The straight-on photo I took of this smoothie, with my good SLR camera, came out terrible and out of focus, so Instagram to the rescue! YAY!

My smoothie and juice obsession continues. My latest discovery is carob powder. Since I have been avoiding caffeine and sugar for the last two weeks, I haven’t had any chocolate, which has actually been totally fine. But given the time of month that it is right now (ahem, ladies – you know what I am talking about) my slight cravings for chocolate were definitely present this week. I didn’t wanna give in, but I was looking for something that would satisfy me without the caffeine and sugar. I ran across some carob powder while shopping last week at the grocery store and I grabbed it, excited to experiment. I know it can be used in place of cocoa in many recipes, so I figured it would be fun to try out in things like smoothies and maybe even some raw “cookie” balls and stuff. It has some similarities to chocolate, beyond the way that it looks, but it also has quite a few differences, too. Ounce for ounce carob has about the same amount of calories and fat as cocoa, but carob has about 3-times as much calcium as cocoa. It has its own unique flavor that is somewhere between cocoa and carmel, it is a bit sweeter than cocoa on it’s own. It is quite tasty and it definitely helped me curb that want for chocolate. Carob is a tropical pod that contains a sweet, edible pulp and inedible seeds. After drying, the pulp is roasted and ground into a powder that resembles cocoa powder in appearance.

In addition to it’s lovely taste and being caffeine-free, carob has a myriad of health benefits. Carob can help regulate the digestion process (YAY – BONUS!), while serving as a natural anti-allergic, antiseptic, and anti-bacterial agent. Additionally, carob provides powerful anti-viral benefits that supply the body with essential antioxidants. It can lower cholesterol levels in the blood and it is great for treatment of diarrhea. Carob is also rich in phosphor and calcium. For this reason, it is used in the fight against osteoporosis.

I have used it in a couple different smoothies this week, this one being my favorite, and I also made a hot carob drink with the carob powder, almond milk, honey and vanilla. I am still working on that recipe, but once I make it again and can photo it, I plan to share it with you. It was quite delicious and nice that I could enjoy a hot drink besides herbal tea in the evening and not be concerned about caffeine keeping me awake.  The flavor at first was a bit of a shock since my brain expected it to taste more like a hot cocoa, since it looked just like it, but once I got past the visual trickery, I really really enjoyed it.

This smoothie is a nice way to bring some very lovely flavors together. It is reminiscent of the classic flavors of chocolate, peanut butter and banana but with a fun and different twist.  I made a similar version today leaving out the almond butter and replacing the almond milk with full fat coconut milk and adding an additional teaspoon of carob power and topped with a sprinkle of unsweetened coconut, it was so delicious.

I am super excited about how this soup turned out. This soup actually made me realize what a dork I am about good healthy food. It actually makes me stupid excited and I wanna dance around my kitchen! I love when you have an idea in your mind for a dish, you start experimenting, tasting and playing around and it just all falls perfectly into place. That happened with this soup. In fact, it actually came out better than I had imagined it would.

I topped this soup with a roasted red pepper puree that was inspired by a recipe I came across from Bon Appetit magazine in 2003 and I also drizzled some roasted butternut squash seed oil over top. I realize this oil is a very specialized product, and many of you may not have access to it, so you could certainly just use a good quality extra virgin olive oil, or just skip it altogether. The butternut squash seed oil that I have is from a company based in the Finger Lakes region of NY called Stony Brook Oils, I picked it up at Farmers and Artisans here in Buffalo. You can visit Stony Brook’s web site to get a listing of all of the stores you can buy their various squash seed oils at or you can even buy them online. Honestly, if you ever get a chance to try a pumpkin or a squash seed oil, do it. The flavors are incredible. It brings a unique nutty and roasted flavor to so many different dishes. I have never tasted anything like it.

I happened to be able to get my hands on some beautiful red bell peppers that I roasted on my stove top to use in this soup and for the puree on top. If the red peppers at your market aren’t looking so hot, just go with jarred roasted red peppers, they will work perfectly fine, too.

