Gluten Free Vegan French Toast

You know when you just can’t get a certain food off your mind? My breakfasts normally look like the same rotation of green smoothies, chocolate-green smoothies, and breakfast bowls. But then there are times that I crave meals like French toast, and I sit in my room pondering how to make this my reality.

And then I get in the kitchen and just fucking do it.

So here’s my take on vegan French toast. Enjoy.

Ingredients

¾ cup almond milk (or any non-dairy beverage)

2 tbsp brown rice flour or vanilla Sunwarrior protein powder

2 tbsp ground flax (or chia)

2 tbsp orange juice

1.5 tsp Xyla xylitol (or sucanat, coconut sugar)

Hearty dash of cinnamon

1 tbsp coconut oil

5 slices gluten-free bread (I used Food For Life brown rice slices)

Toppings: coconut butter, powdered stevia, cinnamon, maple syrup

Directions

1. Mix together all ingredients (except bread and oil) and let sit for 5ish minutes (to allow the flax to gelatinize and thicken the mixture).
2. Heat pan on medium level, add oil.
3. Soak each slice in cinnamon mixture and cook each side until golden brown.
4. Top with extra cinnamon, powdered stevia, coconut butter and maple.  Serve with a side of oranges and John Mayer.

Sweet Potato Workout Cake

I think sweet potato has got to be one of my all-time favourite slow burning carbohydrates. Not only because it’s delicious and can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes, it also has a minimal impact on your blood sugar levels (depending on how you prepare it, that is. A baked sweet potato has a higher glycemic index than a boiled or steamed sweet potato). What better way to spend a rainy long weekend than playing in the kitchen? This single-serve cake is a perfect pre-workout or afternoon snack, breakfast, or dessert. It provides hours of fuel and loads of deliciousness!

Ingredients

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and steamed

1/4 cup brown rice or quinoa flour (or even protein powder could work)

1 tbsp coconut oil, plus extra for greasing

1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

Pinch sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a ramekin or small dish with coconut oil.
2. Steam sweet potatoes and mash by hand or toss ‘em in the food processor.
3. Add flour and mix or process with the sweet potato. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix.
4. Scoop mixture into your ramekin and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy. Bonus: stick a square of dark chocolate into the middle of the cake when you pull it out and let it melt. Yummm. 

The Chocolatiest Breakfast Bowl That Ever Was

I have always been a chocoholic. Nine times out of ten, I will choose chocolate over any other flavour. While some people crave savoury flavours for breakfast, I use it as another opportunity to eat chocolate. And you know what? I don’t see anything wrong with it. It makes me really happy. A few weeks ago I found I had an abundance of chocolate-flavoured items in my house and decided to make the chocolatiest breakfast bowl that ever was.

The Chocolatiest Breakfast Bowl Ever

1/2 cup chocolate almond milk

1/2 cup chocolate (or regular) coconut water

1 serving chocolate Sunwarrior Warrior Blend protein powder

1 serving chocolate Amazing Grass greens powder or 1 large handful of spinach

1/2 frozen banana

Optional optimizers: 1 tsp maca powder, 1 tbsp coconut oil

Optional toppings: 1 handful chocolate Kaia raw granola (or regular granola), goji berries, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds

Directions

Blend all ingredients (except toppings) and pour into a bowl. Top with your, erm, toppings, and enjoy! Smoothies in a bowl taste better. Especially ones of the chocolate variety. Happy weekend! XO

 

Infuse Some Love into Your Mornings

I just have a short post for tonight! I wanted to share how happy little things make me, a realization I’ve been reminded of recently. The last couple of weeks I’ve been using a heart-shaped ice cube tray to freeze leftover Americano and other liquid goodies. Each time I pop out a little cube, I feel a little burst of rainbows explode inside of me. It’s magical! It also reminds me that summer is coming, because that’s one of the biggest associations I have with iced espresso. Anyways, I love remembering how happy I get from such small changes in my everyday routine. It’s inspired me take some cool pictures and write up new recipes. Here’s my latest:

Sweetheart Espresso Floats

1 cup of almond milk

5-6 drops of English toffee stevia

8 ounces of frozen heart-shaped Americano

Mix milk and stevia together and drop in the heart cubes. Allow the cubes to melt a little bit and sip away. Optional: warm the milk and stevia first make melting a bit easier.

Homemade Mocha Iced Capps

I can smell spring in the air when I step outside. Nothing quite says summertime like a good ol’ iced cappuccino. I remember the milk-and-sugar-laden concoction from Tim Hortons well. The whipped cream on top with sweet sugary frozen caffeinated goodness underneath. The almost flavourless ice left at the bottom every time.

