Cucumber salad

So yesterday we went for a picnic. It was amazing.  We live very close to a lake but yet we hardly ever go.  There is always something to do with home projects, work, out of town commitments, and a slew of other "to do lists".  It was in fact our 1st picnic together. Ever. Seriously Ever.  How sad is that.  Well this started off a new tradition and a deep need to slow down a little and enjoy the beauty that is all around us.

What could go better then cucumber salad on a warm spring day?  Cucumber salad is one of my favorite go to's for something quick, light, and refreshing in the summer.  It is great for a snack, take to a cook out, or as a side with most any dish. 

Ingredients

2 cucumbers

3 small tomatoes

1/2 small onion diced

3-4 TBSP olive oil

3 capfuls of apple cider vinegar

Dash of stevia- I would add a little at a time tasting as you because depending on the flavor and sweetness of your tomatoes and cucumbers you may need very little. 

Salt and pepper to taste

1 TBSP of oregano dried

Fresh basil 3 leaves chopped (optional if you have on hand but not needed)

Go ahead and chop your veggies and add to a mixing bowl.  Add your olive oil and apple cider vinegar.  Add your salt, pepper, and oregano.  Go ahead and start adding your Stevia, a little at a time taste testing as you go.  If you have never worked with Stevia before it is much sweeter then sugar and a very small amount goes a long way.  To the point that I don't ever have measuring spoons small enough for the amount I used.

Add some fresh basil. This part is optional but if you have some add it. Go ahead and mix! 

Had to include a shot of our picnic.  Everything was clean and organic.  Obviously not necessarily low cal as I splurged for some really yummy rustic Italian bread from the bakery. Just remember to check your labels and if it has ingredients you can pronounce and the fewer the better you know you've got something clean.

Raised bed gardening

I have currently entered the world of raised bed gardening.  I am super excited to take on this challenge and take my gardening skills to the next level.  Last year I grew bell peppers, tomatoes, jalapeños and herbs in pots on the deck. Which was a great way to test my environment and learn some tricks before expanding the garden to raised beds.

By doing the pots on the deck I quickly learned that our squirrels are relentless pesky pests. They initially devestated my crop by digging through the pots to plant and store their pecan nuts.  Then I discovered they would dig up all the plants and flip them upside down before they had matured.  Then I learned that the only way to protect the crop was to completely cage the plants because even when they had matured my vegetables kept disappearing. To say the least is was  a huge learning curve.

This time around I'm feeling really prepared.  I knew I would need to do a raised bed as our dirt is hard black clay and not full of the nutrients needed to support vegetables at this time. I also knew that the beds would need some kind of covering to protect against the squirrels.  

My husband who is amazing, built my beds out of untreated cedar planks.  Why cedar and untreated?  Well , great question!  Cedar is rot resistant and weathers  the elements very nicely. Untreated? For an organic garden untreated wood is a must because the chemicals that are used for the treatment of wood can leach into your soil and your vegetables. 

The next step was my husband attached PVC pipping and I bought netting to be drapes and used as a covering. All items were purchased at Home Depot and took an afternoon to build.  A helpful hint, Home Depot will cut all your wood and PVC pipping to any measurement.  So you don't have to buy a saw or spend the time cutting the products when you get home.

Next I bought organic planting soil.  I know that if you compost and such you can use that and not need to spend the mone in soil. I do not compost as we did have a compost bin from the previous owners of our home.  Unfortunately it attracted multiple animals to our yard who also decided to make our attic their home.  Boo.... So composting for us is currently out of the question.  But I'm researching and exploring other options.  

I used about 12 bags of 2 cubic square feet soil to fill my beds. My beds are approxmentlay 4'x4'. My goal is to maintain and treat the soil  throughout the year so it maintains it's nutrients. Which will allow me to not have to invest in more soil. This was the most expensive part of this project. 

The end project after planting my starters and seeds.

That text message can wait...

I'm BACK!!!   I want to go ahead and apologize to all my readers for my lack of posts.  In the past 2 months I  have left my past job and started a new one.  It has been a blessed change that was none too soon in making.  For those that do not know I am a social worker who works in the mental health and substance abuse field. I left a job where my primary duties was intense crisis situations in the emergency room setting. 

