It's Not Easy Being Green

Earlier this week I was peer pressured by Hyam and Jody in to signing up for Friday's Athletic Training class at Clay  (it's nice to have friends who pressure you in to making your life better!). I had missed our cycling class on Saturday so I knew I needed to make it up and was feeling pretty strong after my personal training session with Hyam. When I woke up this morning, however, I wasn't feel so sure of myself.

I've learned from experience that if I am going to make it through an intense class like this it is essential that I eat something prior to the class.  The issue is, I have to eat just the right amount. Too much and I feel like I am going to puke.  Too little and I don't have the energy to maintain the intensity.  The answer I've come up with is a green smoothie made with greek yogurt.  The yogurt is key for me because it gives me the protein necessary to keep up - or at least try.

I was all set this morning to make said smoothie when I realized one little problem - we were out of green.  My holiday weight gain had prompted me to get back on the salad wagon the past few weeks I had eaten every ounce of greenery we had (with the exception of the girls' Christmas tree that it still sitting in the front hallway...). With no time to scramble eggs or come up with a new plan I proceeded to throw every piece of fruit (fresh, frozen or nearly rotten) in to the blender as I scoured the bottom of the produce drawer for any little hint of green.  I wound up with a few stalks of celery and a package of mini-carrots, both of which found their way in to the blender, too.  The result?  A very un-green, but delicious and nutritious nonetheless, smoothie that lasted me through the entire class.

Cheers!

I Can Cook!

Whether the government is using The Basic Seven, the Old Food Pyramid, the New MyPyramid, or the even newer Choose My Plate in my mind it comes down to this: limit crappy stuff and eat more good stuff.  

With this profound knowledge in hand I spend endless hours perusing magazines like Clean Eating and Eating Well tearing out incredible looking recipes filled with nutrient-filled ingredients that I can't wait to make for my family (while wearing my beautiful apron and high heels, doing my best June Cleaver, of course).  Somehow, however, the 6 o'clock hour sneaks up on me and I find myself unprepared to cook anything other than what the girls call "The Mom Meals" (spaghetti and meatballs, "breakfast for dinner", grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, of course, my favorite - take out). But that's all changing.

Next week we move in to our new house.  As luck would have it the house we fell in love with happened to fall in the tip top of our price range.  So those glorious meals I "make" from Beer Run, Horse and Hound and BBQ Exchange while the Spicy Chicken is out of town are now completely off-limits. We are in full budget mode.  Oh, and in case you forgot -  I'm supposed to be trying to lose weight. Eating out tends to make that a little difficult (especially when they have all those great beers on tap...).

So while those who know me are skeptical (I can't imagine why!) I've embarked on something new.  It's called COOKING and guess what? I'm not that bad at it after all. While you shouldn't expect an invitation to dinner any time soon, I have been able to create a few nutritious and - dare I say yummy? - creations that everyone in the family enjoyed.


At KK's request tonight's selection was turkey burgers.  Not a difficult request, but I was feeling confident after knocking out a whole chicken with roasted vegetables that didn't suck last week so I decided to take it up a notch by making a GREEK version (crazy, I know!). I Googled "greek turkey burgers" (who needs cookbooks anymore?) and I came across this really good (read: easy) recipe from a great blog called The Novice Chef.

I adapted her recipe a little by using ground chicken because we had it in the freezer (I  stocked up when it was on sale a few weeks ago).  I also upped the sun dried tomatoes because we, for some reason, had 3 jars in the pantry (maybe they were on sale, too?). The result was  scrumptious! The Spicy Chicken even claimed  the tzatziki was better than his (which we know isn't true but at least he tried to make me feel good about it). Here's the recipe:

Greek Turkey Burgers and Tzatziki Sauce 
(adapted from The Novice Chef)

Ingredients

Burgers:
1 lb ground chicken 1/2 C. crumbled reduced fat feta cheese 1/2 C. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 1/2 C. fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped 1 teaspoon oregano 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder Wheat hamburger buns Tzatziki (recipe below) 


Tzatziki:
6 oz greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded
3 large cloves garlic, minced
Pepper, to taste

Directions

Burgers:

Place ground chicken, feta, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and seasonings into a mixing bowl. Mix until combined. Form patties and place onto a cookie sheet.  Grill for about 3 minutes per side or until an internal thermometer has reached 165 degrees. Garnish with Tzatziki, spinach, red peppers, etc., as you like. 

