Category Archives: Healthy Eating

Chicken Squash Stir Fry

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Chicken Squash Stir FryA friend asked me once what my go-to meal was, and I said, “stir fry.” We don’t eat rice with ours to cut back on grains, but feel free to add it if you want. This is my newest stir fry creation, and it is fabulous. Just a note, I don’t measure stuff. If I want more carrots, I add more carrots. If I want less zucchini, I only cut one zucchini. I salt to taste always, and sometimes I don’t add pepper to this dish. The only ingredient that I’m a stickler on is the garlic powder. It is what makes this dish divine. Without it, this would just be another average stir fry, but with too much of it, this would not be palatable. So, just a light dusting of garlic powder, and you’ll be set.

And, lastly, that lettuce came from my garden! Oh and it is super delicious. Watering everyday has really enhanced the flavor. I hope everybody’s gardens provide them with such deliciousness.

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Chicken Squash Stir Fry

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: Serves 6 people

Ingredients

  • 2-4 T butter
  • 6 chicken tenders
  • 2-3 carrots, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 yellow squash, diced
  • 1-2 zucchini, diced
  • 1/2-1 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. pepper
  • 1/8 t. garlic powder

Instructions

  1. In a large frying pan, heat butter over medium heat.
  2. Add chicken, turning occasionally to cook evenly, and salting.
  3. Cut chicken into small slices using cooking scissors.
  4. Add carrots, and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add onion, yellow squash, and zucchini, and cook until tender. About ten more minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste and garlic powder. Cook about five more minutes.
http://kstuff.net/chicken-squash-stir-fry/

Paleo Burger

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So, I should have take a picture of this, but I didn’t, so you’re just going to have to trust that this is super tasty. Since we don’t eat grains anymore (at least most of the time) we haven’t had hamburgers for a long time, which is a shame, since they really are healthy for you despite what vegetarians might say. A friend mentioned that certain burger restaurants had protein style burgers where they just put lettuce on the ends of the burger, so I decided to try it out. I have a huge head of Iceberg lettuce that was just going to rot in my fridge, because we much prefer the taste of Romain lettuce, so I picked a few leaves off the head, which was much harder than I thought it would be, probably because it had been wrapped in cellophane. Then I made some super scrumptious burgers that were just delicious. Here’s the recipe.

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Paleo Burger

Ingredients

  • 2 hamburger patties
  • 1-2 bell peppers, sliced thin
  • sea salt
  • pepper
  • 4 bacon slices, cooked
  • 3/4 C shredded cheese
  • 1/4 C baby spinach
  • lettuce

Instructions

  1. Cook the patties in a frying pan, adding salt and pepper.
  2. Add the peppers as soon as you're done slicing them.
  3. When the patties are cooked, place the on a plate, add a few pieces of spinach, and top with a small handful of cheese. Put the plate in a cold oven, and then turn the oven on.
  4. Heat bacon in the frying pan.
  5. When heated through, remove the bacon and peppers from the burner.
  6. When cheese is melted, remove from oven.
  7. Place lettuce on two plates, add patties, bacon, and peppers, then top with another lettuce leaf.
  8. Enjoy!
http://kstuff.net/paleo-burger/

Shelf Reliance Sausage Vegi Soup

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This is Shelf Reliance soup all the way. It was delicious and filled me up without needing any bread to dip in it! It took me less than 30 minutes to prepare.

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Sausage Vegi Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 T butter
  • 2 T onions (FD)
  • 1/2 C sausage crumbles (FD)
  • 2 C chicken stock/ vegi stock/ water
  • 2 T celery (FD)
  • 2 T carrots (dehydrated)
  • 1/2 C green beans (FD)
  • 1/2 C zucchini (FD)
  • sea salt
  • pepper

Instructions

  1. In a sauce pan, brown onions and sausage in butter.
  2. Add stock.
  3. Add celery, carrots, green beans, and zucchini and simmer until hydrated.
  4. Sea salt and pepper to taste.
http://kstuff.net/shelf-reliance-sausage-vegi-soup/

Healthy No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

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Well, healthier than these. I switched the graham crackers, which usually have high fructose corn syrup in them, for oatmeal and flax, which a full of fiber, iron, and omega-3s. Then I switched the powdered sugar for much less honey. These could easily be made into lactation cookies just by adding some brewer’s yeast.

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Healthy No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

  • 1 C Oatmeal, ground
  • 1 C Flax, ground
  • 1 C Butter, melted
  • ¾ C Honey or less
  • 1 C Peanut Butter
  • 1 ½ C Dark Chocolate Chips or Carob Chips
  • 4 T Peanut Butter

Instructions

  1. Grind your oatmeal and flax in a food processor.
  2. Combine oatmeal, flax, butter, honey and peanut butter in a large bowl.
  3. Mix with a spoon.
  4. Spread into a 9X13 pan.
  5. Melt Chips and Peanut Butter in a microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.
  6. Pour over top of peanut butter mixture.
  7. Refrigerate for one hour.
http://kstuff.net/healthy-no-bake-peanut-butter-bars/

 

If you don’t have flax, use another cup of oatmeal. This recipe is super flexible, so experiment away!

You can find ground flax and carob chips in the bulk section at Winco or at any health food store.

This is what the peanut butter and dark chocolate topping looks like while you're mixing it.

Salad!

