Staying on the wagon

Well, I didn't quite meet my goal of blogging every week, but here's to another try! We have been busy at our house preparing for a new baby. For us, that means organizing and purging. Yay! Nothing makes me feel better than clearing things out.  I have dropped off lots of things at Goodwill, sold to consignment stores, and even sold over 200 items at a consignment sale(through Divine Consign--they are awesome).

Between all of that, we have been doing our best to stay on track with our healthy eating habits. There are certainly plenty of nights I would rather just order out, but I force myself to put something together so that we can eat healthfully.

One of my favorite new ethnic foods since moving to Dallas has been Indian food.  The blend of spices is so unique!  Since transitioning to a plant-based diet, I have gained a whole new respect for Indian food. There are a lot of options for vegetarian and vegans to try that include Indian flavors.  Now, I know a lot of people feel strongly about curry--they either love it or hate it.  It gets a bad rap in my opinion, so I think it's best to at least give it a try before saying you don't like it. Or try it again if you're not sure!

The dish I am sharing, Potato and Green Pea Masala, is pretty simple, no difficult techniques or an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink ingredient list.  It doesn't actually have curry in it, just
Garam Masala.  This is a spice blend that you can find at Sprouts or likely any other major grocery store. I got mine at an Indian Supermarket.  However, one thing I like about Sprouts, Whole Foods or Central Market, is that they often have spices available in bulk.  That way, if you are just trying out a recipe and need a random spice, you can just get enough and not waste any if you don't like it.  Am I the only person whose spice cabinet attacks them sometimes? We have a serious amount of spices and so if I don't need a full-sized bottle, I don't buy it! You can also try your hand at making your own blend if you keep a lot of spices on hand.

This recipe is modified from My Whole Food Life and you can find the original recipe here.

Potato and Green Pea Masala

2 cups cooked beans--either pintos(original recipe)or garbanzos(my modification)--liquid reserved
3 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 bag of fingerling potatoes(or one med-large potato)
1 tsp Garam Masala
2 T coconut oil(or olive oil if that's what you have)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 lg garlic clove, minced
1 cup cooked green peas
salt to taste
optional--mango chutney and Sriracha Chile sauce

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees to roast your potatoes.

Cook wild rice according to package directions. This will take 40-50 minutes.  Or if you're buying in bulk, cook 1 1/2 cups wild rice in 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce and simmer.

Next, cut your potatoes into bite-sized pieces and toss with a small amount of oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden and tender.

Dice onion and cut up garlic.  Here's a step by step on how to properly dice an onion(I did not know how to do this until my sweet husband showed me how after we were married).  I know it seems simple, but just in case you are still learning, this will help immensely as so many recipes call for diced onions.

First, cut off each end of the onion.

Next, cut the onion in half.

Peel the onion and then cut the onion, starting at the underside, in horizontal layers that are about 1/4" thick from bottom to top.  I am left-handed, so I cut from left to right, but I am sure most of you are right-handed, so you will slice from right to left. 

Next, slice the onion in horizontal lines.  I can usually make about 4-5 cuts.

Then, turn your knife back to a normal cutting position and chop from one side of the onion to the other(again, depending on what hand you favor)to dice the onion into small pieces. Your cuts should be about 1/4" apart.  

And voila'! Diced onions and no tears!

Heat oil over medium-high in a large skillet.  Add onions and cook 3-4 minutes or until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute.  Stir in garam masala and cumin, toasting about 1 minute.  It should be very fragrant.  

Add beans and a little of the reserved liquid to deglaze slightly.  You can also use water or broth.  Stir in cooked peas and potatoes, coating everything well with spices.  Add more liquid as needed. There won't be much of a sauce but it also shouldn't be really dry.  Remove from heat and serve over wild rice.  Top with a spoonful of mango chutney and drizzle with Sriracha if you enjoy a little heat!

