Month: August 2015

Surprising Foods That Sabotage Your Weight Goals

Published by

We can run a million miles a day, do cross fit like an original Spartan soldier, and compete in the Olympics, but if we don’t recognize that about 80% of our fitness success starts in the kitchen, it will be almost impossible to reach our goals. Not only do our food choices contribute to our weight goals, but they make us healthy on from the inside-out. Think of how many skinny-minny people you know with limp hair, dull skin, and lack luster energy levels. Skinny does not equal healthy or strong, and I cannot emphasize that enough. Likewise, being addicted to working out is just as unhealthy as extreme portion control. In fact, relentless working is incredibly harmful for your body, causing adrenal fatigue and even injury. A lack of balance in our eating or workout routine is a symptom of poor mental health. Remember, health isn’t just physical. It’s very much a mental thing. Some of the unhealthiest, unhappiest people I know have gym bodies to die for, but I wouldn’t want to spend …

Breakfast Tacos with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Published by

Working peeps, I don’t know about you but I need a six month holiday, twice a year. I don’t think that’s an unresonable request, quite frankly. In the meantime: FOOD. Or, more specifically, the breakfast of champions: Texan champs that is! My ICU work schedule has me even more excited about our upcoming London vacation. We’ll be living in London proper for a month while I do yoga training with Kino MacGregor and her husband Tim Fieldman. Since life is happy but hectic right now, my meal plans are easy. And nothing is as effortless than breakfast tacos (well, ok, cereal is prob a tad easier), so that’s what’s on the menu this weekend. It turns out, eggs + tacos are such a happy match. I first fell in love with breakfast tacos when I moved to Dallas, Texas which has perfected that art form of tacos in all their splendor. After long, crazy night shifts in the ICU, my nursing friends and I  would go out for breakfast tacos and mimosas. It was the …

Delicious + Healthy Sweet Potato Tots

Published by

Gimme some tots! My love for sweet potatoes extends far back to the days when I was a wee lass and my mom could fool me into thinking a sweet potatoes weren’t healthy; in fact, they’re so ridiculously good for you, that sweet potatoes deserve a farmer’s market medal of excellence. I’m pretty sure this doesn’t exist, but I think we should make this a legitimate thing. DC Farmer’s Markets: Imma coming at ya, faux medal in hand! Just what makes sweet potatoes such a winner in the health halls of fame? Well, as you might have seen in my spicy rosemary sweet potato fries recipe, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene). They’re also an amazing source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. Additionally, they are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and phosphorus. This is one vegetable you do want to splurge on and get organic, because many of the important nutrients are found in the skin. Organic …

Chili-Lime Shrimp Tacos + Mango Salsa

Published by

I’m starting to panic, because mango season is coming to a close. Therefore, I am virtually living on mangoes so I can cherish each and every last second with one of my favorite foods. If someone asked me if I wanted to eat ice cream or a mango, I would say, “Um, duh! A mango!” and then I’d probably eat both, because I have a bit of a problem with gluttony. Since I’m on basically an Atkins diet, only the meat is replaced with mangoes, it goes without saying that I’ve been finding all kinds of ways to sneak them into my weekly menu. One way you can never go wrong is in a freakishly delicious salsa. I do eat vegetarian/vegan oh, say 97% of the time, but this week Tex-Mex Tuesday did feature some goddamn deliciously seasoned chili-lime shrimp for my husband and guests; I piled greens and salsa on mine and chowed down! The spice rub on the shrimp played so well with the sweet mango, that it was basically an Olympic dream …

Easy Southwestern Baked Eggs

Published by

Sunday, i.e., e.g., aka The Day Before Dreaded Monday (or more appropriately in my world known as Sunday Funday), is the giver of many wonderful things. Sunday kinda makes all the other days of the week look just a bit shoddy; it’s the show girl day of the week, all frills and fun! Not only do I heart Sundays, but I also love sleep, because it’s like a time machine to breakfast. And I enjoy brunch even more, since it’s basically breakfast for lazy people who can’t get out of bed on time. It should be no surprise, therefore, that I practically live for Sunday Brunch. Please tell me I’m not the only weekend hedonist out there! Since I follow the religion of yoga + brunch on Sundays, I feel it’s my sacred duty to uphold this tradition each and every week. We either go out to bottomless boozy brunch (thank you D.C. for you’re endless list of restaurants who participate in this debauchery) or have friends over. If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: …

Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup

Published by

Despite my southern upbringing (with a dash of east coast flare), true comfort food to me isn’t the traditional heavy American fare most of us have come to know and love. Maybe it’s the result of my world-wide travels and love of all cultures and people, but nothing beats Asian cuisine for me when it comes to terms of comfort. Give me a big bowl of noodle soup, a book, and a rainy day, and I shall give you the definition of bliss. And if you throw some baby animals in the mix to cuddle, I’ll probably die of happiness. One of my personal loves in learning about other cultures and people. It’s what motivated me to be a globe trotter, and I count my travels as my richest investment. Both my husband and I have a particular respect for Asian culture, which is incredibly diverse and varied from across the Asian continent. It’s as much an unfortunate mistake to lump all the cultures together as it is to group all Asian cuisine in the same …

Veggies on Mexican Lime Rice + Handmade Tortillas with Cilantro-Jalapeño Sauce

Published by

GOD BLESS TEXAS…. I’m a Texas girl, y’all, and you know we do tacos, tortillas and football on the reg. In my home city Dallas, Tex-Mex is practically a revered as a sacred art. I myself have devoted endless hours to “studying” said art by way of eating non-stop Mexican cuisine and drinking many a margarita. I just wanted to make sure I left no stone unturned in my quest to find the perfect burrito. I’m very devoted to my research, obviously!  I have yet to experience a mambo taxi (a frozen marg that maybe should be illegal) I didn’t want to add to my list of Possible Last Supper Options. I really do keep this list, because you just never know. The Boy Scouts only think they came up with that motto. Not so fast, Eagle Scout! I was born touting that as my personal mantra! But I digress. Anyway, D.C. offers many great food experiences, but sometimes a girl likes to get back to her roots and go a little wild, Wild West on dinner. And so I did. …

Roasted Tomotoes + Mushrooms on Creamy Polenta

Published by

FARMER’S MARKETS ARE LIKE DISNEY WORLD: ABLAZE IN COLOR, YOU’LL SPEND MORE THAN YOU PLANNED, AND YOU’LL LEAVE FEELING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN SOME PLACE MAGICAL… There’s something really spectacular about wandering around a local farmer’s market on the weekend. My inner hippie loves being surrounded by so many varieties of gorgeous, vibrant foods, but those brilliant colors are more than aesthetically pleasing; the rich shades are actually derived from chlorophyll and anthocyanin, which are basically nature’s gift wrapped up in food. You can read about the 10 Benefits of Chlorophyll if you are a fellow nerd and love learning to the max. If you want to know about the nutritious benefits that come with different colors of veggies and fruit, check out this article “Colors of Vegetables & Their Nutrients.” Or, you can just take say, “Produce is the best; I’m convinced!” and carry on with this recipe đŸ™‚ As much as possible, I try to support local farmers who practice humane farming methods and produce GMO free crops. I recognize that usually this is …

20 Minute Veggie Bibimbap

Published by

If you’re a lucky duck, at some point in your life, you’ve enjoyed eating bibimbap. Firstly, it has THE world’s most awesome name perhaps ever, and secondly, it’s insanely delicious and healthy. Since moving to DC, my husband and I have a little tradition of taking an evening walk over to a restaurant called Mandu, where we first discovered this little bowl of yum. After ordering it no less than a million times give or take, it finally dawned on me that I could make this easy recipe (light bulb moment!). One of my amazing Korean friends taught me how to cook it, and the rest is history. Dinner got easier, my husband thinks I’m amazing (the credit goes to the bibimbap), and everyone is happy—including our pocketbook. While the traditional way to cook this meal uses meat and a lot of sesame oil, my variation is lighter on the cooking oil by using an oil mister; it’s also vegetarian. I added how to prepare and cook the beef, in case you’re more into clean eating and less …

Paleo Banana Pancakes

Published by

Can’t you see that it’s just raining? Ain’t no need to go outside… Maybe we can sleep in Make you banana pancakes Pretend like it’s the weekend now… ~Jack Johnson Jack Johnson might just be the muse of this recipe, because I’m pretty sure this song is the unofficial soundtrack to banana pancake making expeditions everywhere. Yes, yes I did listen to it while I was whipping these magical treats breakfast together. Thank you Spotify for letting me DJ up my own life. Wika wika wah! (Can you believe Samuel married me? I.am.such.a.nerd) I love, love, L-O-V-E banana pancakes. What I don’t love is gluten or committing carbocide in the morning (scratch that, I love it too much, but am trying to practice healthy habits these days…sigh), which a typical stack of pancakes usually involves both. Fortunately, with this suuuuuuuper easy recipe, we can have our cakes and eat them too—pancakes, that is. I searched through several recipes, tried out quite a few, and experimented with my own variations till I found a version that …