Paleo Energy Bites and an Anti-Inflammatory Update!

As promised in the last post, I have a recipe to share today.This recipe is Paleo, Anti-Inflammatory Diet friendly, and freaking delicious! The Anti-Inflammatory Diet has certainly been doing the trick. I have been following this diet very strict for the past 5 weeks. At my last appointment with my Naturopath she announced all of the Rheumatoid Arthritis markers that I was displaying at the beginning of this journey are completely gone. The swelling is down, I am not suffering from joint pain, headaches, nosebleeds, fatigue, upset stomach, cramping, choking, vomiting... I am feeling downright human again! So we have strong reason to believe that my symptoms were all due to an allergy. And the side benefit of this diet? I have lost an average of 3 pounds per week for the entire time I have been following the diet.

Next week will get a little bit tricky since that is when I slowly start to add foods back in and we look for any type of reaction. To be honest, I am almost afraid. I feel so good right now that I don't want to do anything to mess it up! But Mike had a really good point: if I eat something that makes me feel bad, don't eat it anymore. I know, total no-brainer, but I guess I really did need somebody to point that out to me.

Okay, enough chat... let's get on with this recipe thing already. Geez. So I picked this recipe to make because I was discovering that any prolonged activity (like a 20 mile bike ride, 3 hours of tennis, pickleball then tennis after, etc.) was completely depleting my stores of energy. I need to recondition my body to still be able to sustain itself while doing sports without the huge quantities of carbohydrates and sugar I was ingesting before. But in the meantime, to keep from bonking and taking naps on the tennis court, I decided to make some Anti-Inflammatory Diet friendly Energy Bites. These are also Paleo, if you happen to be following that diet.

 This recipe uses oats, almonds, unsweetened coconut, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla extract.

 I pulsed the oats in the food processor to make them smaller and easier to combine.

Pulsed oats.

 

 I put all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. It made a giant goopy mess.

 And then I played with it. The easiest way to make sure that it all gets evenly combined is to use your hands. And then you are a giant goopy mess, too. But you have to admit, it is fun being that sticky and sweet.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.

Then roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. It made about 55 for me, but I will admit that not all of my energy bites were of uniform size, so you can anticipate this making about 50 bites. Store them in the refrigerator. They will keep for a little over a week.

Paleo Energy Bites

Ingredients:

2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 Cups Coconut Flakes, Unsweetened
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Almonds, chopped
2/3 Cup Honey
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Place the oats in the food processor and pulse until they are broken up.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to work it all together until it is well combined. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Roll into 1-inch balls and store in the refrigerator.

Nutrition Information:

Per Energy Bite:
Calories -88
Carbohydrates - 9 g
Fat - 5 g
Protein - 2 g

Rose Cross Stitch - Another UFO Off the List!

I realize I have been a bit quiet lately, but I have been awfully busy researching my Anti-Inflammatory Diet (going really well, thanks for asking!) and will be posting a recipe or two on that this week, as well as a full update on how it is going.

I have also been working, traveling, playing with nephews, and finishing another project, so I can mark that off the UFO list!

I just finished a rose cross stitch I started back in high school. Yes, actually, that long ago. It has been sitting in the UFO bag for a long time because as it turns out, I am not really a "flower" kind of girl. But I dug it out last month and finished it last week.

Rose Cross Stitch

The finished design is 6"x8", so it would fit perfectly in an 8"x10" frame with matting. It is on white 16-count aida cloth, and I am sad to say that the pictures really don't do the colors justice. It pops a lot more when you see it in person.

Close up of the stitching.

I posted this one to my Etsy shop in hopes that someone who is a "flower" kind of person might want it. If you are interested, you can see the listing here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/162999628/rose-cross-stitch?ref=shop_home_active

Stay tuned for some more Anti-Inflammatory Recipes coming this week!

