Superfood Salad

Veggies on veggies on veggies! I started making this salad when my husband said he wanted to have more raw veggies in our meal planning repertoire. I got the original ingredient list and salad dressing from this recipe on The Roasted Root, but have altered it a bit to my liking.

So tonight we set out on the superfood salad adventure! This recipe makes A TON so be ready to share with others and eat it ALL week (but not longer than 6 days because that’s about when it starts to get a little funky).

The recipe calls for maple syrup in the dressing and I hesitate to add it in. I’ve labeled sugar as a “bad food” for so long that even adding it to a salad brings anxiety and shame and guilt. But this my journey to break free from my “bad foods” list. So maple syrup I added! All of it.

Start by washing and drying all of your veggies. I chose to start with carrots tonight, but the order really doesn’t matter. Two things I’ve learned about making this salad:

1. Cut the veggies roughly the same size before you put them in the food processor
2. Pulse each type of vegetable individually in the food processor for best results

Look at these lovely carrots!

Throw them in the food processor. We have this food processor and it’s fine.

And pulse and pulse and pulse until you reach your desired coarseness.

Throw it in the BIGGEST bowl you’ve got! (Thanks mother-in-law for this one!)

For the broccoli I like to separate the stems from the florets as much as I can. I have found this to make for easier food processing.

Place the stems in the food processor, pulse, empty.

Tada! Place the diced stems in the huge mixing bowl.

Now repeat with the florets.

And tada again! Place the dices florets in the mixing bowl.

Next up, those pesky beets! Clean up quick… They stain fast! Peel the beets and give them a rough chop before placing in the food processor. Then pulse and pulse and pulse!

Empty the beets in the mixing bowl and move on to the cabbage. I peel off the outer layer of the cabbage and then rinse. Give the cabbage a rough, but even chop.

Watch out for the harder middle core. I just toss it. It messes up the evenness of the food processing (just a little OCD over here).

And pulse and pulse and pulse. But not to much! The cabbage goes quickly!

All hail kale! Get in my food processor! I did two rounds of the kale.

Diced and lovely!

Mix up the bowl of awesomeness and marvel at the beautiful colors!

Add the dried cranberries and toss again.

Now it’s time for the dressing. Mix all the ingredients into a small mixing bowl or use a salad dressing shaker. My mother-in-law had this OXO Salad Dressing Shaker and the thing is AMAZING! Get one! Now!

Before...

After some shaking…

Pour all of the dressing over the salad, toss. Then serve or store. I love that you can add the dressing when you make this salad and don’t have to worry about adding it later when you take it for lunch!

Enjoy your veggies!

Salad

Carrots (2 is good)

Broccoli (2 heads would be good)

Beets, peeled (2 is good)

1 Small head of Red Cabbage

Kale (about 4 handfuls)

⅓ cup Dried Cranberries

Additional ideas: I’m sure brussel sprouts would be good, apple, mango, etc. Get creative!

Dressing

¼  cup Olive Oil

Juice of 2 lemons

1 tablespoon Fresh Ginger, Peeled and grated (or ¼ tsp ground)

2 teaspoons Whole Grain Mustard

2 teaspoons Pure Maple Syrup

Sprinkle of salt

Directions

Wash and dry all of your veggies. Pulse all veggies individually in a food processor to desired coarseness. Mix in a large bowl. Add dried cranberries. Mix all ingredients for dressing and pour over salad. Mix well.

Storage

I have found this salad keeps well for about 6 days (with the dressing on it!), but that’s the max. Sometimes I add more lemon juice and touch more maple syrup towards the end of it’s days to brighten it back up.

Your Journey
What's your favorite way to eat raw veggies? Comment below.

How Bad Is It?

Let’s get right to it. How bad really are the thoughts I tell myself?

In January I decided I really wanted needed to understand how bad my self-talk was. I knew I needed to write down the thoughts as they were coming, so for me, making a simple google form and adding it to the home screen of my phone was the best way to do this. I created two forms: One, called negative self talk, and another called self-loving statements. I opened the survey each time I had a negative or positive thought about myself.

