Detox Week at Poppies and Paperbacks in 10 Easy Steps

Sometimes life gets a little crazy which in turn, makes us a little crazy, too. Instead of following a wholesome lifestyle which would help keep the crazies at bay, we tend to turn to junk food and adult beverages and get completely lazed on exercise. When things settle down we then wonder why we are tired, bloated and irritable. We wonder why our BM's are irregular (I know gross - but true) and we wonder why we aren't sleeping well.

Last week was a crazy one for me in fact. Work was nuts, my house was a mess and I was just coming off the nutty birthday week. I ate cake, cookies and a whole box of sees candies. I think I might've exercised twice to my usual everyday. I wasn't keeping myself accountable in any way, shape or form. And when I woke up yesterday morning, I knew I had to visit a detox plan.

Listen this is my own plan. I am not a nutritionist but I do read regularly about health and I have several doctors and nurses that I consult. This plan is in no way to be used to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any disease. But it does help me trim down and get back on track with healthy!

Every morning I make a green drink:
1 Tbs. honey, Juice of 1 lemon, 6 oz. water, Wheat Grass powder.
Add all ingredients to a drink shaker and pour into a glass.

I sort of do a clean eating plan.  But I alter it to suit my needs. for instance, I drink 16 oz. of coffee everyday. I do not eat any dairy (no milk, yogurt or cheese) on the recommendation of Jackie Warner. Plus I only allow myself brown rice (a whole grain) and quinoa (a seed). And I also allow myself apple cider vinegar and a touch of soy sauce.  A typical day looks like this:

1. Make a green drink. (Directions above). I think this gives me some get up. It's also light on the stomach.
2. After I finish that, during my morning ablutions, I sip a protein coffee. I mix 2 scoops of the plant based protein powder with my coffee and some stevia, then blend. As a grown woman I should be getting roughly 60 grams of lean protein a day. While I do not reach that goal, with a double scoop of this stuff, I am at least packing 30 grams into the start of my day. It keeps me from getting hungry, builds lean muscle and increases my metabolism!
3. When I get to work, I turn on my computer and go straight to the kitchen to brew some Roasted Dandelion Root Tea. I love this tea! It aids in digestion and cleanses my liver and kidneys, plus it de-bloats like a boss and, bonus, it tastes yummy!
4. While I sip my tea I gear up to take a battery of vitamins: Magnesium (with calcium and zinc), Oregano Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Biotin, Vitamin D, Sublingual Vitamin B12, CLA Tonalin, Acidophilus pearls, and the almighty multi.
5. At around 11am I start to feel hungry. When I get hungry it is no joke. I start to panic if I let it go too far. When this happens, I ordinarily reach for something unsavory to put in my mouth...like a Twinkie. But since I am detoxing/clean eating, I peel and cut up a peach.
6. For lunch, I will have roughly 1 cup of brown rice (seasoned with salt and pepper), one cup of quinoa (seasoned with a teaspoon full of walnut oil and balsamic vinegar) or three organic egg whites (seasoned with salt and pepper) or a green smoothie called the Iron Giant at Sun and Soil (a coming blog post). I will also eat a cut up cucumber.
7. For a snack, at around 3:30pm, I'll cut up a pear and dig into some fresh peanut butter or almond butter. I like to watch anything with  the word 'butter' attached, though, because I do not care how healthy any fat is - fat is fat. At 4.5 grams of fat per teaspoon and 40 calories, my word that can pack a pretty caloric punch! So sometimes I'll ditch the nut butter and eat a good wholesome piece of fruit.
8. For dinner, I will steam a four oz. Tilapia filet with olive oil, crushed garlic, sliced green onions and a tsp of soy sauce and white pepper. I serve the fish with my Kale Salad with Pine Nuts:  One head of organic kale - chopped, put in a microwave safe bowl with 2 tbs. water and cook for 1 minute 40 secs. remove from steaming bowl and transfer to another bowl, add 1 tbs chili powder, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbs olive oil and 3 tbs pine nuts. Toss altogether and serve. This meal is light, high in protein, high in phyto-nutrients and tastes delicious. Also, it's easy to cook. Anything that takes the pain in the ass out of being domestic is a great deal in my book.
9. Finally we get to the snack part of my evening. I'm a terrible night eater unless I have something really special that has the power to hold me back from my terrible hand to mouth compulsion. I can eat a lot of watermelon and at only 45 calories a cup, my word, you could wolf down an entire melon and still have only spent about 300 calories. But if I am feeling really dessert-ish, I will make a mock Dole Whip (a recipe from my Dirtay -she's the one that introduced me to the wicked THUG KITCHEN!!!)  1 Cup frozen pineapple, 1/2 - 1 Cup almond milk and 1 Tbs honey or agave, whir it up in the blender serve in a tall glass and enjoy!
10. Some final notes: you can vary this in limitless ways: scramble your egg whites in the morning, eat a giant salad of mustard greens with lemon juice and salt and pepper. Clean your intestines with a fruit fast but the two most important things are DRINK PLENTY OF WATER and EXERCISE. Do I really need to delineate the benefits of these things?