The bloating and the blood sugar crashes. Good times.

Needless to say when I woke up to a particularly balmy morning here in Vancouver, I immediately went to my freezer to pull out some frozen Americano cubes. Enter, vegan mocha iced capps.

Ingredients

8 ounces of frozen Americano

½ cup almond milk

1-2 teaspoons cacao or cocoa powder

8 drops English toffee stevia

½ tsp maca powder (optional)

Directions

Add all ingredients into the blender and slurp away! Sun, warmth, and tan not included.

No leaves in my salad please!

No leaves in my salad please!

You know those days when you look in your fridge and see so many great ingredients, but no clue what to do with them? I realized that all you have to do is toss them in a bowl together and drizzle them with dressing. Cool, eh? Lately I’ve been into super simple “chunky salads”. These salads are fully forkable, with no leaves in sight (I’ve preferred to drink my spinach and kale leaves these days).

Creamy Citrus Chunky Summer Salad

Serves one, multiply to your hearts content!

Ingredients

½ avocado

½ cucumber

½-1 orange

Small handful of parsley

¼ lemon

1 tbsp oil

pinch sea salt

¼ tsp dill

Directions

1. Chop up the ‘cado, cuc, orange and parsley into chunks.
2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Toss and serve.

Cool Black Bean Cucumber Chunk Salad

Serves one, multiply to your hearts content!

Ingredients

½ cup black beans (Eden Organic canned and washed, or homemade)

1/3 cucumber

½ pear

1 tsp honey

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Pinch sea salt

Directions

1. Chop up cucumber and pear and toss in a bowl with black beans
2. Whisk together ingredients and pour over the salad. Toss and serve.

Living, and Eating, In the Moment

I was happy to discover that the Maple Leaf Lounge has some healthy options

Traveling does a funny thing to me: I tend to “allow” myself to eat foods I don’t normally consume (keep in mind, I am an avid flexitarian, and I set flexible guidelines for my dietary choices based on how my body feels). During my trip to Toronto, I woke up one morning to some freshly, made-with-love whole wheat bread. Normally I forgo wheat, since it doesn’t get along with my body all that well.  But hey, it was still warm from the oven, what was I gonna say? No, I don’t want your beautiful bread topped with local Ontario honey, almond butter and banana? Sorry, I’d rather stare at it longingly wishing that “I ate wheat”?

I could also make the argument that the dialogue would be more like “Sorry, I don’t want to cripple my guts by eating gluten”.  I get that.

Instead I decided to live in the moment.  In that moment, my eyes widened and my stomach growled and my legs lurched me forward towards the kitchen where I carefully sliced two pieces of bread for Kelsey and I.

And you know what? I felt great.  The mindset you have while eating impacts your body that much. It’s not something I eat all the time, and the circumstance – made with love, fresh, and my body literally pulling me towards it – called for it. I didn’t think “Damn I’m going to have the worst stomach cramps after this,” I thought “Oh my gosh, this is freaking delicious” and savored every crumb.

So what’s the difference between eating and living in the moment, and letting your food “exceptions” get out of control? Well the first way to tell the difference is by checking in.  You already know which foods you usually avoid and why.  If you find yourself craving them or being drawn to them, stop and ask yourself why that is. Is it because you don’t have any other choice, or is it because you had a crappy day and it’s your comfort food? Change your mindset: If you’re travelling and really don’t have any other food choice, reframe your thinking. Try, “Wow, I’m so grateful to have this food! My body loves and can handle eating this right now because it’s nourishing me.” If you simply crave the food, not because you’re hungry (and are probably quite emotional at the same time), try thinking “I am safe to be in control of my emotions.  I fill myself only with the clean food that my body enjoys and absorbs. I eat only foods that make my mind, body and spirit feel good.” Breathe. Pause. Repeat.

I love traveling. I love the excitement of the plane taking off, and exploring new cities.  The places I will travel to might not always be able to accommodate my food choices. The friends I have don’t all subscribe to the same dietary guidelines as me. Living in the moment keeps me grounded, and eating in the moment keeps my body and mind happy. Don’t take life so seriously, you’ll miss out on Kodak moments and freshly baked bread.

Sometimes it helps to have someone hear you out on your food cravings, and help you sort out why you’re drawn to certain foods. Sometimes, that someone is me abigail@abigailchristens.com.

The Ins and Outs of Reading Nutrition Labels

If only it were this easy!

