Healthy Changes, Day 10: Stir-Fried Chicken

Day 10 Overview:
Weight:  207 lbs (-10 total!)
Exercise:  Walk & Yoga
Recipe:  Stir-Fried Chicken with Red Cabbage and Plums (really good - try it!)

We had some wine with dinner last night and I wasn't sure I'd be down any extra weight because of it, but I lost another 0.9 pounds anyway, which makes it an even 10 today! Yay!  That seems to be the one thing that hasn't stuck on this program.  We've had wine with dinner a few times in the past ten days, but my goal for the remainder of the 21 days is to not have any alcohol at all.  The caffeine hasn't really been an issue since the shakes are packed with energy foods and I'm allowed to have tea.  I have to be careful what tea I have after about 2pm or I'm up late with insomnia.  The other goal adjustment is that I want to commit to more than just exercising every day (which I've done, even with all the rain!) and to make it that I go on a walk AND do yoga every day.  It doesn't have to be an hour of each, but at least a mile walk and at least 15 minutes of stretching every day.  

I'm putting the recipe from last nights dinner on today since I will be having it for lunch and the shakes today are variations on what I've already posted.  We both hate water chestnuts with a passion so I didn't even consider putting them in this recipe, but feel free to add them if you like those slimy crunchy abominations of nature.  Henry looked for Angelino plums but couldn't find whatever that is, so we went with the dried plums suggestion.  Hmm... "dried plums" eh?  Seems to me those used to be called "prunes."  Granted, prunes sound like something old people eat at every meal and dried plums sound like some exotic fruit.  I don't blame them for using that marketing scheme, but I'll have to do some price comparison to see how much more they cost when they don't say the word "prune" on the label...

This meal was really good!  It was the first time I'd ever used coconut oil and it added a really interesting dimension to the dish.  The tamari is basically gluten-free soy sauce, so that was a familiar flavor, along with the garlic.  I'm not sure what is in the five spice powder since the packet just says, "Herbs and Spices, Onion, and Chili," but that Asian spice flavor combined with the sweetness of the plums was really great.  I thought it was really delicious but Henry said it wasn't his favorite of the new recipes.  He said he'd give it a 7 where the other meals were 8 or 9s.  I totally forgot the sesame seed garnish at the end, but don't think it was missing too much without it.  I made some brown rice to have as a side and there are plenty of leftovers of each for lunch today for both of us and maybe for tomorrow, too.  The recipe is below and can also be found on the Clean Program website's pdf file.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Water Chestnuts, Red Cabbage and Angelino Plums
I found dried Angelino plums in the bulk section at my local market and bought them without knowing what they would work in. They worked in granola and breakfast porridges, but this recipe was the absolute perfect place for them. This dish has just the right amount of sweetness and is absolutely delicious, with the soft plums, crunchy water chestnuts and flavorful chicken and cabbage. If you can’t find Angelino plums, any dried plums would work, or I also made this with dried apricots and it was a close second in flavor!

4 small chicken breasts, cut into small pieces (roughly 1-2 inches)
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 cup water chestnuts
1 cup chopped Angelino plums (or any dried plums without added sulfur or added sugar)
2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 cup raw coconut amino acids or wheat free tamari
1 small red cabbage, loosely chopped
Sesame seeds to garnish (black or white)

Using the bare minimum of the coconut, sesame or olive oil needed to cook without burning, stir everything together over medium-high heat in a large saucepan or a wok, until the chicken is cooked and the cabbage is tender.
Serve warm, garnished with white or black sesame seeds.
Serves 4-6.
Recipe from http://www.cleanprogram.com/files/goop-recipes.pdf

Healthy Changes, Day 9: Shakes, Two Ways

Day 9 Overview:
Weight:   207.9 lbs (-9.1 total)
Exercise: 2.6 mile walk in the park.
Recipes:  Becky's Morning Shake (not good)
               & Favorite Green Shake (pretty darned good)

All I can say is that I feel sorry for this Becky person if this is how she starts her days.  What a nasty shake.

It isn't so bad once you get a third of the way through it, but I had to add stevia and brown rice syrup to it to make it palatable.  The strangest part of it is a texture issue.  It is almost fluffy or whipped, like sour cream, but more like the airiness of whipped cream.  I was finally able to (mostly) accurately describe it as avocado, almond butter cool whip.  Yep.  I told you it was weird.  I used a little less water than the recipe called for and put in some ground flax seed instead of their powders.  If you are brave or love almond butter and almond milk then I say give it a whirl; otherwise, I recommend you do what I did and go back to the berry smoothie with variations.  All recipes can be found here on the Clean Program website.