Yin Yang Cereal Bars by Christy

I told you it has been a big food week at our house.

In addition to the pickles, my husband made home made pizza dough for home made pizza on Sunday. And I was a busy baking bee in the kitchen for all the birthdays.

I was inspired by my friend Chirsty who brought me these Yin Yang bars. She calls them Yin Yang bars because while they have corn syrup and sugar in them, they are also chock full of good stuff because she makes them with a variety of cereals and whole grains. See Below

So here is what I (think) is the recipe for the Yin-Yang Cereal Bars… this is modified from a recipe off of the GrapeNuts Cereal box. And she has provided her variation below. Thanks, Christy!

You can combine any dry cereals, grains, seeds, and nuts you like, and will want to have about 5 to 6 cups of dry mixture to the 3 cups of sticky/sweet mixture for the recipe:

This batch I used:

Combine the dry ingredients in a very large bowl.

2 ½ C  Grape Nuts Cereal

2C Kashi Go Lean Cereal

1C Kashi Puffs Cereal

1/2 C Melaleuca Cinnamon Clusters Cereal

2 handfuls Rolled Oats

½ C Chia Seeds

Handful Sunflower Seeds (Raw)

½ C milled flax seeds

¼ C Cinnamon

¾ C Caramel Balls/Bits (Consider Chocolate Chips, Cinnamon Chips,  Raisins, Craizins, etc.)

In a separate bowl, combine and microwave in one minute intervals, stirring in between micro-ing, until you get a smooth consistency and all sugar has melted (is not grainy):

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Corn Syrup

Once the peanut butter mixture is smooth, pour over the dry mix in a very large bowl.  Mix well to coat all of the cereal mixture.  Pour into a buttered or parchment papered 13 x 9 in. pan and press down…

Let cool and cut into squares.

  

Delicious!!!

I call them Yin-Yang, because…

Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, (for instance shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation.

Oatmeal Cookies - The Real Kind

It's been a big food week around here at our house. This week the husband made his pickles (it's own post I'll save for later) and I have been a baking fiend because it's the birthday season (Dad, Husband and Brother in Law) not to mention it's our Anniversary today!

My husband loves those Mother's Brand Oatmeal Cookies. But I don't love it when he eats them because they are full of preservatives that he really doesn't need. Also, the un-frosted ones are difficult to find.

So I made some for him from scratch today and they are off the charts! They are raisin free (not everyone loves raisins) and great with coffee or tea.

I adapted the recipe from Smitten Kitchen for my taste buds. The recipe she uses and adapted from "Good to the Grain" cookbook, uses icing which I omitted. The measurements are funny because everything in "Good to the Grain" is in grams.

Raisin Free Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients 

• 2 1/2 Cups + 1 Tbs. quick cook oats
• 1 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
• 1 Tbs + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 Cup brown sugar
• 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 Cup butter, melted (she calls for unsalted butter but instead I omitted the salt in the recipe and used what I had in the fridge - plain 'ol butter.)
• 2 large eggs

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cookie sheets with parchment.
3. Sift all dry ingredients together.
4. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs.
5. Fold in dry ingredients.
6. Round into balls that equal 2 Tbs. or use a cookie scoop (she uses a #40 scoop).
7. Bake at 350 for about 15-18 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and transfer cookies to cool on a wire rack.

