“It only LOOKS like swamp sludge” Smoothie Recipe

So after a 550 Rep Fat Massacre workout courtesy of BodyRock.tv and quick 20ish minute run, I was craving something to cool me down.  What better than a super alkalizing, fresh raw smoothie? It came out looking like greyish-greenish-blueish grossness, but tasted unreal:

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup water

Large handful of frozen blueberries and blackberries

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon Vitamineral greens

1 scoop vanilla Sunwarrior

1/2 banana

1/2 tablespoon Nude Bee raw honey

1 tablespoon chia seeds

Blend and enjoy!  We just got new glasses in our kitchen, so I was very excited to use them for the first time.  It’s the little things that make your day great, isn’t it?

Vegan, homemade mint chip ice cream

Yes, Friday nights at home have led to some pretty interesting experiments.  From DIY paint jobs to vegan ice cream.  And here, I will share with you my latest creation.

Vegan.  Chocolate chip. Mint. Ice cream.

About half an hour ago I discovered I was out of Coconut Bliss.  Instead of letting my frustration boil over, I decided to be proactive and figure out a solution.

Combine these in a food processor:

1/2 frozen banana

10-15 raw cashews (soaked, if possible, I just used raw)

And then add:

A tiny drop of natural mint extract

A generous handful of cacao nibs

And then blend again.  Taste and add more of whatever you want.  Add some rice or almond milk if you like more of a soft serve.  Serves 1.

Holy crap, I’m pretty sure mint extract might just be the best thing I’ve purchased in a while.  Chocolate mint ice cream was my favourite as a kid. I just changed dessert as I know it.

A new vlog, how to sprout mung beans and yesterdays WIAW!

Sorry about the quality – I wanted to make it iPhone compatible!
Sun dried Tomato and Mushroom Recipe: http://wp.me/p1a00z-3j
Quiche recipe: http://wp.me/p1a00z-1g

I don’t remember exactly what site this is from, but here’s how to sprout mung beans:

Materials: 1/2 cup whole mung beans, several sturdy paper towels, twine, a fine sieve, a pot with a lid (the beans will expand to about 3 times during the sprouting process so choose pot size accordingly).

Step 1. Sort through the beans and pick out any small stones or other foreign material.

Step 2. Place the beans in the sieve and rinse thoroughly.

Step 3 . Soak the beans in warm water for 8-10 hours, then drain thoroughly.

Step 4. Place the drained beans in the center of a couple of the paper towels.

Step 5. Lift up the edges and tie together with twine.

Step 6. Place the wrapped beans in the pot and cover.

Step 7. Place the pot in a warm dark spot for 24 hours.

Step 8 . Check the sprouts after 24 hours. If you want them longer, place the beans in the sieve and gently rinse them, then repeat steps 4 through 7.

Cravings Continued: Textures, what and why

So many people are interested in knowing why they crave what they do, which is phenomenal, because many times we eat without thinking.  Seeing people wanting to know more about these cravings is already a step in the right direction, because it means people are being conscious of what food they’re putting in their mouth.  So to expand on my previous post, here is some more interesting insight on different food texture cravings.

Where to start with this food craving?

A person who craves a handful of almonds and a person who craves almond butter have two very different cravings, and the difference lies in the texture.  Each texture has a different underlying emotional craving.

Crunchy: Searching for relief of anger and tension.  Frustration, stress and resentment also fall under the anger-tension umbrella.  The crunching gives your jaw a way to physically release anger and stress (notice how people clench their jaw when they’re mad?)

Creamy/Smooth Textures: Struggling with fear or shame.  Anxiety, embarrassment and insecurity are also included.  This craving could be indicative of wanting comfort and reassurance.

Chewy: These are a combination of cravings, for example a caramel candy or cheesy pizza.  This mix of textures represents anger and anxiety, or tension and shame.  For example, the dreadful feeling that something awful is about to happen would be fear and tension mixed together, resulting in your craving for ice cream with the hard candy shell, or crunchy peanut butter.

When you’re analyzing your food craving, start with the texture.  Figure out where your emotions are directed before you analyze the food.

Check out my original post for more info on cravings about chocolate, dairy, salt, spicy foods, bread, pasta, and fatty foods here!  Do you have a specific food craving you’d like help analyzing? Email abigail@myinnerglow.com

I think I have some hippie blood in me

And here’s why:

1. I’ve decided for tonight that I’m not going to listen to music, but to the sound of the rain outside.  Don’t have windows or rain near you? Go to http://www.rainymood.com/

Goats!

2. I’ve decided to start volunteering in a vegetable garden.  I did it for my co-op during school and I loved it.  I spend 5 hours pulling weeds, watering plants and watching dogs chase the goats.  I leave feeling exhausted and happy and usually with some kind of basket of organic vegetables. Gardening is seriously therapeutic.

3. I voted Green Party.

4. I on occasion smoke herbaceuticals.

5. It’s not uncommon for me to talk about connecting to the earths energy, etc, etc.  I have a crystal salt lamp next to my bed.