BECKY’S MORNING SHAKE
8 ounces of water
3-4 ounces of nut or hemp seed or rice milk (unsweetened)
1/2 of an avocado
2 teaspoons organic almond butter
a pinch of sea salt
1 scoop Nourish
1 scoop Move
OR your own protein powder and fiber addition (flax meal is the most commonly used one, or chia seeds work as well)
optional: sweetener to taste (stevia, agave, brown rice syrup)
optional: 1 tablespoon carob or raw cacao powder
1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Farmers Market bounty.

I actually had that shake last night for dinner.  Not to be repeated without major adjustments.  Today I ended up making a shake when I got back from the farmers market since I had a big bag of spinach.  Our downtown farmers market is small and cute, probably about the same size as the one in Boone, which was surprising to me, but packed into a big room so there are a bunch of rows.  There is a huge market off of I-40, but I'd rather go to the smaller one and support more local farmers and craftspeople.

The market winding down for the day.

Here's the shake I made today, and it was definitely more of a shake instead of a smoothie.  I didn't want a repeat of the cool whip mess so I just let it be thinner this time. 

Half-way blended, before the berries turned the "green" shake purple.

I washed and hand-tore a cup and a half of spinach and halved the rest of the ingredients on the list.  I ground some flax seeds since I didn't have any flax oil, skipped the maca powder (but had Henry pick some up for other shakes), used H's GREENSuperFood powder, and cut up a date.  I think I'll skip putting the dates in the shakes from now on.  It is so fibrous that it kills the blender, even if I cut them up first.  I'll just have one for a snack and put a prune or apricot in the shake instead.

FAVORITE GREEN SHAKE
3 cups spinach
1 cup frozen blueberries (or raspberries, blackberries, mangoes, papaya, etc.)
1 tablespoon flax oil
1 tablespoon maca powder
1 tablespoon spirulina AND/OR 1 scoop Clean Greens
1 cup almond milk
2 dates or a few drops of stevia to taste

1. Blend until creamy.

Recipe found here:  http://www.cleanprogram.com/files/clean-recipes.pdf

Healthy Changes, Day 8: Grilled Fish with Mango Salsa

Day 8 Overview:
Weight:  209.7 lbs (-7.3 total)
Exercise:  2.5 mile walk after the rain.
Recipe: Grilled Fish with Mango Salsa  (great - try it!)

Waking up to a very rainy day, I didn't feel like cooking very much and was glad to be on the routine of shake for breakfast & shake for dinner.  Easy.  The quandary was what to do for lunch.  I had pulled some cod out of the freezer the other day and knew I needed to do something with that, even if neither of us was in the mood for fish.  It has taken getting used to this quantity of fish on the menu, but with no shellfish as an alternate.  I was going to try the Whitefish Salad (like Tuna Salad) recipe but didn't really want that, so I looked up some other recipes for fish and came across this one on the Allrecipes site. 

Marinating the fish.

 I've adjusted the one below to show what I actually made today, but there were very minor adjustments.  The fish was really good and the mango salsa was wonderful!  The recipe page suggests eating the leftovers with black beans, which would also be delicious.  I added a side of rice to sop up the extra juice from the salsa.  A good combo.

Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets  1 cod fillet
 

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced  didn't have any, but they are in the nightshade family - so not on the list.
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion  I added more since we were lacking on peppers
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced  didn't have any on hand
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate. I used a grill pan on the stove.
4. Remove the tilapia from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the fillets until the fish is no longer translucent in the center, and flakes easily with a fork, 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve the tilapia topped with mango salsa. 

Original recipe can be found at Allrecipes.com here. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-tilapia-with-mango-salsa/detail.aspx

Healthy Changes, Day 7: Turkey Burgers

Day 7 Overview:
Weight:   210.5 lbs (-6.5 total)
Exercise: 3.5 mile walk in an hour.
Recipe:   Turkey burgers with sauteed onions & mushrooms (great- try it!)

I had a terrible case of insomnia last night and didn't fall asleep until 3:30, after lying there for over 3 hours.  Ugh.  As a result, I was rather cross-eyed when I woke up at 6:30 to work out and promptly went back to sleep for a couple more hours.   I awoke to banging and shouting that had to do with the stairs-removal.  A couple of hours in, it is still quite noisy, so I've had no problem using the blender, turning up the stereo and running the vacuum this morning. They keep making the most horrible noises and all I see in my head is the Black Knight skit from Monty Python:

I had a berry smoothie for breakfast and the last of the squash noodles with rice for lunch.  I definitely recommend them as a third day meal since they were much more mellow and I didn't mind having them at all (now that the olives are gone), especially with the side of rice.  I was planning on another shake for dinner, but realized Henry would be home and we could come up with something for both of us to eat instead. 

