Perception is Key

While on vacation with family I acquired a new client... The best one I could ever have. That client, let's call her Ashley, wants to lose weight and live a healthier life style. She is ready for a change, committed to working with me and is excited for her journey. I was able to do some menu planning and cooking for her while we were away. As you know salmon is one of my top 3 favorite foods (after salsa and EGGS!) and I let Ashley know that the dinner I was making her was my own recipe that I call "skillet salmon salad cupcake style". She looked somewhat less than thrilled but agreed to watch me cook and she even ended up taking notes. I coked salmon in a skillet with a tiny bit of olive oil and a good amount of Cupcake Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon over medium heat on an electric stovetop (hey... I was on vacation!). She scowled when I poured that red wine on our beautiful, pink fish but she kept watching. While the salmon was sizzling I cut up veggies for our salad and plated our salads. I tossed the salads onto small lunch sized plates and gently laid the salmon on top of both of our salads. When I presented the finished meal to Ashley she looked at the heaping lettuce and mixed greens, the diced and sliced vegetables and the steaming hot salmon and said, "Wow, I will never be able to eat all of that!". But if I had placed that same exact meal on a large dinner plate and the meal didn't fill the whole plate Ashley may not have been as mentally satisfied initially. So much of life is based on perception. Have you ever noticed the arrow in the FedEx name on the trucks as they zoom by you on the road? After my mom pointed that out to me I cannot look at their trucks without seeing it. The moral of this story?..... Fill your small salad plate overflowing with healthy foods, excite your pallet with new taste sensations. Perceive life in a positive manner and you will get positively what you want from it. Ashley has lost 7 pounds so far and that was after meal planning and cooking with me for just 6 days! I am so happy for her and her new perception of food, health and life.
Every day is like the bike ride I took while at my mom's house. The up hills were the biggest I have ever biked but the whole time I sweated and panted to the top of each hill I kept telling myself that the down hill thrill was going to be worth the uphill kill and it was!

Vacation Bikini Style!
Welcome to summer and the season of beach vacations, swimming celebrations and a reason to celebrate....every night! Celebrating is typically centered around food. Think about it. Want to come to my birthday party and have broccoli? Probably not and it is always someone's birthday. There is always a reason to celebrate with 1 more day of having a double scoop of ice cream. I'm not telling you to forget about birthday parties or ice cream cones with your kids while your feet dangle in the water on a warm summer evening but I am telling you that as an adult you have to remember that your goal is to NOT grow. You have to pick and choose when you celebrate and make a conscious effort to only stray from your grown up, adult way of eating (aka healthy!) once a week or so. I don't want to paint a bleak picture of your eating future but there is a reason kids crave fatty, sugary foods.... Because they need to grow. Our job is to feed our kids the healthiest versions of their cravings as possible while at the same time teaching them to enjoy the finer things in life like vegetables, fruits, seafood etc. You owe it to yourself to put clean fuel into your body too.

I am on vacation with my children right now and it is harder than ever for me to pass on the ravioli, mac and cheese, ice cream, cookies, and the other foods that are offered to me and my children by caring family members but I know I will be in my bikini almost every day this summer and I picture that in my head when I gratefully decline the plate of buttered pasta being passed around the dinner table. Ask your friends and family for support in your healthy eating endeavors. Hopefully they will be supportive and may even want to emulate your new choices. I do not want to be difficult or picky but I do not always eat the same foods that the rest of the family is having because I know what fuels (foods) work the best for my body. So thank you to my caring family for being supportive of my lifestyle and for wanting to jump on the healthy bandwagon with me. Together we will make it fun and tasty....bikini style!

Good Food Eye Level

You know about grocery stores, right? They put all the healthy foods on the perimeter of the store so that we as consumers have to make an effort to "just run in for milk, bread and eggs". They want you to pass by very tempting, typically over priced and unhealthy offers on your way to get to the healthy, perishable foods you need to replenish weekly. And to make matters worse oftentimes they put the good for you stuff higher or lower on the shelves and the stuff THEY want you to buy right in front of your face at eye level. Resist that temptation when you go to the grocery...but where do you go even more often? Your own refrigerator! Use that psychology in your own kitchen especially in your refrigerator. Good for you, healthy foods should be right in front of your face at all times. On Sunday nights prepare for your busy week by cutting up fresh veggies for snacks and put them in a clear container right at your eye level in the fridge so those beautiful, colorful cut up veggies are screaming in your face "eat me, eat me!".

