What's for Dinner? Italian Chicken in Envelopes, Quinoa Salad with Beans and Pralines Salad

Italian Chicken in Envelopes

Italian Chicken in Envelopes

What you'll need:

4 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts

1 medium cooking Onion, chopped

1 clove Garlic, minced

1 large Tomato, chopped 

2 stalks Celery, chopped

1 tsp dried Oregano

10 fresh Basil leaves, cut into ribbons

4 Bay Leaves

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp freshly Ground Black Pepper

What to do:

Cut 4 (10-inch) pieces of aluminum foil; grease with 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place Chicken Breast in center of each piece of foil.

Combine: onion, garlic, tomatoes, celery, olive oil, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Mix well. 

Spoon mixture over each Chicken Breast.

Add one Bay Leave to each envelope.

Fold foil into neat sealed envelopes.

Place on cookie sheet.

 Bake at 425F for 40 minutes

Serves 4 (you can serve from envelopes!)

Quinoa Salad with Beans

Quinoa Salad with Beans

What you'll need:

 1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Water

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 cup Green Beans, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces

 1 can Red Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained

 2 Green Onions, finely chopped

1/2 English Cucumber, diced

2 Tbsp fresh Italian Parsley, finely chopped

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar

3 Tbsp. fresh Lemon Juice

How to cook Quinoa:

In a saucepan bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cup Quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, cook over medium heat for 12 minutes or until Quinoa has absorbed all the water. Remove from heat, fluff with fork, cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Yields about 4 cups.

The Salad:

Steam Green Beans for 2 minutes. Soak in ice water bath and drain well. Set aside.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large salad bowl or casserole dish with lid (I use this....no clean-up involved. Leftovers straight into refrigerator)

Refrigerate salad for 1 hour before serving.

Serves 4 (leftovers can be kept in refrigerator for 3 days! Hello, lunch!)

Pralines Salad

What you'll need:

1 cup Stevia

1 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Sweet Paprika

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Sunflower Oil

1 cup Whole Raw Pecans

To make the Pralines:

Combine: 1/2 cup of the sugar, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

Heat sunflower oil in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-high heat. Stir in pecans and remaining 1/2 cup sugar.

Continue to saute, stirring frequently until the sugar has caramelized and the pecans turn golden brown.

Remove from heat and toss the pecans in the spice mixture until completely covered. 

Sift pecans with hand strainer.

Turn onto baking sheet to cool.

You can serve the nuts warm or store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. 

To make the Salad:

Combine:

8 cups combination of Leafy Green Lettuce, Kale, Spinach and Arugula

1 cup sliced fresh Strawberries

1 small Red Onion, finely sliced

1/2 cup soft Goat Cheese, crumbled

1 cup Pralines (see above recipe)

Dressing:

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tbsp Honey or Agave Nectar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fabulous Fiber

Dietary Fiber plays an important role in keeping our body healthy and processing the food we eat. Fiber is known to relieve constipation and hemorrhoids, help with weight loss, lower cholesterol and can lower the risk of certain diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones and kidney stones.


Fiber can be found in: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Legumes, Nuts and Seeds.

The two main types of fiber are Soluble and Insoluble Fiber.

Soluble Fiber forms a gel when mixed with liquid, while insoluble fiber does not. Insoluble Fiber passes through our intestines largely intact. Both types of fiber are important to our health.

Soluble fibers are commonly found in fruits (especially pear, apple and citrus), vegetables (such as carrots)oats, barley, nuts, flax seed and legumes.


These water-soluble fibers form gels that provide beneficial effects including:

* Slow stomach emptying which contributes to fullness and decreased appetite.

* This delayed stomach emptying slows the absorption of carbohydrates which reduces

after-meal blood sugar spikes (this helps regulate blood sugar especially those who have diabetes)

* Binds to fatty acids

* Lowers LDL (bad)cholesterol
 
 

 
Insoluble fibers are commonly found in wheat and corn bran, whole grain breads and cereals, nuts, seeds and vegetables (green beans, dark leafy greens and skins of root vegetables).



Insoluble fibers beneficial effects include:

* they promote regular bowel movement and prevent constipation

* help prevent colon cancer by keeping an optimal pH in intestines to prevent microbes from producing cancerous substances

* eases the removal of toxic waste in colon
 

Tips to Increase daily Fiber intake:

* Include raw fruits and vegetables in your diet.

