I never heard of okra before moving to the south. It’s popular there, where it grows easily because there is little frost. The first time I brought it home I thought that my okra was spoiled because it was very slimy and sticky when I cut it open. Turns out, that’s just how okra is. Not exactly appetizing, to say the least, but you get used to it.

Putting up with a little slime is worth it, if you ask me. Okra packs in the health benefits – it’s a great tool to stabilize blood sugar, maintain a healthy gastro-intestinal tract and prevent constipation, gas and bloating.

It’s common to pair okra with acidic vegetables, like tomatoes, to reduce some of the slime. Or you can use the slime to thicken soups. So clearly a little slime goes a long way – drama-free digestion, lots of nutrients and thick soups – not too shabby.

At the Farmer’s Market this weekend, I picked up some okra at the request of my fiancé. I figured I would roast it with some tomatoes and call it a day. Easy. Simple. Real Food. Why over-think it, right?

I spent most of the day studying so I was grateful when Ryan took a break from football to help me get our meals ready for the week. He came up with an okra red lentil combination that was both creative and tasty. Yes, I know I’m a very lucky girl.

He modified the recipe found on this website.

Ingredients:

Okra with onions

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, sliced

4 dried red hot chilis, sliced with seeds

1 cup okra, sliced into 1/4′’ slices

dash of salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Red Lentils

1 pound dried red lentils

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 garlic clove, sliced

1 dried red chili, chopped with seeds

pinch of salt

water to just cover lentils

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large pan. Add onion, garlic and chili. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add okra and spices. Cook until is soft and dries out. Set aside.

Pour olive oil into large pan on medium heat. Add onions and spices for lentils. Cook for 5 minutes.

Pour water and lentils into pan with onions. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are cooked – about 30 minutes.

Add okra mixture to lentils and mix with spoon.

Serve warm. It pairs well with brown rice or pita.

Eating breakfast is without question, a key part of a healthy and well-balanced life. And yet, so many of us either skip it altogether or fill our bellies with artificial ingredients, sugary cereals and muffins made with refined grains.

To learn more about why cereal, including the ones that appear to be the healthiest of the healthiest, might not be the best option for you, check out this post I wrote awhile back.

Breakfast means breaking the fast. We need a wholesome meal to start the day on a good note, filled with energy and clear thinking. The sugar and the super-sized dose of caffeine might give you a burst of energy but it’s only short-lived, and before you know it, you’re either falling asleep at your desk or going back for more. That doesn’t sound like a long-term solution to me.

This is my new breakfast of choice these days. It’s easy to make and keeps me full and energized for hours.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup steel cut oats

1 banana or fruit of choice

1-2 tablespoons real peanut butter, cashew butter or nut butter of choice

a couple shakes of cinnamon

Directions:

Soak grains over night. Drain water and rinse.

Bring 2/3 cup of water to a boil.

Add steel cut oats. Reduce flame to simmer and put lid on pot.

Cook until grains are soft and water has been absorbed – depending on the kind of oats this can be between 10 and 20 minutes.

Pour steel cut oats into bowl. Add nut butter and cinnamon and mix well. Add sliced banana or fruit of choice on top.

What is your favorite breakfast? How does it make you feel?

Over the weekend Ryan and I attended a mac & cheese and wine pairing event at our friends’ home. So, in case you haven’t already figured it out, each guest was asked to bring a homemade macaroni and cheese dish and pair it with a bottle of wine. Sounds like a fun party theme to me! And it was! Everyone got really into it and came up with some very creative dishes.

I brought 2 different dishes – not because I was trying to show off – but I know my body and that it does not like dairy, so I brought a dairy dish and a dairy-free (and gluten free) dish. Both got good reviews. I haven’t had this childhood classic in years so I was happy to come up with a dish that I could eat without suffering and still be able to participate. This just goes to show you that no matter what your dietary restrictions might be, you are really only limited if you let yourself be. As you’ll see in the vegan recipe below -

Despite how different these two dishes are, they have one thing in common. Both are made with whole foods and high quality ingredients. The quality of the ingredient is very important, especially if it’s coming from an animal. Yes, it’s might be expensive, but that’s just another reason not to eat a lot of animal protein (that means anything that comes from an animal – cheese, milk, meat). And when you do, balance it out with some dark leafy greens. Think of animal protein as a side dish, not the main course.

