I love bibb lettuce

Since discovering how much I love bibb lettuce salads with other kinds of lettuce just don't compare. I probably wrote about this before, but the best way to make a salad with bibb lettuce is just add dressing. The second best way is what I'm about to tell you. I discovered it on the menu at my FAVORITE restaurant/bar/nightclub over the summer and I just made it myself.

I'm not exactly sure how they make the apricot vinaigrette so I winged it:

• handful of dried apricots (organic, unsulfured)
• raw apple cider vinegar
• raw olive oil
• water
• bibb lettuce
• Gorgonzola cheese
• walnuts

1. Soak the dried apricots in water overnight (they will take their original shape when done)
2. In food processor, add apricots (including water from soaking), oil and vinegar, blend.
3. Toss lettuce and dressing in bowl.
4. Top with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (organic) and crushed walnuts.

AMAZEBALLS! While the dressing is not exactly the same, it gives a similar sweet effect. This is definitely one of those things I could eat every day.

One thing about nuts. EAT THEM! (unless you are allergic) They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats. There is nothing wrong with eating fat if it comes from the right source! Right source- fruits, vegetables, nuts. Wrong source: hydrogenated oils, fried foods, candy bars, etc. You get the point.  

And I'm eating my second bowl right now. 

It's about that time...

It's the start of Christmas season again. Maybe not for all of you, but we are starting to set up the stands so we can start selling the Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. Just another one of the many random things I am involved in. For those of you who were reading last year, I am extremely busy this time of year so naturally one of the things that falls off is how often I can cook.

I got a little ahead of the game and prepared a few things so that I don't have to eat fast food on the road for the next 8 days. I'm going to bring my handy-dandy green juices along with me, some fruit, and the fruit nut bars that I made!!! I used to get these from Lisa (and if you are in Monmouth County, NJ I highly recommend her if you want raw foods but don't have the time to prepare or don't know how).

I have been meaning to call her (Lisa if you are reading this... I need to order some things from you!!!) but I keep forgetting, so in lieu of her fruit nut bars I tried to make my own. I had a bunch of dried fruit and nuts hanging around. I have no idea how she makes them so I winged it.

Here's what I put in (although I'm pretty sure any dried fruit/nut combination would work):

• raw almonds
• raw cashews
• raw macadamia nuts 
• raisins
• dates
• water

All you do is put the combo in a food processor, chop until super fine consistency, add a little water so the mixture balls up, spread out on a baking sheet into one big square, refrigerate overnight. I'm not sure if you are supposed to score them before or after. I didn't score them before so I'll let you know how it goes. 

Some other ingredients I didn't think about until after: shredded coconut &dark chocolate chips!!!

These are great to-go snacks and you can make a huge batch of them and they last for a really long time when refrigerated.

To cleanse or not to cleanse

ahh Natalie Dee how I've missed you!

This seems to be the new fad diet- CLEANSING. There are companies popping up all over the place that offer very expensive all juice or part juice/part raw food cleanse programs. While I totally believe in the benefits of juicing and drinking juice everyday, cleansing is a short-term diet outlook. It implies that you can undo the damage of an unhealthy lifestyle in a few short days, and then when you feel good and have lost a few lbs. you go back to your old habits.

This will prevent nothing. It's a diet mentality.

What would be better is if you were to drink 1 glass of juice a day for the rest of your life. And in addition to that slowly replace the junk with whole foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grains like rice and quinoa, beans, etc). And then increase the amount of fresh juice you drink- especially containing dark green leafy vegetables.

It's all about making small changes over time that you can stick with. That is what makes people healthy.

Hope you all have a fun weekend and get some much needed sleep....like I will be doing- still recovering from last weekend :)

I am in college. How do I eat when all I am offered is junk?

Ladies in college. My beautiful cousin Erica asked me for advice on what to eat in college. It took me a while to get to this, but here it is. It's very simple. I assume most of you are eating at cafeterias with meal plans so I will go ahead and say that the prepared foods you are eating are most likely garbage. 