* Snack on fresh fruits and vegetables in place of sugary or refined foods.

* Make a fresh fruit smoothie and add a tablespoon of ground flax seed.

* Include whole grains in your diet: oats, brown rice, bran, quinoa, barley and spelt.

* Substitute whole grain flour in recipes which call for white flour.

* Add ground flax seed to oatmeal or yogurt.

* Snack on unsalted/unbuttered popcorn, dehydrated vegetable crisps or whole grain crackers in place of potato chips, corn chips or pretzels.

* Add legumes to soups, stews and salads. Dip your whole grain crackers or vegetables crisps in hummus or sunflower pate.

* Avoid refined and processed foods which contain little or no fiber.
 

 
Important considerations


* Increase fiber intake gradually to avoid gas and bloating.

* Drink plenty of water: Divide your body weight by 2 than divide by 8 to get the number of 8oz glasses of water you should drink per day.



Find out your daily fiber intake requirement here:

http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/fiber.asp
 
 
The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage.

That Time of the Month

This one's for the ladies....

Gentlemen consider this a warning. You may find this blog entry a bit on the gross side. Why men find a woman's menstrual cycle gross beats me. It's our bodies cleaning themselves out once a month. Kinda like your cleaning lady (Oh the day I have a cleaning lady) purging your refrigerator once a month. Throwing out expired condiments, molding vegetables and that mystery food in the tin foil (remember that from Married with Children?). Men for some reason think bleeding from you know where is gross. I can name a million other things that gross me out. For instance, explosive baby diarrhea with traces of whole raisins or the need for men to lift their rear ends to pass a putrid gas that smells of rotting eggs. What's up with lifting their rears anyway? I can't even mention my menstrual cycle to my partner without him scrunching up his nose, turning his head away from me and saying, "Honey, please!" My response, "Really? Not the time! My vagina feels like it weighs three hundred pounds, I can't straighten out my torso from the stabbing pains in my abdomen, I think I may have just lost a litre of blood and I just cried watching  an Ivory soap commercial. Now is really not the time to be grossed out over some blood!" Okay well, I've never really said that to him but it's what I wish I would say when I replay my day.

This past cycle was not too bad. Reason being, I followed my own Nutritional advice that I give to my clients on a daily bases. Even though I'm a Nutritionist it doesn't mean I eat clean all the time and just because I am a Pilates Instructor and a Personal Trainer doesn't mean I exercise every day. I'm a human being and struggle with balance just like everyone else. So finally after a few painful cycles I finally remembered a little write-up I did for a client who was experiencing major mood swings and painful periods. A simple go-to guide on what to include in your diet when it's that time of the month. I hope you find the advice helpful, your periods less painful and moods more balanced.



Foods that Fight PMS

Calcium

Research has shown that women with PMS have lower blood levels of calcium around their time of ovulation compared with women who don’t have PMS symptoms.

Reduce bloating and improve mood by including these Calcium-rich foods into your diet: yogurt, milk and cheese (if no allergy or sensitivity is present), calcium-fortified soy milk (Organic is best), broccoli, white beans, sesame seeds and kale.


Magnesium

In certain studies, women with PMS who ate a diet high in magnesium-rich foods had better mood and less water retention than women who did not get enough magnesium

Some magnesium-rich foods include: pumpkin seeds, spinach, swiss chard, wild salmon, sunflower seeds, cashews, quinoa, potato (with skin), soybeans, legumes, peanuts, peanut butter, chick peas, brown rice, and whole grain bread.


Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is one of the necessary ingredients required by the body to manufacture dopamine, one of the mood neurotransmitters. Some studies show that a diet high in B6 reduces irritability, depression, and breast tenderness.

Vitamin B6 foods include: fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, garbanzo beans (chick peas), wild salmon, extra lean beef, chicken breast, white potatoes (with skin), oatmeal, bananas and lentils.
 
 
Chamomile tea

Premenstrually, chamomile tea may be particularly helpful because it contains properties that relieve muscle spasms, and may therefore help reduce the severity of menstrual cramps. In addition, chamomile seems to reduce tension that may lead to anxiety and irritability.