PCRM 21 day Kickstart Journal, recipes and weight loss menu plan.....

PCRM 21 Day Kickstart Journal

I decided to participate in the PCRM kickstart and keep a photo journal of my experience on the blog.  I have an interesting habit of taking basic recipes and creating with them to make something fabulous!  I will be documenting what I eat every day along with pictures, recipes and my thoughts about the food and my overall experience.

I will be experimenting with the recipes and I will post my versions of each recipe so you can try them out.  I think this will be an excellent opportunity for those who are looking to lose a few pounds to have a healthy weight loss menu plan with recipes that they can easily follow.

Day 1 

I am very excited to get started on the kickstart, the menus look excellent!

Breakfast:

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Recipe

This is a delicious, simple breakfast recipe!  This was very filling and I loved the flavor.  This is an excellent weight loss breakfast.

 

Lunch:

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup Recipe

Okay, this was AMAZING!!!  I did tweak the recipe quite a bit from the original but WOW, this is amazing!!  Excellent, low calorie, high nutrient lunch.  If you are looking to lose weight this is an excellent option, it is filling and yet low in calories.

-->

Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Carrot soup Recipe

 

****My variations:

If you want to make a dinner meal out of this you can easily add black beans, corn, brown rice etc... to make it a heartier soup.  Add these ingredients after blending.  ENJOY!

I did not make the Couscous confetti salad, I didn't have time to do it and I can't eat that much anyway so I just ate the soup.

Dinner

Hoppin John Salad

The original recipe calls for brown rice, but I was in a hurry and I have fresh potatoes from my garden so I used potatoes instead.  This has a very mild flavor but we really enjoyed it.  This does not taste oily and fattening like a typical potato salad, it is very light and mild.

--> 

Steamed Greens and veggies

I served this with steamed kale and veggies, it was a nice, quick, simple meal.

Thoughts on Day 1

The food was very good, very satisfying and it definitely reduced my cravings for sugar.  Usually by the end of the day I am craving desserts, today my cravings were significantly less.

I did tweak recipes, I don't know if I could make a recipe as written, but I think all in all the nutrient integrity of the recipes was intact and the food was delicious!

DAY 2

I am a little late in starting the blog because I had to get the pictures loaded so here is day 2.

Breakfast:

Cereal with Fruit  

I do not believe cereal is the best breakfast and I don't eat cereal for breakfast so I created my own breakfast bowl recipe for Day 2.

My Version is Fruit & Buckwheat

My Fruit Breakfast Recipe

1/2 banana

1/2 apple

3 strawberries

1 Tb. raisins or currants

1 Tb. oats

1 Tb. buckwheat

1/2 c. hemp or soymilk

Lunch

 Veggie Burger = Portobello Burger

This is a simple portobello mushroom cap marinated and roasted in the oven.  I made this for hubby, mine did not have veganaise on it.  I also had this with a nice salad.

You are supposed to have leftover roasted red bell pepper soup, but I didn't have any left :-D

Dinner

I am sorry but tonight we were on our way out to get wood to heat the house for the winter and I just grabbed a quick salad and 1/2 sprouted grain wrap for dinner before leaving.  I keep homemade oil free dressings in the fridge to have at times like these when I have to run out the door.

DAY 3

Breakfast

Breakfast today was the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal again.  

I really enjoy this breakfast so I was happy to have it again.

Lunch 

Veggie Sandwich or Wrap and Salad

Simple Wrap and Salad Recipe:

1/2 ezekiel tortilla

1 Tb. hummus

2 slices tomato

4 slices cucumber

1/2 c. green leaf lettuce

1 slice onion

Salad:

1 c. green leaf lettuce

5 cucumber slices

2 slices tomato

1/2 c. broccoli

I served this with my homemade oil free vegan caesar dressing recipe.

Dinner


Curried Potato Bean Stew

This was a very interesting experiment, it was supposed to be a curried lentil soup and I LOVE lentils.  Unfortunately I found that I was out of lentils, so I used pinto beans instead.  As I was making the soup I found the taste to be too bitter and bland.  So I decided this recipe needed a major overhaul.

The end result was good, it's not a soup that I would call fantastic, but it's simple, easy and it does taste good.  My husband liked it and he's pretty picky, the kids did not like the 'spiciness' of the curry so they wouldn't eat it.

The end result:

Potato Bean Curried Stew Recipe

 

****Recipe Tip:  Whenever you are making a soup, if it tastes bland or seems runny you can always remove 2 c.  of the veggies and broth and blend it with some cashews and it will enhance the flavor and thicken the soup.