Red Hot Chicken Soup = Good. Cod Liver Oil = Bad

Another life's lesson to be written down, passed along to everyone I care about, and never forgotten, because trust me when I tell you that this history should never be repeated: Don't, and I repeat DON'T try Cod Liver Oil. Even if your Naturopath tells you it is very important for the Omega 3s in your Anti-Inflammatory Diet. It's not worth it. Unless of course you love anchovies and want to taste them in everything you eat, smell them in everything you sniff, and be pretty sure that as you sweat, you are excreting the odor of anchovies all over your local gym. Just don't do it.

Okay, now that I have finished with that rant, I can happily say that Red Hot Chicken Soup is good. That was the recipe experiment for dinner tonight, and I am pleased with how it turned out. Of course, it would be better with cheese, because what isn't? And I will probably add bacon to it next time I make it, because everything is better with bacon, too, but this was pretty good for a first pass. I took a couple of different recipes that I found on some Celiac-friendly sites and some Paleo cooking sites and this is the result.

So you start with 8 cups of water and some chicken breast.

And then you add in a whole head of cauliflower, chopped into florets.

Bring the water, cauliflower and chicken to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until the chicken breasts are cooked through. In the meantime, chop your onion.

Then chop your celery.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove from water and set aside. When it is cool, you will shred it.

While waiting for the chicken to cool, add in the Frank's Red Hot, some coconut milk, honey, and your spices. Then whip out your trusty immersion blender (I STILL love my immersion blender!) and go to town. Make sure there are no big chunks of cauliflower left.

Then shred your chicken. Some people use a food processor for this, but I have found that it is really easy to do just by using two forks. 

Add the shredded chicken to the pot with your onion and celery.

It will simmer for another twenty minutes, and it is quite tasty when it's all said and done! I know you might think it will be quite spicy with the amount of Frank's Red Hot that goes into it, but to me, the heat was pretty good. If I could have added sour cream or cheese, I would have gone hotter. Sigh. Maybe some day in the future. In the meantime, pretty good as is.

Red Hot Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

8 cups Water
4 Chicken Breasts
1 Head Cauliflower, chopped
2 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Chicken Broth
1 Cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
3 Stalks Celery, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
Dash Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk

In a large stockpot or soup pot, put the water, chicken and cauliflower. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside. Add Honey, Broth, Frank's Red Hot, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and coconut milk. Using an immersion blender, blend until as smooth as you can get it.

Shred the chicken and add to the soup, along with the onions and celery. Let simmer for 20 minutes, then ladle up and enjoy!

Nutritional Information per serving:
Calories:  261
Fat: 4.9g
Carbohydrates: 15.6g
Protein: 38.4g

Garlic Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

So you may remember a while back (April-ish) I posted about some allergy issues I was having and that I was starting to eliminate some foods from my diet. I cut out eggs completely during that month, but because of the different medications the allergist had me on, it was really difficult to determine if that was an effective mood. At the end of April I stopped taking the prescribed steroids, allergy pills, and antacid, and sort gave myself the complete month of May to get it out of my system. Then I cut out eggs again in June. It really didn't make much difference in how I felt. But July was a rough month, and by the time I made it into August I was having a whole host of odd issues. So I went to see a Naturopath.

I have never been to a Naturopath before, but because I determined that whatever this is that is bothering me, I choose to determine the root cause before I look at treatment options. I don't want to drug the symptoms. I want to find the cause, and I want to squash it like a little bug. Or completely eradicate it like the military did with King Kong. I realize that probably sounds a bit harsh, but the host of odd symptoms I have had lately are really getting to me. Between the stomach pain, the headaches, the nosebleeds, the stiff muscles, the sore joints, the nosebleeds, the general fatigue and the insane swelling reaction to mosquitoes, I am fairly miserable. But then my right hand started to swell, and my fingers started to resemble sausages. Really painful sausages. And then I couldn't hold my tennis racquet anymore. So something had to be done.

