The Itch is Scratched..

I have this little peeve for blogs with recipes without a recipe page. The Type A in me really likes the efficiency of a single organized list to which I can refer for finding things. The act of scrolling through multiple pages of posts within a certain category takes my impatient dial and cranks that sucker to overdrive. If anyone else has this same issue, our little blog will no longer be giving you any blog rage (similar to road rage.) Check it! And I like pictures, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share some Valentine's Day cards by Laura George that Ez shared on her blog. You can buy them in her Etsy shop. Are they not hysterical? My personal fave is the "Pants Off"; I can't look at it without laughing like a 13 year-old boy.

Priorities, perspective.

Sundays are habitually a day of reflection for me, a hybrid of the diminuendo of the preceding week and the crescendo into Monday and the warp speed of the week. I do a lot of talking to myself on Sundays. Literally, I will have a conversation with myself. Out loud. I'm not sure what it is about the thinking process that is enhanced for me with just spoken word, but no matter the context, problem solving happens for me most efficiently if I explicitly say out loud what it is that I have, where I want to get, and then stumble along various paths until I find the right one.


I've decided that life is just one big balancing act-or perhaps more like a continuous series of balancing acts one after the other separated by little blips that might shuffle the positions of priorities on their totem pole of utility. There are two tricks, then, that we need to be able to identify: the first is actually deciding what our priorities are and which ones are most important. The second is then teeter-tottering appropriately given the leaders on the priorities totem pole. The second is tough, but nearly impossible if you can't explicitly identify what is truly important to you. The more I ponder this, the more I realize that many people are trying to do just that: run the balancing act without the proper weights installed on either end.


We, as people, are so aware of so many things, including the other people around us and those that are far away from us no matter what distance metric you use. We're aware enough of the moon and its properties, which is over 238,000 miles away, that serious consideration of colonizing it has been tossed around. Why, then, is awareness of ourselves so elusive? So elusive, in fact, that the lack of self awareness is not even a second thought to the majority of us? It requires an extra muscle, an extra oomph to shove us into a perspective that lets us see what we're doing in a way that makes us ask why we do what we do and how what we do effects everyone else around us. It requires work, and that I think is the answer to the previous question-why so many of us don't do it.


I've never been an unhealthy eater. I've always been into the idea of taking care of myself above the average maintenance standards that most would agree are "normal." However, it wasn't until becoming a mostly-vegan and a 90-100 mile/week girl that I became immensely aware of my eating habits and how I made food decisions on a day-to-day basis. I am certainly not perfect, nor do I expect to be, but each day I feel like I get better and better at being completely aware of what I'm putting into my body and why. Most people would say that running 100 miles in a week is grounds for being a garbage disposal-any and every food is fair game. The reality is precisely the opposite: my body undergoes far more stress than the typical person, making it even more important  that I flood this thing with as much nutritional value as I can given the amount of food I can comfortably take in on a daily basis. 


Running is a funny thing. Some days, running dropkicks my appetite into full gear, but if the exercise bout is intense enough, it really does a lovely job of pissing on all my desires to ingest solid food. The idea of choking down a bowl of oats with nut butter and fruit is enough to make me dry heave immediately (or even an hour after) some of the mid-September 20 mile marathon work days. It's then that you have to plan: I can (have to) stomach liquid. What can I get in that can be liquid form? Later in the day, I have to ask what did I not get in earlier that I need to have now?  I stumbled on this article on http://www.seriouseats.com. A meat-eating manly man takes a "30-day vegan challenge" and kept a daily journal about his experience. It was clear from his writing that he very much intended to go back to his burger-and-wing lifestyle after the challenge and that the challenge wasn't going to do any magical transformation and veggie enlightenment. However, I found great pleasure in reading this statement he makes on day 6 of the challenge:

"Veganism has forced me to be constantly aware of what goes into my mouth and this has consequently resulted in a big decrease in calories that I consume and an increase in the regularity of my meals."