On a side note, it is amazing when you start reading labels how you find out the nutrient value of foods that seem ordinary. For example, green peas are a good source of protein.  As I have mentioned before, we often have friends and family express concern that we don't consume enough protein.  However, 2/3 cup of peas offers 5 grams of protein and 30% of your daily intake of Vitamin C.  Many vegan protein powders are actually pea-protein based.  In addition, the beans in the recipe, if you use garbanzos, offer 6 grams of protein for 1/2 cup.  Both peas and beans contain Iron and Calcium as well. Lastly, the wild rice has 6.5 grams of protein for a 1-cup serving.  This recipe, while it doesn't contain any meat, seems to have plenty of protein! I say this to encourage those of you who believe or have been told that animal products are the only way to get protein and iron or that dairy is the only way to obtain calcium.  I am not necessarily a bleeding heart that wants to save animals(although I love them!)but it is being proven over and over again that eating a mostly plant-based diet is incredibly beneficial to your health.  I would love to hear about what recipes you're trying out! Many of my friends have talked about "Meatless Monday" and it would be helpful to all of us to share your "keepers".  

A Real Weeknight Meal--with leftovers!

  I feel blessed to work part-time and have extra days off with my little girl.  However, I still feel the same pressures and dilemmas that all moms, those that work full-time, stay-at-home, and all those in-between, have. What's for dinner?!? Since we strive to eat as healthy as possible, that means cooking at least 5-6 days a week.  My husband is a fabulous cook, but let's face it, if I let him cook, we probably won't be eating dinner until at least 7 p.m.  That sets us up for a late night with trying to get our little one a bath, lunches packed, and bedtime routines done.
  I try and plan my meals a week at a time and make a grocery list.  I love grocery shopping during the week since there's almost no one there! That's probably one of my favorite things about being off during the week, not having to shop on the weekends with everyone and their brother. Wednesdays have proven to be a great day, since Sprouts has double-ad deals on that day. You get all the savings from the previous week's ad as well as the new week. I love a good deal!  I generally buy the majority of my produce, some speciality goods(like coconut milk, tofu, certain grains), as well as items like nuts and beans from the bulk bins. Then, I make my way to Aldi where I purchase my staples such as dry goods and remaining produce I need. If you haven't checked out Aldi, you have to try it at least once! A few things to keep in mind: 1. take a quarter for your cart deposit,(you get it back and if you forget one, you can always borrow a quarter from the cashier) 2. take your own bags, and 3. have the correct form of payment(i.e. debit card or cash, no credit cards accepted).  They are always adding new products, among my recent favorites are organic virgin unrefined coconut oil for $4.99(major steal!!)and almond butter for $4.99 as well.
  Okay, so back to our weeknight meal. I made roasted sweet potatoes stuffed with southwest quinoa and a salad on the side.  The sweet potatoes were inspired by this recipe and the quinoa is from this recipe. My modification for the quinoa is to just use 1 can of black beans instead of the two that is called for.  I have served the quinoa alone as a side dish or I am sure my carnivorous friends could added chicken for a one-dish meal.
  Step one would be to roast your sweet potatoes. I roasted 4 so we would have some for lunch the next day.  Preheat your oven to 400 Degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with foil since sweet potatoes will leak out sticky juice that you do not want to try and scrub off! Clean your sweet potatoes and prick all over with fork, then individually wrap the potatoes in foil.  Large sweet potatoes will need about an hour to an hour and a half to cook fully. Small sweet potatoes will take 50-60 minutes. Flip your sweet potatoes halfway through their cooking time.
  While your sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare the quinoa.  The first step in many good recipes is to saute onions and garlic. Talk about a good smell!  The recipe says to saute both at the same time, but I like to give the onions a little head start and add the garlic in the last few minutes so it doesn't burn and turn bitter.