I must admit, even after I went to my appointment and she spent 3 hours with me, I am still a little skeptical. The plan she has given me for moving forward is very intensive and I think it is going to be very hard. I am currently just a little over two days into this, and I am struggling. I hope it will get easier over time, though. She wants to run some allergy and auto-immune tests on me, but right now my body has too much inflammation for the tests to be accurate. So step one is an anti-inflammatory diet. And it is pretty strict. So no wheat, gluten, dairy, corn, eggs, soy, sugar, or citrus. I am also to avoid the nightshade family, so no tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or peppers. Needless to say, this is really challenging me in the kitchen. So as I learn to eat this way, I figure I will share some good recipes with you.

This first recipe is adapted from a recipe I saw on the blog The Lemon Bowl. It is easily customizable to your dietary needs and preferences.

 This recipe features garlic and vegetables tossed in olive oil, paprika, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes, and then roasted with chicken sausage on top.

I started  with whole cloves of garlic. Yup. Whole. They get delicious and creamy when roasted like this, and the flavor with the chicken sausage is really wonderful. I added butternut squash, cauliflower, carrots, and onions.
 

With the chicken sausages on top, it is ready to roast.

I tried to get a good picture of the fork holes I put in the sausages to let the juices drain out over the vegetables, but it didn't come out. But you can see the chunks of artichoke in the chicken sausage. I used a garlic (um-hm... that's right) and artichoke chicken sausage.

When you pull it out of the oven, the veggies are roasted perfectly and the sausage is juicy and perfect! So this may be gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, sugar, citrus, and corn free, but it still tastes really great!
 

Garlic Roasted Chicken Sausage and Vegetables

Ingredients: (Serves 8)

4 Cups of Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped 
1 onion, chopped
1 head of Cauliflower, broken into florets
10 cloves of Garlic, peeled
8 Chicken Sausages
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. Paprika
2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Dash of Salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F while chopping your veggies. Scatter them in the bottom of a roasting pan. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil, paprika, red pepper flakes and salt. Toss well to combine. Cut the sausages in half and pierce each half with a fork so the juices with run down around the veggies as they cook. Place the sausages on top of the veggies.

Bake 45-55 minutes, depending on how crispy you want your sausages. I baked for 45 minutes and I thought they were perfect!

For those who are interested, here is the nutritional information:
Calories - 304
Fat - 12 g
Carbs - 35.3
Protein - 17.3

A couple of finished projects to share

I know things have been awfully quiet in my corner lately, but I have been heads-down on a couple of projects that I have finished and can't wait to share! The first is a small tote that I made to carry my cross-stitch projects. It is important to keep them as clean and flat as possible while you are working on them so the fabric doesn't stain or pull and the stitches remain as even as possible. Since I have a couple of long-term cross-stitch projects underway, I decided a tote was necessity. So I made one.

I love the way the colors in the fabric coordinate!

I used some scraps of home decor fabric in coordinating colors. Aren't they pretty? I have a lot more fabric so I will be making more and posting them to my Etsy shop. Custom orders accepted, too, so shoot me an email if you have a request!

Now I bet you are just dying to know what I've been carrying around in that bag, aren't you? Well, I had a custom request for a birth sampler (cross stitch), and I just finished it, so I figured I would share. I apologize for needing to black out certain sections, but since this is a public blog, better safe than sorry on the personally identifiable information! This is another one that is not going to be sold in the shop, but I do take custom orders!

This finished design is 11x14 and still needs to be framed and matted, but I just love the way it turned out!

What a way to wrap up the month, with a couple of finished projects. So... on to the next project. I will share more when I get them done!

Family Reunion in Fort Collins - and a quilt shop or two!

My mother and I just returned from a short trip to Ft. Collins, Colorado where we enjoyed a family reunion (or two), a coffee shop (or two) and a quilt shop (or two). It was a wonderful trip full of family, fun, and fabric, so I thought I would share a little of it with you.

Mom and I found a super-cute little fabric shop in Old Town Ft. Collins, right off Mountain Ave. Mama Said Sew offers fabric, notions, sewing classes, a blog I like to follow, and super-great staff! We stopped in a bought a couple of fat quarters, took a picture for posterity, and they threw in a really cute charm pack featuring the new Baby Jane line.

Posterity photo! I do love their sign, though.

Fat quarters from Mama Said Sew. Anybody else find it odd that these are my Mom's favorite colors?