This is what you can do:

• eat all the fruit you can find
• eat the salads
• drink water instead of soda or "vitamin" waters
• buy mixed nuts, dried fruit, and apples/oranges/bananas and keep them in your room
• something tasty & healthy you can eat is hummus w/ cut up veggies
• absolutely do not eat late night
• do not eat fried foods or pizza

It may be fun now and you think you won't be one of the girls that blows up, but you aren't an exception to the rule. Speaking from experience, I thought I could keep up with the boys in drinking and eating. I gained a lot of weight in college. And guess what? I'm still working it off. I'm 29. 

Loosing weight sucks. It's much easier to stay slim than lose weight. It is actually quite simple. The more fruits and vegetables and whole foods you eat the better off you will be. What's a whole food? Something that still looks like it came from nature. Nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables, brown rice, anything that is still in it's original form.

Here are some other facts:

• muffins are not a healthy option
• cheese is the best tasting thing in the world but if you eat a ton of it you will gain weight
• chips go straight to your hips
• most smoothies are sugar bombs unless it is made strictly with whole fruit
• late night eating is THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO
• the ice cream in the cafeteria is garbage

A few words about drinking. First of all, we all know drinking is an integral part of the college experience. If you are one of those that don't drink that much you are ahead of the curve. Alcohol is empty calories. Which means you are just inhaling calories that make you fat. Alcohol is a double whammy because you tend to eat more crappy food.

Here's the thing. The point isn't to be perfect all the time. The point is to be good most of the time. When you aren't partying make a point to be healthy. One or two pounds aren't that bad to get rid of, but 10-20 lb's will literally take you forever to work off. And you won't be able to do it while you are doing keg stands and eating pizza at 3am.

Women definitely have a disadvantage when it comes to packing on the pounds. But it can be easy to stay slim and healthy if you get in the habit of eating fruits and vegetables.

If you happen to be in college and have questions post a comment below and I'll do my best to get you answers. Stay beautiful ladies!

Adventures in LA LA land

I'm back! Sorry to leave you hanging for such a long time. It truly does a body good to get out of town every once and a while. I went to Los Angeles with no set plans other than to relax, explore, and have fun with friends. It was a great weekend- except for the weather. Apparently I brought the rain and wind with me. It was actually nicer in New Jersey than it was out there.

The highlight of my exploring (with some suggestions from Lisa) was eating at a raw food restaurant- my first ever! I figured since I was in the birth place of raw food (so I'm told), I might as well experience it. The restaurant was Planet Raw which is owned by Juliano, a raw food chef. I must say, a year ago I would have scoffed at the idea of paying so much money to eat something that wasn't cooked. But now, I appreciate raw food so much more that it intrigues me to see someone make such beautiful and tasty creations. Albeit a little pricey, Juliano's dishes are more than amazing. He uses flavors that I have never tasted before and exotic ingredients that make the dishes all the more unique.

Spring Roll w/ avocado, kelp noodles, Thai  herbs, in a coconut wrapper w/ no-peanut sauce

I decided to go with a few appetizers instead of ordering an entree just because I wanted to be able to try a bunch of different things. I also made sure I was good and hungry when I got there. The spring roll was my favorite by far. I'm not exactly sure what the Thai spices were, but it had a flavor that I had never tasted before. So amazing! 

The great thing about raw foods is that even though I ate a huge meal and was stuffed by the time I left I didn't get that after-meal sleepiness that so often follows a filling meal. The reason for this is because when you eat raw foods (uncooked fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds) all of the enzymes are present in the food, which mean that your body has to do little work to digest the food. That is the enzymes' job. The more I read and learn the more I am convinced that enzymes are just as important as vitamins and minerals. The concept that uncooked food is capable of digesting itself is very new to me. I didn't start hearing about this until I became interested in all this raw stuff.

Pumpkin Tortellini

One of the many benefits of eating more raw foods is that, because your body doesn't need to stop to work on digesting the food you ate, it can continue to work on repairing what it needs to repair. Your body is constantly repairing damage done by stress, toxins, and physical degeneration. Cells are constantly being replaced. Your immune system is fighting off foreign invaders. So when you eat raw foods, the enzymes present are doing the work for your body. There are still things that your body has to do to deal with the food like produce stomach acid and bile and hormones, etc, but the bulk of the work is done by enzymes. 

