Ultimate Kale Salad

This little salad packs an amazing punch. 

Chock full of good nutrients for your body. 

Your body knows how to digest this salad, there is nothing foreign that your system has to figure out how to metabolize and process. Full of antioxidants, nutrients, minerals, not to mention vitamins, and full of color. 

A generous mix of sweet/salty with the tang of citrus and vinegar.

Ingredient list. 

Two bunches of a long flat leaf kale. I do prefer organic. 

Rainbow carrots. 

Red beets. 

Quinoa. 

Lentils. I used French lentils because they are a little meatier then the others.

Organic sun dried tomatoes. 

Honey tangerine. Zest as well. 

One organic lemon. I used a Meyer lemon. 

Blackberries. 

Blueberries. 

Extra virgin Olive oil. 

Red wine vinegar. 

Apple cider vinegar with mother. I use Braggs

One clove of smashed garlic. 

I use pink Himalayan rock salt. Fresh cracked pepper.

First I prepare the beets and the quinoa/lentils.

I placed The beets on a microwave safe dish, knife poked the top and sides with a few holes. I started on high for about five minutes, rotated four minutes, rotate to the other side around four minutes. When a fork goes through the flesh with ease, they are done. Let them cool.

While your beets are in the microwave get a sauce pan with a tight fitting lid.  I do the following.

Rince about 1 cup of quinoa and in a separate bowl rince one cup of the French lentils. 

I place the quinoa in the bottom of the sauce pan, add the clove of smashed garlic salt and pepper, I cover the quinoa with filtered water. Cook on high. When almost all the water has evaporatorated in a rapid boil, I then cover them again with water, add the French lentils, and make sure the water is above of the line of the French lentils.  

Continue to boil for about a minute or two. Cover with the lid and leave it alone. 

In saying this, I have an electric range, so the heat is still present. If you are cooking on a gas range, increase time approximately 5 to 7 minutes. But I still do recommend covering and let sit for at least 20 minutes. When all the water has evaporated, the lentils and quinoa are thoroughly cooked, I add two capfuls of apple cider vinegar.

While your lentils and quinoa are cooking, remove the heavy thick spine from all of the kale leaves. Roll them together in bundles of six or so like you are rolling a cigar.  Cut in thin ribbons cross ways, this is a French term called chiffonade.

 Place in a deep bowl, add 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup of Bragg's apple cider vinegar. Salt and pepper, about 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.  

Now with a large spoon or your hands, begin to "massage" the kale squeezing it in all of the vinegar solution. This breaks down the fiber of the kale and makes it more palatable. Stir thoroughly and let sit. 

Personally, I take a vegetable peeler and shave my carrots down, adding them to the kale.   

In a separate bowl, I cut off  one third of the tangerine,  juiced squeezed with pulp, about 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, (if you want to you can also add about a tablespoon of a brown mustard or honey to this).    whisk together and pour over the kale mixture

I use kitchen shears to cut the sun-dried tomatoes, and at this point, your beets should be cooled, peel and cube.  Add to the kale mixture.  Take the other two thirds of the tangerine and segment them, make sure you add the zest. 

Take your cooled quinoa and lentils mixture add to the bowl of kale as well, toss all together until everything is literally covered. Being careful not to smash your beets. 

Taste the mixture at this point and season salt pepper to taste. You may want to add some more vinegar. Strictly up to your palate.  

Right before serving, I will add blueberries and Blackberries to individual bowls, they will not hold up well to the mixture. 

Eat and enjoy!

After eating the salad I think if you smashed some walnuts and added bits of goat cheese, it would give a different texture to the salad. But being mostly dairy free, I don't have that option. 

How do you give this a try. I would love to hear your thoughts on the salad. 

You are:

Sometimes breakfast for lunch is just what you need.

You can't give to others until you fill yourself. 

That comes in the form of good food and reading.

Healthy recipe:

1/4 cup of brown rice grits cooked in microwave for two minutes with a half a cup of water. 

Added 2 teaspoons of organic coconut oil, 1 1/2 tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of dried black currants, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of almond meal, 1 teaspoon of fresh organic cinnamon. 

One amazing cup of 100% BlueMountain Jamaican coffee in my Betsey Johnson mug.

TD Jakes on the tablet. 

