Preparing for Changes in 2014

It's after 4pm and I JUST realized it's Friday, meaning Guilt-Free Friday, meaning I need to blog something...  I haven't been cooking much lately, which is sad.  Christmas cookies?  Yeah, didn't happen - only the two recipes I posted, and I hardly ate any of them.  Just haven't been interested.  It's been a... different... month for me.  I have to apologize to all you readers for going MIA, but I fully intend to get back into the swing of things as soon as possible.  There have been a lot of changes happening, all good ultimately, but they've sort of interfered with my life and lifestyle.  Why must the holiday season be so difficult for someone trying to live a healthy lifestyle??  I have fallen off the Paleo wagon so badly it's embarrassing.  But I must say, I am SO proud of and SO happy for all of you who did so well sticking with it.  I watch some of your posts on Facebook or your messages to me and see that you're trying out some of my recipes for family gatherings and you're doing so well with it.  That's awesome.  That's what I wanted - to help you all find an easy, enjoyable way to switch over to a healthy lifestyle.  I have a few things on my plate that's made it a bit more difficult than before to stick with certain things, which I promise to share more about within the next month or two, but I'm working hard on psyching myself up to start fresh again with the New Year.  2014 will come with a lot of changes that were inspired by events in 2013 - eye openers that reminded me we're not invincible, that we need to take extra care of ourselves NOW to enjoy our lives both now and LATER.   I want that for everyone else too.  I want everyone to see what I've seen, to know what I know, and to feel the motivation to take care of yourselves before it's too late.  Let's all make 2014 a year of positive changes.

One of my blogging New Year's resolutions is to focus more on mental health.  That's one thing I've been struggling with, which I know is probably 80% related to my poor diet lately, but also hormonally and possibly due to circumstances as well.  But it's something that's ignored way too often.  Something that's brushed over like it's not really worth considering or taking into account.  Like it doesn't matter when it comes to the big picture of general health.  But it does, and I know that for a fact personally.  I want to talk more about the importance of sleep, the importance of exercise, and get more into how diet affects your mood and mental health.  How hormones work and why they're so important and how to take care of them. I also want to talk about alternatives to psychiatric drugs, which I feel are SO dangerous and over-prescribed and can lead to problems far worse than what you were dealing with to begin with.

And for my personal New Year's resolutions - to get back into my healthy lifestyle stronger than before.  To exercise more.  To make sure my family is healthy and strong.  And to inspire more people to work towards better health and to realize the importance of taking care of yourself now.

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season.  We've got one last Christmas gathering tomorrow night and then it's on to New Year's celebrations and onward into 2014.  I'm excited for the new year.  It's going to be a good one!

Guilt-Free Sunday: Snickerdoodles

Here I go again, shirking my duties.  I'll be honest, I've been feeling pretty crappy over the weekend.  Head cold gone totally out of control... sinus pressure that made my head feel like someone poured cement into my skull, drainage that made it hard for me to keep anything down... I'll spare you the rest of the details.  I'll admit, I've been slacking a bit on the natural prevention.  I know it's the season to get sick.  I know everyone around us has been getting sick - Harlee's around other kids at the babysitter's, I'm working directly on people all day at my job - we're bound to contract something.  It was pretty stupid of me not to take precautionary measures like the Thieves oil on our feet every night or taking olive leaf extract supplements or upping the vitamin C or ecchinacea. And now this happens.  Harlee got it too but his didn't last as long.   I didn't get so lucky.  Finally yesterday we went to the chiropractor and got us both adjusted and she did acupuncture in my face for my sinuses.  That was a first!  I've had acupuncture tons of time before but never in my face.  Well it worked!  I'm going to have to blog about acupuncture one of these days.  I can't get over how amazingly effective it is for EVERYthing.  I felt my sinus pressure shifting and moving, lots of popping and cracking in my head, and I felt like I had a whole new skull after that.  Except instead of draining out my nose, it continued to drain into my stomach.  Made for an unpleasant day.  Finally this morning I'm starting to feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  Figured I'd at last get this blog post up.  Which I did not write in advance - had I done that you would have seen it sooner.

Oh well, here it is now.  Snickerdoodles!  I stole this recipe from Elana's Pantry and altered it a bit.  I made it exactly the first time and while it was absolutely delicious it was hard to work with.  Very crumbly.  So I added an egg and everything worked out great after that.  I think her intent was to make it a vegan recipe, but that doesn't apply to me.  Eggs are so crazy good for you, why would you ever omit them?

