Happy Sunday Chicken Apple Sausage and Slaw

Words just can’t describe… Crazy Freaking Good (or maybe I just need a bigger vocabulary….)

Either way… you should totally make this dish and dig in. : ) I’ve adapted this recipe a million times from many different recipes, and can’t remember it’s origin, so if it looks familiar to you… speak up and I’ll give credit where credit is due. : )

Chicken Apple Sausage:

2 pounds of ground chicken, turkey, or a combo of both (go for organic)
8-10 TBL Chicken Broth
8-10 TBL Apple Juice
1 apple chopped up
1 onion chopped up
a few cloves of garlic pressed (I use a ton…. love garlic!)
Blend of spices 1tsp each: Garlic Powder, Minced Onion, Cinnamon, and Cayenne to taste.

Mix it all up and cook it in a skillet with a little coconut oil.

Chicken "sausages" cooking in a little coconut oil

Apple Slaw:

1/2 small head of white cabbage sliced thinly
1/4 small head of purple cabbage sliced thinly (and if you suck at cutting cabbage like I do… buy it in a bag and save yourself some grief : ))
2 apples chopped up

The above should give you a BIG BOWL cabbage… enough for at least 6-8 servings.

Juice of 2 lemons (1/4 cup-ish?)
Same amount of Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (I like Bragg’s)
Blend of spices 1tsp each: Garlic Powder, Cinnamon, Mustard Powder
Possibly salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up! The longer it sits and marinates, the better (always more yummy the 2nd and 3rd day!) Before eating, chop up a heap of green onions and cilantro and mix it all up.

My Happy Sunday Night Dinner...

Did you try it? Whatcha think? Let me know below!

Eating Out and Staying (or getting) Thin- Part 1

Hungry? Lets Pig Out!

If you’re ravishing hungry… it don’t really matter… you’re going to eat the house and ask for extra cheese on top and you know it. So first things first, don’t let yourself get that freaking hungry. I wrote a great article about measuring your hunger and fullness levels here… make sure to check it out. But for now realize that getting too hungry is a recipe for disaster.

Do your research.

Pick all your favorite restaurants, and few close to your home and your work. Get online, download the menu and make your decisions BEFORE you get there! When you already have a plan of action in your head, set and ready to rock… it’s amazing how easy it becomes to stick with your choices. I’ll be sharing all my favorite restaurants in part two of this article.

But I don’t wanna eat healthy at a restaurant!

Okay Party People… decide what your goals are right now. I can’t tell you how many people use going out to eat as an excuse to have a food party ALL THE TIME. If you are going to tell me your goals are to lose/maintain your weight, but you refuse to at least attempt to order a decently healthy meal, then your goals must not be that important to you.

I hear it all the time: “I can’t eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant without eating a basket of chips and a frozen margarita before my meal”. Are you kidding me? I think that’s probably the biggest problem right there. We think going out to eat always has to equate to a party…. “eating whatever we want and how much we want of it”. And then you call me frustrated that you can’t lose weight. (I love you… but you drive me crazy sometimes…. )

Just hear me out: If you want to lose some weight (or maintain your size), you don’t have to give up eating out, you just have to make smarter choices! Let going out to eat be about the people you are with, the atmosphere, and sticking to your goals. And you might even be shocked when that seemingly “boring grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side” ends up tasting like heaven! Woo Hoo! You enjoyed eating out with great people AND your meal was still delicious! It’s amazing what happens when you put your attention on the good!

If it’s going to be a free-for-all-food-party… a little goes a long way.

All of the above assumes that you are actually wanting to make “healthier” choices while going out to eat. If every time you go out to eat, you feel it needs to be a free-for-all….hey…. more power to you. But one thing I’ve adopted that might serve you too… is when I’m going out to eat and I know it’s going to be a free-for-all, I plan accordingly all day and also the next day by consuming a lot less food. By doing this, I’ve essentially staggered my calories out and at the end of the week, everything should all pan out on the scale. Or, you can do what I did for my birthday dinner… eat whatever you want, but don’t overdo it. Here’s what my B-day dinner consisted of:

one glass of champagne (generally not a fan… but this stuff was good!)
one glass of red wine
Warm Deviled eggs topped with bacon and aged Provolone
Baked Oysters covered in bread crumbs and cheese (almost like it was swimming in Clam chowder soup…so good!)
Bone Marrow with salsa Verde (this is by far my new favorite!!!)
Burger with caramelized onion, cheddar, and bacon (Oh yeah, baby! Happy Birthday to me!)
Chocolate Creme Pie with cocoa nibs and sea salt
Upside down peach crisp with bourbon ice cream and brown butter caramel sauce (words can’t describe….)

