Veggie Frittata

 

Sometimes eggs for breakfast get a little boring. But it’s super easy to spice them up with some delicious veggies! This morning I made a wonderful veggie frittata and it satisfied Diego and my urge to go out to breakfast. Who says home cooking isn’t the best!? The best part about a veggie frittata is that you can use any sorts of veggies you like. Diego was craving Asian style veggies that conveniently were frozen so it was a breeze to sauté the veggies with

no prep and then add the eggs. I highly recommend it. I served the frittata with nitrate and chemical free breakfast sausage and strawberries. YUM!

 

What you need

5 eggs

1/4 cup water

1 package of frozen veggies of your choice

OR ( my favorite combo)

1/2 onion, minced

1 bell pepper

1 cup broccoli

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

3 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan with a lid. Place your choice of veggies in the sauté pan ( if frozen just dump em all in, if not, start with the onions and peppers first and sauté till translucent, then add the broccoli and cook for 3 min).

In the meantime, whisk the eggs in a bowl with the water until light and fluffy. Add the last of the olive oil to the pan and stir around a bit to make sure the pan is covered ( this will make the getting the frittata our easier).Pour the eggs into the pan and lower the heat to low.  Sprinkle the cilantro on the top of the eggs. Cover the pan immediately and let the frittata cook about 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through. Be careful about opening the lid as this will let the heat out and make the cooking time longer.

The heat should be low so as to not burn the bottom of the frittata.

Mini Vegetable Frittatas

 

These veggie frittatas are so simple to make and they make for an easy quick or even to-go breakfast… lunch or dinner for that matter. I got this idea from a client who started to make them for her son who has recently adopted the Paleo diet and was having trouble eating enough for breakfast. I decided to make them today and I think I will make some more soon because Diego’s already eaten two or three.

What you need:

1.5 cup zucchini squash, shredded

1/2 an onion chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms

1/2 cup green onion, chopped

6 eggs

1/2 tsp  Celtic sea salt

1tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté onions and salt in olive oil in a large pan until translucent. Add the mushrooms and sauté another 3-5 minutes.

While this is happening, whisk the eggs in a medium size bowl. Add the zucchini   and green onion to the egg mixture and mix.

Spray a 12 muffin pan with oil and fill each hole with mushroom and onion just so it covers the bottom.

Fill each muffin hole with egg mixture a little more than 3/4 full but not quite to the top, it will fluff up and the egg might run over a bit.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the egg is cooked all the way through.

Indian Spiced Cauliflower “Rice” Pilaf

 

I’ve been craving rice lately and specifically that saffron colored wonderful aromatic basmati rice they serve at an Indian restaurant. I’ve been pondering the idea of making “rice” on it’s own with cauliflower for a few weeks and I finally gave it a try. After seeing how this dish created itself, I can see there is a ton more rice-y dishes you could make with cauliflower, especially a rich risotto. I can’t wait to try some more.

If you have been craving that rice texture and you want something that is flavorful and satisfying you will love this cauliflower rice.

 

You need:

1 medium head cauliflower, pulverized in the food processor

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic

10-12 green cardamom pods

1 tbsp cloves

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp fresh ginger

1 cinnamon stick

2 sprigs thyme

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp saffron strands

1.5 cup chicken stock

Heat olive oil in a large pot and sauté onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the cardamom, cloves, coriander, ginger, and cinnamon. Sauté 3-5 minutes.

Add Cauliflower and sauté with spices about 5 minutes or until it starts to get a golden color and the aromatics of the spices have spread around the kitchen again.

Add the chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves, and saffron and bring to a boil. Cover and lower the heat to low and let simmer for 10-20 minutes until the liquid is soaked up by the cauliflower. The longer you let it simmer the more the flavors will come into the cauliflower.

Serve and garnish with cilantro or thyme.

Paleo Frito Pie with Guacamole

I was in the mood for chili yesterday and after doing some experimenting with  Sweet Potato chips on Friday I got the great idea to make Frito pie. Now when I make Chili I sort of “wing it” as far as a recipe and use things I have laying around the kitchen, so I tried to write down this recipe as best I could. The best thing about winging it with chili is that every chili comes out new and excited but the bad part is, it’s hard for me to replicate a really good chili over again. This batch turned out smoky with a sweet taste from the squash and the andoullie sausage. Yum!