For Tzatziki:
Slice cucumber in half, length wise. Using a spoon, scrape out seeds. Finely shred cucumber and place in paper towels and squeeze out extra moisture. Combine greek yogurt, lemon juice, shredded cucumber, garlic and pepper. Refrigerate for about an hour before serving.

The Novice Chef is also a much better photographer than I am 

so you really should check out her post.

I'm going to try her Lettuce Wraps next week so stay tuned!

Basic Green Smoothie

BASIC GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 cup blueberries or strawberries or combination

1 cup kale or spinach

1 banana

1/2 cup ice*

4-8 ounces coconut water**

1 ounce whey protein

*if using frozen berries ice isn't necessary **adjust liquid to your preference***makes 2 large smoothies

This is obviously a really easy recipe that is fairly sweet from the berries and banana.  You can go much greener (and less sweet) by omitting the banana and adding in things like celery and other greens.  I've tried green apples, mache, arugula, cucumber and watercress with success (though I am personally not a fan of cilantro, avocado, parsley or dandelion greens).  Other good options for adding nutrients are things like dates, figs, and various seeds (pumpkin, sunflowers, sesame, etc).  I've found that tossing in a tablespoon or two of flax seed is a great addition from a nutrient standpoint without changing the texture or taste.  And, if you've thought about adding some omega-3 to your diet but gag at the thought of swallowing those huge fish-oil pills I recommend trying Barleans Omega Swirl. It comes in yummy flavors like berry, orange and lemon that are great additions to a smoothie. But don't tell my kids -   they'd die if they knew I was adding fish oil to their breakfast!

Eat! Part 2: The Green Smoothie Challenge

Since it's taken me so long to get to posting this I will give you the condensed version of the story (which, as you know, is NOT easy for me to do!).

A Quick Recap

When we last met I confessed that I had really let things go over the summer and was feeling pretty yucky, especially considering that my 20 year High School Reunion was coming up.  I went to Tracey Webber of EAT! to help me get back on track.

The Challenge

Tracey really got to me about how important getting back on track was not just for my physical health, but my mental health, as well. To do this she suggested making "Green Smoothies" every morning for breakfast.  I had tried a few of Tracey's green smoothies during the Cleanse I did with her last spring and was pretty sure I could handle it for a little while, as long as she didn't make me drink the one called the "Blood Transfusion" (recipe here).  To help motivate me Tracey vowed to do what we eventually entitled "The Smoothie Challenge" along with me. (Note: the photo above is not actually one of my smoothies but a stock photo.  I will post mine once I remember to take photos before drinking!)

Making a smoothie every morning really isn't that hard to do, especially for someone like Tracey who truly lives the life she teaches.  Unless, of course, you are heading to the caribbean for a week on vacation with you family, as Tracey was.  Did that stop her?  Of course not!  She literally packed her Blend Tech into her suitcase so that she could make smoothies along with me every day.  And she did it!  Every day Tracey and I e-mailed what we put in our smoothie that day, how it tasted and how we were feeling.  Now that is a dedicated support system!

