Labor Day Recipes

Happy Labor Day weekend! The long weekend brings lots of get togethers with food as the main agenda! Don’t waste your weekend slaving behind the stove—

Instead, load up your slow cooker with one of the following crowd-pleasing dishes. I’ve listed the recipes in countdown order— if you have a favorite, please chime in below. Happy Labor Day!

10) Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup. This is filling, delicious, and is different enough to gain lots of attention on the buffet table. Easy to stretch by serving rice, and fixen’s like sliced avocado and tortilla chips.

9) Lima Bean Casserole Cassoulet. I love serving this to guests and listening to the conversation. “what type of beans are these?” “I’m not sure. some sort of large pinto beans or something?” I usually wait until the pot is practically empty before coming clean that they were lima beans.

8) Honey Lentils. Delicious, nutritious, vegan vegetarian, and such a fun offering to bring to a picnic. I get the nicest emails about these lentils!

7) Pesto Spinach Lasagna. I need to run to the store to pick up the ingredients for this! You have never had a better vegetarian lasagna. So so good.

6) Hirino Psito. This is a wonderful main dish to serve to guests. Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and beer mix together to create a savory sauce that perfectly compliments the sweet contrast of brown sugar and cranberries. Win!

5) Brie with Apricot Topping. To make this more user-friendly for guests, insert an oven-safe dish into your large slow cooker and load the ingredients into the dish. Then remove the dish (use mitts!) and serve with your favorite crackers (we like Glutino a lot). Do not add water in the crockpot around the dish.

4) Pomegranate Beef. When we host a dinner for new friends, I usually make this. This keeps picky older relatives happy, along with the kids (note to self: I need to update some of these photos!). I’ve made this for television audiences, and served it at the Disneyland Food & Wine Festival, where the kitchen chefs gave rave reviews, which made me cry. This recipe was also featured on Oprah.com!

3) Cream Cheese, Sausage, and Rotel Dip (mommy crack). The ingredients are odd, the taste is not. Make this and you’ll be happy.

2) Potluck Beans. We can’t have a potluck countdown without potluck beans, now can we? These beans have bacon. Nuff’ said.

1) Original Taco Soup. Feeds a bunch, easy to throw together, and everyone LOVES it. This has been our number one potluck bring along for the past 12 years.

Honorable mention: Black Beans with Cilantro. I ran out of numbers— this is a great bean recipe.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 2 Comments

Top 5 Reasons to Shop at Farmer’s Markets

1. Great Produce and Freshness

Local foods arrive at the market within 24 hours of being harvested in season. They don’t only taste delicious, they last longer as well.

2. Great Taste-Less Waste

The quality of the food remains because the farmer will allow the food to ripen in the field and will harvest them at the peak of their flavor. They are crisp with good texture. The farmer’s also have tons of tips on growing and preparing the fresh fruits and veggies.

3. Season and Community

There is nothing like strolling on a beautiful saturday morning with a fresh cup of coffee and the dog while listening to a local musician singing. It’s just a good way to start the day!

4. Variety

Each farmer will have his own variety of items and may introduce you to something you might not have considered trying. Have you ever tried purple dragon carrots? They just sound sexy!

5. Helping Local Farmers

This is my number one reason for visiting the market. For each dollar spent in conventional food markets, only 9 cents actually goes to the farmer. The rest goes to suppliers, processors, middlemen and marketers.

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Ranch Dressing

Nothing goes better with those raw veggies than ranch dressing! I am personally addicted to ranch and would eat it with almost anything. However, with my recent nutritional education journey-I have decided that it’s time to substitute my processed version of this sugar loaded dressing with something a little healthier–Here is what I tried–

Paleo Ranch Dressing

1 cup olive oil

1 cup coconut milk (use canned for thick texture)

1 Tbs dijon mustard

1 tbs onion powder

1 tbs garlic powder

2 tsp Dill

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 tsp chives

4 Tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp parsley

Combine all the ingredients in the blender or the Ninja and Voila! A healthy version of Ranch!