It’s recently been brought to my attention that people still pay attention to calories.  I chuckled a little bit when I realized this.  It’s been so far off of my radar, I kind of forgot about it. Every so often I get this urge to write a post about nutrition.  I mean, I’m a CNP and all that but my focus has been elsewhere these days. Nonetheless, this is a question that is often overlooked.  What’s the deal with food labels?

Okay, well let’s start with the obvious. What is a calorie? It is the energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water through 1 degree Celsius.

Did anyone else just have a WTF run through their head? Even as a nutritionist, reading this definition just boggles my mind. We’re so focused on the word “calorie” when it comes to weight loss and weight gain.  What bears more importance on food labels are the macronutrients: fat, carbs and protein. If it was all about calories, you could eat a specific amount of ice cream or cookies, and still lose weight (sadly, there are people that have made money off of this idea).

Does your cereal have 14+ grams of sugar in it? You’re basically eating candy for breakfast. Does your total protein intake average of 30+ grams of protein? Your body is going to have a tough time digesting that.  Sorry, how many grams of hydrogenated fat are in your food court lunch? Jeeze louise, that’s a little worrisome. Some labels try to justify these ridiculous numbers with the micronutrients, “Contains 50% of the daily recommended vitamin B6…”.  That’s great, but what form are these vitamins and minerals in? Foods that have been “fortified” don’t count (sorry, Wonderbread) since your body can’t recognize and absorb them.

Also check out the serving size. If the serving size is ridiculous compared to the other numbers (for example, if there are 34 grams of sugar in each cookie you have at Starbucks, that is WAY too much for just one cookie!).

Above and beyond the numbers of your meal, what are the ingredients? This is what you should be looking at. Food labels are listed with the most amount of ingredients to the least.  If the first ingredient is sugar… well, that means that there is more sugar than anything else in your food. And even if the last ingredient is FD&C Blue Nos. 1, it still means there is food dye that has been linked to ADHD and other “diseases” in your meal. A food with high fat content from coconut or avocado is WAY healthier and an encouraged choice, whereas if it is from a vegetable oil source, you should steer clear.

If you can understand the ingredients, you’re off to a great start.  If you still need some help, hit me up, abigail@abigailchristens.com

7 Things You Can Do to Feel Better Instantly

Everybody’s looking for a quick fix.  Whether it’s to lose weight or achieve their dreams, people are searching for the magic pill or perfect practice to make their lives “better”. There’s a tendency to believe that what we want is outside of who are already are.  You want world peace? Ask how at peace are you with yourself, your body, and your life. You want to lose 30 pounds? Ask how much extra “baggage” are you carrying emotionally. It’s not that we’re hypocrites, most of the time we’re just not aware of the inner turmoil we have going on.  You have to dive deep to find the answers you’re looking for.

All that being said, there are things you can do right NOW that will help you feel better instantly.  Keep in mind that you have to do these things consistently to see and feel real change in your life.

1. Breathe more deeply. I find this is especially useful when I’m eating, since it allows me to feel how full I’m getting and actually enjoy my meal. Breathe deep into your belly, feeling your diaphragm expand.  Breathing lowers your stress levels, rids your body of up to 70% of toxins, increases your energy, improves your digestive, immune, nervous and cardiovascular systems, relieves pain and helps you let go of tension.  Here is one simple deep breathing technique you can try: breathe in through your nose for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, and slowly exhale for 5 seconds through your nose. Repeat 5 times.
2. Drink water as soon as you wake up (well, drink more water in general).  It helps you wake up and gets your digestive system
   

   Average work day: green tea tumbler, Santevia water bottle, Klean Kanteen bottle to refill the Santevia!

   moving (nothing starts the day off right quite like a great bowel movement).  I drink around 3 to 4 cups first thing. I find that keeping water right next to my bed helps me to keep this habit up.  Your body needs water, especially after seven to nine hours of not drinking any.