Now to be honest the crisis situations were not why I left but the  burn out that was occurring due to poor management.  I have now transitioned to a role as a therapist at another institution and I am very happy.  I want to talk about self care in this post. Start the conversation here and continue it throughout my upcoming posts.

Self-care is a concept I throw around on the daily with clients.  Checking in, educating, and empowering them to care for themselves.  It is probably the most under utilized coping tool out there.  

We spend our days in a flurry of emails, texts, meetings, school programs, art projects, homework, chores, carpooling, and I'm sure 100 other things.  We become so entrenched in the day to day and just getting by we lose sight of the big picture which is "us".

"Us" is who completes these tasks, carries us through life, and is with us at the end.  It is the carries "us" through life part we miss out on most often.  The whole "you can't see the forest through the trees" thing is so true, and the forest is "us".

We wonder why we have headaches, stomach problems, weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, irritability, and a slew of other problems.  We experience these things because our bodies are desperately trying to get our attention and we just keep pressing forward. " I'll pop some Advil, pepto, and ambien" and it will be ok.  Well it won't.  Stress kills.  It affects our body's natural rythem and ability to stay healthy ( more on this to come).  

Now I know I just painted a grim picture but take a minute and just breathe.  Breathing in and out.  Imagine a ballon in your stomach inflating on the inhale and deflating on the exhale.  Visualize a different picture for yourself.  I picture without the constant need to struggle through another day.  Visualize a day of serenity and peace. Visualize a restful sleep, a headache free day, no stomachs pains day.   Paint that picture.  Wether your in a garden, on a beach, top of a mountain, or cozy in your bed. All while breathing in and out.  Feeling your stomach rise and fall.  Go ahead take a minute.. The rest can wait.

Now I hope you took a minute to paint that picture and breathe.  What you did in that moment is self care.  While you were breathing and visualizing you were resting, rebuilding, and revitalizing.  You used a form of mindfulness: deep breathing and imagery.  You took a moment to care for yourself.

There are so many ways to care for yourself.  It starts small with the intention to be kind to oneself, to love oneself, and to start caring for oneself.  

Choosing to eat differently or recommit to a healthier lifestyle is one but so is taking time throughout your day to reconnect with oneself. To be present in your moment in time: hold it, taste it, and love it.  

For me leaving a job that was slowly killing me through stress was my self care.  I'm reconnecting and recommitting to love myself everyday.  It starts small and it will grow if you foster it.  

I hope through this blog I can not only share recipes but also the need for love and caring for oneself.  We only get one life to live... That text message can wait.

Paleo Crock Pot Short Ribs

Does anyone ever go to the grocery store and decide to be brave and bold and buy a new ingredient?  That is how Paleo Crock Pot Short Ribs came to be.  I was at the meat counter, almost done and the sale of the day catches my eye. Short Ribs? Grass Fed?  Maybe I need these in my life? Then I find myself ordering 1 pound please.  Before I know it; I'm checking out and thinking "I have no idea what to do with short ribs".  I know I love short ribs but how do I cook them?  Well, a week or so later and I decide slow cooking sounds like the best way do this. So I bust out the crock pot, mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, and stock and just start creating.

I would recommend making the recipe with 2 pounds of short ribs as the yield of meat is not enough for left overs or more then 2 people.

Ingredients
I used 1 pound of Short Ribs but i recommend 2
1 quart organic reduced sodium Beef Stock

1/4 cup dry red wine
1 onion chopped
1 large garlic minced
5 medium sized carrots chopped
1 cup diced portobello mushrooms
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper


In a small bowl mix the sage, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and black pepper and mix to make your rub.  Gently coat your ribs in the rub and place in the crock pot.  Then chop your vegetables, beef stock, and red wine to your crock pot.  Turn the crock pot on medium for 6 hours, cover, and cook.

I served our short ribs over paleo mashed sweet potatoes.  Simply boil 2 large organic sweet potatoes.  Mash boiled and drained sweet potatoes with 1 TBSP of grass fed butter.  Delicious! I hope you enjoy the simplicity of this recipe with the warm hearty flavors.

