Stir It Up!

Good Easter morning!!

I feel like I should be posting a fun paleo treat or something since it’s Easter morning but we are out of town and I don’t have all of my standard cooking ingredients so will have to save that for another day. Instead I wanted to share with you one of my favorite blogs and a yummy recipe to go with…

If you haven’t checked out Multiplydelicious.com you are missing out!  Heather, who is author of the site, amazes me. A friend and I thought her site wasn’t one person but rather a company, only because her pictures, food, and creativity is out-of-this-world. I have found some of my favorite recipes from her site over the years and now she has just released her own e-book. Click here to check out her awesomeness!

In celebration of her book, I wanted to cook one of her recipes and as always, she did not disappoint. We made her Tuna Bacon Cakes and they were great! I ate the leftovers for days on a spinach salad (yes, with my balsamic vinegar).

Tuna Bacon Cakes

• 1 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
• 2 to 3 green onions, finely diced
• 10 ounces canned wild albacore tuna, drained
• 2 to 3 slices cooked bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• zest from 1/2 lemon (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 2 pastured eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• coconut oil, avocado oil, or bacon grease

Instructions:

In a large bowl mix together all ingredients through coconut flour.  Season with salt and pepper.

In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat add fat of choice (coconut oil, avocado oil, or bacon grease), just enough to coat pan.

Form mixture into patties, should make about 7 or 8 patties.

Place about 3 to 4 patties into skillet, leave enough room around patties so they cook evenly.  Cook patties on each side until golden and cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

 

This was more of an adult meal (for us since my kids don’t love the smell of tuna) but I loved them!  Did I mention how great they were with some guacamole? Do I mention guacamole in every post or what? It’s just so good!

Oh by the way, I just found these cans of tuna at Costco. I originally bought mine at Whole Food for $4 something a can. I got 6 cans at Costco for $9.99.  I love that place!

Hope you all found your Easter Eggs…

And have a very Happy Easter!

I am so intrigued by nutrition and how it affects us (and our families) now and how it will affect us in the future.  There are many, many different philosophies, diets, debates, claims and studies that are contradictory in today’s society. Is meat great for us or will it cause heart disease? Are eggs a good source of protein or do we need to worry about cholesterol? Should we eat low fat or high, good fat? Is dairy good for us or does it make us sick?
 
I’ve been learning some great things through my program at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition and I am excited to learn more and share with you all.  One thing is certain regardless of what we all believe – the less inflammatory foods we can consume, the better off we are, and THAT is a fact.  Inflammation can cause anything from weight gain to lowering your immune system (since 70 percent of our immune is in our gut) to heart disease to diabetes, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and more.

So what are some of the worst offenders?

-First and foremost, as many of you may already know is hydrogenated oil. We need those out of the diet or at least kept to a minimum. But in addition, we also need to limit polyunsaturated vegetable oils like safflower, sunflower, corn, peanut and soy.  They have a very high omega-6 content and very low omega-3 content and therefore, this imbalance encourages inflammation. A better choice is a good olive oil, for no to medium heat. For high heat, look to coconut oil, grass fed butter, or ghee.

-Commercial or grain fed meat- There is a lot of controversy lately over eating meat or going vegetarian. I think most of the concerns you hear about regarding meat, is about the grain fed meat filled with omega-6s. Feedlot raised animals are fed a diet that is high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids but low in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats. They are fed GMO grains like soy beans and corn. These animals are also, they given hormones to encourage growth and then the antibiotics, to prevent or recover from illness. That is a lot of things that our bodies don’t need. Instead (ideally) try to stick with grass fed meat, organic chicken, and wild fish.

-Refined sugar- On top of the many reasons why sugar is not good for us, it is also reported that processed sugars and other high-glycemic starches increase inflammation, which causes physical pain, overheating, redness and swelling in addition to internal inflammation. The Dartmouth Medical School also found that sugar causes acne.. Try coconut palm sugar, sucanat (sugar cane), dark honey, pure maple (in limited quantities) or some stevia instead.