Chili:

1 pound Grass fed ground beef

2 links nitrate free Andoullie sausage, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 jalapeños, chopped and pitted

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch cilantro

1 cup butternut squash, peeled and chopped

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

2 14 oz cans  no salt added  organic diced tomatoes in juice

1 cup beef broth

Salt to taste

1 tbsp cumin

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

water

 

In a large pot heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium high. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeños and sauté until the onions are translucent, about  10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a large skillet brown the ground beef and sausage until cooked. Set aside.

In a food processor, add 1 tbsp olive oil and cilantro. Blend until it becomes a thick paste and add water until it forms a saucy consistency. set aside.

Add the Mushrooms and squash to the pot with the onions and sauté for 3ish minutes or until the mushrooms have begun to shrink. Add the meat to the pot and let everything cook together for about 5 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Add cans of tomatoes and beef broth and cilantro sauce. add in all spices and stir. Bring to a boil and then set heat to low and let simmer for 1-2 hours. It depends on how think you want your chili. I wanted mine thick this time so I let it simmer for over 2 hours to reduce and thicken. ( If you don’t have beef broth, chicken broth or water would work just as well)

 

Sweet Potato Chips

2-3 large sweet potatoes

olive oil

coconut oil

grapeseed oil

salt

Peel the sweet potatoes. I cut mine using the slicer in my food processor so they come out uniform. If you don’t have access to one of these you can cut them yourself. They can be as thick or thin as you like. Just remember the thicker they are the longer the cooking time will be.

If you have a deep fryer, this part will be much less time consuming. If not, place an amount of oil in a large skillet so that the oil is about 1/2 inch high, enough to cover your chips. Heat up to 375 if you have a thermometer or heat to med high. Know your stove, mine is a lot hotter than it says it is. Test one chip and get a feel for if the oil is hot enough, too hot etc and how long it needs to cook for. you will need to watch the chips at all times. When one side is golden brown, flip it over. The point here is to get rid of the moisture in the potatoes, so if your chips are coming out and ending up a little soggy, they need to cook longer.

When your chips are done place them on a plate with some paper towels to catch the excess oil. Salt them if you like and then put them in a large bowl. I found that it’s best to salt them immediately after taking them out of the oil so the salt sticks.

The same technique would work to make sweet potato chips. I also tried a few squash chips which turned out great but required a different cooking time because they have so much more moisture. As long as you stay by the pan, flipping and checking your chips, you can’t go wrong. 

 

Guacamole

3-4 Large avocados

1 bunch cilantro

1 clove garlic

1 jalapeño

salt to taste

1/2 tsp cumin

juice from 1 small lemon

 

place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until the consistency is what you want. If you are going by hand, mince the cilantro, garlic, and jalapeño and place all the ingredients in a bowl and mash with a masher or a fork, or use a mortar and pedestal if you have one.

 

 

The Piece de Resistance

Putting it all together,

In your bowl, put a layer of chips, then pile on the chili, then put some more chips on top and a big dollop of guac…. mmmmmmm Diego Approved! Garnish with chopped avocado, peppers, cilantro, lime wedges, cabbage…. whatever your little hear desires.

del.icio.us Tags: Paleo,Recipes,Paleo Frito Pie,Paleo Chili,Chili,Guacamole,Sweet Potatoe Chips,Clean Eating

The Down Low on Clean Eating Series: Introduction

When I talk to people about Clean Eating and specifically Paleo, I get a lot of confused, shocked, and resistant faces. What I have found in my years in this industry is that asking people to give up sugar is a no brainer. People have come to expect that if they want to eat healthier, they need to give up sugar and other white products like white rice, refined flour, etc. But asking people to give up ALL GRAINS, BEANS, and ALL DAIRY... whatsoever... is like asking them to get naked and speak in front of thousands of people.

When I was first presented with the Paleo diet "rules" I know I did the same thing. For me the grains part was easier to understand than the dairy part, especially since in the past my "healthy" way of eating often involved eating a lot more dairy products than normal like string cheese and yogurt. Often when we have a fitness or health goal we are presented with ways of eating that I now consider excuse diets; diets that allow people an easy way out.

