Superfood Shamrock Shake! (Dairy-free, vegan, raw)

I've been experimenting with spirulina because it's supposed to be so good for you.  To be honest, I think it tastes terrible.  However, I have come up with a great way to hide the taste in this WAY healthier-than-McDonalds Shamrock Shake!   It gets its green color from spirulina instead of green food coloring.

Superfood Shamrock Shake:
handful of nuts (I used pecans)
handful of pitted dates
1T spirulina powder
5-7 drops of peppermint extract
glass of water (about 2 cups)
2 cups of ice

Blend everything in a blender.  (I like to blend everything except the ice first, and then blend in the ice.)  Seriously, this tastes delicious!   Plus, it's SO much better for you than a Shamrock Shake from McD's.  It has about 350 calories per 16 oz serving and 20 grams of fat.  I know the fat is high (and about the same as the McD's), but it's good fat that comes from nuts, not saturated fat that comes from animals.

Just to compare, what's in a McDonald's Shamrock Shake?  For the 16 oz. size, it's 680 calories and 20 grams of fat.  By the way, the small (12 oz) it's 540 calories and 16 grams of fat; and for the large, it's 840 calories and 24 grams of fat.  Also, check out these ingredients.  (I got this info from McDonald's own site.)

What Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream

Allergens: MILK
Milk, sugar, cream, nonfat milk solids, corn syrup solids, mono- and diglycerides, guar gum, dextrose, sodium citrate, artificial vanilla flavor, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, disodium phosphate, cellulose gum, vitamin A palmitate.

Shamrock Shake Syrup

High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, natural flavor (plant source), xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), yellow 5, blue 1.

Whipped Cream

Allergens: MILK
Cream, nonfat milk, water, corn syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, mono-and diglycerides, carrageenan, polysorbate 80, beta carotene (color), natural (dairy and vegetable source) and artificial flavor, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E) to protect flavor. Whipping Propellant (nitrous oxide).

Maraschino Cherry

Cherries, water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, malic acid, citric acid, natural (plant source) and artificial flavors, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), red 40, sulfur dioxide as preservative (contains sulfites).

Woa! How many chemicals are in there?   

Chicken meals in a hurry

Okay, so I found this great tip for preparing meals for days from a couple of roasted chickens.  This has made cooking decent meals during the week so much easier and I had to share! 

Step 1:  Get 2 (or more) roasted chickens.  Either roast them yourself or do what I do and get what I call "lazy chicken" already roasted from the supermarket. (Note:  If you do roast them yourself, use Julia Child's recipe.  You will not believe how good it is!  I call it "succulent chicken of awesomeness".)

Step 2:  Cut off the wings, legs, and thighs and freeze them in ziploc bags for future meals.  All you have to do is zap them in the microwave and add some frozen mixed vegetables (I like the California mix), and you'll have a meal.

Step 3:  Cut off the breasts and have some for dinner tonight.  What you don't eat, you can cut up for salads.

Step 4:  Cut up the remaining chicken breasts and get whatever random chicken meat you can get from the carcasses.  Store for future use in salads or soup or whatever.  You can add some chopped celery, grapes, pecans, and a dollop of mayonnaise for a delicious chicken salad!  Eat it with crackers, on salad greens, or in a sandwich.

Step 5:  Make stock with the chicken bones and carcasses.  (I used to think this was hard but it's super easy!)  Put the carcasses in a big pot.  Add the juice of one lemon, carrots, celery, parsley, onion, garlic, pepper corns, and a bay leaf.  Fill with water and boil for an hour.  (The acid in the lemon juice draws the good stuff out of the bones and into the water.)  You can either freeze this stock for future use or make soup the next day.  (Strain and skim first!)  I added some of the cut up chicken meat, zucchini, basil, and leeks for a delicious soup.  I love making soup because you can use whatever vegetables you have around that are about to go bad.

If you do this as soon as you get home from grocery shopping, you'll have several meals ready to go with little prep.  Yay!

Taco Soup!

A coworker of mine drew my attention to Taco Soup because she brought it for lunch once day, and it looked delicious!  Luckily, I found this recipe in my slow-cooker cook book.  (Note:  Don't have a slow-cooker?  You can make this in a regular pot.  I'd brown the meat first, then add the other ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes or so.)