For those of you who attended my last healthy eating class in Red Bud, these are not the snickerdoodles we served there.  Those were okay, but had molasses in them, which isn't an ingredient I'd usually associate with snickerdoodles.  To me, a snickerdoodle is a basic sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar and smooshed flat.  That's what I grew up on anyway.  Well these hit the nail on the head!  I tried making snickerdoodles last year and they weren't very good either.  I'm so happy I finally found the recipe that works!  I'll be sticking with this one.

Here's how it goes:

2 cups almond flour
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut oil or pastured butter
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar for dipping
1 tbsp cinnamon for dipping



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl beat together the egg, oil or butter, and honey.  Stir in the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon until you get a dough.  Scoop a small spoonful of dough and roll into a ball - I made mine about the size of a ping pong ball or just a touch smaller.  Briefly dip the ball in a bowl of water then place in the bowl of palm sugar and cinnamon and coat.  I found it best to designate one hand for dipping in water and one hand for dipping in the sugar mixture - reduces the mess that way.  Place the ball on a parchment paper line baking sheet.  Continue to place the balls on the sheet until full, spacing about two inches apart.  Flatten all of them with the palm of your hand.  Place in the preheated oven for about 7-9 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!

Guilt-Free Friday: Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake Cookies and Snow Ice Cream

It's cookie baking season!  I've got some good ones to share this time.  I was almost late posting this, it's been an eventful day, but I'm here just in time.  Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of these and they all got eaten up before I realized that, so I'm just going to have to make them again, darn...
*Update: just made more and now there are pictures, see below!  But they looked better on my phone than they do on the computer... but hopefully you get the idea...

A little update, here's our house as of Monday this past week - all the stone is finished on the garage and on that section that juts out, but obviously I haven't been too on-the-ball with the camera, so I'll have to get you an updated picture soon.  But we have soffit, siding, garage doors, custom kitchen backsplash windows, and a lot of progress on brick and stone.  And 8-10 inches of stone that came a bit too early, otherwise the masonry would be done... but oh well.

Here's our pretty town all lit up for Christmas... minus the giant bradford pear trees that used to really add something to the scene but I guess it's still pretty without them...

Justin got a deer!  Yay for meat in the freezer!  Not sure what kind of face Harlee is making there... hard to take pictures in the dark...

He LOVED the snow.  He did not want to come inside!

I finally convinced him to come in by bribing him with snow ice cream.  It was YUMMY!  Just fill a bowl up with snow, pour in about 1/4 cup of almond milk or coconut milk, a packet of stevia (like 1/4 tsp probably), and we added some chocolate chips too.  Mix it all together and voila!  Good stuff!

Had to get the kiddo some snow boots.  Those things are expensive knowing that they'll only be worn a handful of times... oh well, we'll make lots of memories playing in the snow in them.  I also dropped my phone in the toilet.  That was nice.  I hate how dependent I am on my phone, and how lost I felt without it, but I guess that's what happens when you run a business off the thing.  So we battled the nasty conditions and headed north to get me a new phone and Harlee some new boots.  Glad that's over with!

So.  The cookies.  Oh my these are heavenly.  They're based off of the sweet potato brownie recipe, but I got tired of picking brownies out of the pan and figured it would be easier to grab a cookie instead.  I altered the recipe so they'd hold up better like a cookie, and with great success!  They're super cakey and moist, mmm... These are definitely on my Christmas cookie list!  Once I make another batch I'll post a picture of them.

One fun memory of my Granny was last year she somehow got roped into making cookies every month for a good friend of the family.  I can't remember how exactly that all went down, I think he said he didn't think she'd make it an entire year delivering cookies to him every month, so she took it as a challenge and successfully made 12 batches of cookies, all with entertaining jokes attached like delivering them in a giant popcorn tin but stuffing the bottom 3/4 of it with packing peanuts so he THOUGHT he was getting a lot.  I think she delivered one batch in a hospital bed pan too...  Anyway, now that she's no longer with us, he wasn't sure who was going to supply him his Christmas cookies, so I offered, saying I needed a guinea pig for my healthy recipes.  He was a bit leery of the "healthy" aspect... but nonetheless I had Justin drop these cookies off for him and didn't tell him they were made of sweet potatoes, and he responded with great praise for them.  He loved them, and was very surprised to find out about the secret ingredient!  Harlee loved them too, and I must say I couldn't get enough, so they definitely passed the test.  Delicious.  Go make them.  Here's how:


2 small sweet potatoes, baked at 425 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until soft and skin is peeling off.

