Author Archives: Alison Spath

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

October 12th, 2016 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (1 Comments)

I keep this blog ‘o mine up and running for a number of reasons:

1.  Around Thanksgiving every year the Yes, You Can Make Pumpkin Pie Without Evaporated Milk post gets a lot of web traffic, and frankly, that just cracks me up.  (The traffic to that post basically pays for the annual web hosting fees to keep this whole thing going, so why the heck not.)

2.  The Intermittent Fasting post continues to be visited regularly as well, and I still love IF and want to keep that post up too.

Intermittent Fasting Lately

August 22nd, 2015 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (4 Comments)

gets_easier

The post I wrote on Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss back in March of 2011 is the post that drives the most amount of traffic from search engines to this site everyday.  Given it’s been more than 4 years since that post was originally published (I’ve updated and edited it for clarity a number of times over the years) a recent email from a reader with some questions inspired me to write an update and answer some of the questions about IF that I’m frequently asked.

I do still practice IF, but I don’t really think about it anymore.  Now it’s just the normal thing I do.

The Birthful Podcast: My HBA2C Story

July 16th, 2015 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (Comments Off on The Birthful Podcast: My HBA2C Story)

This post has very little to do with food (unless you count a castor oil vanilla milkshake) but has at least a little something to do with health and a lot to do with kids, so I’m sharing it!

While I’ve referred to my son Kaz’s birth a number of times here in the past, I recently had an opportunity to share his birth story (a planned home birth after two cesareans) on The Birthful Podcast as a part of Adriana Lozada’s “Birth Stories for the Summer” series.

PodcastSummerStoriesMainAlison

Dairy Free Gluten Free Quiche*

June 15th, 2015 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (2 Comments)

*Except it’s not a Quiche, it’s a Frittata.

I planned to make a quiche for a small gathering over the weekend.  I realized later I needed to make a dairy free dish, so I googled, “Dairy Free Quiche Recipe”, and that’s when I remembered that quiche is not really quiche without milk of some sort.  I suppose you could add some non-dairy milk, but what I really was going to make was a frittata.

Spell check keeps trying to tell me “frittata” is not a word.   Stop waving your intimidating squiggly red line at me, Spell Check.  I am certain that I could not, should not, would not make a “Fritter”, but thanks for your not-so-helpful suggestion.

The One Where I Tell You How it All Came Together

June 12th, 2015 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (7 Comments)

Hi there!

It’s been a while, I know.  Almost a year since my last blog post.  Yikes.  I’m finally ready explain where I’ve been.

You know how they say “do what you love and it won’t feel like work”?  Yeah, I’m all about that.  I think the concept was first presented to me in The Four Hour Work Week.  I didn’t read it cover to cover, but I read enough to understand Tim Ferris’ point: if you love what you do, you won’t be “working” 40 hours week.

A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!)

August 16th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (Comments Off on A Blueberry Tossed Salad (to make before blueberry season is over!))

I am a salad lover and I love to make awesome salads – but when I’m going to make a salad, any “plan” I have usually consists of:

Step 1: rummage through the fridge for vegetables

Step 2: throw it all together

Step 3: eat

Some plan, eh?  Salads (and smoothies) are just not something I think to use a recipe for – but this also means I often make the same thing over and over again.

Zucchini Noodles with Homemade Pesto and Sauteed Shrimp

August 10th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (1 Comments)

I whipped this meal together a couple Fridays ago when Zak had dinner plans with some friends and I was home with the kids.

Zucchini noodles with pesto and sauteed shrimp

I felt a little guilty for making something so yummy when he wasn’t home to eat it with me.  Some how, some way, I did manage to save him some leftovers.  That’s love.

Zucchini Noodles with Homemade Pesto and Sauteed Shrimp

For the zucchini noodles:

1 – 2 Tbsp of butter, coconut oil or olive oil, enough to coat all the zucchini
2 large-ish zucchinis
garlic powder and salt to taste

Are You There Blog? It’s Me, Alison.

August 9th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (9 Comments)

I taught my first yoga class today.  Not exactly my first class, but sort of.

My “first” classes were in teacher training to my fellow trainees, but those don’t really count.

Then I taught a restorative class a few weeks ago at the studio where I practice, and although that was a real class, it was just a few resting postures (have you ever been to a restorative yoga class? It’s awesome.) so I’m not sure that counts either.

Superlative Summer Potluck Dish

June 12th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Party Time - (2 Comments)

This is the fastest, easiest, yummiest potluck dish that I whip together when I’m short on time and ideas (or not!)

Veggies on Hummus

I saw this idea last summer and have used it a number of times now.  I’m here to spread the word, so you can spread the hummus.

And that’s exactly it — a layer of store bought hummus spread across a shallow dish, topped with whatever vegetables you feel like chopping – or not chopping, as the case here.  The vegetables I used for a dinner party recently were procured from the olive bar at Wegmans… the tomato salad that’s used for bruschetta, marinated green olives and artichokes (that I chopped myself) spooned across the top of the hummus.

Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

June 10th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (2 Comments)

If there is one thing that is perpetually on my list of Things to Get Better At, it would be meal planning. I always go to the grocery store and buy the same old, same old ingredients to make the same old, same old meals – not having any specific plan for the week  (Maybe I have one new or specific meal in mind.)  I rarely decide on what I’m going to make until it’s time to get started making dinner.  Sometimes this is fine, other times it feels very boring.