 Many people have commented that quinoa has a bitter or slightly off-putting taste.  One way to combat that is to rinse it in a mesh colander before cooking.  Quinoa is a grain that is packed with protein.  It is generally grown in South America and is considered somewhat trendy in the U.S. but has been around as a staple in the diets of South American since ancient times. As a side note, I watched a documentary that mentioned quinoa saying it is basically unaffordable for the people in the countries where it's grown since there's such a high demand for it in the U.S.  In addition, many in the younger generation of those countries don't want to eat it as it's considered old-fashioned. Interesting.   I usually pay about $4.99/lb for quinoa, but I can sometimes find it in the bulk bins at Sprouts for cheaper.  Just a 1/4 cup(dry) has 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and 10% of your daily intake of iron.  When discussing our diet, people often ask "but where do you get your protein?". Well, there's one place--quinoa! It cooks faster than rice at only 15 minutes and can also be used as a hot cereal for breakfast.  In general, Americans eat plenty, if not more than they need, of protein.  Here's an article I found discussing how much protein we really need.
  After the onions are translucent, add the quinoa, broth(or water is fine too), and spices. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cover.  Cook the quinoa for 15-20  minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

In the meantime, drain and rinse the black beans, measure out 1 cup of corn, and chop the cilantro.

After the quinoa is finished, stir in the frozen corn and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Then, add the black beans and cilantro.

Now, you'll probably have some time leftover before the sweet potatoes are done, so let's make a salad! I decided to do an assembly line so we would have salads ready for lunch the next day.  I am really good at making dinner but for some reason, I despise putting it all away and packing up lunches. So, this felt a little more efficient.

Here's what you need for the salads I made:

4-6 cups of lettuce(I used pre-washed spring mix)
1 cup red grapes, chopped
1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Balsamic dressing

Here's my set-up to build my salads:

Then,  I just distributed the toppings amongst each salad.  Voila! Dinner salads and lunch salads for the following day.

The finished product:

Hopefully, your sweet potatoes are done by now! Slice open a sweet potato, add a generous scoop of the southwest quinoa, then top with 1/2 fresh, sliced avocado and if you like it spicy, add some hot sauce! We love Trader Joe's hot sauce. If you still have quinoa left after making lunches(we did)it freezes really well.

Enjoy!

List of extra ingredients not in quinoa recipe:
4 sweet potatoes
2 avocados
hot sauce

Breakfast--the most important meal of the day

I wake up hungry. I am always ready for breakfast, especially being pregnant, when I am hungry ALL the time it seems!  I am definitely not one of those people who skips breakfast or forgets to eat.  That being said, eating a nutritious and tasty breakfast was an important piece of the puzzle when we changed our diet.

Generally, while on the first 6-week strict period of Eat to Live, breakfast consisted of fruit, nuts, and possibly a small amount of grains.  I am a little more relaxed at this point and will throw in extra protein like hard-boiled eggs or greek yogurt.  

Let's start with a great all-in-one breakfast, oatmeal.  We were addicted to the Blueberry-Banana Oatmeal  from the ETL book! I personally love sweet breakfasts, and this one fit the bill.  The riper the bananas, the better. You can even take your over-ripe bananas and freeze them so they're ready for this recipe or smoothies.  I also love making overnight oats.  It is really convenient to have a grab-and-go breakfast that are healthy! This is my favorite overnight oat recipe. Chocolate Covered Strawberry Overnight Oats .  I will  put links up for other recipes, although I haven't tried all of them yet! Let me know if you try one and like it.  I also like to make oatmeal and just add whatever fruit I have that sounds good--apples, pears, raisins, then add nuts to finish it off.  

Smoothies are another great breakfast option.  The base of all of our smoothies tends to be a frozen banana and almond milk.  Great add-ins are chia seeds(read more here about their benefits)and ground flax seeds(read more here about their benefits).  To sweeten, add a little honey or a whole, pitted date.  If you want a little protein boost, try adding a spoonful of peanut or almond butter.  While you're add it,  throw in a handful of spinach! You can't taste it and it is a great way to "sneak" in nutrients for yourself or your kids.  Or if you're like me sometimes, you may have that bag of spinach in your fridge that is about to go bad or is a little wilted.  Throw it in a blender with a small amount of water and make spinach ice cubes to put in your smoothies! Here are a few of my favorite smoothies and recipes:

Chocolate Peanut Butter

*1 banana, preferably frozen

*generous spoonful of peanut butter

*2 TBSP cocoa powder

*squeeze of honey or 1 date

*milk-about 1/2-1 cup depending on how thick you like it

Chocolate Smoothie(from Eat to Live)

*5 oz baby spinach(small handful)

*2 C blueberries, preferably frozen

*1/2 C almond milk

*1 banana

*2 TBSP cocoa powder

*1 TBSP ground flax

*water to thin if necessary

Mango Smoothie

*1/2 mango, chopped coarsely(did you know the best way to cut a mango?)

