Vanilla chia seed pudding

This desert is one of my favorites.  It's fast and yummy. Chia seeds have a similar feel to tapioca pudding. If you don't like Tapioca pudding then just blend your pudding up at the end and it will have a smooth taste. ( I haven't tried this myself but a lot of people in the comments said it works )The original recipe is found Here

 

vanilla chia seed pudding

makes 2 servings
 

• 1 1/4 cups lite coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chia seeds

Mix together coconut milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.  Stir in chia seeds.  Pour into serving dishes.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.  Serve with fresh fruit (optional).

Notes:  The first time I made this I used coconut milk from the can.  It was thick and delicious.  The seeds didn't plump up as much as in the original picture though.
 Last night I tried it with the So Delicious brand in a box and the seed plumped up huge but the overall pudding was a little bit runnier.  You will have to experiment and decided what you like better.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

This is currently my favorite treat.  Dan is a huge fan as well.  I am already planning some yummy things to try with it.  I hope you enjoy it.  The original recipe is found Here

vegan chocolate mousse

serves 2

• 1 cup raw cashew nuts
• 1/3 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk 
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Soak raw cashews in warm water for 30 minutes.  Drain.  Add soaked cashews, coconut milk, and maple syrup to blender.  Blend on high for 1-2 minutes.  Add melted coconut oil, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract.  Continue to blend on high until smooth and creamy.  Pour into 2 single-serving bowls and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. 


Notes:
 I find that this is pretty rich.  I like to add just a little bit more coconut milk
I also think it's more like 4 servings than 2.
As you can tell from my pictures I like fruit with mine.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

One of the favorite dinners at our house is home made pizza.  I often feel a little sad that I don't get to join in on the delicious dinner.  I decided that needed to change.  I began gathering recipes for cauliflower crust.  I read and compared each one taking note of peoples comments and this is my end result.  I must say it was pretty darn good.  With all the toppings on it there wasn't any taste of cauliflower.  I especially loved the left overs.  I was definitely be using this one again.  The pizza sauce pictured below is also sugar free.  Make sure to read labels.  Different styles have sugar in them. The original recipe is found Here

 

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese*
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Olive oil (optional)
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Other additional toppings of your choice
*Many people have commented and said that the amount of cheese can be reduced by half, and still taste just as good!
Directions:
To rice your cauliflower, take 1 large head of cauliflower, remove the stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor and pulse just until it looks like rice. Alternatively, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater.
Place the riced cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl, add 1/4 cup water, and microwave for 6-8 minutes, stirring half-way through.
To make the pizza, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, mozzarella cheese and egg together and stir until well incorporated. Add the oregano, garlic, and garlic salt. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and shape into a 9-inch circle. Brush the crust with olive oil to help it brown in the oven.
Baked at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, until the crust is browned and cooked through the middle.
Remove the crust from the oven, add your sauce and toppings. Place under a broiler at high heat until the cheese is melted and bubbly. (About 3-4 minutes).
Allow the pizza to cool slightly, then cut into slices and serve.

Notes:
*My crust pictured above was a double batch.
*I also read that a lot of people make extra crusts and bake them.  Then they top them and freeze them for instant frozen pizzas at a different time.  Thaw and bake at 400 degrees.
* Another recipe suggested to wrap the steamed rice in a dishtowel, twist it up, then squeeze all the excess moisture out before mixing all ingredients.  I am going to try this next time.

Chocolate

These two brands of chocolate are my favorite find.  I have never been a huge fan of dark chocolate but once you have gone without chocolate for a while trust me when you taste this you will want to cry because it is so good. The Amberlyn brand is a lot more like regular chocolate.  Creamy and delicious. Just like anything with stevia or xylitol you have to be careful how much you eat.  They will upset your tummy.  It's a good built in portion control.  My favorite way to use these is to use a potato peeler and put chocolate shavings on fruit or desserts that I have made.
I find these at the local health food store.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

This is so delicious.  It's hard to stop eating once you are full. It's one of our favorites.