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Conventional Diet Wisdom

Conventional diet wisdom is wrong! Changes in our diets have occurred as a result of the agricultural revolution 7,000 years ago. Unfortunately, the more recent industrial revolution has happened so quickly that our genes haven’t had time to adapt. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes were virtually nonexistent before we rapidly changed our diets. Our ancestors for more than 2 million years ate meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Grains like wheat and corn, soybeans, and sugar were not part of their diet. The processed foods that we are consuming now only contain food like substances and not nutrients. If you don’t believe me–go into Walmart and count how many healthy looking people over the age of 30 you see. More food for thought—Watch this tidbit about the Paleo Diet.

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, disease, Green Living, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Nut Butters- Get a little nutty!

Remember the MUFA’s? These are the infamous plant-based oils that are packed with nutrients to keep your skin looking beautiful and youthful. Remember that including them at every meal will help you lose that belly fat. A wonderful way to help incorporate them is to make nut butters. Buy unshelled nuts because they are fresher. If you buy shelled for convenience, choose the natural, salt-free type. Store them in an airtight container and keep them in a cool, dark place.

Nut butters are easy to make and they are better than store-bought types and are totally free of preservatives, salt, and sugar. Place shelled, roasted nuts in a food processor with a spoonful of olive oil. It’s that simple! Voila–you have a great spread–use them on gluten-free breads, in dessert making, to sauté veggies or anywhere you would use regular butter. Store these in the refrigerator and they will last for about a month! Don’t forget, you can always add a little flax-seed or vanilla for flavoring!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Whole Food Leave a comment

Childhood Obesity

There is no controversy over the fact that childhood obesity is a huge problem in the United States. More than enough data and research has been done to prove that 1 in 5 American children will be obese by 2020 if the current trends continue. These are the facts, but what can we do to change things? There are many possible actions but it all starts at the home level. We can be more successful as parents by leading by example. For instance, making my girls watch “Forks Over Knives” and “Hungry For Change” was a real battle; they did however get some subliminal messages from watching those two documentaries. I noticed they replaced the traditional peanut butter cracker after school snack with fruit. They get more messages from me as they see me painfully wean my diet mtn dew consumption. Changing a lifestyle and years of bad habits isn’t easy. My theory is that if I change myself gradually, they will also. Research shows that replacing sugar-sweetened beverages in schools could reduce obesity by 12 kcal/day, as long as children didn’t consume any extra sugary drinks outside of school. So that is my call to action, I have to eliminate the sugar at home first. There aren’t any distinct answers in how to change the diet of the country and healthcare on average. But, it starts with us! Let’s do this Marines. Let’s work to educate ourselves on whole foods and nutrition. Lead by example.

T. Colin Campbell does a nice 18min presentation that you can watch here:

Reference: Wang YC, et al “Reaching the Healthy People goals for reducing childhood obesity: closing the energy gap” A, K Prev Med 2012

For more info on T. Colin Campbell and Forks Over Knives visit: http://www.forksoverknives.com

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, Exercise, Family, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 1 Comment

Magical MUFA’S

Ever wonder why that belly fat is the hardest to lose? It’s because we aren’t eating enough magical MUFA’S. Monounsaturated fatty acids are the perfect antidote to a fat belly! These plant-based fats are healthy because they are organic elements. They combine to form a flexible chain that flows through your arteries –because they are flexible, they don’t get stuck on the walls of the arteries and cause corruption. Saturated fats, on the other hand, are sticky and inflexible—-they gum up those arteries.

We can declog those pipes by adding more monounsaturated fats into our diet like oils, nuts, seeds, avocado, and dark chocolate. Go for adding a MUFA at every meal!

Here’s a great recipe from super foodie Kathy–AngelaMD’s wellness expert!

Belly Fat Fighting Black Bean Salsa

1 cup black beans –soaked overnight to prevent gas and cooked

(if you must, use canned beans but rinse and drain them well)

8 ounces fresh or frozen corn

1 large tomato diced

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 avocado diced

Dress with

1/2 Tb red wine vinegar

2 Tb lime juice (fresh squeezed is best)

1 Tb olive oil

Mix together and enjoy those MUFA’s fighting off that waistline!