One goal of Journey With Me is honesty, so here we go. Here are 10 unedited negative statements I said to myself in first 10 days of tracking this data:

1. You're such a gross person. You're such a failure.
2. You ate two slices of pizza last night. You better get to the gym this morning. Or you'll get fat.
3. (Touching my tummy in the morning… a favorite self-loathing practice). You're still fat. Might as well give up trying. You're always going to have a tummy like this.
4. You're never going to lose weight or like the way you look and feel.
5. There you go again. Losing control with the popcorn. Never going to change.
6. I can't believe how much you sabotage yourself. You're so weak. You're always going to be fat.
7. I can't feel good about myself today, remember what you ate yesterday?
8. Whoa. Do you see your reflection? Look at that tummy! That's SO gross. This body kindness stuff is going to make you sooo fat. It's starting already. Ugggg. You look so gross.
9. I'm so tired today. I just want to go home. I don't want to work. I want to do everything else. Gym. Shopping. Cooking. Vacation planning.
10. You lose all control when you're on vacation and drinking. No self-control. You made such a bad lunch decision today.

I feel naked. I feel like you can see it all now. But can you relate?

When I first started writing these statements down it was SO hard to get the words out. They were like a jumbled mess of toxic mumbles that had no real words. But pushing and focusing and really trying to put words to that toxic stew was so beneficial. Having all of these thoughts swarming in my head with nowhere to go was not helping at all, but giving them actual words and getting them on a google form at least got them out of my head and brought me awareness.

Sharing this toxic mess with a trusted friend (and now the internet) was even more freeing. I decided to share my list with my husband when I said these words out loud, I realized just how horrible they really were. Telling them to someone else made me realize I don’t want to treat myself like this anymore. I can’t treat myself like this anymore! And his response reassured me that this self-bashing needs to stop. He was truly saddened to hear how cruel I am to myself. He told me, “I don’t like that you say those things. They aren’t true.” The same goes for you! I don’t like that you say those things to yourself! They are not true! (A message I still need to hear myself!)

But this is a journey of moving forward. So each time I wrote a negative statement about myself, I challenged myself to also write a self-loving statement of truth. (Even if I didn’t fully believe it about myself… yet).

My top 10 self-loving statements in the first 10 days of this experiment were:

1. I am strong! I didn't give up in that Cross fit workout!
2. You are not even fat! 
3. I may not like my tummy today, but that's such a small part of who I am. I am a good friend. I am a dedicated worker. I am loved by God perfectly today! He loves my tummy! He created me. If he loves me, I can learn and work on loving me!
4. I am worthy. I am loved. I choose to show myself grace and love when I eat more than I want rather than continuing my shame.
5. Satan, get out! Get out of my mind. You are not welcome here. I believe I can change my thoughts about myself. I am worthy of changing my thoughts about myself.
6. I choose to be kind to myself in this transition. It's not easy. Change never is. But I can't keep living this way. I can't keep shaming myself like this. I don't deserve it! No one does.
7. I'm really proud of myself for getting back on track today. I'm proud of treating my body well and putting my needs first.
8. I am doing my best, and I choose to allow that to be enough. I choose to accept imperfection.
9. I will keep pushing forward. I will not stop because of fear or comfort.
10. I believe I can eat popcorn and not feel shame and guilt.

Putting words to my negative mental mumbles was eye opening and helpful. But replacing them with self-love is essential. So this is me. This is my starting point. I have a long way to go on this journey, but I’m proud of myself for starting.

Your Journey

Why don’t you give it a try? Make a google survey or carry a journal with you for a few days. Give words to your toxic brain stew and challenge yourself to also combat the junk with self-loving affirmations or God’s Word. Share a negative self-talk comment you frequently say to yourself as well as a positive self-loving statement in the comments.

Podcast | Body Kindness # 18: The Heath Benefits of Bad Emotions

Body Kindness Podcast #18 - The Health Benefits of Bad Emotions

This Body Kindness podcast from Rebecca Scritchfield is a MUST listen to! This week she interviewed Connie Sobczak, author of Embody: Learning to Love Your Unique Body (and quiet that critical voice!) and Co-Founder & Executive Director of The Body Positive.

I was on the elliptical machine while I was listening to this podcast and HAD to stop and take notes. Talking about body bashers like myself Connie says,

“Body hatred stops them and blocks them from living in their full power. Even if they’re doing good work, they are still so distracted… I feel like there is this noise. It’s like waving your hands in front of your face and imagining trying to do what you’re doing in the world with all of this noise between you and the action that you’re taking.”