3 eggs at room temperature

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup honey (or liquid sweetener)

2/3 cup almond flour

3 tbsp coconut flour

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3/4+ cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let the sweet potatoes cool to room temperature.  Beat the sweet potatoes and the eggs until soft peaks form.  Mix in the coconut oil and honey.  Add in all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix into a thick, sticky batter.  Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if you're adding those).  Spoon about a tablespoon of batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, each spoonful spaced about an inch or so apart (they don't spread out much).  Flatten them out a bit, as they don't do that very well on their own.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool and try not to eat them all at once!

Guilt-Free Friday-Turned-Saturday: Pop-Tarts / Breakfast Pastries

Here's little man with Daddy at the Red Bud Lighted Parade

I was doing good for awhile there, posting Guilt-Free FRIDAY recipes on FRIDAYs.  But, I've been on a slight bit of overload lately, and yesterday just slipped out from under me.  The new house has finally been picking up a little more momentum and Harlee started potty training - he's been at it for a little over a week now and he has been doing AWESOME - spent the last two days going potty all by himself without me having to ask him.  Goodbye diaper days!!  I can honestly say I don't understand those parents who get all teary about their kids growing up - I LOVE it.  I love all these new phases and next steps he enters into.  Like lately his imagination has been developing.  He'll sit at the stove with me and play with utensils over an empty pan and say he's cooking eggs.  He'll ask me to "taste" them but warn me that their "too hot".  THIS is what I've been waiting for.  I'm not really a newborn kind of person.  But this imaginative toddler thing?  LOVE it.  I don't miss those baby days at all but I made sure to savor them while they were there, just as I am doing with these days, and I can't wait for all the new adventures his little life brings us.

But on top of all that, I've been needing to get ready for the Christmas home tour put on by the Red Bud Chamber of Commerce.  No, the new house is not on the tour - that seems to be the popular question - the current house we live in is on the tour, in hopes that somebody might be interested in buying it, as it's for sale.  Since we have to move and all.  But I wasn't sure if the move would happen before Christmas or not, so to be on the safe side (and not have to unpack and repack and unpack and repack a whole bunch of Christmas decorations) I decorated for Thanksgiving.  But before we did that we had to pack up the majority of our junk and start hauling it out to the new house.  It's insane how much stuff a small family can accumulate through a few short years.  So many boxes are moved out to the new house and I don't even miss any of it... I think I'm just going to have a huge garage sale or something just so none of it has to come into the new house once it's finished.  But anyway.  It was a lot of work, balanced amongst Justin working 13 hour shifts 7 days a week for a month and a half, me picking up more clients at my business, and trying to run the household as we know it.  Craziness!  Needless to say I rejoiced when Justin got laid off from this last job.  Whew!  Mostly because he cleans better than I do... :)  We packed and moved and cleaned and scrubbed and I got it all pulled together today while Justin sat in a tree waiting for the right deer to walk by, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with it.

Last night was the Run Rudolph Run 5k and the Red Bud Lighted Parade (see picture above of my cute hunters watching the floats go by), on top of a busy day at the office and preparing for the tour Sunday.  So needless to say Guilt-Free Friday did not happen.  But it's happening now!  Better late than never!  I have so many recipes... double chocolate cake cookies, cranberry orange brownies, peanut butter birthday cake with chocolate fudge icing - all big hits with requests to share the recipes - but this has been sitting in my archives the longest, and since creating the first recipe I've come up with two flavor options, so I figured I better get this one out of the way first.  Plus everyone who's sampled these have begged me to post, so here it is!


Okay so sticking a Kellogg's Pop-Tart in the toaster and eating it is really WAY easier than making these guys by hand, but they're sooooooo bad for you... I'm so embarrassed at the thought that I'd consider Pop-Tarts an actual breakfast even into my early adult years.  Thank goodness I discovered Paleo/clean eating and put a stop to that thought process!  Yeah they're pretty tasty, I'll give them that, but NOT breakfast.  Processed pastry crust with processed sugary "fruit" filling with artificial colors and ingredients... why would anyone want to start their day on that?  Why is that considered okay?  Probably because it's quick and easy.

Unfortunately, these are not quick... they're not too difficult but I still can't say they're easy either.  But they're REALLY good, and they're WAY better for you than those totally unhealthy Pop-Tarts.  So just make up a bunch of them when you're feeling ambitious and stick them in the freezer to save for those rushed on-the-go days!  Because they can't get any easier if they're already pre-made!

So, set some time aside, clear some space in your kitchen, and get cracking!

Crust: (adapted from a sugar-cookie recipe from Elana's Pantry)

3 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup honey
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a hand mixer (or whatever you've got on hand) until a dough forms.  Press half the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/8" thin.  Cut with a pizza cutter into 2"x3" rectangles and place in the freezer.  Don't skip the freezer part - this dough is super sticky and impossible to work with unless it's set up in the freezer a bit.

