March 7, 2012

No-Mayo Chicken Salad

I’ve never been much a fan of mayo (I was always more of a ketchup girl when it came to condiments), but boy do I love me some chicken salad just as much as the next girl. Who says chicken salad has to be made with mayo? This no-mayo chicken salad uses creamy avocado and tangy lemon juice to bring all the ingredients together.  Creamy, meaty, crunchy… it’s got all my requirements for a tasty chicken salad. And to top it off it’s full of healthy fats…

As a Matter of Fat
I’m not really one for labels and generally try to avoid labeling a food as “good” or “bad.” [That is unless we’re talking about anything that ends in “tos,” which is not food to begin with so the point would be moot.] Anyway, there was a time when people actually thought margarine fell into the “good” category. Knowing what we know now about processed “trans” fats, that’s crazy, right? Point being: Things change. We’re all learning as we go here in this ever evolving science of nutrition. So until we have all of the answers (which will probably never happen) I say the best expert to trust out there is none other than nature.

And nature sure out did herself with the avocado. A sort of freak of nature, the avocado is actually a fruit. And it’s the only fruit that is also a fat.

Fats are like the oil to the machine that is our body. Their oils lubricate our cells, inside and out. That’s why we say foods like avocados, olive oil and nuts are great for your skin. Their oils help to hydrate the skin from the inside out making it look supple and glowing. Fat is also critical to nutrient absorption. Without it most of the vitamins and minerals in our foods would go straight through us. In particular, avocados help our digestive tract more efficiently absorb nutrients. They’re a source of carotenoids, which help prevent free radical damage, and are considered to be an anti-inflammatory food (two more points for skin care). Avocados are also a good source of folate and have been linked with women’s health and fertility. How about this for a sign from nature: You know what else takes exactly nine months to develop? An avocado.

Add sliced avocado to your salad, mash it into a dip or mix it up with the other ingredients here for a totally different take on a classic that’s just as delicious and uber-healthy.

No-Mayo Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 avocado
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1/2 apple
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1/2 lemon
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

Poach chicken breasts in a skillet with about 1/2 inch simmering water, about 4 min per side. When chicken is cooked through, remove from pan and shred. Smash avocado in a medium sized bowl, add chicken and mix. Add apple, walnuts and raisins. Squeeze half a lemon and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on top of mixed greens.

You can even eat this while spring cleaning! Check out my Spring Clean Your Body program to reboot your body and get ready for spring.

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March 1, 2012

butternut squash + kale + white beans + quinoa

Things I will miss about winter:

1. My UGG boots
2. Using the excuse “It’s too cold” to do nothing but curl up and watch Bravo
3. Meals like this….

I’m coming to terms with the fact that this will likely be my last bite of butternut squash for awhile, which makes me a little sad. Is it weird to miss vegetables? Wait, don’t answer that… My husband on the other hand does not share my nostalgia for these peculiar-shaped roots. As the “chopper” of the household, he’d be happy if he never came head to head with one of these guys on the chopping block again. They sure are little boogers to get into, but man, it’s so worth it. That buttery flavor and heartiness make them the perfect healthy comfort food. Plus with their dye-your-skin-orange flesh they’re chock full of antioxidants to keep your immune system in tip-top shape, just when you need it the most.

Literally, all I did here is saute sliced red onion in a skillet. Add the squash. Then broth. Then kale. Then beans. Serve over quinoa and voila! You’ve got yourself a dinner that might make you miss b-squash too. It’s crazy healthy, and even crazier that it’s so delicious. I almost can’t believe it myself. Here’s the full recipe….

Butternut Squash with Kale and White Beans over Quinoa

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small butternut squash. peeled and cut into cubes
  • 1 bunch kale, torn into small pieces
  • 1/2 red onion, cut into thin crescents
  • 3/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 can cannellini beans (or 2 cups cooked beans)

For the dressing (whisk all ingredients together to combine):

  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

Rinse and drain quinoa well. Bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil and add quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes until all of the water is absorbed.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about five minutes. Add squash and stir to coat with oil. Cook 7-10 minutes. When the edges of the squash begin to sear and stick to the pan, stir in the vegetable broth. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. When the squash is soft, add kale and stir to combine. When the greens have reduced, add white beans and stir to combine.

Serve over quinoa; drizzle with lemon dressing.

And enjoy that last taste of winter.

As sad as I am to pack up my UGGs and say goodbye to b-squash, I’m just as excited to move on to spring. To help you get your body ready for the season, I’m offering a Spring Clean Your Body program. Now is the time we can all use a little spring cleaning — inside and out. Sessions can be done individually or with friends. For more information, click here.

