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Why I HATE the word detox...
Hey there Diva friends!
Detox is such a buzz word isn't it? Let me share why I HATE that word...it implies that you do something healthy for a short period of time, to support your body in a way that allows it to be strong enough to then handle the crap we bring back in once the detox is over....Basically we do something that makes us feel GOOD so we can continue poor habits that make us feel BAD...
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There are occasions however where that extra little oomph to bring in more vegetables, provide more nutrients, go easy on your digestion and provide gentle and nourishing foods can be good right? Right. And that's where I found myself last week. I'm always looking for new foods to try, new meals to keep it interesting and new ways to strengthen my gut, boost my energy, and get as many nutrients in my system as I can feasibly handle.
So I decided to make a concerted effort to do just that and I actually planned my meals.... My goal was to dust off my juicer, include a green juice every morning for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and even go vegetarian for dinner (although that only sort of happened).
So I planned my breakfast and green smoothie ingredients to be the same every morning. The combination was truly delicious so I knew I wouldn't mind. I planned a salad ( see last week's blog post) and I googled vegetarian dinners that would work for me....Here is what my week ended up looking like:
Breakfast:
- Green juice: 2 stalks celery + greens ( kale, swiss chard, bok choy or collard greens depending on the day) + 1 organic lemon + 1 organic green apple + 1/2 organic honey crisp apple + ginger root ( optional) *
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup chocolate chia seed pudding
- 1/2 grapefruit, or sometimes a piece of Eban bread toast
*Notes on the green juice ingredients:
- Celery provides: excellent source of antioxidants and beneficial enzymes, in addition to vitamins and minerals such as vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin B6
- Leafy greens are high in dietary fiber, and rich in folic acid, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium, as well as containing a host of phytochemicals, such as lutein, beta-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and beta-carotene.
- Lemons contain vitamin C, citric acid, flavonoids, B-complex vitamins, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and fiber. Lemons contain more potassium than apples or grapes
- Apples are extremely rich in important antioxidants, flavanoids, and dietary fiber. The phytonutrients and antioxidants in apples may help reduce the risk of developing cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Green apples in particular have proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They are well known for their benefits, fighting digestive disorders, their low levels of good cholesterol, regulating glucose levels, and improving your appetite
- Ginger has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and has been used to treat various stomach problems.
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Lunch:
For lunch I stuck with my kale salad! It was delicious and filling. Sometimes I would add something to it like leftovers from the night before. It was easy to prep every day because I made the dressing in advance and shredded some kale leaves up at the beginning of the week.
Dinners:
Vegetarian West African Peanut Soup (we added grass-fed hot dogs)
I realize my pictures aren't that pretty - that's another skill for another time... but the recipes are DELICIOUS and I would definitely recommend you try them all. Keegan and Patrick both loved them too! Technically this next recipe was from this week, but it fits the theme and is one of our favorites, so I wanted to include it for you as well!
Moroccan Lentil Stew with Raisins ( seriously - gotta try this!)
I loved my "experiment" so much that I have continued my daily green juices!!! I even think it's better than coffee *gasp*!. I would challenge YOU to try it every day for one week....it doesn't take much time and cost per juice is so low when you make it at home, PLUS you are getting fresh nutrients delivered in an extremely efficient and bioavailable way!
Have you ever tried juicing? I'd love to hear your thoughts/recipes below!
Fall Apple Salad
Welcome to October Diva friends!
I have to admit that traditionally, I'm not a salad person. So when my MRT food sensitivities test came back with spinach and lettuce as foods to avoid, I wasn't too disappointed. HOWEVER, I am so aware of the many benefits of leafy greens that it felt weird not making more of an effort once the easy-go-to spinach wasn't an option.
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The other day I sat down to plan my weekly meals and decided that this week was going to be a "detox" week. No no, I wasn't going on an "all liquids" diet, or dropping my calories below 1000....All I wanted was to get lots of vegetables in, lower my meat intake (for no particular reason other than to get more easily digestible foods priority and include more beans and lentils) and include a juice every morning. So as I was looking for some recipes to include I stumbled across this Autumn Kale Apple and Quinoa salad, and thought, "That sounds like the perfect fall salad!"