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for....BISON!

Ask my parents, I have never been a fan of hamburgers. I have never liked the grainy taste of the meat nor the little fatty pebbles that I could feel between my teeth. I am not high maintenance by any means but when attending a summer time cook out or BBQ I am typically a little stuck since I do not like hamburgers or hot dogs. But along came my friend, the largest land mammal in North America, Bison! 

Bison is lower in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than beef and is extremely high in protein and iron. And an added bonus for me: I like the taste of bison and I do not like the taste of beef. I like ground bison, it can be purchased at any health food store and ordered online. This week I bought 1 pound of bison, separated it into 4 servings, and froze them in individual portions. I ended up eating and sharing all 4 bison burgers this week but freezing into individual servings is great for portion control and it keeps food fresher longer.

Here is a look into the stages of my preparation of bison. I think bison has a richer flavor than beef so I do not put anything on the meat before I grill it. Some would say rub a little salt and pepper on it to bring out the flavor but I say why mess with it? 

(Evidently for a few moments on 6-12 I thought it was 2010)

 The picture below makes it hard to tell what exactly I did with the bison after grilling it but I cut it into thin strips and then placed the strips on top of my mixed greens, cucumbers, egg, tomatoes, and peppers salad. Then I topped it with fresh salsa and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. A perfect meal for a summer's night! Plus, when someone asks what you had for dinner last night it feels really good and very cool to puff up your chest a bit higher and exclaim "BISON!". 

A company called American Gourmet claims bison is 97% fat free and contains 40% more protein than ground beef. I hope that is true! If you can't find bison in your local stores order it from American Gourmet:

http://www.americangourmet.net/index.html

Nuts about Nuts

I could seriously live on nuts alone! I mean, really! Nuts can be salty, sweet, tangy, crunchy, chewy and pretty much any describing word imaginable! I prefer mine without any additions...just plain old perfect NUTS! BUT I do toast them almost every time I eat them. Tonight I had a truly sweet, wonderful, beautiful house guest over for dinner and after our meal of grilled bison over a bed of mixed greens, cucumbers, red peppers, celery, fresh salsa and nutritional yeast (I will post about bison this week...I PROMISE!) she sampled some of my baked goods. She tried my coconut Bailey's Irish Cream Belgium waffles, mini pumpkin currant muffins, and toasted walnut cinnamon banana bread. She said she loved all of my baked goods but then we got onto the topic of toasted nuts. She had never toasted her nuts before eating them. So we did a little test. I had her eat 2 plain, unsalted, almonds. Then I microwaved a few almonds in a single layer on a microwave safe plate for about a minute and a half. She tasted the toasted almonds and could not believe they were even the same nut. She agreed with me that toasting the almonds (Yes, even in the microwave!) made a deeper, more flavorful nut. She even exclaimed, "It doesn't even taste like the same nut!". I wish we did the experiment with walnuts or pecans....in my opinion 2 much more flavorful, fuller bodied nuts but I used up the last of my walnut supply baking my tasty banana bread. So the moral of the story is that I wanted to make sure that all of you out in bikini baking land know to toast your nuts! Add nuts to your morning oatmeal, Greek yogurt, fruit mixtures, salads, baked goods, chicken and fish recipes but make sure you toast them first to get that added flavor! Enjoy!

Play Like a Kid

Many communities are welcoming the end of school and the beginning of summer vacation. Your local parks are a FREE, FUN, FANTASTIC way to spend some outdoor time. Play with your kids and play like a kid! You know your desire to keep on playing is one of the reasons you wanted to have kids in the first place! Parks built this decade are built to withstand adult weight and are safe for us! Have fun, work your muscles and make your kids laugh!

