Recipes – Page 6 – Healthy and Hopeful

Do You Breakfast?

Published on April 16, 2015April 16, 2015 by Christine3 Comments

Breakfast is, by far, my favorite meal of the day. If I didn’t have to rush out the door each morning for work, I’d take the time to prepare poached eggs, migas or cinnamon french toast with strawberries (paired with a coconut milk cappuccino or mimosa, of course!). Getting to enjoy breakfast is one of my favorite parts of vacation and the weekends.

But reality is most of us just don’t have time for that. Most of you, I can imagine, skip breakfast altogether most mornings. I’m sure you’ve heard it time and again, but breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. It jump starts your metabolism, gives you energy, and prevents the hunger that puts you in a bad mood or causes you to overeat later in the day. Plus, a healthy breakfast gives your body the best chance of absorbing those vitamins and minerals more easily at the start of the day, cutting down on your cravings later.

When my doctor told me last Fall that I needed to add 80 grams of protein into my diet each day, I knew that I would have to find a way to increase my intake at breakfast. I thought I would share a few of my quick go-to favorites for those of you looking to mix up your routine:

Poached Eggs on Sprouted Wheat Toast with Avocado

If you have an egg poaching pan, this option is as fast and easy as boiling an egg. While the eggs are cooking, I toast a piece of sprouted wheat bread (read why here), slather with organic butter or coconut oil and then top with sliced avocado. It takes me about 7 minutes total to throw together this delicious, filling meal.

On a side note, I always make sure to buy free-range, organic, soy-free eggs because they are the most nutrient-dense. I get this local brand at Whole Foods/Natural Grocers and love them; you truly can taste the freshness: Coyote Creek Farms.

Egg Bacon Muffins

I originally found this recipe on one of my favorite health blogs, Wellness Mama, and I love its versatility. It is so incredibly easy to mix up a batch and throw in whatever extra vegetables are in your fridge. Also, bacon! I will make these on Sunday night for the week. I usually eat a couple of these at a time – wrap them in foil and warm a few minutes in the toaster oven, then eat them in the car. If you want to nix the bacon for whatever crazy reason, you can also just whip up some eggs, throw in some diced veggies and bake in muffin tins for mini frittatas.

“Bento Box”

This is another one of those easy make-ahead options that you can put in a container to grab on your way out the door. Simply boil a couple of eggs (can’t boil an egg? try this!), throw in a few berries for an antioxidant boost and then I add a muffin or two that I’ve baked on Sunday. This gluten-free banana muffin is one of my favorite & totally healthy recipes – you can add in a couple tablespoons raw honey if you like it sweeter or some dark chocolate chips and nuts for some texture.

Greek Yogurt & Grain-Free Granola

Greek Yogurt is a yummy way to get some great protein in the AM with 15 g in 1 cup. I personally love the Wallaby brand made with organic whole milk from pasture-raised cows and no artificial ingredients. Then, I top with some grain-free granola and fresh berries. I recently found this Wildway Granola at Whole Foods and fell in love… it’s not cheap but it’s packed with fiber & protein (8g), is completely raw, has no added sweeteners. It is made entirely of fruit, nuts, and seeds, so is gluten-free, paleo and truly the healthiest pre-made version of granola you can buy. P.S. I also love this as a late night protein snack to help me fall asleep.

GoMacro Bars

If you want an option with zero prep, try these tasty, wholesome breakfast bars. My favorite is the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip with 12 grams of protein. I love this brand because they are organic, GMO-free, soy free (try finding another protein bar that is, especially with chocolate), free of refined sugar AND are reasonably priced compared to other options. The whole mission of GoMacro is to provide a “macrobiotic” or minimally processed, found-in-nature product. You can buy them individually or by the case for a discount at Whole Foods or Natural Grocers.

Any other healthy breakfast ideas? Please share – I am always looking to mix it up!

Tips for Staying Fit During Thanksgiving

Published on November 20, 2013 by ChristineLeave a comment

With a holiday so centered around a tempting buffet of food, lazy days watching football and pies galore, it can be hard to not feeling like the stuffed turkey after Thanksgiving. Here are a few tips on how to stay fit and healthy during your Thanksgiving holiday:

Eat Breakfast: We tend to save up our appetite for a big meal, but you’ll end up overeating if you do.

Chew Slowly: Focus on your loved ones and enjoy the dinner table conversation. Give your body time to process how much you’re eating so you don’t eat too much.

Drink Water: Our bodies often misinterpret being thirsty as being hungry; staying hydrated will help you eat appropriately-sized portions. And, remember, that all those liquid calories in alcohol can really sneak up on you too.

Exercise: Take your family to the Turkey Trot for a fun fitness outing, shop til you drop during Black Friday sales, or, if you’re traveling, try these easy exercises you can do in the car or an airplane.

Buy the Best: Turkey can be an incredibly healthy part of the Thanksgiving spread. Make sure to choose pasture-raised, organic turkey to feed to your family so that you can avoid the contamination risks and toxicity that are in conventional meat.