3. Add spinach to your smoothies.  Spinach, kale, chard, chlorella tablets… whatever.  Just add something green.  Greens help to increase your energy, alkalize your body, provide a dose of antioxidants and phytonutrients, and generally just make you feel amazeballs. Plus, you can hardly taste them in a smoothie.  If you’re really worried about your smoothie tasting too green (as if there was such a thing), start with spinach and work your way up.
4. Go outside.  Coming from a mainly self-employed bloggerista, trust me when I say going outside for some fresh air makes a huge difference in your overall state.  I work from home (or next door to home in a coffee shop) and I know how easy it is to forget there even is an “outside”.  I’m sure everyone working in an office can relate. We can live without water for weeks and without food for months – oxygen is the most important nutrient we need. In efforts to save on fuel costs, we insulate offices and buildings that cut off our fresh oxygen supply. Even if it’s just for 5 minutes, go outside and get some fresh air.  Practice deep breathing (see point #1) and notice how much more calm and happy you feel.
5. Throw on your favourite song. I told you guys about how music keeps me in flow.  Listening to music releases endorphins and makes you happy.  Seriously it’s that simple.  An epic track can change everything.
6. Put your fork down between bites.  It can be tempting to shovel food into your mouth sometimes, such as when you’re eating a delicious meal or eating at your desk.  Enjoying food is one of the simple pleasures us humans take for granted.  Unlike the little lovepuff wonderdog I live with, I get to actually enjoy each morsel I put in my mouth instead of inhaling it. You also give your body time to recognize when it’s getting full.  As you eat, your stomach expands.  This expansion helps to tell the brain when it’s getting full and to stop eating.  This technique also helps to balance your weight and allows you to get to know your body.
7. Smile more!! The simple act of smiling, even if you’re not in a particularly good mood, makes your brain THINK you’re in a good mood, and releases happy endorphins.  Let’s say that smiling just because is like eating more vegetables.  It’s good for you, so you should probably do more of it.  Step up your happiness-intake by smiling at strangers, laughing more, or performing random acts of awesomeness   There’s no losing in this situation.

There you have it folks.  Change your life in seven simple steps.  Instantly.

To Detox, or Not to Detox?

Remember that time I started a blog and stopped writing on it?

Yeah, sorry.  It tends to be a pattern I have.  Granted, I have had quite a few major changes happen in my life.  Like moving across the country, quitting my job, and pursuing a career in Vancouver.  Not to mention Christmas time, New Years, a trip to Alberta, and learning how to unplug and spend time with the amazing people I am surrounded with.

So it’s the New Year now, and I have been toying with the idea of a cleanse for a few weeks.  First, I wanted to do a 30-day juice cleanse (watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead helped encourage that).  But given that January is probably THE WORST month for fresh produce, I thought better of it. The winter is a time when the body draws inwards, and wants warm, comforting foods (although I have to say, as a TO girl, Vancouver’s winter feels more like March or April to me).

My latest creation: nutty chocolate brownie bites dipped in maple-almond chocolate sauce, dusted with cinnamon, cayenne and sea salt

Then I got onto the idea of the Master Cleanse (aka the Lemonade Cleanse, the Beyonce Diet, and so on).  It’s basically just drinking spicy lemonade and salt water for 10 days.  I thought, 10 days, no problem.  I watered that idea down to 3 days to give my body a chance to adjust.  By 5 pm on my first day I basically said eff this and made a bowl of quinoa, kale and avocado with some tamari.  The whole starving yourself thing is not for me.  And spicy lemonade doesn’t taste that good, bee tee dubs.

The New Plan:

I’ve decided that starting my day with some lemon juice and warm water is a MUCH better way to do it (plus, I have tons of lemons in my house right now).  I’ve also found that eating less, chewing thoroughly, and really tasting my food helps me too.

A lot of the stress of digestion occurs in the beginning.  When we don’t chew our food, it allows for big chunks of food to putrefy in our intestines and cause gas and bloating.  Chew your food till it’s mush, taste your food (because you can, it’s one of the simple pleasures in life) and take smaller portions.  Chewing your food will give your body more time to realize when it’s full, and when it’s still hungry.  Tasting your food will allow your mind to savour and enjoy the meal rather than scarfing it down.

These three things alone will improve your digestion and let your body detox itself naturally, rather than having to work overtime to compensate for your mouth not breaking down your food.  Come springtime, a proper whole food cleanse is definitely in store.  I’m also psyched for my summertime juice cleanse! (I found an awesome Champion juicer on Craigslist for $100)

Don’t forget to breathe, too.  I find that deep breathing helps with my overall sense of well-being (thank you yoga for bringing that to my attention).  Most of us take shallow chest breaths, but you’ll feel a difference in your satiety if you take deeper, big belly breaths.  It puts your mind in touch with how full your stomach is getting and gets oxygen flowing to your extremities and insides.

These are all things we know but don’t always remember.  We can easily find ourselves in a rush to just get some food down the pipe and get on with our day.  I’d like to extend on “We are what we eat” to “We are what we eat, and HOW we eat”.  Eat with consciousness

Some changes and upheavals will be happening for my blog in the near future.  Get ready 2012!