5 OF MY FAVORITE HEALTHY RECIPES

Hope you all had a great Easter! We sure enjoyed ours. I have been saying for quite some time now that I will be sharing some healthy recipes with you all. So that is what this entry is all about!  By healthy I mean.. Clean

-NOT PROCESSED

-GLUTEN FREE

-DAIRY FREE

-WHOLE FOODS

This may not be someone else's "healthy" but this is how I am currently eating. You can substitute anything or everything. For example: I am just going to say tortilla, and you can chose if its flour, corn, or gluten free tortillas. I will say that I do not deprive myself of anything, and there are some days where I eat all the food that I listed on my "do not eat, list".  If I want to eat an entire tin can of Pirouline, cookies, then I will! (Just like I did the other night)  But, this is not something I do everyday.   I do not have an allergy to gluten or dairy, I just do not like how they make me feel when I eat them in excess, so I try to avoid them as much as I can.  I am also trying to keep Gavin on a gluten and dairy free diet....which is a little difficult since the other 2 boys have already been exposed to certain foods that they don't want to give up. If I incorporate just a few meals a week that do fit into the above criteria, then the transition is a little easier.

I also must add that I do not have a Type A personality so I never follow recipes exactly ( I am sorry for all of you that are, and will probably go nuts after reading my recipes) Instead of 1/2 tsp. I may say 2 shakes of cinnamon...It is horrible and there are some circumstances where my recipes turned out DISGUSTING because I didn't follow the directions exactly...but for the recipes below I made them up and tweaked them a little until I liked them. Feel free to do the same.

#1. Fish Tacos with Jalapeño Coleslaw

This one is pretty straight forward...

-Bake, grill, or sauté your favorite fish, however you would like it.
-Chose a grain to go with it, rice, brown rice, quinoa, etc.


- Jalapeño Coleslaw:
(I DO NOT like coleslaw, I actually can't stand it, and I HATE SPICY FOODS, but this is amazing...I promise)
Depending on how many you are feeding will determine how much you will make...use your best judgement, like making a salad.
-Chop up a half head of cabbage (red or green, but I prefer red) into very small pieces, almost like skinny tiny strips.
- Do the same for a carrot or 2
- Dice up 2 jalapeños, and make sure you get out ALL the seeds or it will be very spicy.
-add 2 small splashes of apple cider vinegar (lol told you)
- add a little less than 1/4 cup of honey (or to your preference)
-throw in a few shakes of poppy seeds
- add in about 1/2 cup(once again add or take away based on your judgement, and how much you are making) of mayo (this can be Veganaise, greek yogurt, or plain ole Helmanns) whatever you prefer.
-add the juice of about 1/2 of a lime
-chop some cilantro and throw that in too.
Let this chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, so make ahead. Stuff your tortillas with your fish, grains, beans, any other toppings you want and add coleslaw on top.



#2.  Red Quinoa Burgers

Make sure you cook the quinoa before you add to the meat. Make sure its drained and not holding a lot of water.

-1lb ground beef
-1- 1and a 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa
-1 egg
-a few shakes of salt and pepper (to taste)
- garlic (fresh or powder)
-dice up about half an onion.

Smash it all together with your hands and form the patties. They will be extra mushy if the quinoa was holding a lot of water, but this is ok. Just make them into the best patty you can put them on a plate or a tray and stick them into the refrigerator for 30 min. Then grill!

Add whatever toppings you like...I like feta cheese, with avocado and tomato.
Enjoy!



#3.  Spaghetti with secret veggie sauce (sorry no picture)

-Ok so this recipe is one of my favorites but I am not going to tell you how to make pasta or to add meat or not....that will be left of to you. I personally do add meat, and I make gluten free, brown rice angle hair pasta.

-For the sauce: You will need a very powerful blender or this will not turn out how you want it to. I use a Vitamix, so use something similar... Ninja, Blendtec.. etc. You don't have to do this but the veggies will not be a secret :( you will have small tiny minute pieces and your kids WILL see them.