Yum. 

#JamaicanBlueMountainCoffee #Organic #BetseyJohnson #TDJakes #GoodForMe #FillingAndHealthy

I am back

I am back.

There are days when I marvel at things that I should not marvel complained of things that I cannot change and then accept those things as in defeat.

I had that time recently. RA is a bitch disease in case you did not know that. It is an autoimmune  disease that you cannot get away from.

 It is a disease that your body thinks it needs to attack and so it does hurt like a bitch disease. An equitable sharing of itself to all sorts of joints and connective tissue to destruct the body. 

It is a pain in my rear literally and figuratively. When one day you get up and your ankles are so tight they feel like they've been bound, in pain, and will not move. 

You limp and stretch and ice and put heat on and take Advil  and hope it gets better. 

The next day ankles are fine, they're moving again.  It's  like you're the one that is crazy but it's now back in the shoulders, ball/hip socket, hands and wrists or lower back

I've been busting my a$$ for almost a year trying to do this holistically.  It has made a difference,  it is better/somewhat worse, however,  I am better and more knowledgeable for it. 

I've also come to the realization that cold weather and RA do not mix.

 As much as I love cold weather-snow and ice and frosty tundra, it is painful. Coupled with the autoimmune disease, thyroid, hormone issues, gene mutation, malabsorption of nutrients and food. Your body thinks it's constantly starving, losing weight becomes an issue in futility, I can gain muscle mass, I can shrink, I will go down a couple sizes, but the scale will not move. 

So at my weight, A.k.a. thorn in my side, is what it is. 

Cardio works and helps. But heredity is working somewhat against me, and I do have cardiac risk markers now. 

So I have to reduce the scale as well. And yes, healthy is a number that is not always on the scale.  But carrying unhealthy weight is a concern. 

Hence the last couple of months. 

I started accepting defeat accepting that it was not going to get any better,  that my body is failing me in more ways than one and I just came to believe what the enemy was whispering in my ear. 

I meant to work out, sometimes it worked, sometimes it does  not. 

Sometimes, lunges on the inner ball hip socket would make me collapse to the floor. especially frustrating when six months ago it was a non-issue. One year ago it would've never crossed your mind set

The joints and ligaments just did not want to move that day. 

I had some negative things going on in my personal life, and you start thinking I'm in pain, I cannot move, I suck...And off you go down the rabbit hole. 

I kind of knew I was going down the rabbit hole, I did not stop it and I can't say I wanted an out when I got there. 

I wallowed  there for a while, every day I meant to work out, I ate right, I drank Shakeology, I watched my nutrition and took my meds/supplements like a good girl.  But my workout that day might've consisted of a mile walk. if it wasn't raining, if I was lucky.

No strength bearing exercises no skills to support exercises, no building up the muscle mass that had let go. 

Not on purpose, but in a way, I knew I was doing. I just could not seem to get past the-ish

The one very special thing about RA, is you get in these bouts of funk/melancholy/depression. 

You think you have nothing really to be that sad about, but you cannot seem to get out of it. Somehow I had chose this too because I can, because I can't shrink down the next clothing size that I want, because I see all the faults in the mirror, surely I must be failing. 

Maybe I wanted to see what would happen if I ate right, and didn't exercise.

Well, I maintained my weight, cross contaminated myself over Christmas with Christmas cookies and food I shouldn't be eating (who doesn't like holiday food) especially hard with a girl who has food allergies across the spectrum.

I fluctuated within 10 pounds of my weight.  Someday's that was up 2 pounds, Others it was up 5 – 12,  but I maintained around 3 or 4 pounds since Christmas.  

Which I consider that a win.

Alas, the clothes fit a bit tighter, I didn't like the way I was filling  them out, some are still loose, some are snugger, some were looser in other areas, but it was the flab, the shake, the wiggle so to speak. Areas that had been muscle bound and much tighter a few weeks ago. 

Especially the arms, arms are big thing for me, especially as women age, we do not want the turkey wing, the saggy skin, double elbow the bra flab that seems to happen around the armpit area or in the back.  I am dismayed that it is startling to come back. 

Now, I am not happy in this pit, the mud isn't pretty.  

I want back on my journey, now I'm determined to recall muscle memory and hope that my body remembers that.

That's the difference. 