Nutritional yeast is great if you don’t eat a lot of meat. It’s a great source of B-vitamins, which are essential nutrients that you can only really get from animal proteins. I love it for this reason as well as it’s flavor and the texture it gives to food – like its role in making “cheese”. I wouldn’t recommend the soy cheeses out there. Use real ingredients instead. Those “fake cheeses” are just food-like-substances filled with artificial ingredients.

Spicy Mac and Cheese (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:
4 cups Whole Grain or Whole Wheat pasta
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup red pepper, finely chopped
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
6½ tablespoons. organic butter
4 tablespoons almond flour
2½ cups organic milk
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon. ground black pepper
8 ounces organic colby jack cheese, shredded
4 ounces organic pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 ounces organic sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
4 ounces whole wheat bread shredded

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

Melt ½ tablespoon of organic butter in a small skillet and add onion, red pepper and jalapeno. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of organic butter. Whisk in almond flour. Add milk until well blended. Whisk and stir frequently until the mixture bubbles and thickens, about 5 minutes. Reduce to low heat and add the spices. Mix well. Add cheese and mix well. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease casserole dish.

Pour drained pasta into large pot. Add cooked vegetables and cheese sauce. Mix well.

Pour pasta mixture into casserole dish.

Use food processor to pulse bread into coarse crumbs. Transfer crumbs to small sauce pan. Melt remaining butter and mix with bread crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over the pasta in the casserole dish.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until bread crumbs are beginning to turn brown.

Vegan Mac & Cheese (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

16 ounces brown rice pasta

Cheese Sauce:

¾ cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup nutritional yeast

½ cup organic canola oil

½ cup tamari

12 ounce firm tofu

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon paprika

2 tablespoons mustard

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Add cheese sauce ingredients to blender and process until smooth.

Mix the pasta and sauce in large pot and pour into casserole dish.

Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly brown and crispy – approximately 15 minutes.

Have I mentioned how much I heart lentils? Sure there’s the obvious reason – they’re healthy (more on that in a minute), but what I really love is how low maintenance they are. Lentils do not need to be soaked before cooking, making them a quick and easy way to pack in the nutrients. Rich in fiber, folate and phytonutrients, these antioxidants protect against oxidative damage caused by free radicals.

Cumin is not only great for flavor, but it’s a good source of iron and is great for your digestive and immune systems. Turmeric fights inflammation so it’s a great spice to incorporate into your daily diet, because we all benefit from anti-inflammatory foods.

So just when it was starting to feel like spring Mother Nature decided to remind us that it’s only the beginning of March and threw in a few cold and dreary days. At least it wasn’t snow! A bowl of stew felt like the perfect remedy to offset the dampness. I ate this nutrient-packed stew with extra kale and brown rice and it definitely warmed me up!

Ingredients:

1 cup dried red lentils

¾ cup dried chickpeas

1 large onion, chopped

3 cups vegetable broth, low sodium

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium red pepper, chopped

3 large carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces

5 stalks kale

Juice from 3 limes

2 teaspoons ginger

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon turmeric

½ teaspoon ground pepper

optional: ½ cup chopped unsalted peanuts

Directions:

Soak chickpeas for at least 6 hours or overnight

Combine chickpeas, carrots, onion, lentils, broth, spices and red pepper in slow cooker.

Cook until chickpeas are tender, approximately 6 hours.

Stir in lime juice and kale. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Or…

If you are short on time, you can use canned chickpeas. If you do this, substitute a large pot on the stove for the slow cooker. Put broth, lentils, spices, onion, peppers and carrots into the pot and bring to a boil.

Reduce to simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Add lime juice. Drain and rinse the canned chickpeas. Stir them in and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in kale until it is wilted, about 2 minutes. Add peanuts and serve. Great with brown rice or quinoa!

Recently I have decided to begin learning about and experimenting with Indian-style cuisine. Ryan is a big fan of Indian food, which is very unfamiliar to me, as I grew up eating mostly Mediterranean-style dishes. I also have never had a high tolerance for spicy foods. As I have previously mentioned, I am making a conscious effort to break out of my food-related comfort zone, and learning how to cook Indian-style food falls under that umbrella. I like to think of it as an early Hanukah present to Ryan – the gift that will keep on giving!