Roasted Leek Soup

Brrr, baby it's cold outside!  As the temperature drops it is the perfect time to warm up with some yummy soup.  I love my soup hearty, savory, and exploding with flavor.  Normally when you hear "hearty" one might think heavy and cream, but that doesn't have to be so.  You can clean up your favorite soup recipe and keep it creamy and hearty with out it including 'heavy cream'.  My favorite way to do this is by roasting vegetables and making a puree, then just add any stock, and followed by spices. There you have a savory and hearty soup with all the cream.

This season I am working on cooking more sustainable which includes buying in season vegetables and fruits. Leeks are a hearty root vegetable that is usually harvested in the fall and makes for a great winter veggie. So I was cruising my local grocery store and I thought what the heck those Leeks look interesting.  So I bought some and decided to experiment with a new soup recipe to add to my repertoire.

Ingredients
2  organic Leeks
1 small organic cauliflower head
1 chopped onion
1/2 garlic head
2 cups Organic Vegetable Stock
Olive Oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp paprika
3 TB grass fed butter
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  You will want to clean the leeks and chop them.  I had never cleaned a leek before but it was not that hard. 

Chop off the green tops and the root. 

Then dice the entire stalk of leek.  

Then soak and swirl around in a bowl of warm water to get all the grit off of them.

(Just for a few minute)

Drain and then rinse in a colander.

On a baking sheet place your chopped leeks, chopped cauliflower and chopped onion.  Cut the 1/2 of a garlic head in half and place on the baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.Mix with your hands so all the veggies are gently coated.

The bake for about 20 min or until golden brown and soft.

Then add veggies to your food processor or blender.  Blend the veggies till in a smooth puree.  I added a little vegetable stock to help keep the puree smooth.

Melt butter in your stock pan.  Then add your puree and vegetable stock.  Add your spices.  Heat to a simmer and stir occasionally to keep from burning.  Simmer for about 30 min and then serve.  Feel free to add extra vegetable stock if you would like a thinner soup. 

Clean lifestyle

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had an amazing, revitalizing, and yummy holiday.  I know I sure did!  I had 5 Christmases, which meant 5 helpings of decilicious, tantalizing, not really healthy, and scrumptious meals.  To say the least it was wonderful to spend all that time with family and friends.  Though I did get off track of healthy, clean, and whole food cooking and eating.  But that is ok.  In my opinion living a lifestyle vs a diet means it's ok to splurge on family favorites and eat sugar from time to time but you don't let that derail your lifestyle. You simply re start and get right back at it like you never left.

As it is the new year, anyone with a tv will be inundated with weight loss ads and excersise programs.  I am a firm believer in having a healthy lifestyle and being active.  Diets are short term that end once you reach your goal or are too starved to keep doing it.  Lifestyle exactly what it sounds like, it is how you live your life. 

Living a whole food, clean lifestyle to me means eating whole foods with the least amount of processing.  If your eating less processed foods that includes sugar.  Cutting out the use of cane sugar which is hidden in most things processed is a huge part of this.

  By buying ingrediants in their most natural form you can control what goes into your body.  This means shopping the outside of the super market where you will find the fresh ingredients: vegetables, fruits, meats, fish and dairy are usually found on the outside of the supermarket and not deep inside the aisles.  It also means cooking.  Really cooking and not just reheating in the microwave.  

If you are cooking with spices and fresh ingrediants you know exactly what you just ate.  You know how much sugar, salt, and fat was in that meal.  This is so much simpler then standing in aisles reading convoluted labels and really just guessing sometimes.

Also think about high startch food like potatoes. Your body turns startch into sugar and energy.  Which is all fine and dandy if other foods you eat aren't being laced with sugar. Eating less startch items means less sugar in your diet.  Now I love a good potatoe in some stew just like the next person, but sweet potatoes which have less startch can be substituted.  Or if your gonna splurge with a potatoe just think less is more and in moderation.

Another piece of clean eating is eating organic.  Why, organic? Well if we are trying to eat the freshest ingrediants in their natural form that means no pesticides and chemicals. You want to eat food that has no additions. 