This naturally gluten-free and vegan soup is bursting with flavors and it is so beautiful and colorful. The roasted red peppers in the soup compliment the nutty flavor of the squash and the spicy, garlicky puree on top is a nice burst of bright flavor with a hint of spiciness. The puree was so delicious that I have been using it as a spread on sandwiches and on top of freshly steamed vegetables, etc. I feel like I always need to have a batch of this stuff on hand.

This is gonna be a quick post – I am a bit behind on recipes and my day is full of client work and other projects, but I really wanted to share this juice recipe with you. I have to admit, I was a bit at a loss for a clever and cute name for this juice, so I went with the obvious. I kept wanting to find a way to combine the words “berry” and “brightness” but I just didn’t have it in me this time.

At any rate, this juice is FULL of flavor. It is incredible bright and perfectly tart, with the right about of sweetness. It sounds like and will look like a lot of berries, but sadly they don’t produce a ton of juice, which is why I rarely buy berries for juicing. But even in small amounts they bring a really wonderful tart flavor to juice and the color from the raspberries are just so beautiful. I found this fun fact about raspberries that I thought was interesting “Raspberries possess almost 50% higher antioxidant activity than strawberries, three times that of kiwis, and ten times the antioxidant activity of tomatoes”. Raspberries are low in calories and they are a wonderful source of dietary fiber. Raspberries are also an excellent source of Vitamin C.

I always love adding cucumbers to my juices since one cucumber offers up so much juice and I really love the flavor from it. Cucumbers are almost 96% water, that is naturally distilled, which makes it superior to ordinary water. The skin contains a high percentage of vitamin A, so should not be peeled off. Read on about the many other benefits from adding cucumbers to your juice.

Pears are an excellent source of water-soluble fiber. The high vitamin C and copper content in a pear act as good anti-oxidants that protect cells from damages by free radicals. You can read more about the health benefits of juicing with pears, here.

I’ve already sung the praises of the carrot, in this juice recipe. The main point about carrots are they are one of the most healing foods. Carotenes, the famous ingredient in carrots, is an anti-oxidant that has powerful healing virtues for many diseases. Read more about the health benefits of carrots here.

What would you call this juice?

Yup – I am still on a major juicing kick. I am loving it. I am so full of energy, I feel totally content with what I am eating otherwise and I have no cravings at all. I think by cutting back on some things but not going into a full on cleanse or detox, I am able to reap many of the benefits without putting my body through hell of those rough few first days and I am not taxing my digestive system, which is already a bit grumpy. I didn’t want to do that to my body right now.

I am excited because every day my tummy is feeling better and better and I am really able to notice what is triggering it when it does get upset again. The juicing has really given my digestive tract the rest that it so badly needed. This Green Goddess juice in particular is full of so many of my favorite things and it really made me feel great, on top of the energy I am already bursting with, this juice actually made me feel like I had more! That’s why I decided to call it Green Goddess Juice. Truthfully I really wanted to call it “Green Superheroine Juice”, but that just didn’t have the same ring to it, but it did make me feel like I had super powers! I once again included fennel in this juice, I have been trying to include it in every juice I am making right now since it is so great for your digestion, plus I am really loving the unique flavor it adds.

We had a very busy weekend filled with tons of home projects like ripping up carpeting, reflooring our bedroom, moving furniture around and work for clients. While doing all of those things, I have been ridding myself of so much stuff, both in my personal life and my digital life. I have been going through all of my clothes and accessories and getting rid of things I no longer need or wear. I have donated so many bags of clothes and other goodies to the Salvation Army in the last few weeks and yesterday I did the same to my computer. Well kinda. I backed up and removed over 200 GB of files on my computer that I really didn’t need on there, so my computer can perform better. I streamlined my already existing backup system to be even more thorough and easy to manage. I also organized my email inbox and archived old emails. I took my inbox from over 4000 email down to 81! It feels so good to be lightening my baggage in all of these areas of my life, it is instantly therapeutic and cathartic. It only takes a few bags full of stuff and a handful of gigabytes for you to feel that liberation and suddenly you find yourself looking at everything and thinking “Do I really need that?”.