Since Indian-style cuisine is vegetarian friendly and the notorious spices and seasoning contain many health-promoting properties, I find myself wondering why I didn’t start this little project sooner. While a little intimidated at first, because lets be honest, unfamiliarity can be daunting, I am happy to report that I found a wonderful introductory cookbook, and that my first attempt was a huge hit.

As I learned, dahl includes the entire family of dried beans and dried peas – split, whole, skinned and unskinned. It is a major source of protein and is often eaten with grains, including rice or flatbreads, and yogurt. The texture is usually wet and slightly soupy.

If you’re like me and you have no threshold for spicy chilies, add the chilies to half of the dahl for your heat-loving dining companions, or just leave it out. The dahl will still be loaded with flavor, but without the extra heat.

Adapted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey.

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils, washed and drained

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 medium onion, half finely chopped and half cut into fine half rings

½ teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices

3 or 4 dried hot red chilies, sliced in half and chopped

Directions:

Put red lentils, 3.5 cups of water, turmeric and chopped onions into pan and bring to a boil.

Turn heat to low and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the lentils are very tender.

Add salt and stir in

Pour oil into frying pan with medium heat. Add sliced onions once oil is hot. Stir for 30 seconds.

Add garlic and chilies. Stir until onions and garlic are golden-red.

Pour contents into pot with lentils and stir to mix.

Serve warm over rice or vegetables.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the course of my wellness and nutrition journey has been the importance of eating locally and seasonally. Before my journey began I rarely factored the season into my grocery list and menu planning. Not only was this a huge waste of money, but I was also contributing to environmental pollution by supporting businesses that transported food from several hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

This quiche, inspired by FatFree Vegan, follows the same general formula, but I replaced the vegetables in the original recipe with fall friendly foods instead.

Ingredients:

One 12-ounce package extra-firm silken tofu
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoon tahini
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1 ½  cups brown rice, cooked and still warm or room temperature

1 apple (I used Pink Lady)

1 small onion, chopped

3 mushrooms, chopped

4 generous handfuls of spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease pie pan (I used one that is 9 ½  inches)

Combine tofu, water, nutritional yeast, tahini, onion powder, turmeric and sea salt in blender and puree until smooth and creamy.

Add 3 tablespoons of tofu cream to brown rice and blend thoroughly. Spread brown rice into pie pan and press evenly into the bottom and sides of the dish. Bake for 10 minutes, remove dish from oven and set aside.

Slice out 6 to 8 thin slices of apple and set aside. Peel and chop the remaining apple.

With heat, add a thin layer of water to the bottom of a saucepan and add onions, apple and mushrooms. Once cooked, add spinach and cook until it is wilted.

Spread the cooked vegetables on top of the rice crust in the pie pan. Distribute it evenly across the crust.

Pour the tofu mixture over the vegetables and spread it evenly across.

Add the 3 inch asparagus tops on top and spray lightly with olive oil.

Bake for one hour or until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for 10 to15 minutes before serving.

My sister loves peanut butter so it only seemed appropriate to honor her birthday with peanut butter blondies. Inspired by the cookbook Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, I swapped a few ingredients for healthier alternatives.

Let me be clear – this dessert is not a “health food”, but to avoid dessert for eternity is unrealistic for most of us.  When indulging, it’s important to do so with real foods, not chemicals or artificial ingredients and flavoring.

Instead of sugar I used brown rice syrup, which is a great alternative to sugar. It is made by fermenting brown rice with enzymes to disintegrate the natural starch of this whole grain. After straining off the fermented liquid, the substance is cooked to a syrup consistency. It has a mild sweet buttery flavor so it is excellent for a bit of sweetness in your tea, salad dressings, sauces, and of course in desserts. Brown rice syrup takes longer for the body to breakdown and digest then sugar because of the complex carbohydrates components, so your energy levels will remain constant instead of crashing shortly after indulging.

Rolled oats are a great substitute for white flour. Just like white sugar, white flour enters the bloodstream quickly, causing mood and energy spikes and crashes. Refined carbohydrates, like white flour, not only lack any nutritional benefits, but have been linked to a range of health issues including weight gain and heart disease. Whole grains, like rolled oats, remain rich in micronutritents and fiber.

