Changes in Digestion: Hope for those with IBS

I was trying out two new recipes last night: one was a Moroccan-style chicken stew (done in the slow cooker), and the other was this insanely good lentil recipe from "Oh She Glows, Everyday"

Three things crossed my mind during this process:

1) Is this stew going to be as good when I transform it into a "Low-FODMAP"-friendly recipe? With no onions or garlic??

2) Will these recipes taste as good if I omit the sugar (maple syrup, honey, etc) in both of them?

3) I can't believe I can eat lentils! This is amazing and weird at the same time; like when I brought back white potatoes into my diet a few months ago. 

First off, onions and garlic bring loads of flavours and health benefits to our food, so not being able to enjoy them - and even more accurately, having them exacerbate my IBS symptoms - has been a real struggle; for both cooking at home (especially for a fiancé who LOVES both garlic and onions) and when we dine out.

Staying disciplined as much as possible is not only empowering, but you're preventing the pain that these food compounds cause. Pain is a signal telling us that something is wrong in the body. And it's a signal that we shouldn't ignore.

For those with food sensitivities or reactions, you absolutely can omit ingredients that aggravate you, and still have amazingly tasting food. Both dishes turned out incredibly well, considering what was missing. In this case, the added sweeteners were completely unnecessary.

Secondly, our bodies change as we age, and what worked for you in the past may not work in a few months or years. I spent about a year on a strict paleo diet and loved it! I had a hard time digesting potatoes and legumes (in addition to gluten and dairy), so paleo was the perfect solution for me. Even my "hangry" moments decreased in frequency.

Fast forward 6 years, after the inclusion of gluten-free grains back into my diet:  My once great digestion had returned to being stormy. My body was giving me distinct signals that something was terribly wrong and that the foods I was eating were aggravating me. I had a gut feeling (pun intended) what was causing it... sugars, including certain fruits and honey, onions, garlic, cauliflower, and even too much sauerkraut which I thought was supposed to be a great fermented food for gut health. It bothered me that these things that I had eaten for so long were now a huge issue for me.

Following up with my IBS research and treatment protocols, I realized that all of the foods I was reacting to were high in FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols), and started my plan to follow a low-FODMAP diet. This wasn't an easy feat. This is a crazy strict diet but I was tired of suffering.

And the truth is that I feel so much better than I did just 4 months ago, but it's not easy for many of us to completely change our diets. We get caught in habits and knowing what we have to give up can really bring a person down. It is absolutely a challenge.

But my point is that the gut changes over time. Pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways always exist in the body, but we can modify their activation. The gut itself is a type of semi-permeable barrier that can become damaged. Our GI tract is like a whole other world, containing trillions of bacteria, all living within us. These are living organisms that secrete molecules that our body uses or obtains a signal from. They feed on what we ourselves are eating. There are so many factors involved that can change what your body reacts to and how it reacts.

There is always hope for IBS. There is always a chance that you may be able to eat things in the future that you're not able to now. But remember that there is a purpose for these signals - your symptoms - and it's your responsibility to truly listen to them and then modify your diet to best serve your body. Not only will your overall health improve, but you will actually feel better acutely. Seriously. Imagine eating a delicious meal and not feeling bloated, gassy, or having abnormal or painful bowel movements. That's what you have to look forward to :)

Paleo Coconut Lemongrass Shrimp

One of the many things that I love about my partner is that often times he'll go to the market/grocery store and come home with something that we've never cooked with before. This week it was lemongrass. We both love Thai food and we've seen lemongrass enough times to know it smells incredible and it tastes awesome in curry dishes; But we've never cooked with it (from scratch).

Seeing it in the fridge, I knew I had to do something with it. So I went to a few paleo recipe sites, picked one that sounded easy enough, and went to work.

Check out the link below for the recipe that I used as a base for my cooking last night - the author deserves credit - thanks "Steph"! However, the dish that I created looked absolutely NOTHING like this picture. There's something called "breaking the coconut milk" which I obviously didn't do so my "sauce" looked well, not silky smooth, but viscous and thick.

Not going to lie though, it was so delicious, I'd make it again in a heartbeat.
Here's the link, but check out below for my modified version of it: http://stupideasypaleo.com/2012/06/16/shrimp-in-coconut-broth/

Paleo Coconut Lemongrass Shrimp (makes 2 servings)

1 lb raw shrimp (with shells/not-peeled)
1 can of coconut cream (I used Blue Monkey coconut cream which is the best I have found so far!)
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
1 stalk of lemongrass, (chop off the top few inches, peel off the outer rind, then "bruise"/slightly crush the lemongrass with the flat surface of a chef's knife and slice it in half length-wise.)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into halves or thirds
1 green chili pepper, chopped
1/3-1/2 cup chopped leeks
1 shallot, minced
1 1/2 cups stringless sugar snap peas 
1 tsp butter or ghee

NOTE: remove the seeds from the chili pepper if you only want a mild/medium spice. Otherwise, keeping all the seeds in will make this dish super spicy!

