Shannon's ***-Kickin' Kohlrabi Slaw

I incessantly encourage my clients to eat more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, bok choy).  They are loaded with phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals that can help with hormone balancing, cancer prevention, heart disease prevention, and because of their natural anti-inflammatory properties can avert any form of inflammation.

If you dislike any of the aforementioned vegetables, no worries! There is an unfamiliar cruciferous vegetable that I love more than all of the above. It’s sweeter and more succulent. It’s called Kohlrabi and it’s in season— go find one at a farmer’s market near you! Kohlrabi has more than 100% of your daily vitamin c needs and it is loaded with minerals as well as the cancer-fighting phtonutrients.

Try out this ***-kickin Kohlrabi Slaw.

Ingredients

-          1 Kohlrabi, peeled and shredded

-          ½ cup plain yogurt

-          2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

-          3 Tablespoons of honey or agave nectar

-          2 shredded carrots

-          Handful of raisins

-          Sea salt to taste

Directions

Mix the yogurt, vinegar, and honey or agave nectar. Mix the kohlrabi and carrots. Pour yogurt mixture over the kohlrabi and carrots. Season with sea salt and toss in the raisins!

Quick and Easy Fueling Food of the Month: Quinoa and Lentils

I may be a proponent of consuming more whole foods and less processed foods, but I am REALISTIC too. Just like you, I have days where I am lucky if I have 20 minutes free for lunch. What do I do? I put together something that's convenient and healthy.

Yesterday's lunch was microwaveable Quinoa and Brown Rice from Seeds of Change with Tasty Bite's Jodhpur Lentils over it. Neither product has harmful ingredients. And this meal was perfect for fueling my run. It gave me 12 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber. Quinoa and lentils are both great for sustaining energy as complex carbohydrates. The seasonings are great natural anti-inflammatories too. With processed food, you have to be careful about sodium content. I usually look for products with less than 500 mg of sodium (or less than 20% RDA). The lentils had 460 mg of sodium and the quinoa had 400 mg. Here's the trick though: each package equals two servings so I had half of each...and saved the other half for today's lunch! I should also note that I DID NOT microwave these in their packages because I did not want harmful  xenoestrogens to leach into my food, especially because I am breastfeeding! I use glass pyrex dishes for microwaving and never microwave plastic for this reason!

If you have quick and healthy lunch ideas like this, email them to me at shannonlynn.nutritionATgmail.com and I will feature them on my blog!

Tasty Gluten-Free Tea Cookies!!!

What is your favorite dessert food? My ultimate favorite is brownies—I am a major pushover for brownies, especially when made with dark chocolate and walnuts. Brownies are special; they’re not something I crave everyday; a nice-sized brownie is something I reward myself with after big accomplishments. However, I am not perfect; I admit to having a sweet tooth and fruit doesn’t always do it for me. What’s a girl to do, especially when she would love to have shortbread cookies with her tea yet she’s on a gluten-free diet? Introducing…my gluten-free tea cookies. I made these cookies last week and the whole batch vanished within a day; turns out my husband loved accompanying his coffee with them!

Shannon’s Gluten-Free Tea Cookies

2 cups of raw almonds

1/3 cup coconut sugar

Grated lemon rind from 2 lemons

1 egg

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350. Use a food processor to pulse the almonds into flour. Add sugar, lemon rind, and egg and process until a dough forms. Spray olive oil on a baking sheet. Form the dough into small balls and place about an inch a part on a cookie sheet. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until golden.

Locavore Challenge Days 2 and 3

Being a true Locavore is tough work especially when you thrive on variety! I have thoroughly enjoyed eating seasonally-available foods since spring but there are some things that are available year-round that I am not loving much anymore. I can not eat another egg! That feeling put me in a jam yesterday for breakfast. I HAD to have my Bob’s Red Mill muesli! Some may argue that I should have had Mu Mu Muesli because it is produced locally. However the ingredients are not local so I somewhat feel as though that doesn’t count, though I LOVE SUPPORTING LOCAL COMPANIES, PRODUCERS, ETC. And I will vouch that Mu Mu Muesli is delicious!