6. I save a lot of snails on the sidewalk.

Okay so 3 and 4 are somewhat common/irrelevant, but seriously.  I spent so long thinking I wanted to live in a high-rise condo near the water, and now I’m thinking more north so I can have a garden in my backyard and be surrounded by nature.  Granted, I’d still love to live in a high-rise condo near the water.  I love being near any kind of water (hence my love for Vancouver), and there are certainly ways to have balcony gardens, but long term I’m not sure it’s what I want.

Also, it’s Wednesday! Which means WIAW (does anyone else read “WEEWA” and immediately think of Borat?) #2:

Breakfast Homemade granola with goat yogurt, 1/2 banana and powdered stevia

Snack Two quinoa-almond-chickpea cookies with honey drizzled on top

Lunch Bean-kamut salad with cucumber, red pepper, carrots and homemade dressing

Snack Blueberry muffin, homemade by my boss (the day gets 100x better when I get surprise treats at work)

Preworkout A spoonful of Artisana raw cacao coconut bliss – this stuff is seriously addictive, and I say it’s preworkout because the coconut butter gave me some sustainable energy and the agave gave me some unrefined simple carbs to run off of.  I also had a Vega Sport preworkout mix.

Dinner Baked asparagus with olive oil, lemon and sea salt, side salad, the rest of my bean-kamut salad from lunch

Evening Creme caramel rooibos tea with a few drops of vanilla stevia

I’ve been keep a food journal recently (aside from my WIAW’s).  A study was done involving a group post-menopausal women, and the goal was to find out what was more effective for weight loss: diet or exercise.  They found that the women who exercised 5 days per week and kept a food journal (noting everything they ate and drank aside from water and calorie-free items) lost approximately 11% of their weight in a year, while those that just focused on diet lost about 8%, and the exercise-only group lost about 5%.  Not that weight loss is a goal, but I definitely had a few moments when I was about to have a third quinoa-almond-chickpea cookie and thought “Hmm, maybe not, I’d have to write it down”.  It forces you to face your diet and be responsible for your actions.  Try it out, let me know how it goes for you!

I’m embracing my part-hippie status.  I’m not sure I’m ready to give up everything about city living, e.g. the cute sandal wedges I ordered came in today, and I definitely tried them on with a few possible summer-evening bar night outfits.  And I’m not sure I could let my hair go free, sans-styling for longer than a few days or give up mascara.  However, I do think it’s important to not get too caught up in ego-focused things such as appearance, social status, reputation, and so on.  We all think about them sometimes, and we all act on ego-based impulses, just don’t let that rule your life.  There, that’s the end of my hippie-quote for the day.

I’m working on another cravings post that goes into some further detail about craving different textures, I’m getting lots of hits for that post!  Also stay tuned for a Mythbusting: Fats edition.  Any other requests? Email abigail@myinnerglow.com

My First WIAW

So, what does a nutritionist eat?  Well, every Wednesday (or the odd Wednesday, we’ll see how this one goes) I will be posting a WIAW: What I Ate Wednesday.  People hear all about what I don’t eat (at dinner, in the grocery store, after hearing I haven’t eaten chicken in months…) and might be left wondering, is this one of those nutritionists that survive on lemon water and air?  No ma’am, I most certainly am not.  The article that link goes to is a completely misconstrued view of how nutritionists eat, which is why I wanted to do this.  WIAW’s are not real posts, but hopefully they’ll provide you with some inspiration to start cookin’ (or something).

So today looked like:

Breakfast Juice (spinach, cucumber, lemon, ginger, parsley, carrots, apple) and a couple homemade mini muffins

Snack Sheep yogurt with homemade granola and a bit of stevia

Lunch Mixed greens with a couple sweet potato dumplings and a lentil pattie, topped with some dressing (tahini, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, pepper)

Snack Tea, a couple raw cookie dough balls

Preworkout Vega Sport preworkout boost

Dinner Lentil patties, sauteed kale with mushrooms, quinoa with caramelized onions

Dessert A scoop of Cappuccino Coconut Bliss, Creme Caramel tea

Also, I drank a lot of water.  Like, probably 20 cups.  It’s not hard to do when you have a water bottle that stares you down all day (well, it doesn’t stare me down, I stare me down from it’s reflective surface).  It’s amazing how much you’re not hungry so much as you are bored or emotional.

So, what’d you eat today?