1.  Peel the shells off the shrimp and put them aside. Put the peeled shrimp in a bowl and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.
2. Place the coconut cream/milk in a large skillet. Add the shrimp shells, wine, lemongrass, thyme and garlic. Let simmer on medium heat for 10-15 minutes (shells should turn pink). 
3. Remove the shells (I used the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze out all the juices) and discard. 
4. Add the shallots, leeks, sugar snap peas. Cook on medium heat about 5 minutes. Then add the shrimp and continue cooking another 5 minutes or until shrimp is pink and cooked. 
5. Add the butter and stir. Remove the lemongrass and discard. 
6. Season with salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!

My favourite "feel better" tea

I had the misfortune of contracting a head cold with major sinus pressure and headache this week. As soon as my throat was getting raw and my face was painful to touch, I had a mini panic moment that I might be getting the same terrible sinus infection that I had last year, one that lasted well over a week.

I decided to act quick; to get ahead of body and ramp up my immune system so that I could get back to life. The difference it made? I prevented a secondary bacterial infection unlike last year. And unlike my last illness, I was able to rid the cold in 3 days vs. the 10 it took me last year and the 14 it took me the winter previous.

Apart from my supplements and a botanical tincture full of echinacea, what really helped pull me through it was my favourite "sick" tea:
2 parts ginger tea, 1 part lemon myrtle, plus 1 tsp honey.

Don't have any ginger tea or lemon myrtle in the house? Dig up the ginger out of your freezer (which is the best place to store it) and make it from scratch:

1. Remove the "skin" from the ginger and thinly slice the ginger. You'll need about 1/4 -1/3 cup for a pot of water (~ 3 cups)
2. Slice a lemon into about 4 slices
3. Meanwhile, have a pot of water on the stove and bring to boil
4. Add the ginger and lemon (you can give the lemon a little squeeze before dropping it in). Optional: add a stick or two of cinnamon and/or a few cloves.
5. Simmer on low heat, covered, for 20-30 minutes. 
6. Remove from heat and pour liquid into your mug. Add 1 tsp of honey and enjoy. 

It's warm, delicious and will also help resolve any nausea. For me, it's comfort tea. It's also amazing in the winter on those frigid cold days - definitely add the cinnamon and cloves!

Farmer's Market meals

One of my favourite things about June is the start of the Farmer's Market. I've been helping with our clinic's booth at Fairmount park in Toronto (details HERE) and it has easily become the best day of the week!

The fresh fruit and vegetables are always enticing, especially when the farmers cut the grown sprouts right in front of you. Many vendors have gluten-free and vegan food options ranging from cookies and nanaimo bars to spinach lentil curry with rice. The coordinators and other vendors are some of the nicest people I've met and there's a true sense of community all around.

So how do you make a meal using farm fresh ingredients? Or how do you improvise a meal with very few ingredients? Well, knowing I'd be starving after a long day and a nice evening run, I grabbed a few items totaling $20:

Bag of arugula
Bag of sunflower sprouts
6 Hot Turkey pepperettes
and a bundle of multi-coloured tomatoes

When I got home I rinsed the greens and put them in a bowl. On top I added:
one ripe yellow tomato, chopped
1.5 turkey pepperettes, chopped
Some fresh basil and a few blueberries

The dressing:
About 2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
a splash of orange juice
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

The salad turned out great! Light enough for the end of the night, but filling enough that my tummy is happy. The only thing I'd change would be blueberries. The other flavours went great together. And the best part is that I still have so much left over. I guess we'll see what next week brings and what new combo I'll put together :)

10 things you should have in your kitchen to make cooking enjoyable

Cooking is like meditation. When in the kitchen I sometimes imagine I'm on my own cooking show. When you have the right tools for the job it makes it that much more enjoyable. I believe that about many things. With the right running shoes, walking and running is awesome! With the right tunes, a long car ride just turned into a sweet playlist marathon. The same is true about cooking.

1) A good cutting board. I love my bamboo board. It was free from a pharmacy convention a few years ago and it has stood up to the task of handling my veggie cutting needs. It's easy to clean, is durable and is a good large size so it stays put on my counter

2) One really great chef's knife. A chef's knife is the broad one used for many chopping needs (well, obviously). Mine is from the Pampered Chef and is my ultimate chopping tool. A dull knife is like a cooking mood killer. You'll work harder than you need to, it'll take longer to make dinner and can be very frustrating. Invest in one really great sharp chopping knife.

3) Speaking of knives, I also really love a good pairing knife. But mostly because of how much I hate eating apple skins, so having a knife that's the perfect size for peeling off apple skins just makes me so happy. Really that's it. I just can't stand the peel of an apple. If there's something you really dislike, get a kitchen tool for that exact purpose and it'll make life much better.

