Sprouts, Summer fruit, Super smoothie

I just realized that it’s just about April already. Spring seems to go by so quickly!  It’s probably the nicer weather and because I’m itching for steady 70 and 80 degree weather once again!

Sprouts

We’ve been enjoying the fruit of our latest grocery shopping fun at Whole Foods.  I mentioned that we planned to start juicing more.  We also decided we need to start eating more raw fruits and vegetables in general.  There’s been a few too many Amy’s and Kashi frozen pizzas and burritos eaten lately (not to mention sweet potato fries on my part, ha), and not as much “real” food as normal.

Enter: sprouts
This is a clover sprout salad with celery, mushrooms, chopped walnuts, feta, and vinegar & oil.  I love the taste of sprouts!

A few facts about the health benefits of sprouts:

• Rich in essential nutrients and minerals.  Sprouting makes an already nutritious food even more nutritious since it’s still “living”
• High in protein.
• Great source of enzymes. This helps keep our bodies healthy, fit, and energetic, and also makes sprouts easy to digest.
• Contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals, that can protect against disease.

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was 2 slices of toasted Bread of Life raisin bread with cashew butter and a little local honey, served with a strawberry Greek yogurt, and my vitamins, ha.  I put them on my plate so I wouldn’t forget to take them.

 
Bread of Life is a local KC organic bakery.  We don’t usually buy their bread for no reason in particular, but we picked up a loaf at the food expo we went to this past weekend.

Lunch

My husband surprised me with lunch today.  My nose lured me out of my office to see that Erik had made me this:
A grass fed grilled bison burger topped with caramelized onions and cheese on an Ezekiel bun.  Yum!!

Followed by some cantaloupe. Summer fruit, anyone??
Super Smoothie

For my afternoon pick-up, I made a super smoothie.  I’m always slightly afraid my smoothies won’t turn out well … too much ice, not enough ice, too sweet, not sweet enough, etc, etc.  But today’s combo was perfect!It included:

• A huge handful of spinach
• 1 grapefruit, peeled and broken apart
• 1/2 really ripe banana
• 1 TB acai powder
• 1 ts maca powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• Generous squirt agave nectar
• 5ish ice cubes

I’ve decided the key to a delicious smoothie (at least for me) is the additional of juice from an orange, grapefruit, lime, or lemon. Perfect!

Now I’m off to cook some dinner! I also get to pick up my really good friend from the airport, who will be in Missouri for about a week … yay!

What’s on your dinner menu for tonight??

A better plate of food

A little bit after I got home from work Erik said that he was really hungry and wanted a burger. Since it’s close, and for the sake of quickness we got Carside to go. We don’t really love Applebee’s buuuut every once in awhile it’s okay. 

I decided to take this opportunity to share some things I do to choose a healthy restaurant items.

• I typically stick with chicken, fish, lean meats, or veggie based meals Tonight, I chose the chicken and mushroom portabella sandwich on a whole wheat bun.
• If eating bread, choose wheat instead of white.  Most every restaurant will have a wheat or whole grain option and will be happy to switch buns.

• In place of fries, I get veggies or fruit. With my dinner tonight I ordered steamed broccoli with no butter (remember to say no butter and save yourself a lot of calories and fat ; )

• I watch out for sauces and dressings. This sandwich typically comes with a marinara sauce and I ate it sans marinara. There can be a lot of added fat, calories, and sodium hiddin’ in sauces and dressings.
• Order dressings and sauces on the side. You can easily save calories and fat by simply putting on half of the dressing or sauces, rather than all of it.

Erik decided on a quesadilla burger without the Mexi-ranch sauce and with no bacon served with steamed veggies rather than fries.

• Whenever possible, I get online ahead of time to check out my options. Looking at a menu ahead of time prevents diet disasters and it helps knowing what healthy options are available.
• I’ve learned not to be afraid to ask for what I want. Typically, restaurants are more than happy to cook your meal the way you want it; without butter, on different bread, with no sauce, etc. Just ask!
• Drink a lot of water. Not only will the water make you feel fuller, but it will help your body burn fat faster.

