Yummy Tuna Salad

I wanted to make delicious tuna salad, but I didnt have the regular ingredients in my fridge and garden, so I decided to try something new and it turned out great! 

Ingredients:

1 can tuna

Bunch of baby arugula

3 chive stems

1 small bunch of parsley

1/2 lemon

2 small celery stalks

1 clove garlic

4 green olives

2 tablespoons seeded raw sunflower seeds

3 table spoons organic mayonnaise or veganaise

Drain water from tuna, place in a bowl. Add juice from lemon, cut up all ingredients and mix. Then add your mayo to the mixture and mix around some more. Add sunflower seeds last. Place your baby arugula in a bowl, then add your tuna salad on top. You can sprinkle some pepper on top or drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on top as well. Enjoy! 

Gluten Free Fried Green Tomatoes

We had a ton of tomatoes grow in our garden during the late portion of the summer and they didnt get a chance to ripen, so I decided to try making fried green tomatoes. Ive never had them before, so I figured I'd try it!

Ingredients:
4 green tomatoes
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 eggs - beaten
Olive oil

Cut tomatoes horizontally into 1/2 inch slices.

Separate eggs, flour, and cornmeal into individual bowls. Place tomato slice into coconut flour first, then the egg, then the cornmeal. Heat skillet with olive oil until oil is hot. Place battered tomato sliced in oil and cook until both sides are a light golden brown. 

After tomatoes are done, place on a plate with a paper towl to soak up leftover oil, and serve! I used spicy mustard and Tabasco sauce as condiments, but Im sure you can get creative and use a couple different things. Enjoy!

Leftover Thanksgiving Mashed Potato Pancakes - Gluten/Sugar Free

Sorry its been a long while. I have been so busy! Anywho, heres a recipe for delicious leftover mashed potato pancakes.

Ingredients:
1.5 c mashed potatoes
1/4 c gluten free flour - I used potato starch flour, but Im sure any flour will do
2 tsp water
1 egg, beaten
1/3 onion, chopped
1/3 red bell pepper (but you can get creative with your vegetable choices)
Olive oil
Crushed black pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine mashed potatoes, flour, water, egg, onion, & pepper in bowl. Mix well until it looks like a mushy pancake mix. Oil skillet and turn flame on medium. Spoon desired amount into skillet. I like to make my pancakes smaller, so they get kinda crunchy on the ends. Cook until bottom side is slightly browned. Flip and repeat. Once pancakes are cooked, transfer onto a paper towl to let the excess oil drain out, and serve!
I put some leftover cranberry sauce on top of mine, but any delicious (but healthy) fruity or cheesy topping will do! Fresh applesauce is another personal favorite with potato pancakes. Enjoy!!

Raw Goat Cheese and Seafood baked Mostacholi!

This was a creation that both Cheese Louise and I discovered just by seeing what we randomly had in our refrigerator. It ended up being just delicious!!

Ingredients:
1/2 bag of Trader Joe's Gluten free Penne Pasta
2 tsp unrefined extra virgin olive oil
1 bag seafood mix of your choice (I used calamari, shrimp, scallops combo)
3/4 jar of organic, sugar free marinara sauce
3 mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch of spinach, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of fresh basil, or a 1/2 teaspoon of dried chopped basil
Raw goat cheese - Use desired amount
One large deep skillet/wok
One medium sized casserole dish

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Cook your gluten free noodles almost to the full amount, leave them slightly firm. While the noodles are cooking, rinse and drain your seafood, and throw it in a skillet with 1tsp olive oil. Let that cook slowly for about 4 minutes.
Next add your mushrooms and garlic, and let that all simmer together for 1 minute.
Add your spinach and pasta sauce - Let that simmer another 5 minutes on low-medium heat.
When the noodles are all finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Throw the noodles in with the seafood veggie mix and cook for about 1 minute.
Grab your casserole dish and put one layer of pasta sauce on the bottom, along with another tsp of olive oil.
Put half of the pasta mixture in the dish and top with freshly shredded raw goat cheese.
Add the other half of the mixture, and top off with more shredded goat cheese.
Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes.
Thats it!!!
Enjoy! This is not dairy free, but it is gluten free! Ive been eating raw goat cheese now because it doesnt bother my stomach like cows cheese does. Although some may not agree, I believe raw cheese is also better for you due to the unpasturization process. It has all the original nutrients and enzymes that is extracted during the pasturization process.
For more information - Check out RealMilk.com!

NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS VITAMIN D POWERFULLY PROTECTIVE AGAINST MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis!

Lola's 'different' kinda hangover breakfast - SALAD

So I dont really know how, but I woke up this morning feeling pretty hungover. I only had a couple of glasses of wine so it didn't make sense...but whatever my body likes to play tricks on me. According to my interpretation of Chinese Medicine, alcohol is dry heat energetically - so I wanted to eat the opposite of this to feel better.
Instead of eating the "hangover cure" breakfast which usually consists of greasy eggs, bacon and potatoes, I made a salad! I know salad sounds so boring, but you know me - I cant just eat a regular salad...
So I made a spinach salad with fresh green beans, raw unpasteurized goat cheese, fresh radishes and cilantro with homemade lemon pepper dressing! Oh, and I also cooked up some organic turkey bacon and threw it on top.

