Grain-Free Cooking

September 29, 2014August 14, 2015

Random Piecings + My Basic Green Smoothie Recipe

Here’s some clouds from Southern Utah. You’re welcome. That place is incredibly beautiful. I mean:

I joke with Joe that we should go live there and by “joke” I mean “semi-serious” and by “semi-serious” I mean how about in two years or so. Poor Joe. I think part of my joke-not-joking is that we had such an incredible time doing the retreat there a few weeks ago. The entire event was just amazing. I really felt so, oh, I don’t know the right words, it was so big what I felt. But some good words are Useful and On Task and Meaningful and Just Right. And when you feel all the parts of something come together that you’ve been planning and you see how so many people feel great about it and get what they need from it, well….it’s just kind of amazing. I added this picture of Joe because why not.

You’ll have to excuse this stream of consciousnesses and pick through for the good parts due to the fact that I’ve got uncharacteristic pressure and pain in my ear regions and it makes for less than sharp conversation at times.

In my quest for Health & Wellness I make course corrections and try on new things. These New Things might be drastic or small. The course corrections might be just a tad one way or the other or a major right turn. But through it all I seem to have one question in my heart and that is this: Am I where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to be doing and with whom I’m supposed to be doing it with? (I’m ever so sorry I ended that with a preposition but it couldn’t be helped.)

One thing I feel I should be doing are the H&W Retreats and the whoms are my sister and our daughters. It’s beautiful when we’re all together and educating and helping people feel more and more well. It’s truly like magic and if I could do it every day the rest of my life I would.

In order to really be “in tune” to someone’s frequency and be in a place to help them the most, I don’t want to muck up my brain and body with chemicals because it can short-circuit our connection. To that end I’ve cut out alcohol and almost all caffeine. I’m down to one cup of decaf a day and I’ll tell you what, the nightly beers were much easier to give up than my morning coffee. I’m feeling a much larger reward than anything negative with this change, though, because I’m not experiencing my afternoon “dip” that I’ve had for so, so long and I’m sleeping better. So, there’s that.

Being more “in tune” means I can pick up on subtler messages that someone’s body/energy is giving off when we talk. There’s so much happening in between the lines and woven throughout the conversation happening with words. I consider it a privilege to be able to tune into those things and it makes it so much easier when I’m not riding a high from caffeine, when I’ve had a good night’s sleep and when I can fully feel my own stuff and not mistake it for someone else’s stuff.

The pressure in my ears has come along with a rash on my neck that is Candida ~~trying to drive me crazy~~ dying off. Because I’m no longer drinking sugar every night (beer and wine) and that was my last main source of sugar, my host body is no longer as conducive to Candida and the yeast is mad. Really, really mad. The rash is itchy and red and looks terrible but I just keep rubbing coconut oil on my feet and encouraging it to get out, get out and keep on going. I upped my water and increased support of my liver. I upped my supplements and fermented foods. I send loving thoughts to my ears and my neck for doing such a great job with this process and then I drink another glass of herbal tea because that’s what I’ve got right now and it’s not that bad.

I wasn’t expecting Candida to burst out of my neck or stack up in my ears and it’s a constant reminder these days to keep an eye on what I’m eating, keep the sugar-foods low, add in more green smoothies and other things Candida doesn’t like.

Here’s my basic Green Smoothie recipe. It makes one really large glass of smoothie plus just enough extra that you’re irritated and don’t know what to do with it so you just stick it in the fridge and forget about the 1″ of old green smoothie and then it goes bad so you dump it and do it all over again. Just kidding. I totally don’t do that. I ask Joe to drink it and sometimes he even does.

1 Kale leaf, stripped off rib
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup probiotic yogurt
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 TBL soaked or sprouted sunflower seeds
Handful of frozen blueberries
Half a frozen banana
2 tsp Spirulina
Enough filtered water to make the right consistency

The banana and blueberries contain all the sugar I can handle right now but if you need some more sweetener, go ahead and add a little raw honey, raw maple syrup or un-sulfered molasses. (There’s a recipe kind of like this in my book.) Sometimes I add sprouted lentils.

I don’t have a great ending for this post (EAR PRESSURE) but I’ll leave you with a thought I keep having. What if we were all doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing, where we were supposed to be doing it, and with the people we were supposed to be doing it with? And what if we did that all the time? I think it would be incredible.

One more of the clouds in Southern Utah because I can’t even.

May 23, 2014May 22, 2014

Grain-Free Cooking: Oven Fries! (With an Option for Cajun Seasoning)

Sometimes you like it a little spicy. Sometimes you don’t. And sometimes you want half and half in the same meal. I’m not here to judge. I’m here to accommodate your desires.