 Try to imagine how your great grandmother cooked and grocery shopped.  She probably had a garden in the back yard and went from the bakery, to the butcher, ect. She knew her meat and dairy came from the farmer from the next county and her carrots came from her backyard.  She knew who touched her food.  She never questioned that someone had modified the seed (GMO) or that someone washed her berries in pesticides. She also knew she had to cook and create her food.  That she couldn't buy something wrapped in foil through a drive thru. 

Now that you have envisioned how your great mother cooked her meals, now imagine you basically wanting to replicate that in modern times.  Buying organic, non Genetically modified, fresh ingrediants is the way.  Cooking your food from scratch. It doesn't have to be hard.  In fact simple food tastes delicious.  Also pack your lunch with left overs from dinner from the night before.  Two birds one stone. 

Is organic more expensive? yes, it can be. Why is it more expensive? Because organic farmers have to prove to the government that food was grown organically which costs money.  Are some foods more important to eat organic than others yes.  Visit the EWG (environmental working group) for the dirty dozen list at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

Now that I just did a real quick break down of what eating clean is, I want to say we all do the best we can and starting a new lifestyle is hard. Start small, with some new recipes.  Or try it for one week.  I promise your body will feel different.  I am a 2 can of diet mountiam dew a day convert that couldn't imagine going back to my old eating habits.  When I eat clean I feel better, when I don't my body tells me and I feel it.  

Please ask questions or comments.  I'm learning things everyday and I would love to help others with their lifestyle changes. At the end of the day remember to love yourself; part of that is loving your body.

Clean Eating Brussels Sprouts with cranberries and walnuts

Here is another easy, healthy, delicious recipe to add to your Thanksgiving repertoire!  Clean Eating Brussels Sprouts with cranberries and walnuts.  These little cabbages are O so delicious and packed full of yummy nutrition. Brussels Sprouts offer a delicious range of nutrition that benefit our bones by helping to prevent bone loss, vitamin A, Iron to prevent anemia, and assist with heart disease protection.  I mean seriously all this and they taste good.

Dried cranberries are not usually what we would consider clean as they are usually packed full of added sugar.  I use fruit juice infused cranberries that can be found at Whole Foods.  They are a hint more tangy then sweet but they are delicious and generally a cleaner option.  I made some tweaks to the original recipe that can be found at this link http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2013/11/roasted-brussels-sprouts-walnuts-and-cranberries-recipe.html

Ingredients

3 TBSP olive oil
1 pound Brussels Sprouts

1/2 cup of packed fruit infused dried cranberries

1 cup whole raw walnuts

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.  Cut the Brussels Sprouts in half and then place on a cookie sheet.  (Parchment paper can be a great idea to line your cookie sheet so not ick it all up with the oil). 

 Add your walnuts.  Drizzle with your olive oil, salt, pepper, and then use your hands to coat the Brussels Sprouts and walnuts evenly. 

 Spread the Brussels Sprouts and walnuts out evenly on your cooking sheet.  Then bake for 10 minutes, check, and then flip them the best you can for evenly roasting.  Bake another 10 minutes or till golden brown and roasted. 

 Pull out from the oven and let cool.  Mix in your cranberries and serve!  

This dish can be prepared the night before thanksgiving and then reheated the next day.  My suggestion is to add the cranberries right before serving as they can get hard and very hot when heated. 

Savory Butternut Squash Soup

Thanksgiving is literally right around the corner and if you are looking for something new and healthy to add to your holiday repertoire this soup is a must! This butternut squash soup is savory and hearty.  It had to be, or it wouldn't have been husband approved.  My husband dislikes butternut squash, and when I say dislikes I really mean hate.  If I even mention the thought of cooking with butternut squash he makes a grimmace like no other.  Well, all I could say was challenge accepted.  Hence, the Savory.

One of the reason my husband completly 100% shies away from butternut is most recipes play up the sweetness of the squash.  I know that I love the fact we have a yummy good for you sweet squash that pares amazling with cinnamon.  I mean come on people how could your resit that.  Well my husband can.  So I had to really bust out my spice shelve for this yummy little number.