Since we plan to move later this year and we are in the process of finishing up a few projects to the house that we have to do before we put it on the market, there really has never been a better time to do all of this, than now. I have been putting it off because it takes time and some tough decision making to decide what things in your life you don’t need, but once you start, it really gets easier and easier.

Now I can walk into a room in our house and feel the weight that has been lifted. There is still a lot of stuff that we need to go through and I actually can’t wait! It is ironic the timing on all of this, with me deciding to also take out things from my diet that I really don’t need. I think I can say the same for my eating as my house, I was putting off removing certain things but now that I have, I feel great! I honestly haven’t felt as good as I do right now, in years. So, if there are boxes you need to go through, piles of shoes you know you don’t wear, an email inbox that is jammed full of messages, etc – make the time to go through it. It doesn’t take as long as you think, in the last 3 days I have gotten rid of more stuff from my life than I have in the last year plus I still had time to grocery shop, go to yoga, bake bread, make soup, watch a movie and some football with my hubby and more. Don’t talk yourself out of things, don’t put them off, just do them. It feels better to accomplish something than it does to sit down and feel guilty that you aren’t.

I plan to continue purging things from my life this upcoming week and I am looking forward to it instead of dreading it and I also plan to continue juicing, so look for more recipes.

Have you gotten rid of anything in your life lately? How does it feel?

This week has been really nice. I am feeling much more like myself, I have been spending time taking the necessary (and long overdue) steps to be as organized and productive as I can (in life and work) and I have actually really been enjoying eating a limited diet.

The only bad thing about this week is that it’s almost over. I cannot believe it is already Thursday night. How did that happen?

Today is day 5 of no dairy (among other things) and I am feeling really good. I stepped on the scale today for the first time since the holidays and my weight was WAY down (like nearly 10lbs)! YAY! A wonderful bonus to healing my grumpy digestive tract, I would say! I have been enjoying piling in the vegetables this week but on Tuesday night I was wanting something a little bit different for dinner than a plate of vegetables, a smoothie or fresh juice. Since the January/February issue of Whole Living features tons (over 50) great cleansing recipes for their New Year’s Action Plan, I knew I would be able to find the perfect starting point recipe that would still adhere to all of my current self-imposed rules!

These burgers jumped out at my instantly. They are so simple, just a few ingredients and with a few tweaks on my end to my tastes, they would be exactly what I was looking for. I served my burger on top of a nice big leafy piece of green lettuce as they suggested, hoping that the raw roughage wouldn’t be too much for me right now, and it wasn’t, which I was definitely pleased about. I served my burger with some roasted cauliflower tossed with steamed baby spinach on the side and it was a nice light dinner! These patties held together very nicely when cooking and had a beautiful crispy and browned outside. The original recipe suggests mashing the chickpeas with the rice by hand, but I just wasn’t getting the consistency I was looking for and I worried they would end up falling apart, so I processed the chickpeas and brown rice and my food processor and I think that was a wise decision. I also went with cilantro instead of the recipe’s suggested parsley, for a brighter and bigger punch of flavor and I added in some  lime juice and chile powder. You could certainly add whatever your favorite fresh herbs and spices are, so many different combinations would work in these bugers. The flavors I went with were so perfect together and topping the burger with fresh scallions and dijon mustard was a great way to finish them.

I kept debating adding fresh spinach to these, but I was worried about them staying together, so I figured it was best not to mess with the ratio too much, but I hope to make these again and play with adding either the spinach or shredded carrots or zucchini or something like that, for some extra color and nutrients.

I think you could also make these burgers a bit smaller and make them more of an appetizer than a meal, serving them with a fun dipping sauce.

How has your week been? Has it flown by or carried on very slowly?

