Too Darn Tasty to be Healthy

Hey,

It's been a while.. I am not a good multi-tasker, so I basically took an Internet hiatus while getting my bearings on everything else in my life.

So, I lost the filter to my wheat grinder a couple weeks ago, and thought I might try grinding some wheat without it.. after all, it's just a little spongy disk thing.. I was sure I could get away without it until I got a new one.

Yeah.. not so much.

That is just a small little sample of what the rest of my kitchen looked like. I quickly got on the Internet and ordered some replacements. But they wouldn't arrive for who knows how long, so it was a long and unhealthy week of white dinner rolls, pancakes, and noodles (yum). Store bought wheat tortillas (eh), and bread (yuck). I think the kids were in bleached flour heaven, but I was missing my fresh ground whole wheat like crazy!

Once my new filters arrived, balance was restored and I have a weeks worth of whole wheat recipes to share.

Last night we had breakfast for dinner. I'm not usually in the mood to mess my kitchen up first thing in the morning, so we like to go all out at dinner time.

What you see below looks too gooey and delicious to be healthy, but I'll shed some light on exactly what is in the photo. And let me assure you it is certainly at least as good as it looks.

These are Whole wheat pancakes, sugar omitted, and coconut oil added. Coconut oil is really good for you, it's actually the only oil that is stable enough to withstand heat, according to this dude. (BTW, if you click on any link, it will take you to studies and listed health benefits)

On top of the pancake, you will find 100% natural peanut butter, bananas, and topped with walnuts toasted in 100% natural maple syrup, and then drizzled with said syrup. (Not too much. It's already pretty sweet.)

And that's it.

The recipe I use (and adapted) is Marianne's. I think she's married to Andrea's brother.. Anyway, I got it from our trusty Orton Family Cookbook. Just a little shout out to Marianne here; Her recipes have been some of my favorites, and I hope if she reads this she'll feel inspired to contribute to all the recipe Fridays.

Marrianne's Favorite Pancakes

1 1/4 cup Flour (whole wheat)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 T sugar (which I omit)

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 T oil (I melt the coconut oil in pan and add to the mix. stir fast so that it blends well.. it's hot)

Combine dry ingredients. in separate bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add to dry ingredients. Cook on medium heat in lightly greased skillet until golden brown and set. Turn once. Yields about 6-8

Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

There's nothin' like California strawberries. They say folks came for the gold, but stayed for the strawberries.. ok, no one said that.. that I know of, I made it up. But I wouldn't doubt if it were true. Or maybe they stayed because there was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks they were going to go back over the Rockies through a blizzard, past Savage native American tribes, and icy rivers for months on end with little food or provisions, burying family along the way..

I feel like we need to take a moment of silence.

I'm serious. Can you imagine?

Anyhow, I have been juicing, juicing, juicing, and between my parents visiting (best weekend ever), and having a SUPER busy week full of running around and planning and preparing, my juicing schedule has been a little thrown, and my goal a little fuzzy. I know, it's disappointing.. I am still juicing, but this morning I woke up and looked at all of the beautiful strawberries and felt adventurous. I found a recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it to suit my preferences. I ground up some wheat, omitted the sugar, and added a couple tablespoons of honey. If I would have had bananas, I would have added one for sweetness. Oh, and I am out of coconut oil (haven't been cooking much these days), otherwise I would have replaced the olive oil with it which would have enhanced the flavor even further I'm sure. Also, I didn't really measure the strawberries, I just chopped/mushed what I felt was adequate.

They're baking now..

The house smells divine..

pulled em' out. snapped photos..

recipe here

And now for the review: Subtle homemade bread flavor, but definitely muffin consistency. I can see where the sugar would enhance the flavor, but I do love the taste of the strawberries without it. I would make these again. I'm now on my second one.. But I am anxious to try them with coconut oil, banana, and more strawberry chunks!

I feel that I should add that my kids wont try them per the strawberry chunks.

OH YES!! I am a recipe Friday (among other things) flake. So sorry I didn't give you a category.

