Egg Nog Energy

For a ‪#‎health‬ and ‪#‎nutrition‬ lesson today I am teaching you about maitake mushrooms. These mushrooms are used to treat ‪#‎cancer‬ and also to relieve some of the side effects of chemical treatment (‪#‎chemotherapy‬) for cancer. It is also used for HIV/AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome (‪#‎CFS‬), hepatitis, hay fever, ‪#‎diabetes‬, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, ‪#‎weightloss‬ or control, and infertility due to a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome. Another super power ingredient in my #oneHealthyChoice from @shakeology#Maitake ‪#‎CancerSurvivor‬ ‪#‎FightCancer‬ 

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Clean Garden Breakfast

Today is the last day of my November clean eating 7 day crockpot challenge. 

It went so well! It was so successful we are doing another! Do you want to join it? 

It starts December 1st and will have a FREE shopping list, FREE recipes, FREE menu plan, and FREE support from a fitness and nutrition coach (me!). 

Simply click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/693383594092028/  and ask to join! 

Here is one of the breakfasts from the challenge! The dinners are done in the crockpot. 

This is super easy, healthy, and fast!

Clean Garden Breakfast

1 Avocado, sliced.

1 tomato, sliced

4 eggs

1 cup spinach, chopped

1/2 cup sweet onion chopped

2 slices gluten free bread - toasted

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp olive oil cooking spray

Spray your pan with olive oil and heat the pan over medium heat. Whisk the eggs. Add your chopped onions to the pan and stir until fragrant. Pour in your eggs and spinach. Salt and pepper to taste. While eggs are cooking toast your bread.

Top your toasted bread with sliced avocado. Salt and pepper the avocado. Top with the eggs mixture and fresh cut tomatoes. 

A yummy healthy breakfast. For more join my upcoming challenges!

Read about my upcoming challenges HERE! 

Clean Crock Pot 7 day free clean eating challenge

Okay guys! My group closes in 2 days. You have 2 days to think about doing a 7 day clean eating with me for FREE! Free grocery list, FREE recipes, FREE support and motivation.

Why do it? One week of putting real whole food in your body can change everything. Your mood, Your aches and pains, Your sleep habits, your outlook on life.

Why not clear out your body before Thanksgiving? I think you are all capable of eating clean for one week. I also think the way you feel at the end of the week will blow your mind.

If you are planning to change your lifestyle in 2015, this is the perfect first step. Life is all about balance. We all over do it on Thanksgiving so this is a great way to balance it out.

I have 11 awesome peeps that have committed to this. Any other takers? Simply reply with "I'm in!" and I will add you to the group!

Okay Holidays! Not this year! I'm not going to let all the deliciousness of holiday foods do me in!! I have worked hard on my fitness goals and I LOVE that I've learned how to eat clean and still ENJOY my meals--just as much as when those meals were not healthy! Quite a few of you have been asking for recipes and/or meal plans suited for the holidays and winter festivities that your family will be sure to enjoy! All while saving TIME by using my favorite kitchen appliance--MY CROCKPOT!!! So, I've decided it's time for another FREE clean eating focus group!! You IN? 

7 day this time and --totes mcgotes-- FREE! Can't beat that price, eh? 

My last group, people dropped anywhere from 3-8 lbs...in a week!! Not too shabby!!

I will be providing a complete "Crockpot" meal plan (easy to follow and yummy!) WITH shopping list! Everyone will be expected to do some sort of exercise but I will provide some workout plans too. {But walking your dog would count too!}

It'll also include: 

•Daily motivation/check-in 

•My tips on getting those most out of your work outs 

•Support from the group 

•My favorite healthy snacks

YES?? Simply comment with "IM IN!" below and I you're set! 

We will get this party started on Monday, November 17th! So, mark your calendars!

Chicken Spinach Rollatini

Recently we were headed to Oregon to visit friends and family. It was our last night home and I wanted to use up ingredients that would waste otherwise. I had some spinach, chicken, and cheese. Along with my normal supply of fresh eggs, garlic, marinara sauce, and the stash of tortilla chips I always keep on hand. So I started going through all my drafts of recipes I have. Some I have started and not finished. Others are completely done, just waiting for me to make and snap a picture so I can share the recipe with you all. I have 161 recipe drafts right now. I know, I am weird. It is a kitchen addiction. That, and the fact that I constantly have hungry mouths to feed at any given hour of the day. Recipes on hand are needed, so I tend to collect them, work on them, perfect them. This was recipe draft 162. 

Gluten-Free Chicken Spinach Rollatini
adapted from skinny taste

2 lbs Chicken Breasts
1 tsp Italian seasoning
sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
2 eggs whipped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
5 oz fresh spinach, cleaned and chopped
6 tbsp cream cheese
6 oz mozzarella
olive oil non-stick spray
1 cup marinara sauce

Wash and dry Chicken, then cut into 8 pieces and hammer into cutlets. 

Season cutlets well with sea salt and pepper, and sprinkle 1 tsp of Italian seasoning over them. . 

Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. 

Combine tortilla crumbs and 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese in one bowl and 1/4 cup eggs and garlic in another. 

Shred or finely chop 1.5 oz of mozzarella cheese and combine with remaining grated parmesan cheese, spinach, 2 tbsp eggs, and cream cheese. 

Lay chicken cutlets down on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of spinach-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down. 

Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in tortilla crumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. 

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with marinara sauce then remaining mozzarealla cheese. 

Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 more minutes. Serve with additional sauce on the side and grated cheese. 