Chickpea and Brown Rice Burgers
Adapted from Whole Living Magazine, January/February 2012 Issue
Makes 4 burgers

2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 large shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (You could also use parsley, chives or whatever your favorite fresh herb is)
1/2 teaspoon chile powder (I used ground smoked chipotle powder)
2 tablespoons freshly squeeze lime juice
Coarse salt and pepper
1 large farm fresh brown egg, whisked (you could try an egg replacer here, I haven’t yet, but it’s worth a shot)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Whole-grain or Dijon mustard
Tomato, sliced, for garnish
4 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish
Green-leaf lettuce, for wrapping

Add the chickpeas and brown rice to your food processor and process until a thick paste forms (you can also mash them by hand). Add the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in shallot, garlic, cilantro, chile powder and fresh lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the egg. Form into four 1/2-inch-thick patties.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the burgers and cook until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Spread with mustard, top with tomatoes and scallions and wrap in lettuce.

As I have previously mentioned this week, I have been on a bit of a healing path for the last few days. Trying to ease my digestion woes caused by a grumpy ileocecal valve. In addition to avoiding all dairy, I have also cut out caffeine, alcohol, sugar and chocolate. I am also avoiding roughage like raw leafy green vegetables, raw whole nuts and seeds and spicy foods, among other things. One of the things I have been doing every day is after my morning yoga practice, I come home and make a smoothie or a fresh juice blend. This has been a nice way to get some necessary nutrients and to also give my upset digestion a little rest. I have really been enjoying it. Then I have a light lunch and a light dinner. I have been drinking a lot of water, not really snacking much and making sure to self-massage my abdomen (you can read more about that in my last post).

In my research to find the best ingredients for juicing to help with digestion, the ingredients I used in this particular juice seemed to be at the top of many of the lists. Here is just a tad bit of info about each ingredient from what I have read. I’ve learned that carrot juice is considered the golden juice of healing, it is an excellent tonic for just about every ailment imaginable. It can be consumed in large quantities as well. Carrots are a natural blast of high energy and they are a powerful internal cleanser and detoxifier and they can help an inflamed colon (I dunno if mine is, but it can’t hurt either way).

Apples remove toxins from the intenstines; stimulate peristalsis and bowels; flush kidneys; natural acids for digestion. Apples contain pectin which is a form of soluble fiber. This helps with the detox flush that removes cholesterol and toxins through the liver and kidneys. Apples also contain a substance called malic acid, that helps maintain liver function and improves digestion.

Celery has been known to help in diseases of the kidneys, pancreas, liver and gallbladder. The nutrients in the fiber released during juicing, aid in bowel movements. Celery promotes healthy and normal kidney function by aiding elimination of toxins from the body. While eliminating toxins, it also prevents formation of kidney stones. Celery actually boasts a very very long list of incredible powers, these are just some of the many.

Fennel is probably best well known as a digestive aid. It can help with trapped wind, poor digestion and more painful conditions such as gastritis and enteritis. Fennel is also a diuretic and therefore is very effective when dealing with kidney or bladder troubles and fluid retention. It is also a general pick-me-up and helps to combat general tiredness and fatigue.

Ginger helps to soothe and improve digestion by increasing secretions of digestive juices in the stomach. It also aids blood circulation and metabolism, increases the immune system and strengthens the internal organs of the digestive tract.

When juicing you always want to use organic produce whenever possible and regardless if produce is organic or not, you always want to thoroughly wash it. I am absolutely no expert on juicing so please use your own judgement and do your research before jumping into any sort of juice-only cleanse or detox. Leanne of Healthful Pursuit, a holistic nutritionist, has been doing an enlightening series of posts this week talking about her own journey to healing her digestion. Leanne’s posts have all been very thorough and provide some really great information about what she is going through, how she feels and what she is doing. Yesterday’s post (the third in the series) features some really great information as well as two great juice recipes. Be sure to check it out and follow Leanne along her journey, as I am.

Look for more juice recipes from me over the next two weeks and hopefully in that time my photos of said juice will get better. After I was about halfway done with this glass of juice and was looking at the photos, I realized how boring and blah they were. I need a fun glass or I should have put some of the ingredients in the background. Ah well.

What is your favorite juice combination?

