Tasty Tuesdays

I just made one of my favorite mixtures of food tonight! Thanks to my cousin Caiti for giving me a rice cooker, I now don't have to eat crunchy rice! Yes, that's right...I'm really not that picky and I would eat crunchy rice. Who knows if anyone else will like this recipe, it's so simple you can modify it to fit your tastes. I have no clue what the carbs, protein and fat content in this is. If anyone wants to do the math let me know.

 

You can stuff your red pepper with as much or as little of the following.....

 

-Cut red bell pepper in half or core it

(I left mine raw but you can cook yours if you want)

-precooked brown rice

-precooked lentils(which were cooked in water and vegetable broth)

-Salsa(I used Organic Salsa de Casa)

 

Yup....that's it. I absolutely loved this! It was super easy to make! Try it and/or modify it if its too boring!

I'm Turning Green!

Yes....I am one of those people that are insanely obsessed with veggies. I prefer veggies over meat any day. One of the easiest ways for me to get my veggies in is by juicing. I borrowed my Mom's juicer about 3+ years ago and have been juicing ever since. You can juice any veggie or fruit and modify recipes to your taste. Don't bother buying juice from the store....it has no nutritional value! It's a joke! After about 30 minutes of making fresh juice, it starts to break down and loose its nutritional value. Over 8 hours it hardly has any beneficial properties to it. Imagine how long that packaged juice has been sitting on the store shelves? Not to mention how long it took to make the juice, package the juice, transport the juice to the store, etc. So try and consume your home brewed juice immediately! If you want to save it for a snack or lunch during the day, put it in an air tight glass jar(mason jar) and consume within 8 hours.

I use Jack La Lanne's Power Juice and one day would love to get a Breville Juicer. Below is one of my favorite juicing recipes...

-6 leaves of Dino Kale(aka Lacinato kale)

-1 Cucumber

-3 Stalks Celery

-3 Big Collard Green Leaves

-3 carrots OR Apple OR Pear (Depending on how sweet you want it)

-Lemon to taste

-1 inch section of Ginger

Place each item in juicer! If you do not want any froth or the smallest bit of pulp, strain it with a mesh strain tool. Drink! Beware of the green mustache that will appear if you don't drink it with a straw. Preferable a metal straw(plastic boo!)

Happy Juicing!

The highlights of this weekend

My weekend was exactly how I wanted it, peaceful and relaxing.  After a long day at work on Saturday I was secretly excited that a friends birthday dinner got cancelled(sad for her). My incisions have still been causing me a ton of pain and after a long day at work I was very sore.  So I decided to treat myself to a much needed pedicure. I went to Nail Saavy in Hillsdale, I highly recommend this place!  The rest of the weekend I spent reading, juicing, drinking my "weekend" lattes and walking the dogs.  Last night a couple of friends and I met up at Spints Alehouse over by Laurelhurst.  The food was great, not a whole lot of gluten free options though! Unfortunately the girls I went with couldn't try the homemade sipping chocolate and smores because they ran out! Ugh, such disappointment. I really wanted to enjoy that through them!! I love weekends like this that are "go with the flow" type of days.

What did you do over this long weekend?

Yummy Kale

You might say I have a slight obsession to Kale. I juice it, eat it raw, bake it or saute it. I could eat it 24/7. Kale is packed with calcium, beta keratin, Vit C, Vit K and tons more. Also for a vegetable it has a higher content of protein than other vegetable's. 

I have modified this recipe so many times I can't really remember the exact contents when it first came into my life.  I will share my favorite way of making it. It's super duper easy. The great thing about this recipe is that by breaking down the Kale with your fingers, lemon, olive oil, etc it makes the taste of the Kale so much better. A lot of people are scared by Kale, it is not scary at all.  I promise you will become addicted to this after trying this recipe. Let me know what you think! 

