Finally...my Sweet Potato, Quinoa Stew

Looking for a warming, healthy, delicious vegan recipe that even meat lovers will like? Try this! It calls for quinoa (keenwah), which you can find at any health food store and most chain grocery stores carry it now as well. It is the only grain that contains all essential amino acids, making it a phenomenal source of protein!


Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups cooked black beans (2 cans, drained & rinsed)
• 1 cup hominy (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 2 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
(I use Pacific Organic)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large sweet potato or yam, peeled, chopped in bite size pieces
• 2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 Tbsp (2 - 3 cloves) garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 can chopped green chilies (for spicier, use 1 chopped jalapeño)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• More Heat: Add more cayenne
• 1 tsp dried basil leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaf
• 2 bay leafs
• 2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• ½ cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped

Directions:
1. Peel & mince the garlic, jalapeno (if using) and ginger
2. Wash and trim the celery, slice lengthwise, then crosswise to dice
3. Seed and dice the bell pepper
4. Peel and chop the sweet potato in bite sized pieces
5. Heat the olive oil on medium low in a large dutch oven
6. Sauté the garlic, ginger, celery, & chilies/jalapeno 5 minutes
7. Add the sweet potatoes and bell pepper, sauté 5 minutes
8. Add the herbs and spices, stir for a minute
9. Add the beans, quinoa, soup stock or water, salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 30 minutes
10. Add Braggs or soy sauce, pepper, cilantro or parsley just before serving

Charlie Brown Smoothie (serves 2)

This recipe is PERFECT to recover from workouts. I also find it to be a very satisfying breakfast. Hey, it can even help you for those moments when you are craving Charlie Brown ice cream!

Ingredients:
- 1 chopped frozen banana
- 2 cups of Silk chocolate almond milk
- 2 Tablespoons of almond butter
- 1 scoop of LifeTime Chocolate Protein Powder
- 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed

Directions:
Place the banana in the blender on the ice chopping setting for about 10 seconds. Add the chocolate almond milk and almond butter and then blend for 10 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for about 15 seconds! Enjoy!

Butternut Squash for a SNACK?

Yes, you read that right! If you've been reading my blog for a while or if you've been a client of mine, you know a lot about the convenience trap that forces us to make unhealthy food choices...and we sabotage our good intentions!

Butternut squash is a satisfying snack that can attack the allure of convenience foods. Some of you may be thinking you do not have time to peel, de-seed, and chop a butternut squash. Hey, I don't have time either. Do what I do: pay a little bit more and get pre-peeled and chopped butternut squash that is available in the produce section of most grocery stores! Here's a delicious recipe that takes only 10 minutes of your time (the oven does most of the work) and voila, you have a healthy snack available for the week.

Shannon's Cherry-licious Baked Butternut Squash

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of Wegmans family-sized butternut squash
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup organic dried cherries
- 1 cup organic raw pecans
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- Sea salt to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450.
- If the squash pieces are larger than one inch, take a bit of time to chop them into one-inch pieces.
- Drizzle olive oil over the squash in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.
- Arrange the squash in a casserole dish and sprinkle the cherries and pecans throughout.
- Add a tiny bit of sea salt.
- Drizzle maple syrup over the squash.
- Bake covered for 50 minutes.

Recipe for Happiness: Millet Sweet Potato Breakfast Cakes

It’s no wonder that depression is such an epidemic in our country—look at the food we eat. Because of our obsession and need for convenience, we consume refined flour and sugar far more than the nourishing grains and vegetables that our ancestors ate. These refined products create harmful blood-sugar fluctuations, which no doubt affect our moods. Further, these foods lack nutritional value and it is scientifically proven that our cells will not thrive without nutrients, leading us to feel icky. Put simply, junk foods make us feel junky.

So, how do we rid our junk food addictions? Breakfast is the place to start! Eating a nourishing breakfast sets the stage for the rest of the day. Millet is one of my favorite comfort foods; it’s a complex carbohydrate with dozens of nutrients. I’ve recommended it for clients diagnosed with mild depression and it has worked wonders. Potato-family foods have been shown to have a positive effect on serotonin and dopamine, our feel-good neurotransmitters (read Potatoes Not Prozac to learn more about this).

Make a big batch of these cakes on a Sunday and have a couple each morning for breakfast. You’ll notice a positive effect right away. Serve them with a tablespoon or two of REAL maple syrup; the darker grade the better.

Millet Sweet Potato Cakes:

Ingredients

2 cups leftover millet* (millet can be found in the bulk section of health food stores)

1 large sweet potato mashed

¼ cup gluten free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)

A couple tablespoons of rice milk

Sea salt to taste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Mix the millet, sweet potato, and rice milk. Add a bit of sea salt. Form cakes and douse them in the gluten-free-flour. Place oil on a medium-heated iron skillet. Pan-fry the cakes, about 2-3 minutes on each side, until they are golden.