This recipe turned out to be fairly good considering the flavor I was working with in the original recipe.  Go ahead and give it a try and let me know what you think.

Hoppin John with Flair and Corn

We have delicious fresh corn in the garden so the kids went out and picked it, and it was delicious!!

I had left over hoppin john salad that I needed to use and it definitely needed a taste enhancement so I dumped the rest of my oil free italian dressing on it and viola, something new for dinner.

Experience so far:

Well, I haven't lost any weight being on this diet but then again I really only have a few pounds I want to lose so I guess that's not a surprise.  The food has been great and I've really enjoyed the experience so far.   

Anyone who is looking for a healthy diet and needs it all laid out for them, this is definitely an easy way to go.

21 Day kickstart

Healthy Summer Dessert recipes.....

Enjoy Healthy Summer Dessert Recipes!

Berry Tart Healthy Dessert Recipe
Looking for the recipes
Integrative Healing Clinic

 These berry tarts are AMAZING and very easy to make.  They have a simple crust with dates, cashews, oats and cinnamon, whirl it in the food processor and press it into a pie tin or tart pans.

The filling is simple strawberries and blackberries, heat on the stove with either maple syrup or turbinado, add some water and cornstarch to thicken and viola!  Dessert!  I used some left over crust to crumble over the top!  These are DIVINE!

 

The Healthiest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!!

I have served these at dinner parties, taken them to potlucks and without fail, 50% of the people will ask for the recipe!!  These are amazingly delicious cookies and yet.....they are very healthy too!

Whole wheat flour, whole grain oats, 1/4 c. turbinado and 1/4 c. maple syrup is all the sugar in these cookies, apple sauce, and a tiny amount of almond butter.  They are low in fat, high fiber, low in sugar and absolutely amazing!!  This recipe will be in my upcoming recipe book!

Low fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffin Recipe

We have zucchini coming out our ears from our garden!!  Honestly I have literally 20 large zucchini sitting on the buffet in my house!  I needed something to do with all that zucchini and my family suggested zucchini muffins and so this recipe was created!

 

These muffins are light and delicious, made with whole wheat flour, grated zucchini, applesauce and a host of healthy ingredients including flax meal.  These were fun to create, my family ate them all in one night!  This recipe will certainly be in the upcoming recipe book!

Summer Lunch Recipes

Beat The Summer Heat with Cool Summer Lunch Recipes.....

Looking For the recipes:
Integrative Healing Clinic

Hummus, Kale, Cilantro Lemon Sandwich

This recipe is a twist on the recipe from The Engine 2 Diet book.  The combination of foods sounds odd, but believe me, it is DELICIOUS!!  I had this for lunch yesterday and Dinner today, yeah, it's that good!

The Kale and onion are sauteed in vegetable broth with lemon juice, lemon pepper and garlic powder until tender.  I use ezekiel bread toasted and spread liberally with hummus.  I put sliced tomato, green onion and cilantro on top of the kale and squeeze with lemon and more lemon pepper.  You can put thin lemon slices on if you are really adventurous, I like it without the lemon slices personally.

Give this one a try, I think you will really enjoy it.  

It's a great way to get a variety of greens in your diet!

 

BBQ Sunburger Taco Leftovers...

We had BBQ Taco's one night, they were delicious!!!

I had leftover taco filling and so the next day I made a delicious taco salad, served over green leaf lettuce, with a little avocado and tofu sour cream!  DIVINE!  This recipe is made with our staple sunburgers, my homemade BBQ sauce with corn, rice and beans.

This is a little heavier of a meal, so I eat it on nice cool rainy summer days.

Garbanzo Salad Wrap

My kids LOVE garbanzo salad sandwiches!!  I made this little number because we have chard growing like crazy in the garden and I needed ways to serve it.  I used a large swiss chard leaf and filled it with tomato, cucumber, onion and garbanzo salad.  Roll it up and serve!

This is a quick, simple lunch and it is delicious!



Serve in casseroles that call for tuna, it is excellent in wraps, on sandwiches and even in pasta salad. 

Lunch Wrap Recipe Suggestions:

• Steamed collard leaves make great wraps
• Swiss chard fresh or raw
• Large green leaf lettuce
• Large Romaine lettuce leaves
• Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas
• Cabbage leaves
• Rice spring roll wraps

Spread hummus, bean dip, mustard, BBQ sauce or whatever condiments sound good and fill it up.