Double package of  pork tenderloin  ( I use the ones at Costco, they have 2 in each package, so we end up with 4 cooked tenderloins)
1/2 C gluten free soy sauce
1/2 C Worcestershire sauce ( I am aware this has sugar in it.  I haven't been able to find a replacement for this that is sugar free, its the only non sugar free thing I use )
1 tsp minced garlic

Dump 1/2 c. soy sauce, 1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce, and a teaspoon of minced garlic in a Ziploc bag with the pork.  If you are doing less pork just make sure that you do equal parts of those sauces.
Marinate that pork for 4 hours or for as much time as you have on hand.  It’s great if you can let that marinade seep in for a while

Grill for approx. 8-10 minutes on each side.  Total of about 35-40 min
Remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes tented with foil. Cut in diagonal slices (helps keep it tender).
The original recipe is found Here

Answers

If you leave a comment or a question the only way that I know to get back to you with an answer is to leave another comment.  So please check back there for answers.
 Thanks

Homemade Taco Seasoning

This is my taco seasoning that I use in quite a few different recipes.  I looked at the store and couldn't find any pre-packed seasoning that was sugar free.  So I had to make my own. I adapted it from 2 or 3 other different recipes to my liking.  I make a batch and keep it in a spice bottle from another spice that I had used up.

1/4 C chili powder
1/8 C onion powder
1 Tbs ground cumin
1/2 Tbs garlic garlic powder
1/2 Tbs paprika
1/2 Tbs salt
2-3 shakes of oregano
1 tsp pepper

Mix together and store in any container

Asian Lettuce Wraps

   This is one of our favorite dinners.  The kids like it because they get to use their hands and it's a bit messy.  But it is delicious. Another reason we love it is because it is peanut free.  A lot of Asian wraps have a peanut sauce, they sound delicious but we have a peanut allergy at our house.   I can't have rice but everyone else can so that is what I serve with these.
The original recipe can be found Here

Asian Lettuce Wraps
Recipe by Our Best Bites
2 tsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb ground chicken*
3 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped (about 8 small mushrooms)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 C bagged coleslaw mix or thinly shredded cabbage ( I use the whole bag so I don't waste any )
1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained, rinsed, and finely minced
1/2 C thinly sliced green onions
4 Tbs soy sauce ( gluten free, sugar free )
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3-4 Tbs juice)
1/2-1 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce (1 tsp of Sriracha is fairly spicy in my opinion, so if you want less or no kick, just give it a little, or you can leave it out completely)
1/3 C roughly chopped cilantro
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce
*To prepare your own ground chicken, cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into large chunks and pulse in a food processor until ground.

Dipping/Drizzling Sauce
4 Tbs soy sauce
4 Tbs rice vinegar
3 Tbs water
2 tsp honey
1-2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger

Heat a very large skillet to medium-high heat on the stove top.  When hot, add vegetable  oil and then garlic and ginger.  Saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then add ground chicken, chopped mushrooms, and kosher salt.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is cooked through.  (*At this point, sometimes I have some extra liquid in the pan from the chicken.  If it’s quite a bit, I tilt the pan and spoon it out so the chicken can cook and not boil.) Add cabbage/coleslaw, water chestnuts, and green onions.  Cook for about 2 minutes, until cabbage starts to wilt.  Add soy sauce, sesame oil, the zest from the lemon and the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
To prepare dipping sauce, combine all ingredients and whisk to combine.
To serve, carefully remove the individual leaves from the head of lettuce.  (The closer you get to the center, the easier it becomes!)  Place chicken mixture in the leaves and serve with sauce.
Yield: about 5 C chicken mixture.  Makes 14-16 lettuce wraps.

* Notes:  I always half the dipping sauce and it is still more that enough for all the wraps and for topping plain rice.

Starting Out

I hope you will forgive me as I try and figure out how to even start this blog. I am not great at computers so this will be a bit of a challenge.  It feels a lot like I did when I started all of these changes in my diet.  I should probably give a little back ground for those who don't already know.

