(Not Your Everyday) Tuna Casserole! Grain and Dairy Free!

Newsflash: Pasta isn't really that good for you. Sure, it nourishes your soul (and your soul is important), but as a general rule of healthy eating, grains should be eaten sparsely and sprouted first. Should. Am I going to completely stop eating pasta for the rest of my life? No. But, if there is a way to cut back on my grain intake while eating stuff that is absolutely delicious, I say why not! I'll save up my pasta-eating for my trip to Italy, which will take place when I have enough money. Which will be in say, 10 years.

THIS is a great way to get some extra veggies in your belly without even realizing it. I'm not crazy (and you're not an idiot), so I won't tell you that you "won't notice the difference" or some nonsense along those lines. This will never take the place of that egg noodle-based, canned cream of mushroom, Ruffles potato chip-topped tuna casserole from my childhood, no way. But it does taste absolutely delicious, has no processed ingredients (I cheated and bought mayo instead of making me own, so sue me!), and doesn't have that dairy that causes me to spend a lot of time in the bathroom after eating it. Sounds pretty good to me!

May I present to you: Tuna (Spaghetti Squash) Noodle Casserole! Grain and dairy free!

Ingredients:
1 small (2-ish pounds) spaghetti squash
Coconut oil, for roasting

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup frozen green beans (or peas, or both!)
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
1/3 cup homemade or paleo-approved mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten with the mayo
2 cans sustainable, pole-caught tuna, drained
1-2 tsp coconut flour
1/4 cup almond meal
salt, pepper, red chili flake, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds (save those and roast them if you want!) and rub coconut oil on the exposed insides. Season with salt and pepper, and roast cut-side down for 35-45 minutes until tender.
2. While squash is roasting, saute the onions in coconut oil until translucent. Add beans and/or peas and sage to the pan and turn off the heat.
3. When squash is finished roasting, cool until the halves can be handled enough (use an oven mitt if you have to) to scoop the insides into a bowl. Turn the oven down to 350.
4. Add the onion/veg mixture to the bowl along with the mayonnaise/egg mixture, tuna, and coconut flour. Season to taste.
5. Transfer mixture to an appropriately-sized casserole dish (a 2-quart works perfectly) and top with the almond meal. Season top with salt and pepper.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until cooked through. Place under broiler for 1-2 minutes, if desired, to crisp up the almond topping.
7. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes, and serve!

The SMELLS in the kitchen alone are worth making this. A fantastic meal for a cozy night, and one your body will thank you for!

Water. Agua. H2O. Take the GALLON CHALLENGE!

Water. Who would think that something so obvious could be something that is so important? We've all heard it before, but the truth is that most of us are dehydrated without even knowing it! I say most of us, because I assume that everyone is in the same boat as I am. My bff and I embarked on the "gallon challenge" 5 days ago, and even in that short period of time, I have noticed huge changes. I share them here because I am so pleasantly surprised that implementing something has made such a noticeable difference in such a short period of time, and also because if I can drink a gallon of water per day (I survive on tea, kombucha, smoothies, and chicken stock - all great, but they're not water) then anyone can!

I made myself a little jar with my goal and places for tally marks. It's fun to keep track of your progress! Notice my 1 tally mark after chugging one jar right after waking up. Add some lemon to help make your body more alkaline, which is a really good thing. Drinking water first thing will jumpstart your metabolism for the day.

In 5 days I have noticed:
- Decreased appetite
- Improved bowel function (like, 3 times a day, y'all)
- Clear, glowing skin
- SIGNIFICANT reduction of menstrual cramps
- Noticing thirst (why is that good? Because I am now tuned into all the times I thought I was hungry and was actually craving water. I was mixing up my body's signals - she must have been feeling really misunderstood)

So here is some scientific stuff about the importance of hydration. It's good to know that when you feel thirsty, you are already pretty dehydrated, so it's a good idea to keep a bottle or jar (please, no plastics) on you at all times to sip on throughout the day. Sufficient hydration will assist your cells in healing themselves and functioning properly, leading to better sleep and better energy levels through the day. Fully hydrated blood (blood is 92% water) flows more easily through your body, aiding in cardiovascular function. When the body is dehydrated, it creates more histamines (compounds that can create allergy symptoms). Proper hydration helps our skin rid itself of toxins - dehydration leads skin to become irritated, inflamed, itchy, red, and prone to breakouts. A well-hydrated body purges toxins and metabolic wastes more efficiently, and allows matter to pass more quickly through the digestive tract. Staying hydrated keeps our cells more balanced, and we will feel hungry less often. Not to mention, drinking as much water as it takes to stay hydrated will, in all likelihood, decrease the amount of sugary, caffeinated beverages that we consume. Win, win (win, win, win)!

