Breakfast!

The most important meal of the day!


Many of us grew up running out of the house with a bagel in one hand and a banana in the other.


Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. If you begin the day with enough fuel, and the right kind of fuel, the rest of the day seems to run smoother. If you're anything like I am, life is better when I'm not physically drained... emotionally, I'm much more stable and able to deal with the ups and downs that come every day.


In my diet, protein is a must! Eggs are my favorite... simple, easy to vary, lots of protein, filling but not heavy on the stomach.




The Best Scrambled Eggs Ever:
My favorite, and the easiest, scrambled eggs are Gordon Ramsey's, which I found on youtube. Although I don't add the butter and cream he does every time, I find my eggs are much fluffier when I cook them in a sauce pan and continue stirring them while moving the pan on and off the heat source. I also wait to season until the end, right before I put it on my plate. So... watch this video and then read below.





What you need:

• Sauce pan
• Oil/Butter
• 2 Eggs (3 Egg whites if you're worried about cholesterol)
• Spatula
• Seasonings: my favorites are either 1) sea salt, dill; 2) sea salt, oregano; 3) add garlic to either one of these.

What I do...

• I cook more with oil than butter, usually grapeseed oil because it has a higher flash point than olive oil (meaning, it doesn't sizzle or "spark" as easily and it doesn't flavor the food).
• Begin with medium to low heat, drizzle a little oil in the pan.
• Crack eggs directly into pan. If you're doing only egg whites, spoon out the yolks.
• Immediately begin stirring with the spatula, following Ramsey's instructions of on and off the heat. 
• ~This really doesn't take as much time as you might think, nor is it much work. Your focus on the eggs is only for about 1-2 minutes max, then they are "done" and finish cooking off the heat as you stir in the seasonings. The entire process takes five minutes from the time you begin to warm up your pan.
• Once the eggs begin to take shape, almost done but still wet looking, take them off the heat and "fold in" in your seasonings (about a 1/4 tsp or so of each). You can use fresh seasonings or dried. I mostly use dried because they're quick and easily accessible.
• Slide the eggs out onto a piece of toast, any kind of bread you'd like. My favorite is Ezekiel Bread or Bran for Life from Wholefoods' freezer section.

Variations:

1) If you'd like to add some veggies to this meal for a scrambled-omelet feel, use a skillet pan and begin with a touch more oil/butter. Add diced veggies of your choice. Let them cook 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat. Add a little more oil and crack eggs directly into pan, stirring in the same way as before. Turn down your heat and use the same on/off heat as before until eggs are almost done. Season the same way.

To make this easier for you so you're not chopping several vegetables every morning, use frozen diced veggies from the store or spend some time chopping your own and freeze them.* 

2) Instead of cooking veggies with the eggs, have them on the side. Cook a mixture of vegetables, the best are stir-fry veggies. You could even use the frozen packages of stir fry vegetables or use your own frozen veggies. 

Walk the freezer section of your grocery store to glean ideas of vegetable combinations. Anything to give you new ideas.

3) Cook your scrambled eggs and eat them with a bowl of healthy cereal (Kashi 7 Grain Flakes or Cascade Farms Purely O's or hot cereal) or a hearty buckwheat pancake with peanut butter and fresh fruit spread. **

Tasty Veggie combinations:

red peppers, onions, portabella mushrooms

red peppers, onions, celery

mixture of squashes

just add a Tbl or two of salsa

tomatoes, broccoli, peppers

really... whatever you have is great - I've even used frozen green beans :)

*Tips for freezing vegetables:

• My favorite, must-have, kitchen gadget for chopping is Vidalia Chop Wizard from Target. Only $20 and makes chopping quick and fun!
• Great veggies to freeze: onions, peppers, celery, carrots, squashes.
• If you freeze mushrooms, cook them a little before freezing - they do better.
• Place them in quart sized freezer bags.
• Don't fill them too full, then you'll have room to "break them apart" as they begin to freeze and won't freeze in a giant heap.
• This tip takes a little more time, but is well worth the effort: lay veggies out on a tray in your freezer (if you have room). Allow them to mostly freeze and then place them in freezer bags. They'll stay "loose" and separate rather than freeze in a huge block.