First off – I apologize for the photo, it’s kinda hard to make super roasted vegetables look super pretty.

Regardless of the photo – I absolutely love, I repeat and will yell it – L O V E – roasted vegetables – especially winter vegetables. You can really go with any combination you’d like – I based mine this time on what I already had in the fridge from my most recent grocery trip where I bought whatever produce looked best. I made a few additions and skipped some items from the original recipe. Though I will definitely be making this again and again and I know the ingredients will likely change around each time.

I found the original concept for this recipe in the January/February 2012 issue of Whole Living Magazine, which features their New Year Clean Eating Action Plan. These Action Plan issues always have their best recipes, in my opinion. Simple, fresh, clean and totally cleansing. Even though I have been making roasted vegetables for years, what I liked about this recipe were the additions of both the white beans and the balsamic vinegar. Both brilliant additions to an already amazing meal. The original recipe had a sweet potato instead of baby reds like I used, and I went with 2 onions instead of a leek, because I absolutely love roasted onions. The Whole Loving recipe also included rutabaga and parsnips – both items I love but I decided on my own little combination. Broccoli or cauliflower would also be good, as well as a squashes like butternut or acorn, you could add beets or turnips, too. Cabbage or celeriac would also be great. The possibilities really are endless, so just go with your favorites. And don’t worry too much about measuring just add in as much as you’d like of each item, there really is no wrong way. I think this mixture would also be nice tossed with fresh baby spinach or arugula, right when it comes out of the hot oven but since I am avoiding raw vegetables right now, especially leafy ones, I passed on that idea the minute I thought of it.

I ate these vegetables on their own the first night, and tossed them with some brown rice pasta a day later for lunch, you could also serve them with quinoa or brown rice or on top of polenta, etc. Have fun with this.

Since I am eating a bit of a toned down diet this week while I allow my digestive tract to heal (you can read more about that here), I am, as I mentioned, avoiding any raw vegetables, which can be quite rough on your digestion, so I am really enjoying roasting vegetables more than ever right now. Just tonight I made a version of my Spicy Roasted Cauliflower that I served with chickpea and brown rice patties – so I decided to skip the chickpeas in the roasted cauliflower mixture. I also skipped the pine nuts (since nuts can also be a bit rough on your digestion) and I also left out the chiles (same goes with heavy-duty spices for your digestion, they can be rough). I did toss the tasty cauliflower with some cooked baby spinach and it was both delicious and beautiful.

I have been doing a bit more reading about the ileocecal valve stuff that I mentioned yesterday and something interesting that I learned is that your ileocecal valve is on your kidney meridian, so I suppose and I am starting to wonder if that could have caused the upset with my kidneys. Interesting, right? I am actually quite fascinated by all of this and how everything is totally connected, even when you think it isn’t. At the suggestion of Elyssa, my yoga teacher/Chiropractor, I have an upcoming appointment with a local acupuncturist/Doctor of Chinese Medicine. I am really excited to learn more about this and to hopefully take the next steps to feeling even better and maybe fixing some other symptoms that have been going on. Additionally, I have come across quite a few articles that illustrate how to self-massage your ileocecal valve and your overall abdomen – that has been giving me a nice relief throughout the day. I would say if you have any digestive issues at all, take some time and read about this. It definitely has been helping me. Here are the two that I found most helpful, this one and this one (Yes, I know the photos on this page are weird, but it definitely helps get the point across).

I have been juicing in the mornings this week after yoga and I plan to share those recipes with you guys, too. As nice as it would be to do a full-on juice cleanse right now, I also know this may be too much for my body to handle since I am not 100%, so I am just taking it all easy and being smart. But between really toning down my diet and being back at my regular daily yoga practice, I am already feeling better. Hopefully after two weeks of being sure not to consume things that will upset my current sensitive digestion and daily self-massaging I should be back to new in no time.

What have you been eating a lot of lately? Are you avoiding any foods right now?

Our dog, Seri, absolutely LOVES green veggies, especially Brussels Sprouts. She kept trying to sneak one while I was taking the photos. I finally gave her one when we I was done. She loves them!