Truffle Heirloom Brushetta 

The digestion of cooked/processed foods is much more taxing. The reason being is cooked foods, and therefore processed foods, have no enzymes. This means that your pancreas has to produce enzymes to digest the meal, the enzymes need to figure out what the food is exactly, break the food down into its absorbable form, and then tell the body where to send the nutrients after they have been absorbed. This is a lot of work and can be taxing on the pancreas and other organs involved. 

This becomes really important for people who are seriously ill with cancer or any other terminal illness. You want your body to spend all of it's time fighting the disease and not digesting what you are eating. 

Sliders w/ fresh & sun dried tomatoes, onion, avocado, on flax cracker w/ fig balsamic reduction.

So what do you do if you can't stomach the though of giving up your steak and pizza? Just start eating more fruits and vegetables. There are simple things you can do to start to make the transition to adding more raw foods in your diet. If you eat out a lot you can start by always ordering extra veggies to come with your meal. If you get a pasta, get a salad and a side of veggies. If you can, make fruit & vegetable smoothies for breakfast. Replace lunch with a big salad. Make fruit salads. There are tons of little ways to begin to increase the amount of raw in your diet.

It isn't realistic for all of us raw food lovers to be able to eat gourmet raw food like this all the time. First, unless you are in a big city, or live on the west coast it is very rare to even be able to find a raw food restaurant. Second, it is costly which is fine for a treat, but would be way too much unless you are super loaded (one day!).

Last but not least- pudding made from Irish moss. You would think that's weird, but it was literally AMAZING!
I have no idea what was in it but it vaguely reminded me of a thicker version of key lime pie.

So do what you can! Remember it is all of the baby steps that add up to something tremendous. Often times people think all or nothing, and most of the time that is counter productive to making progress. Life is a journey and a process.

Anyone else have a raw food experience lately? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Going RAW: Part Deux

It has been almost a week that I have been eating a mostly raw food diet. Wohooo! Even though it is not my goal to cut out cooked food cold turkey I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it. I am not going to stress about it if I absolutely want to eat something cooked every once and a while. I think that my body will take care of what it needs over time and I will want it less and less.

I hired help of course. Lisa was kind enough to fit me into her schedule and help a sista out by making her heavier "transition" raw foods. I can handle fruit salad, smoothies, and green salads (although she does make me a few of these) but I asked her to make me things that are going to be as close to cooked food as possible like her zucchini pasta with creamy basil pesto!

Everything is awesome! I am finding that even with raw food I really love savory (salty) food over sweet. I have always been one for salty things- especially potato chips.

What a change since the last time I tried to do this! If you don't remember (or weren't reading my blog yet) I tried this last November when we were just getting into winter and I was crazy busy with work. I found myself completely freezing and wanted nothing but soup. So I parked it for a few months. Now we are over the hump and spring is around the corner. I don't have the insane need for hot things anymore. I am ready!


Why am I doing this? Well, after last month's EPISODE followed by a bad cold, I was fed up and felt like the next thing to do was to completely change my diet. Enter raw food. I have been reading about people who have made the change and am amazed by their testimonials about how much their health improved. So I thought I would give it a shot. I want to try to maximize the amount of vitamins and minerals I am getting from my food.

Most people, when I tell them what I am doing, say 'oh, I could  never do that', and you know what they probably can't. Because when you say you can't do something you are right. You are putting limitations on yourself before you even try. I used to say that I could never give up meat. Oh how far I've come!

Anyone out there considering going raw? or has and has some advice?

Comfort Food Redefined

It's not spring quite yet...still time for some squash recipes. Although we have had a relatively mild winter, it is still winter. Comfort food is key...but tradition comfort food is bursting with tons of cheese, white flour, processed junk out of a can, you get the point. 

This recipe calls for acorn squash, although you could use any type. Acorn is nice because you can cut them in half, roast them, add a few ingredients and you have two individual portions. Squash is great because, if stored properly (in a cool & dark place), it will last for months. Sounds gross, but that is mother nature's way of providing vegetables in the winter. Same with other fall vegetables: potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. 