I modified it to use what I have in the house and to avoid my personal food sensitivities and what happened was a DELICIOUS, sweet, crisp fall salad that I am excited to eat for lunch every day this week! OBVIOUSLY I had to share it with YOU!
*Notes* I modified the amounts to make 1 serving every day. I did make the full amount of dressing up front so I could have that prepared all week!
Picture from cookingclasssy.com
Fall Apple Salad
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sprouted quinoa trio
- Bowl of shredded kale
- 1/2 honey crisp apple chopped
- 1-2TBS pistachios
- 1 TBS raisins
- Drizzle of pre-made dressing
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Prep ahead/personalization notes:
- While this is something you could make in large amounts on Sunday and pack for work lunches (minus the dressing) I chose to make mine fresh every day. I did however prep a few things to make it easier. For example, I made a large batch of quinoa on Sunday so I could pull from that for snacks and/or this salad throughout the week.
- I took one bunch of kale and pulled all the leaves off the spine, placed the leaves in a dish in the fridge so I can pull my daily portion out at lunch. I utilized the leftover leaves and spines in my morning green juice.
- To save half the apple you can wrap it in aluminum foil after you rub the exposed side with lemon or lime juice to stay fresh. Consider having the second half as a snack later in the day. I used half in my morning juice and half in my salad at lunch.
- Use any nut you enjoy!
- Goat cheese is delicious but optional! Make sure you read the ingredients and choose a high quality brand without extra ingredients or preservatives!
ENJOY!
p.s. Did you try this? Comment below! I'd love yo hear your feedback!
Easy Peach Pie
Hey hey Diva friends!!
WHEW!!! There has been SO MUCH happening these past few weeks.... I just needed some pie. Anyone with me? Sometimes a girl just needs some pie!
Turns out, last year, my Mom went to the Peach Truck and got a TON of peaches....We weren't able to use them fast enough so we have had several bags of frozen peaches in our freezer just begging to be used. (yesterday they were screaming Kylene!!! Turn me into a pie!! turn me into a pie!!!) So, I had the bright idea to see if all my practice of following recipes has paid off by attempting my own pie recipe from scratch!
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Turns out, I'm not too shabby a cook...or dare I say...chef?! Ok, Ok, I won't go that far. But side note, I plan to make the crust into cookies someday too because I liked it that much!
Crust:
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 eggs
- 6-8 large pitted medjool dates
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2TBS maple syrup
Directions for Crust:
- Heat oven 350. Grease your pie pan.
- In a food processor blend 2 eggs with the dates. You'll probably still have some date chunks and that's ok.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until dough ball begins to form.
- Place the dough into the pie pan and press it evenly across.
- Here is where you may need to do some personalization. Bake for 8-15minutes. I used a stone pie pan and cooked it for about 15 minutes. I would keep an eye on it because your goal isn't to cook it through, just to begin the baking process. Set aside.
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I had Frozen peaches and from past experience they get really watery, so this process is a little awkward and I would recommend making this with FRESH fruit. Because of that,I'm including 2 options:
Frozen Filling:
- Aprox 2 cups frozen peaches mostly thawed and drained
- 2TBS coconut sugar
- 2TBS coconut flour
- Honey (optional - to taste)
Filling Directions:
- Place the peaches in an oven safe dish. Bake at 350 until they thaw completely
- Drain the peaches and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients
- Place them in the prepared pie crust ad bake until bubbly and the crust has begun to brown.
- Enjoy!
Fresh Fruit Filling:
- 3-4 perfectly ripe peaches sliced
- Sprinkle with honey and coconut sugar for desired sweetness
- Toss with 1TBS coconut flour and place in prepared pie crust
- Cook until bubble and crust begins to brown
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How to make cooking fun
Hey hey Diva friends!!!
I know how daunting it can be to change your lifestyle and try to start cooking WHILE you are still absorbing information, learning new things, and trying to figure out whats what! I wanted to provide a few tips to help you make it more fun along the way.
1) MINDSET
Mindset is key in pretty much every area of our life isn't it? With our diet and lifestyle it's SUPER easy to let our mindset get in the way. We think things like "it's too hard", "It's too expensive", "I can't cook", "I have no time" etc....
