This month has flown by. How have you done? Has healthy eating been on your mind? How about on your plate? I have found that there is often a disconnect between the healthy food choices that are on my mind and the actual food that ends up on my plate, and my hips. Especially during a time of year that seems to be engulfed by chocolaty, buttery, sugary treats.

I have tried looking at those things as if they were poison. It doesn't work. I simply tell myself I can have a taste, or just one, or will start over tomorrow. Sound familiar?

As I was Christmas shopping last week I noticed a display of Snow White DVDs. She was the ultimate one bite girl. One bite of that apple and she was down. It was poison, not by nature, but by alteration.

Yep, I am about to go there...alteration, like processed foods...chemicals added. Who knew that a cartoon could provide such a great illustration for healthy eating?

As we go into yet another week of celebrated gluttony keep Snow White's apple in mind when you make food choices. The less altered the natural food, the healthier it will be.

A baked sweet potato is a wonderful side dish, sans the butter and brown sugar. Sprinkle a little freshly ground cinnamon on top and enjoy the natural sweetness. You will add tons of nutrition to your body for around 150 calories, depending on the size of the sweet potato.

Baked apples with Truvia and Cinnamon area wonderful desert. No crust needed. For that matter pumpkin pie can be a healthy choice if you replace the sugar with Truvia and part of the egg yolks with additional whites. Yes, I know, I am modifying the process for foods we love.

A lovely platter of raw vegetables with a yogurt dill dip allows noshing throughout an evening event with no guilt. If you love the crunch of crackers, choose a whole grain variety, but read the labels because not all of them are 100% whole grain.
A great spread to serve with the crackers is simply an 8 ounce package of fat free cream cheese, a couple of tablespoons of skim milk and about 1/2 cup of fresh salsa. Mix it up and serve it as an appetizer are party snack.

The key is modification and moderation. Modify the recipes we love so that they love us back and eat them in moderation. Making a fat free dip recipe, then eating the whole batch, really doesn't help our waistline or our health.

Watch for my recipes for skinny egg nog, mini quiche and onion bundles later this week.

Healthy Eating to you!
Pamela

Confessions and Other public displays

For those who missed this morning's cooking segment on KQ-2, don't miss the webcast! I will post the link when they get it up on the site.

This morning I brought the obvious front and center with our viewing audience. I have not been practicing what I preach about healthy eating. The past several months have been hectic, however that is not an excuse to stop caring for my body, and my health.

So, as is the case with many of us who have tipped the scales at unhealthy levels, I am starting over. Well...or at least backing up a bit. Thankfully, I have not gone back to square 1...maybe square 3 or 4...and have to move forward from there.

If you would like to join me as we encourage one another on this journey toward better health, drop a comment here or send me an email. We CAN do this! Healthy eating and exercise work if you work it...just like any thing else we are successful at, it won't happen without effort.

Let's get started!

Blessings and Joy!

Tangerine Kiss

Here is the recipe from this morning's cooking segment. It is really yummy and very refreshing. The antioxidant and vitamin C in this little concoction make it a great way to do something great for your body while enjoying the day of thanks!

Tangerine Kiss for the holidays

1 shot pomagranite juice
1 shot of tangerine juice
1 slice of tangerine
5-7 pomagranite jewels
1/2 pkt truvia
Club Soda
Ice

In wine or martini glass pour pomagranite juice, add tangerine juice and pomagranite jewels. sprinkle with Truvia. Add a couple of ice cubes. Pour club soda over ice, stir gently and serve with a tangerine slice on the glass.

Just be careful. The weather person ended up with a tangerine up her nose this morning...not the most graceful look on the air. LOL

Flaming Recipes

Flaming Orange Parfait

For each serving you will need

1 orange, sliced thinly and cut in quarters
1/4 cup orange Liquer
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 of a large apple chopped
Nutmeg to taste

Simmer these ingredients in saucepan until oranges are translucent

1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds

Layer yogurt, orange mixture and almonds in heat safe glass
Last layer should be orange mixture.

Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp 190 proof grain alcohol and light. Serve flaming, warning guests to wait until the flame is gone completely before they eat this amazing brunch starter.

Fun with Fire - a flaming side dish...Yummmm

I had so much fun making this healthy variation on the showy side dish. Make a scene at your thanksgiving dinner with this hot new sweet potato dish.

Sweet Potatoes Flambe

2 cups fresh sweet potato cubed.

1 cup chopped apple

1 cup orange juice

1 Orange (sliced)

2 TBSP Agave Nectar

1 tsp fresh nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup orange liquer or triple sec

1/4 cup 190 proof grain alcohol

Simmer sweet potatoes with apple in orange juice with agave nectar and spices for about 30 minutes. Add orange slices and simmer 10 more minutes. Pour into baking dish, drizzle with a mixture of the orange liquer and 190, light and let flame die. Serve when flames are gone.

Surviving the Holidays

Eating healthy over the holidays usually causes more stress than it should. And what does stress do? It draws us toward more unheathy, fat and carb filled choices. We eat that party fare and wake up with a guilt hangover as damaging as the effects of drinking too much of the ever flowing libation usually available.

Be smart during the holidays by planning ahead a bit.

Go for a walk before meal time. When you get back from your walk drink a large glass of water, room tempurature.

For parties: Offer to bring a crudette platter. Cut up raw vegies and make a fresh cucumber dill dip from yogurt, fresh dill, fresh cucumber, a bit of chopped onion and a dash of black pepper. Use the food processor to make everything creamy. It's really good served with vegies or even over fish or grilled chicken.

Look out for liquer. The blood sugar spikes that can happen, even after 1 glass of wine, are enough mess up your glycemic index ratio and slow your weight loss goals. Instead, opt for a spash of juice in seltzer, a nice spiced tea or coffee with Truvia and skim milk.

At the big meals, take inventory before you fill your plate. Taking a tablespoon of EVERYTHING then going back for more of what you like best is a definite diet derailer. Instead, survey the offerings for the leanest meats, green veggies and whole grains. Sweet potatoes and cranberries are good for you in their most natural form, but candied or jellied makes them food non-grata. Skip desert unless their is fresh, unsweetened fruit or a great crustless pumpkin custard made with truvia instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

After you have finished eating the healthy selections from your plate, drink a big glass of water. Then go for a nice walk with family or friends. Take the camera with you for some nice bundled up-outdoor shots. Be sure to post them to your blog or facebook.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome to Pamela's Healthy Pantry

Okay...here we go...the first official entry for the Pamela's Healthy Pantry Blog. For this entry I am just going to post a little about how Pamela's Healthy Pantry got its start. I hope that you will join me on this exciting journey toward better health...Body, mind and spirit!

Have you ever thought you should lose some weight, but didn't? Me too. Have you ever lost a significant amount of weight, only to gain it back? Me too. Do you look in the mirror and think, if only I were a foot taller? Me too, but I am over six feet tall already, so I am not sure that being taller would really help me much. Did you decide 75 times last month that "today will be the day that I start getting healthy?" Me too, and on December 19th, 2007, it really was. Six days before Christmas and three days before a three week long trip, I decided it was time to do something about my weight and my health. And you know what; this could be your day!I know you are sick of celebrity commercials about how much weight they lost because a diet food company stocked their fridge and cameras followed them around. I am a real person - just like you. Well, if you are a post menopausal woman, over 40, with a prosthetic hip, a busy job, a family to cook for and more than 120 pounds to lose. In other words; if I can do this, so can you. Let's get started, getting real about getting healthy together...In one year I lost 88 pounds. How? Eating healthy and Exercise. Believe me...you can do this! There is no gimic, no secret powder or pill. Just deciding it's time. Time to stop poisoning my your body. Time to allow healing to come, body, mind and spirit. Hang on...your life is about to change!