I'm going with breakfast, since that's what I have contributed today, so if you have a favorite healthy breakfast recipe or ideas, do tell!

Water Bottles Are So 2011

If you're not lugging around a coconut with a straw, you need to get with it because you aren't foolin' anyone into thinking you're actually serious about your health. My biggest problem now is that the cup holders in my van aren't big enough, and I need two hands to carry it, so I'm hoping my 4 year old can make her way across the street. It's all about priorities people.

Ok, seriously.. as you know I started my juice fast yesterday and in preparation, I went all over town gathering the ingredients that I would need for the week. In looking at plans on the website, it suggested drinking coconut water and some of the actual juice recipes called for it anyway, so I stopped into Wholefoods and grabbed myself a weeks supply. A super helpful employee taught me the ways and even gave me the one I have modeled for you on the house. I had never tried it before.. I take that back, I did buy some out of curiosity at Jamba Juice once but I couldn't handle more than one sip. The fresh coconut water was WAY better and actually sort of pleasant.. yet at the same time it threatened my gag reflex. And acquired taste I'm sure.

So here's all the produce that I purchased at the farmers market and Wholefoods for the week. I had to go to Trader Joe's after I took this photo for MORE. I planned out all my "meals" for the week, made a list, and left it home..

When all was said and done, I think I spent almost $300!! Seriously, that's just produce. For one week. For JUST ME! But if I can get off my meds in the next month, it will have been SO worth it. (And I live in the Bay Area where everything is way overpriced)

I'm a system's kind of gal, so I just chose 8 juice recipes from the website for 2 days (so 4 per day), made a 2-day menu, and repeated it until I had 7 days. Then when I FINALLY had all of my ingredients, I used all the plastic bags that I came home with from the farmers market and grocery stores, to separate the produce into "meals" and then I put all the meals for 1 day into paper bags and shoved them into the fridge in the garage. Did you get that?.. Ok, moving on..

So like I said, yesterday was my first day and I'll admit I was scared when I pulled out the ingredients. If I was actually able to get it all down.. and keep it down, would it be enough to drink 4 glasses of juice for a WHOLE day? Especially when I had to go to a BBQ for lunch and then a dinner meeting a la gourmet cook lady?

Breakfast: Strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, mint leaves

Not bad at all. Actually pretty good, and the mint smelled fantastic

Other breakfast: Pear (I got this huge and amazingly delicious pear from some cute little Asian lady at the farmers market.) and fennel (didn't even know what it was/totally afraid to drink it)

LOVED IT!

Then I had to do some research on fennel and figured out what it was and it's health benefits, which are many.

Lunch: (don't you just love my attempt at food photography?) 2 small sweet potatoes, carrot, 2 apples, 3 clementines, baby beets. I have yet to acquire a taste for beets, but..

quite drinkable. Not half bad.

Dinner: Apple, pear, strawberries, spinach, swiss chard

pretty good.

So, I've liked all the juices so far, I didn't come close to starving (mid morning I ate a handful of raw cashews), and also drank water.

I'll post about the recipes I try tomorrow. Then I just repeat, so you'll have to wait in suspense until next week when I change it up.

Blending and Juicing

So today I (Merica) went to the Rheumatologist. That's a fancy word for Dr. for people with Autoimmune disease (inflammation). (and I can see now that reading Fancy Nancy to my 4 yr old is taking it's toll) Anyway, I am very excited because I am maintaining the lowest dose of prednisone (the duct tape of medicine) that I have ever been able at 2.5 mg per day and my Sed rate (inflammation) is the lowest it has been in 4 yrs since my diagnosis. it was 120 then and 5 now. Did you get that? 40 mg of prednisone and Sed rate 120 then, and 2.5 mg of prednisone and Sed rate of 5 now. I am so elated. I attribute that to my ever increasing nutritional lifestyle. (I use that term loosely.. I'll explain)