So he brought home a pound of ground turkey and I set to making four burgers out of it.  We would normally add shredded cheese to it, too, but didn't this time since dairy isn't on my list of allowed foods.  However, for some reason I can have goat cheese, so I plan to pick some of that up when I'm at the farmers market.  As you can see, I added some of the leftover sauteed squash as an additional side.  Henry didn't add another side since he was able to have his burger on a bun with all his favorite accouterments and I just had mustard on mine - thank goodness for the mushrooms and onions!

There is no official recipe, but what we do for turkey burgers (or beef, or bison) is mix up a bunch of seasoning and cheese with the meat before cooking.
Combine the following in a bowl
(or make up your own spices & seasonings).
1 lb of ground turkey
Worcestershire sauce
onion powder
garlic powder
all purpose seasoning
parsley (fresh or dried)
thyme (fresh or dried)
oregano (fresh or dried)
a dash of sea salt & dried mustard
freshly ground black pepper

We will often use a little Moore's Marinade (like Dale's Steak Sauce but without the high-fructose, etc.) since it has so many of these flavors, too, but used the Worcestershire this time instead.

Squish it all together with your hands and then divide it into four burgers and put in a container in the fridge until time to cook.  You want to take them out of the fridge for at least 15 minutes before you cook them so that they can be closer to room temperature when you put them in the pan.  Henry is the burger chef, but I think he just puts a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and then adds the burgers once the pan is hot.  I don't know his rules for timing things, but it seems like 4 minutes per side and then see how they are looking (especially depending upon the varied thickness of potential burgers).

For one of the sides, we did a variation on Lisa Crescitelli's famous beans.  No one knows for sure what she puts in her beans but this is what we put in ours this time.
Start with a can or two of whole green beans
Dump the whole can with sauce into the pot and add
Garlic (fresh, chopped, minced, powder - whatever you have)
Onion (red or yellow, chopped, minced or powder - whatever you have)
Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper, Tabasco, Cayenne pepper (whatever your heat tolerance level)
Again, this is an opportunity to open the spice cabinet and put in whatever you think will taste good with the beans.  I like to make a big batch of these because the flavors just get more intense the longer it sits in the juice in the fridge.  Heat on medium until it starts to boil & then turn it to low.  Great leftovers.

Sauteed Onions (& Mushrooms)
Chop up some onions (red or yellow)
Start with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and turn to medium heat.
Once the pan is warm, add the chopped onions and stir frequently, cooking down until they are almost translucent.  You can add seasonings like black pepper, Tabasco, garlic powder, etc while they are cooking.
When they are getting a little dry in the pan, add pickle juice (or some of the green bean juice from the stove) instead of more oil. 
For the mushroom lovers, you'll want to add fresh chopped mushrooms at the same time as the onions (& you will need an extra tablespoon of olive oil for this) or canned mushrooms once the onions have started to break down a bit.
This is also great as a leftover and makes the extra turkey burgers into a wonderful lunch.
Enjoy!

Healthy Changes, Day 6: Berry Protein Shake

Day 6 Overview:
Weight:  211.9 lbs (-5.1 total)
Weekly Measurements:  Waist 49in., Upper arm 14in., Thigh 28in.
Exercise:  45 min of Wii Yoga & 1 mile walk after the rain.
Recipe:  Berry Protein Shake

I'm down 5 pounds already and have been exercising every day!  Woo-hoo!  Go me! 

Leftovers lunch.

I wasn't looking forward to lunch at all since it was the leftovers of the Three Taste Noodles recipe from the other day.  Blah.  I did, however, figure out what it is that I really don't like in it.  It's the olives.  Olives are to me, as mushrooms are to Henry - gross.  I love olive oil and love how olives flavor things but I cannot stand to eat olives in their normal state.  I'll suffer through them on a pizza and can tolerate them in some dishes, but even though I had chopped them up quite a bit in this dish I still wasn't able to eat them without triggering my gag reflex.  Gross, gross, nasty. 
However, the "noodles" had mellowed out quite a bit from the other day - not so crazy curry land anymore - so combining that with a little bit of brown rice made for a good meal (sans olive pieces, of course!).  Like I said, I'm planning to re-do this dish in the future, just with different flavors.  It was good to have the brown rice as a side - makes it more like the healthy fare at an Asian cuisine restaurant instead of random mushy squash noodles.

