. Don't worry, we are playing it safe and there are full rest days built into our plan. I was really happy with how well we recovered from the 9 miles last Saturday. I swear the humidity and dew point are the hardest parts to get through with these summer runs. I've done a lot of reading on running in humidity and the hardest part for me is regulating my water intake on those super humid runs. I don't really feel like I'm sweating until we start to walk for a minute. Then, I don't want to chug my water because I don't want to cramp. So, I'm working on drinking more, but not too much. There's no strict rule since we are all different and sweat at different rates. So, I just need to play around with it to see what works for me.

(source)

Here's the breakdown from last week…

Monday - HIIT/heavy lifting leg training
Tuesday - 6.2 miles at Suwanee Greenway/taught boot camp
Wednesday - upper body strength training/yoga
Thursday - HIIT/taught boot camp
Friday - 4 miles Gary Pirkle Park (Hit a PR too!!! Felt amazing!!!)/body weight leg training
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 10 miles!!!/heavy stretching

Ok, leg day…that's a hard one to build in with this training. Experienced marathoners/trainers, I will gladly take feed bake on this! I imagine as time goes on, my leg day will be more functional than actually lifting heavy. I played around with the leg press on Monday for fun doing different feet positions and man, my booty was screaming for mercy on the run on Tuesday. It's hard for me because I love to lift, but I also love to run. I have to remember that I've got a different goal for awhile and the heavy leg days are probably done for the next couple of months.

The 10 miles felt great! We ran it on the treadmill due to the weather. It was entertaining since I watched Dirty Dancing and well, the music is fun in that movie, so I was feeling good through the run. I hit a speed PR for a distance run! That felt amazing. My IT band did get pretty tight at mile 8 this time. It happened last week too. It was good after I stretched it, but it was frustrating. I think I need to spend more time with my yoga again. I haven't been teaching it during the summer and I think I need to get back to doing it more often. It just really helps keep things strong and limber.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Cheese Free Gluten Free Cauliflower Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 10:30:00 +0000

I know, I'm a bit late to the game with the whole cauliflower flatbread. To be honest, I always just kind of glanced by it when I saw it pop up in the blog world. I can't have cheese, so really, what was the point? Well, Tony was on a vegetable and protein kick for awhile, so I asked if he would be brave enough to try it. He HATES cauliflower. I showed him pictures and he said "sure". So, I made it for him. Well, that sparked my curiosity! I LOVE cauliflower! This looked like dough. It actually came out so well, that he asked for it again. So, I made it again, but I wanted to make one for me too! So, this is my cheese free version of cauliflower pizza or flatbread.

This crust is so crispy and you can actually pick it up with your hands.

I topped mine with roasted red pepper hummus, sun dried tomatoes and some fresh basil. I never wanted this meal to end!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust or Flatbread

1 head Cauliflower, mine was 2 lbs 3 oz
2/3 cup Garfava flour or Garbanzo bean flour, Bob's Red Mill
1/2 cup Egg whites
1 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp Salt

Preheat your oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Rice the cauliflower in a food processor. I do this in small batches so I don't over process the cauliflower. Microwave, with the lid on, 10 minutes with a couple of tablespoons of water added to it. Stir at 5 minutes. In a cloth lined colander, put the cooked cauliflower in the cloth and allow to cool for a few minutes. When cool enough to touch (or burn your hands like I do because I'm impatient) squeeze out the excess water. Make sure you get as much water out as you can. Place the drained cauliflower in a mixing bowl. Add the garfava flour through salt to the mixing bowl. Mix well. You should be able to handle it, but if you can't, add a little flour. Bake 20 minutes at 375º. Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake at 425 degrees 10 to 15 more minutes.

I'm sharing this on Gluten Free Wednesday.

Training To Run My First Marathon!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:30:00 +0000

Hello friends! I hope everyone is feeling Marvelous! I know I am! Ready to tackle this week!!!

Well, if I would have waited a few more days it would have been a whole month since my last post. I don't know how, but this summer has flown by for us. The kids go back to school in a few weeks and we have a lot to do in those weeks! It has been a busy summer with work, house stuff (um 3 weeks with no AC was not so much fun - no worries, we have a new one now) and Jay (my oldest) started running cross country. So, we've been all over the place.

Ok, well, I think I'm going to do things a little differently for awhile here at my little piece of the internet. I have been thinking a lot about where my career, life and goals have led me and I have a few things that I think I've finally gotten the courage to talk about. In the next few weeks, I'm going to share some personal physical challenges I have gone through, as well as, my thoughts on overcoming these challenges. I'm also going to journal more here. Tony and I have made the craziest decision to run our first marathon! Yeah, me, the girl that hated running a little over 2 years ago has decided to 1) completely fall in love with running and 2) act like a crazy person and complete a full 26.2. I have rules first and foremost in this crazy training plan though. I refuse to wreck myself, I will follow a plan (I'm tweaking a plan to suite my already crazy life), I will fuel myself properly, I will rest when I need it and I will (hopefully) not lose a toenail. Please don't let me lose a toenail…

(source)

I really want to share this journey here to help others, but to also keep record of this experience with Tony. I love the idea of journals, but I always seem to let them go after awhile. Also, this will keep me honest with myself so I stay on track.

(source)

So, our race is in late October and it is FLAT! We have 15 weeks until the big day! We looked all over for a race that would suite us. This one is a perfect time of year and hopefully will be easier on my legs being that it's flat, so I can teach Boot Camp the follow Tuesday like I normally do. The weather should be perfect and it's a paved trail, so that will be nice. Hopefully the leaves with be at their peak time to change. It's not too far from where we live and we will be doing some of our longer training runs there before hand.

(source)

We've been running between 3-7 miles on our runs for the last month. We typically run 3 times a week with cross training done twice a week (I teach boot camp and yoga along with working out with some clients, so I get quite a bit of cross training). The biggest thing I learned from running the half last fall was how beneficial yoga is in my recovery. It really is the perfect complement to my running. So, I sneak in yoga whenever I can including taking breaks from life to release my inner yogi if only for 15 minutes sometimes. I feel renewed and revived when I do, so I will continue to do that as my training continues.

So, here's the breakdown on last week…

Monday - cross trained/HIIT
Tuesday - 7 miles at Suwanee Greenway, taught boot camp
Wednesday - cross trained/upper body strength training
Thursday - taught boot camp, yoga
Friday - cross trained/HIIT/core work
Saturday - 9 miles Suwanee Greenway
Sunday - 3 mile walk, yoga

We actually didn't get in the 3 runs we would have liked to have gotten in last week. Tony was under a HUGE deadline and well, that's life. So, you roll with it. The walk yesterday felt amazing on my legs. I really needed it and I was happy that my legs felt completely recovered after the run. That 9 miles was brutal though. The humidity was awful, the air was thick and the heat was unbearable. However, we played it smart, walked when we needed to, drank our water and pedialyte (I will talk more about our fuel during runs when we get into needing more) and then took the time afterwards to cool down and refuel (especially our salts).

(source)

I think we are all caught up for today. Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be appreciated. Anyone else ever done anything outside of their comfort zone with working out? Running a marathon is one of those things I said I would never do…

*While I am an ISSA certified personal trainer, this is a journal of my own experience based on my fitness level. You should always consult a physician before starting a new new exercise program.