I can admit that writing this recipe and editing the photos on this soup was a bit painful, in more ways than one. I’ll explain why…

For the last two weeks I have been feeling a bit under the weather. No cold or flu showed it’s face but I was just not feeling like myself. In addition to feeling a bit “off”, a few other symptoms arose and I was experiencing sharp and abnormal pains on my right side, near my kidney. It started in the back, then slowly made it’s way to the front to my upper abdomen then found it’s way to my lower right pelvis. I also noticed blood in my urine last Monday.

Being that both of my parents have kidney stones, and I myself was diagnosed with small kidney stones years ago, I decided to make my way to the urologist to rule out any type of infection or the passing of a stone, etc. The stones that I was diagnosed with years ago, were very very small at the time and have caused me no issues at all. Back when I was diagnosed, the doctor explained that it was likely hereditary and with a healthy diet I could keep them that small and probably never have to worry about them. So when I made it to the doctor this time around, they tested for infections and that came up negative but they did say I had a higher than normal level of blood in my urine. I say higher than normal because every time they have ever tested me, I have always had a small amount of blood. They tell me that this is somewhat normal for some people and that it was so microscopic, and normally it wasn’t anything I needed to be concerned with.

At first, based on my symptoms and the blood, they told me I was likely passing a stone or a stone had moved and caused some irritation and inflammation of my kidney, they tried to talk me into a CT scan, which I declined, sent me home with some pain meds and told me to come back in a few days. When I came back everything was about the same, but the pain had traveled to the front almost exclusively and I was now experiencing digestive issues and pain, the pain still very much only on the right side and now very low in my pelvis. I felt bloated, gassy and I was experiencing indigestion, all things I haven’t experienced in years. There have been other not so pleasant side-effects as well, but I will spare you all the details.

So, I began speaking with my good friend, Jane, a chiropractor who very much believes in an all-natural, holistic and homeopathic approach to symptoms, first, then looking at all aspects of your life – like diet, stress, etc. to determine the problem and the causes to the problem. Jane has been a part of my life since I was an infant, she and my mom went to high school together and reconnected after my mom had my older sister and I and was pregnant with my little sister and she was experiencing some health issues. Jane now lives in Colorado, so I explained my symptoms to her through email and she told me to have my Chiropractor here in Buffalo look at my ileocecal valve (which admittedly I had never heard of). I googled it before I even got in to see my chiropractor/yoga teacher Elyssa and many of the symptoms of a grumpy ileocecal valve sounded just like what I was experiencing. The ileocecal valve is situated at the junction of the small intestine (ileum) and the large intestine. Its critical function is to limit the reflux of colonic contents into the ileum.

After a brief examination by Elyssa, she confirmed Jane’s suspicions and I had an explanation – my ileocecal valve was definitely grumpy. The valve is supposed to function on it’s own – opening and closing to release what needs to go to the large intestine from the small, leaving behind what doesn’t need to and shouldn’t go. (You can definitely google and find out even more of the details, I just wanted to keep this brief – a good intro to your ICV can be found here). Our ileocecal valves can get stuck in the open or closed position. Elyssa believes that mine is stuck open. After discussing my diet and trying to determine what may have caused this, Elyssa asked if there had been any major changes in my diet and I told her “no”, I have maintained the same diet that I have for the last nearly 2-years. However, this is when I recalled the cheese that I ate on New Years Eve. I have pretty much completely cut-out dairy milk when I am both baking and cooking, etc and I have cut way way back on cheese. Admittedly and embarrassingly, I consumed a good amount of cheese on New Years Eve with Mark’s family in Kentucky (we were in the South and we did stop at Grandpa’s Cheese Barn in Ohio, afterall). Not really thinking what it could do to my system after not really eating much of it, just thinking about how I rarely eat it anymore and that I would enjoy it just this once. Well the joke is on me. Elyssa explained that because I hadn’t been eating much dairy and more specifically cheese, just eating it this once, it could have just shocked my system, causing my ileocecal valve to freak out!