Pickles!

It's pickle season!

Tomatoes, Peppers and Cucumbers! My husband challenged me to a pickle off so I made a batch last night.

It's the easiest recipe and they are quick fridge pickles, BONUS. No toiling over the stove on these hot summer nights. Eat them within a week or so, unless you do a traditional water bath and then they'll last on the shelf without refrigeration for up to a year. Directions are below:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cucumbers
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 1 bunch dill
• 2 Tbs. black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 Tbs. salt
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1 Cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Cup water

Directions:

1. Collect 1 pound of cucumbers from the garden or get them at the farmer's market. We grew "Mercury Persian," in our garden this year. They're small (between 6" and 8" long), seedless, completely burp-less and very tender, with a thin, mild skin. But you could do equally well with any Persian or Persian Hybrid which are similar to the English variety of cukes, such as "Sweeter Yet."
2. Wash a large mouth pickling jar and lid/band with warm soapy water.
3. Let the jar air dry.
4. While the jar is drying, cut the cucumbers and the garlic cloves into quartered pieces.
5. Place half the peppercorns, garlic cloves and dill in the bottom of the jar.
6. Add half of the cucumber slices.
7. Add the rest of the peppercorns, garlic cloves and dill.
8. In a separate jar with a lid, mix the apple cider vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Shake jar until salt and sugar are dissolved.
9. Pour pickling solution over the cucumbers.
10. Place lid on the pickle jar and refrigerate overnight.
11. Enjoy!

Summer Salsa

I hate it when I am so busy with work and housekeeping and merry making that I cannot find the time to sit down to write a post (Joan, I'm sorry!).

So to keep myself accountable, let me say that I have a couple good ones on their way which include: Santa Cruz for the 4th of July and Nectarine Plum Preserves with Cardamom.

Today it is my summer salsa.

The garden is brimming with Cilantro and tomatoes and while I love salsa anytime of the year, it is especially good in the summer with tons of Cilantro. I truly cannot live without my chips and salsa. Plus, we live in California! Let's represent! Not just for our farm to fork culture but the embracing of the diversity we share.

Summer Salsa

Ingredients

• 5 medium very ripe tomatoes (skin and seeds removed)
• 5 large cloves of garlic 
• 3 green onions chopped
• 1 ENTIRE bunch Cilantro (Coriander) including stems - wash bunch well.
• 2 roasted Anaheim peppers - To roast peppers: put in broiler for 10 minutes turning often or if you have a gas stove put the peppers directly on the flame and turn frequently.
• Juice of 4 limes
• Salt generously and pepper to taste 

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients in the blender or food processor 
2. Blend well very well, scraping down sides of processor or blender
3. Chill for an hour to meld flavors
4. Serve cold with your favorite chips, or use in eggs or put on grilled chicken or make a steak sandwich and use this as the condiment!

Moonbeam Chili

You've never had chili like this before - music in your mouth.

Moonbeam Chili

Ingredients:

1 Tbs Butter

1 Tbs Olive oil

1 Large yellow onion, chopped

3 Large Garlic cloves, minced

1 package ground turkey

2 Cans S&W lightly seasoned white beans

1 can Herdez Salsa Verde

1 can chopped black olives

1 package Uncle Bens Spanish Rice

1 16oz. container of Sour Cream

1 Tbs. Chili Powder

1 Tsp. Garlic Salt

1 Tbs. Cumin

1 bunch green onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a Dutch oven or similar sauce pan, heat butter and olive oil on medium heat, add chopped onions and minced garlic. Cook until onions are translucent about 7 minutes.

Add turkey, chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Cook turkey until browned and cooked through.

Turn heat to low and add beans, Salsa Verde, black olives, Spanish Rice and 1 cup sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until chili is heated through.

Serve in a bowl with dollop of sour cream and garnish with green onion cut on the bias.

Happy New Year

I haven't posted since October. It just seemed like life got to be too much. When that happens you know - something has to go. Unfortunately, I dropped yoga and Poppies. Not so sure those were the best things to let go of, but those went and I can't change it now.

What's great about the New Year is not the raucous night of partying but the whole "Happy New Year" thing is a free pass - A RESET! And who doesn't like to start over? With this said "reset" we can focus on the things we CAN change.