Ingredients:

2 cups Rolled Oats

½ cup organic Peanut Butter

¼ Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ cup Almond milk (or milk of your choice)

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup Brown Rice Syrup

Optional: 1/3 cup peanuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 8 x 8 inch baking dish

Use blender or food processor to blend rolled oats to create flour consistency

In medium mixing bowl combine, use spoon to mix peanut butter, oil and brown rice syrup.

Stir in nondairy milk and vanilla.

Stir in flour and baking powder. Blend well.

Transfer dough into baking pan and press into place.

Sprinkle on the peanuts and lightly press them into the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the blondie edges are slightly darkened.

The top will appear soft and that is ok.

Allow pan to cool completely. You may even want to put the pan into the refrigerator for an hour or two before slicing to make them extra firm, but still moist and delicious.

You just finished working a full day – whether that means back-to-back meetings at the office, studying for midterms or carpooling your kids around town – and you’re tired and ready to sit down, unwind with your favorite TV show while you fold laundry and pay bills. But before you can do that you need to figure out what’s for dinner. You haven’t been to the grocery store in a few days and are feeling tempted to order takeout from your favorite restaurant. Sound familiar?

Before you reach for the menu and your phone, consider this: You don’t have to be Bobby Flay to make a delicious meal or Rachel Ray to do it in 30 minutes or less. Besides, eating clean, real, simple food is one of the easiest ways to feel your best for the long haul. All it takes are a few basic foods in your pantry, freezer or fridge and you have a delicious healthy meal in no time.

So let me show you how this works in real life…

Now that I’m back in school and working with clients, my time in the kitchen is budgeted (on time and pennies). I spent most of the day studying for an exam, well actually two exams, and my sister called to make plans for dinner. She had spent the day on campus and was tired too. Sometimes you just aren’t in the mood to cook a 3-course dinner.

Step 1: Get a grain going. Brown rice, quinoa, kasha, whateva – pour it into the rice cooker, hit the switch and let it do its thing. This usually takes the longest to cook so it’s a good idea to start this first.

Step 2: Decide on a protein. Beans are my typical go-to so I always keep a supply of canned beans in my pantry for these “I don’t wanna” days. Just remember to check the ingredients listed on the back of the can to make sure there aren’t any surprises. Experiment with new beans to keep your meals fresh. There are so many to choose from. On this particular evening, my sister came over with tempeh so that was our protein. We chopped it into cubes and tossed it with some spices (paprika, tumeric, etc.) and a little olive oil and popped it in the oven.

Step 3: Veggies, veggies and more veggies. Seriously, you can’t make enough vegetables. We steamed kale, cabbage and carrots. Frozen or fresh, it doesn’t matter. Just eat ‘em!

Step 4: Get saucy. Sure you can eat your rice, beans and veggies plain or you can add a little something on top to spice things up. The right sauce will not only add flavor, but more nutrients to your already nutrient-dense meal. We used split pea soup as our sauce that I had made earlier in the week. The soup is delicious and thick – makes for a perfect topping or is great all by itself. No time to make soup? Try some hummus or a few avocado slices instead. Or try my favorite avocado spinach sauce (pictured below).

Avocado Spinach Sauce

Ingredients:

1 avocado

2 tablespoons tahini

Juice from 1 lemon

Parsley – small handful (optional)

Spinach

Directions:

Start by blending the avocado, tahini, lemon juice and parsley. Then add a small handful of spinach and water – it’s easier to blend if you add the spinach gradually. Stop to blend after each handful of spinach. Keep adding water and spinach until you get the flavor and consistency that you want.

Now doesn’t that look pretty and colorful!

So there you have it. Clean, simple, real, good food made on the fly. You are what you eat and who doesn’t want to be clean, simple, good and real, right?

Everyone that doesn’t live under a rock knows that it’s important to eat more fruits and vegetables and less sugar and processed foods. However, many of us seem to conveniently forget these guidelines when it comes to breakfast. Instead we settle for foods that are quick, easy and give us an artificial boost of energy to start our day. In other words, most of us rely on foods that are easily transportable (read: processed) and loaded with sugar, so we perk up in the morning only to crash a few short hours later.

Cereal (even if you think it’s the healthiest option on your grocery store shelf) and milk for breakfast, or any other time of day, is not as harmless or healthy as you may think.

Here is what Sally Fallon, founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation has to say about dry cereals.

