Green Pear Jicama Salad

Tip:
A little dressing goes a long way on this To zest an Orange, use a small grater or a microplaner
For Dressing: 1 tablespoon olive oil Per 2 tablespoons pear balsamic vinegar A bit of orange juice from the orange you zest 
The pears were free from a neighbors tree & the zucchini was from a neighbors garden. It's always nice to find local fruits and veggies!

Ingredients:
2 small, green, apple pears, julienned (finely sliced)
2 cups jicama, julienned
1/2 cup zucchini, sliced into round thin strips and then quartered
1 small slightly tart tomatillo sliced into similar pieces as the zucchini then halved
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Zest of one orange

 Dressing:
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic
the Juice of 1 orange

 This dressing keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge I made this salad and dressing based on what was in the pantry and fridge that seemed like it would make a nice mix of sweet and tart. We took this with pear balsamic kale chips to a pot luck along with a container of almonds that people could sprinkle on top instead of croutons. People went back for seconds and some wanted the recipe. I'm finishing the rest off for a snack now.

Yummy and I believe it fits right into the DTOUR diet I've been using for recipe inspiration, tho I made it up myself so who knows. I hope you give it a try if these fruits and veggies are local and in season they will be the tastiest. Enjoy!

A healthy take on chocolate cake

Tonight Patch made me vegan chocolate cupcakes with whole wheat flour. They were different but yummy and check out how pretty with peaches grown on the tree in our backyard right there on top like a birthday crown.

She wasn't happy with the recipe and tweaked it a bit to get the final result i tasted. Which was yummy. If you live near us and want to taste some, please let me know. I can't eat 2 dozen even with their help! And even tho they are healthier than normal cup cakes they are still full of carbs of course. She isn't home right now, so I will post the recipe later.

EDIT: This morning we put peanut butter on one. So good!
What are your favorite healthy recipes for chocolate cake?

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Latte

Tips:
This is delicious and can be made completely vegan or not if you prefer. I made mine with coconut milk and highly recommend it.
Baker's chocolate may be bitter when eaten alone, but when shaved over a sweet drink or sweet whip cream, it is super delicious and really balances the drink well


Ingredients:
Two bags peppermint tea
4 oz hot water
Large glass full of ice
8 oz lowfat coconut milk
1 teaspoon agave
1 teaspoon Dark chocolate, shaved on microplane
Whip cream if desired (can be made vegan with coconut milk and powdered sugar)

Directions:
Brew tea in 4 oz water
Add 1 teaspoon agave
Shave a bit of dark bakers chocolate over it
Pour hot sweetened tea over ice
Add 8 oz coconut milk
Add whip cream if desired (vegan if you're so inclined)
Shave a bit more of dark chocolate over whip cream


How to make Vegan Whip Cream: http://www.organicauthority.com/eco-chic-table/how-to-make-the-easiest-delicious-recipe-vegan-whipped-cream.html

Making healthy foods fun

They say we eat with our eyes first, then our nose and finally our taste buds. For this reason, I try to plate food in a way that looks nice as well as tastes good.

But sometimes life calls for a little whimsy. So this morning we are joined by the breakfast monster.

Tasty, nutritious and fun. If you'd like to eat a breakfast monster  you can make your own and please show me the pictures! Or, if you'd like, feel free to use the following "recipe" to emulate mine.

Tips: Spinach can be lightly wilted if you'd like. I try not to eat too much fresh spinach as I've been told it can block some other nutrients from being absorbed by my body.
If you'd like to be a little more creative with the placement of the sunflower seeds and cranberries, please do! We had already mixed the salad the night before, but I think the cranberries would be delicious and look fun on the eyes around the middle and the sunflower seeds could be lined up as the lines between teeth.

Ingredients:
Eyes:
1 Whole Grain Bagel - Toasted
2 Tablespoons Smart Balance Omega rich Peanut Butter

Mouth:
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 cup Spinach - wilted
1/8 cup sliced celery
1 tablespoon cranberries
1 tablespoon unsalted sunflower seeds
2 oz tuna fish

Directions:
Toast 1 Whole Wheat bagel and spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on each
Lightly wilt 1 cup of Spinach in 1 teaspoon of walnut oil
Mix Spinach with 1/8 cup celery, 1 tablespoon cranberries, and 1 tablespoon unsalted sunflower seeds.
Arrange on plate in desired mouth shape
Arrange 2 oz of Tuna fish as teeth or as the middle section of the lips

Or just get creative and make your own :)

This meal is rich in fiber, omega 3's and protein. And was inspired by the DTOUR diet, although I think 1/2 a bagel might be what they call for. http://diabetes.prevention.com/

Super Smoothie Yumness

Blackberries, Walnuts and Flax, oh my! This smoothie is meant to be a breakfast of champions. I found the recipe in my DTOUR book and altered it just slightly. It's DELICIOUS! I don't know if DTOUR dietitians would approve or not, but I do! It gets 3 thumbs up for yumness!

Tips:
If you like a little texture in your smoothies, blend the walnuts in
I prefer them sprinkled on top for added crunch
For my non dairy friends (vegan etc) there are non dairy yogurts you can use or a banana if you eat those
Flax seed must be freshly ground or from your freezer. If you do not keep flax cool after it's ground it can go rancid. I wasted a lot of money on a bag of flax seed meal thinking it would save me from having to grind it, and the darn thing went bad because I kept it in the pantry.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Almond Milk
3/4 Cup fat free plain yogurt of your favorite type
1/2 cup blackberries
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon 100% pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Directions:
Blend 1 Cup Almond Milk with 3/4 cup of your favorite fat free plain yogurt, 1/2 cup blackberries, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon 100% pure maple syrup. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts on top.