I'm not big on the resolution thing because I never keep them for more than three days. So this year I have committed to "Tiny Tweaks 2014." There are several things on the list some of which include:

• drink at least 60 oz. of water per day
• try to dissipate guilt 
• take vitamins daily 
• commit to yoga once a week
• journal daily
• have consistently healthier eating habits

In eating a consistently healthier diet, I know that as a grown female human, for optimum health (weight maintenance, muscle recovery, hair/nail strength, 15% increase in metabolism) I should have at least 100 grams of protein a day.

So I baked high protein, whole grain bread. This little loaf packs a wallop! It's about 12 servings and each serving of bread is only 80 calories and 6 grams of protein. Plus it's fatless and filling! Served with  mascarpone and pepper jelly I also made today - it's out of this world!

High Protein Whole Grain  Bread

3/4 C Rye Flour

3/4 C Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 C Rolled Oats

2 1/2 Cups Chobani Non-Fat Yogurt

1 tsp. baking powder

Bake in a baking sprayed bread pan at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Pepper Jelly in the pan.

Pepper Jelly in the Jar.

Pepper Jelly on the Mascarpone on the High Protein Whole Grain Bread.

Yum.
May all your hearts desires be granted in 2014.
XO

Buttermilk Ice Cream

I love the taste of Buttermilk. It's probably because of my Grand-dad. He drinks a glass every morning and by my estimation that has kept him going (He's 92)! I like buttermilk so much that sometimes I find myself conjuring up ways that I can use it more often. It's super rich in protein and low in fat, plus it's light, bright sour flavor is refreshing!


My friend Amy who is a trained chef and knows just about everything about the chemistry of food, sent me a recipe for Buttermilk Ice Cream from Smitten Kitchen after I told her about my Buttermilk fantasies. The recipe is great but after working so hard losing 135 pounds I'd like to maintain that so I asked Amy if there was a way I could cut down on calories (She's a real smart ass and told me to get a smaller scoop) she suggested that I use low fat milk and I came up with making a custard base with less eggs. I used 6 eggs instead of 12 that the original recipe called for and I substituted 1 cup of cream for 1 cup of 1% milk instead thereby cutting half the calories! The results were still super creamy and rich and the flavor intense and exciting! I served it with roasted strawberries and sugared Basil flowers. Check this out!

Buttermilk Ice Cream (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Cream
• 1 Cup Milk (any kind - I used 1%)
• 2 Cups Buttermilk
• 1 1/4 Cups sugar
• 6 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for a super healthy frittata)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• pinch salt

Instructions

1. In a large sauce pan combine the cream, milk and 1 cup sugar sugar, stirring over medium heat until it simmers.
2. Meanwhile whisk together the remaining sugar and egg yolks.
3. Once the cream/milk simmers remove from heat and drizzle a small amount into the eggs while whisking the eggs. The aim here is to bring the eggs up to an adequate temperature so you don't get scrambled eggs.
4. Once the eggs have warmed, pour them back into the cream mixture and whisk constantly while turning the heat back on.
5. Cook on low until the mixture thickens. A good guide for this is if it sticks to the utensil you are using to mix it with, then it's ready...
6. Add vanilla, buttermilk and salt and continue to whisk.
7. Remove from heat and cool completely about 1-2 hours in the fridge.
8. Get out the ice cream maker, add your mixture and in about 35 minutes you will be having a delicious treat!

Cow Girl Creamery at the Ferry Building

Charlene and I went to san Francisco recently. Because of the BART strike we thought it would be better to park in Vallejo and take the ferry over. It turned out to be a great idea!!! It was $50 bucks for both of us round trip and it was painless, hassle free comfortable travel and it dropped us off exactly where we wanted to be!!!

Our first stop was Cowgirl Creamery...Cheese is a macro nutrient right? It is when you spend $25 on it!

The first cheese we tasted was Casatica Di Bufala - soft and ripe but citrusy. Totally oozy and gooey and completely palatable all on its own or on a toasty piece of crusty bread and a sliced fig. Easy eating and delicious rind too! Its Buffalo cheese from Lombardia, Italy made from water buffalo milk - a super richly creamed milk which contains twice the cream of cows milk...needless to say this cheese is velvety rich and little goes  along way.