Ingrediants

2 small butternut squash or 1 large

1/2 onion roughly diced

1 minced garlic clove

2 carrots diced

1 apple (i used granny smith)

1 TBSP unsalted grass fed butter

1/4 tsp salt

sprinkle of black pepper

3 cups Chicken Stock (  for vegetable stock to make vegetarian friendly!) 

2 cinnamon sticks

1 bay leave

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 TBSP Cumin

Preheat oven to 400

Peel your butternut squash and cut into cubes. 

Mix your cubed butternut squash, sliced apple, diced carrots, minced garlic, and chopped onion on a cooking sheet.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  Roast in the oven till soft, tender, and lightly browned.  Approxmently 25-30 minutes.

Take the tender cookie sheet mixture and empty into a food processor.  You want to blend till completly pureed.

Now in your pot you want to brown your butter.  The browning of the butter will give your soup a warm nutty flavor.  The trick is to not burn it.  So stir continuesly till browned then immediatly empty your butternut puree in the pot.

Now add the rest of your ingredients, cover and simmer for about an hour.  If you would like a thinner soup please feel free to add more Chicken or Vegetable stock to the soup.   

Then remove the bay leave and cinnamon sticks.


Soup Topping

I choose to top by soup with some lovely maple bacon that I purchased from whole foods who makes it fresh in house.  I simply fried it up, pat dried the grease, and crumbled the bacon on top of the soup. I also topped with chives.

Crock Pot Turkey Chili

As it is fall, and swiftly moving into winter,a yummy and easy chili recipe was in need.  One of the things I love about chili is how you can mix and match veggies/meats to best fit your mood and whatever is in your cabinets. I also love the fact chili is crock pot approved.  Throw everything in, set the timer, and go! Doesn't get much easier then that! Which gets two thumbs up from me.

I did not document the process in pictures as I normally would.  Unfortunately my kitchen is a disaster due to some remodeling of the dining room(which i will post pictures of).  But the recipe is simple, lean, and clean.

Ingredients

1 pound lean white ground turkey breast

1 12 oz  organic tomato sauce can (bpa lining free)

1 12 oz can of kidney beans w/ juice

1 12 oz can of black beans w/juice

1 12 oz can great white northern beans w/juice

1/2 chopped onion

1 tb garlic powder

1tsp onion powder

2 TB chili powder

1 TB cumin powder

Salt/pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper(just sprinkle if you would like a milder chili)

1 diced jalapeno (half of a jalapeno if you would like a milder chili)

2 diced tomatoes 

Through everything into your crock pot and I set mine on the low setting which cooked for 8 hours. That was it! Delicious, clean, paleo, and whole food.

Think about serving with my honey dairy free corn bread.

Eggplant Parmesan : Freezer Meal

Eggplant Parmesan is my idea of comfort food!  I love it and my husband loves it.  Between the aroma it leaves in my house and the way it tastes....doesn't get much better than that.  However as my recipe is clean, it is not what I would call low calorie and really should just be utilized as a splurge. A lovely, delicious, and whole food splurge.

I served this as our anniversary dinner and it was perfect for the occasion.  I made this meal as a freezer meal actually but there is no reason why you couldn't follow this recipe and bake the same day for a delicious dinner.

 Ingredients:

1 can of organic BPA free lined tomato sauce
1 can of organic BPA free lined tomato paste
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 TB oregano 
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
1 TB olive oil
Stevia
Salt and Pepper
1 Large Eggplant
1 cup whole wheat organic bread crumbs
1 egg white


In a large wok or fry pan heat the olive oil and brown the garlic and onion.  Then add the tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Fill the empty tomato paste can with water and pour into the pan and stir till well combine. Chop the fresh basil leaves and add to the sauce with the dried oregano. Sprinkle stevia and salt and stir.  The cover and reduce to a simmer.

Slice thinly the eggplant vertically.  Whisk the 1 egg white.  Coat each slice of eggplant in the egg white and then coat lightly with the bread crumbs.  Then broil in the oven set to High.  Flip each eggplant till golden brown on each side.

In a baking pan layer sauce, eggplant, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.  This generally makes 3 layers.

The top layer cover in sauce, cheese, and then place fresh basil leaves on top.