I don't believe veganism is for everyone. If you're cool with eating hormone-free chicken, then by all means, nomnom on some of that.  I'm completely cool with eating some forms of seafood. But I will say that it unquestionably benefits everyone to be aware of what you're eating, when you're eating it and why. The relationships that people develop with food are extremely interesting to me. From a biological point of view, food is simply the fuel we put into our bodies to live. Ben Franklin was the one who said "eat to live, not live to eat."  Most people don't have an emotional attachment to the unleaded that they throw in their car. I also don't think that one should sacrifice flavor, taste, and the occasional indulgence for optimal nutrition. It all goes back to balance and moderation-that annoying teeter-totter. 


I don't have time to cook is something I hear all the time, and I'm here to tell you that you don't have to spend tons of time on a meal for it to rock your tastebuds and be good for you. I'm constantly eating on the move; I'm a grazer and eat fairly constantly all day long rather than eating separate, designated meals. Cue breakfast on the go:




 Red Velvet Cake Smoothie, v2.0


Ingredients


1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 swiss chard leaf (or your favorite green)
1/4 cup roasted beet puree
1/4 summer squash
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tsp coffee grounds
3 oz. silken tofu (I just used 1/5 of the package)
pinch of sea salt
tsp vanilla extract


Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.






One of my favorite snacks doesn't require a recipe, but it's genius:

PB&J Boats


Ingredients


1 medjool date
1 tbsp peanut butter


Cut the medjool date like a hotdog bun; remove the pit. Stuff with peanut butter. Inhale. Repeat.









I like to eat a reasonable combo of carbs and protein post-workouts. No, I do not bring my food scale and make sure I'm eating a ratio of 4:3. If I'm in a reasonable neighborhood of that ratio, I'll chalk it up as a win. These dudes taste so good, I feel kinda like a rebel eating them right after I've stepped off the track:

White Chocolate Pistachio Protein Bars
Inspired by Chocolawtay


Ingredients


For the shortbread layer:
1 cup GF oat flour
1 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder*
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/8 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (or just more vanilla)
2 tbsp stevia powder





For the pistachio layer:
1 cup pistachio butter* (no salt, no sugar added)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp honey
2 medjool dates
3 scoops vanilla protein powder*
pinch sea salt


For the white chocolate layer:
2 tbsp almond butter
4 oz. white chocolate
tsp honey


1 scoop = 30g


Line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment or wax paper.


For the shortbread: combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. The consistency will become that of stiff dough. Press the dough into pan and place in freezer to set while you prepare the second layer.


For the pistachio butter layer: to prepare the pistachio butter, place 1 cup of roasted pistachios in food processor and process until butter has formed. Since the oil content of pistachios is lower than that of most nuts, this may take a while and you may have to stop the processor and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. If necessary, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil to help develop butter. Once the pistachio butter is prepared, add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and combine. This dough will be looser than the shortbread layer. Press the dough onto the shortbread and place in freezer to set.


For the white chocolate layer: place all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 10-second increments until the chocolate is melted and ingredients are combined. Spread onto the chilled bars. Work quickly, as the chocolate sets fast on the cold surface. Refrigerate until the chocolate has just barely hardened and remove and slice the bars. Store in refrigerator and remove ten minutes before noshing to soften. 

The cleanse.

The cleanse. Somehow, I managed to live 27 1/2 years without ever as much as acknowledging the notion of a cleanse. But in early 2011, I met my now favorite New Zealander, we'll call her.. CrunchyBar. CrunchyBar is a big fan of the cleanse/detox outlined in Alfred Junger's book Clean. Incidently, Gwenyth Paltrow is also a fan. But, I digress.

After the Chicago Marathon, I had the feeling of emptiness. It's actually pretty common for me to feel this way after a goal race or the end of a "season." Because it consumes my life for a while and then, just like that, 26.2 miles later, it's over. The hours of weekly training, the schedule, the exhaustion, the obsessive conversations about shoes, hydration, carbohydrates, electrolytes. I needed something else to direct my energy towards. CrunchyBar is always up for a cleanse partner, so we gave her cleanse a try. I followed the book's recommendation to do a "pre-cleanse" by eliminating gluten and dairy for a week. I felt great! The cleanse followed, which included liquid breakfast and dinner with a solid food gluten/dairy free lunch in the middle. Snacks allowed. What did I learn? I felt the best during the pre-cleanse. Hmmm... maybe Tayler is onto something...