There is a whole book you can read about this if you're interested!
Those are all excuses and I want you to drop them at the door! Anything you WANT to do you find the time, money, resources, and ability TO do! Cooking doesn't have to be hard, expensive OR time consuming! You just need the right mindset, the right tools, and the right plan :)
I would encourage you to shift from the difficulty mindset into the ADVENTURE mindset! Cooking is a really fun adventure! You find out new recipes you like, new flavors, new tricks, new tools, new spices etc! Plus when your body starts changing and you feel better, all of a sudden the effort is #worthit.
Along the same lines, be willing to try new things! Invest in a quality spice set that allows you to make multiple flavor combinations, follow new recipes, and not get bored.
Want to purchase some high quality spices from a trusted source? click here!
When you hit the store, make it your goal to stay in the produce section for 95% of your shopping trip and you can't go wrong. Grab a new fruit, a new veggie and research where it comes from and how to cook it!
Hot tip: If you google Paleo__"insert vegetable or recipe here"____ you will find a clean, whole foods, healthy way to cook almost anything!
Don't know what Paleo means? Read my last blog post all about it!
2) ATMOSPHERE
Spice up more than your food! Play some music and get in the MOOD to cook :) Whether you set aside 2 hours on Sunday to meal prep for the entire week or you enjoy 30 minutes every evening after work to get things chopped and in the oven, find your perfect pandora playlist and have some fun! Currently I'm on a French Cafe music kick thanks to our recent vacation. Find what inspires you, puts you in a happy place, and get to it!
Hey get crazy- maybe you'll end up with some fun kitchen karaoke!
If you have someone that will cook WITH you - even better! Kids? Have them participate by measuring things out or reading you the recipe!
3) KEEP IT SIMPLE
DON'T overcomplicate things.....again, we get stuck in this headspace that cooking has to be hard and cooking healthy must be even harder. WRONG! I am a simple kinda gal friends. I never wanted to be a "housewife" and I certainly never thought I would enjoy cooking but I do!
Check out this website for delicious recipes made with only a few ingredients...
I've really learned to love making food at home. I know what the ingredients are, I have control over the quality, AND I get to cook according to my own tastes and shake it up when I feel like it. In fact, over the past few years I've enjoyed eating away from home less and less. Honestly we almost never have the same meals 2 weeks in a row - I'm always looking for new recipes and while we have our favorites we are constantly trying new ideas.
One reason I love paleo recipes so much is because they are (most of the time) EASY! Hey - when you can have an incredible dinner by adding a spice rub to some meat, throwing it in the oven for 30 minutes while you cook some vegetables and maybe adding a tasty side or fruit? BOOM. I'm there.
Dessert? NO PROBLEM - I definitely have a sweet tooth and most paleo baking recipes go something like this: 1) mix the dry ingredients 2) mix the wet ingredients 3) throw it in the oven. In other words, paleo is basically Kylene proof. So if I can do it- you can DEFINITELY do it!
Admittedly some baking ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour etc....) can add up so if budgeting is important you might want to limit the desserts to 1 a week or less. Easier on your budget AND waistline!
Hot tip #2: Make a batch of brownies and freeze them! Your investment will save you from those late night cookie binges and satisfy any sweet craving when it hits.
Chick Pea Brownies (super inexpensive!)
Ok I've talked about how simple it is - SHOW ME THE RECIPES right? :) Resources are your friend when starting out. Having some foolproof bloggers that you know you can trust is the best! When my family started this process Elana Amsterdam saved us. She is beyond skilled in giving you the best tasting recipes with the fewest ingredients possible. Talk about simple! She also divides her website up by special dietary needs, so whether you are egg free, nut free etc....she has recipes for you clearly listed. Check out her website HERE!
Hope this has helped. Bye for now!
Easy Protein Pancakes
Hey Hey there Diva friends!
I woke up this morning and wanted some pancakes....so I looked up some recipes and decided to make up my own with what I have in the house. They turned out really well so I wanted to share :) You've probably seen the 3 ingredient pancake recipe floating around for banana + egg + cinnamon before....well, this isn't much more complicated.