Umm.. YES! That noise! Yes! I have that! For me the noise is usually something like this… I want to eat the bread, but I shouldn’t. Bread is a bad food. Bread makes me fat. But it sounds good. I could just not eat carbs at dinner. No I shouldn’t. But I really want to. But I really want to get skinny. I really don’t want to be fat. But that break looks really good… I think you get the picture. It’s also the body bashing noise that goes something like this… I hate my tummy. My pants are fitting tight today. I’m gaining weight. I’m so fat. I look so gross. I can’t believe I look like this…

And when those thoughts are bouncing around in my head, it takes me away from whatever I’m supposed to be doing. It takes me away from interacting with a girl friend at brunch. It distracts me from fully paying attention to a conversation with a teacher at work. It draws me away from intimacy with my husband. Imagine life without that noise. Imagine how much more present I would be. Imagine how much more authentic I would be with others. Imagine how much more confident and comfortable I would feel in my own body. That’s the freedom I’m fighting for. That’s the reason I’m on this journey.

The other AWESOME part of this podcast are Connie’s thoughts around grief. She says,

“There is a point you have to grieve. You have to give up the idea that ‘If I work hard enough’ and ‘if I’m good enough’ then I will lose the weight… Letting go of that mindset takes grieving.” This is something I’m walking through right now. If I’m honest, I still have thoughts about hoping intuitive eating will lead to weight loss for me. And this is a reminder that I need to work on grieving that. I also appreciate that Connie reminds us that grief is a process. You don’t grieve once and then it never comes up again. It’s a process. Progress, not perfection.

Your Journey

Listen to the Podcast. Do you identify with the “noise” Connie and Rebecca describe? What does the noise sound like to you? Comment below.

Basic Zoodles

Zoodles are a great way to get more veggies on your plate… IF you want them. If you’re craving pasta… eat pasta. I’m working on that myself. But tonight I wanted zoodles. So zoodles I made!

This was part of a larger meal, Pork Cutlets, which you can also check out!

First thing you’ll need is a spiralizer! We have this Paderno Spiral Slicer and I love it! I’ve spiralized zucchini, carrots, beets, apples, and sweet potatoes with awesome results!

You’ll also need some zucchini! Look at these beauties from the Farmer’s Market I picked up!

Wash, scrub and dry those lovely zucchini. Place your spiralizer on a cutting board. Cut off the stem end (with that little nub) and place zucchini in your spiralizer. The straighter the zucchini the better! I find curvy zucchini tend to get lopsided and make little crescent moon zoodles. But the straight zucchini (when centered on the spiralizer) yield those awesome noodle zoodles! Now crank, and crank, and crank!

Line a mixing bowl with a paper towel. Put zoodles in the mixing bowl.

Keep on crankin those zoodles out until you have as much as you want. When you’re finished zoodling, place a paper towel over your mound of zoodles and press into the zoodle mound with your fist. This takes out a good amount of moisture from the zucchini which would otherwise be watering down your meal. (Pardon the white on white on white in this picture. The white paper towel on the white stovetop is difficult to see!)

Heat a pan to medium high heat and drizzle or spray with some EVOO. When pan is hot, place zoodles in the pan with a sprinkle of salt (and perhaps some Italian seasoning if you’re making an Italian inspired dish!). Toss zoodles in pan until warm, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Do not overcook! They get watery and gross, you just want them warm.

I wanted these zoodles to be in a marinara sauce so I heated the sauce in a separate pan. I have found that keeping the sauce separate from the zoodles help them to stay firm and not get watery and shumshy.  Like I mentioned earlier, this was part of a pork cutlet dinner my husband and I were cooking so if you’d like the recipe for the pork cutlets you see in the lower right corner, be sure to check it out!

So there you have it! I plated the zoodles, then spooned on the marinara sauce. Ciao.

Ingredients

Zucchini

Drizzle of spray of olive oil (or coconut oil)

Salt

Optional: marinara sauce, italian seasoning

Directions

Wash and dry zucchini. Cut off the stem end and place zucchini in a spiralizer (like this Paderno Spiral Slicer). Crank the spiralizer and capture zoodles on cutting board.

Line a mixing bowl with paper towel (it helps absorb the zucchini liquid). Place zoodles into paper towel lined mixing bowl. Repeat spiralizing process for as many zucchinis as you have. Place another paper towel over the zoodles and press your fist into the mixing bowl to release extra liquid.