Taco Soup

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
4-oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained
1/2 tsp. salt
1 envelope dry low-sodium taco seasoning mix
1 envelope dry low-sodium Ranch-style dressing mix (Note:  I didn't use this b/c I really don't like all the chemicals I saw listed in the ingredients.  Instead, I made my own Ranch mix by chopping 2 cloves of garlic, 3 green onions, a handful of parsley, and some fresh dill.)
3 (14 1/2 oz.) cans low-sodium stewed tomatoes, undrained
16-oz. can kidney beans, undrained (Note:  The recipe says "undrained", but I drain and rinse the beans.)
15-oz. can pinto beans, undrained
1 1/2 cups water
(I add a can of corn.  The recipe doesn't call for it, but I think it tastes nice.)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in large slow cooker.
Cover.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.
Optional:  To serve, you can top it with crushed corn chips, avocado, cheese, and/or greek yogurt (instead of sour cream)

Serves 8.  290 calories and 3.5 grams of fat per serving. (without the toppings)

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries!

I love chocolate dipped strawberries!  They are super easy to do and they make an elegant Valentine's Day gift, that is impressive while being inexpensive at the same time.  What's not to like?  Make these for your sweetie on Valentine's Day (or just for yourself), and you will be loved!  :-)

Ingredients:
There are only 2 ingredients neccessary:  chocolate chips and strawberries. 
Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler.  Dip the strawberries, then dry on wax paper.  Put them in the fridge for 30 minutes so to harden. 
Important:  make sure the strawberries are completely dry.  I usually wash them the night before so they can dry overnight.  I learned the hard way that if there is any water on the berries at all, it will turn your melted chocolate in to a gloppy mess and you will have ugly, bumpy strawberries. 

Get fancy!
Now, you can get eleborate by using a variety of chocolate chips (I used white and semi-sweet), then dip them into extra goodies (like chopped nuts or cookies) as well.  Here what I did:

White Chocolate Chip Variations:

•        Plain white chocolate
•        Dried coconut flakes
•        Chopped oreos for cookies and cream!  (I used gluten-free oreo-type cookies.  Paul  Newman makes a good one.) 

Dark Chocolate Chip Variations:

•      Plan Dark Chocolate
•      Chopped nuts
•      Chopped candied ginger

Mixed:

• Two-toned
• Marbelized

I bet you can come up with some even better combinations!  What would you dip your strawberry into?

Market Finds of the Week

Okay so I seem to have lost my blogging mojo lately.  I don't know what my deal is but I can't get the motivation to write about anything lately.  When I first started this blog, I couldn't wait to write about all sorts of things.  Now, I can't get the motivation to sit down and write.  It's  not like nothing has been going on.  In fact, I've been crazy busy.  I guess when you're busy, you're just too exhausted to write about the day's goings on when you get done with them.  Hopefully, this is just a passing phase.

The only thing I really want to write about these days is what I get at the farmer's market, which is a shame because apparently no one else is interested at all in reading about it.  Oh well.  It makes me happy so I'm going to do another farmer's market post today.

First of all, Ted got his hot cross buns!  Don't they look awesome?  I had to smell them all the way home so I couldn't resist just having one bite just to taste.  They really are super scrumptious.  Ted immediately snarfed three of them!

Check out these flowers.  I think they're called Delphinium (?).  Anyway, I call them by their other name, "pretty blue flowers" and I couldn't resist them.

I found some even better eggs than last week.  These are from free-range chickens who are also eat grass and bugs in addition to their feed.  This makes the eggs more nutritious and healthy.  You can't really tell in the picture but the yolks are seriously orange.  This is how egg yolks are supposed to look, but we have gotten used to the pale yellow color which indicates lower nutrient levels.  Also, if you look at the egg in the middle, it is slightly green.  The lady told me that this egg came from a particular type of chicken that lays green, blue, and sometimes rose-colored eggs.  Cool.  I made scrambled eggs with them when I got home and eating them was a whole new eggsperience!  (Sorry---couldn't resist.)  They are much eggier and sturdier than other eggs. 