I started looking into some options. I bought a few books including Gluten-Free, Hassle Free and Diet Wise. Diet Wise, particularly, was the start of something. It is about how the food we eat can affect us systemically. Much of the book provided cases of people who overcame significant ailments (immune disorders, psychological disorders, headaches and more) by changing their diets. The reader is instructed in basically a two-step process. First, follow a diet with nutrient-rich, low allergen foods. Next, reintroduce new foods, one at a time. The goal is to determine which foods produce the symptoms you're trying to eliminate.

So when I received a daily email from Whole Living about the 2012 Action Plan, I was intrigued. It detailed a 3-4 week cleanse and outlined what could be eaten each week. Here are the basics:

Week 1: Fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts

Week 2: Add soy (organic), beans, lentils, seafood

Week 3: Add eggs and gluten free grains

Week 4: Add meat and gluten-containing grains

My goal, or New Year's Resolution, was to use the cleanse as the "elimination phase" of the elimination diet. Then, reintroduce foods that could be causing my symptoms. The main symptom I was trying to avoid was daily GI distress. 

How did it go, you ask? Amazing. So amazing that I have stalled at week 4 1/2. I'm currently dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten free. Amazing. I just can't think of another word to describe the difference. I have energy. I've always someone who needed a lot of sleep to function. Eight to ten hours plus a nap was not uncommon. Changing my diet has helped by energy more than iron or vitamin B supplements. Fatigue was a symptom I even didn't recognize.

I am egg free because in week 3, after 2 days of eggs, I became horribly nauseous for about a day and a half. Last April, I had a similar feeling the week after Easter. As I tried to eat my way through the extra hard-boiled eggs, I ended up with a 4-5 day period of horrible headache, nausea, stomach ache and general malaise. I wondered if it was the egg or if it was a stomach bug. I still wonder if it was just coincidence both times. But for now, I'm living egg-free. 

Yesterday, I decided I was ready to test dairy. Before this resolution, I always had GI issues with ice cream, Greek yogurt, and most cheese. I didn't seem to be affected by skim milk or regular yogurt. When I was a kid, my parents thought I was lactose intolerant. I drank Lactaid milk for a while, but I seemed to grow out of the intolerance enough that I could tolerate skim milk. So, what did I start with for this challenge, but a 16 oz. glass of skim milk. It didn't take long for me to realize that dairy is indeed a culprit. I'm a bit sad that I have perhaps eaten my last grilled cheese sandwich or cheese quesadillas. I think that is why I put off testing of any of the eliminated foods for a few extra weeks. I didn't want to know! But I am glad I tested dairy with elimination and reintroduction. I don't want to be a tired girl with a stomach ache!

So why did it take so long for me to try an elimination diet?  I was afraid of what they might find out by eliminating and then testing a food. I thought it was normal to sleep 10 hours, still be tired and have a stomach ache by lunch time. I still have tired days and bad GI days (hello, squash belly), but overall, I feel... I need a word... amazing! Quick PSA- if you feel as though any aspect of your health could be improved, I recommend reading a book on elimination diets and trying one. Don't be scared, be excited. It could be life changing. 

Next up? First I have to give the dairy time to get out of my system. Then, I have a list of foods I want to continue to test:

1. Goat dairy- is it the lactose or the casein?

2. Grains which are non wheat but contain gluten. 

3. Wheat

4. Soy

5. Peanuts

6. Bananas

7. Re-test eggs. Try brown and white eggs. Just whites and just yolks.

Items 3 through 6 will require another elimination phase since I am currently still eating these foods. It's a process but along the way, I am finding lots of other delicious foods that I never knew I loved. Like buckwheat!

The other truly great thing about this cleanse/challenge is that it gives me something to channel my energy towards. Since I am going on week six of not running, race goals are on hold. It has been about 15 years since I haven't had a race goal. It's weird. I mean, I still have a lonnnnnnng term goal, but I need something in the meantime. So for now, it's the food challenge. It's been interesting, educational, and well, challenging. In a good way.

