Spinach Pesto

Here is the recipe from this morning's show. This was wonderful over whole wheat Penne. It is also very healthy.

 

Spinach Pesto

3-4 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup fresh basil

3 cloves fresh garlic

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp pine nuts

2 Tbsp olive oil

Put first 5 ingredients in food processor starting with spinach. Pulse until well combined and finely chopped. Put speed on low and drizzle olive oil through port while blending on low, about 15 seconds. Turn on high for a few seconds to give everything a good mix.

Serve over whole wheat pasta, eggs, salads or with your favorite grilled meats.

Healthy Enchilada Grains

I made the best concoction for my lunch this week. I had to share it because it tastes so good I almost forgot how healthy it was. the bonus is that it makes enough that I had a nice big helping for lunch, and was able to freeze some for future meals. It's so good, I may even use it to fill whole grain tortillas for some incredible veggie enchiladas.

(In a crockpot) Just take a large can of Enchilada sauce, a cup of wild rice and a half cup of Bulgar wheat (all wild rice if you're avoiding gluten) put enough water in it to make the measurements of liquid correct according to your rice and wheat packages...chop up an onion in there, and cook on low overnight. Shred a little cheddar cheese over the top, or you could use fat free...and it is so delish. it's like eating beefy enchilada filling...Yum! You can make the enchilada sauce from scratch if you want to, that way you avoid the sodium too. The great thing is, a whole cup and a half of this filling meal only has 400 calories...and they are all whole grain, dairy and veggie.

Enchilada Sauce

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon rice flour
* 1/4 cup chili powder
* 2 cups vegetable stock
* 10 ounces tomato paste
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions

In a medium saucepan heat oil, add rice flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Adjust the seasonings. Serve atop your favorite enchiladas.

Day 46, Healthy Banana Pudding

Hi my name is Pamela and I am addicted to the chemical ingredients in processed foods. 

I am excited to say that I am on my 47th day of food-sobriety, and in that time I have lost 32 pounds. It's so freeing to recognize the addiction cycle and become equipped to walk in health and sobriety, rather than slavery to chemicals I can't even pronounce. Of course, it means a lot more cooking from scratch, reading labels and being aware of situational eating, but it is so worth the effort. I'm worth it, and so are YOU. 

Who doesn't like dessert??? But for some of us, one dessert will lead to another, and another, and another. Have no fear, help is here. Nope, Underdog is not about to swoop from the clouds to take the fork from your hand, but Pamela's Healthy Pantry does have a wonderful new recipe for you. Just developed in our test kitchen this weekend...It's so good and good for you, you will want to make this all the time, but you won't have to, because there are more than 30 other desserts in the Pamela's Healthy Pantry Cookbook. 

Enjoy!

Healthy Banana Pudding

2 egg yolks

4 TBSP corn starch

1 TBSP xylitol or Eurythritol (or 2 pks of Truvia)

1 can fat free evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla extract, or the seeds of one vanilla pod.

2 bananas

1 cup chopped almonds

In a small pot whisk together egg yolks, 6 tbs of the milk, xylitol and cornstarch and vanilla until smooth. I like to use a wire whisk. Add rest of the milk, stir until smooth.

Put this egg milk mixture over medium heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Once it is boiling, remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes. Stir frequently while the pudding is cooling to avoid a skin forming.

Thinly slice bananas and layer one banana in 4 glass dessert dishes. Spoon pudding over the layer, divide half of almonds over pudding, place the other banana slices on top, and spoon on more pudding to fill, then sprinkle with the rest of the almonds. Chill and serve.

Serves 4

Celebrating day 42 with a great recipe

Hi my name is Pamela and I am addicted to processed, unhealthy foods.

Wow, hard to believe it has been 42 days since I realized food addiction was the primary cause of my weight issues and was leading me toward health problems and aches and pains as each day passed.