-Processed grains are similar to refined sugar in that they have a higher glycemic index than unprocessed grains and can increase inflammation. In addition they are filled with gluten, which can damage our gut and cause inflammation because our bodies have such a hard time digesting it. Try to stick to grains like quinoa, millet, amaranth, gluten free oats, and brown rice. Click here to how to best prepare these grains.

 

On another note,  I finally found a great little kids book today about nutrition called Eat Healthy, Feel Great by Dr. Sears…

 

It is simple for the kids to comprehend and it really got my 5 year old’s attention. The kids asked questions and it gave me the opportunity to give my own examples while we were reading.  Be sure to do the same so they fully understand and you can teach them what you believe in the process.

I know, probably too many pics of my kids, and not really even good ones, but I needed some pictures for today’s post!

 

Wow, spring time is busy! After having some sort of sports activity every afternoon for my kids (I swear we were a 1-2 sport family) and getting home late every night this week only to rush a quick dinner, bath, homework and bed, I realized that cooking dinner at night this spring is going to be close impossible. There just won’t be enough time, so I will have to figure out a system. Fortunately, Scott and I cooked enough food last Sunday to eat leftovers a good bit for this first crazy week.

But then by Thursday night, I needed a fresh meal so I made this Mustard Lime Chicken and it was really awesome! I’ve figure out that if I can cut and prep our meat and/or veggies earlier in the day, then it makes cooking later in the evening seem less daunting. Before carpool, I pre-cut this chicken, mixed the ingredients in the bag (which took all of 10 minutes) and let it marinate in the fridge. When we got home at 6:00, all I had to do was pop this in the oven for 30 minutes and that was it! Nice, easy, and REALLY good!

This is what you need for this Mustard Lime Chicken:

 Ingredients:

• 2 pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/3 cup dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp celtic sea salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 tsp honey (optional)
• 1/4 cup almond meal (Trader Joe’s)

Directions:

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and put in large freezer bag. Add all ingredients except for the almond meal and zip bag up. Be sure to knead the bag with your hands so the ingredients can cover the chicken evenly. Then put the bag in the fridge and let it marinate for at least 15 minutes or until you’re ready to cook it. When you are ready, preheat oven to 350, put chicken in a glass dish, sprinkle almond meal on top and cook for approximately 30 minutes and enjoy!

There was a nice sauce that ended up in this dish so next time I think I’ll make cauliflower rice to go with it.  With my leftovers I actually dipped my roasted broccoli in the sauce. Mmm it was good!

Even Alice who “thinks” she really dislikes mustard ate every bite of her chicken.  Chances are good I will be making this at least once a week or every other week for awhile. It was so easy, so good, and it made even better leftovers! I get so excited when I get a new recipe I love.  Can you tell??

By the way, a friend introduced me to this amazing balsamic vinegar…

I had no idea balsamic vinegar could taste sooo good! Since she introduced me to it, I’ve had a salad almost every day for two weeks now! I know, I am on a bit of a salad kick lately, but you have to try this stuff! It’s actually sweet…a vinegar that is sweet! I’m hooked. I got mine at Whole Foods and at a $11 per bottle it’s a little pricey, but with the amount greens I’m eating lately, it’s worth every penny!  Thanks Jody for the introduction!

Any one else have a great product or find that they just love and want to share?? Would love to hear about it!

 

I know a lot of people love lentils but honestly, even if they were Paleo, I’m not sure I would eat them. They just don’t have as much flavor as some meat or veggies but that’s my just my opinion. Sorry, I’m not doing a good job of selling this meal, am I?  

But my family does like them once in awhile so I thought I would try to make some. My friend (thanks Jennifer B!) sent me this recipe and the flavors sounded like it was right up my family’s alley. And you know what? I tried it and liked it, and more importantly, my family really enjoyed it!  