I often joke (with a hint of complete seriousness) that if I wasn't raising a family I would be so domestic. Boy would I have time to make and clean up gourmet (healthy) meals (that people would eat), keep a tidy organized home, refurbish antique furniture, plant a garden, etc.. Well, Changing the way I eat is no different. It has taken me over 4 years to get to the point where I am really practicing what I preach. In the last 2 months I have cut out sugar and almost all processed food (except for a 5 day girls get-away), and made "green" smoothies every day (I add frozen berries, so not really green). I have done this before, but only for a couple weeks at a time. It's pretty difficult when you have withdrawals (not to be confused with.. but usually confused with low blood sugar), headaches, grouchiness and cravings that fog your judgement torturing you with the questioning of why you're punishing yourself and your family. Everyone complains about dinner, and all of the bday parties, holidays, gatherings, outings, and cupcake shop drive-by's where your hard earned points are beckoning, are just TOO MUCH!! What I realized is that as with running, you need to get to the point where you hit your stride. I spent my whole adolescence making fun of those goofy, skinny, happy, eye of the tiger singing, Cross Country nerds. Why on earth anybody would run with no purpose (scoring a goal, getting on base, being chased by a doberman pinscher.. all legitimate reasons I had personally found running to be useful) was BEYOND me. I even took a running class in high school to improve my endurance on the soccer field and thought I had enough experience to make an informed decision. What I found out years later in attempt to offset some of the weight from my medication by running a 1/2 marathon was that I had never hit my stride. My running class in high school was 3 miles per day, and although I got to the point where that didn't feel like it would kill me, I didn't ever run more than 3 miles, which is the point at which I hit my stride in training for the 1/2 marathon. When I experienced this PHENOMENON for the first time, I realized why those cross country nerds were so happy. It doesn't feel like work. It feels great and it was like my body turned on a switch that took over and THAT's what I had been missing in my nutrition efforts. I have now hit my stride and feel great. For the first time since developing Autoimmune issues, I feel like I will be able to manage it without medication. I have always known it on some level.. but I couldn't feel or perceive it. So that's why I am so happy about my doctor's appointment, smoothies, and running. (which I should take up again)

On this note of Autoimmune and getting off medication, I recently watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix. It's a documentary about a guy who has an Autoimmune disease and is able to get off prednisone with a 60 day juice fast.. and then maintaining a whole food, plant based diet. This might be extreme to some and boring to others, but to me it was revelation.

60 days is A LOT. If you visit the website jointhereboot.com you will find that for most average Americans, they suggest a shorter modified version. Personally, with the low dose of medication that I am currently maintaining, I am going to start a 30 day juice fast on Sunday. The website also suggests that you don't start without some preliminary prep. Cutting out sugar and processed foods for a week or so.. Anyway, I am excited and I'll keep you updated. (You're welcome :)

Here's the 4 minute version of the documentary

Ok, so my contribution today is my testimony of "green" smoothies. As in green vegetable based smoothies. Getting in the habit of blending smoothies every day (unless you're smart and make enough for two days) will change your life. It is the first step to getting the most out of our bodies. It will give you "fresh" energy, it will feed your organs so that they will run properly and offset some of the internal effects of the SAD (standard American diet), and it will motivate you to eat healthier all day.

My tips:

1. if you have a regular blender like me as opposed to a high powered blendtec or vitamix, you have to know how to handle it. I was really turned off in the beginning because it took me like 20 min to blend a frozen smoothie. NOW I just do frozen fruit (sometimes frozen broccoli) and fresh vegetables. I start by filling the blender close to the top with (any or all) spinach or kale, broccoli, cucumber, avocado, green bell peppers, 1/3 - 1/2 fresh pineapple, and some water. I blend that down and add frozen berries and/or any fruit hangin' around. (clementines, bananas, strawberries, pom seeds, etc )

2. Avocado's add to the texture, but you can't taste them. My kids sing praises on days that I use avocados, but they would never touch one with a 10 ft pole.

3. To sweeten, use dates. I add 4 to a full blender. Our outdoor potted plants are far less likely get a smoothie breakfast on the days I use dates.

4. Search the web. There are SO many smoothie recipes and concoctions.

What are your favorite (sugarless) smoothies??