For Example:

No sugar? Have as much fake, laboratory-produced sugar as you want, even if it’s a neurotoxin. Who cares at least you won’t be taking in calories.

You hate cooking? No problem, don’t learn how to cook and eat over processed, chemical ridden frozen meals that have as much nutritional value as a cardboard box.

Count your Calories! No need to worry about what’s in your food or where it came from, or if it will even get into your cells for your body to use.

The diet industry of today has you running around in circles believing that there is some magical,easy way out. I am so sick and tired of people trying to make hard things easier by cutting corners. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

I really believe that this is a huge reason people are such yo-yo dieters. If you don’t re-learn what you know about food; how it affects you, how you shop for it, how you cook it, and how you eat it you will never learn any way of eating that will be sustainable for you. Remember those factors for later.

Key Point: Something that sounds sustainable for you in the future right now… to the person you are now whom you are trying to make life changes to…. probably sounds this way because it is still in your comfort zone. If I have learned anything in this life it’s that in order to grow and change we have to go OUTSIDE of our comfort zone. I know this because at one time, I didn’t think I would be able to I could sustain a life without cheese or ice cream or even ENJOY it. But I did and I’ve never enjoyed eating more than I do now.

In this series of blogs I am going to give you the down low (DL) on the 4 absolute musts that you need to learn (either for the first time from a different perspective) if you want to create a healthy way of eating that you will be able to sustain and enjoy for the rest of your life.

· How Food Effects You

· How to Shop for and Cook Food

· How to Eat Food

· How to make it a part of your NEW YOU!

I will go over things things like how body composition, emotions, energy level, performance and health are related to insulin, hormone regulation, gluten, lectins, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and other foods and non-foods we put into our bodies. We will go more in depth about what to look for in the grocery store, reading labels, and creating and finding great recipes for your weekly meal planning. And lastly I will give you some great tips along the way to begin to implement these changes in your life. Look for the DL on insulin in the next blog. I look forward to questions and empowering you to make more healthy decisions.

del.icio.us Tags: Paleo,Clean eating,The down low on clean eating series,weight loss,optimal health,diets,fitness

Coconut Crusted Chicken Fingers and Squash Pear Sesame Sala

This weekend I tried a recipe from my Paleolicious cookbook and created one of my own! These chicken fingers are so flavorful and crispy on the outside. I used the larger coconut shavings instead of shredded coconut which added more crisp to the chicken. We dipped the chicken in leftover sesame dressing, jalapeno cilantro chimichirri and homemade bbq sauce.

The recipe in the cookbook is actually paired with a sesame greens salad, but I had no greens at home. What I had was squash, so I thought, I can make a salad with squash. Later I eyed the pears I had gotten and thought that it might make a great combo. It's sweet and refreshing.

For the Chicken:
2 Chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 in thick and cut into strips
3 egg whites, whisked in a small bowl
1/2 cup almond flour, in a small bowl
shredded coconut to cover the chicken
2 tblsp grapeseed oil

Heat grapeseed oil in a large skillet. Dredge the chicken in these three steps: Almond Flour, egg whites, coconut; until the chicken is covered. Place the chicken in the skillet, cooking until golden brown on both sides; about 3-5 min each side. Make sure chicken is cooked all the way through.

Salad:
1 cup butternut squash, peeled and dices
1 large ripe pear, diced into cubes
juice from 1 lemon
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
salt to taste

In a pan heat 1 tbsp olive oil and saute the squash until soft. Meanwhile mix lemon juice, oil, ginger, and salt in a bowl. Prepare a bowl with ice water, and when the squash are soft, pour into the ice water to stop the cooking process and cool the squash temperature. Drain the water and place pears in the bowl. Pour in the dressing and mix making sure everything gets covered in sauce.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Scones and Zucchini Chocolate Chip muffins

Thursday I had the urge to bake things. I love baking! It gives me some cool sense of accomplishment. I've been wanting to try making the Chocolate Chip Scones from the Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook and Zucchini Chocolate chip muffins.



Both turned out great! The zucchini muffins were made with coconut flour and it was my first baking experience with that. The zucchini keeps the muffins moist and flavorful! They have a wonderful cinnamon flavor as well. The scones were great too. Just the right amount of sweet.