 

 

The Baby Jane charm pack... loving these fabrics, and thinking there is a patchwork pillow in my future.

 The second fabric store we found was right off South College, and it is an institution in Ft. Collins, although they have recently moved a few blocks down College to a new location. This store is The Fig Leaf and I found so many fun things there... including this ombre fabric that I think would go really well with the fat quarters from Mama Said Sew. More of my Mom's favorite colors. So weird.

Gorgeous ombre fabric that I just might need to order.

 The Fig Leaf also had the Lil Twister and Midi Twister tools that I have been searching for. These seem to be popular tools, since my local stores have been sold out for the last two months. So now I have them, and there will be much twisting to come!

 

They also had a phenomenal selection of fat quarters and remnants, and I just had too much fun there. The hard part was limiting the purchases since I only had the one carry-on!

The Fig Leaf fat quarters

The Fig Leaf remnants

And then on to the Family Reunion! My cousin Gary and his wife Candace were kind enough to host, so for three days their beautiful property was over-run by the family. We had about 44 people show up, and it was a great time! I consider it a successful family reunion... no cops were called, no one lost limbs or more than a pint of blood, and we even got a rainbow!

Gary and Candace

Me and my Mom

The rainbow!

The beautiful venue - this is Gary's property.

Love this... and I need to credit Sonja with these fantastic photos!

The cousins... with Aunt Betty (our matriarch) in the middle!

 Thanks for sharing my trip with me... I hope you had as much fun as I did!

P.S. I left the wicked vicious mosquitoes in Colorado for a new unsuspecting victim, so watch yourselves!

Chicken Piccata (My Way)

I have been wanting to make Chicken Piccata (My Way) for quite some time now. I mean, what's not to like? Chicken, lemon, garlic, capers, wine... yup... all good. So we had chicken piccata for lunch today. And it was good. I am sharing my version with you. It is loosely adapted from the Lemon Chicken Piccata found on All Recipes.

This recipe cooks pretty quickly once it goes in the pan, so I recommend having everything prepped and ready to go before you start.

I started with getting the garlic chopped, lemon squeezed, liquids measured, and my chicken butterflied and pounded thin. I also started some penne pasta because that is what I wanted with my chicken piccata.

Chopping garlic with my favorite knife. I realize this is probably overkill, but it is really a kick-butt knife!

 I squeezed one whole lemon into a small bowl, and I took the time to pick out all the seeds, because it just isn't any fun biting into one of them while you are eating.

Okay, seriously... how good does that lemon look?

 I used two chicken breasts and sliced them in half so I ended up with four chicken breast halves. Then I covered them in saran wrap and used a mallet to brutally beat them into submission. The thinner, the better, really. This serves a couple of purposes. First, it greatly reduces the amount of time to cook. Second, it greatly reduces the risk of under-cooking the chicken, or over-cooking the chicken. Once it is browned on each side, it's done!

My poor brutalized chicken. It looks sad, doesn't it?

I melted equal parts butter and oil in a pan and browned the chicken on each side. This takes about 2-3 minutes per side.

Side one...

...Side two!

 Then I added the garlic and let it brown for about a minute, just until it gets really fragrant. Then in goes the wine to deglaze the pan. This is your chance to get up all the delicious little browned bits that really make the recipe even better. Once the pan is deglazed, in goes the lemon, broth, and capers. A little salt and pepper, and let it reduce.

Once the sauce is reduced down to about half, stir in the last Tbsp of butter and you are ready to eat!

Delicious, I tell you.

Chicken Piccata

2 Chicken Breasts, butterflied and pounded thin
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Lemon, juiced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp Capers
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Butter

Heat the oil and butter in a pan on medium heat. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Brown the chicken on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about one minute. Then add the wine and deglaze the pan. Then add the lemon juice, chicken broth and capers. Reduce the sauce by half. This takes about 5 minutes. Once the sauce is reduced, stir in the last bit of butter and any additional salt and pepper you desire, and you are ready to eat!

This is good served with pasta or rice.