It is being knocked down but not defeated. Not accepting a momentary blip in time to be the defining factor for the rest of your life.

So what I'm going to tell you here in a long drawnout post is: you always have a second chance-you never too old for it. 

Sometimes you need a third fourth or fifth.

Sometimes a new timeout because you have it have a tantrum. 

Sometimes you need to take a break and remember what is important. 

I'm there, I took the personal hits, I let peoples opinions define what I thought about myself.  

Not any more!

I'm back.  Defeat be damned. 

In the past 10 days, I've been concentrating on muscle exercises in my arms and shoulders. Even though it reeeeeaaalllly hurts. 

I've been getting around 10,000+ footsteps every single day and I can tell you now that I crave it. 

It is purely amazing that your body craves exercise. 

You look forward to the rush and the release of endorphins.

I'm starting new accountability  groups, if you want to get 'it' into "life" shape, and you know what I mean by 'it',  join me. 

Jump on the bandwagon.  

I know the pitfalls, I know the excuses, I've lost the weight, I have the stats, you can trust my word. 

I never say anything I do not mean.

What I do it's concentrated exercise in 30 minutes or less, working different muscle groups different days. 

I believe in eating plenty of food to feed and nourish your body, because constricting calories and depriving yourself of food does not work- mentally, physically, metabolically.

If you're interested, and you want to chance, and you believe that my word is, what I say it is, join me.

I highly recommend that you do something and move. 

I've been inactive and 75 pounds heavier. I've been active, gained both muscle mass, and flexibility, I sat in the pig trough and wallowed.  

What I will tell you beyond all circumstances is when you start working on your agility, it is scary how adults let themselves lose innate flexibility. 

You literally stop noticing what your center balance is anymore and that's how trips start happening. 

You start becoming more clumsier and unsure of your movements and questioning even running down a flight of stairs. 

You start over compensating for movements that came with fluidity as a child.

That gives you the inner strength. That makes you feel like you are a serious badass.

That alone gives you confidence. 

If you're thinking about this and even starting to become aware of some issues, do something to change it.

You and your future self are worth it

Who are you supposed to be?

 Does a butterfly compare his wings to another?   Or does he fly free, fulfilling his purpose?

Other than finding a mate, animals do not compare each other's den size, stripes, spots, watering hole location or ability to run, soar or swim.  

To whom is your North?   To what are you sold out to?  Who are you comparing yourself to in business?

You should only compare your today to what you can do better than yesterday.    Yesterday was meant to teach a lesson today and as a message for tomorrow.  

#BeYourOwnDivingRod #WhoOrWhatIsYourNorth #YouAreWhoYouAreSupposedToBe #BeFierceBeAnAuthenticYou #YourChosenFitness 

Mock New Year Salad

I have recently embraced different types of kale aside from the leafy green one that everyone uses.  

Lacinto Kale is a deep long flat leaf kale variety.  It has the consistency of spinach. Kale is chock full of nutrients.  Not to mention being a cancer fighting food.  

This is a great info page on the nutritional value. 

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=38

I think it yields better in a raw salad mixed with a bit of another variety.  I personally enjoy red kale. 

Remember the brighter the color, the more packed with wonderful nutrition. 

There is a bit of prep with kale to enjoy it raw.   Not hard and once you get the hang of it, it will go smoothly. 

Since the kale leaves for the lacinto variety have long leaves,  I wash them in a bowl and pat dry. Stack them one on top of each other and literally roll them vertically into a cigar like shape.

It's your personal choice whether you want long "ribbons" or you want shorter pieces. 

So when you start to cut your kale leaf cigar, start cutting it at a 45° angle. Alternate your angle of your 45°. Forming a upside down V shape for the shorter pieces.  This is called a chiffonade cut. 

Kale needs to be massaged with an acid to kind of break down the vegetable to a manageable "tooth".

When you have your desired amount, pour the vinegar over the greens and either with your hands or a slotted spoon, you will will literally squeeze,  aka massage the leaves for 2-3 minutes.   With a spoon, I stir and press down with the back of the spoon. .  

You will see the ribbons quickly wilt 

Ingredient list

1 large head of Lacinto Kale

1/2 head of small red kale bunch. 

1/2 can of organic navy beans; rinsed. 