  For the last three years I have been progressively getting sicker.  I was fighting depression, no motivation, I was lacking the ability to even care for myself.  It was a scary time.  I felt terrible and tired and so unhappy. Over time as the weight started to pile on I began to look terrible.  Weight + lack of effort = yucky!  Trust me.  I began to exercise, hard, but the weight still flooded on.  My cycle was going crazy.   I could go months with out anything and then have the equivalent of 2 to 3 periods a months.  It was painful, and frustrating and gross. I went to an OB and he said it was my thyroid.  I thought yay, I have medicine and now I will be fixed. Unfortunately that was not the case.  I continued to struggle for quite some time. I started losing my hair, my nails became brittle, me teeth started to have problems, my brain felt like there was a fog around it and I just couldn't think or remember anything.   Things just kept getting worse.  While all this was happening my sister happened to be going through some very similar things.  She was able to find a doctor, and for who knows what reason, he decided to check her for Hashimotos Disease.  Thank goodness he did.  She has it, he quickly told her that all her family needed to be checked.  My mom and another sister got checked and they have.  After dragging my feet for a while I got checked and yes, I have it.  ( since then all 7 of us girls have been diagnosed ) I struggled with the thought of this for quite some time.  Then I decided to try the gluten free diet that everyone says is the only help for Hoshimotos.  I did it for 3 months and lost 25 lbs and felt a lot better. I thought, great I did it I am better, back to life as it was. This was a bad choice.  Another terrible year passed and I finally sought help.  I found a wonderful Doctor who listened to ALL that I was feeling and had to say.  She ran an extensive set of tests and found that not only did I have Hoshimotos but my body was in a complete state of protest.  My glands and blood vessels were swollen.  My heart was in danger, there were so many scary things.  I sat there in that office in complete shock as she kept adding to the list of things that were wrong.  At the same time I was so thankful, someone was finally going to help me.  Little did I know what that meant. She continued to talk to me and then she said I needed a complete diet change for a minimum of 6 months to help my body heal.  I thought, ok I can do this.  Then she started to tell me everything that I couldn't have.  No grains of any kind, no potatoes, no gluten, NO sugar , no corn.  Wow, what can I eat is all I thought.  As I drove home from that appointment I found myself laughing out loud at how completely ridiculous this was.  I am 29 years old and so unhealthy.  My body is shutting down and now I can't eat food.  How did this happen?  As the next week passed I realized that I really had no idea what I was doing and what I could and couldn't have.  I began to make a list of everything I could think of.  My most specific list was one of all the kinds and names for sugar. I took that into her and she told me what was good and bad.  

That is where we will start.  Here is my list and what she said about it. 

Maple syrup ( a tiny bit )

brown sugar

dextrose

cane syrup

fructose corn syrup

honey ( a tiny bit )

agave (spikes blood sugar)

stevia - be careful can upset stomach with too much

xylitol- be careful can upset stomach with too much

molasses ( a tiny bit )

palm sugar ( a tiny bit )

cane juice 

maltodextrin

oligofructose

powdered sugar 

splenda

aspartame   (kills brain cells, very bad )

I am sure there are so many more that I could add to the "sugars list " but this info was very helpful for me.  I was surprised, then kind of mad as I began to read labels.  I had no idea there was so much junk in our food.  Food I was eating and feeding to my children.  Sometimes there are two or three different types of sugar in one thing.  Sheesh, no wonder we are such an unhealthy nation. So here is a picture of the things that I use now. 

Palm Sugar- subs straight across for brown sugar.  1cup brown sugar = 1 cup palm sugar

Nu Stevia Powder

Truvia - Stevia packets. I packet of stevia = 2 tsp of sugar

Liquid Stevia Drops ( I use these to sweeten my almond milk. A full glass of milk needs  about 5 drops or to taste )

Xylitol

Pure Maple Syrup

Honey

  

 

 This next picture is of some of the things that I consider staples for my diet.

Coconut milk from the can or carton

Vanilla Unsweetened Almond Milk

Kirkland Brand Chicken Stock (it's the only one that I have found that is sugar free for a decent price)

Gluten free Kikkoman Soy sauce

My homemade taco seasoning ( I will share that recipe soon )

Coconut oil

Coconut flour ( cheaper in the bulk bins )

Cascade Fresh yogurt ( natural fruit juice sweetened and soooo yummy! )

 These are a few of my favorite go-to snacks.  There are so many more that I will share later.

Stretch Island Natural Fruit Strips
No sugar added applesauce
Figs
Zevia ( I am a pop drinker, this stuff saves me!  So good and I have even cooked my roasts with it.  It works great.  They even have ginger ale for those yucky sick days. )
Chocolate ( more on that to come, there are a few kids I like )

I realize that not everyone is wanting to go super extreme but hopefully you can find something to help you on your road to getting healthy.