4) Magic Bullet. This thing is so versatile that it should be in every home. The extra blade (the flat one) is so worth it, you'll ground flax seeds and coffee beans as if they are being crushed by the Hulk. Not only can you "bullet" practically anything, but this truly "magical" appliance will give you latte/cappuccino foam WITHOUT A CAPPUCCINO MAKER.
Brewed coffee + 1 tsp coconut oil + magic bullet (and sprinkle with cinnamon) = a foam-topped coffee treat

5) A slow cooker. Not only will this miracle-maker cause even the toughest cuts meats to slide apart like butter, but it only requires you to throw a bunch of stuff in it when you're groggy in the morning and then you come home to a delicious-smelling house and DINNER. It's ready! You don't have to do anything other than put it on a plate, and even that's debatable. A word of caution though - you cannot be so groggy that you forget to turn it on. One of the most disappointing things in the world is to come home anticipating the smell of cooked roast and finding it raw and cold. 

6) A silicone flipper. There's nothing more heartbreaking then trying to flip over an egg in a pan, it getting stuck on some half-melted jagged edge of your plastic flipper and it breaking the egg like a hyena ripping apart its prey. I think that's all I need to say. Get a non-stick silicone flipper... it's like a whole new world of egg-flipping.

7) Parchment paper. You can use it for anything and everything that goes in your oven. I line baking sheets and baking pans with it. Basically anything that I don't want to scrub clean for an hour afterwards. There's no need to worry about ingesting or absorbing aluminum. There's no wax-paper-melting-in-your-oven-because-you-didn't-know-wax-paper-would-melt-in-your-oven. But it works the same way that wax paper would - making everything not stick. Cookies bake nicer, chicken doesn't char to your pan, brownie bits aren't clinging to the walls of your pan. It's a win-win-win: it's compostable, makes cleaning up easier and leaves you with more brownie bits to eat.

8) An immersion blender. You will make soups if you have an immersion blender. And they're really fun to use. And easy to clean. Basically soften your veggies in vegetable or chicken broth (this is great for squash soups) then immersion blend it and you have perfect soup. No need to "transfer half the contents of your pot to a blender and work in batches". This old-school method will lead to the lid blowing off your blender, soup on your ceiling and burn marks on your face. An immersion blender is the easy way out. Blend in the pot, push a button and the blade end comes off for easy cleaning.

9) A radio or music dock in your kitchen (less practical for cooking, but makes it more fun).

10) A sous-chef. My boyfriend and I take turns being each others' sous chef. One of us will take charge while the other one assists. We start yelling things out like they do on TV like "Yes Chef!", "Five minutes for the mushrooms!" and "BEHIND!" when we're walking behind each other with hot or sharp things. A sous-chef makes cooking more enjoyable because you have help and it's something fun to do together. Then you get to sit and enjoy this amazing dish you both created.

I'm back! And with a new Hot and Sour Soup recipe

After vacationing in BC, it's taken a while for me to get back to ... well... being me I guess. Lack of sleep is NOT my friend. I'll post more about my adventures on the West coast a bit later, but for now, it's time to cozy up with a warm cuppa soup, and here's today's "cooking experiment gone amazing!"

This was a recipe I just made up on the fly. I was going for a mushroom/vegetable soup, but then I got hit with the inspiration of garlic... and then I thought I should spice it up a bit with some chilli flakes, and before I knew it, I was adding apple cider vinegar and it was a Hot and Sour Soup - the best I've ever made! I never actually measure anything, so everything listed is an estimate.

Mushroom Hot and Sour Soup
(this might seem like a lot of ingredients, but half of these items are staples in my kitchen, and the others are extra veggies I picked up and had in my fridge... and I was craving bacon)

1 tsp butter
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 a small/medium sweet onion, chopped
1 slice uncooked bacon, chopped
2 baby Portabello mushrooms, sliced and chopped
1 package Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/3-1/2 cup cabbage, chopped
2-3 stalks/"leaves" of Kale, with center vein removed and kale chopped
1 tetrapak (900mL/4 cups) chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp chili flakes (depending on how hot you like it)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 to 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (depending on how sour you like it)
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper, as desired to taste

Add oil and butter to large/wide soup pot and heat on medium-high heat. Add onions and let cook for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally until they begin to soften.

Add bacon and mushrooms. Stir and let cook another 5 minutes.

Add remaining veggies and let cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken broth to pot. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes. Add minced garlic, chili flakes and honey and simmer covered for another 5 minutes. Add apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Then serve!

Power snack muffins!

I've had a request to post this recipe for a good "portable" snack that's full of nutrients (vegetables and nuts and healthy fats). It's a great snack for on-the-go as well as a post-workout boost when you've just depleted your energies.

Today was one of those amazing fall days, perfect for running in shorts. The trails that I run on were ridiculously busy today and I usually get super annoyed with people who take up the whole entire path and who ignore my running footsteps, but today I saw it as a pretty awesome obstacle course.