Yoga Wii me & the rest of the family.

I had big plans of going to the farmer's market and then on a long walk this morning, but was thwarted by the arrival of a note that they would be replacing the stairs to the second floor in our apartment building (the stairs are outside) and I wouldn't be able to come or go most of the day.  Because of that, I decided I would stay put and work on things from home, but then the torrential rains came and prevented even the stair replacement from happening today.  So, I decided to pull out the Wii and do my long yoga workout since I wasn't going to go on a walk.  After it finally stopped raining, I went out for a short walk around the neighborhood instead of in the park.  I'm getting up early tomorrow to see if I can knock out my walk and get back before they rip off the stairs.  I'll plan on cleaning and cooking tomorrow while I'm stranded - how very 1950's of me.  ;-)

The rain that prevented my walk.

 For dinner, since I'm on the "real" plan now on the Clean Program, I picked out one of their shakes.  I'm supposed to have a shake/smoothie for dinner and one for breakfast with a 12 hour gap in-between, and a meal off the regular food plan for lunch.  I can have whatever "clean" snacks I want, too, but I honestly haven't been hungry at all since I've been eating this way.  That's quite a change from the carb munching monster I've been in the past.  I've been drinking a lot of water (but that's no big change) and tea with a little bit of fruit/veg juice in it and will usually have an apple or a couple of dried apricots before or after my walk, but that's it really.

Ingredients for the dinner shake.

The recipe I picked is the Berry Protein Shake and I'm not using the "Clean Kit" (that'd be how that site makes their money, I assume) so I used a tablespoon of ground flax seed I ground in the coffee grinder.  They say that flax seed doesn't do any good if you eat it in seed form and that it can loose a lot of the nutritional benefit if it isn't ground immediately before use (i.e. if you buy it ground, not as good, or if you grind a bunch of it and save it, not as good).  I've also used a mortar and pestle to crush it, but the coffee grinder is much faster (though it does scare the fur-babies).  Here's some more info on flax seed.

Here, too, is the recipe for the Berry Protein Shake, below.  I didn't have any raspberries, so I just upped the quantity of blackberries instead.  I used almond milk and frozen berries and had to pit the dates that Henry got for me, but that's no big deal. It took a while for me to find something big enough to hold all the shake, but I got a coffee mug and filled it up and was thinking it looked like a lot for one person but drank it down.  Then I got on their website and looked at the recipes file and saw where it said most of the shake/smoothie recipes were 2 servings.  Oops.  It'd be nice if they put that on the individual meals!  So, I've added that to the recipe below.  Luckily I hadn't had the apple I was going to eat earlier today, so I just considered that my snack.  Next time around I'll be making 1/2 of the requested shake since I hate leftover smoothie.  I'd rather wash the blender twice then have a nasty re-blended mess.  But that's just me...

BERRY PROTEIN SHAKE
1 cup nut/rice/hempseed milk of your choice (either homemade with 1/2 cup nuts and 1 1/2-2 cups water, or unsweetened from the health food store)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (optional)
3 pitted dates
1 teaspoon vanilla
If using the Clean Kit, add 1 scoop each of the Nourish (any flavor) and Move. Otherwise, add 1 tablespoon flax meal powder or 2 ounces aloe juice

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
 Serves 2. (I added that important info.)
The whole pdf file of smoothie recipes is found here.

Healthy Changes, Day 5: Sweet & Sour Chicken

Day 5 Overview:
Weight: 212.5 lbs (-4.5 total)
Exercise:  3 miles in 52 minutes (almost at 17 minute splits!)
Recipe:  Sweet & Sour Chicken

Instead of the curry crazy "noodles," I had leftover millet risotto for lunch.  I made olive oil sauteed squash and zucchini seasoned with fresh rosemary and pepper to go with it and quite enjoyed it all.  I hit the library and then went on a walk with no dead snake in sight.  I wonder if he got away or if the snake had been "removed" by the next day?

Home by dark and Henry started prepping the garlic, ginger and chicken for dinner while I took a shower.  I took over the cooking so he could watch the world series of poker on ESPN.  It cracks me up when they call it a "sport."  No, actually, it isn't a sport.  A sport is something where you break a sweat, work up some cardiovascular goodness, and build muscle - none of which happen while sitting at a poker table.  Don't get me wrong, I know that poker is an amazing game and takes giant brains and great courage to play it well, but it isn't a sport.  Just because it's on ESPN doesn't make it one either.  But I digress... 