Getting Creative In The Kitchen With Steel Cut Oats!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 10:00:00 +0000

Happy Wednesday Morning! We are on the downhill slide of the week now! I hope everyone is enjoying a great week. It's been a a busy one here, but things are definitely heading in the right direction and we are gearing up for a great (productive work) weekend!

Question…have any of you ever entered a recipe contest? I love getting creative in the kitchen, as I know most of you do too, so I wanted to share a little contest Bob's Red Mill is doing where you have a chance to win up to $5000 for the grand prize!

This is The Fourth Annual Bob's Red Mill Spar For The Spurtle competition. All you have to do to enter the contest is, come up with an original recipe, upload it and a picture to their Facebook page. Easy, right?

Sadly, I am not eligible to enter since I'm an ambassador for Bob's Red Mill, but that doesn't stop me from creating! So, I'm gonna share my recipe for my individual Apple Spiced Crumb Topped Baked Oatmeal!

Before I get into the recipe, I want to start off by telling you a little trick I have when it comes to making breakfast easy. I've started cooking my steel cut oats ahead of time, scooping out what I need for my individual breakfast in the morning, adding a little extra water or almond milk to the oats and reheating them in the microwave. Makes things come together super quick! Then I can top them with whatever I want or I can throw them in recipes like this one for a super quick breakfast.

With my kids getting older and life inevitably getting busier, having wholesome snacks and quick breakfasts ready for a fast paced life is a must. I came up with these when Jay started running cross country this summer. He's in need of some good recovery foods and these definitely do the trick! The texture is a cross between baked oatmeal and a muffin with a crispy crunchy crumb topping. I love that you can either eat them with a spoon or hold them and eat them with your hands as you run out the door!

Apple Spiced Crumb Topped Baked Oatmeal

makes 7

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Sweet Rice Flour

1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Vanilla Plant Fusion

2/3 cup Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce

1 cup cooked Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Steel Cut Oatmeal, cooled

1/2 cup Egg Whites

1/2 cup Vanilla Almond Milk

2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar

1 dropper NuNatural's Vanilla Stevia

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup cooked Steel Cut Oats, cooled

1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1 TBSP Vanilla Plant Fusion

2 TBSP Sugar

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

pinch of salt

5 drops NuNatural's Vanilla Stevia

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray jumbo muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sweet rice flour through salt. Mix well with a wire whisk to get any lumps out of the mixture. Next add the applesauce through stevia drops to the dry mixture and stir to mix well. Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared pan. I used a jumbo muffin pan and a large ramekin.

Prepare the topping by mixing the oats through vanilla stevia drops in a bowl until it forms coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the muffin batter.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Remove from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack or eat warm.

I will be sharing this on Gluten Free Wednesdays!

Best Homemade Gluten Free And Dairy Free Bread Recipe!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 11:39:00 +0000

Happy Friday Friends!!! Things have been crazy here the past two weeks with house repairs. I will spare you the details and my wallet woes.

I was asked by one of my favorite BLENDS if I would share a recipe for something that is hard to re-create gluten free.

So, I shared a new super easy, gluten free recipe! Head over to Lindsay's site to check it out!

I will be sharing this on next week's Gluten Free Wednesday.

Homemade Pico De Gallo and Oven Baked Corn Tortilla Chips

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:41:00 +0000

Oh summer time…we love you so. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons, but I celebrate the great things about all of them and fresh produce is a summer time favorite here. I have been making my own homemade pico de gallo for years, but honestly, I would put the ingredients in the food processor, blend it to the consistency we wanted and be done with it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, at the beach, I didn't have the luxury of a food processor and using a blender would have made a foamy soup. Not what I was looking for at all. Oh and you need fresh pico de gallo when you're having fish tacos and vegetarian tacos at the beach. So, I hand chopped it.

Just give me a spoon! I could eat this all by it's self!

I can't even begin to tell you how good that was. So, since being home, I've now hand chopped pico de gallo three times and we are already wanting more! It doesn't take long, about 10 to 15 minutes. I love kitchen therapy (and running therapy and lifting therapy and yoga therapy…sounds like I need therapy ;-) so, a few minutes of chopping is actually enjoyable for me. Don't let the chopping scare you off. Seriously, this is worth it!

Also, if you've never baked your own corn tortilla chips, I highly recommend it. They are so crispy, thick and crunchy without being greasy. They are so good and a perfect accompaniment to this thick and chunky pico de gallo.

Fresh Pico De Gallo
makes about 3 cups

5 Large Roma Tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
4 Green Onions
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1/2 Jalapeño, without seeds if you don't want too much heat
1/4 tsp Salt
hand full of fresh Cilantro
juice from half a Lime

Chop everything to your desired size. Mix together and enjoy!

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips

Corn Tortilla Taco Shells
Salt

Preheat your oven to 375º. Spray baking sheet with oil.

Cut your corn tortillas into quarters. Arrange your chips on the baking sheet without overlapping. Spray the top of the chips with a little of the oil and lightly salt. Bake for 5-10 minutes, watching carefully. When slightly browned, turn the chips over, return to oven and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until they are browned to your liking.

What's your favorite thing about summer? Do you have a favorite food you eat a lot of during the summer? I LOVE going to the lake during the summer and I eat a frightening about of watermelon. It's one of those foods that, once I get started, I can't stop…

I'm sharing this on Gluten Free Wednesdays!

Running…On The Beach and Up Currahee!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 10:44:00 +0000

Holy smokes has life been crazy! Summer is officially here for the boys. They got out of school about a week and a half ago. Thank goodness! I love summertime with my men. We immediately headed to the beach for a very short, but incredibly sweet trip. There is nothing more amazing than an ocean sunrise.

Seriously, as I watched it each morning, I felt an amazing calm come over me.

Maybe it's a state of mind, maybe it's the breath taking view and maybe it was the amazing company?

Whatever it was, it was AMAZING.

We wasted no time getting thrown back into reality. Work was begun immediately upon arrival back home. Darn responsibility…

Oh well, I like to eat and well, I like having a roof over my head, so, you know…I needed to get over it.

Tony and I decided a few months ago to do something a little crazy. My husband is a serious history buff. I have since become somewhat of one too. We live about an hour outside of Toccoa, GA which is where the paratroopers from WWII trained. This year marked the 70th Anniversary of D-Day and so we decided to sign up for the Currahee 10k. Ya'll, that run is no joke. I have a whole new respect for those men that ran that beast of a mountain twice a day. "3 miles up, 3 miles down". The first two miles were hard, but nothing compared to the last mile. That climb was darn near vertical. I have never seen something like that before. I had every emotion imaginable going on inside of me through that run. I am in awe and humbled by the men that ran there before me.

This view from the top was magnificent. It was brutal and beautiful all at the same time. As we were running up the mountain, we were talking about running. I realized that around the last part of May two years ago, that was when I started running for the first time. What started as a way to understand what clients were going through has turned into a love of mine. I always hated running and never thought I would even slightly like it. I can now, without a doubt say that I'm a runner. I am in love with it. The adventures it has taken me on (especially the past two weeks from running on the beach and then up Currahee), to the peace of mind through run therapy, to the amazing chats I have with my husband while we're out for our runs, I am absolutely, head over heals in love with running. When I first started running, I always said that when I would sign up for a race, I wanted it to be for a good cause. I think the preservation of the Toccoa Military Museum (which we viewed after the run after our whore baths in the car and a quick change of clothes) was a great cause for us. I've actually never ran a race before where people were thanking you for running. Military men and those that had family members in wars were thanking us for participating. We both have had family in the military so hopefully, that small thing we did by running and remembering them, demonstrated our way of honoring them and thanking them for their service.

