Fun Food! :) (And healthy, too! :) )

Cross posted in Kosher Cuisine

This is great if you've eaten a sandwich and aren't quite satisfied but want a little something that's really healthy instead of a second sandwich: Top a slice of whole wheat bread with strips of red and/or yellow pepper. I used both and alternated the colors. Very delicious! :) I thank God that I've got plenty of yummy, healthy food to eat! :) (And chocolate chip cookies, too. Not exactly healthy but very yummy.)

Jazz up your lunch (or dinner) repertoire with Red Tuna Salad

This new take on an old favorite is now my go-to lunch when there are no dinner leftovers available, or at least not enough to satisfy. We are staying at my in-laws who like to keep albacore tuna on hand. Rena just likes to eat her tuna plain with nothing in it. While I'm not usually a big fan of mayo, I get bored if I have to eat my tuna plain. So here's what I came up with:

Red Tuna Salad

(Amounts listed should be enough for just one person; use more if you're serving more than one. You could even put each person's serving in their own bowl to suit everyone's individual tastes, as this is a flexible recipe.)

1/2 can tuna (I've only used albacore tuna but I suppose it couldn't hurt to try this recipe with chunk light tuna.)
1 small red bell pepper, more or less, or part of a larger red pepper
A few mushrooms (optional)
Tomato sauce or salsa to taste
A grain (preferably a whole grain) of some sort -- ready to eat -- such as bread, crackers, cooked pasta, cooked couscous, cooked quinoa...(optional; I sometimes skip this and just eat more of the other stuff) (definitely skip if you are on a low-carb diet)

Chop/dice the red pepper and mushrooms (if you're including them) into your bowl. (No mixing bowl needed if you're making an individual serving; you can go ahead and put it directly into the bowl from which the eater will be eating it.) Add the tuna. If you are using a grain that is in small pieces such as pasta, couscous, or quinoa, add it. Now mix in your tomato sauce/salsa until the tuna salad is mixed thoroughly. If you're using bread or crackers, top them with your prepared Red Tuna Salad. Enjoy!

IIN Happy Hour

I posted the following on the wall of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's Facebook Page during Happy Hour, when their wall is open temporarily:

Question: I've been trying to incorporate more plant foods, especially more vegetables, into my diet, but how safe is it really to go vegan? Aren't we omnivores biologically? Are there any potential medical problems associated with cutting out animal products entirely? I remember once reading a blog post from an ardent vegan who ended up having to eat meat due to medical problems caused by being v...egan for a long time. I know I don't feel myself when I don't eat enough animal products, and I tend to overeat them when I do eat them later. On the other hand I'm concerned about health problems that are caused by eating animal products. I try so hard to balance but I just eat too much of it when I eat it. Yes, I know about bioindividuality but I'm having trouble coming up with a good balance for myself. I got some great advice from my nutritionist/health coach from Green Lake Nutrition about balancing my diet but still having trouble with cravings for animal products, especially fatty ones. I understand the traditional diet gives the ok to fatty animal products (I now know that you need healthy fats or risk thyroid problems) but don't they also say it's ok to be overweight? I find that hard to believe. I know I felt much better and had much more energy when I lost weight awhile back but I just feel heavy nowadays. Please post your reply to my Facebook page rather than here so I can make sure to have it even after Happy Hour. Thanks!

My chicken soup recipe- Is it Ashkenazi or something different?

Sometimes for Shabbat in the winter I'll make two big pots of this chicken soup, maybe a dessert, and maybe a salmon salad that doesn't have to be made before Shabbat (no cooking required). Any time any of us is sick is also an excuse to make it on a weekday. Ok, no more preamble; let's get to the good stuff! :)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (a package of, say, chicken thighs would also work, but boneless skinless probably would not come out right)
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste (optional)
4-5 or more carrots, sliced
4-5 or more celery stalks, sliced
1 onion, whole (I've used yellow and red; both make the soup taste good but they're different)
1 leek, sliced (that's how we like it best but you can also use more or less half a bunch of parsley, chopped, instead)
matzah balls (optional; I actually haven't been making them lately because I found organic, whole wheat matzah meal at my Whole Foods around Passover time but that's it)

Put chicken in your biggest available pot, fill pot with water (you can estimate but if you want a measurement it's 2 and 1/2 quarts or 10 cups), add seasonings, and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, you can turn down the heat to a simmer if it boils over. Now add veggies and cook for 1 and 1/2 hours. If you forgot the seasonings before or decide you want more, go ahead and add them at any time (but I think the soup comes out best when they're added immediately). If you're including matzah balls, follow your recipe's instructions. (I don't currently have a good one to recommend but I do suggest using whole wheat if possible.)

So what do you think? Ashkenazi or not?