Now, let me explain to you that I haven’t been to a medical doctor with the exception of a physical in over two years. I have managed to stay fairly healthy minus a cold or stomach bug here and there, which is far better than my health in the past. I am not one to post around on Facebook or Twitter about how I am feeling and complain complain complain instead of taking the necessary actions to improve my health, I try to stay very positive and not dwell since I really think that has an effect on your health and well being. So, the only reason I even chose to share this on here at all – was that first, I thought it to be an interesting diagnosis, one that I never would have imagined. I have always found my digestive tract to be quite sensitive so finding out I have a part of that system, that I didn’t even know existed, not functioning properly, doesn’t really shock me. Secondly, I wanted to explain why you may not see as many posts for the next week or so, or why some of the recipes may be drastically different and toned down. I am definitely going to take it easy with eating, give my system a break and be very mindful of what I consume as I allow my body to heal. In addition to the dairy, I also plan to cut out caffeine, alcohol, sugar and chocolate. I am still not quite sure of everything involved with the ileocecal valve and what has to be done to heal it to make sure it doesn’t happen again. So, I definitely plan to share more with you as I learn more and I will also share the recipes that I am creating as I figure out what to eat to combat this.

The reason that I decided to share this diagnosis with you on this recipe, besides that it was the next recipe that was waiting to be written up, is that the biggest thing that I am removing from my diet, at least for the next few weeks, if not for the long haul, is dairy and more specifically cheese, so you won’t be seeing anything else like this cheesy-topped soup, for a while. I have always seemed to have trouble digesting it, but knowing that it wreaked such havoc on my poor ileocecal valve really has me thinking if I should remove it from my diet altogether. I am definitely not making any rash decisions just yet (gosh, even though I know it’s bad, I really do love cheese), but I do plan to start exploring all of my options and to really investigate all of my diet, once again. I obviously made this soup before we could pinpoint that my troubles were digestion related and I was absolutely craving soup. Had I known that my poor body was pissed at the fact that I consumed so much cheese on NYE – I would have just skipped out on the cheese topping and just had the toast on top. The broth to this French onion soup is soo darn delicious on it’s own, you could honestly enjoy a bowl of this without the melted cheese and be just as content. I promise – I know you think I am crazy, but this soup is that good.

Being that we purchased and shared half of a pasture-raised cow this fall with my parents from Sojourner Farms in Olean, I wanted to use some of the soup bones and beef that we received with our order to make this stock from scratch, I took all the steps to make sure that it was the richest and most flavorful stock I could make. I roasted the bones before I boiled them to make the stock and the results were phenomenal. I have never done this before, but it produced the darkest and most robust beef stock that you could ever imagine. I used this recipe here from Simply Recipes. I enjoyed so many of the different flavors from this soup that I want to attempt it again but next time with a vegetarian or a mushroom stock. I think with the right flavors, possibly roasting the vegetables a bit first and maybe adding in some miso to round out the stock, I could make an equally delicious vegetarian version of this. Stay tuned, I am determined to try it out.

A note – I would have really enjoyed making a French-style gluten free bread for the top of the soup, but I was a bit limited in time, so I bought these beautiful and tasty gluten-free baguettes from Schär. They toasted up absolutely perfectly and retained a nice amount of that crunch even when floating on top of the soup. What a treat to find those at the store. It was a perfect finish to this incredible soup!

I have seen many recipes for chia pudding on my internet travels, some seem to be thicker than others, but they have all looked delicious to me. I have been meaning to make this for some time. I have seen chia puddings made with all types of milk, including coconut, I’ve come across many many different toppings and “extras” including chocolate chia puddings made with cocoa. This Berries and Cream version from Leanne at Healthful Pursuit looks super duper creamy, containing less chia seeds and adding in coconut milk. I plan to make something very similar to this soon, myself, I really love how creamy it looks.