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February 27, 2012

What’s for Dinner: Your Five-Night, 20-Minute Meal Plan (Glass Heel Guest Post)

It’s 6:30 p.m. and you’ve just barely survived Monday at the office. You’re hungry. You’re tired. And the last thing you want to do is stand over a stove like sweet little June up there (though she does look pretty darn cute in that apron). The reality is, most of us feel the frustration of the poor girl on the right. Look familiar? It’s a common predicament – you want to eat well, but you’re busy, life is hectic, and you don’t have the time to spend an hour, or two, in the kitchen (sorry, June). On top of that there’s the shopping, planning… oh, just the thought of it all can be enough to make a gal stress eat. Stop. Step away from the pizza delivery coupon…

What if preparing healthy dinners during the week didn’t have to eat up your whole evening, or be stressful and complicated? With a little bit of strategy and some prep work on the front end, you can pretty painlessly set yourself up for five nights of simple, nutritious and tasty meals that you can throw together in 20 minutes or less. This week I’m telling you how over on GlassHeel.com. Get a complete plan for the week with five nights of dinners, a shopping list with all you’ll need, and steps to help you cut down the prep work. Follow my guide and you’ll be set for a week of eating well, saving money and feeling accomplished in the kitchen – all without missing a beat on that busy schedule of yours.

Get  my five-night meal plan here.

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February 23, 2012

What’s All the Fuss About Coconut Oil?

Move over olive oil… it’s coconut’s time to shine.

It seems everyone is talking about coconut oil these days, so I thought I’d take a stab at explaining what all the fuss is about. Coconut oil is a saturated fat (gasp!)…. Hold it right there…I know, after all these years of putting saturated fat on the same level as the devil himself, we’re hearing a different story. It turns out not all saturated fats are created equal and we’ve learned the body actually needs saturated fat for really important things like brain cells and hormones. The real demons are now the ones treated artificially — liquid fats that are manipulated to make them solid at room temperature by adding hydrogen (aka “hydrogenated”) to create “trans fats.” Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature all on its own making it naturally more stable and capable of handling higher temperatures without burning and creating free radicals — those things that cause major cellular damage (ie. signs of aging, inflammation, cancer, etc.).

Aside from being able to handle the heat, coconut oil is oozing with health benefits. It’s linked with boosting metabolism, improving heart health, supporting the immune system and maintaining a lean body. Our bodies actually burn coconut oil differently than they do other fats. The fatty acids in coconut oil are much smaller so they’re easier for the body to use. That means we’re able to burn the fat quickly and use it up as energy, instead of storing it (Now, that’s my kind of non-fat!). As if that weren’t enough, this little miracle worker does wonders for the skin too. Use it as a substitute for butter in baking, to saute vegetables, as a moisturizer, eye-makeup remover… you can even take it daily as a supplement. Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? If so, this is my Windex!

To truly reap the benefits, look for these buzz words on the label: virgin, organic, unrefined, and cold pressed or expeller pressed. There are coconut oils out there that are refined or processed to neutralize the flavor and extend the product’s shelf life. You don’t want that. When buying coconut oil, go for the pure stuff. Also, you might see some that are labeled “extra-virgin,” which is not really a thing as it is with olive oils. For coconut oil, virgin is as good as it gets. Just so you know…

Fun fact: Coconut oil was actually what movie theaters originally used to pop popcorn until saturated fat became a no-no. But the stuff they were using was far from the pure coconut oil we’re talking about here. I’d imagine it did give those kernels that perfect combo of sweet and salty though.

Want to give it a try? Use coconut oil as you would olive oil to saute vegetables. Itching to bake? Here are a few recipes that use coconut oil:

Banana Nut Muffins
Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Raw Cheesecake

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February 15, 2012

Cauliflower, White Bean, and Leftover Soup

This soup was the unintentional product of a side dish gone horribly wrong. OK, I exaggerate, it wasn’t that bad. It was just a little cauliflower mash that turned out a bit more like cauliflower baby food. So, in my attempt to salvage a botched head of cauliflower, I combined the puree with some broth, added more veggies plus white beans, and the baby food became a creamy, velvety rich vegetable soup. Brilliant! One night’s kitchen disaster becomes something truly great and delicious the next. Love it.

If you avoid dairy, try this the next time you have a hankering for something creamy and delicious. Between the cauliflower, the added veggies and beans, it’ll satisfy and fill you up on the good stuff. I used veggies I had leftover in the fridge and frozen in the freezer: broccolini, carrots, celery, peas and corn. Soup is the perfect vessel for cleaning out the fridge in a completely delicious and non-wasteful way. Sweet potato about to go bad? Chop it up and throw it in! You’ll feel so resourceful.