As we were driving away from our Currahee run on Saturday, Tony and I looked back in the rear view mirror and realized what we had just run up. That mountain in the background, that is the beast. We are already talking about doing it again next year! Yeah, we are that crazy…CURRAHEE!

I will be sharing this on this week's Marvelous In My Monday (which will be on Tuesday). Make sure you check out Katie's inspirational post. It's a great way to start your week!

Feeling Content

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 12 May 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Bear with me folks, I am feeling a little touchy feely these days. Probably due to the emotional roller coaster of living the clumsy life with one thumb. It's definitely better, but still nowhere close to usable. Do you know how hard it is for a girl who is all thumbs to be down by one of her favorite digits? I know I'm lucky that it's only a bone bruise and not broken, but gosh it's annoying. I am getting pretty good with the claw now though. That's what I call the four fingers that are working oddly together to make up for the lack of a thumb. I have a whole new respect for the Almighty Thumb!

Anyway, back to the real meaning of my post today. My most profound friend, Lindsay, wrote an incredible post on contentment the other day. You should read it. She is incredibly wise and always inspires me to be a better version of me. I've actually been thinking about this subject a lot lately.

Contentment.

(photo credit)

It's actually a pretty tough subject for me especially as someone that works for herself. I always have BIG DREAMS and goals that I'm reaching for. Don't get me wrong, I feel like those are good things, but I also feel that there comes a point when you should stop reaching so hard and just take a moment to appreciate the here and now. I actually did this a few weeks ago, very specifically and very purposefully on a Saturday morning. I live with a lot of stress since Tony and I are both freelancers. We are always working for the next big thing. So, the odd calmness that came over me that morning really marked a special time in my life. It was a realization that I truly have all I've ever wanted and all I will ever need. We definitely do not live a glamorous life. We don't go on regular vacations (our trips are always work related) and some nights we have beans and rice out of necessity (sometimes because we want them too), but we have a healthy, happy little family that we are incredibly happy with. We live in a house we love and we have all that we NEED. Contentment. Happiness. Love. Safety. I could NOT ask for more.

(photo credit)

Do you ever think about that? Your contentment? I think it's easy to get caught up in the things you don't care for or don't have in your life, but actually appreciating the good is never as easy. Competing with others or never really appreciating who you are or how far you've come will only create bitterness and anger.

Summer time is coming up for my boys which gives us a lot of good times to look forward to here. We are really looking forward to this summer. Life has changed, again (for the better, so that's good!). We are crazy busy, but trying to take the little moments of calmness to really spend some quality time together. The illustrator is working on a Star Trek comic book and he could not be happier, I'm loving every second of working more hands on with him again, my bootcamp class is in full swing with an energetic group, I have a great group of personal training/nutrition clients and my recipe development clients have grown! Also, on top of that, I know this is almost too much for me to handle, but in the very near future, my toes will be scrunched in a sandy beach. Our family is going to the beach for a few days with my very best girl friend and her family. I CAN NOT WAIT!!! This girl grew up with beach vacations all the time. It has been 10 years since I've been and I (along with the bus who can't even remember that trip 10 years ago) are busting with excitement.

So, tell me some good things that are going on in your life. I want to enjoy these moments with you!
Happy Monday friends! I am indeed feeling marvelous! I hope you have an incredible week!

Bob's Red Mill Giveaway Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:47:00 +0000

The winner of the Bob's Red Mill giveaway is RunWiki! Congratulations lady!

Thank you to everyone that entered! You can go here to receive a coupon off your next order!

Hazelnut Crepes and My Week In Review!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 11:02:00 +0000

***Don't forget to enter the Bob's Red Mill Giveaway! Hazelnut Flour and a $50 gift card!

I always aspire to be more organized. Some days, I feel like I'm getting better, but then there are other days when I realize I have 5 lists going and nothing is really getting done. Overwhelmed much? I love how Meghan at Clean Eats Fast Feets stays so organized. I dream of being that good some day…

Last week was a really good week at the old homestead. I'm not sure if many of you know this, but my husband is an illustrator. He works long hard hours. He's extraordinarily talented (at least I think so) and my job (one of many, but the one I do for him) is to help him with promoting work and keeping the books. Talk about the blind leading the blind here. Well, we are starting a new direction in the work he offers. We recently started screen printing his work! So, last week was all about putting some artwork on a garment from start (creating a screen) to finish (screen printing a t-shirt). He is incredibly good at illustrative design, working for many years creating logos and commercial artwork, so this is a natural progression for his work. He has worked digitally for years and as an artist, he has the need to do something more artistic with his hands. Pulling ink through the screen and seeing an image he created come through was extremely exciting! I can't wait to see where this takes him in this new venture!

So, Monday was spent prepping the screen for photo emulsion. I was terrified of this. I have never worked with anything light sensitive in my life. I'm a personal trainer and chef. Lucky for Tony, I'm also artsy fartsy, so while this was scary, it was also fun! I trained a few clients and found my way into the kitchen to play with more hazelnut meal too. Hazelnut Crepes!

Savory

Filled with Daiya folded and browned on each side to melt the "cheese".

Sweet

Folded and served with caramelized bananas with dairy free ice cream on top.

Hazelnut Crepes
(makes 9 medium crepes)

1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp guar gum
1 cup egg whites
1 cup almond milk
2/3 cup water
2 TBSP dairy free butter, melted

Mix everything in a blender and blend for 3 minutes. Refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. Cook in a buttered or oiled non-stick pan flipping when bubbles form on top of the crepe. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup for each crepe. Serve savory or sweet!

Tuesday was a runch day! Lunch time runs are becoming a favorite of mine. I felt like a caged animal that had been released when I got out in the sunshine! Hit a PR and then fueled up with a kabocha sandwich on protein flatbread!

 Wednesday was the day we actually worked with the photo emulsion. We coated our screen and got things ready to wake up before the sun came out on Thursday morning (happens anyway, but we needed the dark that day for work). I trained clients and got a little bookkeeping work done. Have I mentioned how much I hate that part of work? UGH!

 Thursday was a crazy day. We got up, had a little coffee and then got to work exposing and cleaning our screen. We went with a fun design for our first try and I'm amazed at how well it turned out.

 We also printed shirts! So much fun!

I also spent 4 hours driving kids around to various things and trained clients. It was a busy, but super fun day!

 Friday was Friday, need I say more? I got in a great run with Tony, got some tax stuff done (I still have some to do) and then relaxed with my men watching a movie.

 Saturday was a day of errands with Tony. We started our morning with a cup of coffee before the sun came up (we are apparently getting old and can't sleep in) and ended up having an incredible brainstorming meeting! I love seeing him so excited about art in a different way. He loves what he does with comics and that will always be a passion of his, but see him look forward to new opportunities really inspires me. I'm a lucky girl to have him in my life. He has given me a beautiful family and a comfortable place to live. I could never ask for more. Love him! We also made our way to the art store for more ink! I can't wait to play with these!

 I finished the weekend with a 6 mile run with Tony. It's the first 6 miler in a long time that felt good. It was needed. I also spent the morning working on laundry while Tony took our oldest out to drive on real roads for the first time. That part was a little hard to deal with. I have no idea where the time has gone? Everyone survived safe and sound, including the car. Again, I couldn't ask for more.