I decided on a thicker version for this first time, with similar flavors to my dad’s famous Greek style rice pudding, that I love so much and have mentioned on here before. Since, I wanted it to be a bit thicker of a pudding – I used a ratio that I found on Whole Food’s website, of seeds to milk. I do plan to make another version of this later this week, with less seeds and with coconut milk, similar to the one I posted from HP, but I had been dreaming of this thick rice-pudding like version for a while now. I will plan to post the next one I make as well, so I can compare to this. In fact, I plan to be making lots more chia pudding, so look out!

When soaked overnight chia seeds turn into a simple pudding, similar in consistency to tapioca (which I love). This pudding was thick and creamy, and it had a little bitty crunch from the seeds. I drizzled a bit of honey overtop of this to add a subtle sweetness, you could also add stevia, coconut sugar or any other sweetener you desire. You probably could also just use sweetened non-milk, I just never have that in the house. I am super surprised at how filling this pudding is, I was worried I would be hungry in an hour or two, and I wasn’t. For me that is when I know I have found a breakfast winner! In addition to breakfast, this pudding would be great for dessert or even a little afternoon snack.

If you haven’t yet had chia seeds, you must try them. I like them in muffins, granola, breads, smoothies, etc. Chia seeds are a super food that provides a variety of wonderful health benefits. It a nutshell – by adding just 2 tablespoons of chia seeds to your daily diet it will give you approximately 7 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, 205 milligrams of calcium, and a whopping 5 grams of omega-3! The benefits are far too many to list here, so I will direct you to this simple to read list, Top 10 Benefits of Eating Chia Seeds. And yes, these are the are the same chia seeds made famous by the Chia Pets. Ch ch ch chia! Chia seeds can be found at most healthfood stores, normally where you would find the flaxseeds.

Obviously you can play around with your toppings and flavors of this pudding, skipping the cinnamon and adding your own spices, going with fresh berries instead of dried fruit, adding nuts, cocoa or topping with shaved fresh coconut, etc.

I know everybody is over the whole holiday sweets and things and onto cleansing and detoxing, the gym and new year’s resolutions, sugar-free and fun-free – but this recipe is too good not to share. Really it’s hardly a recipe, it’s so simple to throw together in about 5-minutes to take to a party, or to wrap up in a nice jar as a hostess gift. I made this for quite a few different holiday get togethers this year and it was always well received. I even made it for a party that we rushed out the door for, where I had to shower, get dressed and be out the door in less than 45-minutes after coming home from Christmas shipping. I walked into the house, melted the chocolate in the microwave and tossed the goodies on top and threw it in the fridge to cool while I got ready. It was that simple and it was ready to go when we were.

The other nice thing about this no-bake sweet treat is that it’s good for just about everyone. If you make sure to buy dairy-free dark chocolate it is perfect for those with dairy intolerances, it’s great for vegans and of course for us gluten-free folk. You can also mix it up and play around with different combinations of toppings. You can try different nuts, dried fruits, shredded coconut, candied ginger, chile flakes, citrus zest, etc. Oooh – how good would broken up pieces of gluten-free pretzels be on top? Yum. You can also play around with swirling in peanut butter or melted white chocolate and making a pretty design. Or you could add mint extract and/or broken up candy canes for some real holiday flair. You could add cinnamon or toasted brown rice cereal…the possibilities are endless. I want to make this for every single get-together I go to, now.

Believe it or not, for a dessert – this dark chocolate bark is a pretty healthy option, too. With dark chocolate a little goes a long way, so you will definitely eat less. Plus, dark chocolate is low in sugar and it’s chock full of antioxidants including theobromine, which combats inflammation and is good for your blood pressure and additionally dark chocolate is known to be mood enhancing.  The pistachios offer a wide variety of health benefits such as being high in dietary fiber, they are cholesterol-free and are loaded with various other antioxidants and minerals. Dried cherries are also high in fiber and minerals. So, go ahead and treat yourself guilt-free, even after the holidays, while reading over your list of 2012 new year’s resolutions.

Not quite ready for the sweets in 2012 yet?  If nothing else, remember this simple recipe idea for a great homemade gift-giving option.

What was your go-to dish or sweet this holiday season?