Mummy Meatloaf

/0 Comments/in /by

I’d like to share one of my favorite delicious, high-protein and festive Halloween meals: Mummy Meatloaf!

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. grass-fed ground beef (75-80% lean)
  • 1 pound ground organ meat (I prefer the “pet food” from US Wellness Meats)
  • 4 tbs. organic tomato paste
  • 2 tsp. each basil, cayenne pepper, oregano, rosemary and thyme
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. ea sea salt & black or white pepper
  • Your favorite white cheese sliced into “bandages” or mashed cauliflower to cover mummy
  • Black olive slices for eyes

How to:

  • Mix contents into a large bowl thoroughly while preheating the oven to 325 degrees.
  • When mixed, place into a glass cooking dish and press into a mummy shape.
  • Bake covered for 90 minutes or until cooked through.
  • Take off foil and “bandage” mummy with cheese slices or cover with mashed cauliflower and put on olive eyes.
  • Bake uncovered for a couple of minutes until cheese begins to melt…but don’t bake too long or the cheese won’t look at all like bandages (see below).

Mummy meatloaf over shredded cabbage

This meatloaf is also quite tasty with cut up veggies inside so feel free to add a bit of mushroom, spinach, carrot, bell pepper or whatever your healthy heart desires.

For kids, mummy meatloaf cupcakes topped with mashed cauliflower and olive eyes are a hit!

Tastes great with some Witch’s Brew healthy cider. Try more fabulous Halloween recipes here.

Have a hauntingly healthy Halloween!

Is your attitude making you sick?

/0 Comments/in /by

Research confirms that your thoughts can either improve or dampen your immune system.

In Dr. Bryan Walsh’s Fat Is Not Your Fault program, he discusses 2 groups of people whose Secretory Immunoglobulin A levels (SIgA for short) were measured over 6 hours. SIgA is an immune substance produced by gut cells and provides the body’s first line of defense.

In both groups, baseline SIgA levels were taken and were continually evaluated over the course of 6 hours. In Group 1, subjects thought positive, compassionate, altruistic, loving thoughts for 5 minutes.

In Group 2, subjects thought angry, negative, hateful, vindictive thoughts for 5 minutes.

Results

Here’s what they found.

Group 1, the “positive Polly/Paul” group, had higher SIgA levels 6 hrs later. They had a slight dip in SIgA initially, it quickly returned to baseline, and then continued to increase throughout the 6 hours above the baseline.

The red line represents the “positive thoughts” group’s SIgA levels.

Group 2, the “negative Nancy/Neil” group, had a large initial drop in baseline SIgA that never returned to normal over the course of 6 hours! The initial decrease was much greater than that seen in Group 1. Their levels never recover to baseline. From only 5 minutes of negative thinking, their SIgA levels–their body’s first line of defense–were compromised for 6 hours (evaluation stopped after 6 hours, so we don’t know if/when SIgA levels returned to baseline). Imagine what negative thinking day after day does to your immune system!

The blue line represents the “negative thought” group’s SIgA levels.

I’d love to see more studies on this topic. Isn’t it astonishing how great an impact our minds have on our bodies? As this study demonstrates, your thoughts can alter your physiology. Your thoughts can make you sick.  Until next time, please think happy thoughts! 🙂

Gluten-free, Grain-free Apple Crisp

/0 Comments/in /by

Nothing like a yummy apple crisp to make the whole house smell like the holidays. Enjoy this awesome recipe throughout apple season!

Recipe modified from Elana’s Pantry.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups blanched almond meal
  • 20 drops liquid stevia
  • 1 Tbs vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • 5 medium apples (preferably organic), I keep the peel on

How to:

  • Cut apples in half, use melon baller to scoop out seeds.
  • Slice apples about 1/4 inch thick.

  • Put apples into large glass baking dish (8×13).
  • Mix almond flour, spices, salt, stevia, vanilla, and butter together in a large bowl and then pour on top of apples.

  • Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Uncover and broil on low for 3-4 minutes until slightly browned. Serves 6.

I strongly recommend enjoying this crisp with a large dollop of fresh whipped cream. Not only does it taste great, but it adds healthy fat which balances out the carbs from the apples. Healthy noms.

 

Pumpkin spice cookies

/0 Comments/in /by

One fine Fall day, my daughter and I embarked on a seasonal baking adventure: pumpkin spice cookies! I modified Maria Emmerich’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pie recipe from her cookbook The Art of Eating Healthy (for kids). They’re awesome! Great flavor (like pumpkin pie) with a texture similar to banana bread…and the best part is that they’re nutrient dense, gluten-free, sugar-free, high in protein & totally healthy! That’s my kind of cookie. 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground clove
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
  • 2 TBS butter or coconut oil
  • 1/2 tsp liquid stevia extract
  • 1/2 tsp maple extract
  • 5 large chicken eggs
  • 1 cup canned OR fresh pumpkin

How to:

  1. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 325.
  3. Grease 2 large cookie sheets with butter or coconut oil.
  4. Drop spoon-sized dollops of batter 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets (12 per sheet).
  5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cookies are springy and firm to the touch. Makes 24 cookies.

Enjoy & Happy Holidays!!!!

 

Top 10 non-edible Halloween treats

/2 Comments/in /by

Tired of giving out candy year after year to trick-or-treaters? Here are ten affordable ideas you can try this year. There are many good reasons to give out candy substitutes and before you roll your eyes and say, “What’s the big deal? It’s only once a year,” realize that Halloween is not the only time of year kids eat candy: it’s one of the several times during the year that kids are bombarded with amounts of sugar that are seriously overwhelming to their developing bodies and minds. Here are some benefits to passing out non-edible treats this year:

  • Sugar is more addictive than cocaine.
  • Reinforce that “treats” and junk food are not the same thing. Treats aren’t a good name for something that harms your body and brain.
  • Sugar promotes tooth decay.
  • Sugar-induced headaches
  • Weakened immune system (spikes in blood sugar coincide with more sick days)
  • Growing obesity epidemic
  • Poor quality fats, trans fats, in commercial candy

Top 10 non-edible Halloween treats:

  1. Halloween mad libs: print off copies of a template or make up your own.
  2. Temporary tattoos
  3. Spider rings
  4. Stickers
  5. Pencils: Halloween themed or not, pencils are always useful
  6. Erasers or eco-friendly pencil toppers
  7. Small toys 
  8. Glow-stick jewelry: great for all ages and promotes safety.
  9. Masks
  10. Natural softdough

No-bake energy bars recipe

/2 Comments/in /by

I modified this recipe from The Art of Eating Healthy and it ROCKED. These energy bars make a great tasting, high-fiber, low-carb, low-sugar, high quality fat snack. Perfect before or after a workout!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup raw pecans
  • 6 T almond or peanut butter
  • 4 T coconut oil
  • 3 T Swerve (or 15 drops hazelnut liquid stevia extract OR 3 T sucanat OR coconut sugar OR molasses)
  • 1 T maple extract (or other extract)
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Chocolate topping (optional):

  • 4 T coconut oil
  • 8 T raw chocolate powder
  • 2 T erythritol
  • 8 drops hazelnut liquid stevia extract (or plain)

How to:

  1. In a food processor, grind up 1 cup of sunflower seeds and 1 cup of pecans. Pour into a square glass baking dish and add coconut oil, coconut flour, almond or peanut butter, sweetener, extract, and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds.
  2. Mix together well and then press down firmly into baking dish.
  3. Melt coconut oil, chocolate powder and sweetener in a small saucepan and stir thoroughly.
  4. Pour chocolate sauce onto energy bars and spread evenly.
  5. Refrigerate for a half hour before cutting into squares.