I always end up halving the recipes because I don't need the extras laying around my house. There are only two of us!

Paleo meter: To be used Sparingly....

Carne Asada with Cilantro, Jalapeno chimichurri

So I was at Whole foods yesterday planning to buy ingredients to make my own nutella, and I came across Carne asada with Cilantro Jalapeno salsa and it looked DELICIOSO! So I thought, I can make that myself. I am not sure what's in the whole foods version but mine turned out rich and satisfying. I cheated a bit though and bought the whole foods marinated carne asada.... I didn't have the energy to explore making my own marinade and I know I love the whole foods version ( stick with what you like eh?). So that will be my next endeavor since there is probably something not exactly paleo in their marinade.

Chimichurri:
1 bunch cilantro
1 avocado
2 medium jalapenos
juice from 1 lime
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp olive oil
water
salt to taste

Place jalapenos on a baking sheet or glass baking dish and broil in the oven ( be sure to move the rack to the very top). Roast the jalapenos until the skin is black on both sides, you will need to flip them over at some point to get both sides about3-5 min a side. Let the jalapenos cool a bit then under cold water peel off the black skin. Cut off the tops and scrape out the seeds if you don't want your chimichurri to be super hot. If you like super hot, leave them in.

In a food processor, put in all the ingredients expect the water. Blend until a paste forms and add water until the chimichurri reaches a sauce like consistency. You could have it as thick or thin as you want.

And that's it! Serve with your Carne Asada. This sauce tastes great on just about anything. I had it on my eggs this morning. There is just something about a bright green sauce that feels so refreshing to eat. Buen Provecho!

Moroccan Chicken Casserole and Vanilla Cupcakes

This week I made some awesome Paleo foods. Above is the Moroccan Chicken Casserole from Mark Sisson's website and it was delish! The cauliflower is just the right texture for rice and it's so refreshing. The spices are wonderful. It does take some prep time though so don't expect this to be a quick dish.

For my paleo challenge finished celebration I made myself some paleo cupcakes. FYI I used the almond flour recipe from Elana's cookbook, the link here uses coconut flour. The cupcakes were moist and just the right amount of sweetness.

A Very Paleo Holiday Recipe: Coconut-Cardamom Sweet Potatoes

I found this in Clean Eating Magazine and had to try it! Yum! I also made Paleo vanilla Cupcakes this week, delicious! Look for those soon! Check out Crystals apple crisp... it sounds wonderful!

5 med sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 in pieces
3/4 cup light coconut milk
2 tps cardamom, ground ( a ginger like herb, I suppose you could use ginger too)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tps ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup unsalted chopped pecan halves

1) Preheat oven to 325
2) bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat . Add sweet potatoes, return to boiling and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
3) Drain and transfer potatoes to a large bowl
4) Add coconut milk ,cardamom, vanilla, salt, black pepper and cayenne to potatoes.
5) Mix with hand held mixer on medium until smooth,
6) Transfer to a 9X9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle pecans evenly over potatoes
7) Bake 45-50 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool on rack for 10 minutes before serving.

Say No to the Holiday Sugar Coma... Here's How

I've been finding myself warning my clients of the looming holiday season; warning them to be prepared for battle! Who are we fighting for you ask? YOU! Fighting to keep you healthy, feeling great, and loving life! The holiday season is in my opinion the most trying time for those on a mission to eat clean. There are so many more excuses that you can allow to come up it can be exhausting: I have so many parties to go to, my whole family is in town and we go out to eat everyday, it's cold and I feel like comfort foods.... STOP! I am officially putting a damper on these excuses and telling you to prepare now to be able to combat these excuses.

My friend and fellow crossfit trainer Crystal Nelson and I will be taking these next few weeks to try out some clean and Paleo thanksgiving recipes as well as post some helpful info on how to deal with sticky situations like relatives and parties. Check back soon for more! Would love to hear ideas about what you want to know about these situations. I know Crystals first recipe will be a dessert and seeing as I just finished my 30 paleo challenge TODAY! I am thinking dessert is on order.

Warm Fall Treats: Cinnamon Apple Chips and Roasted Cinnamon Vanilla Pecans

It's already starting to snow here in Colorado and it's making me crave warm baked goods. So when I saw the post on facebook from Paleo Pantry about cinnamon apple chips I HAD to make them!