**Fruit Spreads and Syrups

If you want a break from eggs, eat a healthy pancake/waffle with healthy peanut butter (my husband blends his own or you can check labels to find a brand with only peanuts, oil, and salt) and some kind of fruit spread. 

Here's my favorite quick spreads and syrups:

• Blend together 2 Tbl of Apple Juice Concentrate (yep, right from the container), a couple handfuls of berries or red cherries (any berry will do... use a couple if you wish), and a cup or so of water. Once blended, you can either serve cold or pour into a small sauce pan and cook on medium until it begins to thicken, stirring almost constantly. To help it thicken quicker, whisk in some arrow root powder or corn starch in the beginning, about 1-2 tsp.
• Use the Vidalia Chop Wizard to dice a cup of fruit (as much as you need to cover your pancake/waffle). Strawberries, peaches, and nectarines are my favorites. Then mash a cup of fruit and combine it with the diced fruit, spreading across your pancake/waffle. Using ripe fruit create a sweeter spread and the need for more sugar or honey is lessened. 
• Plain old diced bananas or strawberries taste great on top of peanut butter. Just remember, the more sugar you add, the more protein you need... keep it balanced.

Buckwheat Pancake Recipe

My husband is mostly gluten free, so I no longer do whole wheat pancakes, but a combination of Buckwheat and Almond Flour. The basis for my recipe comes from http://www.elanaspantry.com/, her flapjack recipe. Buckwheat is extremely hearty and filling, soaking up liquid easily, so I've had to change it up a bit. Also, I don't use Agave Nectar anymore since James learned at school that it is used as Birth Control in other countries. Here's my recipe:

• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup water or milk (I like milk)
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil (again, it doesn't flavor it, just keeps it from sticking)
• Heaping 3/4 cup Buckwheat Flour
• Heaping 1/2 cup Almond Flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• grapeseed oil for sauteing if making pancakes (waffles are fine as they are)

Blend liquids in a bowl. Add Flours, salt, and soda, lightly blending with a fork the dry ingredients on top first, then the whole thing together. Batter will be thick. For pancakes, warm pan and drizzle 1 tbl oil in pan. When scooping batter into pan, use the fork to shape it into a small circle. Keep the pancakes small otherwise they're too difficult to flip. Continue to add oil between each pancake, since the buckwheat flour will soak up the oil. For waffles, use the fork/spoon to scoop batter into the waffle iron, spreading it the best you can.

This recipe makes for a very filling breakfast, especially when topped with peanut butter and fruit, with a side of 1 scrambled egg. I don't feel hungry again until 1 pm when I fix this breakfast. Cook extras, if you can, and eat them as a snack or for breakfast the next day. They are great either cold or warmed up in a toaster/microwave.

Real Life

Now that I've blow you all away with these long lists of information, let's get down to the real life stuff... actual meals, recipes, and menu plans: what I actually eat on a day-to-day basis.

For all you organizational junkies out there, here's my goals and what you can expect from me the next few weeks/months:

~Meal Plans, including recipes & tips, for tasty, fairly quick and inexpensive meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

~Special dressings, marinades, sauces, etc. that have become my favorites.

~Snacks to pick you up or can take on the go.

~Tasty treats and party ideas - elegance, simplicity, delightful, and nourishing.

~Social events, holidays and traditions, and the emotional roller coaster of eating healthy foods.

~Ideas to make eating healthy and frugally more simple and less time consuming.

~My favorite things: foods, seasonings, and hardware for cooking and prepping.

Foods I limit...

Even though you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, there are certain veggies and fruit that have a higher sugar/starch content than others. When choosing your meals, be careful not to overload your meal or day with foods that have higher starch contents. Instead, spread them out over the course of the week, eating these foods only 3-4 times a week. 