Wrap filling suggestions:

• Brown rice
• Black beans
• cabbage
• green onion
• tomato
• white onion
• garbanzo beans
• Avocado
• sprouts
• green peas
• corn
• edamame
• matchstick carrots
• cucumber
• zucchini
• kidney beans
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• red bell pepper
• pineapple
• mango, black bean, cilantro and brown rice

The combinations are endless.......

Cool Summer Breakfast Recipes

Summer Breakfast Bowl Recipe

Looking for The Peaceful Kitchen Recipes

 

Integrative Healing Clinic

I have been busy creating some DELICIOUS summer recipes.  I am often asked what I eat on a daily basis and I thought I would share with you some photos of my summer breakfast dietary staples!

I create recipes the average American on the 'SAD' diet can enjoy but with far superior nutrition than what is commonly found in typical American fare.  Today I am going to share with you some delicious summer breakfast recipe creations that I eat on a regular basis during the hot summer months!

This First summer breakfast bowl I LOVE!  For those who are not used to healthy food you can leave out the cucumber, but I love the combination of apples and cucumber so I add it to my morning breakfast regularly.

It is best to have baked yams on hand in the fridge, they are excellent to add to any salad or as a side dish.



Most people have no idea that cucumbers actually have a good nutritional profile;

2 g.     protein
15%   vitamin A
5%     folate
7-9%  for all B vitamins
11%    vitamin C
55%    Vitamin K
5%     calcium
5%      iron
8%      zinc
1%      omega 3 fatty acids

All in the humble cucumber!
I often bake yams and then put a few in the fridge to use later, they are delicious in many recipes including with black beans and mango salsa.

This breakfast contains yam, cucumber, apple, banana, currants with a dash of cinnamon, you can eat it this way or add some soymilk or your favorite plant based milk.

Summer Blueberry Fruit Breakfast Recipe

Here is another staple breakfast for me.  This contains orange, strawberry, blueberry, banana, buckwheat and oats.  I will usually put a little vanilla and soymilk on this.  Instead of eating highly processed 'whole grain' cereals I eat buckwheat and oats on my fruit.

These breakfast recipes are not really exact, throw in your favorite fruits, some grains and viola, breakfast!

Peach Berry Breakfast Recipe

Here is another simple healthy breakfast.  I realize that these three recipes are all very similar, that is how my breakfasts truly are, they are simple.  I throw in whatever fruit I have on hand during the summer months with some yam, sweet potato, oatmeal, buckwheat, raw oats, brown rice or whatever sounds good.


 

I know The question your are asking..... 

Will these breakfast bowls provide the nutrition I need?

YES!

But don't take my word for it, lets get a nutritional breakdown on the Yam bowl:

  

Calories:    418
Protein:       10g [this can easily be increased if you want by adding more grains, hemp seed or beans                    however there is no need to if you need more protein just eat a bigger bowl of it]
Fat:            3g

Vit. A        17%
Folate        13%
B1             22%
B2             29%
B3            10%
B5            15%
B6            44%
Vit. C       29%
Vit. E         3%
Vit. K        15%


Calcium    20%
Iron          10%
Copper     37%
Magnesium  26%
Manganese   40%
Phosphorus  17%
Potassium  25%
Selenium     5%
Zinc           14%


Now this is for a bowl just larger than I would eat, but I am under 5' tall so I don't eat much.  If you are significantly taller than me I guarantee you would eat a lot more than this and the nutritional profile would be much higher.


I hope this was an enlightening blog for you and that you have a good idea of what a nutrient dense, healthy breakfast looks like.

Yes, I do have green smoothies at breakfast as well, but lately I have wanted something to EAT, so the fruit and grain bowls have been very satisfying.  These do change in the winter time and contain more grain than fruit which I think is just natural.

Breakfast Recipe Suggestions:

1/2 c. buckwheat               11g. protein
1/2 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. cooked oats
1 yam
1 c. quinoa                      8g protein
1 c. millet
You can even use canned pumpkin and pumpkin spices for a fall breakfast treat.

Next time I will show you a lot of new summer lunch and dinner recipes........Enjoy!

New pizza recipe for pizza night!

PIZZA NIGHT calls for a New pizza recipe creation...

T

Tonight I created a delicious veggie pizza with a crust that does not have to raise.  The dough takes about 10 minutes to make and then you top your pizza, bake 20 minutes and dinner is served.