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Tuscan Hummus

Every year when I get into the heat of Summer, I start not wanting to cook as much. It is always an interesting situation for me, because most of the year all I can think about is cooking. I find myself using a lot more of my blender and less of my kitchen aid, as the heat rises. Yep, a whole lot of dips and spreads being made at my house. Cool food helps beat the heat. Hummus is one of my favorite dips during the summer. Recently one of my friends served me a rice cake topped with hummus and pickles. I would never have thought to put those flavors together. It was scrumptious! I could eat that every day! If you have not tried it before, I recommend it for a nice hot summer day.

Gluten Free Tuscan Hummus

adapted from Recipe Secrets

10 medium garlic cloves
30 oz can canned chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup sesame paste (tahini)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce - or - braggs amino acids

1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

Process the garlic cloves in a food processor until finely minced, stopping the processor occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the beans and pulse the machine a few times to chop them coarsely. Next, with the machine running, puree them while you slowly pour the sesame paste through the feed tube. Still with the motor running, pour the olive oil, lemon juice, and soy sauce through the feed tube, stopping the processor occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the salt, cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Process until thoroughly blended, then add water.
Transfer the puree to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate before serving. It is great as a dip or a spread, with your favorite veggies, or your favorite gluten free chips or pita.

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Duchess Potatoes

Tonight I made meat and potatoes. I didn't want to look like the boring meat and potatoes plate would look, so I settled on Duchess Potatoes, which is a seasoned puree of mashed potato and egg. It is moulded into various shapes or forced from a piping bag onto a baking sheet and served as a side or topping on a dish.

Gluten-Free Duchess Potatoes

2 lbs Russet Potatoes

3 Tablespoons butter

2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp pepper

1 egg

2 egg yolks

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel and quarter the potatoes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt.

Boil the peeled potatoes in the salted water until tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain immediately and turn them out onto a sheet pan to allow the moisture to evaporate.

While still warm, press the potatoes through a grinder or food mill.

Blend in the butter and season to taste with garlic salt and pepper.

Mix in the egg and egg yolks blending well. I like to use a hand mixer for this part.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag. Again I use my ghetto ziplock bag with a large star tip.

Pipe single portion sized spirals onto a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Bake 15 minutes and serve immediately.

They make a cute little side dish:

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Gluten free Cooking and Baking

I had the most wonderful time this past week, going to Chicago for a Pet Industry show. We stayed with my friends Sister and Brother-In-Law. She is an amazing chef, and a foodie like me. She cooked all pescatarian meals for me, even though they eat game, she kept it to fish and veggies. It was all wonderful. WONDERFUL! The amazing thing to me, is that it was all gluten free. Gluten is the protein part of wheat, rye, barley, and other related grains. Some people cannot tolerate gluten when it comes in contact with the small intestine.You can still eat rice, oats, and many other bread like products. Since the trip, I have been doing nothing but read up on it. Besides just being a healthier way to live, my daughter has all of the symptoms of being gluten intollerant. I mean EVERY symptom. Everyone who knows me, knows that I like my bread and pasta. So the hesitation of cutting out flour was quite big. However, I was so happy when our local sprouts had a gluten free jamboree... 25% off all gluten free products, which I was also surprised to see was half the store! There are so many products out there. And I can still cook my regular recipes, just by tweaking the flour. Combining equal parts of chickpea flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and brown rice flour, produces a flour that you can cook with and the end result... you can hardly tell it is gluten free. So please all you normal gluten people, you can use normal flour when I call for "Gluten Free Flour Mix", Or I challenge you to try to see if you like it. My noodles will be a little bit different, but close enough. Just go to any local restaurant (besides dennys) and ask for their gluten free menu. You will be shocked. I was. Even Sammy's Woodfired Pizza has it. Almost all Thai food and sushi is gluten free... So I am off to do this journey with my daughter. She needs support. You will probably see some changes to my blog. As I learn and develop new gluten free recipes. You don't have to be gluten intollerant to like the food, I promise.

 
There are four flour blends I will be using in future recipes:
 
High-Protein Flour Blend

This blend works best in baked goods that require elasticity, such as wraps and pie crusts.
1 1/4 cups bean flour (your choice: soy, chickpea, etc...)
1 cup potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch/flour
1 cup white or brown rice flour


All-Purpose Flour Blend

Use this blend for all your gluten-free baking.
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/4 cup potato starch



Self-Rising Flour Blend


Use this blend for muffins, scones, cakes, cupcakes or any recipe that uses baking, powder for leavening.
1 1/4 cups white sorghum flour
1 1/4 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch/flour
2 teaspoons xanthan or guar gum
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


High-Fiber Flour Blend


This high-fiber blend works for breads, pancakes, snack bars and cookies that, contain chocolate, warm spices, raisins or other fruits. It is not suited to delicately flavored recipes, such as sugar cookies, crepes, cream puffs, birthday cakes or cupcakes.

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup teff flour (preferably light)
1/2 cup millet flour or Montina® flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/3 cup cornstarch or potato starch

As adapted from "living without"
Using Xanthan or Guar Gum

Gum (xanthan or guar) is the key to successful gluten-free baking. It provides the binding needed to give the baked product proper elasticity, keeping it from crumbling.

•Add 1/2 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum per cup of flour blend to make cakes, cookies, bars, muffins and other quick breads.
•Add 1 teaspoon per cup of flour blend to make yeast bread, pizza dough or other baked items that call for yeast.