I won't bore you with all the veggies and other things I got today.  I did get some goat meat to try.  I'm curious to see what that's like.  Anyway, I just seem to be excited about food lately.  Who knows why?  Now I really know what Julia Child meant when she said that shopping for food is more thrilling than shopping for a dress!

More Farmer's Market Veggies!

I went to my local farmer's market again today.  Sure, I have to get up early on a Saturday morning, but it's so worth it!  I have become a bit of a veggie snob.  The drab, supermarket veggies that have been picked green and ripened on the back of a truck and shipped across the country, coated in a film of petroleum (even the organic ones) do nothing for me now.  I have come to realize that fresh veggies that have been picked ripe and eaten within a few days are far superior!  Not just in taste but in texture.  They snap, they crisp, they have bite, etc.


Anyway, since I'm spoiled I went out again today.  Here's what I got:
Kale, fava beans, broccoli, an English cucumber, purple green onions, asparagus, strawberries, hydroponic escarole, spinach, herb plants, lamb chops, local, free-range eggs, and shrimp.

Look how beautiful these shrimp are!  (...and only $7 for all of these shrimp.)

I have never seen purple green onions like these before but they looked interesting.  I tried them when I got home and they have a delicate, sweet taste.

No hot cross bun today for Ted  (hmm... that could be a good band name couldn't it?  "No Hot Cross Buns for Ted".)   However, the bread lady had homemade Granny Smith apple and pecan muffins so I got him one.  The bread lady said she would make us some hot cross buns if we wanted to buy at least a dozen.  When I got home and told this to Ted, his eyes lit up and he nodded vehemently.  I guess we're getting a dozen hot cross buns next week!

The farmer's market has transformed the whole shopping/cooking experience for me.  It used to be a chore to plan out the week's menus, make a list, then go to the store and try to find everything.  Now, I have no list!  I just go and see what they have and what looks good.  Then, I decide what to make with it when I get home.  It makes the process much more enjoyable and creative.  Here's a salad, that I threw together from the things I bought today, to have with lunch:

It has strawberries, spinach, mixed lettuce, parsley, pecans, lemon juice, and olive oil.  A little weird I know, but it was delicious!

So here is my garden-to-be.  I bought some basil, English thyme, and oregano plants.  Hopefully, I won't kill them and they will be the start of my herb/veggie garden.  We'll see. 

Bag o' Greens

What's better than getting fresh, organic veggies from your local farmer's market?  Having your aunt grow them in her garden and give you them for free!  Look at this bag of greens she gave me from her garden.

Don't they look awesome?  There is a mix of two different types of lettuce, arugula, spinach, and broccoli.  My aunt has had a garden ever since I can remember and now she's doing everything organic.  I'm really happy because I have someone to ask for gardening advice!  I really want to start a garden but I have severely brown thumbs.  Really.  I can't even keep a house plant alive.  I did try to start an herb garden once, but the darn squirrels ate everything I planted.  Who knew squirrels ate things like garlic and swiss chard? 

For you gardeners out there, here is some advice she gave me: 
Before you plant, mix compost and cow manure in the soil.  (You can even buy these things at Walmart these days.  Not that I support Walmart---I'm just sayin'.)
After you see leaves shooting up, put fish emulsion on it.  I've never heard of this, but you mix a teaspoon of it in a gallon of water and put it on once a week.  My aunt says that her garden absolutely took off when she did this.  It makes sense.  When you use conventional fertilizer, you're only putting 3 nutrients on.  Fish emulsion provides a whole spectrum of nutrients.  (Also, didn't the Indians bury a fish in the ground when they planted corn?  They knew what they were doing.)

I think I'm going to start small and try an herb garden again, but I'm going to see if I can make a cage or something to keep those pesky squirrels out!

My Farmer's Market Loot

I have been meaning to go to my local farmer's market for some time now, but have been too lazy until today.  The market is on Saturday mornings from 8 - 12, which is usually when I love to sleep!  Well, today I sucked it up and went because I am getting more and more angry with the food industry and I want to support local economy.  (Don't even get me started!  If you want to know more, I highly recommend reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen.  Two friends of mine recommended it to me and I'm so glad they did.)