At the beginning of the week I'd hit Whole Foods and Cville Market for fruit, veggies and box of frozen wheatgrass cubes (expensive but so easy in this form). A basic smoothie would consist of handful or two of some type of green - usually spinach, kale, watercress or mache; some type of frozen berries - usually blueberries, raspberries or strawberries (I'd use fresh if they were in season but out of season froze are cheaper and taste great), coconut water, whey protein powder and some ice.  Some of the recipes called for other ingredients like avocado (which I love to eat but found I hated in smoothies), celery, and nuts which I'd add if called for.  I also threw plain greek yogurt in quite often because I like the texture (though during the cleanse this isn't allowed). By the end of the week it usually turned into a "Whatever-I-have-Left Smoothies" which, surprisingly, often turned out to be my favorites.   

When my reunion  (in Minnesota) came around I attempted to maintain the Smoothie Challenge by making  one every morning at my parents house.  My veggie-loving mom was quick to jump on the bandwagon, but my dad was a little skeptical (surprise, surprise!).  We did convince him to try a few of my concoctions, but he drew the line at the ones that "looked like bird poop".  I can't blame him, some of them do look pretty disgusting.

Tomorrow I will post a basic recipe for an easy-to-drink-but-still-packed-with-vitamins-green-smoothie, as well as the "Blood Transfusion" smoothie of Tracey's that is so packed with nutrition you will feel like a new person after drinking it (if you can swallow it).  I will post a few of my favorite recipes I come up with new favorite combinations as time goes on. Yes, I'm planning on maintaining the smoothie thing into the future, as it's really easy, tastes great and starting your day off with all those nutritients feels really, really awesome (and did I mention it's a great hangover cure???).

EAT! Part I

A few months ago I started working with Tracey from EAT!  Even though I was working out fairly consistently (which we now know fell apart completely over the summer) I knew that if I really wanted to conquer my weight issues I was going to have to make some serious changes to my diet. Not go on "a diet" but change what I eat - forever.

You may recall my first foray with Tracey back in the spring when I did her Cleanse and Reboot program. Not only did I lose 8 pounds in three weeks I learned some really valuable lessons about how what I eat makes me feel.  It's not rocket science, of course - if you eat better, healthier foods you feel better. But I honestly had no idea how all the processed foods I was eating - presumably to keep me going - were sapping my energy, screwing with my insides, messing up my sleep patterns and sabotaging my weight loss.

Shortly after the Cleanse, after going back to my old ways, I hit a plateau.  Exercise wasn't taking the pounds off like it had and I was getting frustrated real quickly.  Before things got too out of hand I decided to hire Tracey on for a full year to help get me on track and keep me that way.  I knew from experience that actually practicing good habits would much more difficult than it seemed and, quite frankly, I needed some forced accountability.  I had learned so much from Tracey during the cleanse that I knew working with her would be a major help in my success.

So we met and chatted about all of my food and weight issues (yes, it was a long meeting).  Tracey is really good at what she does and I feel like she really gets me so I walked out of that meeting feeling completely motivated, energized and ready to conquer the world.  Until a week later when life got in the way again - as it always does - and I went crashing down into a bowl of ice cream.

Summer came and things never got quite to that place of calm that I had planned for in May.  It seemed there was never enough time to get the basic things done - let alone the "extra" stuff - you know, like taking care of myself.    Vacations put both of us out of town on different weeks so we weren't able to meet consistently and before I knew it my eating was spinning out of control and my alcohol intake was back to where it was BC (Before Clay).  Suddenly July was almost over and I hadn't change a darn thing (well, except for the worse).  Which brings us to August....

Spring Cleansing

Life hasn't allowed much time for blogging lately but I don't want you to think that means I haven't been moving forward.  On the contrary, I've made really big steps over the past few weeks that I've been dying to write about here.

I will start with the craziest part.  For the past 12 days I have been doing the "14-Day Total Body Re-Boot and Cleanse" developed by Tracey Webber at Eat! (which is located within the Clay Fitness + Nutrition studio).  Tracey opened EAT! about a month ago and I'm so excited about all the amazing things she is doing that I've been helping her promote them on SuzySaid.  A few weeks ago Tracey approached me and asked if I'd like to take part in her Re-boot and Cleanse program as a thank you.  Ironically a few days earlier I had mentioned to Hyam that I knew that if I was going to get off the plateau I've been on for the past few months what I had to do was really commit to a better, healthier eating plan.  Though I've never even contemplated doing something like a cleanse Tracey's offer intrigued me so I said yes.