I was zipping past people like my legs just couldn't be stopped. What? There's a mountain up ahead? That's not going to stop me. Watch me run up it while you leisurely stroll along with your entire extended family and your individual walking sticks. Today I was unstoppable. I got to the top of that hill and just kept going. It's days like this that give me the motivation to run as often as my legs will let me.

I think we all need that. That success of working out and feeling amazing afterwards. It doesn't matter what you do to get that feeling. Maybe you get it after an hour of hot yoga when you're laying on your mat at the very end of class; All sweaty and your muscles are buzzing with happy vibes. Find it. Find that happy post-workout bliss and remember it!

Now after you have that amazing blissful feeling, it's time to recharge and give back to those muscles that just worked so hard for you. Here's my post-workout portable snack, full of deliciousness.

Veggie power paleo muffins

Makes 6 muffins (for 12 muffins, double all ingredients, but use 3 extra large eggs instead of 2 large ones)

1 1/4 cup almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated carrots (peeled)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated (OR substitute for 1/2 cup diced strawberries)
2 large eggs
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or avocado oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: 1 scoop protein powder - add a splash of almond milk to the mix to make up for the extra powder/dry ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups.
In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add zucchini, carrot, apple/strawberries and combine well.
In a small mixing bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, honey and vanilla.
Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon into muffin cups (right to the top) and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. The tops will be nice and toasted brown.
Remove from pan and let cool.

The muffins can be stored in the fridge (the muffin cups peel off nicer when they're kept in the fridge, but the muffins themselves stay softer and more moist at room temperature).

As pictured, I like cutting them in half or thirds and smearing almond butter on top. Delicious!!

Favourite Paleo Salad

Today's post is a recipe. This salad tends to be a favourite of mine, as we often make it while on vacation. That's because it's super easy to make and it's inexpensive. 

Salad is NOT just lettuce. Anyone who thinks that salad is rabbit food is just crazy... or perhaps I'm half rabbit... if rabbits ate garlic and avocado. 

Avocados are full of healthy oils- great for your skin too! And garlic is totally antimicrobial - a lifesaver when colds and flus are still going around.

I also love the difference in textures: the mixture of crisp Asian pear with the mushier ripe avocado. Sometimes a bowl of raw veggies just doesn't cut it. Especially when some restaurants drench your salad in disgusting canola or soy-based dressings with all of their sneaky milk ingredients, sugar and preservatives. 

The great part is that if you want it as a meal, just add some chopped grilled chicken or salmon.

What you need for 2 servings:

1 bunch of Red leaf lettuce, washed and chopped

1 avocado, scooped out of the rind and "chopped"
1 Asian pear, peeled and chopped

2-3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice from 1/2 lemon
few globs of olive oil

about 1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
salt and pepper

Toss everything together and enjoy. Oh! you could also add a small handful of sunflower seeds or hemp seeds for some extra protein, which would make it even better! And if you're really more partial to sweeter dressings, you can add a small drizzle of honey.

That's all for today fox friends. Happy Wednesday!

Paleo cooking adventures: Okra and more recipes

I was in a kitchen adventure mood yesterday and decided to try okra for the first time. There are about four okra recipes in my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook and as I happened to see it at the grocery store, I thought it's time to try something new.

So I modified the recipe in the cookbook (because my instincts are usually better) and made delicious okra. Surprisingly, it was a very mellow greeny vegetable seeing as how it looks a little... let's say "rough". I expected it to be tough and tarte but was pleasantly surprised with how those things turned out. Even more surprising, they're filled with these cool little pods which tasted just as delicious! Total score on the dinner front!

I apologize for the bad presentation on the plate, but honestly, it was so good that I started eating and completely forgot to take a picture of it before I starting cutting into my pork rib eye.

Today's paleo dinner in 30 minutes:

Spiced pork rib eye steak and okra with sauteed zucchini, kale chips and a tomato basil salad

Preheat oven to 400 C

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat with about a tbsp coconut oil. Add a couple chopped shallots and a chopped zucchini. Cook for a few minutes until shallots begin to soften.

Meanwhile, make your spice blend (and make enough for both the pork and the okra):
In a small bowl toss together some paprika, dry mustard, cumin, a pinch of curry powder, a bit of powdered ginger, salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne if you like.

Sprinkle over pork steaks and massage it in a little, making sure to get both sides. Once your zucchini and onions are starting to soften, add the pork to the skillet and sear nicely on all sides. Then just pop the cast iron skillet (with the pork and veg) right into the oven for about 10-14 minutes depending on the thickness of the pork and how long you seared it.

Okra: Wash okra, pat dry and place in a mixing bowl pour about 1/2 cup or so of olive oil over the okra and toss to coat. Lay out on a baking sheet with parchment paper in a single layer and sprinkle with the remaining spice blend.
Cook in oven for about 10 minutes - flipping them after 5 minutes.