While most restaurant options are very high in sodium, it’s possible to get a much healthier option at just about every restaurant and cuisine.   

What are some things you do when eating out to choose a healthier option??

Kale Chips & Greasy Food

The weekend went by quick! But for some reason, I don't even mind that tomorrow is Monday and it's back to work. It was a cold weekend, too and it's supposed to warm up this week. This is the kind of weather I'm ready for:I reminded myself this weekend, on Saturday night, why I enjoy eating healthy so much. Ha, my husband and I literally really haven't had any greasy, processed or fried foods in over six months. So last night, we were planning on cooking pasta but my husband really didn't feel like having it so we decided we would go out to eat instead. Well, for some reason we decided to splurge and eat bad. We're really not even sure why other than we felt like it. So, we went to a Chinese buffet. And we ate way too much and of course it was all really greasy, and fried and processed! Since we were eating bad, I just really went for it and I made two trips to the food bar and even had some nasty buffet dessert (but it tasted good at the time, haha).

Upon waking up this morning I learned my lesson. I felt stuffed, gross, disgusting, and extremely lethargic.

What I remembered this weekend that somehow I had forgotten due to simply being used to eating healthy:

• Eating healthy makes me feel great.
  
• Eating healthy gives me energy.
• Eating healthy makes me feel better about myself.
• Eating greasy/fatty foods make me feel gross.
• Eating greasy/fatty foods makes me feel fat.
• Eating greasy/fatty foods makes me want to be lazy and lay in bed all day.

Go figure, right?? haha.

Moving on ...Today was a great day! We started our day off by going to church (the very best way to start off a good Sunday : ). We came home, ate a little bit and then went to Starbucks and drank some tea and talked. (We have a gift card there to use up;) We then went and bought a few groceries. One of the things I came home with was some flowering kale. Yum! So, I decided to make kale chips for the first time, and was not disappointed. I sprinkled some olive oil and Parmesan on them and put them in the oven on around 375 for about 15 minutes. At first it was kind of weird, because it's really just like you're eating crunchy leaves ... ha, but they're very good crunchy leaves and very good for you, too! : )

Tonight, we had chicken Parmesan fettuccine and frozen strawberry cereal bars for dessert ... with pictures coming tomorrow!

And now I'm sipping a cup of sugar cookie Celestial tea about to get ready for bed.

Anyone excited for Monday?

Quick One

Hey guys : )

Quick post tonight ... (sorry!) ...

Dinner last night was Lemon Chickpea Turkey Stir-fry ...
First I sautéed some mushroom and onions in olive oil, added the ground turkey meat, let it brown a little, and added chopped zucchini, sweet potatoes, a little over half a can of chick peas, water chestnuts, pepper, some lemon pepper seasoning, and when it was almost all done I added the juice of half a lemon. I separately steamed some Brussels and broccoli, and mixed it all together with some pearled barley. I thought it was really good. Erik said it was a bit too lemony for him (though he's not much of a lemon pepper kind of guy).

And as I've done a couple times now, here's some tips to end the post brought to you by The Daily Green. I just discovered this website recently and so far I think they have a lot of neat tips!

1. Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants.
Michael Pollan wrote it. Live it.

2. Eat Super Foods.
Super foods pack the most nutrients into each serving. Use our Superfood Index, which pairs the most nutritious foods with delicious recipes.

3. Eat Real Foods.
Whether you concerned about salmonella in peanut butter and bisphenol A residue from foods packed in plastic, or just plain confused by misleading food labels, less-processed foods are the answer.

4. Eat Local.
Get your foods locally, so you can ask your farmer how she grows her food, and how she cares for the soil.

5. Eat In Season.
Get your nutrition from foods that are in season whenever possible to ensure freshness and reduce food miles.