Here's some of the loot I picked up today (Ignore what's in the back.  That's just what was on my messy counter):

On the left, we have some local honey which I was very happy about since eating local honey is supposed to help with allergies.  (It helps you build antibodies to local allergens.)  I'm not eating honey myself these days (b/c of my no-sugar diet) but it's good for my hubby.  Behind the honey you can see a bag of pecans.  Then, some mustard greens, kale, cauliflower, carrots, sweet onions, strawberries, and butter.  Look how crazy those carrots are!  You can tell someone pulled them out of the ground.  To my delight, the butter is from a local, family-owned farm and was made from cream from cows who were grass-fed, NOT corn-fed.  (Meat and dairy from grass-fed cows are SO much better for you!)  My one food splurge was the strawberries.  I'm not supposed to have even fruit sugar and I haven't had fruit of any sort in months.  However, I decided that it's Easter and I'm not going to have Easter candy so some strawberries wouldn't be too bad, right?  Anyway, I had a few right after I took this picture and they are delicious!  When you don't eat sugar, fruit tastes like candy!

 Above are some dry goods I bought.  The rice cakes, tea, and almond butter are the same brands I have been buying at Whole Foods but it makes me happy that an actual person got the profits today instead of a big food conglomerate.  The bread is a treat for my husband who is less than thrilled with my gluten-free ways lately.  I satisfied both halves of his ethnicity by getting Kalamata olive bread and a hot-cross bun.  The buns were baked fresh this morning and Ted said it was the best ever.

And lastly, I splurged again and bought myself something girly.  I have been wanted an anklet for a long time now and they're hard to find.  Anyway, I bought this one directly from the woman who made it:

   
All in all, a successful trip!  It's really nice to buy things from the people who grow or make them.  These people can answer any questions you may have and are knowledgeable about their area.  The veggie and fruit growers can even help you pick out produce that's at the perfect ripeness based on when you're going to eat them.  (Today, the strawberry lady had special pints of them set aside if you were going to eat them today; then other batches for tomorrow and later in the week.)  All I can say is, eating things at the exact, perfect ripeness is an experience you don't want to miss out on.

Check out your local farmer's market and I think you'll enjoy it and you'll wonder (as I did) why you haven't been going all along.

Do you need a reason to eat cheese?

Sometimes, my students crack me up!  Today, I wanted to bring a treat for them since they just did so well on their Music Festival performance.  Movie day is a good way to do this.  (I only do this once a year.  Any more than that, and it's no longer a treat!)  The symphony in which I play will be performing the music from "West Side Story" on the next concert.  In order to encourage my students to go to the concert, I brought a copy of the movie to watch.  Even if they don't go to the concert, I thought it would be worthwhile.  Besides, as part of their music education, they really need to know about Leonard Bernstein and his work.

In the past, I have brought donuts as an additional treat to have while watching the movie.  However, since I have been reading so many books about nutrition lately, I just couldn't bring myself to buy donuts for my students today.  When you know exactly what trans fats, sugar, and white flour does to the body, you just can't give that stuff to kids.  I just couldn't do it.   SO, I bought some fresh, local strawberries and some cheese.  (Gouda, Cheddar, and Mango-Ginger Stilton.) 

I didn't know how the kids were going to react to the new "healthy" treat.  (I mean, I didn't really want them to think of me as the lady that gives apples or raisins when trick-or-treaters come around!) It turns out though, that kids love fruit and cheese!  They were so excited.  Some of them didn't really like the Mango-Ginger Stilton, but the ones that did REALLY did.  By far, the favorite was the Gouda.  They all said I should just bring a big wheel of that next time.  The strawberries were also a hit.  (There's nothing better than fresh strawberries that have been ripened on the vine!) 

The thing that really cracked me up was that one student said, "Ms. Lyn, I feel rich!  I mean, eating cheese all by itself for no reason?!"  I guess he thinks that rich people sit around all day and eat cheese.  How funny! 

So, wanna make your kids feel special and rich?  Treat them to fruit and cheese!  (It actually isn't that expensive. The snacks today were only a few dollars more than the donuts would've been.)