All the cooking I've been doing lately is making me feel really creative in the kitchen and so I saw my bag of pecans and thought of those sugar roasted pecans you get at a fair..... well I don't choose to have sugar, but I thought I could flavor the pecans anyhow and roast them and turned out really yummy.

To Make Cinnamon Apples

Pre heat oven to 350. Slice your apple in thin slices. Coat them with small amount of grapeseed oil in a bowl and then lay out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon and bake for 45 minutes or until apples are dehydrated and crisp. I like mine a little on the gooey side before they get too crisp.

To make Pecans:

In a small bowl place a cup of pecans, 2 tsp of vanilla, 1 tps grapeseed oil, and 1 tsp of cinnamon and mix well. Place pecans in a pyrex baking dish and bake for 20-30 minutes.


Try adding other flavors and spices. A little agave wouldn't be terrible ( if you are not being strict about your sugar) for a cheat treat.

Lemon, Garlic, Cliantro Roasted Chicken

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pre-Cooking"][/caption]

Crockpot Roasted Chicken is so easy and it turns out moist and juicy, better than the gross chemical ridden store bought rotisseries. I made mine with lemon, cilantro and garlic. All flavors I love!! I based my recipe off this one.
[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After cooking"][/caption]


You need:
1 4-6 lb whole chicken
1 whole garlic head, peeled and cloves whole and ready to use
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lemon, sliced
Salt and pepper

Thaw and Skin the chicken, don't forget to remove it's innards. Then rub it down inside and out with kosher salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the crockpot. Fill the inside with garlic cloves scattering some outside as well. Do the same with the Cilantro. Place the lemon slices around the chicken as pictured. Turn on crockpot to low and cook 6-8 hours. Make sure the temp is 170 with a meat thermometer.



I ate mine with a whole lot of broccoli. Veggies and meat: ChecK... I need to grab some nuts now!

The ABSOLUTE BEST paleo pancakes on the planet... Seriously

I have been making versions of paleo pancakes since I began to paleo and FINALLY I have found the holy grail of paleo pancake recipes.

Here's the secret: ALMOND FLOUR!!!

No not the almond meal you get at whole foods ( bobs red mill) the kind you must buy online .

I have been baking with this non stop since I got my flour in the mail and I am in love.

I got the recipe from Elana's cookbook and thankfully her recipe is online because I can't reproduce it.

I replaced the agave nectar in the recipe with applesauce because I am not doing sugar due to my 30 day paleo challenge and I probably will keep it that way because it still tastes great! I believe I had to lower the cooking temp because I think the apple sauce is prone to browning quick. Keep them smaller than regular pancakes. About two inches in diameter.
I experimented with berries in the pancakes, it turned out really well.

