I'm back!

Hello there! It has been almost 5 months since my last post, forgive me as I have been enjoying the last days of my husband's unemployment (yes! He was finally blessed with a job opportunity!) and the craziness that is summertime with a toddler! But I am back...with exciting news to share and new recipes to tempt your palate!

First things first...the good news...this blog is going to be the weekly newsletter for our new hobby business, Winnie's Natural Kitchen-a natural (predominately organic) catering and weekly meal service outlet. Are you excited? I am! You can find and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/winniesnaturalkitchen 

We will post weekly here sharing a recipe from a past week's menu, as well as answer any questions we have received. 

I hope you are all enjoying your summer and staying healthy in the process. Remember eating healthy does not mean boring, flavorless meals. You can still satiate your taste buds and trim your waistline! 

This week's recipe is easy, healthy, gluten free, and delicious!  Enjoy!

Chicken Tomatillo Enchiladas

What you need:

Glass baking dish

Olive Oil

Aluminum Foil

Chicken tenders or breasts

Taco seasoning (I use Trader Joe's brand)

Brown Rice Tortillas (again Trader Joe's)

Shredded Cheese of choice

Enchilada Sauce (Trader Joe's---can see I like this place?)

Tomatillo Salsa (I adore White Girl Salsa, mild---you can get online or at Whole Foods)

Ok...so this is super easy, can be made ahead of time and baked when ready. I have never frozen them, but I am sure you could do that as well. 

First, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling add 1/2 packet of taco seasoning ( I like the TJ one because it doesn't have additional crap in it...just pure spices) and reduce heat so water stays hot but not boiling. Add chicken and cover for 10-15 minutes until chicken is just cooked through. Remove from water and place in a bowl to cool. 

Once cool, shred chicken. (Tip: if you have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment place slightly cooled chicken in mixer and run on low to medium heat and in less than 30 seconds you have perfectly shredded chicken! Be care not to turn up too high or you will get mush!)

Mix a little bit of taco seasoning and 1/4 of the bottle of enchilada sauce with chicken, set aside. 

Spray glass baking dish with olive oil (Tip: buy the misto bottle and fill with oil of choice. Stop buying that store bought cooking spray with propellant in it!). Preheat oven to 350 degrees, if cooking right away. 

Heat tortillas 2 at a time in microwave for 10-13 seconds. (Brown rice tortillas are stiff, once heated they become more pliable) 

 Fill heated tortilla with desired amount of chicken mixture and roll up. You may need to trim your tortilla so it fits in your dish, they are huge! I trim the top and bottom off so the ends are straight like my dish. Save the scraps, kids love them! 

Continue two at a time, it is ok if your tortilla cracks. 

Top with remaining enchilada sauce and 1/4 of the jar of salsa. Sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or refrigerate and cook later. 

Once the cheese is melty and hot, I top with more salsa and sour cream if desired, serve with rice. Enjoy! 

Easter Eggs...the natural way

As a new mother I struggle everyday with providing my child and my husband with healthy, nutritious foods to eat without feeling like they are missing out on what our culture has deemed "the good stuff". So when it came to my daughter's first Easter egg dying experience I wanted to eliminate the artificial dyes and go more natural.

So we invited over some friends and using a few websites as guides and Pinterest as inspiration we embarked on the trial and error that is natural egg dying.

We made 6 different "shades" of dye using shredded red cabbage, frozen blueberries, fresh spinach, fresh beets, paprika, and turmeric (directions for each listed below) and hard boiled 3 dozen eggs and "baked" a dozen more. (Not impressed with the baking method ): )

The items that worked the best (in order) were beets, turmeric, paprika, and red cabbage. The blueberries and spinach made no change in color to our eggs after 45-60 minutes, so those got discarded. The beets worked the fastest by far needing only 10-15 minutes to result in a nice soft pink color. The turmeric and paprika worked better when the dye mixture was hot (15-20 minutes), once the mixture cooled the eggs required about 30+ minutes to develop a pale yellow or spotted orange color. I must note, the paprika eggs were speckled due to the paprika flakes, once totally dried these eggs looked cool and the paprika didn't rub off like when they were damp. The red cabbage eggs took 30+ minutes to develop a pale blue color, but they were really pretty.

Toward the end we started to get impatient and took the eggs in all the other dyes and added them to the beet dye, this resulted in some great coral and orange eggs, too bad we didn't start mixing earlier!

We did also have a few eggs that took color in patches so we re-dipped them in different colors, it was cool to see that, for example, the yellow egg that was splotchy with white still once dipped in the cabbage dye, turned blue and green and the purple splotchy egg dipped in beet became a tie dye effect. This technique was totally random, and really was out of our control.