Tomato basil salad:
Take one package of grape tomatoes and slice each tomato in half. Add to bowl. Take a nice handful of fresh basil, chop and add to bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (I used a fig balsamic which is so ridiculously delicious). Season with salt and pepper, then gently toss to mix, and serve!

This was an extremely satisfying meal and somehow the meat gods smiled on me and allowed the pork to come out of the oven cooked perfectly! Hence why there's already a bite out of it on the plate in the picture. I will definitely be experimenting more with okra in the future!

Smoothies and protein powders

Colleagues and friends often ask my opinion on protein powders, and many patients are always looking for smoothie recipes. I don't even understand why you would need a recipe when you're just blending a bunch of yummy stuff together. It's not like you're baking the smoothie afterwards or are serving it to your Ladies Who Lunch group. But regardless, everyone needs a starting point, so I'm today I'm teaching the basics on smoothie-making.

A smoothie is your quick protein and carb fuel after a good workout. Your muscles need that fuel to repair themselves after any damage that might have occurred from workin' them so damn hard (relative to each person's individual fitness level, of course).

First things first, you need a Magic Bullet or a blender. I love the Bullet because it's fairly inexpensive ($30 at Canadian Tire right now), and it makes a nice sized single portion. Plus, you drink out of the container that you're blending in, so that's one less glass to wash later - total bonus! (especially if you don't have a dishwasher like me).

Here is my post-workout smoothie with "variations." I'm not listing a bunch of recipes because that's stupid... you can easily swap ingredients in and out of a smoothie and it's still going to be delicious, and it's still going to do it's job to fuel your muscles.

Start with your Magic Bullet "cup".
Fill halfway with Silk True Almond milk (original or vanilla - vanilla is much sweeter if you really like your sugar)
Add in 1-2 handfuls of frozen fruit
Add 1 scoop of protein powder: I prefer either Sunwarrior Protein Powder (natural or vanilla), or Arbonne Essentials Vanilla Protein Shake Mix
Add 1 heaping tsp or 1 tbsp of almond butter
Fill remainder of cup with either water or pure (no sugar added) orange juice.
Blend for about 10-15 seconds and enjoy!

Both protein powders listed are vegan, which is great for us non-dairy/non-casein people. Some people love their lactose-free whey powder, so if you're fine with milk protein (casein) but just not lactose, then I'd opt for Provitalex by Cytomatrix.

What about if you just ran out of protein powder?! What a crazy world we live in... but you can still make a smoothie even if you don't have protein powder on hand:

3-4 ice cubes
Almond milk (chocolate, vanilla or original), or water
2 tablespoons of almond butter
2-3 handfuls of frozen fruit
top with water and blend away.

Feeling like shakin' it up a bit? Add a 1/2 banana! Have protein powder but not almond butter? Leave it out and make your smoothie anyway! Get in your kitchen and pretend you are Bill Nye! Experiment! As the Frizz would say "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"

We need to stop being afraid of cooking and making food. We live in a world so filled with "conveniences" that sometimes we forget to actually work at something and take the easy road. I'm not saying to boycott Booster Juice for the rest of your life, but paying $10 for a smoothie that you can make at home is just not as rewarding (for you or your bank account).

Underutilized and Unappreciated kitchen ingredients.

Are you bored with your cooking? Tired of cutting yourself while peeling carrots? Has lettuce lost its appeal? Potatoes aren't giving you the flavour you need?

We all come across those cooking slumps where you feel like you've made the same dish over and over again, and you need some new inspiration. For me, that usually that means it's time to hit Chapters/Indigo and sift through the cookbook section. Or I consult with my friend T who will always present me with the most amazing food I've ever had and gladly hand over the recipes (like the duck and bacon soup).

Most of the larger grocery stores will usually carry quite a variety of fruits and vegetables, but how often do we just walk past them and only go for the ones we've had a million times?

Feel like being risky? Or maybe you just need to spice up an old favourite? Here are my top 10 ingredients that I think are underutilized and under-appreciated:

1) Not a veggie, but a spice: Star Anise. They're like cute little wooden twinkle starts that don't twinkle. If you like licorice, the smell is almost intoxicating. T also told me that when I'm making anything with ground beef and onion, to put 1-2 stars in with it because there is some magical chemical reaction that happens with the cooking onion and star anise and it seriously makes everything taste magical.

Star anise (image from www.theperfectpantry.com)

2) Parsnips: I like to think Parsnips are carrots' cousins. they kinda look the same except that parnsips are white. But don't let the colour fool you! They aren't like potatoes where white = bland. Parsnips are sweeter than carrots. I like to julienne them and put them in with my Fish en Papillote. Drizzle with EVOO, lemon and honey before baking, and they are incredible!

3) Turnips (aka turnups). Not only used by Italian plumbers who throw them at their enemies to kill them, turnips have an amazing transformation when you cook them. Just peeled and cut raw, they smell like horseradish, but once you cook/roast them fully, they turn into this incredible sweet and soft vegetable, perfect for stews, soups and sheppard's pie.