After this step is when I wrapped with foil and froze.  I took out of the freezer and thawed before baking.  You can either freeze or go straight into the oven if your making for dinner that night.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the cheese in golden brown.

Clean Eating and Freezer Meals

After work, if I am being honest, i don't always feel like cooking dinner.  I am tired, hunger, and most often hangry.  I just want food to appear.  Well that line of thinking and feeling does not go very well with the idea of clean eating.  Clean eating calls for fresh ingredients, whole food, and made majority of the time by yourself.  To help solve this problem of exhaustion + hunger = quick food in my tummy now, I have been delving into prepping freezer meals.

I will never be that person who can spend an entire day cooking a series of meals and freezing. I get bored very often with the same meal and I like to shake things up.  So my way of preparing freezer meals is i devote 1 afternoon a week to the project, and i try to get a variety of meals out of one staple dish.  

So for instance I made a vat of my marinara sauce, I then used the sauce to make 1 pan of egg plant Parmesan, and froze 2 cans of sauce.  Those 2 cans of sauce could be used in so many ways!!! It doesn't just have to plain old spaghetti and that egg plant Parmesan we can eat for days afterwards. This is my process. It might not be the most efficient but it keeps us fed and my sanity. 

If you devote 1 afternoon a week to freezing meals, eventually you will have a nice stock pile so their is always food in the freezer to heat up.  Currently in my freezer we have 1 can of sauce, 2 cans of vegetable soup, and a pan of chicken casserole.  Not to shabby and I still plan to add 3 meals to that list later this weekend.  

I also leave cooking instructions on each of the dishes for my husband.  He usually beats me home now a days and it makes it easy for him to be able to just preheat and bake.  Viola, I come home from work with a fresh made, delicious meal waiting for me.  Sometimes I ask myself "Why haven't I been doing this all along?"  

Dallas Farmer's Market: Fall Festival

It is Autumn!!! I love the time year!  On occasion I do miss the autumn of my childhood in the Midwest; crisp morning air, changing of the leaves, apple picking, and bomb fires.  Now that I live in North Texas I don't get quite the same experience but autumn is still lovely and my favorite season.  I love being able to take long cooler walks, a hot cup of coffee, pumpkins, and everything about it. The activity in Dallas is electric.  The hot summer days have (almost) gone, cool nights are back, and there is all sort of activities to par take in.  If you are also a foodie like myself then you are always looking for a good mix of outdoor activity and food.  The Dallas Farmer's Market pretty much hits it spot on.

 The Dallas Farmer's Market currently has there Fall Festival going on Sept 15-Oct 31.  The pumpkin patch is open daily and you can get pictures taken on the weekend as well as play games.  I don't have kiddos but that sounds like a pretty fantastic Saturday for them and great memory making with a photo for keeps.  Plus Mom and/or Dad can also hit up that weeks grocery shopping.  We spend all summer trying to beat the heat and trying to stay out of the sun.  The fall Festival  seems like the perfect opportunity to get outside and enjoy all this beautiful sunshine and fresh fall air.  Plus you get to promote local businesses while your at it.  Check out other events at the Dallas Farmer's Market
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Clean Eating Vegetable Soup

With fall arriving in North Texas this weekend with a gust of forceful wind and storms, some cozy, comforting soup was what the day called for.  I decided to make some yummy hearty vegetable soup using a couple new (to me) vegetables.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but dang can I say we each put down a couple generous bowl fulls today! It was so delicious and hearty, exactly what was needed to warm up my bones from the never ending rain/damp we have had this weekend.

I participate in a local fall share program through a local Dallas grocery store, Green Grocer Dallas. The wonderful thing about this program is I get a variety of different, local, organic, and in season veggies.  What this also means is I get to experiment with multiple different veggies I have a) never heard of before and b) would be scared to death to actually buy on my own in the grocery store.  So the beauty of this is, I get to support a local business, local farmers, and get to make delicious dishes with new (to me) ingredients!

I would suggest if you're in Dallas checking out this store, Green Grocer Dallas.  It is definitely a little gem.

I also made a very large pot of soup so that I could freeze a portion for meals to come. All of my ingredients were organic.  Also, if you don't have some of these veggies don't be afraid to throw in whatever you have (e.g., peas, green beans, corn, or Brussels Sprouts).

