Super Bowl is apparently the most watched event on television so that means a lot of you are going to be sitting in front of the tube chowing down on finger foods while Tom Brady and Eli Manning fight it out on the field.

Though I am not huge fans of either teams I do love Eli Manning and for some reason hate Tom Brady… so that pretty much settles who I will be cheering for! Because of our lack of television we won’t even be watching the game however, that doesn’t mean I wont fix a few of my favorite tailgating foods for munch on during the day!

Super Supped Up Hummus

This is awesome because it’s “semi-homemade”! Just grab a traditional plain hummus from the store and stir in chopped sun-dried tomatoes, olives and roasted garlic… stir it up, place in a dip bowl and drizzle with a tsp of olive oil over the top.

Serve it up with some whole wheat pita chips and veggies!

Mini Turkey Sliders

I just made these yesterday and I could kick myself for not taking a picture! Because everyone is different in the way they eat their burgers I kept the patties pretty boring and add some fun add-ins for adding to the tops.

Turkey Burgers: 1 package of lean, ground turkey, 1/2 onion chopped, 2 tsp italian herbs. Mix it together. From here I pattied it out, but used a cookie cutter to make them all uniform in size, this worked out much better than I thought! Perfect slider size!

Toppings: Sliced avocado, lettuce, jalapeno jack cheese slices, tomatoes, mustard, ketchup and hummus.  Served on warm whole wheat rolls.

Let’s just say they were gone within minutes.

Guacamole

My favorite thing to serve up! And super easy!

In a food processor blend up 2 avocados and 1 tsp of lime juice until smooth.  Stir in by hand 1 oz of each: chopped jalapeno, cilantro, tomato and red onion.

See super easy! Pair with some blue corn chips!

Apparently Dr. Oz talked about Matcha not too long ago but since I don’t watch tv I was behind on this.

I was reading a magazine a few weeks ago that announced that 1 teaspoon of powdered green tea is equal to drinking 10 cups of normal green tea. At first I was skeptical so I let my science brain take over and started in on the research.

This so-called “powdered green tea” has a real name… Matcha. The Japanese have been using it for centuries and the claim of the tsp to cup conversion appears to be spot on.

It gets even better though, the antioxidant in green tea is called EGCG and it’s linked to decreased risk of Alzheimer’s and other cognitive diseases. A study in 2006 showed that those that drank just one single cup of green tea a day decreased their risk of Alzheimer’s by 38%… those that had two per day decreased their risks by 54%… sign me up!

And it’s all thanks to the EGCG… well that’s all great but Matcha is the superstar of this antioxidant. And just a single serving has 137 times the amount of normal green tea!

Holy Crap!

What about Matcha and Weight Loss?

Might try this little number tomorrow!

You’ve hear that green tea can help boost your metabolism. And it does, just not very much… you have to drink a heck of a lot of it to see any real results. The benefits come from once again the EGCGs which belong to a group of antioxidants called catechins… also called FAT BURNERS… that are found in tea.

Well, since Matcha is so concentrated it’s possible for it to boost your metabolism by as much as 40%… pretty amazing! A regularly cup of seeped tea may boost you 8% which doesn’t do much but 40% can be huge.

Just remember, this is not a fat burning cure and it’s important to maintain a workout program and healthy diet still!

Other Benefits

• Studies show that it might help fight off and decrease cancers (here)
• Help promote good digestion as a probiotic
• Improved skin and hair
• Improved immune system
• Increased energy (caffeine)
• Decrease Stress

Monks have used Matcha for centuries during meditations to help relax and get to their peaceful places!

What To Do With It?

I have some and at first was a bit skeptical… I wasn’t so sure about turning my food strange tinges of green. But I tossed a teaspoon in my shake and was pleasantly surprised, it was fresh tasting and didn’t over power the overall protein shake.

You can also mix it into rice, ice cream, oatmeal, I even found a recipe for matcha cupcakes!

It can be a bit expensive, I had some green tea that a friend had gotten for us from China so I took out my magic bullet and powdered it up myself… saving A LOT of money and still getting a great quality green tea.