Last but not least, I got my hair done this evening and it's a lot different ... hooray! I'll show a picture tomorrow ; )

Have a great night and thanks for reading ... I appreciate you all and you're all GREAT ... I mean it!!! : )

Sesame Chicken, Banana Snack, and Clean EatingTips

Happy Monday one and all! (?)

I've had a great Monday. Nothing in particular has made it that way, but none the less it's been great.

And now for the eats ... My husband made din-din last night and here is it. I suppose you could call it sesame chicken. He first sauteed onions, mushrooms, minced garlic and some zucchini in some organic sesame oil. Then ... added some chopped chicken breasts and kidney beans. Yum! We had it with pearled barley, steamed broccoli and brussels (surprise, surprise, right?? ha) Also, we sprayed some balsamic vinegar on top of it all and ate some of my chicken with honey mustard (I love honey mustard), though it really didn't need any.

Here was my a.m. snack of the day ... What is it? Very good! Ha, it's a chopped banana with ground flax seed, cacao nibs, agave nectar, and unsweetened organic coconut on top. And to end this post, some easy recipe alternatives that cut down on fat and calories found in Clean Eating Magazine:

-Don't Fry It: Baking, braising, broiling, grilling, poaching, roasting, sauteing and steaming don't add excess fat, oil or sodium.

-Do Remove The Skin and Fat: Strip the skin off chicken and trim fat from meat.

-Don't Forget Fiber: Use beans or lentils to up fiber and reduce fat.

-Do Replace Cream: Substitute with evaporated skim milk in casserole.

-Don't Season With Butter: Top a baked potato with salsa, low-fat sour cream and chives, plan low-fat yogurt (or greek yogurt, yum!), or chili powder instead.

-Do Read Labels: Opt for leaner cuts of meat, lower or sodium substituions and low-fat finds.

Have a fabulous night/morning/day/whenever you're reading this!! :D ... I'm out!

How Much Do You Waste?

Happy Thursday!

I don't know about you, but I'm so glad that tomorrow is Friday! (and it's "jeans day" at work ... hooray!)

Here is what's in the oven right now at this very moment while I type and what also just so happens to be dinner ... I don't know what you'd call it ... Lemon Pepper Chicken with Coconut, perhaps? Basically, it's just some frozen chicken breasts with pepper, a the juice of a lemon, and some sprinkled unsweetened shredded organic coconut on top. I then put a lemon slice on each breast and added some veggies. I'll have to show a finished product tomorrow.

I read this is our most recent Mother Earth News magazine:

"A recent study from the University of Arizona shows that most people underestimate how much food they waste. For example, you might think you are tossing only about 1% of the food that goes through your kitchen, but the real number is probably closer to 15%. Some things get lost in the refrigerator no matter what you do but you can save money day after day by minimizing waste."

While Erik and I don't typically have problems with food going to waste -- (see our fridge the day before grocery shopping) -- I thought these were good ideas and we already do a few of them.

Tips on how to avoid wasting food:

- Use leftovers by combining them in mysteriously delicious wraps, omelets or soups.

-Make smoothies from fruit (or veggies!) that will soon be overripe. Ripe unpeeled bananas will turn black if you freeze the, but they will still be fine for smoothies. Turn overripe apples into spicy applesauce.

-Make your own stocks and broths from meat and vegetable trimmings. You can freeze stock in glass jars as long as you leave 2 inches of head space to allow for expansion.

-Freeze temporary overstocks of bread, including hard crusts or stale bread. Use them to make French toast, bread pudding, seasoned bread crumbs, or savory stratas.

-Clean our your refrigerator once every week. Eat, cook, or freeze anything that's worth saving.

-Declare periodic "food rest days" during which the head cook gets the day off, thus encouraging active refrigerator foraging by other household members.

Hope everyone has a very happy, very blessed, very lovely Friday! : )