Tag: healthy eats

South Dakota Day 1

Today my husband and me took our first flight together after 22 years of marriage and many more as friends, to see his mom. After a smooth landing in Sioux Falls, shopped at HyVee, and was pleasingly surprised at the mecca of healthy food choices. Stocked up on gluten-free and vegan choices for me, and plenty of food and drink for the next week, we headed to my mother-in-laws home. Sat and talked and snacked, a little wine, a little Komucha, listening to the rain. Lovely, relaxing start to our vacation here.

Zucchini Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

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My favorite way to start Sunday, is brunch! Coming up with new, delicious recipes to share with my family, relax and just hang out in our PJ’s. Before I even got to try it I heard my son “this is really good”. I knew it would be a keeper. Super moist, delicious, and you would never know it is gluten-free, vegan and low sugar.

Recipe:

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Oat Flour (ground oatmeal)

1/2 cup Buckwheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 Tbs Cinnamon

2 Tbs Chia Seed

3 Tbs Sugar (or coconut sugar or Stevia)

Dash of Salt

Mix all together in a bowl

2 Tbs ground Flaxseed (for flax eggs) add water and let sit 10 minutes

In another bowl mix together:

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1 grated zucchini (peeled optional)

3 Tbs Maple Syrup (can sub honey if not vegan)

3 Tbs Peanut Butter (can sub any nut butter)

add the flax eggs mix together, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix by hand, fold in 1/2-1 cup chocolate chips (your choice)

Pour mixture in greased pan, top with crushed pecan and raw sugar (totally optional) Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick come out clean. 

Let cool  slightly (the chocolate chips will be little lava pockets) and enjoy 🙂

 

 

Zesty Vegan Cheese Spread

This cheese spread is so good! A little bit of zip, creamy and cheesy. Great for sandwiches or as a veggie dip.

1/2 cup of soaked cashews

1 TBS Lemon Juice

1 1/2 TBS Nutritional Yeast

1 TBS Coconut Oil

1 1/2 TSP Chili Powder (or more to taste)

1 TSP Italian Herb Blend (dried)

Salt

UnSweetened Non-Dairy Milk (I used Almond)

Place all ingredients in a high speed blender, start with a tablespoon milk, blend, add more milk until desired consistency.

Asparagus Tomato Sandwich

Toast gluten-free bread. Spread cheese spread on each slice. Saute asparagus and green bell pepper in coconut oil over med-high heat for a couple minutes to lightly cook but retain slight crunch. Add tomato, salt and pepper. For non-vegan add salmon.

14 Day Fiber Challenge

Want to make healthier choices and don’t know where to start. Calorie counting, macro-tracking, food weighing seem over-whelming.  Your first step to better health can be as easy as increasing your fiber intake. Most people fall short of the goal of 25-35grams a day. Why, because we grab easy, high carb, low fiber, pre-packaged foods. The result, our digestive system is not running at it’s best, we are not absorbing all the nutrients we need and we have difficultly eliminating the things are body does not need. All that can lead to bloating, feeling run down, lack of mental clarity and just not performing at our best.

How does increasing fiber help all this? Whole foods, foods closer to their natural form, are higher in fiber. By swapping processed foods for nutrient dense foods, you will begin to heal your gut, increase your energy and help control weight management.

9 Health Benefits of Fiber
•Blood sugar control: Soluble fiber may help to slow your body’s breakdown of carbohydrates and the absorption of sugar, helping with blood sugar control.
•Heart health: An inverse association has been found between fiber intake and heart attack, and research shows that those eating a high-fiber diet have a 40 percent lower risk of heart disease.
•Stroke: Researchers have found that for every seven-grams more fiber you consume on a daily basis, your stroke risk is decreased by 7 percent
•Weight loss and management: Fiber supplements have been shown to enhance weight loss among obese people, likely because fiber increases feelings of fullness.
•Skin health: Fiber, particularly psyllium husk, may help move yeast and fungus out of your body, preventing them from being excreted through your skin where they could trigger acne or rashes.
•Diverticulitis: Dietary fiber (especially insoluble) may reduce your risk of diverticulitis – an inflammation of polyps in your intestine – by 40 percent.
•Hemorrhoids: A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of hemorrhoids.
•Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): Fiber may provide some relief from IBS.
•Gallstones and kidney stones: A high-fiber diet may reduce the risk of gallstones and kidney stones, likely because of its ability to help regulate blood sugar.

High Fiber Food

Basic Plan:

Choose vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans. Swap “white sugar, white flour” for more nutrient dense options. Read fiber labels on packaged breads and pastas. Look for 100% whole grain (not whole wheat flour) and a fiber content of 3-7 grams. Trade white pasta for bean pastas. White rice for brown, quinoa or buckwheat. Trade packaged cookies for fruit or homemade whole grain oatmeal & chia seed cookies. Have fun and enjoy finding new favorite foods and recipes.

fiber-rich-foods-list

Want up your gut health even more, add pre and probiotic foods to you menu. They help good bacteria grow in your intestine, increasing your health benefits even more.

biotics