Tips on Clean Eating

Tips on Eating Clean
1)Keep your pantry and your recipes stocked.
• If you are going to live without temptation you had better keep your house full of nutritious foods you can feel great about eating and snacking on.
• I look for new recipes daily. Learn how to take a recipe you find interesting and modify it to what you can have. Find a great chili recipe, and use some other veggies instead of beans etc.
2) Pre-Cook
• Spend some time Sunday making 2-3 meals that will last for the week. This will cut down your cooking time during the week and save you that thought on the way home “what am I going to make tonight?”
3) Cook more than you need
• Going off the last item, when you cook more, you have left overs. Yumm!
• Don’t keep food you don’t want to eat in your house
• Keeping unhealthy food in your house where you can be tempted to eat it is a no no. Keep it out of your house and you’ll never have an issue.
4)Utilize Tupperware
• Get lots of sturdy Tupperware to keep all your pre cooked meals and leftovers in.
5) Get a food processor and a Crockpot
• I use my food processor almost every day whether I am making paleo ice cream or pesto sauce or baking
• I use my Crockpot at least once a week. It’s easy, it saves time, and it’s delicious.
6)Keep clean snacks on hand… just in case
• Nuts, fruit, veggies, beef jerky….. keep safe food close to you in times of supreme hunger or change of plans happen
7) Learn to use spices
• Changing the way you eat, means learning a new way to cook… or learning how to cook in the first place.
8 Learn to cook!
• Eating clean involves rethinking how you cook food as well as how you eat food. Once you realize how many options you really have, you will love the variety of veggies, fruits, and how creative you can get in the kitchen.
• Take a cooking class if you are seriously deficient in this area.
9)Create your menu for the week
• Spend some time researching recipes for your week’s menu before you go to the grocery store and buy food for the week. This makes shopping easier and more purposeful. And will save you extra trips.
10) Choose free range and grass fed meat whenever possible
• http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html
11)Craving something? Find a recipe and modify and experiment
• Try out your kitchen skills by finding paleo versions of recipes you love on the internet, or finding a recipe you love and modifying it to your new way of eating.
12) Love to bake?:
• Discover Honeyville blanched Almond Flour and www.elanaspantry.com
• Just be cautious, don’t be going crazy with muffins and cakes and agave nectar. Especially no agave nectar if you are doing your 30 days.
Eating out? Use caution, willpower, and authority
• Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want! If you don’t see it on the menu, ask if they can make it. Now I’m not talking about asking for some random thing, be reasonable here.
• Find something on the menu that you can modify to your liking. Sometimes there isn’t much. Most places have chicken breasts and can cook one up for you separately if its not on the menu.
• Obviously if you are out you are at the mercy of that kitchen, but sometimes you have to compromise. For example, I go to a networking every week at a restaurant and I usually order some kind of chicken breast sandwich without the bun or cheese and ask for fruit, veggies or salad on the side.
• I always bring nuts or fruit or something with me just in case.
• I always order something off the menu. It is debatable to me whether it is ruder to go to a restaurant and not order food or to bring some “extra snacks” and order off the menu and be the crazy person with all the modifications. So, I always go with the second one and I always leave a nice tip.
12) Eat Local
• Find the farmers markets in town and get your meats and produce there.
• There are some great resources for getting local and in season foods like Door to Door organics and Grant Family Farms here in fort Collins
• Get really local and grow your own garden!

Zuchinni Onion Soup

I love this recipe for zucchini soup! It usually has little ditalini pastas in it, but since I can't have pasta, so I added ground chicken, and the base is still wonderful tasting. Since it's beginning to become fall, squash is really in season right now and the zucchinis I bought at the store looked amazing and ripe and plump!

What you need:

4-5 large zucchini squash, quartered
4-5 med sweet onions, chopped in large pieces
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tblsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound Ground chicken, cooked

Place garlic and olive oil in a large skillet and saute for about a minute on med heat. Place the tomato paste on the skillet then Place the onions in the skillet and saute until translucent and soft, stirring occasionally and trying to break up the onion layers: about 20 minutes.

When the onions are soft, use your food processor or blender to liquify the onions. It should be a thick onion base with not chunks. Put the onion base into a large soup pot.

One zucchini at a time, pulverize them in the food processor. It shouldn't become a paste, but it should be small chunks. Place the zucchini in the soup pot. Add the cooked ground chicken.

Stir everything together and add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the soup to a boil and then drop the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes to let the flavors meld.

Why Dairy is not as good as you think

The question I get the most when i ask people to give up dairy for health and anti inflammatory reasons, is " But why do I hear all the time that I need 2 servigs of dairy a day to help me lose weight?" My answer: Advertising dollars. We don't need it, it's terrible for your digestion, and it's a terrible source of calcium.

Read more below
http://www.vibrancyuk.com/dairy.html

http://gomestic.com/consumer-information/10-facts-the-dairy-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-milk/

Paleo Pesto Spaghetti Squash

I have been loving spaghetti squash lately and last week I decided to make a pesto sauce for it. It is soooooo good! Its dairy free too!

The recipe is as follows.

1 small Spaghetti Squash
2 packets of organic basil(about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pine nuts
olive oil
salt to taste

Cut your spaghetti sqaush lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Place it face down on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 450, COVERED with aluminum foil so the outside doesn't burn, for 30-45 minutes or until the inside is tender enough to scrape out. Scrape out the spaghetti and place in a large bowl.

