Guilt-Free Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole / Cheese sauce

I'll admit, I ate more than my fair share of the unhealthy version of this over the holidays.  It's soooo good... I honestly don't know what the original recipe is for it, but I doubt it's really all that good for you.  So I made my own!  I used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, since there really isn't much nutritional value in rice and it's waaay too high in carbohydrates, beings that it's a grain.  Granted, it's a better grain than others since it's naturally gluten-free, but, well, go back and read about carbohydrates if you want to know more.  Bottom line, carbs=sugar, and excess sugar without proper nutrients to help digest it will only weaken the immune system and set you up for trouble.  100 grams of rice contains 77 grams of carbs.  Swapping it out for cauliflower, you get 5 grams of carbs per 100 gram serving.  Plus all the nutritional benefits of its veggie glory, I'll take that over the rice!

Cheese... yeah I need to substitute that... still haven't pried myself away from all dairy, though my family and I cut out cow's milk completely.  It's just that cheese... it tastes so good... one of these days I'll get there.  We don't eat much of it, so that probably helps.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  I'm excited about this!  It's definitely delicious and satisfying!  And I felt way better after eating a heaping scoop of this as opposed to the rice version.  Still had energy to wash dishes rather than head straight to the couch, too.

The cheese sauce can probably be used for a variety of different purposes - I made it separate and added it into the broccoli and cauliflower, and it was a great consistency for broccoli by itself, or whatever else you'd want to add cheese sauce to.  I'll have to experiment with that in the future!

Here's how it's made:

1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
2 1/2 cups cubed cheese of choice - I used colby as that's what we had on hand
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
Dash of black pepper
3 tbsp arrowroot powder

Heat the coconut milk and cheese in a sauce pan over medium heat until cheese begins to melt.  Add in the garlic, paprika, and black pepper and continue to stir.  Little by little, about a half tbsp at a time, whisk in the arrowroot powder (I just used a fork to do this) to help the sauce thicken.  Take off the heat once the cheese is completely melted and the sauce is smooth.



For the broccoli "rice" casserole:

1/4 - 1/2 head of broccoli, cut into small florets (including the stems)
1/2 head cauliflower

Steam the broccoli florets in a steamer basket over boiling water until crisp-tender.  Meanwhile, pulse the cauliflower in a food processor (or if you don't have one, use a food chopper or a cheese grater, but that takes forever so I highly recommend a food processor) until it reaches the consistency of rice.  Combine the broccoli and cauli-rice in a pot and stir in the cheese sauce.  Cook over medium-low heat to soften the cauliflower a bit and heat all the way through.  Serve hot and enjoy!

My New Year's Resolutions

Sometime in December, not even a month ago, I was putting lots of thought into the upcoming year.  Here's an idea of what my list of resolutions looked like:

• Be even more strict with the Paleo diet - fewer cheat meals, and remove even more of what remaining junk food we do have in the house
• Exercise at least 3 times a week instead of the 2 days I had been doing
• Blog more often
• Eliminate chemicals by making our own household cleaners and detergents

And here we are, a week into the new year, and I'm still eating left over junk from the holidays, have been too busy or snowed in to exercise, and have been blogging about as much as I did before.  I did make more laundry detergent though, which I'll post a recipe for eventually.

Thing is, I don't think I like the feeling of self-defeat I bestow upon myself when I fail to stick to my resolutions.  I've decided to revamp my resolution list:

• Continue to enjoy the clean-eating lifestyle I've already adapted to, and work gently towards having stronger will power to avoid junk like when we go out to eat or if junk food finds its way into the house
• Exercise when I can, within the allowance of my busy lifestyle, but in the meantime manage to stick with the 2-day-a-week schedule that I've already found to be working for me
• Blog as often as I want
• Eliminate chemicals gradually by making our own household cleaners and detergents 
• Don't beat myself up if I don't stick with these resolutions
• And, most importantly, enjoy and be grateful for the healthy lifestyle I have established and been living and enjoying the many health benefits of over the past few years.