We also tried a few eggs "stamped" with fresh flowers by placing an egg with a flower bud against it in a knee high sock. Tightening the sock snugly around the egg with twist ties and dipping it in the dye. We did 4 this way and only one came out with a stamp of white flower and the rest of the egg blue. We discovered the other eggs were not tied tight enough to prevent dye from getting under the flower. (More on this technique here: http://bigsislilsis.com/2010/04/02/natural-dye-colored-easter-eggs/) I should also note we took a lot of short cuts as the process in that blog is very long, but check out our 1 blue egg, it looks cool!

I would definitely do this again next year! It was easy and fun, although much more expensive (approx $30-40 for produce and spices) and more prep time required. Definitely worth it to avoid artificial colors!

Directions:
(Pink)
4 fresh beets, trimmed and peeled
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar

Trim,peel, slice beets, placing peels and stems along with beets in 2 cups of water, bring to a boil. Drain water into a plastic bowl, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Reserve beets for dinner, discard stems and peels.

(Yellow)
Ground turmeric (we used dried turmeric root and ground it fresh, not sure if this makes a difference) approx 3 tablespoons
2 cups of water
2tablespoons of vinegar

Boil water, add turmeric. Stir until dissolved, add vinegar. (This one worked fast warm, I would leave on low next year and do this one by the stove.)

(Orange)

Same as above, substitute paprika.

(Blue)

2 cups of water
1 small head of shredded red cabbage (I cheated and bought 2 packages cut by my local store)
2 tablespoons vinegar

Place shredded cabbage into boiling water, boil a few minutes. Remove and let cool slightly. Drain and squeeze cabbage. Add vinegar to water.

Resources: here are the two websites I gathered information from.

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/eggs/natural-easter-egg-dyes/

http://chemistry.about.com/od/holidayhowtos/a/eastereggdyes.htm

Thank you to our friends who came to play today! Good luck! Happy Easter!

Mmmmm pasta!

As many of you know, I love to cook, but sometimes I just want to grab a bunch of random stuff from my fridge and throw it together and be done. Tonight was one of those nights, and it came out fabulous!

Pasta has always been a go to dish for a quick meal, but since becoming gluten free it is something we rarely have. After a few tries we did finally find a brown rice pasta we enjoy.

Tonight I had a full fridge to grab from, so I selected fresh baby portabello mushrooms, a small sweet yellow onion, beet greens, and a small amount of pork sausage links and in just 20 quick minutes dinner was served!

When we sat down to eat, the plate reminded me of a dish my grandma used to make called "Cowboy Stew"...basically it was elbows and meat sauce. Here is the new, veggie induced version..I could have done without the sausage, in fact most of it went to my hubby.

Cooked pasta of choice, I used brown rice elbows

Sauté cubed sausage, if using
When sausage is most of the way cooked add chopped onion and baby bello mushrooms
Add a splash of veggie stock and let everything reduce
Add chopped beet greens

Once veggies are to a desired softness, add cooked pasta and a very small can of tomato sauce, stir and season. I used Italian herbs, salt and pepper, and basil. I would have added garlic but I was out.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Yum!

Undiscovered Tuesday....a new name for Tuesday!

You've heard of Meatless Monday, right? Well let me introduce you to Undiscovered Tuesday...ok it's a working title...lol

I love trying new things in the kitchen...new veggies, new fruits, new recipes, new spices! Today was an introduction to a new veggie, the parsnip! Thanks to Pinterest I found a recipe that inspired me, even though I didn't end up using it.

So on the menu tonight was Orange Honey Glazed Boneless Country Ribs with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Roast Parsnips, Carrots, and Brussel Sprouts.

I think the roasted veggie is way under used in many homes, there is nothing like a farm fresh assortment of veggies tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted on a stoneware pan in a hot oven. They make the house smell fabulous! They look beautiful served on a white dish! And most importantly, the taste as good as they are for you!

Recipes:

Boneless country style ribs, trimmed
Orange marmalade, be sure to select one without high fructose corn syrup...I found a locally made one at my grocery store
Chicken broth, I like kitchen basics..it's rich, flavorful, and gluten free
Honey
Salt and pepper

Trim fat off the ribs and generously season both sides with salt and pepper. Use more salt then you think, as salt breaks down the meat while marinating and tenderizes it. Place an glass baking dish. In a small bowl whisk marmalade with a small amount of broth, just enough to thin it out but leaving it still a syrup consistency. Pour over meat, cover with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate 24-48 hours, turning at least once.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove wrap and drain remaining marinate off the meat. Pour a small amount of broth in the pan and top meat with a spoon full of marmalade. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour. Remove foil and bake until fork tender, mine took another 15 minutes. Top with a small amount of honey and broil until the top starts to caramelize. Serve!