42 days in, I am happy to say, as of this morning, I have lost 29 pounds. This is amazing to me because I am not counting calories, I'm not on any specific plan, I'm not writing down every morsel I put in my mouth. I am simply saying no to any foods that are processed, packaged or made specifically for the fast food industry. I have consumed cheese, red meat and even a small slice of homemade apple pie. Yes, those things are limited in my daily routine and I would not eat them every day, but none of those foods are triggers for binges on large amounts of calorie laden, unhealthy foods. It was very freeing to discover that foods made from scratch without preservatives, even if they contain some sugar or a little bit of fat, are not triggers. Of course this convinces me even more of the dangers/problems with processed foods. I am still researching that and when I feel like I know what I am talking about a little more, I will post the results of my study. In the mean time, I'm celebrating the freedom of walking each day in food sobriety. I don't have a weight loss goal set because as I wrote previously, it isn't as much about losing weight as it is about being healthy. But, just so that none of the readers get concerned about the weight loss, I could easily lose another 70 to 80 pounds without being in danger of being under weight. ;) I don't know if my body will shed that much or not. Wherever the number lands I will still work out my food-sobriety each day, sometimes each hour. Just like a alcoholic or drug addict, this will not go away and no matter what my body weight or BMI I must be committed to food sobriety for the rest of my life.

This morning I made a wonderful wild rice dish. In celebration of 42 days of food-sobriety, here is the recipe.

Wild Spanish Rice

4 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup chopped green onion
1 cup enchilada sauce
1 large can, chopped green chiles
1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese

Stir all ingredients into rice over medium heat. Keep stirring as mixture heats. (to avoid scorching) If you want to add some lean protein to this dish, add 1 cup of diced, cooked chicken breast. Serve as a side dish or as a wonderful lunch. It's great served with a side of fruit or stuffed in a tomato or bell pepper. This will serve 6 to 8 adults as a side dish, or at least 4 as a main dish.

Enjoy!

Keep coming back, It works if you work it!

Healthy Fall Baking

As the weather cools and pumpkins show up in door steps and displays across the nation, it always puts me in the mood for fall baking. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard. YUM... but what about healthy eating you ask? Never fear, Pamela's Healthy Pantry is here!  You can enjoy these treats with a few modifications that make them super healthy! Enjoy!

Healthy Pumpkin Pie


1 14oz can solid pack pumpkin
6 egg whites
1 ½ cups fat free evaporated milk (or soy milk)
3/4 cup Coconut Nectar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground gloves
1 tsp vanilla extract (or for a fun flavor use maple instead)

Preheat over to 350º. Prepare pie crust as directed in
the Basic Pie Crust Recipe, set aside.
In large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, and egg whites.
milk, coconut nectar and spices. Pour into pie shell and
bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted in center comes
out clean. Cool, cut and serve.

Serves 6-8

For an extra healthy boost you can add ¼ cup of raw bran or ¼ cup of milled flax seed to this filling before baking.



Basic Pie Crust

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup almond flour or almond meal
1/2 cup olive oil (look for the type for cooking/baking
1/2 cup cold water
Additional flour to use when rolling out dough

Preheat over to 350º. Use a pastry blender or fork
to mix flour and margarine and until crumbly. Make
well in center and add cold water. Mix until dough is
consistent and you can form a ball. Divide the ball
into three smaller balls. On parchment paper dusted
with flour roll dough into thin circles just larger than
your pie pan. Carefully adjust dough into pan so that
there is no space between the crust and the pan.

For a Two Crust Pie: Fill with your favorite fruit pie recipe.
Roll second ball into large thin circle. Brush edges of bottom
crust with water and egg white mixture. Place top
crust and pinch to seal. Poke holes in the top crust. Brush
top with water and egg white mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon,
nutmeg, or ginger any spice that will complement
your filling. Bake. for one hour or according
the pie recipe.

For a one crust custard type pie such as pumpkin or pecan, just fill and bake according to your
favorite pie recipe.

Happy Baking...watch for more great recipes on the Pamela's Healthy Pantry page on facebook.

Let's Dance

Hi my name is Pamela and I am a recovering addict.

Wow, I can hardly believe 28 days have passed since I first posted about this addiction. Today is my 29^th day of food-sobriety and I feel terrific. I never knew I could feel so free while taking better care of myself. In AA and NA they use the serenity prayer as a mantra in each meeting. I decided to start each day incorporating that into my morning talks with my Heavenly Father. ­

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, (like the ingredients in processed food that triggers a binge in my body, or the fact that stress can be a trigger for me too.) The courage to change the things I can (I can change the way I react to those triggers and I can change what I eat so that most of those triggers are avoided. I can get enough sleep, and drink enough water so that my body is operating fully charged and fueled properly) and the wisdom to know the difference (I must do what I can do this day, this moment, unless I am healthy and walking in food sobriety, I cannot be useful to anyone else.)

