Musings Of A Counselor: Ecuador

Showing posts with label Ecuador. Show all posts

Monday, February 28, 2011

A Simple & Delicious Treat {Recipe Included}

If you've been reading my blog for very long, you may have picked up a few things about me:
1. I LOVE to travel (see here and here)
2. I dislike cooking (but love making this and this)
3. I can tolerate cooking if it's in some way connected to my travel :)

So, knowing that, a week ago I set out to cook another favorite from my visits to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic: Plantains! They are delicious, can be a side to a meal (served with salt or ketchup on top), or as a dessert with cinnamon cooked on top.

Why plantains? According to self.com, plantains are "very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Potassium" (see here for other nutritional data). Plantains always need to be cooked-they cannot be consumed like a banana. I'll go step by step through the cooking process with pictures. Side note: There are many ways to cook plantains and many things to do with them-this is simply one way. They can also be mashed and made into little patties-this is also delicious.
Ok, so here we go:

1. Here is a plantain. They can be cooked when they are green, yellow, or brown. The more ripe, the sweeter they are. They need to be cooked differently, so look up directions!

2. Peel the plantain. This isn't as easy as a banana. It may be easier to cut both ends off the plantain to start the peeling process.

3. Cut the plantain into small pieces using diagonal cuts. DO NOT cut straight across. Don't make the slices too thick.

4. Warm up a pan (medium or medium-high temp, and cover base of pan with a thin coat of oil.

5. Put plantain slices into the frying pan and let it cook. Once it's browned, flip over and let the other side cook.

6. Voila! There you are! If you want cinnamon or salt, you can put on immediately following removal from the pan. If you want to put another dressing on top, go for it. It's delicious!!!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Steps to Wellness in My Life

Remember my post yesterday on running? Well, because it went so well, I decided to take advantage of the great weather again and go running/walking this morning. Unfortunately, I don't nearly have as positive of a report to give. I felt like I had 20 pound weights strapped to both legs, and every step I took was a struggle. I ended up running almost a mile of the two miles that I went... and walked the rest. I wish running was easy and enjoyable for me!

I also really dislike cooking. However, I know that in order to increase wellness in all areas of my life, nutrition is also important. I've been craving some of the food I ate in Ecuador (recaps here and here), so I decided that this weekend was going to include a lot of cooking.

Kale Chips! Drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. I can hardly control myself when they come out of the oven!!

Dinner Friday night: Black beans, Corn, Spinach, Rice, and Red Cayenne Pepper in a tortilla. Delicious:)

For dessert I cooked a plantain! This is the first time I've ever made them on my own, and they turned out really well!

Breakfast Saturday Morning: Old fashioned Oats for Oatmeal, with Cherries, Blueberries, and a little Brown Sugar mixed into it!

Lunch on Saturday: Scrambled Eggs with Chicken, Red Peppers, Cheese, and Tomatoes mixed into it. I reheated the rest of my plantains from last night and put ketchup on them.

So, there you go- A look into how I eat. Although I've always eaten fairly healthy, as I started to focus on overall wellness 2 years ago, I've been trying to change how I eat too. I'll post the recipes for plantains and the kale chips in the coming days! (thanks to Sarah at The Strength of Faith for inspiring me to start taking food pictures outdoors)

What're your favorite foods to make on the weekends? Anything fun planned for the day?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tasty New Recipe (& healthy too)!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a cook. I once went through a loaf and a half of bread before I made a grilled cheese sandwich that wasn't ruined. I would love to be a great cook, but I'm not. When it comes to food, the more straight forward recipes are, the more likely I will to actually make it.
Because I was recently in Ecuador, I have been craving rice and beans quite a bit. Therefore, this "recipe" (I hesitant to even call this a recipe!) met my criteria for cooking.

First I lined up all the ingredients...
1. Sweet Corn
2. 1 can of Black Beans
3. Frozen spinach
4. Jasmine Rice (I used my rice cooker for the first time and it turned out really well) -i used about 4/5 cup of dry rice

After cooking all the ingredients, I threw them in a bowl together, and threw a little red cayenne pepper on top for extra health and flavor...and....Viola:

Ok, so these photos were taken on my phone, and I can guarantee that it tasted better then it looked. But, it was cheap, easy to make, and delicious. The above ingredients made enough for 4 decent sized portions of food, and the flavor got even better after the first meal!

I didn't have much free time tonight, so this is as much as you're going to get tonight. Information on Cognitive Distortions and how to change them will be coming soon!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Bienvenidos a Ecuador-dos!

Well, I've been home from Ecuador for just over a week, but in many ways it seems like many more weeks. I've had multiple dreams about Ecuador, from the amazing fruit there to chasing guinea pigs around the neighborhood I grew up in to save them from being eaten:) I miss Ecuador (specifically, Cuenca) terribly. I found the people wonderful and incredibly friendly to interact with every day I was there. I had mentioned before that mental health was a few decades behind the US in Ecuador (not just from what I saw, but this is coming from discussions with multiple people there). It was such a joy for me to go and share what I know, study, and love about mental health and wellness. The people there were incredibly receptive to listening to lectures on Wellness, Depression, Work-Life Balance, and Suicide, and many of them stayed after to have individual conversations. Many of them have asked for supplemental materials to be sent down, and I'm just so happy to be helping out down there!

I have to say that my time there wasn't just about me lecturing and teaching, but I also learned a lot from the people there. I obviously learned about the current state of mental health and counseling services, but I learned about relationships too. I think in many ways, Ecuadorians have a much better view of relationships then we do here. I think I learned a little more about pausing in my busy schedule to talk to those around me, and to really be in a community with them. I value this so much, and it definitely made me feel more appreciated there.

Ecuador was an absolutely wonderful experience, and I definitely want to go back as soon as I can to continue having conversations and sharing what I know about increasing wellness. I feel so blessed to get to see the things I saw, experience the food and the culture, and meet all the wonderful people I did over the course of the week.

As promised, here are some other pictures (a few are here in my first post about Ecuador):

Cajas National Park in the Andes Mountains

Outside the Trout Restaurant in the Andes Mountains

The New Cathedral in Cuenca. It's so beautiful!

This is the "school bus" that Ecuadorian children take to school.

At the open air market. I love all the bright colors!

Cute old Ecuadorian women walking in Cuenca.

Sunset above the clouds. It's hard to see in this small picture, but the black gaps are the tops of the Andes mountains.

Older woman in Turi

More Inca ruins in Cuenca with the Andes Mountains in the background

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Bienvenidos a Ecuador!

Well, I am back from my week in Ecuador. I was there speaking at one of the best universities in the country, as well as touring Cuenca, Ecuador. I absolutely loved my time there, both as a tourist and as a visiting professor at the University. Mental health in Ecuador appeared to be, in many ways, a few decades behind where we are at in the United States. I spent most of my time lecturing on Wellness, with different spins (i.e. Work-Life Balance, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Depression, Resiliency, and Suicide), and it was a lot of fun. People had a number of really wonderful questions, and I had a lot of really wonderful conversations with different individuals. I hope to be able to continue those conversations, and will be spending the next few weeks typing up materials to send down there. I love the people, the culture, and the food, and it was pretty sad to leave. Of course, the warm weather also didn't hurt:) I will be posting pictures sometime later this week, but I need to edit first, and I'm behind in everything in my life due to being out of the country.
To tie you over, here are a few pics!

Such a cute design for an airlines flying all over Ecuador!

2 generations: Old and new, both in tradition dress for their generation

Inca Ruins in Cuenca, Ecuador

Cuy (guinea pig) cooking in an open air market. So disgusting... This was the only thing that I refused to try on the trip.

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