“Dry breakfast cereals are produced by a process called extrusion. Cereal makers first create a slurry of the grains and then put them in a machine called an extruder. The grains are forced out of a little hole at high temperature and pressure. Depending on the shape of the hole, the grains are made into little o’s, flakes, animal shapes, or shreds (as in Shredded Wheat or Triscuits), or they are puffed (as in puffed rice). A blade slices off each little flake or shape, which is then carried past a nozzle and sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal from the ravages of milk and to give it crunch.”

According to Paul Stitt, author of Fighting the Food Giants, “the extrusion process used for these cereals destroys most of the nutrients in the grains. It destroys the fatty acids; it even destroys the chemical vitamins that are added at the end. The amino acids are rendered very toxic by this process. The amino acid lysine, a crucial nutrient, is especially denatured by extrusion. This is how all the boxed cereals are made, even the ones sold in the health food stores. They are all made in the same way and mostly in the same factories. All dry cereals that come in boxes are extruded cereals.”

Still not convinced that you should rethink your breakfast routine?

In the 1960’s a study was conducted at the University of Michigan in which researchers divided 18 laboratory rats into three groups: one group received corn flakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water.

The rats in the control group (received rat chow and water) remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats who ate the cereal box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. The most surprising result of all (at least for me) was that the rats eating the cornflakes and water actually died before the rats eating the cereal box. Before the rats eating the cornflakes and water died they developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions.

The conclusion of this experiment is that the cereal box provided more nourishment than the corn flakes. This study was never published.

So right about now I bet you’re feeling limited and wondering what you CAN eat for breakfast.

My favorite way to start my morning is with a bowl of oatmeal. It’s filling and I love the warmth the oatmeal provides in the colder months. The rolled oats are an excellent source of nutrition, as they contain essential enzymes, iron, dietary fiber, vitamin E and B-complex vitamins. Because the body absorbs grain slowly, they provide sustained and high-quality energy.

You can substitute rolled oats with any other whole grain like millet, amaranth and quinoa. I like to add raisins and walnuts to the oats while they cook. The sweetness of the raisins spreads throughout the oats so adding cinnamon or any other sweetener is practically unnecessary.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup rolled oats or other whole grains (Heck, go crazy and mix different grains together!)

1 cup water

Optional mix-ins: raisins, apples, walnuts, almonds, seeds – you get the idea…

Directions: 

Soak grains overnight to aid digestion. Soaking grains also removes phytic acid, which is a natural part of the grain’s bran. This makes absorption of all the grain’s nutrients easier on the GI tract.

Drain and rinse grains

Combine grains and water in pot

Bring to a boil

Simmer for 20 minutes – add your mix-ins half way through

Feeling too rushed to eat at home and be able to make it to work or school on time in the morning? Pour it into a glass container to take with you on the go. Don’t forget your spoon!

Also check out my pumpkin muffins for another healthy option.

For more information about the extrusion process check out these sites.

http://www.westonaprice.org/Dirty-Secrets-of-the-Food-Processing-Industry.html

http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/doyle-2/

If you live in the Asheville area and have never experienced Laughing Seed, then you are missing out on an incredible dining experience. I don’t eat out at restaurants very often, but when my friend suggested getting together for lunch at Laughing Seed, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse!

This vegetarian restaurant offers such a unique and eclectic international approach to dining that it is a huge hit for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike! They don’t take reservations and I have found myself waiting for over an hour to be seated at this comfortable local restaurant. Laughing Seed features local products, organic ingredients and original dishes that guarantee a very satisfying dining experience (the super friendly staff and fun drink menu – and I don’t mean only alcoholic – helps too).

My favorite dish is called the Harmony Bowl. Everything edible that I love is in that bowl. It starts with a bed of brown rice, then some beans (usually black or pinto), grilled tofu and lightly steamed seasonal veggies topped with their incredible sesame ginger sauce. Does that sound like perfect harmony or what?

Several months ago, before I started blogging, my friend Wendy and I came up with our own sesame ginger sauce. It’s not the same as Laughing Seed, but it’s pretty darn close. Enjoy it on salads, as a dip at your next party, or your own Harmony Bowl!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Tahini

1 tablespoon Sesame oil

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ teaspoon Minced Garlic

½ teaspoon Ginger

1 teaspoon Agave Nectar

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in bowl.