Step 4 says this, “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

When I first read it I didn’t think that really applied to food addiction. I mean, overall I am one of the most moral people I know. I don’t even watch TV that has violence or illicit sexual themes, I don’t get drunk, I don’t use drugs, I don’t usually cuss, I love my country, my mama and my dog, I don’t cheat on my husband…Yep, I could go on and on. Moral inventory seemed more appropriate for people who struggle with bad morals. But, I want to do this with integrity, so I decided to ask God to show me anything I needed to recognize as immoral in my life, or anything that was hindering me from the freedom to live healthy and food-wise in sobriety.

We tend to label things according to what we find to be moral, but none of us is without sin, therefore no one is completely moral. Lusting after Nutty Bars, Committing Gluttony with French onion dip, following a binge with sloth thereby keeping every calorie preserved in our hips and many other practices of the food-addict are all immoral by God’s standard. If we really allow God to show us the truth of our lives and take that FEARLESS moral inventory, we will recognize the things we CAN change with the help of God.

The good thing is, I already took a moral inventory at the same time I admitted my powerlessness over this addiction in step one. The hard part is, there is still more God is revealing to me as I walk in my sobriety and these steps are not a group of instructions that you follow one at a time until you have worked all 12. All 12 have to be worked all the time. Initially you have to come to understand them one at a time, but I believe these steps are more like a dance than a lesson plan. Thankfully most dances I know don’t have 12 steps to learn, but this life of sobriety is like, 1-2-3-Kick…repeat.  Every day that I dance in food sobriety is a day closer to understanding how much God can use me when I am not under bondage to unhealthy foods and stress induced habits.

Let’s dance!

Three and a half weeks in...

Hi, my name is Pamela and I am addicted to unhealthy & processed foods.

Three-and-a-half weeks into food-sobriety and I feel amazing. I was elated when the first 15 pounds came off so easily just because I was not participating in my addiction to processed or sugary foods. But, the first 10-15 pounds always comes off easily, so I rationalized that it would slow down right away. I didn’t want to be discouraged if my food-sobriety didn’t always have that awesome side effect. Well, so-far I have lost 24 pounds, and yes, I do expect it to slow down at some point and I will have to increase exercise to keep the weight coming down, if that is what I choose.

The great thing is, I get to make that choice. My big discovery this week is that I am seeking food-sobriety, and choosing to walk in that sobriety with God’s help on a daily basis FOR ME. My motivation is not to lose x number of pounds by a certain date or event, it’s not to impress my viewers or readers and it’s not even because my mom has been telling me I should get some weight off. For the first time in my life, no one else is making this choice for me. For the first time in my life, it is truly not primarily about a number on the scale, but about staying sober and vigilant about my food choices. It’s not even that absolutely everything I am eating would be considered the healthiest by some people. I eat regular cheese, I eat red meat sometimes, I even ate some stroganoff the other night…but I’m not eating any of the foods that I know will trigger a binge.

I did get caught unexpectedly this past Sunday. A friend and I went to lunch after church. The restaurant serves baskets of popcorn on each table, fresh and warm. I thought, A few pieces of popcorn sounds good. So I ate a few. Not more than 10 and I was fine. I thought, Cool, that was tasty. We ate our lunch and went our separate ways. I was surprised that on the way home I had an urge to swing through a drive through. I didn’t even know what I wanted…my body was just signaling that I wasn’t fully satisfied with lunch. I knew better. I had enjoyed two servings of squash, onions and peppers and a petite steak. I was fine. Still, even as I resisted that urge and arrived home everything in me, except my spirit and my will, craved something else to eat. I thought back on my food choices for the day…what had I eaten to trigger the craving? It was the popcorn, the popcorn oil/salt combo they use on it is like what movie theater’s use. I am positive it has ingredients that are not natural, but I didn’t consider that before I ate it.

With the mystery solved I was able to avoid a binge, but it was a tough afternoon. Lesson learned…if I do want popcorn I will select a natural variety and pop it myself, that way I know what I am putting into my body.

How about you, what were your successes and struggles this week?