Bok Choy me baby!

29 Apr

Don’t be passin’ by that bok choy and not putting any into your cart or basket.  Just 1 cup of this cabbage is going to nourish you with:

  • 53% of your daily value for Vitamin C
  • 11% of your daily value for Folate
  • 42% of your daily value for Vitamin A
  • 74 mg of Calcium
  • 1250 mcg of Beta-Carotene

Why wouldn’t you want to eat it?!  (Am I the only one that gets this excited about nutrients like this??)  And here is a very easy recipe to enjoy it in.

Halibut with Bok Choy - adapted from World’s Healthiest Foods

I had an onion and bell pepper on hand so I used those in this dish.  But you can use any of your favorite vegetables.  Mushrooms would be a nice addition as well.

  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 4 steaks of halibut
  • 5 cups of bok choy, cut into 1/2 inch slices (bite size pieces)
  1. Put a steamer basket into a pot and put enough water in just to cover the bottom, about 2 inches, and bring water to a boil.
  2. Place the onion, red bell pepper, and halibut (in that order), cover and steam for about 3 minutes.
  3. Then add the bok choy to the steamer basket and steam for another 3 minutes.
  4. Then place the halibut on top of the onion, pepper, bok choy mix. 
I served it with some quinoa.  I also just drizzled some Tamari sauce on top.   But here is a dressing that is super delicious
on it:
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon  Tamari
  • 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Your body will thank you for it~

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Chicken Nuggets…you’ll never buy frozen again

28 Apr

Today is my Sugarless Saturday and I love snacking on these chicken nuggets that don’t contain any sugar.   While I was going over a menu for a client I was telling her about this recipe and talking about sugar not being in the reicpe.  ”But Julie, chicken nuggets don’t usually contain sugar so what do you mean by that?”  So I went into her freezer and pulled out her frozen chicken nuggets.

Gotta read the labels to really know what's in it.

Gotta read the labels to really know what's in them.

She didn’t even realize there was sugar in them.  There is sugar in just about everything!  But here is the label in front that makes them look just oh so nutritious:

I’m sorry that it does seem time consuming to read labels but you just have to know what you are eating these days.  You can’t blame anyone but yourself for consuming products like these without truly reading and knowing what you are feeding yourself and your kids.  Like that mom suing Nutella and winning!  She should have read the label and she would have known that Nutella is not a healthy spread.  Ridiculous that she won.  And sometimes parents will end up going to the doctor for their kids behavioral problems and putting them on pharmaceutical drugs when maybe it’s just all the additives and preservatives or food dyes or sugar causing the problems.  Food is changing these days and companies are scrambling on what to put into the foods to help with costs and to survive in this sluggish economy.  So these companies will end up adding in low cost junk which means we need to be more diligent than ever before on reading food labels.

Okay I will get off my high horse and give you this yummy recipe.  I like to cook stuff on Sunday nights so I have it throughout the week and make it easier to heat stuff up or cook quickly.  I do it for my clients as well and it makes it just so much easier to have meals planned.  That way you won’t rush to the drive thru’s and eat junk.  (However, I do like Chipotle for quick fast food.)

EASY CHICKEN NUGGETS

  • 4 pieces of your favorite bread (about 3/4 cup) ground up in food processor. (Great for day old bread!)
  • 1 pound chicken breasts cut into chunks
  • 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoning (I love the Costco Organic No Salt Seasoning)
  • 1 tablespoon  grated parmesean cheese
1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

2.  I just put the bread in my processor and ground it till it resembles bread crumbs.

3.  I then dry toast it till it gets a nice brown color.  Doing this step makes it so you don’t have to broil the nuggets at end of cooking time because it’s easy to burn them that way.  Put bread crumbs into a bowl and mix in the parmesean cheese and set aside.

4.  I then throw my chunks of raw chicken into the food processor and ground it up.  You can buy ground chicken and skip this step but doing it this way makes them so much fresher.  And you can be confident in knowing there aren’t any fillers in your ground chicken.  It’s very easy to do.  You’ll see.  I can’t find my pic I took of this step but will take another one when I do these again!

5.  I then add the oatmeal and spices to the ground chicken and mix them all together.

6.  Grab an ice cream scooper or spoon out about 1 tablespoon of the chicken mixture, roll into a little ball, and then press into the bread crumbs to form a little nugget and fully coat both sides.  Do this until all mixture is done.  (Helps to moist hands with water so it doesn’t stick to you.)