*1 banana

*4-5 frozen peach slices or 5-6 small chunks of pineapple

*1/2 cup almond milk

*1TBSP ground flax

Sometimes, breakfast is very simple, I grab a Kind bar.  Well, let's be real, an Aldi's knockoff Kind bar, which is delicious and less expensive! Then, I add a banana, hard-boiled egg or greek yogurt, and I am set.  Other times, I make up a mini-bagel or whole-wheat waffle and add the same formula of a piece of fruit and a protein.  

My last suggestion for breakfast is fruit. Simple, I know, but there are a few things you can do to make it a little more interesting.  In the summer, I love a bowl of fresh pineapple, mango, banana and a sprinkle of flax. It's so refreshing and the flax lends a nice nutty flavor.  In the winter, I love a warm breakfast, so I heat up my fruit.  It makes me feel like I'm eating a warm cobbler! My suggestions for "warm fruit" as my little girl calls it....

Apple/Banana Bowl

1 apple, cored and cut into chunks

1 banana, sliced

1 TBSP raisins(optional)

1 TBSP your choice of nuts

sprinkle of cinnamon

1-2 TBSP almond butter

Place apple and banana in a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 1 minute or until slightly softened.  In a small bowl, heat almond butter for 1 minute or until liquified(just watch it, as I know every microwave is different and the almond butter will bind up if it's overheated). Pour the almond butter over the fruit and add cinnamon, raisins, and nuts.

Pear and Berry Bowl

1 pear, cored and cut into chunks

1/2 cup blueberries

1 TBSP craisins

sprinkle of cinnamon

1 TBSP your choice of nuts

Place pear and blueberries in a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 1 minute or until berries start to burst slightly. Top with raisins, cinnamon, and nuts.

Granola "Cobbler"

1/4-1/3 cup granola(here's my favorite homemade recipe or we also like Nature's Path Organic)

1 cup berries, combination or single type is fine

1 TBSP water

Place berries in a microwave safe bowl. Add water and microwave until they burst and become liquified(usually 1-2 minutes). Top with granola. 

In personal news, we are enjoying a massive purging at our house! With baby #2 coming in May, it's time to clean out the girly stuff and bring in the boy stuff.  There's something very peaceful about cleaning out closets and organizing! I am feeling so blessed to have had a healthy pregnancy so far.  Here's a picture of me at about 25 weeks.

I hope that you find some new breakfast recipes that can help you to have a healthy start to 2015! Thanks for reading!

First off, I would like to thank all of our friends and family that have taken the time to read about our journey! Second, I am so excited for those of you that have decided to make some changes to better your health! The holidays were wonderful, we were blessed to spend time with my family in Illinois. It is always a challenge when traveling to make healthy choices, especially over Christmas. We agreed that we would likely be mostly off our diet but would do our best to make good choices when available.
One thing we love that my mom had for us(and she loves too)are Tasty Bite Entrees. They are great little pouches that contain a small amount of natural ingredients(usually no more than 6-8)and are vegan or vegetarian.  We prefer the Indian-inspired flavors.  My only complaint is that they have a moderate amount of sodium, but as long as you eat the suggested amount(1/2 the pouch)it's manageable.  I pour them over brown rice packets I get from Aldi and I can have a main dish ready in two minutes! Both are great for traveling and do not need to be refrigerated.  I find mine at Sprouts but my mom purchases them from Amazon since they don't have natural food stores in close proximity.
We definitely had our share of cookies and junk food over our vacation and we were ready to reboot! Many of you know that I am pregnant, so I am ultra-conscious these days about my nutrition.  Micah wanted to do a 4-5 day juice cleanse for breakfast and lunch and then salads for dinner. I am eating regularly but still partaking in the salads for dinner.  He had already noticed an increase in back pain just from the few days of eating unhealthy foods.  If that isn't a testimony, I don't know what is!