4) Kale: Kale is like the Zac Effron of vegetables. It's becoming more trendy, with kale chips being all the rage. The best tip about sauteeing kale, steaming it or baking it into chips is to massage the kale! Drizzle with EVOO and massage it into the leaves. And really, who wouldn't want to rub oil all over Zac Effron? Want to make kale chips? Cut the kale into smaller pieces, massage with oil, sprinkle with salt and then bake in a single layer on parchment paper for about 25 minutes at 350 F - flipping once half way. Bake until crisp, but not brown.

5) Okay this one isn't quite a "new" or interesting veggie, but I think it's completely different. Remember that episode of Friends where Pheobe tries to list all the different kinds of celery and she can only come up with "Regular celery"? Well Pheobe, there is another kind of celery which is unlike Regular celery and it's called "Organic Celery". I don't know why organic celery is so different, but it's amazing. It's firmer, not as cracked or damaged; It has more flavour and is greener (like the colour... not like the saving the planet) . It's like celery that has been on a paleo diet and been doing P90X for the past 6 months. It's super celery. Incorporate more celery into your diet and make it Organic!

6) Leeks. Leeks are the basketball players of the onion world. Like a giant green onion. Although they're not a crazy vegetable, we don't use them enough. Sautee them in a pan with cut up bacon (the real smoked side bacon kind, not the stuff you buy in a package at the grocery stores... go find a butcher.) and like star anise, the smell is intoxicating. You can also mix bacon with brussel sprouts and taste the magic.

7) Cauliflower. Again, not an exotic vegetable, but it is pretty boring. And what kid really says that they love cauliflower? So here are my tips: Steam it and mash it like potatoes, except that it will be superior to potatoes because it is actually filled with real nutrients. Make it creamy with a touch of coconut milk/cream and grind fresh pepper over it. OR take the raw cauliflower, grate it with a cheese grater, then cook it with coconut oil over medium heat for "riced" cauliflower - an excellent paleo alternative to rice in any rice dish you make.

Okay, I realize that there are only 7, but I'm having brain fog. I think it's time to go eat something before I get the "Kingitis" (low blood sugar in my family).

Kitchen Adventures... what NOT to do

What's a girl to do when her boyfriend is away? Cooking and cleaning! I swear it's not as anti-feminist as it seems.

I decided to have a kitchen adventure and make a brand new and very complicated recipe. Except that it's not that complicated... it just required me going to a grocery store that I never use - which is an adventure in itself! I was all disoriented. Figs were starting to look like chestnuts. The fresh meats were nowhere to be seen. But thankfully the employees, scattered all around the store, all wore nice bright red shirts and were able to direct me when I got lost.

Then I hit the LCBO for two types of Port and really had no idea what I was even looking for. I mean, I couldn't really tell which would be good for a soup, so I based my decision on the amount of bonus Air Miles that was offered with each one.

The next part of this adventure was cooking duck. I'd never done it before and was a little scared. It's a whole other species of bird! But I have to say that I was pretty impressed with my mallard intuition. My duck soup was a success but not without a few hiccups. So to help your future kitchen endeavors, I'm giving you my "What NOT to do during a kitchen adventure" list:

1) If you have a paper cut, wear gloves when touching minced garlic. Ditto for lemon/lemon juice. The pain is so incredible that at that moment I almost wanted to amputate my entire arm.

2) If you plan on chopping up and handling jalapeno peppers, make sure to take out your contact lenses and then DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYE. If you do, you will feel like a fountain of sulfuric acid is pouring gingerly over your eyeballs.

3) Always use protection when handling hot objects. You must wear oven mitts when removing a cast iron skillet from a hot oven. If you do not, there will be much burning.

4) Just because an oven mitt doesn't technically conduct heat, you should not touch the part of the oven mitt that was in contact with the hot object only seconds ago. It's still pretty damn hot.

5) Always read the entire recipe before starting it and make sure you understand all the steps don't miss anything. Sheppard's Pie just isn't the same without the ground beef.

Numbers 1, 3 and 4 were from today. The upside is that the duck soup was a success.

What's "heat" got to do with it?

Well, I have to say that putting any type of meat into a slow cooker turns it absolutely amazing.
It's like putting coal into an alchemy machine (yes, I just made that up), and in 8 hours on low you get solid gold.

I've found "Paleo Slow Cooking" by Chrissy Gower to be really hit or miss. The sweet potato jalapeno hash with sausage was by far my favourite dish. This is definitely going to be a repeat breakfast! I used Sundried Tomato and Basil Gluten-free sausages from McMaster's Meats in Georgetown, and it was the perfect flavour! However, according to my spice-enthusiast boyfriend, there just wasn't enough "heat".

Okay, story time: I have an amazing boyfriend, who can cook pretty decently, but we have a difference in opinion when it comes to flavouring and spice. Now, I do love Indian food and a little "kick" to my food is always welcome, but unfortunately, my mouth is not equipped with a fire extinguisher like his. One morning he offered to make me breakfast - and really, who am I to refuse food being cooked for me?! That would just be crazy; So I let him do his thing in the kitchen, making me frittata to which he said he added just a tiny bit of jalapeno.