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Salad

In February 2011, I went to my nutritionist complaining of post partum depression.  He explained that I wasn’t getting enough carbohydrates to my brain, which is the only nutrient that your brain can use to function properly.  Thus, I was experiencing this depression.  He gave me a high protein, high complex carbohydrate diet to use.  I started immediately, and in that same month I became pregnant with Miss Leah.  (If that’s any indication to how good it made me feel.)

My very favorite part about this diet is lunch time.  Basically, you make a massive salad, and spend about an hour eating it.  There comes a point where you feel full, but not stuffed, and can just put the salad down and go on with your day.  I usually eat this while watching Lizzy play, so that it doesn’t get in the way of our day.

To make this salad, I take every vegetable I can find in my house and put it in a big Tupperware bowl, so that I can save it throughout the week.  I love getting a Bountiful Basket so that I can have a huge variety of vegetables to put in this salad.  Today, this is the salad that I made.  Sometimes I will cook up a few chicken tenders and dice or shred them, and I really like cheese cubes in this as well.  Also, I included my homemade Ranch dressing recipe.  The key to making this dressing is tasting it.  If you can taste every ingredient that you put in it, and none of them overpower the rest, then you’ve done it right.

Today’s Salad

1 Romaine Lettuce Heart, sliced
½ Broccoli Head, cut into small pieces
1 C Grape Tomatoes
1 Celery Stalk, sliced
2 Green Onions, sliced
4 Mushrooms, sliced
1 Apple, diced
1 Orange, diced
1 – 15 oz can of Olives
1 – 15 oz can of Garbanzo Beans
1 – 15 oz can of Kidney Beans

Homemade Ranch Dressing

1 C Yogurt
½ C Mayonnaise
¼ t Pepper
¼ t Salt
1/8 t Garlic Powder
¼ t Onion Powder

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies -or- Multivitamin Cookies -or- Lactation Cookies

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These cookies are so delicious and healthy for you, too.  I found this recipe by Kathleen Major when I was searching for some lactation cookies to help Leah through a growth spurt.  I changed a few things, and this is what I came up with.

1 ½ C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
¾ C peanut butter
½ C butter, softened
1 C honey
2 t vanilla
3 T brewer’s yeast
1 C flax
1/3 C water
2 large eggs
2 C craisins
1 3/4 C oats

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.  In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, butter, honey, vanilla, brewer’s yeast, flax and water until creamy.  Mix in eggs.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Mix in craisins.  Add oatmeal slowly, mixing along the way.  Place balls of dough onto greased cookie sheet.  Press down each ball lightly with a fork.  Bake for about 12 minutes.

The oatmeal provides iron and fiber.  The brewer’s yeast provides B-vitamins, selenium, and chromium.  Chromium is a trace mineral that many people are deficient in.  It helps maintain blood sugar levels, and some people believe it helps with morning sickness.  Flax provides omega-3 and fiber.  These cookies rock!  I got my milled flax and brewer’s yeast from Sunflower market.  You can get them at any health food store.

My favorite thing about these cookies is that you get all of those vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from whole foods, which means that they are easier for your body to digest, and there is less of a chance that you will dispose of them before using them all up.  On top of that, I’ve been munching on these for a few days now, and I don’t feel the slightest bit sick from them.  I can eat as many of these as I want, and it’s good for me.

Fruit Protein Smoothie

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I just made a super delicious, super healthy smoothie.  It is:

½ C orange juice
½ C frozen strawberry banana fruit blend (from Target)
½ C plain yogurt, original style (which is to say, “full fatted”)
1 t Nature’s Way Reuteri
1 scoop Naturade 100% Whey Protein Booster, Vanilla Flavor

All together this smoothie has 225 calories, so if you’re trying to lose weight, this is not the snack for you, but it might be the breakfast or the lunch for you.  The majority of the calories come from the full fatted yogurt, so if you want to cut down on calories a bit, just use a leaner yogurt.  Since I’m nursing, I’m going for as many calories as I can find.

There are 17 grams of protein, with the majority coming from the protein booster.  I love this booster.  It has no sugar and no artificial sweeteners.  The vanilla flavor makes my smoothies taste like I used vanilla ice cream, and all without adding even a gram of sugar.

There are 23 grams of sugar, which are all naturally occurring in the juice, fruit and yogurt, and 4 grams of fiber, which come from the juice and fruit.

Now to talk about the Reuteri.  This is a probiotic that I found at Good Earth.  It is in powder form, and you simply measure out how much you want to add to any drink.  It is good for anybody.  I can give this to my babies, and I do.  We’ve all been sick lately, so that’s why I added it to my smoothie.

This is great for all the sugar addicts out there.  It gave me a natural sugar boost to get my energy and mood up, and all the protein will help maintain my blood sugar, so that I don’t drop back down into the awful low of coming off a sugar high.

Enjoy!

Healthy Eating – Ice Cream

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Part of healthy eating is understanding what your body really wants when you’re craving something you probably shouldn’t eat.  For example, a sugar craving usually means your body really needs protein.  It sounds kind of strange, but if you’re dying for some sugar, eat a piece of cheese instead.

In regards to ice cream, your body is craving the fat from the cream, salt, it’s in there I promise, and sugar, obviously.  So, find a different way to satisfy those cravings.  I have found that an orange and cottage cheese satisfies all of the cravings: fat and salt in the cottage cheese, and sugar in the orange.  You can use any orange-like fruit as well.  I really like this with clementines.  Plus, they taste pretty good together.