Being at work on my locavore diet has been challenging. I had to ignore my Cajun-spiced pumpkin seeds and my licorice. I am a grazer; I think it’s a product of being an athlete and bordering hypoglycemic. I generally eat 4-6 small meals a day. I found it SO odd yesterday that I didn’t need to graze. I was totally satiated by ¾ cup muesli with rice milk for breakfast and then 1 ½ cups of my quinoa with local veggies for lunch. Granted I did have a BIG cup of iced black tea and the caffeine could have been suppressing hunger. I didn’t even want my yummy gluten-free allowable chocolate chip cookies. When I arrived home from work yesterday, I had my local peach that I forgot to eat at work. And then I reheated the homemade chicken soup for dinner and made a beet, goatcheese spicy greens solely-locally produced salad. Gotta love the yellow and red/white striped beets from Wyllie Fox Farm! The goat cheese and spicy greens came from Monarch Farm. And Brent’s client tipped him with some local beer. I only had a few sips, but it was tasty! So, I’ve decided my five non-local ingredients can rotate by the day. Monday, my non-local five were: muesli, rice milk, quinoa, black tea, and the rice that was in the chicken soup.

Today, I had muesli again. And I had quinoa salad again for lunch. I had my peach at work in the mid-afternoon and two of my gluten-free cookies. Then I strength trained and was soooooooooooo hungry after the fact that I had to have some of my gluten-free pretzels with the baba ganoush. So, there goes my five non-local foods: muesli, tea, rice milk, quinoa, cookies, pretzels and baba ganoush! Oops-that’s seven! Good thing my dinner was entirely local: local chorizo sautéed with local red onion, over baked butternut squash with dried oregano from my herb garden and other spices (shhh…not local) like cumin and cayenne. I’m about ready to have a couple of slices of local cantaloupe and then to bed I go! I have leftover dinner for lunch tomorrow. But dinner might have to be a trip to Empire Brewery!

Local chicken soup with local beet medley, goat cheese, spicy baby greens salad!

Local chorizo with local green chard, local red onion, over local butternut squash!

You Ain't Gonna Find a Cucumber Like This at Whole Foods

I remember when I first discovered Whole Foods; it was the summer of 1999, a few years before I began my adventure into holistic nutrition counseling. I was in complete awe of the fruit and vegetable arrangements; the beauty of the peppers in orange, red, yellow, and green stacked to perfection astounded me. I had a friend who lived near Whole Foods and was completely irritated to learn that she couldn’t get Crisco there; I thought the concept was kind of cool and that was before I even learned that Crisco was nothing more than trans fat grossness!

So at first, I thought Whole Foods was pretty darn awesome even though it didn’t quite welcome those with budgets like mine; I was a graduate student after all and absolutely agreed with the nickname “Whole Paycheck.” As I began to learn the differences between organic and conventional vegetables and fruits, I developed an aversion toward Whole Foods. I could not BELIEVE that they made people believe that because they shopped there, they were eating healthier foods, when in fact, the majority of their food was pesticide-laden conventional foods. Yes, they do offer plenty of organic, but it’s not all organic.

At any rate, I recently bought the most delicious, organic cucumber I have ever had. Where did I get it? I bought it from my CSA, Wyllie Fox Farm, for $1.00. It was so big that I was able to use it in two different salads. Try this recipe. So delicious. And to think, you can get such a gorgeous cucumber for less than a cup of coffee, isn’t that great?

Brent shows off our awesome cucumber!!!

Shannon’s Dilly-Wonder Salad:

Ingredients:

SALAD

- 1 cucumber sliced thinly (or in the case of a cucumber as big as mine, you only need half)

- 5 cups baby salad mix

- 1 cup shredded carrot

- ½ cup chopped dill

DRESSING

- ¼ cup lemon juice

- 4 Tablespoons olive oil

- ¼ teaspoon Herbamare or sea salt

- 2 Tablespoons agave nectar

- Ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix the salad ingredients together. Toss in the dressing.