Weekend Breakfast for Weirdos Who Don't Eat Anything (like me!)

Okay, so the title is a bit of an exaggeration.  I do eat things, but since I'm avoiding gluten, dairy, sugar (including fruit), and bad carbs it sure does feel like I don't get to eat anything sometimes!  It's really hard to be a foodie and have all these restrictions.  I fell off the wagon a bit over Christmas and ate all kinds of things I shouldn't have.  It has been really hard to get back on.  Yesterday, I renewed my resolve to eat like I should.  (For health reasons, my doctor has put me on this crazy eating plan.)

I have to say, once you get the sugar out of your system, it gets much easier to stay on my diet.  Sugar, for me, is an addiction and I have to treat it as such.  When it's in my system, I find that I cannot get through the day without it.  The other day (while I was off the wagon), I found myself lacking energy and feeling terrible so I ate a cake ball.  Immediately, I felt fantastic!  I had gotten my fix.  Then later, I felt terrible and wanted more.  I must break this cycle!  It's very similar to being an alcoholic.  When in recovery, you just can't have your substance at all.  Not even one drink (or bite).  SO - this little tangent is all to illustrate my need to get back on track.

Today, I had my weekend breakfast.  I like to treat myself on weekends and have something delicious.  What's delicious when you have all these restrictions?  Eggs and veggie browns!

 

 
Lyn's Eggs and Veggie Browns:

Pour some olive oil into a frying pan.  (Enough to liberally coat the bottom.)  Then, take a carrot and a zucchini (one each per person), and peel them into long, thin curls with a veggie peeler.  (Note:  When to get to the point where you can no longer peel them, I take what's left, chop it up, and put it into a tupperware and into the freezer.  Then, I add these veggie bits to the pot when I make soup.)  Fry the carrot and zucchini strips in the oil until they get slightly brown and crispy (about 15-20 minutes).  Drain in paper towels when done.  Sprinkle them with Celtic Sea Salt.  (Note:  Celtic Sea Salt is gray in color because it has not had the magnesium and potassium stripped out of it, making it much better for you.  Also, it tastes saltier so you use less.  I love it!)

While the veggies are frying, scramble some eggs and cook them in a frying pan with a little olive oil.  While cooking, I sprinkle them with salt and oregano.  (Note:  Oregano makes everything taste delicious!  I learned this from my Greek mother-in-law who puts it on everything.) 

Serve and eat while hot.  

I can't drink a lot of coffee (due to migraines), but my body can handle one cup per week.  I treat myself on Saturdays and have coffee with my breakfast.  I LOVE to put a spoonful of coconut milk ice-cream in it. (Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Ice-Cream and Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss are my favs.  They are dairy free and don't have sugar either since they are sweetened with agave syrup.  Win-win on all counts!)   

With this breakfast, I don't feel deprived at all!

It's like Nirvana, but with tea!

This weekend, I finally went to the new tea store "Teavana".  (Well, it was new to me anyway.)  Who knew you could spend so much money on tea and tea accessories?  They say, many upscale products aren't really that much better than others, but the packaging is much fancier.  I think this may the case here.  Don't get me wrong,  I loved looking around in the store!  The tea pots were fun to look at, but I am never going to spend over $200 on a tea pot.

I am a big tea drinker and have at least 3 cups a day.  Since I can't have too many treats (no wheat, dairy, sugar, or yeast), tea feels like a sinful delight.  I was reminded of the saying, "a fool and his money are soon parted" because the store seems to be designed to part fools from their money.  Well, I must be a fool because I spent $42 on tea!  You have to buy the tea containers, then you can buy whatever tea you want to fill it.  There are several dozen large canisters behind the register which the sales people will open and waft in your general direction so you can smell the various teas.