I hope you all had an amazing weekend! I am definitely feeling Marvelous In My Monday!

Hazelnut Oven Baked Pancake and a Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:11:00 +0000

It's Monday my friends and I'm feeling pretty Marvelous!!! I had an incredible weekend with friends and my little family, so I would say that's the perfect way to start this week off on the right foot! Also, I have an incredible giveaway to share with you all today along with a super easy, delicious and healthy recipe for an oven baked pancake. You can't beat that, right?!

Alright, let's be honest, life is busy. I feel like we are constantly on the go around here these days. I know we aren't the only ones, so lately, when I think about developing recipes, my first consideration is to come up with something everyone can do quickly and easily.

I got to thinking about all the meals that are a little on the time consuming side and came up with pancakes as being one that we love, but I always dread the time I spend in the kitchen flipping them. I don't know about you, but when the weekends roll around, I just want to relax, drink my morning coffee slowly (instead of slamming it down my throat while driving) and watch home shows with my husband. Well, my kids have a different picture of what the weekend mornings should look like. They like to have a "Saturday" or "Sunday" breakfast, as they call it, which is completely different from any other day of the week kind of breakfast (you know like cereal or yogurt). I get it, the weekends mean big breakfasts with all the fixings! I love cooking, it's what I was meant to do, it's my zen, but with how busy things have been lately, I am really focusing on coming up with fast, healthy, simple recipes that don't actually taste like they are all of those things.

So, this is when I had the idea for a baked breakfast pancake. This recipe is so simple. You just put everything in the blender, blend it all up, pour it into the pan and bake it! No standing in the kitchen for 30 minutes flipping pancakes!

The topping options are endless. I topped ours with powdered sugar and caramelized bananas*. Strawberries and whipped cream would be amazing too. I'm definitely making this the next time we have company over for breakfast. A build your own topping bar would be perfect with this easy to make pancake. The boys enjoyed this so much, they went right back in for seconds! That makes me a happy mama. They don't even know this was good for them. Sssshhhh, don't tell them!

Hazelnut Oven Baked Pancake

serves 4

3/4 cup hazelnut meal

1/3 cup quinoa flour

1 TBSP sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup almond milk

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP coconut oil

Heat the oven to 425°. Place the coconut oil in a 10" cast iron skillet. Melt the coconut oil in the oven while it preheats.

Place the hazelnut meal through lemon juice in a blender and blend 2 minutes or until completely mixed together on high speed. Swirl the melted coconut oil in the pan to completely coat it. Pour the pancake batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top. Serve warm with your favorite pancake toppings.

*To make the caramelized bananas, I simply melted non-dairy butter in a skillet, sliced the bananas, cooked them slightly and then added a little brown sugar and vanilla to them when they were just about done cooking.

How would you like to try out the new Hazelnut Meal from Bob's Red Mill and receive a $50 gift certificate to try out more of their amazing products? Well, here's your chance! You have multiple ways to enter. Make sure you leave a comment for each entry. Winner will be announced Tuesday, April 8th. Good Luck!

To enter the giveaway:
1. Leave a comment here telling me your favorite quick meal
2. Follow me on Facebook.
3. Follow me on Instagram.
4. Follow me on Twitter.
5. Follow Bob's Red Mill on Facebook.
6. Follow Bob's Red Mill on Twitter.

Gluten Free Protein Flatbread and The Most Amazing Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:30:00 +0000

It's Monday!!! Yep, I'm in a good mood! I had a pretty incredible week with my guys last week that led right into a great weekend. Tony and I are working on some projects together for his work (he's an illustrator just in case some of you weren't aware). He just came off of a huge project working on the Vampire Diaries comic and he's about to start a new project. We also have things of our own that aren't licensed projects that we are working on together. So, fun stuff ahead! We got the chance to spend time together and just talk about all the things we want to do in the future. It was a GREAT week! So…I definitely feeling Marvelous in My Monday!

I also got the chance to get to the Asian market this week!!! Definitely a bonus for me since I finally got kabocha after 3 weeks of not having any. They didn't look so great, so I only got 4 small ones. Oh well, guess I need to go back soon. Confession…I have a serious weakness for kabocha. You know how some people love chocolate or wine? That's how much I love kabocha! Once I roast it, I'm better off just eating the whole darn thing so I don't have to think about it. Yes, I know it's a vegetable, but even still, it's a carb and you can go overboard. Who am I kidding, you can never have too much kabocha. :)

So, this week's MMAZ for Better With Veggies was to cook someone else's recipe.

I knew right away what I wanted to make when I saw Spabettie's kabocha sandwich.

Seriously, how could you go wrong? I did get a little overly excited and accidentally left the sautéed onions on the stove and didn't remember them until later. I dove right into that sandwich! OH MY GOODNESS!

The combination of sweet crispy kabocha with the spicy dijon mustard, the crisp refreshing lettuce and the soft doughy bread was nothing short of amazing. I used my protein quinoa chickpea flatbread for the sandwich to add a little protein to the mix. AMAZING! You all HAVE to make this!

Mini Qunioa Chickpea Flatbread Loaves
(makes 2)

1/3 cup quinoa flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/3 cup chickpea flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup egg whites
2/3 cup soda water

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour batter evenly into 2 greased mini loaf pans. Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ok, tell me, what's your guilty addiction? Kabocha really is mine. The boys make so much fun of me for it, but I just can't get enough.

I hope you all have an amazing week! I have a few recipes to share this week and a giveaway! Happy Monday!

Hazelnut Pate A Choux!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:46:00 +0000

I don't think I've mentioned it on here yet, but I'm happy to announce that I am an ambassador for Bob's Red Mill this year! You all know how much I love this company, what it stands for and the incredible products they continuously produce. They have some new products out and I was lucky enough to get to play in the kitchen with them. The first one I'm sharing is their Hazelnut Meal! Remember the Crunchy Hazelnut Granola Cereal? Yep, that included this amazing new product. I will be sharing more recipes and giveaways with these amazing products! For now, go check out my post on the Bob's Red Mill Blog featuring this Hazelnut Pate A Choux recipe! It's so easy and so delicious!

Hazelnut Pate A Choux

Hazelnut Pate A Choux filled with sautéed onion and bacon egg salad

Hazelnut Pate A Choux filled with chocolate hazelnut spread..

dipped in creme anglaise!

Hazelnut Pate A Choux baked glazed doughnuts

Finding Happiness, Butternut Squash Rösti and Crunchy Gluten Free Almond Granola Cereal!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:29:00 +0000

I want to start this post with saying that this weekend was really good for me in so many ways. I spent some amazing time with my men, I got to meet my niece and visit with my sister whom I haven't seen in 3 1/2 years, cooked A LOT, cleaned up the house some, did yard work (I'm so excited to get a garden going) and finished it all up with a walk last night at the park with my men. It was a much needed great weekend. I am, in fact Marvelous In My Monday!

Me and my sister Whitney with her little one Audrey!