For Christmas I received this handy gadget:

Kitchenaid Pasta Attachment!

I have been wanting this thing for years… so I was super stoked when I opened it up! Okay, so I am not the biggest pasta eater in the world, so why would I want this?

Well, I am not the biggest pasta eater because I don’t want freeze dried pasta, and I don’t want the soft white pasta noodles in the specialty section of the store. I wanted the ability to know with 100% certainty that the pasta on my plate is 100% whole wheat and nutritious.

The FDA allows food manufacturers to claim a product as 100% whole grain as long as 51% of it’s whole grain… to mean that’s far too processed!

Eating healthy complex carbs are actually very important for a balanced diet, I just want to know that it’s complex… hence my desire for a pasta maker!

Well… I had my first attempt this past weekend and OMG it was AWESOME!

Dan actually told me it looked too easy and I needed to trade it in for an old fashioned, crank pasta press… I just gave him “the eye”.

When I went to the store to get my flour I was amazed out the diversity to choose from! Everything from chickpea to coconut flour!

I decided to not go too crazy and try to play it safe, after all it was my first time making pasta from scratch.

This is my pasta recipe… super easy, super clean and super delicious! I’ve also decided that I will NEVER buy store pasta again, this is just way too easy!

Clean Homemade Pasta:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat pasta
• .5 cups chickpea pasta
• 1/4 cup water
• pinch of salt

Center is filled with chicken, onions, Chinese cabbage, splash of soy and hoisin sauces.

 What’s the last thing you made from scratch??

It’s been forever and a day since I shared a recipe, or at least it feels that way. So without further ado I give you:

Chinese Crispy Pork (Siu Youk)

I know what you’re wondering: why am I cooking Chinese pork? Great question!

Dan and I are putting a trip together for China later this year. And even though it’s not for quite awhile we are both very excited. Excitment and nervousness… Dan’s Chinese teacher (so we can learn the basics) informed us that the Chinese restaurants around town are anything but authentic. In fact the nearest real Chinese restaurant is in Atlanta, GA and I don’t feel like driving 6 hours for food.

With that said… it’s really just the drawn out way of saying that we are introducing authentic cuisine into our meals to start learning the flavors and foods so we know what we like and what to order. I would hate to order something and end up with a plate I refuse to taste.

So for week 1 I set out to make a traditional pulled pork recipe. It was so easy and tasted AMAZING!! The aroma from the kitchen made the entire house smell delicious. It’s one of the only foods where we actually ate the leftovers (I am queening of tossing them out).

It’s clean, high in protein and overall a great meal for your dinner!

Chinese “Crispy” Pork (Siu Youk)

Ingredients: 

• 2 lb pork butt or shoulder, fat trimmed and cut into two halves
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp anise seed
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves*
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 quart water
• Thinly sliced green onion
• Fresh cilantro sprigs
• Hoisin or Chinese plum sauce (Use sparingly)

*Ground cloves were considerably more expensive than whole cloves so I bought whole cloves and grounded them in my coffee grinder. It works better than using my food processor since they’re so small.

Directions:

• Place a 4-5 quart pot on high heat and combine meat, garlic, anise, ground cinnamon, cloves, soy sauce and water.
• Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the meat is very tender when pierced, around 1 1/2 hours.
• Bring back to a boil, uncovered on high heat until sizzling and cook about 30 minutes, make sure to stir often.
• Drain off the fat and with two forks shred the meat and place in an oven safe 9 x 13 pan.
• Bake at 400’F in oven until pork begins to crisp; 15-20 minutes.
• Serve over brown rice, quinoa or barley. Top with onion, cilantro and hoisin (1 tsp goes a long way) to taste.

I was reading through the news yesterday and came across this gem of an article: “Wood Pulp Found In Many Processed Foods”, I am sure you’re response is much the same as mine:

GROSS! and What The Crap?

At first I was pretty disgusted to say the least, who the heck wants to eat a pile of splintered wood with their meals? Not me. Then I actually started reading the article and found myself rolling my eyes.