-Pick your favorite store bought sauce or make your own with tomatoes.  To save some time I use an organic tomato sauce out of the jar. Pour half in the blender.

-Next you want to sauté or steam 3 carrots, 2-4 garlic cloves (depending on how much you like garlic) half an onion, 2 celery stalks spinach or kale.  Not a ton of the spinach or kale because you don't want it to turn green (unless you want to turn it into "Hulk Sauce" or something of that nature.)

- Add all the veggies into the blender and blend on high for about 30 seconds. Next add this to the remainder or the sauce you have and heat it up. Add meat, salt and pepper or whatever else you want, and serve over your pasta.

#4. No grain banana protein muffins

- 2 or 3 very ripe bananas, smashed
- 3 eggs
- 1 tspn of honey
-1/4 cup of coconut flour
-1/2 cup of oat flour (you can make your own if you have a Vitamix, or something similar)
-1/2 tspn of baking soda
-1/2 tspn of baking powder
-1 tspn of vanilla
- 1/4 cup of coconut oil (or any oil will work)
a few shakes of cinnamon
Optional: I add half of a scoop of protein powder in the mix...this can be any kind or flavor you would like. I also add chocolate chips to mine, but make sure they are REAL chocolate and make sure they are made with cacao over 60%. That way you don't have to feel bad about eating chocolate because its good for you!

Mix all ingredients together, put in muffin pans, in the cupcake inserts because it will stick and bake at 375 degrees for 15-22 min or until center is done.

#5. Soba Noodle Stir Fry (sorry no picture)

This recipe is pretty much self explanatory...make your own stir fry, however soba noodles are my new "lo mein" choice.  The soba noodles I use are buckwheat so they are a lot healthier for you than the lo mein and they taste almost identical.

Basic instructions: Chop some of your favorite veggies and sauté them in lots of coconut oil. I like to use carrots, onions, zucchini...just to name a few. After they are sautéed, depending on what mood I am in I will add some flavor.  Some times it will be a teriyaki, soy mixture, and sometimes I add turmeric powder and butter. You can add whatever you want.  You can cook chicken or another meat and add it to this mixture as well and then serve over the cooked soba noodles.

I would love to hear back from you if you try any of these and also if you put your own spin on some of them. I am always looking for new recipes and new ways of cooking. Please let me hear your feedback.

Once I can get my frazzled brain thinking straight, I can sit down and write up some more recipes to share.  Hope ya'll enjoy!

Healing your body from the inside out

A bunch of people have asked me about my new diet aka my new way of living. Apparently through my craziness I have inspired some people to start eating clean and healthy themselves. (Which is awesome!) I know a lot of you are wondering what I'm eating and want some recipes so.... I figured I would take some time to talk about this. Once a week I'm going to try and post what we ate for dinner the week before.

First I need to say- this is what I CHOSE to do for myself... This does not mean you need or have to do this. You may just want to detox from sugar or maybe nothing at all. Maybe you just want to eat less processed, chemical containing food. Great! Hopefully you will take something from this post but it's nothing personal, I think you all are great the way you are ... This is strictly me sharing what I am doing and if you want to join then keep reading...

Right now I am eating gluten, dairy, and sugar free. This is NOT to lose weight although the pounds do literally drop off of you. I am doing this strictly because I have had chronic back pain for years and after that third baby my back when down hill fast. Because of the pain (and Gavin's diagnosis) my occasional anxiety attacks turned into general anxiety that I was suffering with everyday. I did a ton of research on healing my gut to heal my mind and body. I will spare you all the details, google it if you are interested on the "why?" But the first week of giving up sugar and caffeine made a HUGE difference in the anxiety. Let me so say this was THE hardest thing in the world. I was eating a few butterfingers a day on top of sugary creamer in my coffee, baked goods, cookies, ice cream every night. Halloween was becoming my favorite holiday. So if I can do it,  YOU can do it. After a couple weeks it got easier to say no and find alternatives (ie: I drink pumpkin spice chai tea with French vanilla coconut creamer). Then I went a but harder ... Bread and cheese! Nooooo! I don't know anyone that doesn't love bread and cheese. But for pain reasons, they went bye bye. Fast forward to a month later and I am still doing this. I survived the hardest part! Is my pain gone? No not yet, but it takes time, it took years for my body to process all these chemicals and sugars so it will take longer than a few weeks to detox. My mind however can handle my pain a little more. My anxiety is completely under control.