I now want to give my thoughts on happiness…

I had a bad week last week. Sadly, not because anything bad happened, just that I was mentally in a bad place. I think I got more annoyed that it really wasn't a bad week and that there was really no good reason for me being so down. I think the biggest problems were that there are some things changing around here (for the better, but change just the same) and that I let all the little things in my head add up. You know, the things you have no control over? Those little things that haunt the corner of my brain that will never be fully resolved. I need to learn to let go…

It didn't help that my schedule was completely thrown off either. My work schedule along with the fact that the kids are in school for an extra 30 minutes for the next two months to make up for the snow days really was frustrating. I felt out of it (out of control) from Sunday through Wednesday of last week. That was definitely my rabbit hole to no place good. I made the decision on Wednesday night when I went to bed, that no matter what, I was waking up with a better mental outlook. I don't know that I believe you can always choose "happiness". I am a happy person in general even through the bad. I feel like perspective is everything and learning how to deal with the harder things in life is the key. I am really working on it. I have an incredible little family here and some amazing friends (thank you to all of you that helped talk me through last week). I just let the crap add up. I don't want to be that person. I want to be able to focus on the good and let the bad go. About 3 years ago, I was living in a pretty bad place mentally. I have worked hard to bring my focus to the here, the now and the good that is all around me. I'm lucky in that I have an incredible husband that seriously always has my back. The man is a gift from the gods…I swear he is. I must have been really good in a former life to get him in this one. I guess all of this is to say in an open forum that I am happy. I am going to make an effort to be happy even through the not so good times. I am going to take some time everyday to look around me and notice the special moments that I normally let slip by me. I'm also going to work harder at doing the things that make me happy (like walks at sunset). I sat at dinner with my three guys on Thursday and Friday night. This is something that can't always happen with our crazy schedules. We all laughed so hard at stupid stuff for an hour both nights. I'm going to make a point of doing this so much more. While I know I can't always control things in my life, I do have control over how I deal with them. I need to go back to my New Years intention and focus on living purposefully.

Now, on to the fun stuff…

While working out is one of my favorite things to do to put me in a good mood, being in the kitchen is by far my all time favorite way to cleanse my mental palate (also, my actual palate). So, this week I have not 1, but 2 recipes for you! The food for Better With Veggies MMAZ was squash. I was happy to get in the kitchen and play around. I bought 4 different kinds of squash but one really stood out to me...

Butternut!

This recipe is really simple and really delicious, especially if you like texture with your food.

These little baked butternut squash rösti are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. I have to confess, I'm not a fan of savory winter squash dishes. I mean, I love winter squashes, but I either eat them plain or I make them slightly sweet. So, I made these two ways…breakfast and dessert! Don't stress over the look of these. This recipe is definitely an metaphor for finding the perfection in the imperfect. The messy part is where are the crunchies come into play.

Served with yogurt and crunchy almond granola cereal.

Butternut Squash Röti
(makes about 9)

5 cups shredded raw butternut squash (about 1 lb 1oz)
1 flax egg (1 TBSP flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP hot water, allow to sit for 15 minutes)
1 TBSP cornstarch
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat your oven to 400°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine everything together and mix well to make sure all of the squash is evenly coated. For each röti, scoop about 1/2 cup worth onto the prepared pans. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip (carefully making sure you scrape it all off the parchment and just fixing them as needed) and bake an additional 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.

I decided to use a different meal for my Crunchy Granola Cereal this time…

Bob's Red Mill has a new product out! Natural Almond Meal! This stuff is amazing! You can bake your gluten free goodies with it and it works like a charm with my granola so I don't wreck my food processor! Such an amazing product!

Served with maple walnut dairy free ice cream and crunchy almond granola cereal.

Crunchy Gluten Free Almond Granola Cereal
(makes about 5 cups)

3 cup corn flakes (I used Attune Foods)
1 1/2 cup quick oatmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup natural almond meal/flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
9 TBSP egg whites
9 TBSP coconut sugar (I used NuNaturals)
3 TBSP melted coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with coconut oil.

Combine all of the ingredients in your prepared pan. Stir everything together smashing up the cereal as you thoroughly combine the ingredients. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Crunchy Gluten Free Granola Cereal

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 20:51:00 +0000

In truth, I started my week off in a bad mood. I'm always the first to say, "stop with the negative talk", but today really hit me the wrong way. I felt off from the second I got out of bed and let it ruin me for a good portion of the day. Things just weren't going my way and well, yeah…I had a serious case of the Mondays.

Well, I've decided enough of the negative talk. Somebody posted on my instagram feed that it's all in how you look at it and I'm going to make today better! I'm working on some new projects and I need to look at the adventure part of these things and embrace the change. Negativity only breeds more negativity…so, today, I choose happiness! I'm always so inspired with how Katie puts her positive foot forward. Thank you Katie for making me see the Marvelousness in my Monday!

So, I've decided to share one of my favorite recipes as of late. I made this one up last week and have made it 4 times since. This should tell you how much my guys like it...before I could take a real picture, the container was empty and I was told that I needed to make more.

This is more of a sweetened cereal than a true granola, in my opinion. You know the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, well, this is kind of like that. I used Attune Foods cornflake cereal with some Bob's Red Mill oats and their new hazelnut meal/flour to make a super crunchy delicious cereal! This also works as a crunchy topping to baked goods or doughnuts (which is what I did with the picture above). So easy and so delicious!

Crunchy Hazelnut Granola Cereal

(makes about 5 cups)

3 cup corn flakes (I used Attune Foods)

1 1/2 cup quick oatmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)

3/4 cup hazelnut meal/flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

9 TBSP egg whites
9 TBSP coconut sugar (I used NuNaturals)
3 TBSP melted coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with coconut oil.

Combine all of the ingredients in your prepared pan. Stir everything together smashing up the cereal as you thoroughly combine the ingredients. Bake for an hour to an hour and a half stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Happy Monday friends! I hope you're having a great one!

Sorghum Lentil Stuffed Peppers (and Burgers)

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:00:00 +0000

Well happy Monday my friends! I hope everyone is feeling Marvelous!

I enjoyed a nice weekend with our family in Tennessee. It's always so peaceful to go there and just relax. Tony's parents have been working on their dock at the lake and I have to admit, it really made me ready for this summer. I can't wait to soak up some sunshine and enjoy the lake with our family. I don't want to wish time away though, so I'm gonna just enjoy this moment now and look forward to the future ahead. No rush here. Taking life slowly...

So, guess what? I've actually been in the kitchen lately! I know, shocking! I have been so bad about getting in there and spending time preparing full meals using different ingredients. In my defense, I was dealing with quite a few things, including you know, family stress a few weeks ago, completing my yoga teacher training for my continuing education credits for my training certifications, as well as updating my CPR/AED certification and well…you know, work and family. Busy! Now though, I'm cooking!

Have you guys heard about the Grains Of Discovery from Bob's Red Mill? I'm loving going through the adventure of discovering ancient (gluten free) grains through this line they have. For now though…let's talk SORGHUM!

Have you tried it? This was my first time trying it and we all loved it! I get nervous cooking different stuff for the guys, but they all loved sorghum. It takes awhile to cook, but it's so worth it. If you haven't heard of it, sorghum is an ancient cereal grain high in antioxidants and is believed to lower the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurological diseases. It has a very mild taste. For me, it was reminiscent of small grain brown rice. It's also fun because you can pop it like popcorn! How fun is tiny popcorn…so fun and delicious!

I cooked a large batch to have on hand all week. I'm trying to get better about having things prepped and on hand for fast additions to complete meals. This worked so well for our vegetable soup! The soup was a "clean out the freezer/fridge soup" and the sorghum was exactly what I needed to add extra protein and whole grains to the quick soup.