While squash is cooking, in a food processor, place basil, garlic, and pine nuts. Blend until a paste forms. Next put the processor on and add olive oil until the paste becomes a sauce and is the consistency you want. I failed to measure how much olive oil I used because I just went by what I saw, but when I eyeball my olive oil bottle it looks like I used about 3/4 cup. I really wanted it to be saucier rather than thicker so it would blend in my squash easier. Add salt to taste.

When your squash is done, pour on the pesto and mix. I put my squash in a pan and added the pesto in it over the heat because I wanted it to soak up the flavor more. You don't have to do this though.

Eat as is, or with veggies, meat, tofu, whatever you think will taste delicious. If you add veggies, you might want to add them to your pan while you saute the squash in the sauce so they get that flavor in too.

If you are allergic to pine nuts, walnuts would work well with this. Im going to try another version with cilantro next time because Diego doesn't like basil... weirdo....

Butternut Squash Latkes

I found this recipe at Elanas Pantry and I am sure you will see many more from her website here.

These latkes were fresh, sweet, and nutty flavored and gave Diego and I just enough of that "potato" feeling. I wish I would've remembered to take a picture of them but we ate them too fast!

I also made the homemade applesauce to go with them. They were super easy to make.

What is Clean eating?

Clean eating is a broad term to mean that you eat foods that are minimally or not processed at all and are in their purest, most nutritious and whole form. To eat clean you must shop for your own food, cook your own food, and I'm not going to sugar coat it, spend quite a bit of time researcing and educating yourself about what "clean" will mean for you and how you can make it palatable and work for your lifestyle.

Now when I say, "work for your lifestyle" this might be too broad. If you want to eat clean, you will have to change your lifestyle to fit clean eating. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You have to change your habits and your way of thinking if you are going to make clean eating your way of eating because it's not easy. I'm not trying to scare you, I just want you to understand what all this entails and not sugar coat it. The truth is that ingesting most of the food that is available and what we would call "easy" is the same as ingesting a low level poison into your body. Sugar, refined grains, dairy, gluten, soy.... these are all things that are sabotaging your digestive system, hormone regulation, and overall wellness of your body.

So I'm sure by now you are wondering how you eat clean. My simple answer is: Go Paleo. What is paleo? In the shortest possible way paleo is lean meats, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. If you can't find it and eat it raw, then you aren't eating it(obviously we usually cook out meat nowadays, but we can eat it raw).

"The Paleo Diet is a way of eating in the modern age that best mimics diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors - combinations of lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. By eating the foods that we are genetically adapted to eat, followers of the Paleo Diet are naturally lean, have acne-free skin, improved athletic performance, and are experiencing relief from numerous metabolic-related and autoimmune diseases."


This means NO sugar, NO grains, NO dairy, NO beans, NO alcohol and NO startchy roots or tubers. Having said that, yes I think there is some value in whole grains like quinoa however what I recommend to some clients when beginning a program with me is to just go full paleo for 30 days in order to normalize their insulin levels and just clear their bodies of everything that might be messing with their systems. If you've been eating lots of sugr and grains, refined or not, for a long time you need to increase your insulin sensitivity in order to bring your hormone levels back to normal. That being said, any grain, whole or not, will cause too large of an insulin spike and will just hinder your efforts to normalize insulin sensitivity ( see more on this here). This is definitely situational and it depends on the person and what their stress levels and other medical issues are. Some people find it easier to ease their way into paleo before they begin their 30 days in order to lessen the stress on their bodies.

I can tell you I've already had one client discover a dairy allergy while doing her 30 days. She had had hives for 10 YEARS prior to starting, and was taking an antihistamine to control her internal hives so she could eat comfortably, but still had them on places on her skin. About a week into it, she noticed she had absolutely no hives at all!!! That is a drastic example, but easy to see the benefit. Imagine what is happening inside your body that you can't feel or see?

The bottom line here is eat REAL food. If its processed, it's not real. Look at your labels, if it's got more than 4-5 ingredients and you can't understand any of them it's not real. If you didn't make it yourself, it's probably not real food. Be conscious of what you cook with, make sure there aren't any chemicals and other low level poisons in your food. Find out how gluten, sugar, grains, and dairy, effect your body. Go clean, go paleo. Go all out or start with laying off the sugar and the grains for a week or so and go from there. This is your body, and it's the only one you have. Take care of it!!!!

You can find out more at http://www.thepaleodiet.com/