Cauliflower, as this goes to show, is one of those magic veggies that you can turn into a number of things – roast it, mash it, rice it, puree it… It’s as if it were designed for cook-once-eat-twice cooking. You could roast  a ton of it with chicken on Monday night, then take the leftovers and turn it into this soup the next. I love it when that happens…  It certainly makes it easy to get another cruciferious veggie into your repertoire. Like it’s cousins (broccoli, kale and cabbage) cauliflower is high in vitamins C and K, so you get antioxidents and much needed support for your detox system. It’s also a good source of folate, potassium, iron and calcium.

Cauliflower, White Bean and Leftover Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 qt vegetable broth
cauliflower puree*
1/2 cup peas, frozen
1/2 cup whole kernel corn, frozen
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
and/or any other leftovers you have

Directions:

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add carrots and celery. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in cauliflower puree to combine. Add peas, corn, beans and/or any other leftover veggies that you’d like. Bring everything to a simmer to heat through.

Cauliflower puree*

To make the cauliflower puree, cut cauliflower into pieces and steam 10-15 minutes, until tender. Place cauliflower in the food processor with three cloves of garlic. Add a little (I mean a little) water or broth and 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Puree, adding more liquid as needed until smooth and creamy.

If you’re starting with roasted cauliflower, follow the same steps as above. You may need a little more liquid to get desired consistency.

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February 7, 2012

Go-Bananas Banana Nut Muffins

Ba. Nanas. That’s all I can say about these unbelievably, crazy, so-delicious-you’ll-go-bananas banana nut muffins. That, and literally, they really are just bananas. It’s pretty easy to make healthy baked goods when the star ingredient is naturally sweet all on it’s own. Plus, all the moisture from the bananas lets you get away with a heck of a lot less fat and zero sugar in this recipe. That’s right, these guys are 100% sugar-free. There’s not an once/bit/speck of sugar in here.  Zilch. Zero. Nada.

The trouble with most baked goods is the combo of sugar (the refined white stuff) and flour (the other refined white stuff) and unhealthy fat. Traditional white flour and sugar has been processed to remove the fiber and virtually all of the nutrition right along with it, leaving not much other than sugar and starch (which to the body might as well be sugar). Whole grain flours (and whole sweeteners too) still have their fiber and nutrition in tact, which helps to slow the absorption of sugar/starch in the blood stream. That, plus the added fiber from the bananas, keeps you from feeling those sugar highs and lows. You get a steadier energy and can finally exit the sugar roller coaster ride.

Once the batter is whipped up, I add chopped walnuts and also dates, which give some extra whole-food, natural sweetness. These little treats are my new favorite breakfast, snack, bread and dessert. Wholesome. Sugar-free. Dairy-free. Gluten-free. Sweet. Dense. And soul-warmingly delicious. Ba. Nanas.

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:

1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5 bananas
250 g flour*
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. sea salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup chopped dates

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. In a food processor or blender, combine the almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla and bananas. Blend until smooth.

Put the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour in the banana mixture and stir until evenly mixed. Fold in the nuts and dates.

Pour the batter into a greased or lined 12-muffin pan. Bake at 350F for about one hour. [Note: The toothpick trick doesn't quite work on this one because they're just so dense. You'll have to cut into one halfway to check if they're still gooey in the middle. If so, continue baking 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.]

Makes 12 muffins.

*To make these gluten-free, I started with a homemade combo of gluten-free flours: 150g buckwheat, 150g brown rice, 50g garbanzo bean, 75g white rice, 75g tapioca and 1 tsp arrowroot (note: this yields more flour than what’s needed for recipe). I thought the nutty flavor of the buckwheat was just right for banana nut. By no means do you have to use this exact combo, I just wanted to give you an example. There are so many flours you can work with. Play around, experiment. Pretend you know what you’re doing (full disclosure: I so do not.) and find the combo you like best. Have fun!

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February 2, 2012

Healthy? Super Bowl? Oh ya.

It’s almost officially Super Bowl weekend and we all know what that means…

(Yes, that is a football stadium made out of junk food, right there.)

Diet. Fail. But what if I told you it doesn’t have to be that way? You can have your nachos and eat them too. Literally. There is such a thing as healthy indulgence. Some of the healthiest foods that exist are true indulgences all by themselves…. avocado. a perfectly ripe tomato. goat cheese. sweet potato. raspberries. chocolate. cinnamon. Oh, I could go on…

Sounds a heck of a lot better than Velvetta and Beanie Weenies, huh? I’ve had my eye out all week for tasty game day recipes that are healthy (or at least healthier) too. Here’s my list of game day go to’s….

What about you… What are you making for game day?

Healthy Game Day Favorites

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