The texture is great too since it's firm and slightly chewy. Sorghum gave a nice contrast to the soft vegetables in the soup. It would also make an incredible addition to salads!

As soon as I tasted sorghum, I knew right away that it would be perfect with lentils for burgers and stuffed peppers (which I have been craving forever!).

These were so good! The perfect texture on the inside with a mix of slightly crispy on the top, chewy and dense on the inside with a sweet roasted pepper on the bottom. I LOVED this mixture. I also made burgers with it to keep in the freezer for later. I actually made 2 peppers cut in half and 23 burgers with the remaining filling. This mixture freezes beautifully too which is a huge bonus for me.

Sorghum Lentil Stuffed Peppers (and Burgers)

1 cup sorghum, prepared per directions (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup lentils, prepared per directions ( I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 head cauliflower, cut and steamed

2 TBSP flax seed meal (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 1/2 cups gluten free quick oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 TBSP onion powder

1 TBSP garlic powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Cook the sorghum and lentils according to package directions. Drain excess liquid from them. While the steamed cauliflower is still hot, puree in food processor and then place in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the flax meal and set aside while you process 1/2 the lentils in the food processor. Next, add the sorghum, lentils, oats, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the cauliflower mixtures. Stir well to combine.

*For the stuffed peppers, slice red peppers in half from top to bottom. Clean out the seeds. Lay the peppers on their sides in a greased baking dish. Fill each half with about 3/4 cup sorghum mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour or until the top of the peppers is browned and the peppers are soft.

*For burgers, form mixture into burgers using about 1/2 cup of the sorghum mixture. Bake on a parchment lined pan on 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flip the burgers and then bake an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until the burgers are slightly browned.

I topped my peppers with pasta sauce and nutritional yeast. You know, because it's so good!

Have you tried sorghum? If so, what have you done with it?

I hope you all have an amazing week!

I'm sharing this on Allergy Free Wednesday.

Friday Fodder…Refocusing and Finding Inner Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:56:00 +0000

Well friends, it's Friday. I'm not gonna lie, the past two weeks have been less than kind to me. A little over dramatic…probably, but perspective is everything and well, right now, I'm pretty drained. I will warn you, this is a mental cleansing post. I have been thinking a lot lately and I really just needed to journal my thoughts so I can get them out and move forward. I completely understand if you need a fun post to read on a Friday, so by all means, come back on Monday. I promise to move past this and get myself mentally back on track…

I turned another year older last Tuesday. I was actually doing really well with that thought. I was still feeling fresh and ready to tackle 2014 head on. Me and my purposeful action year, we were on a roll.

(Grandmama was 13 or 14 here)

Sadly, on that day, I got word that my beautiful grandmother was dying. I was beyond crushed by this news. At first, I was coping with it understanding that she was 82 years old and had suffered from horrible dementia for years. It was her time. I felt an odd sense of calm for her. I focused on her beautiful smile and always happy demeanor. She was an amazing cook that always made the best Sunday dinners for us. I like to think I got that from her. I remember her pork roasts (with mustard sauce), lima beans, coleslaw (with Dukes mayonnaise), rolls and either German Chocolate Cake (the best in the world) or pecan pies. She and my grandfather had huge pecan trees in their yard. My cousin, Michael, my sister, Tara, and I would spend hours picking up pecans for our treats. Definitely a delicious rewards! Grandmama was the type of person that always made you feel happy because she was so incredibly happy. She never met a stranger. You instantly felt like she was a long time friend. She was simply amazing. I will forever miss her laugh and the Southern way she said my name.

I got a call that Thursday evening letting me know that she had passed away. I fell apart. I was completely irrational and angry…mostly at myself. I had let way too many years get between she and I. For that, I will forever feel guilt. My feelings grew sadder as I realized how far gone my youth really is. Not about my age or getting older, but that time has gone and it's going fast (if that makes sense). Driving to South Carolina for her services gave me plenty of time to reflect on things. I have never done so much meditative breathing in my life. My thoughts were all over the place from regret, to sadness, to missing my cousins (whom I hadn't seen in far too long), to missing my grandfather, to not understanding relationships that have gone bad…I was beyond sad.

My expectations of life are not what I thought they would be. I'm guessing most people struggle with this. I should preface this with saying that I am in the most amazing marriage with my best friend. That will forever be true, but there are relationships in my life that I just don't understand and probably will never understand. I'm coming to grips with the reality that we are responsible for who we are. I can't control the people around me or make them see what I see. I really need to move in a direction that makes me happier with me. I need to find inner peace with who I am and where I am (in life and in relationships). I did not take any time off from work this past week. Starting two weeks ago, I went from a crazy work week, to a horribly sad weekend with a lot of stress saying final goodbyes to my grandmother, to driving home at 11pm on Sunday night after her funeral service, to getting up at 4:15am Monday to train clients and then working my butt off this week. Emotionally, mentally and physically I am drained. So, this weekend, I am taking time to regroup and refocus. Two things I will definitely be doing…running and cooking. I have done neither this week and those are both things that I love to do for me. Hopefully I will be catching up on some rest too. I want to start next week on a positive note with positive affirmations.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and definitely tell your loved ones that you love them (hug them if you have the chance). While true friendship and love always know, it's always nice to hear it too.

Muddy Running, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Waffles and Jammin To The 80s!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:38:00 +0000

Oh Monday, we meet again…

I can't complain at all though, I am coming off of an amazing weekend with my men so I'm gonna have to say this is a pretty Marvelous Monday! Tony and I spent most of the day jamming to 80s jams on cassette.

Yeah, we're that old. I'm impressed that my boom box still worked! Tony's parents sent some tupperwares of his stuff (and some of mine from college) back with us at Christmas and with the power being out most of the day due to HEAVY storms, we made the best of it. It was a blast! We drove the kids crazy. We are now those parents. :)

Tony and I got an extremely muddy run in on our favorite trail.

My poor new running shoes are a mess now. I let them dry and now I need to really try to clean them up some. UGH, they were so pretty! Oh well, hopefully I can get them presentable again. Thank goodness for sunny skies though. I needed the fresh air, vitamin D and some time with my running buddy. Made for a perfect Sunday followed by us bringing gluten free pizza home for the boys. Lucky for them, the pizza place is at the end of the greenway.

I have a busy week ahead of me (and so does Tony), but that's a good thing. Can't complain about having work. I'm so excited things are moving in that direction for me! I need to finish up my studying so I can take my exam soon, but I'm really loving everything about my yoga teacher training.

I'm really learning so much about myself through this. It feels amazing.

I also had to share this picture from dinner last night. We had a little dinner geography lesson. It cracked me up…gosh how I love these men!

I'm also really excited that Meatless Mondays are back!

Today is all about oatmeal! My favorite food ever! I have written many posts on how much I love oatmeal, but today, I'm going to share an absolute favorite! I LOVE waffles and pancakes, so of course I'm going to put oatmeal in them to make them even better!

This recipe works as pancakes or waffles, so don't worry if you don't have a waffle iron. Also, this recipe works as breakfast, lunch, brinner and dessert! A la mode is recommended!

It's dense, rich, thick, crunchy and delicious! Can you tell I like them?