For some crazy reason this recipe tells you to preheat the oven.  Uhh... why??  I didn't do this & I recommend you don't bother either since it is all cooked on the stovetop.  Also, I have no idea why they say low heat for the first part, unless it is just a mode of caution.  It took FOREVER to get the sauce to come together and I actually put the chicken in before it was very "saucy" just to get dinner finished sooner.  I took the chicken out and cooked down the "sauce" into what more resembled a syrup or dressing and then turned off the heat and put the chicken back in.  Henry prepped the salad parts and then we ate this great smelling and tasting meal.  It was a little heavy on the ginger, so I recommend not using as much as they call for the first time around.  The only things we adjusted were that we used tamari (a gluten free soy sauce), 1/8 c apple cider vinegar, 1/8 c balsamic, and we didn't preheat the oven.  Otherwise it was the same as the recipe listed below.

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Mixed Greens
1/2 cup wheat free tamari or nama shoyu or coconut aminos
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or balsamic
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
A knob of fresh ginger (roughly 1 1/2 inches), peeled and minced or 1 teaspoon ginger powder
2 chicken breasts, sliced into long strips about 3” long and 1/2” thick
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 475
Over low heat in a pan mix the first five ingredients until you have a smooth and thick sauce, roughly 12 minutes.
Lay chicken pieces in the sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until cooked through (about 12-15 minutes).
Add pieces to bowls of mixed greens, pour the remaining sweet and sour liquid equally over each bowl.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve. This works well warm or chilled.

Serves 2-4
Time: 30 minutes
Recipe from the Clean Program website.

Healthy Changes, Day 4: Three Taste Noodles

Day 4 Overview:
Weight: 213.6 lbs (-3.4 total)
Exercise:  4.6 mile walk in 1.5 hr
Recipe of the Day:  Three Taste Noodles (not for everybody...)

It has been a pretty good day for the healthy changes, with this evening's exception of wine. :)  Tomorrow starts the "official" Clean Program for me, so we are ending the transition period with some wine before 21 days straight if smoothies & strange meals.  Today's was indeed a strange meal.

I had the Millet Risotto again for lunch and it was a good leftovers meal.  I packed up the rest of the mountain of millet into 1cup containers and put most of them in the freezer for later meals.  I'm hoping it will recover from the freezer well, but left some for meals this week in the fridge just in case it isn't a good freezer food.

Then I went out on a nice long walk and got a little bit of a sunburn.  It isn't bad, just surprising, since it was such a nice cool day in the low 70's.  The leaves are starting to turn in the park and the meadow in the middle of it is overgrown with Queen Anne's Lace and all the late summer grasses.  What was surprising was the snake on the road about a third of the way through my walk.  I still have the initial instinct to chop off their heads, but I resisted and skirted way around this little dude and left it for somebody else to freak out about.  It was just trying to get warm on the pavement but I have a feeling it is mostly dead by now.  Scared city-humans & their fear of snakes in parks.  Yes, it could hurt you, but really, you are more likely to hurt it.  I'll be sure to update if there is a snake carcase on the road tomorrow.

So, here's the scoop on dinner.  Weird.  Not bad, but certainly a little weird.  I did like the idea of the squash as noodles and will work with that again, but probably with different flavors.  I love curry (from the Indian varieties to the Englishman, my dear Tim Curry) and gladly eat it in mass quantities, but it isn't usually this strong.  Perhaps the addition of some rice would mellow out this meal, so I may try that tomorrow when I eat the remainder.  It is a bit freaky that I have any leftovers, since I cut the recipe in half after the giant pile of food last night, but I will admit that I didn't eat very much of it in it's raw state in the hopes that the 'noodles' will mellow out a bit by tomorrow.  The website's recipe is below and you can see their pictures in the following link.  Also, what anchovies were they using? Something totally different from what I had from the picture they have in the recipe pdf.  Just when I thought I'd finally get the fish smell out of the apartment...

Vegetable peeler shaved squash with the other ingredients.

Finished (or, rather, very curried) product.

Three Taste Noodles
Farmer’s market bounty provides an amazing ready-in-five-minutes meal that everyone will love; salty, spicy, sweet, they’re the perfect combination.
Feel free to experiment with additions, using different olives, capers, pine nuts, different chopped vegetables and herbs, even fresh or dried mushrooms.

2 large summer squash (or you can use zucchini if you like), made into long thin strips with a vegetable peeler (if organic, there’s no need to discard
the skins and you can use the seeds, going right down as far as you can still get strips from it.
2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons raw coconut amino acids (or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or wheat-free tamari sauce)
1 small package anchovy fillets (packed in olive oil only, make sure there are no additives), minced
1 small handful basil leaves, minced (should roughly equal 1 tablespoon, but you can adjust to taste)
Secret ingredient that makes it so incredible: 2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon minced rosemary (fresh) or 1 teaspoon dried
3/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted (added at the end)
Optional: A pinch of sea salt to taste

Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl and serve immediately or keep in airtight container in the fridge for several days, the flavors will keep mingling together!