Anyway, here is what you need for some Spicy Brown Lentils:

• 1 tbsp of Kerrygold butter or ghee
• 1 medium size onion finely chopped (I used TJ’s precut onion, shallot and garlic pack)
• 1 medium size tomato, chopped
• 2 cups of lentils soaked at least for 4 hours or overnight
• 3 cups of water
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp of Garam Marsala (if you have it)
• 2 tsp celtic salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper (although kids thought it was a little spicy so may leave this out next time)
• 3 tbsp Greek 2% yogurt (we like Fage)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• avocado, lime (juiced), cilantro or tomatoes for garnishing
• sausage or chicken (optional)

Start by soaking your lentils. All you need to do is pour the lentils in a bowl, fill the bowl with warm water until it reaches the top of the lentils and allow them to soak for at least 6 hours. I soaked ours overnight.

If you want to know why we soak them, read this for a detail explanation.  Oh and  by the way, be sure to use a bigger bowl than you think you need. After soaking ours, they started spilling over the top of the bowl, as you can see.

Now chop your tomato and onion and sauteed them with your butter. Next, add lentils, water and bring to a boil. Then add all of your spices, lower heat to low medium and allow to cook for 25 minutes until lentils are soft. Lastly, add your yogurt, tomato paste and then garnish with avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, and/or lime juice and enjoy!

My family ended up garnishing it with lots of avocado and it really enhanced the flavor. What’s not good with some extra avocado?!  And, being the meat eaters that we are, I think next time I’ll add some sausage or chicken to the recipe. But it was good alone too, for what it’s worth!

And my favorite part of the dinner…this amazing salad and the dressing. My good bud Daphne had us over for dinner and she made this salad and I absolutely feel in love with it. I actually wouldn’t leave the area where the salad bowl was (as we stood around and chatted) because I kept picking. It was so yummy! And even tonight Tate said “mmmm, mom, great salad”. The salad itself was very simple with just tomatoes and avocado, but the dressing included the following:

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (Braggs from Whole Foods or Publix)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• dash salt

This is a new staple for us!

By the way, if you make it down to 30A for Spring Break…

be sure to head over to the Saturday Seaside Farmer’s Market and check out Marla’s new organic, gluten free (some dairy free), pre-made frozen meals called Hale & Hearty! YAY, now you don’t have to cook or go out to eat and deal with the crowds (or the junk food!). Click here to check out their mouth watering menu.

Seriously, how cute are these guys? How can you not want to go visit them??

Happy almost Spring…well here in Atlanta, at least!

Greetings from the gulf coast! This week is spring break so we’ve hit the beach early. While we’ve been fortunate to have nice blue skies, it has been a bit on the cool side. So for dinner last night, we wanted a warm, feel-good dinner combined with some yummy beach seafood so we made a Cilantro Coconut Shrimp Soup.

But, before I get to the recipe, I have a couple of things I wanted to mention. First, after almost 6 months, I finally updated the recipe section of this blog. I’m sorry it took so long. I’m not sure why it did, but it’s done now. Phew! Also, I am working on getting the recipes in a printer friendly version for you all. I think I have found a solution (see below), but I like to insert pictures in between the instructions ((see the last buffalo chicken nugget recipe post example) and apparently I won’t be able to if I make the recipe printable in this format.  Personally, when I get recipes from other sites, I will typically take a picture with my iPhone (from my iPhone or computer) or I’ll cut and paste it into an email to myself or I’ll just bookmark it on my phone so I’ll have it when shopping/cooking. I am wondering, would any of these options work for y’all, or do you really want to be able to hit “print” like I’ve done below. Honestly, I don’t like how it looks as much but if y’all really want it, I’ll continue to do it as much as possible, so let me know!

Okay, back to the important stuff…the food! The kid really helped me every step of the way. I loved it!  And really from the cilantro picking, to the garlic peeling and chopping, it was their soup but we all had fun doing it together.

Cilantro makes everything good…

Alice had three helping of this soup. She said “This is REALLY fantastic mom!”. I think she loved it because she made it.