THE VEGGIES:

The highest starch content:

Corn

Beans - all but green or wax
Dried Peas
Parsnips
Potatoes (red seem to do better than russett)

Sweet Potatoes and Yams

Close to the highest:
Artichokes
Beets

Carrots

Green Peas

Onions

Pumpkin

Rutabaga

Turnips

Winter squash

Veggies you can have more often:

Asparagus

Bean sprouts

Green or wax beans

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Celery

Chicory

Cucumbers

Escarole

Eggplant

Greens (beet, chard, collard, dandelion, kale, mustard, spinach, turnip)

Lettuce

Mushrooms

Okra

Peppers (red or green)

Radishes

Sauerkraut

Summer squash

Tomatoes

Watercress

FRUITS:

Pineapple and watermelon seem to have higher amounts of sugar verses apples and peaches. Here's the glycemic index for fruit if you want to check it out yourself: http://www.lowglycemicdiet.com/fruitsgi.html. Whatever fruit you have, eat it with your meal rather than as a snack and you'll be fine.

OTHER THINGS TO AVOID or Limit:

Whey proteins and vegetable protein meat substitutes

Cream soups or anything that comes from a can!

Pancakes, waffles, sweet rolls, coffee cake, and doughnuts

~If you want waffles or pancakes, make them with whole wheat or buckwheat flours and eat them with fruit and peanut butter rather than syrup

Ice cream, sherbet, sweetened gelatin (jello), custards and puddings, pie, pastries, candies, chocolate, cake and cookies

Jelly, sugar, honey, molasses, candy, coconut

Sweet pickles

~Please don't freak out after reading this... once you get a handle on the foods you eat, I'll share with you some "sweet" recipes that you can have for special occasions that taste wonderful but don't have all the sugar and processed goods.

MORE THINGS I CAN HAVE!:

All meats, fish, and poultry

Eggs ... anyway you like them

Homemade cream/cheese sauces

Jelly made from real fruit and sweetened with fruit juices

Butter and oils

Milk and cream... yes, even sour cream in limited quantities

Dill pickles, olives, hollandaise sauce (homemade), butter sauces

Herbs, spices, flavorings, lemon, mustard, vinegars, etc...

Anything you can make from scratch, that isn't high in starch, is on the okay list!

My Daily Menu Plan

I have found that if I think in food groups throughout my day, it's easier for my brain and less stuff to think about. The most basic way to think about meals is to combine a meat-sourced protein with a carb: 1:1. If you add more carbs, increase your protein. Beans count as a carb not a protein in this diet plan... sorry. Fill the rest of your meal with a couple servings of veggies and one serving of fruit.

Eat 3 meals a day... no more than 4-5 hours a part. You need to eat a good sized breakfast, even if you need to spread it over the course of the morning. The goal of this menu plan (increase your energy and shed off unwanted pounds) is to increase your protein to become balanced with your carbs, and eat 75% of your daily calories before 2 pm. When you limit your starch intake to one or two servings a meal, you need to increase your fats to maintain the correct number of daily calories. So, it's okay to put butter on your toast or use oil to cook your eggs. If you're worried about cholesterol with eggs, use 3 egg whites instead of 2 whole eggs. You can even leave one yolk with 3 egg whites. You'll find you have more energy in the afternoon when you eat more protein in the morning/lunch-time hours. Sometimes, when I'm dragging my feet in the late afternoon, I double up on my snacks or have another bowl of cereal (non-sugar cereal with higher protein) to get me through til dinner.


Breakfast:
Protein: Eggs/Meat
Starch: Bread/Cereal
Use oil or butter
Use seasonings... dill, oregano, basil... don't just eat plain food. It's gross! Add seasonings or veggies to help the flavor.*
Add some veggies on the side or in the eggs. :)
If you add fruit to this meal or anymore sugar/starch... just increase your meat.**
*I love using salt... when you no longer use processed foods, you don't have to worry so much about using salt to flavor your foods. Sea Salt is my favorite!
** I only have one, or maybe two, servings of fruit a day. Usually its my "dessert" but I always eat fruit with my meal.