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Waffles
(makes one)

1/2 cup quick oats (or process whole oats just a little)
2 TBSP peanut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 TBSP sweetener of your choice (I used NuNaturals Baking Blend)
6 TBSP water

Mix everything together and cook in a waffle iron (or cook as pancakes).

I hope you all have an amazing week!

My New Years Intention...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:00:00 +0000

(Tony's parents' place…my favorite place)

Well, 2014 is here! Yes, I realize it's been here for a few days. Are you tired of New Years posts yet?I'm still basking in the glory of a new year with new possibilities. I never wish time away, but to be completely honest, while 2013 ended well, the scars and skeletons in the beginning really overshadowed the good. I'm happy to begin 2014 with a feeling of hope and optimism. Good things are on the horizon!

I don't do resolutions. I never have. I feel like they set me up for failure and start things off with a negative connotation. I don't want to resolve to do anything because that's saying I have a problem that needs to be fixed. (I hope Tony is not reading this, because I know he's thinking my organizational skills need a little work. ;) I'm not perfect and I'm ok with that. I do want better though or at least I strive to be better in general. I've thought a lot about this and I want to start this year with intensions.

It's the way I start each yoga practice and I like that it sets a positive tone for me so…this year I have an intension. I'm not gonna get all crazy and make a list of things that will overwhelm me though. The ever encouraging Lindsay wrote last week about picking a word for the year that centered around her focus and it got me thinking. What is the word I will focus my year around? I thought about it and I really want to live purposefully. I want everything I do this year to have a positive impact on mine and my family's lives. With the craziness that is life, I can let things get out of hand around here. I don't want to waste time on a broken heart or on lost hope, I want to use my lessons learned and move forward with a renewed sense of being the best me I can be. I realize this is general and kind of corny, but well, I have also realized that you can easily let the hardships in life take over and I don't want to do that anymore. I want to live a positive purposeful life. I do choose happiness in life. It's all about how you deal with things that happen good or bad.

So, with a renewed since of hope and optimism, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Things will be changing around here for me. I've thought a lot about starting a new blog since I have changed so much, but I just don't want to do that. I am the Non-Dairy Queen. :) (though I now can't have soy or gluten…I know, good times) I will be sharing more of my life journey with work (personal training & recipe development), life, fitness (running, lifting, HIIT, yoga), health (I may actually work up the nerve to share my story some day) and cooking (feeding our family with multiple food intolerances and allergies). This is who I am. I hope you all come along on the journey. I love this community and the friendships I have made here. Thank you all for sticking around these past couple of crazy years. Cheers to a new year!

I hope everyone has a Marvelous Monday and stay warm!

(Gluten Free) Turkey Pot, Turkey Pot, Turkey Pot Pie...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I can't even begin to thank you all for the kind words, tweets, private messages, emails, phone calls and texts about our half marathon. What an amazing support system you all are! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I actually didn't even know that it was a record setting cold since 1911. I was probably better off not know that fact at the time…

Yesterday, it was 70 degrees outside! What the heck???

So, how's everyone's week going? We have been working our way through leftovers and I'm happy to announce that we are now done with Thanksgiving food in the fridge. I'm pretty sure you all know by now that you have to get a little creative and change things up to get kids to eat leftovers every meal for a couple of days (especially turkey). I decided to throw together a turkey pot pie on Sunday since I know how much the guys here love pot pie. I normally make my own pie crust, but since I had some Bob's Red Mill gluten free crust, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try it out.

This is a new product for Bob's Red Mill and I'm happy to say that it worked like a charm. The boys loved it!

Flaky, buttery and so easy to work with (which is a HUGE bonus in my book)! Perfect!

This recipe is so easy to put together and it's definitely a crowd pleaser! It's really easy to make vegetarian too (which is what mine was with chickpeas).

Turkey Pot Pie

4 cups frozen mixed vegetables
4 chopped cooked turkey
4-5 cups chicken broth (start with 4 cups and add more if needed to desired thickness)
1/3 cup all purpose gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1/3 cup quinoa flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
3/4 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
1 TBSP melted butter (for topping) (I used Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Sticks)

Prepare pie dough according to package directions.

In a large pot (I used a high sided sauté pan), combine all the ingredients. Cook on medium heat stirring often until thickened. Pour pot pie mixture into a 13x9 casserole dish. Top with prepared crust. Poke holes on top to vent the crust. Brush top with melted butter. You can add a little extra salt and pepper to the crust like I did at this point too. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour or until browned on top.

What's your favorite way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers? Ours actually went pretty fast, but turkey tends to dry out with reheating so putting it in things really does help.

I'm sharing this on next week's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.

So, I finally ran my first half marathon!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Happy Monday to all! I hope that everyone had the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful Thanksgiving with friends and family! I feel so fortunate that I did just that. I really enjoyed having a long weekend with my men. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. I love that it's completely centered around spending time with the people you love. Seriously, could you ask for more? I think not.

Now, for the crazy part of the weekend…the running of my first half marathon on Thanksgiving morning. I, never, in a million years, would have ever thought I would run a half marathon. Seriously, I hated running. I also backed out mentally quite a few times before making the commitment blaming my teaching of fitness classes all along. When I finally decided to close my eyes and just go for it, I totally played it cool in my head. I have a tendency to get a little on the overwhelmed side when I make big decisions (I know, shocker) so I really worked on not focusing on the fact that I signed up to run, not just a half, but my FIRST half marathon on a day I was supposed to cook a traditional family meal for us and our friends…

This is how it went down…

I was smart enough to unintentionally not have group classes on the schedule for the week of Thanksgiving. I don't know what gave me the foresight to do that, but I didn't and I'm so thankful for my unintentional brilliance. I did have my personal training clients, but that was easier on my body to handle. Two days prior to the race, I started backing off of my usual higher protein diet. I didn't do hardcore carb loading, but I was a lot more mindful of trading some of the protein I would usually eat for starchier carbs than I normally would. I did little things like add baked potatoes in, popcorn, cereal and white rice (rice pudding with almond milk is super delicious and oh so comforting! Pumpkin rice pudding is amazing too, just saying'.). I'm not sure if these little things helped me out since it was my first race like this, but I really did feel ready to run on Thursday morning. Side note, wow, tapering and higher carbs are a very strange feeling for someone who's used to a certain workout and eating routine. Talk about stepping outside of your comfort zone!

Anyway, when we got up on Thursday morning, it was below freezing! Seriously, I live right outside of Atlanta and it's rarely THIS cold on Thanksgiving day! Um, 22 degrees when we set out for that run. We had been watching the weather (like it was our job!) and ended up having to run a few errands to get some extra gear for the cooler temps. I didn't have gloves, so I got a pair and on race day, I wore a pair of knit gloves under my running gloves (I wish I had bought the hand warmers too). I also needed to layer my body, so I got some Champion layering gear from Target that worked like a charm. I wore my compression socks and another pair of socks so my feet had a chance of not freezing. I kid you not, my fingers did not thaw out until I took a shower. That is the coldest I've ever been for that amount of time. My core was good while I was running. I was so happy for that and my feet were good too. Though in my mind, I was sprinting in the end, but I swear I was moving in slow motion since I was frozen. It was literally beyond freezing! My fingers just would not warm up. This will tell you how cold it was, normally, in the cold, my nose runs. I swear the snot froze in my face before it had a chance to come out. Oh and Tony, he sweats a lot when he runs…

Yeah, that's a freakin' sweatcicle hanging from his hat! When I hugged the man at the finish line, he crunched from all the ice on him!