The sales person I spoke with was full of helpful information.  Did you know that green tea can help regulate your blood sugar if you drink it before a meal?  Also, did you know that Oolong tea helps increase your metabolism and burns fat if you drink it after a meal?  I didn't!  The sales lady (who was Asian) says that all Asian households have both green and oolong teas on hand since the dishes they eat are often fatty.  With that in mind, I HAD to get one of each!  I ended up getting Dragonwell (green) and Toasted Nut Brulee (Oolong).  The Dragonwell tea was good.  I love a nice green tea, but I have to say it wasn't any better than my favorite Numi Gunpowder Green tea.  I used to feel guilty buying the Numi tea since it's $6.99 per box (although Whole Foods has it on sale often), but now I'll buy it guilt free since it's less expensive than the Dragonwell.  The Toasted Nut Brulee tea however, is awesome!  I will definitely be back for more.  It's like dessert in a cup AND it helps you burn fat?  Why aren't we all drinking this all the time?  I will go back to Teavana and try some more teas, however it will not be an everyday thing for me.  As a special treat however, it's heavenly!

Kindred Spirit

     I met a kindred spirit at Whole Foods.  Have  you ever met someone and instantly liked them over something as mundane as a baked good?  Well, it happened to me yesterday.
     I was buying groceries (as you do) and decided to get a cannoli.  Bad me!  I am starting my crazy diet again for health reasons, and thought I should commemorate the end of yummy, bad things for a while.  It was necessary.  Anyway, there was an older man in line behind me.  "What?  They have cannolis here?  I haven't had one of those since I left Sicily!"  (I assume he lived there when he was younger.)  "Yeah", I said, "I had to get it.  Although, I'm sure it won't be as good as the ones you remember."  The man shook his head and replied, "Actually, they're probably better.  Anytime Sicilians immigrate to America, they improve whatever traditional food they have!  They add more cream and chocolate and things.  I'm going to get one.  Where are they?"  He asked if I would watch his groceries while he ran off to get a new-and-improved Whole Foods cannoli.  While he was gone, I noticed that his shopping cart was full of different kinds of olives from the olive bar, and some bottles of wine.  I like this guy!   (In a strictly platonic way, of course.)
     Later, I was thinking about his comment about Sicilians making things better after they immigrate.  I suppose this is true of any nationality.  I know it's true with Greek salads.  My half-Greek husband raved about the first gyro salad he had in this country.  "There would never be nearly as much meat and cheese on a salad in Greece!"  Also, my Aunt was disappointed in the pizza when she traveled to Italy, saying that we have better pizza here.  I guess there's some truth to this.  That's what we do.  We take what's there and make it bigger and better, with more cheese and bacon!  (More on this later, because there are SO many tasty delights that are better in the country of origin, and I do not want you to think I am a xenophobe.)

The list, No. 1 = Learning to Cook

     So what did I mean by that whole "over the moon" thing?  Well, I'm not about to do anything rash like quit my job and move somewhere exotic.  I guess I'm looking to do more of a "hop in the moon's general direction".  I used to have a list of things I would do before I was 30.  (ahem)  30 has come and gone so instead of turning it into a list of things to do by the time I'm 40, here's what I'm thinking:  Do as many things as I can this year, the year of the Tiger.
     According to the Chinese Zodiac (as I understand it), the year takes on the characteristics of whatever animal is associated with it.  The Tiger is said to be brave, courageous, and a fiery fighter.  Tigers are also protectors and natural leaders.  It goes up against authority and speaks out about wrongs in society, and willingly puts up objections.  It's time for us to embrace our tigerness this  year.

 So, back to my list....
      There are so many things I've been wanting to do that I've put on the back burner.  It's time to finally get to it!  One thing I've been doing lately, is finally learning how to cook.  For real!  So far, what I've been calling "cooking" is really just assembling ready-made ingredients. I always wanted to take a cooking class, but who has time?  I was absolutely taken with the movie Julie and Julia when I recently saw it on a plane trip.  Who knew that Julia Child's cookbook was really more like a textbook on cooking than just another cookbook?  So, I  bought Mastering the Art of French  Cooking.  My plan is to do one recipe from each category.  For instance, I did the famous Beef Bourguignon which is a stew.  Okay, stew = done.  Next, I roasted my first chicken ever.  (No, I never had roasted a chicken before.  I don't even know how to cook simple things like that!)  My goal is to learn the basics.  I will not be like Julie and do every recipe.  (Especially not the aspics!)  And I absolutely draw the line at organ meats!  Ick!