I braced myself because I knew we had a difference in palates. He can chug a bottle of Sriracha like it's a refreshing splash of morning dew and lemon drops and a gentle wind would blow across his face. Meanwhile with me, even just a taste of the hot sauce in my world would cause thunder to take over and giant dinosaurs would rampage the earth, crushing houses!, crushing mountains!, tossing lightning bolts into the ocean and electrocuting all of the fishes! The earth would open up and liquid hot magma would unfold from the tectonic plates, slowly devouring the planet as we know it! That is what hot peppers do to me. I turn into the unhappiest dragon of all.

So after my wonderful boyfriend presented me with this lovely looking vegetable egg frittata, I took a few bites and immediate I could hear the roar of the dinosaurs. I looked at him and asked him how much jalapeno he put in it... Turns out that my piece of frittata had all of the pepper and he didn't bother to remove the seeds because apparently "that's where the heat comes from."

Least to say, I never let him forget that moment and from then on he understood that when making me any dish, he had to "sarah-fy" it. So making this sweet potato and sausage hash was amazing for me. But when I make it again, I would use either two jalapenos - instead of just one (with seeds removed) or, add just a couple of the seeds to bring a tiny bit more heat into the dish. I also modified it slightly by adding a bit of cayenne for the boyfriend too. It still wasn't hot enough for him, but I loved the flavour!!

So if you decide to buy this book, realize that not every recipe is perfect. She also uses a LOT of tomatoes in her recipes, so if you're following an anti-inflammatory diet, your recipe selection becomes much slimmer.

I also didn't appreciate her use of Penzey's spices since they aren't available in Canada and trying to substitute with something here just isn't going to give that exact flavour. But for all you 'Muricans out there, go nuts - I'm totally jealous that you have access to Penzey's products.

I'm pretty sure the saying is "Champions eat breakfast"

When did everyone stop eating breakfast? Seriously.

I mean, I remember being a teenage girl and would feel kinda nauseous at the thought of food in the morning, but I was 15. I remember my dad (when he found out about this and that being the reason I wasn't eating breakfast) telling me that he would get me ANYTHING I wanted for breakfast, as long as I ate something. He even offered to bring me a box of doughnuts from Tim Hortons if I would eat it... Which is disgusting, but I love my dad and I appreciated his concern and thoughtfulness more than he'll ever know.

I had this intuition though that I needed to eat something. I mean, I couldn't go my entire life without eating something first thing in the morning. Otherwise my body wouldn't be able to function properly - or at least, that was my understanding. And at 15, this was very philosophical of me.

So I did my best. I tried different things and eventually fell in love with Special K and skim milk. Both of which would make me sick now being Gluten-free/dairy-free, but that was my breakfast food and I loved it every single morning for about 5 years.

The word "breakfast" literally means to "break fast" - as in, we fast our bodies all night while we sleep, which is good and healthy, but as soon as we wake, our bodies need fuel. When we're "fasting" we're resting, but when you get up and go you're now using up energies that you haven't given your body yet. And really, I work incredibly hard to build and maintain my muscle mass, so why on earth would I want to deprive my body and tell it to start breaking down my muscles for fuel? Granted, this only occurs after longer periods of fasting, but it seems incredibly counter productive, and there's no way I want to stress out my body like that. 

Food is magic. I truly believe it's the most amazing thing for our bodies (exercise comes in a close second... or it might be a tie... oh man, it's so hard to decide which one I love more!). What you put into your body can completely change you: your mood, your energy, your body composition, your mental capabilities. So if there's a chance that eating breakfast will give you more energy and make you feel happier, why aren't we all doing it? Why is it such a chore to force ourselves to eat something in the morning, and yet we're all happy to scarf down a huge meals late in the evening when our body needs it the least?

If you're not eating breakfast right now, I want you to experiment. For 2-4 weeks, eat breakfast everyday and see the difference for yourself. Worried about time constraints and actually making something? Here's a list of some of my favourite things to eat for breakfast, though there are so many other dishes you could also choose from:

• Eggs!
•  If you're not intolerant, there is sooo much you can do with eggs. Frittata takes 10 minutes. Just scramble raw eggs in a bowl, throw into a heated skillet with coconut oil, top with whatever veggies or met you like, then cover on very low heat for 10 minutes until the eggs have completely cooked.
• Scramble them, they're delicious. Top with fresh dill or your favourite herbs/spices.
• Make them over-easy and eat with toast. Food For Life makes my favourite brown rice (GF) bread. 
• Hard boil them and take them to go!
• Soft boil them and dip pieces of toast in the nice soft yolk - which is something my mom would do for me as a little kid.