Thanks CrunchyBar and Tayler.

Guilty Pleasures: Pink

My Friday travels led me on a slew of errands, which included finding new swim goggles, since my current pairs (yes, pairs) are not working out. As I stood in the very small swim section of a sporting goods store, I found myself drawn to the pink Speedo Vanquisher goggles. I already have a pink suit, pink cap, pink sandals and an array of pink towels that accompany me to the pool. Pink goggles would have put me in a whole new category of crazy. So I settled for blue.

Worry not, there will be no shortage of pink in my life with my newest shoe acquisition. The Nike Pegasus!

I don't know what it is about the color pink. Maybe I just like having a favorite color to make decision making easier when it comes to accessories, such as goggles. Who knows.

In honor of Fess up Friday, I'd also like to confess the ninety bazillion interventions I'm currently trying to heal my dang'd foot. I will list them from most normal to most crazy:

1. One hour, 3x per week hip strengthening routine to prevent recurrence. Hello booty lock.
2. Nightly ice massage. That's a cup of frozen water,, gliding along the bottom of my foot for 5-7 minutes at a time, in the middle of winter
3. Rolling my foot on a spiked ball that looks like a dryer ball 2-3 times per day. I am not sure what it is but it is actually quite enjoyable.
4. Sleeping in a dorsiflexion boot. Which often results in numb toes in the middle of the night and me frantically prying my foot free.

5. Enduring one session a week of Active Release Technique (ART) which involves a massage therapist digging her knuckles into my plantar fascia and moving my foot, trying to make it snap, crackle and pop
6. Enduring 1-2 sessions a week of SASTM. Another massage technique, in which my PT uses a variety of plastic tools which look like ice scrapers, to again make my foot and calf snap, crackle, pop and often bruise. I affectionately refer to these tools as chisels.
7. Using an electric current to pump acetic acid (vinegar) into my heel to decrease inflammation. This results in my foot smelling like I took a bath with some Easter eggs.

At least I have lots of pretty pink accessories in my life to keep me smiling. Hey, if that is all it takes...

Cinnamon Cookie Batter Pancakes

I love pancakes. The Tuna has this weird notion that pancakes are only good for a few bites. I, however, am capable of embarassing myself at the all-you-can-eat pancake special by eating more than a primate. Well, that, my dear reader, was before my cleanse! Since, my cleanse, I haven't been eating dairy, eggs or gluten. All things found in pancakes. Sigh. But wait, this forces me to be creative. And what have I discovered? Pancakes that taste like cookie/brownie.insert-other-baked-good-here BATTER! What's the secret? Beans! Here's how to make your own Cinnamon Cookie Batter Pancakes with Maple Almond topping.

Ingredients:
1 T coconut oil (or other oil) for the pan
1/2 cup beans. Recommend black or great northern/cannellini
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1 flax egg (1 T ground flax +2 T boiling water. Let it sit 2-3 minutes)
1/4 t vanilla
1 T coconut sugar (or any sweetener you have)
2 T almond meal
3 T buckwheat flour
1 T buckwheat groats, or something else crunchy (flaked coconut, almonds)
1 T baking powder
1 T cinnamon

2 T almond butter
1 T non-dairy milk
1 t maple syrup

First, make your flax egg and set it aside. Put your pan or griddle on medium heat with the 1 T oil. Then combine your beans and milk. I recommend doing this in a food processor or blender. Or you could mash the beans to smithereens first, then add the milk. Transfer to a mixing bowl, if you're not already there. Add vanilla, sugar and flax egg and combine by hand. With a spoon. Add almond meal, flour, groats, baking powder and cinnamon and combine by hand until smooth. Pour onto hot pan/griddle by the 1/2 cup. Cook each side 2-3 minutes.

While your cakes are filling the air with the aroma of a Cinna-bun stand, combine almond butter, milk and syrup in a small microwave safe bowl to make the maple almond topping. Microwave 10 seconds. Stir. Microwave 10 seconds. Stir again. If needed, microwave 10 more seconds and stir again.