Sweet Roasted Acorn Squash

• 1 acorn squash
• 1/4 c. quinoa
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tab butter
• 1/2 c. raisins
• almonds
• garamasala spice

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut squash in half, lay face down on pan.
3. Roast 40 minutes.
4. In pan, mix quinoa and water, bring to boil, lower heat & cover for 15 minutes.
5. When squash is done, fork out pulp and mix with quinoa, raisins, and nuts. 
6. Sprinkle spice as desired.
7. Stuff back in roasted squash shell.

This could be done as a savory dish too by adding sauteed mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, & grated Parmesan cheese. Hope you try this one out! It's super easy, inexpensive, and can be done pretty much any way you want. If I had thought of it earlier I would be roasting one of the chickens I picked up from the farm. But, it slipped my mind. You can use walnuts, dried cherries, pecans, brown rice, barley, thyme. Just look in your kitchen and experiment with what you have!

Anyone have any other suggestions for squash dishes?

5 Ways: Oatmeal

There is nothing better on a cold morning than a warm bowl of oatmeal. Since I am naturally such a cold person (by cold I mean constantly freezing where my leg hairs grow back extra fast after I shave), it pains me to eat cold cereal during the winter. I don't eat the junky flavored kinds that are loaded with sugar and chemicals either...I make it myself with Irish or steel-cut oats which cook equally as fast.

Oatmeal is also great because you can literally make it like 1000 different ways. These are some of my favorites:

1. almonds & shredded coconut
2. bananas & crushed walnuts
3. garamasala spice & raisins (or just plain cinnamon)
4. apples, brown sugar, & pecans
5. pumpkin puree & chopped Medjool dates

A quick word about Medjool dates. I like regular dates (you can buy them at most food stores) but last night I tried a Medjool date at my father's house and it was like a completely different experience. Medjool dates are softer and have a smoother texture...it was like a flavor explosion in my mouth! I just don't know why people eat the regular kind.

Anyway, back to oatmeal. It is a whole grain. It's quick. It's cheap. Eat it!

FACT: Nuts are good for you

Nuts have gotten a bad wrap over the past few decades because they are high in fat. Which is true. However, they are a whole food that contain protein, fiber, various vitamins, minerals, and many other important things that we probably aren't even aware of. 

Here's another tid-bit of information: they improve your mood. Two handfuls of cashews have been shown to have the same effect as taking Prozac. What? You heard me. Chemically, nuts have the same effect as anti-depressants. So if you're feeling a little blue try incorporating a variety of nuts into your diet. 

Almonds are high in B vitamins, vitamin E, and magnesium. Peanuts (technically a legume) are rich in folate and antioxidants. Pistachios are a source of chlorophyll and potassium. Hazelnuts are full of compounds that help your heart and brain. Pecans (pi-cons) apparently have more antioxidants than wild blueberries (supposed to have the most according to what "we" know now). Walnuts are high in omega 3 fats and vitamin E. 

What is the easiest way? Trail mix...I know it's not sophisticated, or classy, but it's easy and gets the job done. You can make it in big batches, carry it with you in you car, your purse, keep it at work...where ever!

• almonds
• cashews
• pistachios
• walnuts
• pecans (said pi-cons, not pee-cans)
• hazelnuts
• raisins
• dried apricots
• dried cranberries
• dried cherries
• dried gogi berries
• dried dates
• dried banana chips
• raw cacao nibs
• granola chunks

The problem is you can get carried away, and then the amount of fat in them becomes an issue. Also, if you are looking for granola that is healthy, you aren't going to find it very easily. Most of the store bought kinds are LOADED with sugar. At least if you make your own, you can control how much sweetener you put in and what kind (I use agave nectar usually).

*The nutritional info above is what we know now. The science of nutrition is in its infancy in my (humble) opinion. We have only scratched the surface as far as how our body utilizes everything we get from whole foods. That is why it is so important to be eating a diet primarily based in whole foods and not processed foods.