I forgot the flax seed meal DTOUR suggested in mine this time, but it should thicken up the mix a bit which would be nice. I miss the texture of bananas in my smoothies, but I don't miss the hives. I will try 2 tablespoons ground flax next time I make a smoothie. Let me know if you try it and how you like it.

Vinegar Kale Chips 2 Ways

Kale Chips, getcher Kale Chips!!! Kale Chips Two Ways, Sweet n Salty, or Vinegar and Salt.  I feel like a vendor at the beach with popcorn. These things are flying off the pan as fast as I can make em. And last night as we were eating Kale Chips with garlic and paprika on them, I thought hmmm these would be good with salt and vinegar I bet! So I looked around and found this article: http://www.foodess.com/2012/01/salt-vinegar-kale-chips/ and apparently I'm not the only one. I also looked up Vinegar and Salt Potato Chips, because that's what I was emulating here. But it wasn't until afterwards, when I didn't quite get that vinegar pop that I went searching for that old flavor I was looking for that reminds me of the board walk. And this recipe from Bon Appetit had the trick. VINEGAR POWDER! I had no idea it even exists. I will have to keep my eyes open for some, because I think that would be more likely to get from hmmm that's a nice light vinegar and salt flavor, to WOW! Yes! Check it out: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/10/salt-and-vinegar-potato-chips

I'm not saying the Vinegar and Salt Kale Chips aren't delicious, but I am saying I much prefer the Sweet and Salty version. We will see what Patch  and Carlie say. Or try them both and let me know what you think for yourself!

Tips:
- I have made Kale Chips quite a few times now, and I have discovered that the temperature I'd previously used was too high. I think it worked when I stuck the Kale in the oven without preheating first. But now that I've learned to preheat the oven consistently, (shocker) I had to bring the temperature down to avoid burning.
- If using black Kale, expect a slightly darker leaf at the end, but you still want to avoid over browning as the chips become bitter if burnt. So just cook until crisp, even if you have to keep checking. Sometimes I take the smaller bits off first and leave the larger bits on there to cook a bit longer.
- a teaspoon of baking soda in a large bowl of water is great for washing leaved veggies. Just put the leaves in the water and swish them around, the dirt will fall to the bottom

Ingredients:

Vinegar and Salt Kale Chips:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
Salt to taste

Sweet and Salty Kale Chips:
1 Tablespoon Walnut Oil
1 Tablespoon Pear Balsamic
1 dash of Cinnamon

Instructions:
Wash Kale and dry well. I'm told a salad spinner works great for this, but if you don't have one you can dry them by hand by pressing them between super absorbent towels.
Break Kale into chip sized pieces, and then they will cook down to popcorn sized or larger
Place in large, dry bowl
Add ingredients
Stir well
Lay out on non stick baking sheet
Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 3 minutes, then turn over and cook until crisp. If edges start to brown, pull them out.

Let me know what fun recipes you come up with!

Orange Jicama Salad - Adding More Raw Vegan Foods to Our Plan

Hint: If you're just looking for the recipe, scroll down towards the end the next few paragraphs are about raw food and veganism.

Several years ago I went about 90% Raw. I remember the conversation with my doctor who thought raw meant I was eating raw meat. Even tho I had mentioned it was a form of veganism where foods are not cooked, unless you consider dehydrating and low temperatures to be cooking (which I do, to be honest)  At that time, I had a lot of issues around eating in this healthy, meat free way which was very confusing to me. As it turned out, I was eating tons of things that I'm allergic to. Carrots were in many recipes I was preparing, since they were a low cost filler for things like raw vegan burgers. The food was delicious, and I really enjoyed the creativity it allowed me, but between the hives, foggy thinking and low energy, my doctor told me to knock it off even after she knew what it was. She wasn't educated enough in it to even begin to guess at what was going wrong. If you are still wondering what exactly is Raw Food, here are some helpful links:
http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianlifestyle/f/rawfoods.htm
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/popularhealthdiets/a/Raw_Food.htm
http://www.rawfoodlife.com/#axzz20p6qQC6E
http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/

These days I am a bit more tuned in to what my body likes and doesn't like as well as how to get protein out of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, so I've been moving back towards more and more vegetarian, vegan and/or raw meal preparation. I'm paying close attention to how my body responds to the meals, and making sure I get enough protein, which was one of the things my previous doctor felt was missing from my temporary Raw Food attempt.   http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/raw-food-diet/raw-nutrition/protein-sources-on-a-vegan-raw-food-diet/

Recently we got a box chock full of organic fruits and vegetables for $25. I don't want it to go bad, so I've been making sure we add it into meals and flat out plan meals around it. I think we'll eat it up quickly since all 3 of us have been increasing the amount of vegetables in our diet. Sometimes we'll make a whole meal which is vegan, and other times we'll mix and match like I did today for lunch putting a raw vegan salad along with a tuna melt and some kale chips on the side. About 440 calories, it was a great lunch! Here's the recipe for the salad:  http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2174697 ENJOY!

What are your favorite raw and/or vegan recipes? If you like sharing healthy recipes, you might enjoy this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/171662566292397/