I served this with whole, roasted brussel sprouts, baked sweet potatoes, and roasted parsnips and carrots.

Delish!

Great food can be quick and easy too!

I have to say how shocked I was this week by how great I can feed my family and not send more than usual at the store. As many of you know we eliminated processed foods about 6 months ago, started eating organic and as much non GMO as possible about 3 months ago, and last month we eliminated gluten from our diet. We have made a lot of changes to our lifestyle in a short period of time, and all for the better.

At first, it definitely felt like eating better was more expensive but now that we are adjusted to the changes it really does cost us about the same. Our average grocery bill is $130 per week for a family of 3 (2 adults and 1 toddler).

We do the majority of our shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, with supplemental shopping at Stop and Shop and meats from a local butcher and seasonal farmers markets.

This week we tried a few new things. I usually buy a months worth of meat from the butcher, but I am running low and dint want to get my dear daughter out of the car an additional time, so I grab a "big buy" pack of organic chicken breasts at Whole Foods, 4 boneless, skinless breasts for about $10. A little higher than the butcher, but worth the savings this time.

Surprisingly I got 3 meals out this buy, so in the long run, SCORE!

1. marinated 2 breasts in teriyaki and served with a quinoa veggie stir fry
2. marinated 2 breasts in citrus vinaigrette and blood oranges and served with roasted potatoes, carrots, and beets
3. poached the tenders (that I removed from the breasts on day 1) in a seasoned bath of chicken stock, shredded and used them for yummy enchiladas. (Recipe below)

So, it can be done. I remarked to my husband tonight how much farther meat goes when you increase your veggie intake and reduce your meat consumption. Just make sure you are still getting plenty of protein in your diet and healthy fats!


Chicken enchiladas (makes 6 enchiladas)
4-5 chicken tenders
Southwest seasoning blend
squeeze of lemon
Chicken stock
Shredded cheese of choice
Enchilada sauce
Corn tortillas
Olive oil

Brown rice
Beans of choice

Rub tenders with a generous amount of seasoning and squeeze of lemon, refrigerate overnight
Place chicken in saucepan and cover with stock. Bring to a slow boil and reduce heat to medium low, poach until cooked threw. Place in a bowl to cool.

Strain stock. Return to pot and add rice. Add water if needed and cook rice.

In a small pot, heat beans, I used an open can of white beans. Once warm, smash some of the beans with a potato masher. Stir and add a splash of enchilada sauce. Keep warm.

Once rice is cooked, drain any liquid remaining. Add a sprinkling of cheese and splash of enchilada sauce. Stir and keep warm.

Place cooled chicken in mixing bowl, using the paddle attachment on low shred chicken, or use two forks. Once shredded, add a handful of cheese and a generous amount of enchilada sauce and stir.

Spray a glass dish with olive oil and set aside. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Warm a skillet sprayed with olive oil, warm corn tortillas one at a time until just warm. Fill with chicken mixture, roll, place seam side down in dish. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and shredded cheese. Bake until warmed threw and cheese melted.

Serve with beans and rice.

Enjoy!

Detox...almost over...lots learned

So our 21 day detox, well 20 really-thank you Super Bowl- is coming to a close. Thank you Joanne of Getting Real Health (http://www.gettingrealhealth.com) for your guidance and support!

We learned so much over the 20 days, I hope I can inspire all of you to try this out! It is incredible what you can learn from your body by just eliminating certain items and seeing how you feel.

We will definitely be doing a cleanse again this summer and eliminating different things- I am thinking eggs and dairy next time- and we will be remaining gluten free going forward, more on that in a minute.

Let me share some of the things we learned:

1. For the first time, maybe in my life, I understand why our bodies need hydration. I have never been a water drinker. When I got pregnant I increased my water intake for the health of the baby, but this was different. I know what it feels like to be thirsty now, I know that sounds simple but believe me it is totally different then what you think. Once you give your body the fluids it needs to work properly you notice a change. After a few days your system looks for that hydration, and if you ignore it, you will know what thirst feels like.
By hydrating my body better (I never got up to 1/2 my weight in ounces. I got up to just over 1/4 of it and I am still striving for the full goal) I noticed an increase in detoxification, my skin is less oily and more nourished, my eyes are not as dry, I can wear my contacts longer each day (before I was lucky to get 6-8 hours out of them), my mouth isn't as dry, weight loss increased slightly and my body fat has dropped. Water really is the gas for your system, and my tank has been on empty for quite some time!