This “wood pulp” they are referring to is cellulose, and you eat it every time you eat foods such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, kale, cauliflower, bok choy, and this list goes on.

Does this gross you out?

Cellulose is a fancy term for insoluble fiber, fiber which the body can’t break down but it helps things move smoothly through the digestive track.

So it’s not so much that it’s a bad thing… but it doesn’t take away from the fact that food manufacturers are adding it to food to add bulk and texture.

Fiber is good, but there is such a thing as too much. And there are not regulations on how much cellulose companies can add to your food. Thanks FDA!

While I think the article is brining up unnecessary disgust… I do think that there is a point that when  you buy a food you expect that food, not a little of it with a lot of plant fiber to make it seem bigger and better.

What is your take? Are you disgusted by the wood pulp or are you more intrigued by it? It really makes me think of all the items that go in to our foods that we never know about… and that is what grosses me out.

Ever heart the statement that there is roach “poo” in every cereal box? Just sayin’.

Read the article for yourself at: http://desne.ws/uUst0k

One of my favorite things to do is cook, but more specifically I love having the ability to find a yummy recipe and transform it into still being yummy but also healthy. Most “unhealthy” recipes can be tweaked to have a healthy side.

And it’s my mission to be able to do it!

This video offers some great basic baking and cooking substitutes. For example, if your recipe calls for an egg, use two egg whites.

Need a cup of sugar? Use 3/4 cup of agave nectar instead.

Watch this quick video to get more ideas.

Here’s an example of what I am talking about… I had a client that wanted to make her mom’s pumpkin muffins but she knew they didn’t fit the Clean definition so she sent me the recipe and asked for me to look it over and make suggestions to “healthify” it… yes, I just made that up.

Here’s how they turned out, and they were delicious! I will post the recipe up this weekend.

Last weekend was the end of my 4-week “adventure” with being vegan. I know you’re just giddy in your chair waiting to find out what’s become of me… right? Ok, maybe not giddy but perhaps curious.

So, I was all excited to cook up some chicken and just go to town, but then when it came time to actually start prepping dinner, I had no desire what so ever for it, I ended up making portabella and spinach ravioli.

I was nervous to eat anything animal because of the terrible side affects I had when I went off of it, was my body going to react the same way when I re-introduced it? This fear kept me from trying anything animal based until Monday. And even then it was only because my husband was home from a boy’s weekend and really wanted meatballs and I was too lazy to cook a seperate meal.

I ate it and to my surprise, nothing bad happened! 

Over the course of the 4 weeks I did drop about 4-5 pounds, my body did become more “regular” (if you know what I mean) but other than that I still suffered from the embarrassing gas and bloating up until the end.

I am surprised that I lose no muscle mass, in fact I have been able to add some.

What about now? 

Well, I am not vegan but I am limiting my animal products to just 1 meal a day, dinner. That’s the only meal that my husband and I eat together and I can understand his frustrations with having to eat two separate meals and cook way too much. I think my time in the kitchen was a bit intimidating.

So that’s it, I actually really enjoyed it and learned some great cooking techniques that I had not learned before. I am a huge fan of baking vegan for sure. I have also grown to LOVE almond milk and coconut milk. I have also learned I love curry.

The curry I enjoyed last night as a matter of fact! Delicious!

Seriously, I can’t get enough curry right now. I might be addicted!

I know I’ve been talking about it a lot, but because of that I feel it only appropriate to give an update. I’m still eating vegan, and going strong. Most of my symptoms have died down a lot but overall I am still not 100% in terms of digestion.

To be honest I think it has been harder on Dan than it’s been on me… and he’s not eating vegan! He just gets annoyed that I have to cook two dinners at night, and he is a believer that our teeth are true signs we’re meant to be eating meat. So to him I am not eating a balanced diet.

I’ve gotten to try a lot of new foods lately though… spaghetti squash (delicious), Yudon noodles (amazing), pumpkin shakes, basil cherry shakes (not my favorite), and I even attempted to make coconut butter… notice I said attempted.