Plate your cakes and drizzle with maple almond topping. Add a banana if you want to be like me.

My plate about 3 minutes later:

Gluten free eating has also resulted in an obsession with buckwheat. But more on that another time.

Wicked Wednesday: I ain't afraid of no fat. Marathoners, listen up.

"Fat" is a word that comes with a bad connotation, almost no matter the context in which it is used. In excess, I will agree that fat of any kind, whether it be body, monounsaturated, trans, polysaturated, animal, vegetable, etc. is a bad thing, but almost anything in excess is a bad thing, even if it's a good, uh, thing. But dietary fat gets a far worse wrap than it deserves, and I'll even go so far as to argue that many of us don't get enough of it.

Fat won't make you fat. Fat paired with crappy, rubbish carbohydrates, sugar, and other dietary nonsense will make you fat. Yes, a gram of fat contains more kilocalories (9 kcal for every gram) than a gram of carbohydrate (4 kcal) or a gram of protein (4kcal), but good fats not only have health benefits, they are essential for thriving. Funny how walnuts look like the brain: they are rich in polyunsaturated fats (you may know them as omega 3 fatty acids) which promote brain function and protection of the cardiovascular system, reproductive system, and have been linked to positive effects in depression patients. Fats help the body absorb fat-soluable vitamins like K, D, and E. And apart from all the physiological benefits, fat make you feel full. Fatty fat, make you full long time (sung to the tune of this song.)

It's Wednesday, and aside from Hump Day, it's also the day I designate an a**hole, or the Villain of the Week. I had contemplated getting serious with this one, but in order to avoid opening a potentially large can of worms, I'm going with this one: cell phone texter-and-walker who can't watch where he is going simultaneously. I see this on campus all the time, and frankly, with that many people trying to navigate narrow sidewalks at the same time, I'm strongly tempted to Heisman the next person who is on a crash course toward me and they have no idea because they're too busy telling LOLing and FingML. If only I saw more incidents like this.

With the VoW comes the Superfood of the Week. The trophy goes to coconut this week. A chameleon of sorts, the coconut is versatile, and its various body parts can be used across the culinary spectrum. I am a firm believer that the solutions to many of the world's problems lie in nut butter, and I am becoming increasingly aware that most are not familiar with any kind of nut butter aside from the usual PB. Don't get me wrong; I love me some classic Jif. But as beer is to champagne, PB is to coconut butter. Flaked coconut meat in a smoothie? The bomb. Coconut butter on top of the smoothie? Yep. Bee's knees. Coconut oil is better for cooking than olive oil due to its higher smoke point, and it has also been shown to promote weight loss. Marathoners and other super-endurance athletes should be interested in coconut oil because the fatty acids in it are of the medium chain triacylglycerol type (MCT) which are burned faster and more efficiently than most other types of fatty acids. That way, your bod works less in order to use MCT's as substrate during extended bouts of work so you keep those blood glucose levels protected (and you're not bonking hard and eating shit.) 

I try to consume a tablespoon or two of the stuff a day; I'll throw it in a smoothie or saute some tofu in it. But last night I was craving some sexy sauce on my lemon almond smoothie, and a serendipitous date with the blender led me to the best raw vegan caramel sauce evah.

Gurgling over the edge of the jar, all flirty-like. It's nights like this that make me glad that I live alone. There was a bit of the batch that wouldn't fit in the jar:

I first took a spatula to it (which I of course licked clean) and what I couldn't access with that, I got with my finger. Fingers. Completely shameless. Then I threw that biz on my lemon almond smoothie and topped with coconut flour, all before I could even get my argyle socks off.

Raw Vegan Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup medjool dates (about 5-6 dates, pitted)

1 cup unsalted cashews

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/4 tsp cardamom (optional)

pinch cardamom

1/2 cup water + additional if needed

Soak the cashews in water for at least one hour. Combine the dates with 1/2 cup of hot water, set aside for a minimum of ten minutes. 

Once the soaking is finished, combine all ingredients in a blender on high speed until smooth. Add additional water if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Clean pitcher with fingers at your own risk. 

Thank you, Eyjafjallajökull for half-naked January running.