Filling:

4 cups fruit (berries, diced apples, etc)
3/4 cup water
3-4 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
*If you're using apples, add 2 tsp cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly and jam-like.

Pop-Tarts / Pastries:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take your crust out of the freezer, place one of the sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet and carefully transfer half of your cut rectangles onto the sheet.  Spoon a bit of filling onto each rectangle, take one of the remaining rectangles and place over top and pinch the edges down with a fork.  Place in the oven a bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Eat warm or let cool and enjoy!

 Or you can press the dough into muffin cups and fill them that way - they make cute little mini pies!  Bake about 10-15 minutes.

Guilt-Free Friday: Paleo Pie Crust + Paleo Mayo/Ranch Dressing = Veggie Pizza

Four recipes in one post?? Jackpot!  All at once you're going to learn how to make a pie crust, how to make mayonnaise, how to turn that into ranch dressing, and how to combine all those to make the popular party food, veggie pizza!  Which is rather convenient considering all the family gatherings you have coming up with the approaching holidays, right?

A bunch of us moms got together one evening for some social time for us and playtime for our kiddos, and turned it into a potluck-style dinner, which worked great.  Chili, hot dogs, and dessert were all accounted for, but I've come to a point in my life where if I don't have a veggie with my meal then I feel all out of sorts.  It's weird.  I realized this the night my whole family was all together after Granny's funeral helping polish off some of the donated food.  Huge pan of lasagna, huge pan of spaghetti, and lots of garlic bread.  I felt so lost.  So many carbs... no balance... agh...  I'm pretty certain that was when my body decided to revolt and make me sick.  So now I'm being careful when I attend gatherings.  Sure I'll indulge and eat crap but it's nice to have some balance.

So I volunteered to bring some sort of veggie to this gathering, and of course my mind wandered to the classic veggie pizza - you know - Pillsbury biscuit crust, ranch dressing loaded with processed junk and preservatives, shredded cheese (did you know that stuff also has a bunch of additives that help keep it in shredded form and not clump together? yum yum...), and veggies on top to make you feel like you're eating something totally healthy.  But not really.

I needed to switch up the crust and the dressing.  Cheese, eh, I'd throw it on there even though dairy is still gray area in my book, but I shred my own cheese so I know it's ONLY cheese that I'm eating.

So I found this pie crust recipe on Elana's Pantry  and I doubled the recipe plus added some baking powder to fluff it up a bit.  Here's what we've got:

4 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp melted coconut oil (refined so you don't have the flavor, unless you want that)

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine all four ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand or with a hand mixer until a dough forms (you might have to get in there with your hands too).  Place between two sheets of parchment paper and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/4" thick.  Trim the edges smooth if you're OCD about that.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes.  Let cool before adding any toppings.

Then for the mayo, which is so crazy easy I know I'll be making it all the time, I found this recipe on Eat Live Grow Paleo, and here's how it goes:

1 egg

2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Combine egg, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper in a food processor.  Once thoroughly combined, keep the processor running and begin pouring a very SLOW, THIN stream of oil into the mixture.  It should begin to emulsify.  Keep the stream slow and steady until all the oil is incorporated.  Mine is actually a lot thinner than I would expect mayo to be when it's done, but after refrigerating it for a bit it thickens up and acts just the way I want.  Yummy!  Bring on the chicken salad!  This recipe makes one cup.

 

Okay so turn that into ranch dressing with:

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

Mix it all together with your cup of mayo and voila!  If you'd like it a little thinner, add some unsweetened coconut milk to it, about 1/4 cup is probably about all you need, and pour that over a salad!

THEN, chop up some cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots, take your cooled crust, slather it with ranch dressing, shred some cheddar cheese on top of it, and top with the veggies and take it to a party!  Ta da!

Guilt-Free Friday: Strawberry Chicken & Spinach

I'm not very creative when it comes to naming dishes.  So if anyone has a better idea, do share!  But for now, I'm naming it pretty much what it is.  It is also super delicious.  Sometimes I just impress myself!  I love strawberry or raspberry vinaigrettes anyway, and I was kind of in the mood for something like that but also wanting something simple, plus I had a bunch of spinach to use up.  So, voila, this happened!  And I am rather proud of it!  I'll be making this again, for sure!

I'm currently working on a ranch dressing, and ultimately a veggie pizza, so stay tuned for that, I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out!