That last one is the main one - should be at the top of the list.  I am grateful for this health journey I've been on.  I'm proud that I've raised a healthy 2 and a half year old boy, I'm proud to have beaten postpartum depression naturally, I'm proud to have lost all of the excess weight I gained from pregnancy and then some, I'm proud of the strength my body has built through crossfit, I'm proud of how I've managed my busy lifestyle and made time to make myself a healthier person, and I'm so grateful to have a husband who's totally on board and supportive of our lifestyle change.  I love that I got to start this blog and that it has gained such popularity - I love knowing that so many people are interested in healthy lifestyle choices too, and I love knowing that I can help.

When I think about it, I don't really want to be too "out there" with my lifestyle.  I want to do what's comfortable and enjoyable for us, and reasonable too.  I've been reading so many articles about Paleo/clean eating, green living, healthy/natural child-rearing, chemical-free lifestyles, natural healing, etc., etc., etc.  One common thing I've thought while reading all this stuff is - would I really ever be able to go as hard-core as some of these people writing these articles?

Here's where I am:

-- We have pretty much eliminated bad carbs and junk food at our home.  I no longer buy bread, pasta, rice, sugar, potatoes, anything prepackaged in boxes, etc.  We still have a few junk food items around, though - pretzels, popcorn, and fruit snacks, for instance (although the popcorn is now popped at home without trans fats and the fruit snacks have no artificial colors or flavors).  We also make some unhealthy choices when we go out to eat.  Sure, I'll order salads, baked chicken or fish, but then I'll also eat a breaded, deep-fried appetizer.  Do I see myself ever giving this up ENTIRELY?  Probably not.

-- I love the idea of going green.  Love the idea of saving the environment, love the idea of reducing chemicals in our home, love the idea of the money it saves, totally supportive of people who go all-out with this sort of lifestyle.  I make my own laundry detergent, plan on making my own dish detergent but for the time being I buy the green stuff, and I've made a lot of my own surface cleaners (although I do use conventional cleaners in the bathroom - they may contain harmful chemicals but bathroom bacteria scares me at the same time... so I take my chances in there).  But I doubt I'll stop using plastic water bottles when I'm out, I like the idea of using cloth towels and napkins in the kitchen rather than paper but I don't see that happening either, I'm still going to dry my clothes in a dryer instead of hanging them to dry (I hang dry sometimes, but the dryer is so much quicker), I'm still going to sweep my floors with a Swiffer and then throw the pad away.

-- I'm a pretty all-natural mom - I don't administer drugs to my child (or myself) - if any of us get sick I turn to herbal remedies or homeopathy before anything else, and it's worked 100% of the time so far.  I breastfed him for 17 months, cloth diapered him at least 70% of the time, and make sure his diet is as healthy as can be.  But he still eats junk.  He still eats hot dogs or pizza or macaroni and cheese.  We let him have grilled cheese sandwiches when we go out to eat.  He gets plenty of sugar when he goes to his grandparents' houses, whether I like it or not.  I probably won't pack his lunches when he starts school unless he wants me to.  I don't want to be strict or overbearing.  I feel that's a mistake a lot of parents make, and it eventually leads to a lot of problems when it comes to kids making their own healthy food choices - they associate healthy eating with strict rules and limitations, and who wants to abide by that?  My goal is to make our healthy lifestyle enjoyable.  I'll educate him along the way, but ultimately, he's his own person and will make his own decisions.  The best I can do is give him enough information and guidance that he can make confident decisions.

I'm just going to take it easy on myself this year.  Work on my will power, but not beat myself up over the occasional bad decision.  I'm going to enjoy life - I enjoy cooking and I enjoy eating healthy and creating new healthy recipes, so I'm going to stick with that.  And more than likely cheat on occasion.  I like the idea of eliminating chemicals in our home and finding ways to do so, so I'll explore making my own cleaners and detergents when I have time.  I love Crossfit, and I'm going to stick with it, but not allow myself to get upset or angry with self-defeat if I miss a week.