So this week as we have found ourselves returning to the idea that "the salad is the main dish" I am recalling our favorite flavor combinations and dressings. I have added new recipe links, so be sure and check them out. If I have shared it, it means I have actually cooked it and we liked it.  In the Eat to Live book, it encourages you to eat a large salad with dinner and lunch, topped with fresh veggies, nuts, and an oil-free dressing. When I read oil-free I was very confused. How in the world can you make dressing without oil? Well, I will share some ideas and you see what you think.  Many of them contain nuts or cashews, which can help your body absorb nutrients more efficiently, especially those found in leafy greens.

Alright, so enough talking, here's some salads we like:

Massaged Kale and Mango Salad

Kale Salad with Warm Cranberry Vinaigrette

Kale and Farro Salad

White Bean Salad

My own combos:
Spinach(or your preferred lettuce) and Fruit Salad
-sliced strawberries or grapes, nut of choice(almonds, walnuts or sunflower seeds), avocado, craisins, mushrooms, red onion, balsamic dressing(see recipe below under dressings)

Asian-Inspired
Your choice of greens, edamame, green onion, carrots, cilantro, mushrooms, bell peppers(I prefer the colorful ones rather than green), oranges, chopped cashews or peanuts, peanut dressing(see recipe below)

Greek Salad
Your choice of greens, cucumber, tomatoes, small amount of chopped kalamata olives, red onion, feta cheese if I'm feeling adventurous, cannelini beans(optional),balsamic dressing

Mexican-Inspired
Your choice of greens, black beans(drained and rinsed), corn, diced mango, green or red onion, bell peppers, cilantro, sprinkle of cumin, lime juice

Sauteed Vegetable Salad(I know it sounds weird, but it's a knock-off of a delicious Pei Wei Salad)
Your choice of greens, topped with any/all of the following:
broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas/snow peas, onion(your choice), mushrooms, 1 clove minced fresh garlic, carrots, squash/zucchini, tofu if you like it, 1 tsp fresh minced or powdered ginger
   In a small amount of oil(or 2 TBSP water if you're avoiding oils)saute over medium high your harder vegetables first like onions and carrots until they are soft, usually 5 minutes or so.  Add in remaining vegetables and spices along with 2-4 TBSP of low-sodium soy sauce or tamari. Continue to cook until vegetables are softened to your liking.  You can also add Sriracha chili sauce or crushed red pepper if you like it spicy.  Top Salad with warm vegetables.  This is not an exact recipe! I usually just eye-ball it, depending on how much I am making. Generally for 2 servings I will use about 1/4-1/3 cup of each vegetable.

Balsamic Dressing(based on Eat to Live)
1/4 cup plus 2 T rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 TBSP olive oil or 2 TBSP raw cashews(make sure they're NOT roasted)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 raisins or 100% fruit grape spread
1 clove of fresh garlic(if you have roasted garlic, it's even better!!)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp onion powder

Put all ingredients into a blender and combine until smooth. If you have a Magic Bullet-type blender, that is the best.

Peanut Dressing
2 TBSP natural peanut butter
1 tsp soy sauce
1 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1 date or 1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper or Sriracha
Water to thin(usually 2 TBSP- 1/4 cup)

Put all ingredients into a blender and combine until smooth. If you have a Magic Bullet-type blender, that is the best. Adjust to your taste as needed, you may find it needs more spice or more salt(add soy sauce).

Dijon Date Dressing

2-ingredient Balsamic Dressing

I haven't tried all of these, but here's some others to consider
Big List of No-oil Salad Dressings, by Healthy Girl

A few pre-made dressings that we've liked:
Walden Farms Calorie-Free Dressings-good but they do contain Splenda, so they have a slightly sweet taste
Maple Grove Farms Dressings-they have a sugar-free version that contains a small amount of Splenda but tastes much less sweet than the Walden Farms brand and also a fat-free version that contains 2 g of sugar per 2 TBSP serving.

