Sunday, June 8, 2014

Crisis Averted

So a few weeks ago....I avoided a crisis. A major, major crisis. Here is what went down.

I was testing a feux cheesecake recipe. It had lots and lots of raw cashew in it. I spent the night soaking the nuts, because as we all know...the phytate can be broken down by soaking and dehydrating. Then I tried out the recipe that I was testing. I was a COMPLETE bust! I have no idea what I did. It went all brick like and separated on me. I was SO mad and upset and depressed. I mean, do you know how expensive that many cashews are? Geez! Anyway, my first response.....what kind of crappy food can I get my hands on to devour? Normally, it would do me no good to go hunting in the pantry cause there isn't anything there but some canned goods, almond and coconut flour and nuts. But I happened to have some avocado oil chips in there for my girls lunches. I eyeballed those suckers, picked them up and was ready to let all my emotions out on those delicious crispy, salty potato slices and then check the freezer for some coconut milk ice cream! But......I thought to myself..."what in the world do you think you are doing? Is this gonna fix the recipe? Is this mixture just gonna come together for you after you make yourself sick eating a whole bag of chips? What will this accomplish?" And the answer is nothing. Sure, I will feel a little bit better while I'm munching..... but after the fact I will STILL have a screwed up cashew mixture and the only thing different is that, in addition to that,  I will feel like crap. That's not helpful. So I put the chips back down and went to clean up the mess in the kitchen.

So people, I still struggle with emotional eating and I do not always avoid the crisis. Sometimes I give in. That's life. That's being human. But learning to realize it and learning to recognize my tendencies and why and when I'm reaching for a certain food item is important. And I'm learning more and more about myself throughout this whole process.

Sooooooo on that note.. here is some stuff we HAVE been munching on around here.
This week it is just me and my girls since my husband is away in London for a mission trip. I figured it would be a good time to post some stuff we have been eating....ya know, just in case you want to try it out too. I am in the process right now of developing a small free ebook for people who subscribe to my email newsletters. I will let you know as soon as that is done.


Fake Out Rice Bowl

1 small Japanese sweet potato, shredded, and liquid squeezed out in a clean kitchen towel
1/2 pound of hot italian sausage out of the casing
1small bunch of kale, shredded
12 cremini mushrooms, slices
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of onion powder
1 Tablespoon of coconut aminos
Salt and pepper to taste

-In a skillet over medium/medium high heat brown the sausage

-Remove the sausage leaving the fat, add olive oil if you need more fat for cooking. Take some out if you have too much

-Add in mushrooms and onion, cook until they have a bit of color

-Add in the kale and cook until wilted

-Add in the sweet potato, garlic powder, onion, powder, S&P and coconut aminos, and cook till shredded potatoes is cooked through. About 5-7 minutes.

-Add back in the sausage to warm through and serve.






Rosemary Chicken and Roasted Veggies

1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 sweet potato, sliced into wedges
1 bulb of fennel, sliced into wedges
3 shallots, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced about 2 Tablespoons
1 lemon, you are gonna use the zest and the juice
about 1/3 cup of chicken broth
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425

-On a baking sheet, toss your veggies with olive oil to coat and salt and pepper to taste. Spread out in a single layer and place in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Flipping veggies over halfway through.

-Mix up the the zest of the lemon, the minced garlic and the minced rosemary together

-Season the chicken liberally with S and P and then coat the chicken with the zest, garlic, rosemary mixture and a little splash of olive oil and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

-In an oven safe sauté pan heated over medium heat place in your chicken. You want to get them nice and browned on both sides, careful to watch so you don't burn the garlic.

-Once both sides are browned add in the juice of the lemon and the broth, scrape up the bits from the pan

-Throw it in the oven for about 8-12 minutes or until cooked through and internal temp reached 165

-Serve with roasted veggies and pour sauce from the pan over the chicken, taste for added salt and pepper.



Avocado Tuna Salad

1 can of wild caught tuna
1/2 of an avocado
1 Tablespoon of pickled jalapeno's, chopped
1/2 of a shallot, minced
juice of 1/2 lime
S&P

Mix all the above ingredients.
I served mine on some iceburg lettuce and grape tomatoes tossed with some evoo, S&P and spritz of lime juice. Some minced cilantro would probably be good with this too if you swing that way.