So here I am 12 days later, down 8 pounds and feeling fabulous!  The purpose of the cleanse was not necessarily to lose weight, but it is a fortunate side effect of ridding your diet of all processed foods, sugar, dairy and animal protein.  Sounds restrictive, and I guess it kind of is, but it's only two weeks and you do get to eat as much as you want of "approved" foods.  I've definitely had my fair share of greens lately!

Though I still have a few days left before I start adding things back into my diet (Phase 3 of the Cleanse) I think it's safe to say that this experiment has been a success.  I've tried more new foods in the past 12 days than I had in the past 12 months and it's taught me a lot about how was I eating.  I don't miss processed foods from a dietary standpoint at all - though I do miss the convenience of them a little.  And the sugar...remember how much I craved sugar?  That is gone!  People kept telling me it would happen once I gave it up but I didn't really believe them.  I don't even miss it.  Well...maybe a little.

Clean Eating

I'll be the first to admit that my attempt to change my diet during this journey would probably best be described as "half-assed".  I have really good days, but they are easily outnumbered by my not-so-good ones, and there have definitely been a few embarrassingly horrible ones recently.  

Knowing that I've been impeding my own success (I think they call it self-sabotage) one of my New Year's Resolutions was to cook more (or maybe in my case it should be start cooking!).  So yesterday, armed with past issues of Clean Eating (from this summer when I resolved to start eating healthier!) and a few recent Real Simple Magazines I set out to make a plan for healthier, cleaner eating.  Before long I had a pile full of great, healthy and not too difficult recipes in hand and was ready to head to the store.

I absolutely love Clean Eating Magazine. The photos are beautiful (I refuse to make a recipe that I don't have a picture of), the recipes are simple enough for someone like me (and are really explanatory), their Weekly Menu Plan section includes a shopping list, and, of course, they are healthy! Admittedly there are always a few items that I've never heard of or have no desire to ever try, but for the most part it totally jazzes me up about eating healthily. 

I'll be honest and say that when the Spicy Chicken is in town I do more requesting than  cooking, but the important part is that I'm eating well, right.  We started this morning with a modified version of Clean Eating's MacK Muffin from the September/October 2010, which is a healthy twist on the Egg McMuffin.  The recipe is below (we modified with asparagus because someone forgot to buy the spinach).  

THE MacK MUFFIN (Clean Eating, September/October 2010) 

Ingredients

white vinegar, as needed

1 large egg

olive oil cooking spray

1 cup spinach

1 whole-wheat English Muffin

1 tbsp. light cream cheese

1 slice tomato

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp. hot sauce (i.e. Sriracha), optional

Instructions

1.  Bring a large, deep saucepan with 5-6 cups of water to a boil.  Add about 1 tsp. vinegar for every cup of water. (Taste to make sure vinegar is barely noticeable).  Lower heat to a slow simmer.  Carefully crack egg into a teacup or large ladle.  Lower into water and pour egg out as gently as possible, careful not to break yolk. Cook until egg white is formed and set and yolk begins to thicken but is not hard (3-4 minutes). Remove egg with slotted spoon or strainer, set aside.

2.  Heat a medium non-stick pan over medium heat and mist with cooking spray.  Once pan is hot, add spinach and saute for 1-2 minutes, until slightly wilted.  Remove spinach from pan and set aside. (if using asparagus, saute the same way).

3.  Toast English muffin.  To assemble, spread 1/2 tbsp. cream cheese on each half of English muffin.  Place spinach on bottom half of English muffin, then add poached egg and tomato. Season with salt and pepper. Finish with hot sauce, if desired, before topping with other half of English muffin.