*Learn more about amazing millet!

Healthy Hot Cocoa Fix?

Yes, you read that right! I have discovered a healthy alternative to hot cocoa. Would you believe me if I told you that it is even has fiber? If you are like me, hot cocoa is a must in order to survive winters, especially Syracuse winters. There's nothing quite like curling up on the couch with a steamy mug of hot chocolate and a good book. It makes the winter almost worth it.

I am not the biggest fan of dairy (or rather it's not so fond of me), so I try to limit my dairy consumption. This hot cocoa alternative is vegan! Silk's Pure Almond Dark Chocolate Milk hit the market this winter. Brent and I picked it up to try in our post workout smoothies. One evening I was fiending for hot cocoa. We didn't have any milk or cocoa. I heated up a couple cups of the almond milk. I was amazed at the result--a super-tasty hot cocoa alternative!

I have to say Silk's tag line for this almond milk is quite accurate: Choose Wisely. Drink Happily.

In a 12-ounce serving of this hot cocoa, you get 1.5 grams of fiber, 1.5 grams of protein, over 50% of your RDA for vitamin C, almost 70% of your RDA for calcium, 75% of your RDA for vitamin B12, and a good amount of zinc, riboflavin, magnesium, manganese, vitamin D, vitamin A, and iron. Yum!

Vegetarian Chicken Parmesan-I Kid you Not

I'm a sucker for chicken parmesan. Most of you know that I was a vegetarian for 12 years. I’m surprised I made it 12 years being deprived of this delicious dish! If only I had this recipe back then! We all know that eggplant parm. is not the same. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of eggplant parmesan during that 12-year period and still make it during the summer months when eggplant is in season. This dish is different and best of all, it doesn’t use any soy or wheat-gluten fake meat. It uses chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). I didn’t even make the connection to chicken parmesan until my husband said “Wow, this is like chicken parmesan!”

This recipe came to me as I scanned my pantry, desiring to concoct a recipe with what we had on hand. I was going to call them chickpea burgers, but I like vegetarian chicken parmesan better. So, here’s the deal!

Ingredients:

2 cans organic chickpeas

1 Tablespoon organic Italian seasoning

Up to 1/3 cup warm water

¼ cup raw walnuts

½ cup nitrate-free sundried tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic minced

1.5 Tablespoons olive oil

4 slices organic mozzarella cheese (soy or rice cheese for vegans)

Directions:

Blend the chickpeas in a food processor so it turns into “mashed chickpeas.” Pour into bowl and mix in Italian seasoning, sundried tomatoes, and garlic.

Slowly mix water in and use your hands to mix all ingredients until the consistency feels like dough.

Preheat oven at 350.

Pulse the walnuts in the food processor for 10-15 seconds until they turn into small pieces/crumbs (not flour).

Dry roast the walnuts for 3 minutes on a pan over a medium flame.

Pour olive oil in a large pan (I like cast iron) over a medium flame. Make four patties out of the chickpea mixture and press into the pan with a spatula.

Turn the patties every few minutes and sprinkle walnuts on the outside each time to get a crunchy outer texture.

Place cheese slices over the patties and place in oven for 10 minutes or until patties are thoroughly heated. Delicious!

I like using Eden canned beans because these cans are BPA-free unlike most canned foods. BPA is a toxic xenoestrogen, which just means it's like the female hormone estrogen, except for two things: 1) it's foreign to the body, which is what "xeno" means, and 2) it is way more harmful than our natural estrogen for everyone, male and female. It can lead to fertility problems and even certain types of cancer, like breast cancer.

Don't Let the Word "Natural" Fool You

Excuse the cliche, but when it comes to food, never, ever "judge the book by its cover!" A few weeks ago, I attended the Natural Products Expo East. One would expect to find only natural food there, right? Well, no, not exactly. There were several products there that were terrific, some that I even fell in love with. I'll blog about those at a later date. At the moment, I need to get a few things off of my chest.

There were many products with soy protein isolate! That is SO far from being natural. First of all, the soy is likely genetically modified. Secondly, soy protein isolate is made in large aluminium bins, which leaches aluminum (a TOXIC metal) into your food!

One product that irked me to the extreme was Chortles. I found the package to be super-cute and I loved the taste! Think Cocoa Puffs! I was mortified when I read the label! It had partially hydrogenated soybean oil. I haven't knowingly consumed that in years! It also had high fructose corn syrup, another ingredient that I avoid like the plague. Lesson learned: even at a natural products expo, you cannot trust that everything is truly natural. Remember this the next time you go to the grocery store, even when you are shopping in the "natural" section!