So Far My Favorite Vegan Foods:

Udon noodles with basil, olive oil and baby bellas

Found in the oriental section of the grocery store = Buckwheat noodles!

Vegan oatmeal raisin cookies (duh!)

Homemade and delicious!

Stuffed spaghetti squash (stuffed with lentil, onions, diced portabellas)

Picture to come!!!

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Delish... just like a slice of pumpkin pie!

I am about to finish week 3 of veganism and going into week 4 I have to make the decision of what to do next… I’ve met my goal so will I stay vegan or will I go back to my chicken and whey protein?

I have to be honest, I am scared to death about eating meat again since getting off of it was such a traumatic experience for my stomach and intestines… not quite sure I want to go through that again. I will make sure though that when I do decide to introduce meat in (which I am sure I will at some point) I am going to do it SLOWLY… I will not make the mistake of changing my diet around 180 degrees in one day.

So there you have it… on the menu this weekend is vegan chili! I am really excited about this because I am craving a big bowl of chili as if it’s my J-O-B!

I’ve made it 2-weeks going vegan (with the exception of my anniversary dinner 9/17). So how are things going?

To be honest, I am not so sure.

It was going great, however, for the past 3-4 days I have been extremely bloated with some not fun side affects. I eat because I know I have to but not because I want to.

I’ve read that this is because my body is adjusting to digesting all this plant based foods and that I should start taking a probiotic to help. I think I’ll look into it this weekend!

Energy wise I thought I was feeling great, however I did a great circuit workout today and when I got home I felt terrible. I laid on the kitchen tile floor for around 5-10 minutes and made Dan grab a bag of frozen veggies to help cool me off. Finally my head stopped pounding, the shakes went away and I was able to get up for a shower. It was really weird.

Not going to lie... he's looking pretty yummy right now!

I am keeping track of my nutrition to make sure I am eating enough, since vegan includes a lot of low calorie foods, it can be hard to get enough calories in.

I have lost around 3 pounds but because of all the bloating I can’t see a difference. I am hoping for my body to adjust by the weekend because this royally sucks.

Anyone that is vegan or was a vegan ever go through any of this?

I came across this recipe from Ohsheglows.com and I couldn’t believe how freaking amazing it was. It pretty much put every other shake I’ve ever had to shame… and I’ve had a lot of shakes!

We’ve had some crazy dreary weather here and it makes me really feel as if fall is here… and it’s only been 3 days! But when I found this recipe I knew it would be perfect for the weather and my love of pumpkin pie!

In a blender, blend together:

• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein
• 1 cup almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 1 heaping tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg)
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 2 ice cubes

I didn’t have pumpkin pie spice, so I used the individual spices listed and it tasted Perfect!!

Sorry for the poor lighting

Here are the nutritional stats: 152 calories; 16 grams protein, 6 grams carbs, and 3 grams fat.

I’ve been eating vegetarian now for three days and I am actually enjoying it! So far it’s allowed me to test out foods I normally wouldn’t make.

I enjoyed grilled mushrooms last night I love but never make (Dan doesn’t like them) and then tonight I made myself a black bean burger… OMG so good! Of course I grilled fish for Dan but these burgers took the same amount of time so it worked out perfectly.

The recipe I found (Ohsheglows.com) was for 8-patties I cut it down quite a bit to make just 4 patties.

Black Bean And Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

1. 1/4th of an onion diced
2. 1 garlic clove, chopped
3. Flaxseed meal mix (1 tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tbsp water)
4. 3/4 cups old fashioned oats
5. 1/2 cup black beans (mashed)
6. 2 tbsp black beans, whole
7. 1/2 cup grated carrots
8. 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
9. 1/2 tbsp olive oil
10. 1 tsp chili powder
11. Salt and pepper to taste

What To Do:

• Heat your grill on medium (or oven to 350 degrees)
• In a large mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except spices. Once mixed sprinkle spices in and mix gently to incorporate evenly.
• Use your hands to make 4 evenly sized patties.
• Toss on the grill for around 5-7/side until crispy on the outside.

Serve on top a salad, on a bun, or just by itself. I was really surprised at how great these came out!