Okay… if you take all that in… that looks like a FREAKING TON OF FOOD. But… here’s what it really looked like:

one glass of champagne (finished 1/2…. I just can’t get into champagne)
one glass of red wine (finished it all and wished I had more : ))
Warm Deviled eggs topped with bacon and aged Provolone (had one… which is like 1/2 an egg, equivalent to one decent sized bite, or two very small, polite bites)
Baked Oysters covered in bread crumbs and cheese (had one…same size as deviled egg)
Bone Marrow with salsa Verde (had one small piece of toast topped with marrow…again, 2 “polite bites”)
Burger with caramelized onion, cheddar, and bacon (cut it in half, ate 1/4, shared the other 1/4 with friends, and took the 1/2 I didn’t eat home to sit and rot in my fridge…finally threw away this weekend : ))
Chocolate Creme Pie with cocoa nibs and sea salt (1 bite)
Upside down peach crisp with bourbon ice cream and brown butter caramel sauce (I would be lying if I said 2 polite bites… I know I gobbled up at least 4-5 bites of this heavenly yumminess!)

I was able to enjoy a slew of really amazing food, none of which really fit into my Clean and Lean Protocol, but I still was able to maintain my weight, AND enjoy an amazing evening out with my friends. And sometimes, that’s the healthiest thing you could do… relax a little and enjoy a great evening out with friends and family. Being mindful of your atmosphere, friends, and food, and fully grateful that we even get to do these cool things in the first place!

Now, truth be told, I’ve found some great restaurants serving healthy foods and it’s been a life savor this summer, but I’m REALLY ready to clean it up again, start cooking, and jump into my favorite way of eating, which follows my Clean and Lean Protocol. It detoxes my body, stabilizes my blood sugar, increases my energy, and makes me feel great. And although I’ve done great job of maintaining my weight this summer, I bet I’ll drop a few pounds going through the Clean and Lean… great!

Plus, now that I have an almost functioning kitchen, I spent the whole day cooking up a few different concoctions to prepare for my week. I almost forgot how grounding, nurturing, and calming it can be to , to cook life-giving foods. Check out my newest favorite: Chicken Apple Sausage with Apple Slaw. O.M.G. Too bad those restaurants can’t cook as good as me. : )

What tips or tricks do you have up YOUR SLEEVE when it comes to eating out? Share below!!!

Famous Blueberry Protein Smoothie

This drink is loaded with a king’s ransom of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, good-gut flora, and fiber.

Plus it’s delicious. Most of the sugar comes from the cup of frozen blueberries (or frozen mixed berries), but as most of us already know, blueberries are an incredible SUPERFOOD POWERHOUSE, and in my opinion, should be eaten routinely for its health-protecting properties.

First I’ll list the ingredients, and then I will go into detail about some of them.

1 ½ – 2 cups of Trader Joes Essential Greens Veggie Juice (read labels! This is the one that only has veggies! No fruit here. This is not like the Odwalla superfood, or the Naked green juice. This juice is just veggie juice.
1 Big heaping tsp of powdered greens. I use Amazing Grass. You can find it at Whole Foods. Of all the green powders I’ve tried, this one surpasses them all in nutrition (read: no fillers), and taste. I would have never thought a green powder could taste this good!
1 Big heaping Tbl of ground flax (did not use in the video)
½ cup to 1 cup of frozen blueberries (or mixed berries)
1 or 2 scoops of Whey Protein Powder (right now I’m using WholeFoods brand, Natural Vanilla Flavor)
½ cup yogurt, or one container of Bio-K, or Keifer (Did not use in the video)
Sweeten with stevia if needed

Blend it all up and enjoy! It can be big, so sometimes I divide it into two glasses, and give one to my sweetheart for his afternoon snack.

Depending on how much of each of the ingredients you use, you’re looking at appx:
Calories: 300-400
Fiber: 8-12 grams
Sugar: 13-19 grams
Protein: 30-45 grams
Fat: 5-8 grams

It can be split into two snacks, or eaten as one meal.

Fabulous Snack Ideas to keep your blood sugar stabilized

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These Snack ideas are all macronutriently combined to keep your blood sugar stabilized.

Why on earth would that be important?