My Favorite Fats # 2: Avocados!

I can not even begin to count the number of times that I have had clients say that they stay away from avocados because of the fat content. Oddly for me, the avocado is one “fattening” food I haven’t ever feared; I think it’s partly because I feel so good after eating avocado. These days, I especially love it sliced on sprouted bread, with a little olive oil drizzled over it and some hot pepper flakes sprinkled on top! When I first met my husband, he turned me onto avocados; adding avocado and mango to a salad gives it so much life! It’s undoubtedly delicious even to those who are salad skeptics.

Avocados are high in oleic acid (also known as Omega 9), a mono-unsaturated fat that research has shown to help prevent heart disease and even cancer! As if that isn’t enough good news, avocados can actually help increase the absorption of nutrients from other vegetables! This is a concept I call nutrient fusion. For instance, a salad with lettuce, carrots, some spinach, and salsa is rich in carotenoids (example: beta carotene), which are extremely health-promoting. Add an avocado in your salad, and you automatically increase your body’s ability to absorb those nutrients! Why? Because these catotenoids are lipophilic (which means they are soluble in fat, not water); if you eat them along with a healthy fat, like avocados, you enhance their bioavailability! A 2005 study published in the Journal of Nutrition proves this point. Adding avocado to salad increased absorption of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lutein 7.2, 15.3, and 5.1 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these carotenoids absorbed when avocado-free salad was eaten. Amazing stuff, isn’t it!

How NOT to Neglect Fruit and Veggies

Do you ever go an entire day without eating more than maybe one or two meager servings of fruit and veggies? I have! Once you’re used to nourishing your body, the effects of fruit and veggie neglect can feel awful rather quickly…slumping energy levels, major lack of motivation (do I really need to go the gym today?), and tendency to downward spiral into an unhealthy eating pattern every day. Don’t allow this to happen to you! Here are some easy ways to get in your fruits and veggies.

• Add berries to your morning cereal.

• Add sliced cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, parsley, or cilantro to your sandwiches.

• Keep a fruit bowl filled with seasonal fruit in your home and at your office.

• If you have limited time to whip up a healthy dinner, do the pasta thing, but add shredded carrots and shredded zucchini. This is one reason why I have fallen in love with my Cuisinart food processor.

• Keep some dried fruit on hand (make sure they are sulfate-free); have them combined with some raw nuts to keep your blood sugar balanced.

• Aim for originality when snacking. Lately, I’ve been buying the pre-washed and trimmed snap peas, which I keep at the office and eat with hummus.

• Try juicing or smoothie making! I do this whenever I need a major veggie or fruit boost. Awesome for detoxing after a weekend of unhealthy eating (or drinking).

Do you get the 3:00 Slump? Solution: Shannon's Grain Bliss

Many of my clients complain about fatigue they experience every work day around 2:00 PM or 3:00 PM. That's generally when they reach for their second or third cup of coffee or caffeine of choice. By reconfiguring their lunches, I have probably helped well over 100 people to overcome this incredibly unpleasant slump! If you experience this slump, look at your lunches. Are you getting enough complex carbs (such as brown rice, millet, quinoa, wheat berries)? What about lean proteins? You need BOTH for energy!! An easy answer could be a turkey sandwich on sprouted bread (rich in protein and fiber). A tastier option is Shannon's Grain Bliss. I make this occasionally on Sundays and blend it in with green salads throughout the week. It's tasty on it's own too. It's yummy served warm or cold!

SHANNON's GRAIN BLISS!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dry red lentils soaked overnight
1 cup wheat berries soaked overnight
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can "no salt added" organic chickpeas
1/3 cup Israeli couscous

Dressing:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons Tamari
3 Tablespoons agave nectar
1 Tablespoon hot sauce

Boil the wheat berries for 2-3 hours until tender in huge pot of water. Drain.
Cook lentils in boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain. Bring just over 1/2 cup of water to boil. Add couscous. simmer for 5-8 minutes until couscous is cooked and all water is soaked up.