I hope this give you a place to start! Try adding at least one, if not two salads a day to your diet.  I will be trying this salad out next, so I will let you know if it's a keeper.  Please comment below or on Facebook if you have any questions!

Our Health Journey

We always thought we ate relatively healthy. You know, the basics, lean proteins, vegetables, wheat bread, etc.  But, we also knew that my husband, Micah struggled throughout his life with high blood pressure, cholesterol, and a liver condition.  I had been praying for a long time that God would help both of us to be as healthy as possible. Little did I know, He was about to give us a wake up call!

It was somewhere around 2 a.m. on the weekend of Memorial Day 2012 and Micah woke me up in the middle of the night telling me he had chest pains. I had that nagging thought of "it could be a heart attack" but I thought, surely not, he's only 32.  I suggested maybe it was just gas(ha, ha..)and that he should try laying down in a different position.  A few minutes later he insisted that I take him to the ER since the pain was not subsiding. I woke up our then 2 year old and off we drove to the ER. They were able to confirm pretty quickly by means of a blood test that he had suffered a heart attack. They quickly admitted him to the hospital and my daughter and I went home to rest for while since he was stable.

I think I was slightly in shock, but I also had peace. I knew that God was with Micah and with us as a family to comfort us and to help us through the recovery process.  I was so thankful that it was considered a minor heart attack.  He had no damage to his heart and no blockages in his arteries.  I knew it was time for us to make some big changes.

Of course, it's not easy to change everything overnight, but we did work towards eating even healthier and he joined a gym.  This continued for about a year and a half but Micah wasn't experiencing any drastic results or improving his health.  In addition, he was experiencing unexplained pain in his shoulder that he had tried treating with acupuncture, massage, and chiropractor visits.  Nothing was really helping and he resorted to taking pain medication when it was too much to bear.  He also had sleep apnea that was well-controlled with a machine but still not an ideal situation.

Over Christmas break, I convinced him to watch "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" on Netflix with me. I had already seen it and thought it was so inspiring! We decided to start the second week of January on a 10-day juice fast.  We purchased a juicer on Amazon and followed the plan given on www.rebootwithjoe.com.  It was definitely not easy! We had to attend birthday parties(with BBQ!!), watch other people eat their lunches at work, and still prepare food for our daughter.  For the most part, we did feel really good. After our 10-day fast, Micah had lost about 25 pounds and I lost about 10. We transitioned to the Eat to Live Diet after reading the book and hearing the great testimonies.

Eat to Live has a very strict 6-week period in which it claims you could lose 20 pounds or more.  That's about what Micah ended up losing.  I lost about another 5, but I was not really doing it to lose a lot, more just to be supportive.  Plus, Eat to Live is not just about losing weight, it's about fighting diseases, especially cancer which I definitely do not want! We both felt great and Micah was having some amazing results. He revisited his sleep doctor and did a sleep study that found he didn't have a single incidence of apnea so he was released from using his machine.  His cardiologist requested him to lose about 10 more pounds before getting off his medications.  And his shoulder pain is gone as well.  I have noticed a huge decrease in the amount of seasonal allergy problems as well as more energy. No one in our family has had a single sick visit since beginning our diet and I have also had very few to no headaches(which I was having 1-2 a month that I blamed on hormones).

I am not being paid to say anything of these things by Reboot with Joe or Eat to Live/Dr. Fuhrman.  I just want to share our testimony with others so it might help them to be healthier.  I am saddened by seeing strangers, friends, and family, who are suffering various ailments because of their diet choices.  Food is a huge part of healing our bodies!

So, in saying all that, I am starting this blog to hold us accountable but also so people can see realistically what it looks like on our "diet". We don't really consider it a diet anymore, more of a lifestyle, right? We mostly eat vegan, but occasionally "cheat" on the weekends with meat, dairy, or a dessert.  I hope that in this blog you can find some real recipes that you can enjoy and improve your health! Below are my husband's "before" and "after" pictures. Amazing! I am so proud of him.