I ran in a rolled-up long sleeve T and shorts this morning. I donned a cutoff and shorts for my double in the afternoon. It was almost 60 degrees. It's January. I'm doing my PhD in Statistics at Ohio State, and I took a course in spatial statistics in Spring 2010. The professor of the class, Noel Cressie, is basically the pioneer of his field and is world-reknowned in the stats universe. He's....a strong personality. I tend to be attracted to such people, but they are just as easily hated as they are loved. I can see both sides.


 He likes to talk, and when  Eyjafjallajökull erupted and spread volcanic ash all over the  hemisphere, he boldly made the prediction that, not the following winter, but the winter after that would be particularly mild. The man works extensively in climate modeling, but I duly noted this prediction in my mind and made a point not to forget to either validate or disprove his prediction. Well, here we are: Winter of 2012. Looks like ol' Cressie was right. I can't hate; running half-naked is much preferred to multi-layered running.

I know, I know. I shared a donut with you on Sunday night and then told you that the recipe would follow on Monday. Then I consumed one of these donuts the day after they were made. Sucktown, USA. They don't keep well, and I wasn't thrilled with the texture of the flour combination either. I will adapt them and share with you a recipe that will keep your socks holding on with a white-knuckle grip. You'll have to wait for donuts, but to tide you over, I'm going to share with you my first attempt at a homemade veggie burger. It did not disappoint, to say the least.
Again, for the beginner veggie eaters who might be reading this: a veggie burger is not meant to replace your quarter pounder with cheese. Burger does not necessarily mean beef, as milk does not necessarily mean dairy. The stupid food pyramid makes me want to cuss like a sailor. (Deep breath.) It's hard to believe I waited this long to try to make one myself, but between Luna burgers and Northstar Cafe, I'm so close to some of the best veg patties that the thought of doing the dirty work myself was never, well...my first thought. 
I was inspired by Angela's veggie burger criteria in this post. Soggy veggie burgers suck, but anything falling apart between plate and mouth is even worse. I'm not a tofu hater in the least, but I already eat enough of it, and over-consumption of soy is something of which I may be a teeny weary. And who doesn't like mouthfeel and flavor?

Naked black bean burger

There she is, sunbathing on a swiss chard towel. Brothas Burgers be lined up at her locker. (Can you name the movie?) Crispy on the outside, but she still held her shape even after the first bite. Hal and Al's is one of my absolute favorite places in Columbus; it's a bar with an entire menu of vegan pub food-and a massive beer list to boot. I ate the veggie burger like a gluten free-friendly version of their burrito. I threw some spaghetti squash on there with some paprika and some vegan sour creme cheez sauce. 

Black bean burger all dressed up for church

The chard did a wicked good job of standing in for a tortilla; it was sturdy enough that it didn't tear and was much more pliable than a corn tortilla. It's earthy flavor complimented the burger really well. 

Don't mind the onion nib that made its way into that bottom left corner.


Black Bean Veggie Burgers 
Inspired by Oh She Glows
Ingredients


1/4 cup green onion, diced (only the white part)
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 Flax egg: 2 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp warm water, mixed in bowl
1/4 cup GF oat flour
3/4 cooked brown rice
1/2 cup grated parsnips
1/2 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and roughly pureed or mashed
Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/3 cup flaxseeds
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried basil
sea salt and black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup vegan sour creme (recipe here)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp white miso
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp paprika


yields 4 burgers


Mix your flax egg together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 10 minutes. In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp coconut oil until the onions are slightly tender and opaque (about 2-3 minutes). Mix all ingredients in a bowl until combined. Alternatively, you could put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. Be careful not to over-process. Stir in the garlic and onions. Lightly coat hands in a bit of water so that it prevents the dough from sticking and shape the burgers tightly into patties. 


Heat the remaining 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil in a skillet on medium heat. Cook the patties 3-4 minutes on each side, or until heated through and crisp. For the cheez sauce, mix the sour creme, nutritional yeast, miso, cumin, and paprika. Add black pepper to taste.  To serve, fill chard leaf with burger; top with roasted spaghetti squash and cheez.