Snack:
Protein: milk or something with 8+ grams of protein
Grain: Bread/Cereal... as wholesome as you can


Lunch:
Protein: Meat (chicken, tuna, turkey, beef, whatever... just not processed with added ingredients)
Grain: Bread, pasta, crackers, something yummy
2 servings (at least) of veggies (stay away from high-starch foods like potatoes, carrots, beets, etc).
1 serving of fruit if you haven't had one yet today.
remember your fats and seasonings to help it taste great!


Snack:
Veggies (I love pickles and cucumbers) with some seasonings or vinegar
Bowl of cereal (I love Kashi Flakes and 1% milk)


Dinner:
Protein: one serving
Grain: you can have two grains servings if you'd like, just eat a little more meat
Veggies: three servings
Fruit for dessert: one serving... be careful not to eat a big bowl of ice cream later in the evening. Your morning will be more difficult if you do. If you must have sugar, eat it with your dinner (right at the end), but at the same time. Then the affect won't be as great.


Snack:
Around 8 or 9 pm, it's fine to have a small protein serving to help you have more energy first thing in the morning. Keep the portions small... about 2 servings or so.
Milk, Cheese, Bread


Of course I vary this menu plan, but I would suggest starting with this layout and stick to it for an entire month. See how you feel. If there's no change and you still have no energy, then this Menu Plan isn't your answer. Don't despair, keep trying to find the answer! If you feel a little better and have more energy by dinnertime, then keep going! :)

The Love of Food

For years I've been asked...

"How do you do it? How do cook and eat and live
with your diet?"

"You must have a sad life without sugar
and other processed foods."

"You must spend all your day in the kitchen!"

"What exactly do you eat?"

A smile always comes to my lips when I'm asked about my food. Yes, I don't eat sugar, corn, and limit my starch intake. No, I'm not a crazy fanatic, I've just learned that my body doesn't react well to sugar/starchy foods. I try to have a balanced meal of veggies, meat, starch, and fruit, without over-emphasizing any one food group. I eat healthier fats, drink milk and some juice, eat pretzels, crackers, and chips, and have found my life to be complete without snacking on junk food everyday or eating ice cream and cookies after dinner.

Changing the way I view my food and the importance of food in socializing and family traditions has been one of the major stumbling blocks I've had to overcome. When your body rejects such basic ingredients as sugar or corn or wheat or yeast (for those who have other allergies or intolerances), basic traditions established years ago are now in jeopardy and the accepted mindset of food comes crashing down. It's not easy to accept that you may never make sugar cookies with your children, or eat hot homemade rolls on Thanksgiving, or share the joy of trick or treating with your family. Even social events become a challenge when everything that is served makes you physically ill! Avoiding offending someone causes us to consume what our bodies can tolerate and we suffer in our effort to be "social."

In our fast-past world, home-cooked meals are a thing of the past. If you want to make meatloaf, tacos, or alfredo sauce, you either order out or buy a package from the store. Do you even know what ingredients are used to make some of your favorite packaged goods? When I began my diet, I was shocked at two realizations:

1) those who eat processed goods, consume an awful lot of stuff you can't even name, and it seems like corn or modified food starch is in everything!

2) once I learned what seasonings made what food, I found it so much easier & cheaper to make the food myself.

It's taken me the last couple of years to hone in my cooking skills and learn how to utilize basic, natural ingredients to cook yummy, delightful food that tastes mouthwatering-good. My road hasn't been easy, but I've discovered that many are on a similar path as me... searching, testing, trying, suffering, and finally succeeding in cooking delicious food that causes you to go back for seconds and thirds because it's SOOO good! :)

For several months, I have contemplated beginning my own food blog... a place where I can record recipes I create and to talk about my food life. It seemed like a good idea and maybe something I'd eventually get around to create. But in the last few months, I have found many others struggling as I have struggled, to find a better way of living. Most of these "others" have been dear family members and close friends that have been diagnosed with difficult allergies or have noticed a huge dip in energy over the past few years.

Making the first step-this giant leap into the world of homemade cooking-isn't easy. It's been one of the hardest journeys I've had to walk. But, I know it can be done and I've felt the benefit of living a life of increased energy and free of substances that are harmful and addictive.