I wanted to be sure to cool my body off (because I was hot, and had a wicked headache) while still nourishing my body with proteins, and veggies. Its super simple, ad it made me feel 10 times better than if I would have eaten some sort of grease bucket breakfast.
Ingredients:
Fresh organic baby spinach
2-3 slices of rinsed organic turkey bacon (I buy it from Trader Joes)
Fresh green beans, chopped in thirds
About 7 little cubes of raw organic goat cheese
Baby red/pink radishes
About a 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
1/2 of a lemon, cut in 2
A pinch of black pepper

Rinse the veggies well, and chop up your beans and radishes. Throw your bacon in a skillet and cook on LOW for about 5-8 minutes, flipping once. Cut a slice of cheese about 1/3 an inch, and cube it up. Put your spinach in the bowl first, then the green beans, then the radishes, and then the cheese. Sprinkle your cilantro on top of it all. When your bacon is ready, you can either cut it up and mix it in, or place it on the side of your salad. Put in your black pepper, and squeeze your lemons all around the salad. Thats it! Its delicious, easy, and will cool off that hot head you've acquired after a night of partying!

Fibromyalgia

What I learned in class today:
Fibromyalgia = Fiber-muscle-pain
Signs and symptoms:
*Tender points
*Widespread pain
*Stiffness after rest
*Low stamina
*Hypersensitivity
It affects up to 3% of the population (mostly women) - why? Cola and DIET Cola.
Cola has massive amounts of phosphoric acid which crystallize into your body causing pain all over the body.
A recent study shows that Quaifenesin (found in cough syrup!) helps with fibromyalgia pain!an E zine article HERE.
So if you have fibromyalgia I suggest doing 2 things:
*Stop drinking cola!
*Try taking quaifenesin or cough medicine with this in it.
Let me know if it helps at all!
Lola

Watch Rollerderby bout videos!!

Ive been watching rollerderby all day. To watch rollerderby instead of getting anything else done, go to - http://www.justin.tv/derbynewsnetwork/videos

Poached eggs without a Poacher! -Lola

Poaching eggs are one of the healthiest way to make them. Not to mention they are absolutely delicious! I never really would make poached eggs because I thought this whole time I needed a poacher, but I decided to give it a try without a poacher! Honestly, I dont even know what an egg poacher looks like. For all of you who also dont know -Here's a picture. So on to the egg poaching!
Ingredients:
*Eggs
*Apple Cider Vinegar
*Sea Salt
*A medium/large deep skillet w lid
*Little bowls/cups for eggs

Step one:

Get a medium to large skillet and fill it with 2-3 inches of water. Make sure your skillet has either a lid, or something else you can use for a lid. Bring the water to a boil. While you're waiting for the water to boil, crack your eggs into a little cup or bowl. I used a Chinese rice bowl for each egg.

Step two:

 Once the water is beginning to boil, add some sea salt and about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the boiling mixture. The Apple cider vinegar keeps the egg together, and is a healthy little additive as well. 

Step three:

Grab your egg cups and one at a time, lower the lip of the bowl into the water about and inch, and let the egg slide out into the water. Repeat with other eggs quickly!! Immediately cover the skillet and turn heat off completely. Set a timer, or watch your clock. I cook my eggs for 3 minutes so the inside is slightly firm but still gooey. You can change the time to 2 minutes or 4 minutes depending how cooked you like you yolk. 

Step four:

After your desired amount of poaching time, grab a spoon with slits or holes in it. Grab each egg one by one, let the water drip off the egg, and place it on your gluten free toast, english muffin, or bagel! I didn't use any type of bread, so I just ate it with bacon and steamed broccoli and spinach. 

Done and done!! Delicious, healthy poached eggs! 

Lola's New Goal!

So I haven't been around in a while because I decided to change my goal. The Candida Cleanse just wasn't meant for me. 

I decided to get some professional advice instead of constantly trying to fix all my problems on my own. Now I can tell you it was a great choice and I cannot wait until I can feel a difference! 

I got in contact with Michael McEvoy @ Radiant Health. We did what is called a Metabolic Type Nutrition Assessment. Basically what that consists of is a diet based on the way your body metabolizes certain foods. I filled out a serious of forms, along with a food journal for 3 days and sent those over to Michael. After that, we chatted on Skype for 2 1/2 hours about the changes I need to make not only in my eating, but my whole entire lifestyle. It was absolutely amazing! Michael was very knowledgeable to the point where I could have sat and listened to him talk all day. Unfortunately that costs a large sum of money - so I took my 2 hours instead. 

So the conclusion from all of this was - I ate too many carbs and not enough protein. My body fuels the best off of large amount of protein. The reason I had massive amounts of sugar/grain/salt cravings is because my body would burn all of those up quickly and then be exhausted right after. On this diet I will be able to have much more energy, along with less food cravings. I will also not feel hungry as often as I usually do. Yippee! 

Ive slowly began adjusting to my new way of eating, but its not going to be easy. I will have to cook most of my food instead of getting food @ work or school. I don't mind preparing my own food, but I need to work on my time management so I can allow some cooking time before work and school. 

Since most of my diet will consist of mostly proteins, I will still be posting a ton of delicious gluten/dairy/sugar free recipes, but with more meat/poultry/seafood.