Food and Mood

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

I've known for awhile that I'm lactose intolerant but continued to eat dairy anyway. A few days ago I finally decided to forbid myself completely from eating dairy because I knew it was wreaking havoc with my digestive system.

An added benefit of going dairy-free is that, after just a few days, I noticed that I was in a better mood today than I have been lately. I'd originally attributed my feeling down to things like the shortening days and rainy weather, but the improvement in my mood was unmistakable. Just to be sure, I googled "dairy mood" and found this article from About.com.

Hubby asked for fourths of tonight's easy, delicious salad with just five ingredients...

...Though he's a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. He'd asked for salad because he said he needed raw greens! I'd already made him an omelette containing chard for breakfast but I guess my unofficial health coaching is working! :)

Here's the salad that I threw together in a large mixing bowl:

All ingredients were organic. (See this post and the one it links to for why organic is better.)

Four slices Ezekiel cinnamon-raisin bread (you could probably use any other cinnamon-raisin bread, or even plain bread plus raisins, but Ezekiel bread is a complete protein)
Walnuts (maybe about a cupful or more)
One bunch lettuce (not a head of iceberg; I think it was green leaf)
A few small carrots
A little bit of cilantro (you could probably leave that out if you don't have it)

I just broke up the bread into small pieces, tossed in pieces of walnuts, tore up the lettuce into small pieces, attempted to Julienne the carrots, and tore up the cilantro.

What are your favorite random (or not-so-random) salad ingredients?

Heathy food=lots of energy! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

After taking an unusual route yesterday from Meadowbrook Playfield and having to go out of our way due to lack of sidewalks, Rena and I "somehow just randomly" ended up at Whole Foods just before lunchtime. (Hubby said it was typical Pie.) So I bought us some food that we could take and eat at one of the benches outside. Our healthy fare consisted of a Jamba Juice apple and greens smoothie; organic minestrone soup with veggies, beans, peas, etc.; and herb Mary's Gone Crackers.

Rena not only perked up (she had napped in her stroller on the way there from the playground) but walked herself almost the entire way home without even being very worn out by the end.

Cute compliment from hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

Hubby called me a "hot chocolate." It made me chuckle as I mixed water, organic skim milk, organic vanilla extract, organic and fair trade unsweetened cocoa, and organic maple syrup in a pot to make my healthier version of this favorite drink. ;)

Post-Party Excursion

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

When we got home from the party, hubby decided he needed some root beer so I headed to Whole Foods to get a healthier version than diet or regular, Oogave made with agave. I bought that and also picked out a treat for myself: A Theo milk chocolate bar- organic, fair trade, and with a Jane Goodall seal. (Yes, it does have sugar but I rarely eat a treat with sugar in it!)

I headed for a bench outside the store, purchases in hand. After enjoying my chocolate bar, I finished my blog post about the night before. Then I relaxed on Facebook and listened to someone singing and playing ukelele in the background. Ukelele seems to be a popular instrument around here.

When I started to get chilly and the hour was getting late, I headed home to hang out with hubby and give him his promised root beer. :)

"Slumber Party" with Hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

To celebrate my new job, hubby and I decided to have a special chicken dinner. I gave Rena an early, simple dinner of crepes (I make them with coconut oil instead of butter or margarine to cut down on my dairy intake, as I might be slightly lactose intolerant, and to avoid using a product with soy) with some raw tomato and some raw avocado on the the side (she loves them; I don't always have to cook side dishes for her) and then put her to bed. I headed to QFC at the University Village Shopping Center to get kosher chicken, as Whole Foods around here doesn't carry it.

I decided to call my parents on the way. They're three hours earlier, as they live in Cincinnati, but it's ok for me to call them late. They had actually just walked in the door: They'd been out late at the wedding of a local Chabad rabbi's daughter. They reported that there must have been 600 people there and that a bunch of them asked about me. It made me happy to know that so many people in my hometown still think and care about me. Even someone who wasn't at the wedding asked my mom about me recently when she ran into her at a grocery store.

At QFC, I headed to the kosher poultry section. I hadn't seen Empire Organic chicken in ages, but lo and behold, it was there last night! I bought all the drumsticks and left the whole chickens and boneless skinless breasts for others.

Back at home, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and made a one-dish dinner out of a dozen drumsticks, a couple big bagsful of cremini mushrooms, and a pile of raw cashews; seasoned with salt, red pepper flakes, and a little turmeric; with coconut oil mixed in. Forty minutes later.... Yum! :) Hubby and I ate up all the drumsticks -- we each ate half a dozen and saved some of the other stuff for today.

Then we had fun singing, dancing, joking, and playing around. We do that part of a slumber party most nights, really, but this was special because we were celebrating my new job! :)