Ingredients:
- 1 large plantain (mine was yellow with some black spots)*
- 1 Scoop of Ancient Nutritions Cinnamon Apple Bone Broth
- 2 eggs
*When cooking with plantains the greener the plantain the less flavor it has the more ripe it is the sweeter it is.
Directions:
- Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth
- Heat up a non-stick skillet and spray with coconut oil or melt some grass-fed butter
- Cook about 1/4 cup of the batter at a time about a minute on each side, but times will vary based on cookware and temperature
- Top with some pure maple syrup and pair with some eggs or Applegate breakfast sausages. Don't forget your Foursigmatic chaga coffee. Enjoy!
Get creative in the kitchen! Mix some blueberries in the batter, or if you really want to splurge, add some Enjoy Life chocolate minis.
Have a good breakfast! Bye for now :)
Taking the stress out of 21 day fix meal prep...
Hi there Diva friends! I get it....BELIEVE me do I get it. When I decided to hop on board the 21 day fix meal prep train about a year ago, I sat down, looked at the requirements and immediately felt super overwhelmed. I wanted to quit before I got started! I mean, I had a great thing going, I already ate paleo, I was at a healthy weight my workouts were good....
Honestly, if I hadn't had the pressure of the upcoming Beachbody Classic physique competition I probably never would have tried! But I'm glad I did because I've taken bits and pieces of what I learned to use more regularly (aka making tons of veggies over the weekend!), it helped me understand my challengers who go through the 21 day fix program, and it's always good to challenge myself with new things.
All that being said, I'm someone who likes to be efficient, get things done quickly, and enjoy my food. I mean - I LOVE FOOD. So I wanted to share this article on how to make meal prep more enjoyable, so that hopefully you can learn to love it too!
1) Take a Deep Breath
That might sound silly, but like I said - when I started I was super overwhelmed! If you're following a plan like the 21 day fix container system, then take a deep breath and break it down into easy steps. For example, step 1 is to write down at the top of my page how many containers I can have each day. For me that is Plan C which is 1800-1999 calories (by the way I don't encourage anyone to go below that plan!) so it's 5 Green containers, 5 Red (protein), 4 yellow (carb), 3 purple (fruit) 1 orange (seeds) 1 blue (healthy fat) and 5 tsp of oil. Make a tally at the top of your page.
Then I write my meals down like this:
B:
S:
L:
S:
D:
Once I have that outline I can choose my meals and fill in the blanks. I often find it's easier to start with a recipe for dinner and then fill in the gaps afterwards. If pineapple kabobs are for dinner that is 1 red, 1/2 purple and 1/2 green, so I write that down and can fill in the rest of my day accordingly! There are TONS of recipes out there that are "fix approved" and have the container equivalents all figured out for you. But don't be shy about using your favorite recipes and doing your best to guesstimate how it would fit in!
2) Keep it simple but don't get bored
In the beginning you are so overwhelmed that it's easy to just be basic and make one protein, one carb, one veggie all in bulk for the week. I would encourage you not to do that for a few reasons, one being that your body needs more nutritional variety that that would provide, and two if your food doesn't taste good you won't stick with the plan!
*NOTE* Shakeology counts as 1 red, and provides lots of extra nutrients to your day so it's a valuable addition to any meal plan!!!! Plus it taste like a treat, boost your energy, curbs your cravings and provides probiotics (all from whole food, natural sources!)
I would encourage you to make a variety of options for each container and then mix and match within your day! You will end up finding that combinations are really good like sweet potato with chicken and broccoli, or rice with beef and asparagus!
Even within a single container think of fun combos you can make like peppers+onions+mushrooms+spices sautéed in water. That = a green container!
Use lots of spices, seasonings and flavorful ingredients to keep it interesting. Last night my husband and I made a whole chicken, shredded it, added some spices to the bowl so it wouldn't be plain chicken, and then used the chicken carcass to make our favorite homemade bone broth! The bone broth can be used later to cook rice and quinoa more flavorfully, and of COURSE we will drink it too!
3) Be flexible
Anytime you try something new it's really easy to get super dogmatic about it like if you go "off plan" something terrible is going to happen. I'm all about a healthy lifestyle NOT dieting, so PLEASE if you ever meal prep with something as specific as 21 day fix, give yourself some grace! You will go out to eat - make the best choices you can and eyeball it! You will make casseroles for your family that don't allow you to portion everything exactly - do your best and don't stress!!!