7.  Place nuggets on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes (turn them over half way through).  You can spray a little olive oil over them if you want them crispier.  (Some ovens differ in heating times so I always recommend checking one nugget first before pulling them out to make sure it’s fully cooked through.)

You can serve with some organic ketchup or some good barbeque sauce ( but get some that doesn’t contain any caramel color).  If you or your kids are used to having them saltier or sweeter, I suggest adding some salt into the sauce and not the mix.  You can also sweeten barbeque sauce with some maple syrup.

Just put these in an airtight container and place in fridge so you have them on hand throughout the week!

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My first time eating Poutine!

4 Apr

So I’ve been visiting a friend in Canada and we went to Costco the other day.  She said we have to get some Poutine.  I of course asked “what is that”?  She showed me the picture and explained that it’s fries, gravy, with some cheese curds.  ”Ummmmmm yeah no thanks” I said.  So she ordered it and I ordered my chicken, pecan, apple salad.  We grabbed our food and sat down at the table.  Everyone started digging in to the Poutine.  So I decided to try it.  I then started pushing the kids away to get more bites!  It is extremely yummy!  I don’t suggest it as a daily dish but it is such a treat to eat every once in a while.

So does that look appetizing to you?  Yeah that’s what I thought.  But it is quite yummy.  But basically all it is are fries with cheese curds on top, and then brown gravy ladled over all of it.  Costco seasoned their fries which made them extra delicious but you don’t have to.   If you want to make this at home and can’t find cheese curds in your local stores, you can just crumble mozzarella over it, or feta might even be tasty.  I’m sure that’s making the recipe less authentic but oh well.

 I couldn’t believe how excited everyone gets here for Poutine, pronounced put’in, but I’m already telling my friend we forgot a few things at Costco and we better go back tomorrow for them or my meals won’t be as good…hee hee.  I’m sure she’s on to me!

Quinoa burritos

19 Mar

Quinoa…oh how I love thee.  It nourishes me with protein and all the amino acids to make it a complete protein!  You can eat it hot, warm, or cold.  You can eat it alone, with veggies, or with fruit.  You can eat it in a salad, or burritos, or make it into a pancake.  So what are you waiting for???  I decided to wrap mine in a yummy flaxseed, whole wheat tortilla with broccoli, tomatoes, and minced ginger.  Then drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and a dash of salt to flavor it up.

Soooooo how do you eat your quinoa??

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Smoky White Bean Chicken Fire Roasted Tomato Chili

18 Mar

Image

The weather here in Seattle has been a little wintery, meaning it’s been cold and rainy and gray lately.  Calgon take me away!  Well instead of Calgon, I thought I would make a nice chili instead.  Well okay before the chili I thought I would take a trip to Hawaii instead.  But look at what I left behind for a week:

ImageAhhhhhh, better than calgon I must admit.

ImageI love Seattle but you must take a sunny trip during the winter to keep your sanity!  But cold wintery nights leave for nice warming chili in front of a fire watching The Bachelor!  I know, I know, the relationships don’t last but it is awesome drama.  And I actually love watching the places they film around the country.  They went to Switzerland this season and it was stunning.  Yes, another place added to my bucket list.  But watching from the couch with my chili was just fine for now.

Smoky White Bean Chicken Chili

You can cook this and reduce the broth down to make it soupy or cook it and reduce the broth further to make it more of a chili.  I actually liked it soupy so I could dip my Italian bread in it.  This recipe makes a lot so freeze some and enjoy later.  The leftovers the next night were tastier actually because the flavors had marinated the chicken more.  You must use the smoky paprika as well because the smoky flavor it adds to this is quite delicious.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded (or use a cooked whole rotisserie chicken and shred it)
  • 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile pepper
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cans (28 ounce) fire roasted diced tomatoes
  • 3 cans (14.5 ounce) white beans
  • 2 cans (4 ounce) diced green chiles
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Grated Cotija cheese for topping (just crumble it)
  • Fresh cilantro for topping
  • Avocado cubes for topping

In a big pot, add the olive oil and saute the onion and garlic until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.  Then add the chicken, smoky paprika, ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and chipotle pepper to the pot and continue to cook for an additional 10 minutes covered.  Stir in the chicken stock, diced tomatoes, white beans, and green chiles.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a slow boil and cook, uncovered, stirring as needed until the liquid has reduced to your level of preference.