Serves 2
Time: 10 minutes
From the Clean Program Recipes pdf file.

Healthy Changes, Day 3: Millet Risotto

Day 3 Overview:
Weight:  213.8 lbs (-3.2 total)
Exercise: 2.5mile walk in 45 min.
Recipe:  Millet Risotto with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

I ended up having some soup for dinner last night since I was feeling bad and so we had the remaining fish tacos for a quick lunch before Henry left for work today.  Still delicious and I accidentally discovered that the Ezekial sprouted corn tortillas can be made into hard shells if you cook them in the pan a little too long.  :)  Good to know for a future Mexican pizza creation! 
I'm trying to decide between the Millet Risotto and the summer squash recipe for tonight since H is at work and doesn't like the ingredients in either of those.  We'll see what I settle on in a little bit...  1:48pm.

I ran some errands and then went on a short walk and decided I'd turn on the Emmys while I cooked dinner.  Taking a look at the veggies I determined that I needed to cook the mushrooms more urgently than the squash and zucchini, so Risotto it is.  It was really good, but I wish I'd cut the recipe in half.  I have sooo many leftovers and Henry won't touch them with a 100 foot pole because of the mushrooms.  I didn't measure the mushrooms since I needed to use the whole container and don't like them raw.  So I chopped them up and in the pot they all went, with half an onion and a shallot.  The mountain of mushrooms worked out just fine since I used a can of Progresso french onion soup and a box of some organic french onion soup, too, making it 6 cups of soup.  I did like the extra soup onions from the can of soup and the flavor of that one enhanced the meal. 

Is it soup yet?  Adding the french onion soup 1/2 cup at a time...

 It took a long time to make and I don't know why it can't be done by following the millet directions of lid-on simmer for 30 minutes instead of slowly stirring in a half cup of soup at a time.  That seems a little crazy.  However, I ended up with a grown-up version of one of my favorite comfort foods, rice with cream of mushroom soup.  This has more depth of flavor and the addition of artichoke hearts makes it really excellent.  Perfect for a cool fall day and at around just 200 calories per 1 cup serving it is astonishing how filling it is.  I think next time I'll try it with the vegetable broth to see if it comes out more like the picture they have in the recipes pdf.  Mine is certainly more dark and thick than theirs.  I also think Henry would like it quite a bit if I took out the mushrooms, but I'm going to want to try the butternut squash option that is listed at the bottom of the recipe and he won't like that one either.  I'll just make smaller batches of the ones that only I will eat and that way it won't get boring.  Below is the recipe from the website.  Enjoy!

Mostly finished product, with herbs and artichokes added.  I let it simmer a bit more to thicken up.

Millet Risotto with Artichoke Hearts
This is, hands down, one of my absolute favourite recipes, combining the creamy comfort of risotto with the soft tang of artichoke hearts, instead of butter and white rice, this is made with omega 3 rich oil and protein packed millet. This recipe is incredibly versatile (I’ve added just one of the many variations below) and has won over many die-hard “traditional” risotto lovers.

3 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms (any kind)
1 cup millet
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 cups artichoke hearts, make sure they’re sugar and additive free if you’re buying them in a can or jar
Sea salt and fresh pepper
4-6 cups french onion soup or organic vegetable broth

In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat the oil with the shallots and mushrooms, and cook, stirring frequently until softened (about 5 minutes).
Add cup of water, bring the heat to high, and add the millet. Then lower heat to medium and start to add the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition, every few minutes. When the stock has been almost completely absorbed after each addition, keep adding more, so the mixture isn’t quite soup but stays very moist.
Keep doing this until millet is tender and has at least doubled in size (about 20 minutes).
Add herbs and artichoke hearts at the last few minutes of cooking and taste for texture.
Season with salt and pepper and serve warm.

Variation: Millet Risotto with Butternut Squash
Instead of the artichoke hearts, add 1 cup diced butternut squash (that’s been cooked in oil until lightly browned — about 5 minutes — and add chopped shallots towards the end and sage for your herb.

Makes 4 servings
Time: 30 minutes
From the Clean Program website.