Heat a pan to medium high heat and drizzle or spray with some EVOO. When pan is hot, place zoodles in pan with a sprinkle of salt (and perhaps some Italian seasoning if you’re making an Italian inspired dish!). Toss zoodles in pan until warm, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Sauce

If you’re cooking with a sauce like marinara, heat it separately and add on top of the zoodles when you serve. I find this makes the zoodles less soggy!

Storage

Store zoodles UNCOOKED in a paper towel lined bowl.

Your Journey

What’s your favorite veggie to spiralize? Or what veggies sounds most intriguing to run through the spiralizer? Comment below!

Pork Cutlets

It’s a Saturday night date night in for us this weekend! My husband and I love to cook together so a cooking date night in is actually really fun!

This meal took me outside my comfort zone because the cutlets were coated in breadcrumbs. For a long time I’ve labeled breadcrumbs as a “bad food” and felt shame whenever I ate something breaded and/or fried. But that needs to stop. And I’m not saying I should now eat fried food all day err day, but I am saying that I should not shame myself for days if I have some breaded chicken or pork once in awhile... when I want it. So this meal was another step on my journey. I'm working on letting go of the restrictive eating and “good food/bad food” mentality I’ve placed on myself for years, and instead choosing to engage in this beautiful life God has given me!

First, log into your Pandora, search “Italian Cooking Music” (yes I’m serious… We’re cooking Italian food so we listen to Italian cooking music), and pour yourself a glass of wine! (Thanks to our church Life Group friends who gave us this bottle of wine as a gift!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut your pork into ½ inch thick slices. I got a WHOLE LOTTA PORK at Costco because they carry the Good Nature Pork line which advertises no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, and no preservatives and is a VERY reasonable price per pound. We’ll keep ⅓ out for cooking this week and freeze 2/3rds for another time.

Prepare the coating materials! You’ll need 3 bowls for this. Put the flour in bowl #1, the eggs in bowl # 2, and the breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning in bowl #3. At this point my sweet husband leaned over to say “I really like cooking with you” and I stopped to kiss him :)

Line a cookie sheet with foil (I think parchment paper or a silicon baking mat would be fine too) and spray with a light dusting of oil. Set aside. Dunk the pork one piece at a time in bowl #1, then bowl #2, then bowl #3. Place breadcrumb covered pork on the cookie sheet. Repeat the process as many times as necessary.

Spray the tops of the cutlets with a light dusting of oil. Pop the pork in the oven for 10 minutes. (Not pictured: me trying to take the cutlets out to spray them with oil and them all falling off the cookie sheet and onto the oven door… Put. down. the. wine.). Flip the cutlets over, spray with a light dusting of oil and return to the oven for 10 minutes. For an extra crunch, broil the cutlets for 3-5 minutes until crispy.

We paired our cutlets with zoodles in marinara sauce (which you can check out in this post) and a plain baked sweet potato! Finito!! This date night was another success and I ate something breaded without shame for the first time in a while.

Ingredients

Pork loin or tenderloin cut into ½ inch thick slices

1 cup of breadcrumbs

2 eggs, beaten

¼ cup flour

Sprinkle of Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Meat

After watching Food Inc and reading Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan I’m more picky about the meat I eat. Whenever possible (aka when I’m buying the meat myself) I try to find meat from animals that haven’t been treated with antibiotics. Costco carries the Good Nature Pork line which advertises no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, and no preservatives and is a VERY reasonable price per pound!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut pork into ½ inch thick slices. Get out 3 bowls. Put flour in bowl #1, eggs in bowl # 2, and breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning in bowl #3. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with a light dusting of oil. Set aside. Dunk the pork one piece at a time in bowl #1, then bowl #2, then bowl #3. Place breadcrumb covered pork on the cookie sheet. Repeat the process as many times as necessary. Spray the tops of the cutlets with a light dusting of oil. Bake pork for 10 minutes. Remove, flip cutlets. Spray again with a light dusting of oil and bake for 10 more minutes. For an extra crunch, broil the pork on high for 3-5 minutes until crispy.

Additional Serving Ideas

We paired these cutlets with zoodles and a baked sweet potato.

My husband basically made it a pork parmigiana by topping it with marinara sauce and mozzarella and popping it into the oven at 350 for 5 minutes.

Your Journey

Do you feel the same way about breaded or fried foods? What do you say to yourself that makes you feel shame or fear around those foods? How can you replace those words you say to yourself to be more kind and forgiving? Comment below!