Sundried Tomato and Mushroom Quinoa Recipe

I did a bit of sorting through my fridge and found I had half a jar of sun dried tomatoes sitting there.  Normally, I don’t like tomatoes that much, but I seriously love them sun dried!  The flavour, texture and saltiness of them really appeals to me.  So here’s what I made for dinner last night:

1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes, soaked in a bowl of warm water for 30 minutes to rehydrate (oil included)

3/4 cup quinoa, dry

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 bunches of green onions, chopped

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 cup of white mushrooms, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1. Rinse quinoa in cool water.  Place rinsed quinoa in a pot over medium-low heat and let water evaporate.  Add in 1.5 cups of water (use the water from soaking the tomatoes), bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes.
2. In a medium pan, combine chopped tomatoes, garlic and green onions with 1 teaspoon of olive oil.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the green onions are tender.  Mix in the basil and lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Mix in the mushrooms and cook for another 3-5 minutes (enough time to let the mushrooms “sweat” and shrink)
4. Add the mushroom-tomato mixture into the quinoa.  Serve garnished with almonds and add olive oil, salt or pepper to taste.  Makes enough to serve one, plus 1-2 servings of leftovers.

Yum!

How to Enjoy Cooking! My Top 3 Tips

I think I’ve figured out why people need guidance planning their meals for during the week: they aren’t excited about cooking, or what they’re cooking.

This is a rough generalization, but it occurred to me as I was looking through my fridge to figure out dinner.  I have all these containers filled with things I’ve made over the last couple of days, and they’re all delicious.  When I see a recipe I want to try, it’s all I can think about, and taking the trip to the grocery store for ingredients gets me genuinely excited.  If I could spent all of my money on good food and other health food store goodies like supplements and fancy water filters, I would.  Clothes shopping is great, but I have trouble spending $100 on chic, post-gym Lululemon sweaters when all I can think about is my grocery list.

Is that weird?

So for me, I don’t really plan my lunches and dinners simply because I cook so much that I tend to consistently have leftovers.  I’ve had clients tell me that setting aside time to cook just isn’t a priority for them, and they’ve wanted advice on how to eat on the go.  You know, like what are the healthy options at Subway.  I have a lot of trouble with this question because I can’t, from my professional standpoint, say that it’s going to be healthy for them.  Things like choosing whole unrefined grains, loading up on vegetables, skipping the dressing and the cheese, and portion control are all thing to keep in mind, but it’s really not enough.  Sorry, this is probably a bit disappointing for some of you.  Nothing the food court can offer will ever be as healthy or delicious as what you make at home (my boyfriend made a comment the other day that I was allergic to food courts… It could very well be true).  Not to mention how much money you save.

Here are my top three tips to enjoy cooking:

1.  Get inspired.  Start following food blogs and read their recipes.  You might not love every single thing they post, but it will probably inspire you to make something similar.  This is the main reason I cook: I see what other people are eating and I want it too.  Try going to a cooking class (if you live in Toronto, I can recommend some amazing ones!).  Here are some of the blogs I follow:

http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/

http://fullynourished.ca

http://www.healthyexposuresblog.com/

http://ohsheglows.com/

2.  If you have friends, roommates or a significant other (chances are you all have at least one of those), choose one day a week, or even a month that you’ll come together in the kitchen to make some beautiful foody love.  This night can be paired with a fair amount of wine or other beverages, and provide an amazing way to start a Saturday night.  Good food, some pinot grigio and a night out? Sounds perfect to me.

3.  Splurge a little bit.  This might be asking too much from some of you, but realize that what you eat is what your body makes itself out of.  If you put a deep fried french fry in your mouth, you’re going to feel like a deep fried french fry: fatty, gross, and filled with starch.  If you eat a mouthful of brown rice with grilled tempeh and miso gravy (see recipe here), you’re going to feel just like that: healthy, nutrient-dense, and happy.  So spend a little more on your food, as in, buying real foods, and enjoy what you’re eating.  I’ve found spending a few more cents on food I’ll enjoy makes me want to cook it.  Same goes for appliances.  If you need a food processor or a blender, find a cheap one to start with and try making some recipes.  Just having the appliance in your kitchen will remind you of that recipe you saw a while ago that used it, and will inspire you to start cooking.

What inspires you to cook?  Comment below!

Tempeh with Miso Gravy recipe

Lunch today has a bit Asian inspiration.  I made some brown rice and tempeh, prepared some bok choy and covered it in this miso gravy recipe I totally forgot I had!

1/2 cup dry brown rice

1 8 ounce block of organic tempeh

4 bunches of bok choy

Cook brown rice according to directions.  Cut up tempeh whichever way you like (I made them into tiny cubes) and fry in coconut oil for about 10 minutes, flipping the pieces every so often.  Rinse and lightly steam bok choy.  Make the miso gravy….

Miso Gravy Inspired by Eva Cabaca

1 tablespoon dark miso

2 tablespoons tahini

1/3-1/2 cup of orange juice (freshly squeezed if possible)

Mix miso and tahini together and slowly add in orange juice.  For a thicker gravy, add less juice.

…And make yourself a delicious bowl!  This recipe made enough for me to take for left overs tomorrow.  So yummy!

There is a fair amount of soy in this recipe with the miso and the tempeh.  You can see my post on soy here.  I’m using two of the best kinds of soy products, which are fermented.  The fermentation process makes it easier to digest since there are healthy bacterial cultures in tact.  Enjoy soy products in moderation.