21 day fix meal prep and other meal planning structures, are simply here to give you a guideline. It's not a religion, and I promise nothing bad will happen to you if you estimate that cup of blueberries instead of pulling out your purple container!!!! :)
These guidelines are here to get you on track, teach you some basics about nutrition (hello 5 servings of veggies every day!!) and introduce you to tips and tricks that allow you to prep a lot of food over the weekend and save time during the work week!
My lunch from today! 1 Red + 1 Green+ 2 yellow + 1.5tsp
4) Try it and then live your life
This system is NOT forever. If you've never tried it before I would encourage you to use it for about a month! Then I want you to live your life without portion control and calorie counting and simply listen to your body! As long as you are still eating the nutritionally dense, whole, healthy, real foods, you should be fine! This isn't a diet tool that you go off of and gain 10 pounds. There should be no fear associated with dropping the program....it's simple a step to get you started.
Once you've figured it out an gotten used to how it works, the stress is gone and you can bang out a meal plan in no time! Pull it out every once in awhile as needed to get you back on track, and then let it go. Remember, it's a TOOL. Just one of many that you have in your arsenal!
p.s. Play some music and get your hubby or friend to cook with you! An enjoyable atmosphere can make the process way more fun and doing it with someone makes the time go faster! :)
Easy Paleo Spaghetti
Happy Monday!!!! Sooooo who doesn't LOVE spaghetti? I think it's one of the top recipes that people dread giving up when they look into eating healthy, trying Whole30, going gluten-free or living the paleo lifestyle. But lucky YOU I'm here to tell you you don't need to suffer.... there are several different ways I make this dish now and I don't miss the "original"! Here's just one version that I think you might enjoy :)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound grass-fed ground beef or bison
- 1 Jar organic spaghetti sauce with no sugar added. Read the individual labels or check out the brand I used below!
- Mushrooms
- Zoodles (spiraled zucchini and/or squash)
Directions:
*I used premade noodles from Whole Foods. If you have a spiralizer, you can get a few zucchini and squash and make the noodles yourself.
1. Heat up the zoodles with some coconut oil until tender
2. Meanwhile, in a separate pan brown the beef.
3. When the zoodles are done, strain them in the sink and use that pan to heat up the spaghetti sauce.
4. Chop up the mushrooms and add them into the sauce.
5. Add the meat to the sauce, heat through, and serve on top of the zoodles!
Be as creative as you want with this! dd your favorite spices, make your own meatballs, go crazy! I think next time I will cook the noodles in olive oil and fresh garlic to add some extra flavor!
Most of all, ENJOY :)
Easy "Cheesy" Broccoli Soup!
Hi there friends, if you don't know by now, I am all about fast and easy when it comes to food. While I expect my food to be high quality in both taste and nutrition, I don't want to slave away in the kitchen. That being said I came across this recipe, tweaked it, and wanted to share it with you!
This soup is dairy free, but somehow still tastes delicious, creamy and cheesy! The original recipe is from The Spunky Coconut and her cookbook Easy Paleo Meals!
Ingredients:
- 1-2 heads of broccoli
- 4oz of mushrooms sliced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups roasted and salted cashews
- 1TBS grass-fed butter
- 1 onion chopped
- Fresh garlic chopped - 3cloves ( or to taste)
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- 1-2 tsp turmeric
- himalayan sea salt
- squirt of brown mustard
- dash of lemon juice
Directions:
- Cut the broccoli into florets and steam unit desired texture
- Meanwhile, blend the chicken broth, cashews, turmeric, mustard and lemon juice together until creamy. This is your "cheese" sauce! Add extra spices if desired.
- Heat up a skillet and melt the butter. Add the onions, mushrooms, fresh garlic and simmer until onions are translucent.
- Pour the "cheese" sauce into the skillet. Add the cooked broccoli. Add garlic powder, onion powder, and himalayan sea salt to taste.
- Heat through and Enjoy!
Make this your own! Throw in extra veggies, or even some shredded chicken! Post below if you try this - I'd love to hear about it! :)