Mix all ingredients. Combine all dressing ingredients. Stir well. Pour over grains and mix well!

Buffalo for Dinner: My Buffalo-Turkey Meatloaf

Many of my friends are still in shock that I consume meat at all so announcing that I had buffalo freaked many out to an extent. My recipe creations are based on the combination of taste and health. The food has to qualify as delicious and has to be healthful. I get it right most of the time. Of course, I won’t be publishing a blog about the rice pilaf that I burned or even the grilled healthy turkey Ruben sandwiches I made whereby the bread stuck to the pan and the sandwich was no longer consumable as a sandwich (fork and knife were required)!

Anyway, back to buffalo! It’s so good for you! It’s a great alternative to beef. It’s leaner than beef. It contains very high levels of the fat-blocker and anti-carcinogen, conjugated linolaic acid (CLA). CLA can help prevent cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders. Buffalo is also high in iron and vitamin B12.

I decided to make a meatloaf using ground turkey and ground buffalo. It was delicious! This recipe is easy and uses a lot of ingredients that I tend to have on-hand in the pantry.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces ground buffalo
• 8 ounces ground turkey
• 1 egg whipped well
• 1 1/4 cup Trader Joe's bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 3/4 cup Newman's Own medium salsa (separated into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup)
• 5 mushrooms chopped in small pieces
• 1 small onion chopped and sauteed in olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic minced

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well, reserving ¼ cup of salsa. Form into 9X4 bread pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 375. Pull out spread ¼ cup salsa on the top and bake for 20 more minutes! Voila1 I served this with roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

The Importance of Keeping a Pantry

How often are your eating habits influenced by convenience? At the office you’re craving a snack and the vending machine is your only option. After a long day at work you opt for ordering in Chinese food or a pizza, or popping in a microwaveable meal, because it’s the easiest thing to do for dinner.

I’ll save “Eating Healthy at Work” strategies for another entry. For this entry, I’ll focus on keeping a pantry at home, so that no matter what, you can maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.

I’ll use myself as an example. Below is a list of fresh, dry, and frozen goods that I always keep on hand. This strategy has benefited my husband and I tremendously. I can not tell you how many times we’ve been able to throw together a quick healthy meal, simply because we have a wonderful array of ingredients stowed away specifically for those “I’m too tired to shop or make anything elaborate” nights.

Dry Goods:
Red and green lentils (lentils cook super quickly and are loaded with protein and fiber)
Quinoa
Millet
Steel cut oats
Barley
Buckwheat
Almonds
Walnuts
Pistachios
Pecans
Filbert nuts
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Sun-dried tomatoes
Various seaweeds (a quick and easy way to boost nutrients in a soup or salad)
Organic popcorn kernels (Brent makes a mean popcorn – and what a nice healthy snack it makes)
potatoes
Gnocchi
Soba Noodles
“Healthy” pastas (whole wheat, Jerusalem artichoke, quinoa pasta)
Nature’s promise whole wheat tortilla
Sprouted bread
Trader Joe’s pre-made polenta
Kashi Heart to Heart cereal

Jarred and Canned Goods:
Annie’s Gingerly Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Canned beans (cannelloni, salad bean mix, refried beans, chickpeas, and red kidney beans)
Canned artichokes
Canned diced green chilies
Newman’s salsa
An organic spaghetti sauce
Organic tomato paste
Organic crushed tomatoes
Various Trader Joe’s Indian style Sauces
Low-fat coconut milk
Organic chicken broth
Organic vegetable broth

Fruit bowl:
Granny Smith apples
Bananas
A pineapple
Avocados

Condiments:
Agave nectar
Maple syrup
Rice vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Apple cider vinegar
Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Lots of spices
Onions
Garlic