3/4 chopped cherry/grape tomatoes; quartered. 

1-2T of a good quality extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 of navel orange; juiced with zest.  

1/3 of Meyer lemon; juiced with zest

1t of raw honey

2T of mustard

2T balsamic vinegar

2T apple cider vinegar

Garlic powder, salt&pepper, red pepper flakes

Add the apple cider to the kale and massage the greens.   

While the greens are wilting: In a small bowl, whisk the other liquid ingredients until emulsified.  Add seasonings and dress the greens.  Lightly toss in the tomatoes and beans. Taste for seasong level.  

Serves 2 nice bowls.   

Option, add diced chicken to a kale 'nest' for added protein.  

Substitute black eyed peas for the beans or add sundried tomatoes. 

Enjoy.   Let me know how you liked it. 

Café latte Shakeology

So they taste inventors have taken the proven superfood nutritious #Shakeology  and mixed it with the coffee fruit. 

We now have something that is going to blow your taste buds out of the water. 

Check out the blog for yummy recipes.  

Coffee plus the best meal of the day all rolled into one… Life will be good.

My company is the bomb!

#Shakeology #BestMealOfTheDay #ICannotWaitUntilMineComesInTheMail #ItIsAllGood #CannotWait

http://www.shakeology.com/blogs/2016/01/10/cafe-latte-shakeology-finally/?sf18652079=1

Poached balsamic tomato chicken medallions over heirloom spaghetti squash

1 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, Cut into the medallions and lightly tenderized. I use Cage free and hormone free 

One medium to medium large organic spaghetti squash

2 full cups of sliced of tomatoes either Campari, Pomodoro, grape, or heirloom.

One medium to large organic sweet potato. I used Garnet.

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar. 

3 smashed garlic cloves

1/4 cup of minced onion

Fresh or dried Italian herbs.

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

One large Haas avocado

One heaping teaspoon of organic coconut oil

3–4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. The greener the better.

Optional: fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

*************

Stick a knife or fork into a medium to large organic sweet potato. What I used was called a organic Garnet potato.   Until knife runs cleanly through the potato bread 

While your potato is cooking we can attempt to kill the squash.   

First, get the biggest thickest knife you have and prepared to do some expert cutting.

Stand spaghetti squash in a north to south way on your counter. Place large butcher knife next to the stem of the spaghetti squash stick it in and start banging, stabbing, sawing, pounding, praying, cracking the spaghetti squash in half.  Use alternate methods or all of those and one combination. 

My daughter suggested throwing it up against the wall, but we want one intact wall and we want our spaghetti squash in  only two pieces. 

And if your spaghetti squash goes through your drywall, I am not held responsible.

It is a gourd and acts like a gourd.

Remove seeds and string membrane out of the center of the squash. Place in your microwave and covered with a sheet of waxed paper.

One medium size spaghetti's sqash takes approximately 12 to 15 minutes in your microwave. Depending on the size and wattage of your microwave and the thickness of your squash.

What a fork goes all the way through the flesh, she is done.

Meanwhile, take thinly sliced medallions of boneless skinless chicken breast. I also lightly tenderize them.  Melt your coconut oil with your Garam masala, minced onion, smashed garlic salt-and-pepper.

When chicken is browned on both sides add approximately 3-4 cups of filtered water, balsamic vinegar, fresh or dried Italian herbs. IE basil oregano and finally minced rosemary. 2 cups of sliced tomatoes.   I used the Campari tomatoes but you can use Pomodoro's, or a sliced heirloom tomato.  

Let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes covered.

While the chicken is simmering, peel and  cube your Sweet potato and place into a bowl. Drizzle about 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil to coat each individual piece.

Place cut squash on the counter and run a fork starting from the north end  and down into the south. You should now have long strands of spaghetti like squash.  Repeat until you have reached the underside of the flesh membrane and continue all throughout each of the 2 pieces of squash.

Place the spaghetti squash into the same large bowl with the sweet potato, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and gently combine both ingredients.

Cube your large Haas avocado to add to your plate. 

Take your simmering tomato/chicken mixture and pour over the spaghetti squash and potato.

You could add Parmesan cheese at this point if you prefer, or just dress with some fresh herbs.

It is healthy for you, full of vitamins, protein and lower in carbs.