Here's how today's recipe goes:

1/2 cup refined (preferably expeller-pressed) coconut oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups spinach, stems removed,
1 cup strawberries, divided
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
crumbled blue cheese (optional)

Cut about 3 strawberries into small pieces and place in a medium saucepan with the chicken, coconut oil, and vinegar and cook over medium heat.  Just before the chicken is cooked all the way through, add in the spinach and walnuts and stir until chicken is thoroughly cooked and spinach is wilted.

Remove from heat and serve hot topped with remaining strawberries (sliced) and blue cheese crumbles (optional).  Enjoy!

Seizing the Moment and the Irrelevance of Age

It's late at night and I'm awake thinking about aaaalllll kinds of things.  I decided instead of lying there listening to Justin and Harlee breathe while staring at the ceiling processing my thoughts (or attempting to, anyway), I'd just start writing them down here.

It all started with my thoughts on moving my business to a ground-level location (I'm on a second floor - not good when you're wanting to help fix people but the people you want to fix are too injured to make it up the stairs...) and all the different options that come with that, to new promotional ideas for the business, to continuing my education in a different field later on down the road and where I want to take that, and then I went off on a different tangent thinking about our new house and how I feel pretty determined to start fresh when we move and convert, officially, to chemical-free, meaning making my own cleaners, detergents, and personal products, and then I must say I got kinda excited at the thought of making my own lotion bars and experimenting with different scents and healing properties with essential oils.  Then I thought about how I could blog about that once I get it all underway, which got me thinking about this blog and how I'd like to publish a cookbook with the recipes I've shared on Guilt-Free Fridays and design meal plans and stuff like that...

And there's your glimpse into my crazy mind, which usually resembles a busy intersection at rush hour most of the time.  My brain needs a traffic light or something.

This jumbled mess of thoughts led me to think about how grateful I am to only be almost-28.  There's so much I want to do, so much I'd like to achieve, and being young gives me the chance to get to all of it eventually.

But then I thought about Granny, and how we all thought she could at least have another 5-10 years left in her.  And I thought about Justin's dad, who passed in his 40s.  I thought about a recent tragedy of the death of a wonderful young guy in town not long ago, at the young age of 25.  I thought about a good friend of Justin's who passed in high school.


And suddenly I realized, being 28 has nothing to do with anything.  Sure, I could assume I'm just over a quarter of the way through my life, but I don't know that.  I could be halfway through.  I could only have a quarter left to go...  We just don't know when our time is up.  I can't just go about my business right now being grateful I'm young and assuming I'll get around to doing stuff later.  What if there isn't a "later"?

So, out of all these thoughts going in all different directions, I did pull from it the valuable realization that age is irrelevant, and that if I want to achieve something, then I should just do it now.  Well, within reason - it's really not feasible for me to start over with school at this point in my life, and that IS something that will need to wait awhile (and I'm totally okay with that).  But why assume I'm going to start making lotions and soaps when I move to the new house?  I could start experimenting with it now.  Why decide I'm not going to put a cookbook together until next year or the year after?  I could just do it now, or at least get a start on one.  I don't want to get wiped out tomorrow and have people say, "Poor Jami, so many dreams and goals she could have achieved right away if only she had just done it instead of assuming she had time to get to it later..."  Or worse, I don't want to all of a sudden find myself in my 50s or 60s and think, man, I wish I had done that when I was younger instead of putting it off assuming I'd find time for it later.

And so here I am, instead of lying in bed staring at the ceiling hoping to drift to sleep, putting off sharing these thoughts in a post for some other time, I'm writing these thoughts out to share with you now so that maybe I can help motivate you to stop putting things off too and grab life by the horns and live in the now.  Stop thinking you don't have time and instead make time.  If you want to learn to play the guitar, then make time for it and do it.  Think of how grateful you'll be in a few years from now that you decided to take the plunge and just go for it.  If you want to run a marathon, then just start training now instead of saying, oh, maybe next year.  If you've been following this blog and like all the recipes I post and the information I share and want to make the change to living a healthier lifestyle, then just do it now instead of assuming it'll be a New Year's resolution or something.  Just go for it.  Dive into life.  Set yourself up so that you won't have any regrets in the future.  And if you are in your 50s or 60s and you happen to be someone who's thinking, "Man, I wish I had taken up mountain climbing years ago, I could be climbing mountains now," then go take up mountain climbing now, there's no reason you can't!  Remember, age is irrelevant.  What if you wind up being someone who'll magically live to be 150?  I know that's far-fetched but seriously, think about it, suddenly 50 or 60 isn't very old anymore, is it?  We don't know when our time is up.  So just live life in the moment and make every moment count.

And that's my motivational speech for the night, thank you overactive brain.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Now go do something productive that you can look back on when you're 80 and say, "Man I'm glad I did that!"