This pizza features the following toppings:

• Spinach picked fresh from the garden 
• Broccoli
• Homemade tofu bacon
• Carrots
• Onion
• homemade cashew parmesan crumbles
• Mozzarella soy cheese on half the pizza 

*I rarely if ever eat soy cheese because whole foods are much healthier and soy cheese is highly processed and high in fat, but once in a while I use it on half the pizza for my family because they really enjoy it.  It is a great transitional food for those who have had previous cheese addictions but should be slowly weaned out of the diet.

Homemade Caesar Dressing

This Caesar dressing is one of my famous signature recipes, I created a new lower fat version tonight.  It makes a delicious compliment to pizza night!

**Notice this plate has more salad than pizza, that is the key to health and weight loss.  Veggies should dominate your diet.

Pizza Topping Suggestions:

• Onion
• Red bell pepper
• Spinach
• grated carrot
• mushrooms
• tempeh sausage
• tofu bacon
• broccoli
• pineapple
• marinated eggplant
• fresh basil
• fresh tomatoes
• marinated artichokes
• asparagus
• hummus
• kale

As you'll notice this is not a 'pretty' pizza, it is LOADED with veggies.  I didn't really make the pizza for visual appeal I wanted to show you what a real, healthy pizza should look like.  Choose your favorite veggies, experiment with different sauces or hummus and veggies and make sure you include plenty of fresh green leafy veggies. 

New Nutrient Packed Southern Style recipes

Southern Sweet Potato and Greens Stew Recipe

My Family LOVED this stew, it has a delicious flavor!!!!

Looking for The Peaceful Kitchen Recipes....

Integrative Healing Clinic

This stew is NUTRIENT PACKED and yet absolutely delicious!  This soup has yams, spinach, kale, tomato, black beans, tempeh and MUCH more....

This is a potent anti-cancer soup full of antioxidants and nutrition.  Many people ask me how they can get enough nutrients on a plant based diet so here is the 
Nutrition breakdown for an average servings size of this soup:

Calories:  298

Protein:   14g  or    32% of your RDA for protein~!

Fat:        3g

I have listed the RDA % [daily percentage] for 1 small serving of this soup.

Vit. A       654%

Folate       46%

B1           38%

B2           22%

B3           18%

B5           18%

B6           47%

Vit. C       62%

Vit. E        7%

Vit. K      212%

Calcium      13%

Copper       67%

Iron         21%

Magnesium    39%

Manganese    77%

Phosphorus   39%

Potassium    28%

Selenium      5%

Zinc         23%

Omega 3's    16%     

I know what you are asking, WHERE did the omega 3's come from, there is no flax seed or fish or walnuts in this stew? 

Guess what, those are not the only foods that contain omega 3's..........WHAT????

Yep, that's right.  Green leafy vegetables are excellent sources of omega 3 fats, even bananas have omega 3's.  Most plant foods contain small amounts of omega 3's so if you are eating a healthy whole food plant based diet, you can get enough without flax or any other food touted to contain 3's.

I would also like to point out that you can get nearly 25-50% of your daily value of most nutrients in one little serving of stew!  That is powerful nutrition!

Southern Sweet potato and greens stew

 

Simple Quick Low Fat Cornbread

Okay, I admit this is not going to be the most moist cornbread recipe.  I have an excellent moist decadent cornbread recipe for the cookbook, however this one makes up in 2 minutes, bakes for 12 minutes and is still delicious.

I needed something quick and easy to go with the southern stew and cornbread seemed perfect.  However I wanted a low sugar, oil free recipe perfect for weight loss and diabetics!

Low fat Cornbread Recipe

 

Nutrient Packed Lasagna Recipe

Nutrient Packed Sweet Potato Vegetable Lasagna

 This is the healthiest lasagna you could possibly eat, it is packed with phytonutrients!  It contains carrot juice, sweet potatoes, fresh tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots, zucchini, onion, garlic and much more!

The sweet potato gives a nice sweetness to the acid tomato base of the lasanga, the sweet potato is very subtle but delicious in this dish.  It is not traditional but very delicious! 

This recipe was inspired by the Engine 2 Diet recipe, I created a homemade sauce for the lasagna, added carrot juice for depth of flavor and increased nutrition and added a little flair of my own!

A

 A delicious slice of the lasagna!

You can see the broccoli, spinach and even the almond cheese crumble on top.  This meal takes a little extra time but is well worth it!

Well that rounds out today's meals, it was a delicious first day!