Healthy Changes, Day 2: Fish Tacos

Day 2 Overview:
Exercise:  None
Weight:  214.3 lbs (- 2.7 total)
Recipe of the day:  Fish Tacos

It's a foggy rainy cold day here and the thing I want most is a big bowl of mac & cheese or some chunky vegetable soup, but I'll have the leftovers from yesterday instead.  That is one thing about fish - I'm am a lot less likely to leave it sitting in the fridge from fear of it going bad.  I had big plans of going to the farmers market this morning and buying a bunch of produce that is on the list, but that didn't happen.  Maybe Wednesday morning...

I've had a "cat day" today, where I don't get much done and sleep too much.  Maybe I'll have the crazy cat energy later, but so far I just feel like going back to bed.  I woke up at 8 and went back to bed, woke up at 10:30 and was feeling very out of it (like I might have a cold coming on) so I went back to sleep again.  Finally got up after lunch time and have just had tea and water.  I looooove food, so not being interested in food and not being hungry is an odd sensation for me and one I usually associate with illness (a cold, the flu, etc.) so I'm not so keen on that.  I know I need to eat the remaining fish tacos today but nothing is appealing to me at the moment, fish least of all.  Oh well, I'm hoping I'll feel better tomorrow so I can really get going on this plan.  One good thing about feeling like this is that I've lost weight since yesterday, down over 2 pounds.  It's not the healthiest rate of decrease, but I think I gained 2 pounds the day before, so I'm not really surprised by it.

Here's the downloadable recipe pdf file on the CLEAN Program website, Recipes, and the specific recipe for Fish Tacos is copied below without amendments.  Here's what we did differently:  I used 1 pound of sea bass instead of 2 pounds and it was plenty for two tacos each with leftovers for two tacos.  I didn't make the chips and we just used the Ezekial sprouted corn tortillas for the tacos instead, heating them up individually in a pan on the stove.  They were really good!  It was the flavor of a hard shell taco but with the flexibility of a soft shell.  I think we'll be getting those again for our Mexican meals from now on, no matter what the recipe.  Henry couldn't find any persimmons because they are out of season, so we didn't make the salsa this time but might try it next time with some substitutes like apples or apricots.  We ended up using the remaining salsa we had in the fridge (yes, that is cheating, since nightshades, like tomatoes, aren't on the list, but we also didn't want to throw it away) and just sliced the avocado since it wasn't ripe enough to mush into guacamole.  We also added some mixed baby greens onto the taco.  It just wanted some cheese to be perfect, but was really quite good even without it!

Fish Tacos with Homemade Chips, Guacamole, and Persimmon Salsa
2 cups almond or rice milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 pounds skinless halibut or sea bass or trout, coarsely sliced into 1” x 1” pieces

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with the fish pieces and toss to coat.
Cover and place in the fridge for 1-3 hours or overnight if you plan to make it for the next day.
When ready to make them, preheat oven to 300 and place the tortillas on a baking sheet until warm and then loosely wrap in dishtowels to keep them soft and warm (you can also warm them on a large pan on the stovetop over medium low heat until just warmed).
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large saucepan and remove the fish from the soaking marinade and cook over medium heat until just barely golden brown, approximately 5 minutes.
Spoon into the warmed tortillas and serve with avocado and chipotle salsa.

Homemade Chips:
4 Ezekial sprouted corn tortillas
or 2 brown rice tortillas (Food for Life)
Optional: olive oil
Optional: sea salt
Cut the tortillas into wedges (into quarters or eighths), brush with optional olive oil and dust with sea salt
Place in a single layer on two baking sheets and toast for 5-8minutes until golden and crispy.
Watch them carefully to avoid burning!

Persimmon Salsa:
2 cups very ripe persimmons, chopped or mashed (the more ripe and falling apart they are, the better/sweeter they are so if they mash rather than slice, it’s fine and the salsa will be amazing!)
1/2 red onion
Cayenne or chili powder to taste
1/4 cup mixed basil and mint leaves
1 tablespoon flax or olive or coconut oil
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (adjusting to taste)
2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined and let marinate for a few minutes, adjusting seasonings to taste, serving immediately or storing in the fridge for a few days (covered), letting it come to room temp before serving again.

Serves 6
6-12 Brown Rice Tortillas
(1 or 2 per person, depending how hungry you are!)
http://www.cleanprogram.com/files/goop-recipes.pdf

Healthy Changes Day 1, Part 2: Hummus Crusted Chicken

Day 1 Overview:
Weight:  217 lbs
Exercise: 2.5 mile walk & 30 min of stretching & Wii.
Recipe:  Hummus Crusted Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon
 

So far, so good!  Two delicious new recipes added to our favorites file and I only missed cheese and pasta a little bit.  For breakfast, I had an apple and some tea before going on a walk.  Thanks to the tea I had to cut the walk short - I had already passed the bathroom in the park and was closer to home.  I love tea but it doesn't always love me back and often kicks me in the bladder.  Coffee never did that to me, but alas I am cutting out coffee on this plan.  Lesson learned - I will only have water to drink until I get back from my walk each day.

