Category: Food and Recipes

What’s cooking for dinner tonight?

Last night, I made the tortellini soup with spinach for dinner. It was so delicious. Even though I wasn’t supposed to eat it because I’m on the cleanse program, I gave it a little try. Every good cook tests his own cooking. It’s very easy to make and your family will love it. It’s my own original recipe.

I’ve also added some other yummy new recipes to the blog and will continue to add more this week. Check out “recipes” in the menu at the top of the page.

Tonight, I’ll be making some vegetarian nachos. Tortilla chips on the bottom, pour some vegetarian chili (leftovers from the other night) on top of the chips, and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese (always a staple in my refrigerator). Melt in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes and dinner is done! We enjoy topping off the nachos with some fresh salsa and sour cream. This is a definite treat for the kids. Very kid-friendly meal. You can add a green salad with tomatoes, olives and cucumbers as a side dish for the nachos.

What are you cooking for dinner tonight?

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The Dirty Dozen, Plus

Buying organic is healthier for the environment, farmers and for you and your family. Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and conservation of soil and water to enhance the environmental quality for future generations.

Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are not given any antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides.

Since many of us can’t afford to buy all 100% organic, the solution is to avoid those foods that have the heaviest amount of pesticides, chemicals, additives and hormones. Here are the Dirty Dozen: Meat, Milk, Coffee, Celery, Peaches, Strawberries, Apples, Blueberries, Nectarines, Bell Peppers, Spinach, Kale, Cherries, Potatoes and Grapes. Plus, here are some others that are frequently contaminated with potent pesticides: Lettuce, Tomatoes, Carrots and Pears. Most of these are easy to find at your local grocer as well as at Farmer’s Markets during the summer season. Other grocers that sell a variety of quality organic produce, coffee and dairy are Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes.

I’ve pulled together this organic/conventional list that may be useful during your shopping trips. This is a great resource for our family.

Organic Fruit: Apples, Blueberries. Cherries, Grapes, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Raspberries, Strawberries

Organic Vegetables: Bell Peppers, Celery, Lettuce, Potatoes, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes

Organic Dairy: Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Milk, Yogurt, Peanut Butter

Organic Other: Meat, Poultry

Conventional Fruit: Avocados, Bananas, Grapefruit, Kiwi, Mangos, Oranges, Papaya, Pineapple

Conventional Vegetables: Asparagus, Brocolli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Corn, Eggplant, Onions, Sweet Peas, Sweet Potatoes

Conventional Other: Bread, Cereal, Pasta

According to the Environmental Working Group, consumers can reduce their pesticide exposure by 80% by avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Here’s a great article with more information: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods.

Organic foods are a healthy, wholesome, safe choice for all of us, especially for growing infants and children. The most important lesson is for all of us to do the best that we can for ourselves and for our children. Support our local farmer’s efforts and buy local/organic whenever possible.

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It’s time to cleanse my mind and body.

Today I started my Isagneix 9 day cleanse program. This is a great program that I did three years ago. It really helped kick start my metabolism after Lucas was born and gave me renewed energy.

The program consists of shake days, in which you drink an Isagenix shake for breakfast and dinner and eat a well-balanced small lunch, and cleanse days. The toughest are those cleanse days in which you can’t eat anything except 6 raw almonds for the entire day. Of course, you are supposed to drink a lot of water and you are drinking the cleanse drink, but it really hits you that you can’t eat anything during those days! Thankfully, there are more shake days then cleanse days and by the end of the program, you feel rejuvenated and really notice the weight loss.

Today is a shake day for me so it’s not too bad. However, I do have a small headache already because you are not supposed to drink coffee either. That’s another difficult part, especially for those that rely on that caffeine to give them a boost of energy.

Wish me luck, especially since I’ll be posting recipes on my blog this week and still cooking delicious foods for my family.

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Meditation is deep!

Every week, when I go to yoga class and meditate, I get an overwhelming feeling of sadness and the tears just pour out. I don’t know why this continues to happen, every single week! I guess it’s the only time when I actually sit still and quiet for a long time so I am reminded of Julian and how much I miss him. This may sound strange, but sometimes my sub-conscious (Julian) talks to me. We have a little conversation in my own head. Maybe one day, I won’t cry and I’ll be able to just sit, relax and remember our happy memories with Julian. Maybe.

On a different note, I have some exciting tips for all of you about making pancakes as well as another pancake recipe, that uses milk rather then buttermilk, since most of you always have milk at home. This is a basic recipe that can jazzed up with any of your favorites ingredients, such as bananas, chocolate chips or blueberries. My kids’ favorite is banana, chocolate chip pancakes. YUMMMMO! This morning, we made banana walnut pancakes and my niece said “we should call these banana nut muffin pancakes”. I thought that was cute. Banana Nut Muffins are one of my favorite flavor of muffins. Muffins are a great snack item and we make a batch of them almost on a weekly basis. Look for my recipes on the menu at the top of the page and feel free to leave any questions/comments. No question is a silly question. We’ve all asked them before. Lots to share with you, so stay tuned!

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