You’re SEXY and you know it!

Magic Mike–here we come with our MUFA’S

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Humor, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Pea Juice!

A big thanks to Green Bean Delivery this week for providing our family with the perfect combinations of fruits and veggies to give our family a jump-start each am this week. Emma slept in this am (much-needed rest for a very tired little 5 yo who played hard outside yesterday) and this fabulous forty-year old made PEA JUICE. Yep, you got it! Pea juice. I stole this little concoction from http://www.juicingadvice.com

: Pea Juice

1 bag of sugar snap peas

1 honeydew melon

fresh ginger

Throw the sugar snap peas (pod and all) into the juicer. While that is juicing, chop the ginger (a little goes a long way) and cut the melon rind away and de seed the melon. Then throw that in and serve chilled with some ice and yippee! A healthy morning PEA!

Eat those veggies folks–but, if you can’t stand to eat them—Juice them!

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, Humor, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

How to argue with a vegetarian

I’m constantly asked, “What diet are you endorsing? Vegan, Vegetarian, Adkins, Southbeach, Paleo etc” I’m not actually endorsing any one diet per say. My philosophy includes eating more whole foods! It’s not actually any specific diet. As we know, the whole dieting paradigm is flawed. We have to make lifestyle changes in order to get healthy in the mind, body, and spirit realm. Although, all the different types of diet schemes have their benefits. I believe that we make choices every time we put something into our bodies, including food, drink, products and especially thoughts. When we think negatively, our minds allow us to make poor choices. The main take away point at this part of my nutrition learning curve is to cut out processed foods. Eat clean and pure. But also, think clean and pure. Eliminate toxic people and emotions from your life. To quote Wiz Khalifa “If you believe you can do it, then you can do it. I don’t follow no cliché, I live to be that way. I don’t try to be different, I try to be me and people think that’s different.” Denise Minger sums up a big difference between the Paleo diet and the Vegan/Vegetarian diet differences in this excerpt from the Real Food Summit this last week. It may help explain some differences of thought. Just more food for thought.

See her site at http://rawfoodsos.com

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Mind, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Food Additive Intolerance

Are foods or food additives making you sick? Could it be as simple as Susan’s cure for Lupus by eliminating Red Dye #40? Well, here is my solution for you—Order an ALCAT test!

Many years ago Lucretius expressed the basic concept for The ALCAT Test. He stated, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” Now more than ever, diet plays a critical role in preventing a wide range of degenerative diseases and premature aging. The immune system is a double-edged sword. It should react appropriately and protect against infection when confronted with harmful invaders or “infectious agents” like viruses or bacteria. Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals and molds may trigger chronic activation of the immune system. For over 20 years The ALCAT Test has provided healthcare professionals and their patients with a tool for managing a wide variety of conditions linked to chronic activation of the immune system, such as:

● Digestive Disorders

● Migraines

● Obesity

● Chronic Fatigue

● Aching Joints

● Skin Disorders

● Autism

● And many more…

The ALCAT Test differs from other food allergy or intolerance tests as it accurately and objectively measures leukocyte cellular reactivity in whole blood, which is a final common pathway of all mechanisms. The test utilizes electronic, state of the art, hematological instrumentation. Standard allergy tests, such as skin testing or RAST are not accurate for delayed type reactions to foods and chemicals. They measure only a single mechanism, such as the effect of mast cell release of histamine or the presence of allergen specific IgE molecules. Delayed reactions to foods and chemicals are NOT IgE mediated.

The ALCAT Test also differs from standard IgG tests in that they rely exclusively on one immune pathway, serum levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG). In fact, high food specific IgG titers are indicative only of exposure, not necessarily intolerance.

The ALCAT Test reproducibly measures the final common pathway of all pathogenic mechanism; whether immune, non-immune, or toxic. It is the only test shown to correlate with clinical symptoms by double blind oral challenges, the gold standard.

Test Results

The ALCAT Test results are presented in an easy to understand, color-coded format. They highlight each patient’s incompatible foods and the level of each reaction (severe, moderate or mild).