Choose Wisely: Remember, Fats Don’t Make You Fat, Carbs Do! Load up your plate with turkey and veggies and check out these delicious options for healthy side dishes:

Spaghetti Squash Gratin
Bacon, Cranberry and Mushroom Rice Stuffing – one of my favorites!!
Brussels Sprouts Two Ways – Parmesan Herb-Stuffed or Pan-Seared with Cranberries and Pecans
Roasted Pumpkin Risotto
Fresh Green Bean Casserole
Opt for Sweet Potato Casserole over Mashed Potatoes
Forget the canned Cranberry Sauce

Don’t Skip Dessert: It’s okay to splurge a little. If you’re like me, trying to stop eating any dessert is likely to make me abandon my diet altogether. Limit yourself to one piece of pie and try this yummy, healthy version of whipped cream instead.

Transform Your Leftovers: The benefits of bone broth are astounding, so make a hearty turkey and vegetable soup that will last all weekend.

Remember the Primary Ingredient: Gratitude! If your Fall has been anything like mine, it is likely that stress has taken its toll on your body; and if not already, the upcoming holidays sure might. Gratitude has been proven to have great health benefits so cherish the time with your family and friends, relax, and remember all that you have to be thankful for this holiday season. As I look forward to Thanksgiving next week, I am reminded of all that I have to be thankful for, especially for my health. I am so grateful for all that I have learned and for the incredible healing, especially with the chronic pain I used to suffer from, that I have experienced this year.

What are you thankful for this year?

The Time I Did A Juice Fast

Published on June 21, 2013June 23, 2015 by Christine2 Comments

If you’ve ever seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, you’ve probably wondered about the benefits that juicing and a raw diet could provide for you. Joe Cross was overweight and experiencing health issues that doctors could not find answers to (but had no problem prescribing him lots of pills for); finally, he met a natural doctor that told him that eating well was the only way to heal himself of his autoimmune skin disease. So he decided to go on a 60 day organic juice-only fast, followed by months of only fruits, veggies, nuts and beans. He loses an incredible amount of weight and experiences an amazing health transformation. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it on Netflix – it’s very inspiring.

Fresh juice is nothing like the high fructose corn syrup sweetened and artificially flavored and dyed stuff you find in the grocery aisle. When you juice from real fruits and veggies, you are getting tons of real nutrients. You can pack pounds of these healthful, fresh items into just one juice. Plus, since you’re juicing out the fiber, your body is able to quickly absorb all those vitamins and nutrients rather than spending energy to digest them. If you believe in eating the hunter-gatherer way, then fasting is especially important as, naturally, there were times when food could be hard to come by. Our bodies are designed to need a break every once in a while. And raw, fresh foods are part of the Four Pillars of World Cuisine. The raw fruits and veggies in juice provide our bodies with potent antioxidants essential to combating harmful free-radicals (the molecules that cause every kind of disease, especially cancer).

Bonus: The major ingredients in my juices were 4 of the 5 best alkaline foods – lemons, cayenne pepper, leafy greens and apples. Why does that matter? Basically, our bodies are designed to keep a neutral pH level, but with all of the processed foods we eat, we often end up being highly acidic. Being acidic can majorly affect your health by diminishing your immune system, causing fatigue, pain and even cancer. The more alkaline and less acidic foods (the list may surprise you) you can eat to balance out your system, the better!

So, I had watched documentaries, read articles about and heard of friends doing juice fasts/cleanses and wanted to try it for myself. Although it was recommended to “pre-cleanse” by weaning off meat, dairy, sugar, wheat, etc., I didn’t. Let’s be honest, most of us try a cleanse because we’ve been eating junk.. I did the cleanse because I wanted to break my taste for those things and get back on track. I did eat a little healthier and did no alcohol or caffeine as well as only eating fish and veggies for the 48 hours before so it wouldn’t be too bad of a shock.

Fruits and Veggies Pre-Juice I had looked into buying all the juice for my cleanse from a couple of local companies like JuiceLand and Skinny Limits, but when prices were coming up at $175-200 for an organic cleanse, I looked into the DIY option. I found some recipes online here and here that imitated the well-known BluePrint cleanse, borrowed a Jack LaLanne Pro juicer from a friend and then went shopping. I only spent $68.61 on organic fruits and veggies. So worth it. Now, the juicing took about 3 hours total, but considering I usually spend about an hour and a half each day preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, that’s really not any different. It was super nice to come home from work and have my “meal” already made and let my husband fend for himself. I started with all these fresh vibrant fruits and veggies, which was more produce than I usually buy in a whole week.

At the end, I had a little over 2 days worth of juice:

Breakfast: Green Juice – Kale, Spinach, Romaine, Parsley, Apple, Cucumber, Lemon and Celery
Morning Snack: Pineapple-Apple-Mint Juice
Lunch: Green Juice
Afternoon Snack: Agave-sweetened Lemonade with Cayenne Pepper
Dinner: Green Juice
Evening Snack: Cashew-Vanilla-Cinnamon Milk (which is blended, not juiced)

Biggest surprise? How much I liked the juices. The green juice was delicious… a little celery-y, but super yummy. The cashew milk that everyone seems to love was the most disgusting thing ever. I only had it the first night and barely kept it down. I had more green juice the second night.