2. Gluten has no positive effects on our bodies. I don't miss gluten. I easily found alternatives to bake and cook with that have no effect on taste at all, in fact some of them actually taste BETTER! Prior to this cleanse, we would have pasta as a meal, now we view it as a side dish, and make sure it is made out of a body benefiting substance, and not an over processed flour.
I look forward to the challenges ahead keeping gluten out of our diets. I enjoy cooking and baking, even more so now that I can control exactly what goes into our system. Homemade everything is better :) there will be times when we will slip, but those times will be few and far between.

3. Dairy is my friend, and I have missed her! I know a lot of people have opinions on why you shouldn't eat dairy. Example: it is highly inflammatory, it comes from an animal--more often than not that animal isn't humanely treated or fed properly. I will strive to purchase better dairy going forward. I will read labels and buy local when able.
Removing dairy wasn't all punishment, we discovered that our 15 month old has a milk sensitivity. She seems to be fine with yogurt and cheese, but milk causes a rash and eczema to appear within a short time after digesting it. So no more cows milk for us....almond and coconut milk here we come!

4. Processed foods have no place in our home. We made this change about 5 months ago, but I wanted to mention it here as well. The amount of chemicals and GMO foods in the large array of processed foods out there is really disgusting. Stop and read what you are eating. If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it. If it isn't organic, it's loaded with pesticides. (As of now that is the only way to rule out GMO foods in the US. Hopefully that will change). If it has more than 5 ingredients, do you really need to have it? If the answer is yes, can you pronounce and know what all those ingredients are? If no, don't buy it! Find an alternative!

We still have so much to learn!

1. We need to be more active, since we have more energy now that won't be as hard.

2. We need to learn to stop "boredom eating" and only eat when we are hungry. This might be the hardest thing ever! Old habits are hard to break!

And many more things, but lets start with those two whoppers!

Overall, we have expanded out fruit and vegetable intake, more than doubled our water consumption, and learned so much about how food effects our bodies. My husband lost about 10 lbs in 20 days (he had soda a few times, and gained a pound or so back) and I lost about 6 pounds and 5% body fat in 20 days. I am we'll on my way to my weight loss goal...down 45 pounds total...only 35 pounds to go. Once the winter weather goes away, I hope to shed the weight that much faster (my daughter loves to be outside!)

I challenge you to try and eliminate the useless items in your diet. Fuel your body with organic, healthy food and see how much better you feel! If you need help, don't hesitate to contact Joanne, she is great! She works with people nationwide!

Thank you for reading and coming along on this journey with me. Stick around, I hope to share many more recipes, organic skin care tips, and healthier lifestyle tips with you all!

Feel free to subscribe to my blog and check out my skin care Facebook page, www.facebook.com/skin-care-by-Jen

Detox Day 13

I totally expected to wake up this morning and feel like crap from cheating Friday night. I was pleasantly surprised when I felt great, despite the slight sore throat and nasal drip I still have. Since dairy is what I am missing the most, I am glad it doesn't seem to have an effect on my body like gluten does. Gluten is the devil, I've decided :)

Today was a busy day, so our meals were more like snacks until we had time to sit and take a minute at dinner time. I don't mind that so much, now that we've cut out the bad foods we used to turn to prior to this cleanse. To tell the truth, I honestly don't miss it! I do however hate the extra effort it takes in either planning or obtaining these healthier snack and food items. Eating right should be as easy as fast food, why isn't it? I don't understand!

I am a proud lover of chocolate! It makes everything better, but since I have been eating primarily dark chocolate, I hate commercial chocolate now! Tonight while getting gas I grabbed a Hershey's bar. I ate one piece and it was gross! Too sweet! Grainy! Not satisfying at all!

I doubt that I will be giving up white chocolate anytime soon, I die for white chocolate, but milk chocolate is out! It is dark chocolate around here from now on! Woohoo!

It's amazing how good the foods that are GOOD for you really taste after you cleanse your system of the crap you have been poisoning yourself with. I honestly believe it is mind over matter for us. I have to tell myself why I shouldn't eat something so I won't eat it. I need to teach myself to feel how food makes me feel, that we eat for substance not enjoyment. I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl and a loving husband and they are my new source of enjoyment, I vow to reward myself with experiences with them, not with food. It will be a difficult change, but I can do it...and so can you!

Water about 80 ounces

Breakfast
1/2 banana
1/2 cup granola

Lunch
Slices of ham, turkey, and pepperoni
Sweet potato and Beet chips

Dinner
Salmon and avocado roll
Spicy tuna roll
Chicken satay with peanut sauce
Split order of pad Thai with hubby

Snack
1 piece of chocolate bar