• Gluten-free toast - really, if you're not intolerant you can have real wheat toast, but I always recommend GF over wheat because the gluten is not friendly to all of our GI tracts. 
• Smear some nut butter over it - almond butter is my fav! But sunflower butter is equally amazing. 
• Skip the Smuckers and opt for a sugar-free jam like Crofter's. Again, I'm happy if you eat anything in the morning, but if you're looking for healthier options, always read your labels and choose products without all the extra sugar. I mean, fruit is made of frutose, so why do we need to add even more sugar to it? It just doesn't make any sense people.
• Heat coconut oil in a pan, slice a banana, and place it in the pan on medium heat until the banana pieces soften and get slightly brown and crispy on the outside. Then put that on your toast. It's the most incredible banana creation where it's crispy on the outside, but soft and mushy on the inside. You could even combine it on toast with almond butter and bacon to make an Elvis.

• Left overs!
• Stews, soups, anything hearty that you had the night before, eat it for breakfast! That truly is a breakfast of champions - as long as it doesn't consist of fries or pizza. Though I don't know anyone who keeps fries as leftovers... they get all soggy and gross in the fridge. 

• Cereals - my mom swears by Quinoa flakes with honey and berries
• Smoothies - the best part about smoothies is that you can mix anything together and it will taste good.
• Blend almond milk with some water/ice, frozen fruit and a protein powder
• Fav protein powders: Sunwarrior (vegan), Provitalex by Cytomatrix (whey - but lactose free), Arbonne protein/meal replacement powder.
• Add 1/2 banana to make it even thicker and creamier.

• Ground pork sausage patties - HOMEMADE. Pick up some ground pork from you butcher so you know it comes from healthier and happier pigs. Put it in a large bowl and add seasonings like garlic, cayenne, chili powder, anything you like! Make them into small patties and just fry them (in a tiny bit of coconut oil) in a skillet. Eat them with avocado slices for an incredible breakfast!

Really, nothing here that I've mentioned will take more than 15-20 minutes to make. If you're worried about time (like with the pork patties), prepare everything the night before and just cook it in the morning. And if nothing above appeals to you, just grab a piece of fruit to eat on your way to work/school. Bananas are amazing because they come in their own packaging :)

Remember: Food is Fuel! What you put into your body will determine how it runs. If you have a Ferrari, you want to drive it around - which requires fuel. You also wouldn't fill it up with mud because Ferrari wouldn't like that and wouldn't work properly. Treat your body like a Ferrari.

Recipe Book Review: Paleo Slow Cooking

I've been considering going back to being 100% paleo for a little while now, and to get myself back into it, I bought a new cookbook. My dad bought me a slow-cooker for Christmas and I've been putting it to good use! I was really hoping this book would give me new "slow-cooking" inspiration.

I'm also very serious about cookbooks and recipes, so I'm going through this book and am giving my honest feedback. Checkout my website www.thehealthyfox.ca for my already approved cookbook list, and we'll see if this one makes the cut.

The book is Paleo Slow Cooking by Chrissy Gower. I've already tried a few recipes, with mixed results, but I can't judge a book based on only a handful of recipes. So tomorrow I'll be heading to McMaster's Meats in Georgetown to stock up on some free range chicken, grass-fed beef and gluten-free sausage and trying out 3-4 more recipes.

This book has been really hit-or-miss so far. The apple almond cereal was one of the worst things I've ever made. But I've never been a fan of cream-of-wheat (which is what the author compares it to) to begin with. Who would have thought?! You have apples, honey, almond flour, blueberries... it sounds delicious! Unfortunately, when you put it into a slow cooker for 6 hours, it comes out as slop that has burnt a nice layer of black sugar right onto the stoneware and tastes so bland that not even the berries could make it taste better. I ended up throwing the entire thing in the trash which is heartbreaking! I hate wasting food!

I also tried the Hot and Sour soup - you'll notice I have my mom's recipe listed on my website - so I thought that by having the chicken cooked slowly would just make this soup melt in your mouth. Again, I stand corrected. There was just way too much chicken for this recipe and not nearly enough chicken broth for it to be a soup. It turned out to be chicken mush. Like soggy shredded chicken. It was also severely lacking in the chili-garlic department.

But I have to give Chrissy credit, the Spaghetti Meat Sauce was amazing!

It's just unfortunate that many of her recipes contain spice mixes from Penzeys - a product that's not carried in Canada (to my knowledge) and there are sticky rules to having it shipped here. So I have to improvise.

My goal for the next week is to make these recipes (which depends on what's available from my butcher tomorrow):

Jalapeno Sausage Hash - a breakfast dish made with sweet potatoes
Chipotle Chicken Stew
Minestrone Soup - we'll see how this one stacks up to my recipe (keeping in mind that my original recipe isn't quite Paleo)
Orange Maple Glazed Pork Chops

Backup recipes to try:
Slow Cooked Ham
Fire-Roasted Pork Loin

I'll be posting my completed review next week! Wish me luck in these new kitchen adventures!