Most of all, I'm going to try to live in the present.  That IS a resolution I need to commit more to keeping.  I spend so much time planning ahead, deciding what I'm going to do or what I intend to getting around to doing, that I forget what's going on right now in the moment.  I'll find myself dwelling on past mistakes, or fearing possible future outcomes, that it keeps me from enjoying what's going on NOW.  And there's a lot going on now!  I've got a very entertaining little two-year-old, a husband whom I love dearly, a house that's being built, and a thriving business, just to name a few things.  Sure, some things require planning ahead, but nothing requires obsessing over it to the point where I'm distracted from my current life.  I'm going to live day by day, enjoying my family, my business, my construction progress, my food, my exercise, my hobbies, and my life.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year! Guilt-Free Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Well, we're nearly a week into 2014 and I'd say it's off to a pretty good start so far.  Our new house now has drywall, my first week back to work after the Christmas holiday has been insanely busy, and my cousin got married yesterday which was beautiful and lots of fun.

We rang in the new year at my friend Kayla's house, which doubled as a surprise birthday party for her dad, which was a blast.  Harlee almost outlived me!  I was beat, he was running around with noisemakers until past midnight, and was wide awake the whole way home!  This kid not only inherited my night owl characteristic, but I think he outright stole it from me...

Then this threat came in for another "snowpocolypse" with blizzard-like conditions and life-threatening situations, etc. etc.  While everyone else was stocking up on bread, eggs, and milk, I battled the insanity of the stores for bananas and other assortment of fruits (which I was out of anyway).  What's the deal with bread, eggs, and milk anyway?  Those are the first items to go when there's a threat of a blizzard or terrible weather conditions.  Wouldn't you want to stock up on non-perishables like canned goods or something?  Thanks to our diet change, bread and milk aren't things we stock our shelves with anyway, and eggs are something we're stocked up on regardless, so all I needed to worry about were things we were out of, in the event that we get snowed in - it'd be nice to have some extra fruit in the house.  I'm glad I did, too, because those bananas came in handy for this recipe I'm about to share.

Luckily the bad weather held off until this (Sunday) morning, so the wedding and reception were safe, and we had a great time celebrating Mike and Theresa's marriage until the snow started coming down later that night and we decided to head home.

And this morning there was probably about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground.  It's still coming down, so it'll wind up being deeper I'm sure, but doesn't seem like the blizzard they warned us about.  But still, the weather stations are still saying to stay put, so fine, we'll stay put.  And use one of those bananas I had bought in preparation for this blizzard to make this delicious peanut butter banana breakfast bread!

There are two things I'm going to tweak next time - one less egg (I originally used 3), and use a much riper banana.  I only like to eat green bananas, so that's what I had on hand since I just bought them, so it didn't provide that signature banana flavor you'd expect in a banana bread, but it was still good.  Only other thing was it was almost too dense, so one less egg should work better.  But, that being said, this was still awesome and delicious.  I sliced a piece in half and slathered some butter on it along with some of Kayla's organic strawberry jalapeno jelly and my, my, my it was soooo good.  Great way to start this snow day!

This recipe was adapted from the Paleo Breakfast Bread recipe from Elana's Pantry but since I didn't have almond butter I had to change it, and since I was changing it I figured I'd change it even more, and ta-da, this is what I got!


Here's how it goes:

1 cup natural, unsweetened peanut butter
1 ripe banana
2 eggs
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp stevia
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat  oven to 325 degrees.

With a hand mixer, blend the peanut butter with the banana.  Add in the eggs, honey, and stevia and mix until smooth.  Mix in the salt and baking soda.

Transfer the thick batter to a greased (either with coconut oil or butter) 8x8" baking dish and bake for 15-25 min or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cut, serve, and enjoy!

And stay tuned, I'll make this again once my bananas turn brown and let you know how my modifications go.  But for now, enjoy this!  It's pretty darn good!