These oven fries are super simple, easy and fast. I usually make them with just olive oil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, but when I feel fancy I pull out my Hungarian Paprika and I think we all know what that means. Red dust on everything! Just kidding. It means delicious.

First, you need some healthy-sized and firm potatoes. I like to plan about one potato per person. Usually we have a few leftover for lunch the next day, but it’s hard to plan .75 potatoes per person, so maybe just make it easy on yourself and plan on a few leftovers.

I also like to mix the types of potatoes so we end up with some russet and some sweet.

Peel those puppies! Unless you like fries with skins, then please leave them on because I’m not the boss of you and can’t just order you around like that.

Rinse the peeled potatoes and cut them in finger-thick wedges.

And now, this is the important part, soak them in some cold water for about 20-30 minutes.

This is also an important part – rinse, then dry them off thoroughly with a towel. We use the fabric kind of towels around here because trees and the world’s future or whatever. You know.

Now you have to make a decision. Spicy? Or no? Or both?

For non-spicy, or what I like to call simple, but in a good way, put the fries on a cookie sheet and drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil over them.

Use your hand to roll the fries around in the oil until they are all coated and then fan them out in a single layer. Top with the salt and pepper. Now you’ll probably want to wash your hand off if you haven’t already.

Spicy option! Here’s what I throw in the bowl, mix together and then dump on the fries. Chipotle Chili Pepper, Hot Hungarian Paprika, Thyme, Rosemary, Garlic, Turmeric, Cayenne Pepper, Sea Salt and Fresh-Cracked Pepper.

You can make our own mix if you hate something I’ve got here. We’re all individuals with a different tolerance of heat levels! You won’t hurt my feelings.

I find the Chipotle Chili Pepper and the Hot Hungarian Paprika really add a little fun. I do something in the neighborhood of 1/2-1 tsp of each except the Cayenne Red Pepper. That little treasure gets just a dash.

Put the rinsed and well-dried fries in a plastic zippered bag, dump the spices in there and drizzle on the olive oil.

Then pretend you’re a kitty that can’t stop massaging your arm. You know what I’m talking about. Rub those spices all over those potatoes.

If the potatoes end up without any glisten, think about putting a little oil on the cookie sheet to prevent sticking. Otherwise, dump the fries out and fan them out in a single layer.

Put the fries in your preheated oven – wait. I forgot to tell you to preheat your oven. Go back in time and set it to 425F. Ok. Now, put the fries in the oven and in 10 minutes, grab them out and flip them over.

Put them back in for 10-15 more minutes and then eat them, but not too fast and maybe let them cool down just a tad first. Fry sauce tastes really good with these fries. Oh, who am I kidding. Fry sauce tastes pretty good with any kind of fries.

May 6, 2014

Grain-Free Cooking: Brussels Chips Exclamation Point

If you like Brussels Sprouts, and even if you don’t care for them so much because you’ve only had them water-soggy or over-cooked, this recipe is for you. For you!

When I stopped eating grains, vegetables became a bigger part of my intake and Brussels Sprouts is a weekly contender. I ate them before I even knew how to cook them correctly. And NOW. Well.

Here’s the thing – soggy Brussels sprouts are the pits. But if you roast them with some olive oil? Hoo-boy. And when you peel of a bunch of outer layers so they get crispy while you’re roasting the inner brain-looking nubbins? Delectable.

Here. Let me show you.

Roasted Brussels Chips

A Buncha Brussels Sprouts
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper

1. First things first: soak those sprouts for about 5 minutes, pushing them under the water a few times.

2. Next, shake off the water and cut the ends off each sprout high enough up from the bottom that the damaged outer layers are discarded. Then (AND THIS IS THE BEST PART) keep peeling off a few more layers until the little brain part is too tight to keep peeling. When you get to the core, but it in half or thirds. Put all the layers plus the brain nuggets on a cookie sheet.

3. Pour some olive oil over the whole messagoodness and mix well with your hands. Maybe 2-3 tablespoons? Well, fine. I guess you could put them in a bowl and then use a spoon and carefully do this part so you don’t get oily, but that just makes more dishes. Plus olive oil is good for your skin. But the choice is yours!

4. Grind some real salt (check the ingredients of your sea salt for non-caking agents and trade up if you see it listed) and fresh cracked pepper on the leaves. Do it real good, friend.

5. Bake at 425F for ten minutes, taking out every 3-4 minutes to mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. You know it’s done when the little brains are nicely browned on at least one side and soft when pierced with a fork. The chips should be crispy and brown (AND DELICIOUS).

You’ll never go back to steamed or boiled sprouts again. (Fun addition! Add some super crispy real bacon bits to the top after baking and before inhaling.)

This recipe is included in Heal Something Good.