Refrigerated Goods:
Almond Butter
Fruit-juiced sweetened jams
Thai red curry paste
Mustard
Organic low fat plain yogurt
Rice milk
Trader Joe’s organic hummus
Free range eggs
Lemons
Limes
Organic red peppers
Carrots
Baby carrots
Organic salad mix
Organic baby spinach and/or arugula
Organic celery
Goat feta cheese

Frozen goods:
Spinach
Organic frozen pie crusts
Frozen veggie stir fry mixes
Frozen shrimp
Frozen fruit
Our sin: Always an organic, fair-trade dark chocolate bar for emergencies!

By keeping these things on hand, I always have something to whip up. The salad greens and sometimes the bananas and avocados are the only items that may not last an entire week. With these items in my pantry, I can easily whip up a quiche, chili, a barley and veggie soup, dahl, and Thai shrimp with red curry sauce to name a few things. If I’m super tired, I can resort to pasta and sauce (I usually throw in shredded carrots for good measure) or a refried bean burrito. For snacks, I like crudités with hummus, fruit, an almond butter and banana sandwich, and sometimes a fruit smoothie.

Asparagus is in season!!!

The last time I was in New York City, I had to pick up some asparagus at the Union Square Green Market and I'm so glad that I did. All I did was simply steam it and it made the tastiest compliment to my grilled cajun catfish dinner.

I found some great asparagus recipes here. I intend to try them VERY soon. I encourage you to do the same!

Asparagus with Lemon olive oil and Parmesan

Asparagus Frittata with red bell peppers

Asparagus Bruschetta

Asparagus Casserole
(I'd lower the fat content in this by using 1/4 cup Parmesan and 1/4 cup wheat germ instead of 1/2 cup Parmesan )

Okay, I'll stop spewing off recipes now. I'm starting to remind myself of Forrest Gump:

"There's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp . . . "

Seriously, asparagus is a great great compliment to your spring and summer meals! I recently wrote an article about it. If you want to know more, keep reading:

Asparagus - Your Luxury Veggie

Asparagus is such a versatile vegetable—it’s tasty raw and steamed, it’s delicious in risottos and quiches, and it’s even a popular side at the most esteemed steakhouses in the world! In fact, asparagus has always been considered a luxury vegetable. It was highly prized in ancient Rome, Egypt, and Greece. In Europe, its status thrived under the reign of Louis XIV, who encouraged its production. Here are just some of the reasons why you should welcome this luxury vegetable into your diet:

- Asparagus is rich in iron, boasting about 15 percent of the daily-recommended value.

- Do you know that vegetarian forms of iron are much more absorbable when combined with foods rich in vitamin C? With asparagus, you have no need to worry about finding a food rich in vitamin C in order to absorb the iron because one cup of asparagus has more then 30 percent of the daily-recommended value of vitamin C.

- A rich source of folate (almost 70 percent of your daily recommended value), asparagus is EXCELLENT for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding as folate is essential for the production of new cells.

- Asparagus contains more than 100 percent of the daily recommended value of Vitamin K. Vitamin K is great for the blood and your bones!

- Asparagus has a natural diuretic effect. This means that it can be effective in treating problems involving inflammation like arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, and PMS-related water retention. Inflammation is also involved in heart disease and cancer – so asparagus can help in prevention!

- Containing health-promoting “friendly” bacteria, asparagus is great for your intestines!

Though asparagus is grown throughout the spring here in Pennsylvania (and throughout most of the USA), it’s peaking these next couple of weeks! Stop by the Easton Farmer’s Market and pick up a bunch. There’s no better time than now to invite asparagus into your home. Buying it local is the way to go—it will stay fresher longer. To make it last close to a week, store it in your fridge, wrapped in a damp paper towel. If you’re feeling especially brave, try white asparagus (milder flavor than green asparagus) or purple asparagus (which has a fruity taste).

(Note: The photo of asparagus was taken by Maria Quiroga)