This chili will nourish you with vitamin B12, protein and fiber among lots of other nutrients.  Enjoy!

Say bye to heartburn naturally

6 Feb

Quick boiling some kale.

I just know y’all are being so good and eating your fruits and vegetables and have them daily with your meals.  But just in case you need another reason to get some vegetables and leafy greens in your diet…it’s to alkalize.   What do you mean by that Julie?  Awwww I love when you ask questions!

Well since we do typically tend to eat more acidic foods such as sugar, meat, eggs, artificial sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, coffee, cheeses, etc…we need to alkalize the acidic environment we create inside our bodies to bring the pH down.  It’s called homeostasis.

You can still enjoy acidic foods, which I recommend not taking them out because we do need a balance, but it’s a MUST to eat alkalizing foods such as broccoli, beets, kale, almonds, citrus fruits, apple cider vinegar, etc., to bring the acid down.

Billions of dollars are spent every year on Tums and Rolaids due to heartburn and our diets creating too much acid inside.  If we keep our bodies in that constant condition of Metabolic Acidosis, it creates a friendly environment for many chronic illnesses such as cancer, osteoporosis, kidney stones, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Here is a great link detailing a list of acidic and alkaline foods!

If your produce goes bad quickly, which I get that complaint a lot, then I highly recommend these Produce Savers.  You can get them on Amazon for $16.99.  I also saw them at QFC here in Seattle at buy one get one free.   They work great!

Produce Savers keep fruit and vegetables fresh for up to 2 weeks!

So let’s help our cells and tissues function properly by decreasing our acid build-up and keeping a slightly alkaline environment by eating to nourish!

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Turkey Chipotle Muffins

4 Feb

Okay so wow the sunshine has been amazing the last couple days here in Seattle!  And it’s warmer at around 60 degrees too.  It has felt so good to have the sun on my face.  It’s weird to think just a couple weeks ago we had our snowstorm and it was 30 degrees colder!  I really am so lucky to live in one of the prettiest parts of Seattle too…Greenlake.  Here are some pictures I took yesterday:

Flowers are blooming already? These smell sooooo good too.

A lot of the schools crew on the lake. It's so neat to watch!

The sun shining through is so pretty.

Perfect place to sit and read huh?

I just love capturing pretty moments that sometimes just take my breath away.

And now on to these yummy Turkey Chipotle Muffins!  Like I said, I’ve been eating a lot more protein these days.   I found this recipe from Jamie Eason who is a body builder out in California.  She’s always in my Oxygen magazine with pictures of her awesome workouts.  It’s pretty much making a meatloaf but putting scoops into a 12 cup muffin pan!  This way it helps with portion sizes which is so important.  It’s so easy to eat too much.  Portion sizes are out of control in restaurants.  Plus, plates are just bigger these days and we fill them up with lots of food.  But I think this is just such a great idea because it’s really easy to just reach in and grab one for a snack and they taste good cold as well.  I actually prefer it cold because these have a little kick with the chipotle pepper spice in them and I have a super sensitive palate when it comes to spicy food so I guess it kind of cools it down.  I’m such a baby I know!  But these are also great to take to work or school and stick in your little lunch cooler.  Cooked poultry will keep in the fridge for about 4 days so you might want to cut this recipe in half if you won’t eat them all in that time.  Or you can freeze them instead.

They're kinda pretty too~

TURKEY CHIPOTLE MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins

Each muffin will give you:

Calories: 80

Fats: 2 grams

Carbs: 4 grams

Protein: 11 grams

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs ground turkey (very lean)
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme)
  • 2 teaspoons dry yellow mustard
  • 2 teaspoons chipotle pepper spice
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt (or use a fun flavored one!)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, finely chopped (celery is #2 on the dirty dozen list so please buy them organic)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Grease the muffin pan good because they will stick a lot since there isn’t a lot of fat in these.
  3. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
  4. Then just scoop some out and shape into a ball (racquetball size) and place in each muffin cup.  If you have some left over just keep adding to each cup until it’s all gone.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes or until a thermometer says 165 degrees.

Have fun with this recipe and add in your own favorite spices.  I think next week I’m going to add in black beans, corn, bell peppers!  These are pretty dry since the turkey is very lean but I like it that way because they don’t fall apart when you take a bite.  Feel free to dip them in a honey mustard sauce or ketchup but just read the labels first and make sure there isn’t too much sugar or fat in them.

Enjoy!  And thanks Jamie for sharing your recipe and great idea with us!

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