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The next and perhaps my favorite is the easy eating goat milk Detroit St. Brick from Michigan.. It's spicy but not chili pepper spicy. It's black pepper spicy and it imparts a truly unforgettable flavor. My mother cooks with pepper. She has always been a supremely sensational chef and her dishes are never lacking in flavor. She hails the black pepper and touts it often as her "secret ingredient." Though it's no secret for me, I can't seem to get enough of the stuff! I bought a sliver of this cheese and savored it every day. I ate it on flat bread I made here myself and coupled it with a hardy (and local) Crispin cider. The black pepper paired with the spiky cider was unmatched! I reccommend trying it. This pair is more my speed. It reminds me of a summer evening bike ride to fireworks or a crispy spring morning when you can smell the dew drops or a breeze coming through your window on a hot night bellowing the curtains in the breeze...you get the picture. I have romanticized this Michigan cheese with this California cider. It's a superb match!

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This whirlwind of cheeses brought us to a yummy smear of Harbison. A creamy, ripe cheese that tastes of the country side and mustard flowers. It's wrapped in bark and Hails from Vermont. And when I say mustard flowers I mean it! I saved this creamy cheese and made a pork roast. I served the pork roast on home made sweet rolls that I smeared with the Harbison and grilled onions. Talk about a hit! There were people at the party who asked why I would waste a fine cheese on a sandwich...let me assure you, this was not any sandwich and certainly not just any cheese and they paired delightfully well and don't try to tell me that your mouth is not watering right now!!!

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Challerhocker was the only hard cheese we tasted. It was delish! A swiss cheese that is creamy and dense with some tooth to it. A bright, intense flavor, great all on its own or paired with a buttery chardonnay. It's a washed rind cheese. By the way...this was a lovely cheese but not my favorite on this list.

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Blackberry Lavender Scones

I was inspired to make these little treats for our prolific blackberry crop! This year has been apparently perfect for these beauties and with so many it's hard to keep up! I've made compote that we drench our ice cream with which was delicious, but there is only so much compote one can wolf down before it becomes a problem.

Last Saturday we went to a sweet, romantic little wedding at which the couple provided favors of Lavender Jelly to the guests as a thank you. It was delicious. 

It seemed only obvious that with lavender (the color) swirling around that these two - one herby, one fruity, might go together very well in a great base recipe I originally created for Sultana Scones. 

Blackberry Lavender Scones

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1 Tbs. dried lavender buds
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl sift together: flour, lavender buds, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Cut butter (shown above) and add to flour mixture combining using clean hands until dry ingredients with butter resembles oatmeal.
4. Add black berries and stir gently with spoon.
5. In separate bowl, beat together, egg, sour cream and milk
6. Mix/fold in wet ingredients being careful not to pulverize the berries too much.
7. Put dough onto well floured surface and cut into circles using the opening of a water glass.
8. Put round cut out scones on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
9. Makes 8-10 scones depending on size of cut outs.
10. Bake at 400 for roughly 20 minutes.

Garlic Red Pepper Green Beans with Lemon Vinaigrette

My friends Suzanne and Brad have a ridiculously awesome garden. I am not one of those people who arbitrarily goes around humming the word awesome unless I mean it either. I mean this garden of theirs is EPIC.

Suzanne and I had our once a month outing this past weekend and she came bearing gifts. They grew mad amounts of pole beans, bush beans, green beans and we got to reap the benefits!

I opened the fridge today, and lo and behold as I stared at the bag of gifted green beans an easy and delicious recipe poured from my soul; a recipe even Thug Kitchen would be proud of.

If you're lucky enough to have a friend who brings you home grown varietals like these beans, you're lucky. If not, this recipe is equally delicious with store bought haricots.

Garlic Red Pepper Green Beans with Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 2 cups cleaned snapped green beans
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

1. Clean, half and steam the beans.
2. Drain and cool beans, transfer to mixing bowl.
3. Crush garlic on beans.
4. Add red pepper flakes to beans.
5. Add the zest of the lemon to the beans.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the juice of the lemon and the olive oil together.
7. Add salt and pepper.
8. Serve warm or cold - I prefer cold.