Simple Secrets to Eating Naturally & Joyfully

Back to Basics Recipes - Lemon-Herb Grilled Chicken

I often hear the excuse from both women and men that they’d like to make more healthful meal decisions, but just don’t have the time.  Or the other excuse is that this “organic” stuff costs a lot more.  Here’s my response:  Creating a simple meal doesn’t require a lot of time, and I bet that you don’t claim to not have time when you get on your Blackberry, computer or in front of the TV.  Plus, organic doesn’t cost more if you get yourself trained to enjoy quality portions versus quantity portions.  Eating healthfully means savoring tastes and not wolfing down giant quantities of food.  I’m including a very simple grilled chicken recipe below.  I tend to make extra quantities for lunch during the week or even for freezing.  When you keep good foods on hand, you’re not tempted to make a stop at a take-out counter…

 

Lemon-Herb Grilled Chicken

(Serves 4-6)

Marinate meat for 8 hours

 

4 chicken breasts (with bone and skin)

2/3 cup filtered water

3 tbsp olive oil

2 organic lemons

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

½ tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried parsley

½ tsp garlic powder

 

Drizzle ½ tsp of olive oil on bottom of a Pyrex dish.  Arrange chicken skin side up in dish.  Pour remaining olive oil over chicken.  Pour water on sides of dish allowing for it to seep in between meat.  Half lemons and squeeze juice onto meat.  Then sprinkle the spices and herbs on the chicken.  Cover the dish to marinate for 8 hours.  Turn chicken over after 4 hours.  Then simply grill chicken slowly for 30 minutes, less or more, depending on size and thickness of meat. 

 

This recipe is pure and simple!  Plus, this home-made marinade is so much better than the purchased bottled version in the store – no artificial colors or flavorings.  You’re just using what Mother Nature has provided and not a science lab…

Go Ahead & Indulge in Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently made chocolate chip cookies for a friend’s baby shower and got tons of compliments. I was being asked what the secret ingredient was and how they got so “puffy”. Naturally, I was going to be funny about it and joke that my cat provided a valuable ingredient, but bit my tongue. I wouldn’t say that there is a secret ingredient. It just was the quality of the ingredients, mostly organic and non-processed. So, go ahead and indulge in these decadent chocolate chip cookies. You are so worth it. Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies (About 40 cookies) 2-1/2 cups of unbleached flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp ground cinnamon 2 sticks of organic butter, softened (highly recommend Trader Joe’s Organic Butter) 2 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract ¾ cup – 1 cup of organic sugar (depending on your taste for sweetness) ½ cup of maple sugar 12 oz bag of chocolate chips ½ cup of chopped nuts, such as walnuts or pecans (optional) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a medium size bowl. In a large bowl, mix softened butter, vanilla extract and sugars with a hand mixer. After thoroughly blended, add 1 egg at a time and continue to mix until smooth. Slowly then add flour mix and continue until batter has been fully mixed together. Then by hand, with a large wooden spoon, mix in chocolate chips and nuts (if using). Using two teaspoons, scoop batter and place on cookie sheet (approximately 12 scoops per sheet). Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cake racks. This recipe is pure and simple! Remember to enjoy the cookies slowly… Also, quality over quantity. The cookies also freeze nicely.

Elimination Diet – What Are We Trying to Rid Ourselves of?

Elimination diet plans, detox diets and master cleanses welcome us as fresh summer fruits and vegetables become readily available again. I have always questioned the effectiveness of such programs. Why do women do them? I think it ties into how we approach life. We often berate ourselves and feel we need to punish ourselves for being or feeling a certain way. So, you go through a program and you’ve lost some weight (or a lot in certain instances). Do you actually maintain the weight loss? Most likely not. Your resistance to eating healthfully and joyfully never was addressed in the first place. Women eliminate sugar, sweets, carbs, dairy, and so on, but don’t address what caused them to eat them in excess in the first place. I personally do not think that sugar, sweets, carbs and dairy are bad for you (keeping in mind that I’m not a medical expert), if they’re from the unprocessed kind. Also, even these unprocessed foods should be enjoyed in moderation and purposefully. Women set themselves up for failure by trying to eliminate foods. You start to mentally crave it, berate yourself when you cave in and then continue on the cycle you’ve been trying to eliminate. I would also say that this applies to behaviors. A lot of women beat themselves up for being gossipy, negative, indecisive, emotional, judgmental, passive-aggressive, and whiny, a victim, a complainer, and the list goes on. Yet the more, she tries to “eliminate” those behaviors or personality traits, the more she displays them. She might not cave in to the habit for 10 minutes, 1 hour or 1 day, but then it comes back. How about we then talk it a step further? Frustrated, she’ll then tell herself, how incapable, weak, unkind, unloving, stupid, ugly, unspiritual or imperfect she is. So, I would like a new diet program to be introduced. The Addition Diet. What does this diet entail? All you have to do is to totally embrace those “bad” habits of yours and slowly add “good” habits. What do I mean by this? I’ll use myself as an example. I’m totally gossipy (everyday that is!) and quite judgmental at times. I’m just using two self-perceived flaws here. I could easily rattle off others… So, instead of beating myself up because I gossiped about someone or in my mind judged someone about her appearance, I unemotionally make a statement in my mind such as: “You really love to gossip.” Then I emotionally tell myself that I’m funny and how much I love that part of myself. You wouldn’t believe how good this makes you feel. Here comes the Addition part. I challenge myself to pay people compliments. How do you apply this concept to food? Okay, you’ve had that doughnut that you said you wouldn’t. Acknowledge this by saying: “You really love to eat doughnuts, don’t you?” Tell yourself how much you love that you love doughnuts. Then make a commitment to have a piece of fruit. The soul purpose of The Addition Diet is to get you to focus on the pleasure of your being and not the pain. It’s pure and simple! Like the info contained here? Then you’ll love Creating Enduring Allure- The Secret to Being an Empowered Woman! You can easily purchase the e-book at: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/creating-enduring-allure/5936339.