Now.... What do I eat? What is left to eat? Hmmm NOTHING. I snack on some grass and some leaves.. Lol no really I eat and I eat every 5 min because I'm starving half the time. The veggies and fruits do not like to stay with you. Basically you have to get creative and once you do you will find there is a ton of food to eat. Your taste buds change and you start trying new things. I was told to give up grains too but since I am still nursing and my milk supply has already went down, I cannot give grains up right now. I have also needed to supplement with more protein since I'm not a huge meat eater for every meal. 

Let me also state that I am trying my best to switch the boys over since this is ultimately where I want us all to be (especially GAVIN). But they are kids and as you all know kids do not like change. I do make them eat a few bites of what we are having but I add cheese, or bread (sprouted bread) to their meal. So basically I take what we are having and modify it for them. I got Lukas ( who put himself on the beige diet: pretzels, bread, goldfish) to eat an entire plate of asparagus by bribing him with bacon. Bacon plus asparagus is much better that beige diet and NO veggie. I love to sneak veggies in their foods. Be creative!

I have done a very mild detox but once I am done nursing I will do a crazy strict whole entire body detox which will hopefully jump me up to the next level. So when that time comes please let me know if you are interested in it too and we can all hold each other accountable. 

Here is a sample of what I eat in a day

Breakfast: oatmeal with fruit and a smoothie -( I call it "the mix every supplement and powder I have that I don't know what to do with", smoothie) 

Start with these: Almond or coconut milk (put everything in a Vitamix, Ninja, whatever high powered blender you have). Just make sure it can break down the cell wall in the raw veggies.

Then add these:

I finish by adding some ice, because its usually warm when I am done blending. Yuck :(

Lunch: a variety of things: hard boiled egg, veggies and dip, salsa, gluten free bread with hummus. 

Snacks: almonds, fruit, dried fruit, another smoothie. Basically anything I can find. Kombucha which you can make whole made or this store bought already made one is my favorite !! 

Dinner:  I have a variety of dinners that have been successful so we stick mostly with those. Mainly a grass fed organic meat, lots of veggies and a grain (millet, brown rice, quinoa, gluten free pasta). Weekly dinner meal plan to come...

Dessert : fruit or my go to is a rice cake with some dark chocolate, or almond butter. I have made some delicious baked goods with gluten free or almond flour and the kids love them. They have no added sugar in them. The trick is to put dark chocolate chips. The higher the cacao % the better. I strive for anything over 75%. Dark chocolate is very high in antioxidants and has barely any sugar, but I still call it my "cheat" item. I need this sweetness (actually very bitter) so that I don't punch someone in the face for some candy, because my sugar withdrawals are so bad lol.  It's my one little thing that I can look forward to each day. So this is what I have to say about "cheat " items. It has to be something small and preferably once a day. Say you just HAVE to put a sprinkle of cheese on a vegetable... Ok.  But that's it, not the whole block. You can't have 5 cheats a day. Or if you absolutely have to have a little cream or a little sugar in your coffee or tea. Fine! Give yourself that little bit of happiness....But that doesn't mean go get a grande caramel macchiato with whipped cream. That is not called a "cheat" that is called, "I'm not ready to give up sugar and dairy". So be smart and aware of what you are putting into your body. Your body will thank you for it. 

I will get my meal plan together and post soon... Be on the lookout

Oh and please feel free to ask me any questions you may have:)