There are a lot of reasons for weight loss resistance, from emotional/compulsive eating, to food allergies, to dysbiosis, to hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances.

But the one thing that can be the most dramatic in helping with weight loss and improving your health is learning how to stabilize your blood sugar.

And how do you do this? Through the foods that you eat. Take a look below at all the tasty snacks, and start eating!

1 ¼ cup whole strawberries and goat cheese
1 brown rice cake and organic nut butter
1 serving Ak-Mok cracker with tuna salad or chicken salad
½ medium baked potato with buffalo mozzarella cheese and fresh salsa
3 cups air popped organic popcorn and mixed nuts
1 cup raspberries and goat cheese
1 slice buckwheat or millet bread with ¼ avocado, and chicken salad
1 cup organic, plain, goat milk yogurt, ½ cup strawberries and crushed walnuts
1 slice rice bread, nitrate free turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayo (canola based)
½ medium sweet potato and nitrate free chicken sausage
2 small corn tortillas, melted buffalo mozzarella cheese, avocado, fresh salsa
½ grapefruit and sunflower seeds
½ cup hummus with raw veggies
½ a red pepper and fill it with 2-3 tbsp of hummus
One can sardines and cherry tomatoes on red leaf lettuce
Celery sticks spread with almond or peanut butter
1 or 2 oz mix of: almonds, pistachio nuts, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans or walnuts
1 apple and 2 Tbsp almond butter
¾ cup blueberries with tamari roasted almonds

Small hand full of blueberries mixed with cherry tomatoes, 2 oz Swiss cheese cubed (or another hard, white, raw farmers cheese). Add a dozen tamari roasted almonds
½ a sweet potato with turkey slices, tsp butter
½ a sweet potato with cottage cheese
1 slice Ezekiel 4:9 bread toasted. Add 1 Tbsp almond butter and sliced strawberries on top
Hard Boiled Egg and raw veggies
Sliced tomatoes and 1-2 oz of farmer’s cheese or other cheese. Sprinkle with flax or olive oil.
1 cup real, whole, plain yogurt topped with flax or almonds. Add ½ cup sliced fruit.

Question for the day:

What great snack Ideas can you add to this list? Share them below!

New Years Cooking and Exercising

OMG…it was a crazy Sunday!

Miguel and I set the intention to get to the grocery store and to shop for food for the week, then cook most of our food, and then pre-package it all into single-serving containers to make our life easier this week.

Well, we didn’t get to the grocery until 7pm.

I didn’t start cooking until 8, but in a few short hours it was over: our first Sunday night cook-off of the New Year.

Here’s what we made (by the way…these dinner ideas originated from your bad-ass 6am Los Gatos Bootcamp instructor, Kat. Very tasty…)

Turkey Meatballs with a tomato and veggie sauce.

Not using much of a recipe…here goes:

Mix 2 pounds of ground turkey with egg whites (1/2 cup?), dried basil, oregano, 6-7 cloves of minced garlic, salt (little), and ¼ cup or less of tomato paste.
Pat them into balls and place on baking sheet.
Put in the oven at 350 and cook through, somewhere between 30-45 minutes.

For the sauce

Sautee onions, mushrooms and peppers in a little olive oil until onions become opaque

Add tomatoes (fresh or canned…I used 4 cans), a little basil pesto, more of the same spices I used in the turkey meat, can of garbanzo beans, broccoli, and cauliflower (you can add just about any veggie you want here…and don’t be shy…use a ton!)

Let the flavors simmer together and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and ala dente.

Miguel wants to eat it with a whole wheat pasta. I’ll eat it with spaghetti squash underneath, or just as it is.

Salsa chicken with veggies, black beans and corn.

Salsa Chicken with Black Beans and Corn

(this is my new favorite dish!)

• Spray a pan with Pam
• Season the chicken breast (this time I used Spike, garlic powder, and some new weird one I found at Trader Joes)
• Cook the chicken almost all the way through
• Add the salsa (I highly recommend Mrs. A’s Salsa Buena. Their local here in Los Gatos and might be the best salsa I’ve ever tasted) and let cook longer
• Add the veggies (whatever you want. I used mushrooms, red peppers and onions)
• Add a can of corn and can of black beans (or more if you’d like)

We (read: “I”) cooked all the food, and then portioned everything out into containers so we are fully set for the week! I’m so excited! I was able to work my butt off today without stressing over what to eat.

The big question is will we keep our momentum up and do it next Sunday? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!