Multitasking at its Best

When people talk to me I listen and I try to remember good advice from good people. I also make mental notes when I observe different behaviors. While visiting Kentucky when I was a kid, in the evenings and after a good, Southern super my Grandma Frances always used to clean the kitchen, start the dishwasher (when she finally got a dishwasher) and shout, "Kitchen is closed!". That was always like nails on a chalkboard to me back then but now I get it, appreciate it and do it in my own home. But one very healthy couple (and the consistently thin woman I wrote about a few weeks ago is part of this couple!) I know does something else to signify the ending of evening dining. Both the husband and the wife immediately brush their teeth after they are finished with any meal. This may not seem like a big deal to most people but before observing them during their post dinner ritual I always waited to brush my teeth until 5 minutes before my head hit the pillow...hours after finishing my last bite of food. Now, that healthy couple may have started to brush their teeth immediately after eating based on the recommendation of their dentist but that good dental habit has turned into a good waist line habit as well. Brushing teeth after eating any meal can mentally and physically turn you off of eating again until you are truly hungry. The minty flavor from the toothpaste combined with your brushing effort and clean mouth takes a lot of the desire to late night nosh away when those nighttime snack commercials come on during your favorite TV show. And guess what, the consistently thin woman also does LUNGES while she brushes her teeth! She brushes her teeth at least 3 times a day and has a timer on her electric tooth brush for 2 minutes. So she is cleaning her teeth, mentally making a note to stop eating AND doing lunges at the same time! Hows that for multitasking?! 

Protein Fiber Super Minis

Last week's warm beach weather prompted me to experiment and make some protein packed tasty mini muffins. But it wasn't until I was told how good they are by my love and to add them to my blog that I thought about sharing the recipe. I just love positive praise and I am always thrilled when my baking is enjoyed by others. These mini muffins are super duper hearty in a good way. I didn't add any sugar but instead used liquid stevia which I bought in my local health food store. Stevia is a natural, super sweet, 0 calorie way to sweeten anything from oatmeal to baked goods to coffee. I have unflavored stevia, cinnamon and english toffee flavored stevia. Experiment with your baked goods to decrease your sugar intake for a lower calorie, healthier life.

Protein Fiber Super Mini Recipe:

1 Cup oatmeal

1 Cup Almond milk Coconut Milk Blend (found in healthy section of my local Stop and Shop grocery store)
1 Small container Plain Non-fat Greek Yogurt (6 oz.)

1/2 C Wheat Chex cereal

1 dropper full of liquid stevia (I used unflavored for this recipe)

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed

1 Cup coconut flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

2 scoops protein powder (I use Aria Vanilla flavored)

1 Cup Pure Pumpkin (found in baking aisle of grocery store. I used Libby's 100% pure pumpkin)
1/2 C Natural Applesauce (means NO sugar added. Ingredients should say "apples, water")
Add Ins:
3/4 Cup sweetened coconut (optional)

1 Cup raisins (or craisins or any cut up dried fruit)

1 Cup toasted nuts (toasted walnuts are my favorite! Microwave nuts in single layer for 21/2-3 min on high power to get a very flavorful nut!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Mix oatmeal, almond milk, Greek yogurt, wheat Chex, stevia and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Let sit for a few minutes to soften the cereal completely, usually about 10 min. Meanwhile mix coconut flour, protein powder, baking soda, baking powder, flaxseed and eggs in a large bowl. Then mix pumpkin and applesauce into coconut flour mixture. Fold cereal/pumpkin mixture into the coconut flour mixture and mix well. It will be stiff. Once everything is well mixed add your favorite add ins, coconut, raisins, nuts or even mini chocolate chips or frozen blueberries. Spoon into mini muffin tin and bake for 10-14 min or until set in the middle. Let cool in pan for 2 min and then ENJOY!!!! They make fabulous snacks, breakfast or side item to any meal. Pack them for snacks to eat in the car...just make sure to remember them before walking out the door ;-)

Protein Fiber Super Minis! (Toasted coconut makes cool spikes on the minis)

Stevia collection....great sugar substitute!

Freeze Your Fun

Thankfully, as I have aged so has my appreciation of the finer things in life: wine being one of the biggies. And after a long day of good fun, healthy eating and hard exercise a nice glass of wine is a welcomed sight.   But more often than not my white wines warm quicker than I can drink them (shocking I know). So I do what my beautiful, wine savvy friend, Elissa, does and I add some frozen grapes to my wine. Not only do the frozen grapes keep the wine cooler longer but they are also a fabulous, sweet ending to the drink.

To freeze grapes simply wash and dry the grapes and freeze in an airtight container for at least 3 hours. Frozen grapes are also a sweet treat for kids on a warm summer night! I prefer frozen red grapes over white/green ones...red grapes tend to be sweeter and have a thinner skin. Enjoy!

Frozen red grapes in a light Pinot Grigio

Gorgeous friend Laura and the Bikini Baking Lady enjoying a well-deserved glass of wine with frozen red grapes. YUMMY!