Hummus Ingredients

The Clean Program that I'm doing has a bunch of recipes, but I know there are a handful that Henry won't eat (containing mushrooms, beets, or other, more strange, ingredients) and many that I'm leery of as well.  So I rifled through the stack and pulled out two that sounded really good so that he would eat both meals with me since he wasn't working today.  I made hummus for the first time from scratch and it was really good!  I've often wondered why a container of hummus was $5.00 and now I know it isn't about what is in it, but more about the headache of getting a consistent texture.  My blender is going to be getting quite a workout between the hummus and the smoothies on this program.  The only change to the hummus recipe was that I didn't have tahini, so I put in some sesame oil and a few sesame seeds instead.  Lunch was such a hit that Henry took the leftovers for his meal at work on Saturday, too.  We were both pleasantly surprised by this dish and are optimistic about the meals to come.  I made the Fish Tacos for dinner but will put them on tomorrow's post since I'm eating those leftovers then.  Also a really excellent meal!

Served on top of mixed baby greens with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzle.

Hummus Crusted Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts (local and free-range)
2 lemons, (1 sliced into rounds and 1 juiced)
1/2 cup hummus (you can buy it or use the quick and delicious recipe below)
4 fresh rosemary sprigs or 2 tablespoons dried
Generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat to 450
Place the chicken breasts in a small roasting pan, covering all exposed meat with the hummus (use a spoon or your hands, just make sure it’s layered quite thick, about 1/4”).
Scrunch each lemon half in your hand and then loosely arrange them over the chicken with the rosemary sprigs, broken into smaller pieces, so the flavor comes out more.
Generously drizzle the entire mix with lemon juice and then a quick drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
Bake until the hummus is golden brown and the meat is juicy and tender (checking with a knife to make sure it’s cooked all the way through), about 30 minutes.
Finish with another quick drizzle of lemon juice and an optional pinch of sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Make the hummus in a food processor by blending the following ingredients:
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Serves 2
Recipe from the Clean Program website recipes pdf file: http://www.cleanprogram.com/files/goop-recipes.pdf

Healthy Changes, Day 1

Today is Day 1 of transitioning into a healthier lifestyle.  H & I made a pact to join Earth Fare's new campaign for the company, Together We Will, and follow their "Boot List" which consists of banning unhealthy ingredients, including:

• high fructose corn syrup
• artificial fats or artificial trans fats
• artificial colors
• artificial flavors
• artificial preservatives
• artificial sweeteners
• bleached or bromated flour
• antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones in meat or dairy.  

Since we are going to be doing this, it seemed like a good time to do some other things we'd been talking about for a while:  cutting out soda and fast food for good, making healthier meals and cutting out all alcohol (& caffeine for me) for a solid month or longer.  I'm also taking the opportunity to try out a plan that should make it easier to enjoy eating healthfully.

Using recipes from the Clean Program will make it easier to make healthy choices (& I'll be letting you know if they are any good!).  It isn't a cleanse in the colonics/prune juice diet style, but more of a restricted diet.  The idea behind it is to cut out all known allergen-causing food to help the digestive system, immune system, liver, etc. take a break from all the junk I've been eating and start functioning properly.  I don't think I have any food allergies, but I've certainly been feeling run-down lately so I decided it wouldn't hurt to see how these things change on the plan.  Cutting out dairy and pasta will be my biggest challenges.  I do so love cheese, especially on top of a nice angel hair pasta.   Here's a list of what is restricted and why:  Why Not?

Because of his extreme attachment to his morning oatmeal with milk and honey, Henry is not taking part in this program except for a few meals that look appealing.  However, he is fully supportive and intrigued to see how it goes for me and how I respond to some of the more odd health foods in the list - Dulse flakes, for example, a "sea vegetable" made from seaweed and smells of fish flakes.  Bleeeck.  I may be holding my nose to get some of this down, but you will get full & honest report!

I'm also adding back in daily exercise.  I'd been doing pretty well with this until we went out of town at the end of last month and then I got out of the habit.  As a result I've been feeling stiff and achy and not sleeping well, so it's time to get back out there and do at least a daily yoga routine if not a walk around the park in addition.  So, it's time for Sun Salutations and a few miles walk!  I'll check in tomorrow and give an update.