Biggest regret? Not starting an awesome compost pile with all the fruit and veggie pulp that the juicer collected. Guess I’ll have to do it again!

Was it awful? Overall, I was really hungry the whole time, which is normal, but tough. Watching tv was hard and commercials made me crave donuts and pizza. They say that since your body is being detoxed, you could feel terrible… I really didn’t. In fact, I had more energy than ever. During the fast, I was kind of wondering if it was worth it and it wasn’t until afterwards that I realized it was. I totally lost my desire for junk food and coffee and alcohol, and felt sick whenever I had those things, which definitely helped my self-control. I also lost 4 pounds which I have easily kept off since.

Ultimately, I would recommend the experience to anyone, especially those suffering from sickness or trying to break bad food habits. I will absolutely be purchasing a juicer and making juice part of my normal routine so that I get more nutrients into my diet in a delicious way. But, if I ever do a cleanse again, I’ll want a buddy… it was hard to do it alone!

So, what do you think? Would you ever try a juice cleanse?

Cooking Challenge: Organ Meat

Published on March 6, 2013July 20, 2014 by ChristineLeave a comment

Recently, my husband gave me one of the best compliments I might have ever heard: “You’ve made a believer out of me that healthy food can be delicious.” Mission accomplished! This healthy diet has been a challenge at times, especially for my husband. I am so grateful for his willingness to try new things, but there are some items that are just off the table for him, literally. A couple of weeks ago, I (secretly) incorporated a particular item into one of his favorite dishes just to see if he would notice. Guess what? He didn’t 🙂

Comparing recipes of the generations before us to what we eat today, there’s one big difference that stands out to me: organ meat. Just look at the old cookbook your grandma still has on her bookshelf and you’ll find a recipes for liver and onions, fish head soup and gizzard gravy. Native Americans always made sure to use and eat the entire buffalo. Some of the most exquisite restaurants are known for their unique use of organ meats as Anthony Bourdain explores in his tv show No Reservations. And liver pate is a staple to many European diets, but a rarity here. While the thought of eating tongue or brains might disgust you (it does me!!), there’s a lot to be said for the nutrition they provide.

As Dr. Cate points out in Deep Nutrition, “offal meats are rich in vitamins, especially the fat-soluble vitamins, which can be stored in our fat reserves for months.” It’s why she names it as one of the four pillars. Our livers keep the excess vitamins and minerals on store for when they are needed in the future. Eating a healthy liver helps your liver be healthy. Liver is dense in nutrients, providing one of the best food sources of Vitamin A, B and C, beating out or matching the levels that a same size serving of dark leafy vegetables can provide (a regular chicken breast sure won’t do that). Eating the eyes in fish head soup will provide lutein for your eye health. And the fatty acids in brain and nervous tissues help build your brain. And many of these contain high amounts of omega-3’s, which are good for your heart. Dr. Cate recommends eating organ meat at least once a week, so although I was highly skeptical, I figured I could try it, at least once. I bought some calf liver at the store – good news, it’s pretty cheap… I guess because no one wants it – and brought it home to try and work some magic. It turned out delicious, so if I’ve convinced you too to try organ meat, here’s an easy way to start: Mushroom & Liver Meat Sauce Spaghetti.

Ingredients:

1 pound organic, pasture raised ground beef
1/2 cup organic, pasture raised calf liver
1 container sliced baby bella mushrooms (optional)
homemade or store-bought organic marinara
organic quinoa pasta (or spaghetti squash for carb free)

Liver & Beef

I put the liver in a food processor and ground it up, then mixed it in with the ground beef and browned in a saute pan on medium heat. I seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, as always. Meanwhile, I sauteed the mushrooms in another pan in butter and boiled the pasta.

Saute mushrooms and meat

Once everything was cooked, I put the meat, mushrooms and sauce together in a pan to mix and warm the sauce. To serve, I put some pasta in each bowl and covered with the sauce. This was so hearty and delicious! I promise that if you like spaghetti, you will love it.

Do you think this is a recipe you could try?

A Birthday Treat

Published on January 25, 2013July 20, 2014 by Christine5 Comments

I can’t resist celebrating my birthday with a little something sweet. Here’s a recipe that won’t destroy your health, but sure doesn’t taste healthy.

Whipped Coconut & Honey Mousse

Ingredients:

1 can full fat (this is the good kind of fat) organic coconut milk
2 tablespoons local honey
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
Optional toppings: dark chocolate chips, roasted coconut flakes & sliced almonds

Open the can of coconut milk and put in the fridge overnight uncovered. You’ll find that the top 3/4 of the can has hardened enough where you can scoop out the coconut milk. Scoop out the hardened part (its okay if you get some of the liquid at the bottom) into a mixing bowl. Add the honey and vanilla extract and then whip with beaters or your whisk attachment until it has the consistency of whipped cream. Then separate into a few ramekins – I usually get 5-6 servings out of a full can. I toss some coconut flakes and sliced almonds in some melted coconut oil, a dash of cinnamon and a little honey before putting on a cookie sheet to toast in the oven for a few minutes. And/or you can add a few dark chocolate chips – I found some without any soy at Natural Grocers!