What you need:

Dinosaur Kale(aka Lacinato Kale)

Fresh Lemon Juice

Red Bell Pepper

Handful of Currants

Handful of Sunflower Seeds

Handful of Flax Seeds

Lil Salt and Pepper

2ish tablespoons of Olive Oil

(You can add any other ingredient's you want: chicken, pine nuts, almonds, cucumber, etc)

Directions:

De-stem and cut Kale leaves into bit size pieces. Take your hands and rub lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper into the leaves.  Do this for 2-3 minutes.  You will start noticing the tough Kale break down and get a softer texture. Then add all the other ingredient's. Enjoy.



Dino Kale-Pic found here



Good luck cooking!

p.s.-I promise I will get better with my "measurments"

 

My journey to feeling better-GF lifestyle

My body and overall well being has changed dramatically being off gluten since December. I'm still in shock that one simple change like eliminating all gluten items can affect my body so much. What food items have gluten in them you ask? It would take me a long time to write all the items that have gluten in them but wheat, rye, barley, and any foods made with these grains should be avoided. Some examples are pasta, bread, cookies, fried food, lunch meats and soy sauce! So every item I put into my mouth I have to read all the ingredients. Good thing there are so many gluten free items out there to make the cravings for bread and pasta not go ignored.

Thank goodness for my Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist recommending a lifestyle change to minimize my painful sinus issues, migraines and foggy head. I hated her at the time, for some reason I wanted a diagnoses to explain why I had been so miserable for years, not just "change your life and see if it helps." So after my 2nd sinus infection in less then 6 months I decided to give this "lifestyle change" a try. I already had an odd diet being vegetarian and allergic to nuts, so I thought I was doomed and could only eat lettuce forever. To be honest being gluten free is super easy. You have a large variety of gluten free options at all grocery stores.  The key is to read all ingredients and until you have memorized the "do not eat" ingredients, go to the store with a list. It takes time but is well worth it!

I have had a couple of accidental exposure to gluten items since December. Let me tell you it. is. not. fun. at. all. I had forgotten all of the horrible affects and how it lingers for several days. After being off gluten for awhile I was amazed at the other changes that were happening to my body.  The goal was to go off of it to see if it would help my sinus issues, migraines and foggy head, sure enough it has helped so much. Like a dramatic difference. Some other changes I noticed were decrease in my body pains, decrease in nightmares, I'm not a moody biotch like I would get after eating a massive amount of gluten, not sluggish, no more dizziness, less bloated and no more hives! I think my most favorite part of going off of gluten would be the decrease in body pains and sinus issues. I have always had rib issues since I was young and it was getting to the point of excruciating pain every single moment. Guess what? I am able to move without getting sharp pains that used to make me want to vomit and I'm now able to lift weights! I still have a minor dull pain there but it is so much more tolerable. It's amazing how much better my sinuses are. No sinus infections or even colds since I went off gluten! I have had sinus issues since I was a kid and spent hours each month getting allergy shots. I am glad I don't have to do that again and a simple diet change can make such a difference. After doing tons of research and talking with a lot of gluten intolerant people my story matches their story. You either have stomach issues or sinus/body pain issues. By the way I am very thankful I don't have the stomach issues, that. would. suck. majorly. It makes me feel better knowing there are so many other people out there that has had their lives changed for the better by just simply deleting something from their diet. It annoys me beyond belief that people think I'm on the latest trend of eating or its all in my head. How dare somebody dismiss that I'm feeling better because my body can't handle certain foods that go in it! Trust me I would love to be able to eat gluten and nuts(if you want to see me get instant hives and a scratchy throat watch me eat nuts). It scares me that people will put anything in their mouths without knowing the source or how it was genetically modified to taste good. Food has changed over the last 100 years, people can't digest it the same way anymore, our bodies freak out.

I encourage you to do research and pay attention to your body. How does it respond after you eat certain foods? Write down if you start showing odd signs after eating. Try eliminating them if you notice unusual things. Why would you feed your one and only body something it hates?

Found here