This is what Kohlrabi looks like, in case you don't know.  It is in the cabbage family.

Ingredients

• 1 quart vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 large onion roughly diced
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 diced tomatoes
• 1 8 oz can of tomato paste
• 1 cup of diced carrots
• 5 diced stalks of celery
• 1 large cubed sweet potato
• 2 cubed purple kohlrabi
• 5 cubed small turnips
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp oregano 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Place all ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil, reduce to a slow boil, cover, and stir occasionally.  

Once all the veggies are cooked down and soft serve!.  I would also feel comfortable making this in the crock pot as well.

I served ours garnished with fresh cilantro and my Clean Eating/Dairy-Free Honey Corn Bread

Clean Eating, Dairy-Free Honey Cornbread

Today was a comfort food kinda of day.  Blustery winds, rain, and falling leaves. It was a true fall day.  In my mind nothing quite says comfort, like sweet cornbread.  It goes beautifully with a hearty soups or chili.  Just what you need to give a little warmth and comfort.

I made some modifications to the recipe by The Taylor-House's Sweet Honey Corn Bread recipe which can be found on The Taylor House blog.

The recipe required a few modifications to make it  clean and dairy-free.  Now why dairy-free you ask?  One reason is I have a few friends with an allergy to all things dairy and they can't eat anything cooked with dairy or it triggers migraines along with a slew of other digestive upsets. Also for anyone like myself who does not drink dairy milk on a regular basis, and might not have milk available in a pinch, this recipe is exactly what your looking for.  This recipe was very simple and even with the modifications turned out beautifully.


Ingredients

• 1 cup organic whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour if you prefer less of a wheat taste
• 1 cup cornmeal ( i use Bob Red Mill's Organic)
• 1/2 cup honey (i use local organic raw honey)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg (organic cage free)
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Then use coconut oil to grease the inside of a 8 inch square baking pan.  Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the wet ingredients and mix on low to well combined.  Then poor evenly into the baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

It literally smelled so delicious i couldn't wait to get a bite! This corn bread was exactly what I needed today. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did. 

Clean Eating Italian Mozzarella Burgers

There are few things in life that this family loves more then a delicious grilled burger.  As with all things in life I tend to get bored doing the same ol'e same burger with cheese on it.  So i decided one day this summer to  have some fun and just start experimenting.  Out of that experimentation I invented my favorite burger.  I utilize all fresh and organic ingredients and I truly believe that is what makes this burger.

Burger Ingredients

1 pound grass fed organic ground beef
1/4 ground almonds
1 TB onion powder
1 TB garlic powder
1 cage free egg
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper

Tomato Topping

Diced cherry tomato
diced 1/4 onion
1 minced garlic clove
3 chopped basil leaves
1 TB olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Place all the ingredients for the tomato topping in foil and mix with your hands so all the tomatoes are coated in the oil.  Then fold all 4 sides of the foil to make a tight grilling container and place on the grill.  You want to get these started 1st as they can take longer to cook.  You want them to be soft and cooked thoroughly..

Use a food processor or blender to make your ground almonds. In a large bowl combine all of your burger ingredients including the 1/4 cup ground almonds. Mix thoroughly with your hands.

Then make large patties for the grill. When the patties are almost cooked to your desire then top with fresh slices mozzarella cheese.  Serve on sprouted grain organic buns.

We use a charcoal grill and like all things when we started eating clean and less chemicals in our lifestyle we needed to switch out the charcoal we used.  Regular charcoal briquettes is coated with chemicals that don't entirely burn off in the cooking process. Through research I discovered a simply alternative: Real Hardwood Charcoal. 

Is usually made of maple, hickory, or mesquite wood that burned. It resembles pieces of burnt wood.  It cooks hotter then charcoal briquettes at 1000 F.  It lights faster, burns less ash, gives the food a purer wood flavor, and it is inexpensive.  I bought ours at whole foods for $4.99 in May and the 8.81 pound bag is still going strong. What's not to love it's better for you, cheap, better for the environment, and it makes the food taste amazing.  I would recommend trying to find some in your area.