Now, for the funny part in all of this, I did not even think one second about how miserable the cold was before, during or after that run. I RAN MY FIRST HALF MARATHON!!! I felt amazing. Sure, I couldn't feel anything, which is probably why I ran without thinking about my body. I even beat the time I was going for in my head! That felt beyond amazing! After all of that, I stood in the kitchen for hours preparing our meal (compression socks and leg warmers were warn, both were lifesavers!). At the end of the day, I felt like a rockstar. Such an amazing day spent with my friends and family!

(My boys cuddling watching a movie after dinner. Love them!)

Now I'm really excited for this holiday season. I really needed the change of pace. I feel charged and ready to tackle new adventures. Last year was hard on me mentally during the holidays, so this really did set a new tone for me! So, yeah…I'm feeling pretty darn Marvelous In My Monday!

Thursday Thankful Thoughts...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:32:00 +0000

I had this huge Thanksgiving post all written out with pictures of food that I plan to make along with links to recipes (if you need recipes that are gluten free and dairy free you can read about mine here, here and here). However, that just doesn't feel like the message I want to put out there this holiday season. If I'm being honest, which I tend to like to be, this hasn't been the easiest year for our family or for a lot of my friends and family either. I feel like this holiday season, for me, I need to really focus on the good in my life and really be thankful for all that I have in it right at this moment. Life is constantly evolving and while I do think that bad is good for us sometimes (it keeps us grounded and slightly humble), I am incredibly thankful for my amazing family, for our health, for my unbelievably caring friends, the roof over my head that my husband works so hard to keep there, the nourishment I get daily and the work that I'm fortunate enough to have right now. These are what I'm focusing on this year.

Life...it's gotten busy. I've changed. I know, it's weird, but we all change. I guess the bigger part is the acceptance part of any changes in your life. I'm accepting it and embracing it these days or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

So, what's changed? Work is a big one for me. I started teaching small group fitness classes at my local community center. I LOVE it! I'm finally teaching my style workouts and I'm having so much fun! I teach a boot camp at 5:45am twice a week, a beginner yoga fusion (barre moves, breathing, stretching...it's all my favorites in one!) twice a week and a senior fitness class once a week. All of this is on top of my personal training clients that start daily at 5am, my recipe development work, my fitness nutrition clients, my own workouts and well, my family. I'm busier than I've ever been before and I love it on so many levels. Sadly, blogging has taken a back seat for a little while in order for me to focus on these other things and well, make a little money to help out around here. I keep up with my peeps by instagram, Facebook and twitter though, so I don't feel completely out of the loop. Actually, lately, I really am enjoying those outlets of social media. Instagram is my favorite though. I love how positive it is along with a perfect mix of life, food and fitness. Perfect for catching up with everyone.

The other big change for me...I've fallen in love with running. Yeah, and Tony caught the bug too, so we've been having fun getting out in this amazing weather running together. Never in a million years would I have ever thought this would happen. I think I always put too much pressure on myself when it came to running. It's one of those workouts that I can do that completely takes me to a different place. I'm not a good planned runner though. I don't run two days in a row and I don't have certain distances that I will go regularly. I'm not really training for anything other than just getting out there and being free! I still have a hard time calling myself a runner, which is weird to most people. I don't feel like I was made to run. I think there are so many other amazing people that were seriously made to run. Actually, I think Tony was made to run even though he hated it just like me. I'm just enjoying the me time these days and taking it where it takes me…

That being said, Tony and I decided to do something a little different this year for Thanksgiving. We signed up for a half marathon Thanksgiving morning! This will be my first and Tony's second. I can honestly say, I'm not afraid of the distance part, but the cold weather has me a little freaked out. I will get over that…probably shortly after I start running in the 20 degree weather (YIKES)! We went back and forth on whether we were going to do the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half and eventually decided not to due to cost and well, it's not exactly convenient to get to on a day that I actually do want to spend with my kids. Then I came across the Tryptophan Half Marathon that's literally 20 minutes from my house, there was a huge discount code announced and I was really excited when I saw that the proceeds go to The Children's Health Care of Atlanta (a hospital that we have sadly had to use for Max when he was 9 weeks old). So, we are signed up and ready to go! We also have friends that are coming into town to run with us which will make things even more exciting! I'm really excited about doing something different this year. I really need the change of focus for a minute on Thanksgiving and this really is going to help me with that.

All of this is to say that this year, I'm going to really focus on the positives in my life this holiday season. 2013 has not been the best of years for us in so many ways. Sure things could have been worse and well, they have been in the past, but things could have certainly been better. This year has been about learning to accept the bad times in our lives and grow through them rather than allow them do defeat us.

For those of you out there that are sad or lonely this time of year, please know that you are not alone. My heart always goes out to those that suffer, but especially during the holidays. For those of you that are fortunate enough to enjoy feasts with family and friends, please take a moment and really appreciate that moment. Those are precious moments and memories that should be cherished.

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving!

COFFEE and Gluten Free Apple Spiced Donuts

noreply@blogger.com (Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Woohoo, it's Thursday people and I'm posting twice this week! I mean dang, I'm getting stuff done! And by stuff, I don't mean laundry, um, let's not talk about it. By stuff I mean, blogging a little (I have priorities, people I miss you guys), teaching classes, training clients, shuffling kids to and from school and drinking cups of coffee the size of my head!

Yeah, don't we all drink our iced mochas from quart sized mason jars? Well, those of us that get up at 4:30am during the week do...and then we are WIRED for about 3 hours, but dang those 3 hours feel great! Hello legal addictive stimulant!

So, I promised a recipe for those apple spiced baked donuts or doughnuts (By the way, how do you spell this? I lean towards the first one, but I also use the second. Probably not important...I've just had too much coffee!) Anyway, so these are light and caky with a nice hint of spice to celebrate the cooler weather. I've always been more of a fan of cake donuts personally and Old Fashion Doughnuts always have that hint of nutmeg. So good. So here's my dairy and gluten free version of a spiced donut...

Apple Spiced Baked Donuts
(makes 6 donuts and a small loaf - I only have 1 donut pan)

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup tagatose (NuNaturals) or 1/4 cup sugar
1 dropper vanilla stevia (NuNaturals) or 2 TBSP sugar plus 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs (flax or chia gel works too)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup almond milk

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup Gluten Free All Purpose Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
pinch of cardamom
pinch of salt

Spray a donut pan and/or small loaf pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar through coconut oil together until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs, applesauce, almond milk and apple cider vinegar to the sugar mixture and beat until blended well. In a separate bowl, combine the gluten free all purpose flour through salt together. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully combined. Scoop batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake the donuts for 15-20 minutes and the mini loaf will take from 30-40 minutes depending on how much batter you put in it. Stick them with a toothpick and it should come out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then remove from pans to cool completely...

To glaze or not to glaze...that is the question?! We are a mixed family here. The guys like glaze because, you know, more sugar. I like baked donuts without glaze for dipping in my coffee.

Glaze
1 cup powder sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
enough water or almond milk to form a thick glaze (add a tablespoon at a time)

Mix everything together until thick and smooth. Glaze slightly cooled donuts.

I will be sharing these on next week's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Allergy Free Wednesday.

So, how is everyone's week going? It's crazy here, but that's not different from any other week. Who has fun plans for the weekend?