Who's up for the Gallon Challenge?! Join me, it will be worth it!

Gut-healing, Skin-polishing, Antioxidant-rich GUMMY CUBES!

Wow, you guys. This recipe is incredibly easy and simple, but before we get to that, I have to regale you with the many reasons that these tasty gummies are so good for you. To me, there's nothing better than knowing the good something is doing for my body once I put it in my mouth. I'm not alone, right?! Hey pregnant Moms: these are a great way to increase that protein intake, which is so important for decreased swelling, reducing varicose veins, and protecting against birth complications. Not to mention the fewer wrinkles, reduced joint pain, and less cellulite for the rest of us!

So the recipe has 3 ingredients, each of which have lots of health benefits.

Blueberries have a low glycemic index, which means they don't make your blood sugar spike (which in turn spikes insulin, which is hard on your body and creates resistance to insulin over time, aka diabetes, eek!). They are known to have the highest number of antioxidants of any fruit, though unfortunately many of the antioxidants are lost during the cooking process, which is why we cook this very gently. The antioxidants in blueberries help protect against cancer, support the cardiovascular system, protect the digestive tract, and can help against neurodegenerative diseases! That all sounds pretty good to me, kinda makes me want to include more antioxidant-rich foods in my diet...

...Like lemons! Lemon juice has all kinds of vitamins, aids in digestion and detoxification, and has antioxidants (great for your skin). It is important that it isn't heated too hot as to undermine all these benefits, so add it once your blueberry mixture has cooled down a bit. As always, organic is best.

Now, the gelatin. The gelatin is the star of the show here. This is a great product (which I used), as is this one. Both of these are minimally processed forms of collagen from beef. The second option is even better than the first because it comes from grass-fed cows, which when it comes to beef, is really the only kind we should be eating. Protein powders are so popular these days, but the amount of processing it takes to separate the protein out of plants is something that is best avoided. Remember, processed foods are never as good for us as food straight from nature. Gelatin in our diets improves the lining of our digestive tracts, healing tiny holes that allow particles to leak into our bodies causing inflammation and allergies. An amino acid present in gelatin (called glycine) acts similarly to anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications, lowering stress hormones and improving our mood. Collagen has been present in the diets of humans for most of history, though in the olden days, it took the form of slow-cooked bone broths. Since many of us haven't yet adopted the bone broth habit, this is the next best thing! (What's that? You want to learn how to make bone broth, you say? Well, what do you know, I have a recipe and instructions right here!)

Now, lets make these babies.

Equipment:
1. A mold (I used a silicone ice cube tray, but you could pour your mixture into any pan and cut it into pieces once it sets)
2. Small saucepan
3. Blender (I used a Nutribullet)

Ingredients:
1. 1 cup organic blueberries
2. Juice from 1 lemon (you can use the zest too, if you want them really lemony!)
3. 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) good-quality powdered gelatin

Instructions:
1. Heat the blueberries over low heat until steam just starts to rise and blueberries plump up slightly.
2. Allow to cool for a few minutes, and add juice from 1 lemon (no seeds!)
3. Place this mixture into your blender or Nutribullet and blend until smooth.
4. Add gelatin and blend again (the mixture should still be fairly warm in order to melt the gelatin sufficiently).
5. Pour mixture into your mold.
6. Place in fridge and allow to set for 1 hour.
7. Remove from the mold.
8. Place in a sealed glass jar.
9. Enjoy!

You say potato, I say potato salad

Hey, y'all. So, if you're following my blog (all 3 of you), you have learned how to make your own mayonnaise, fermented veggies, and fermented mustard. Well, what can you do with all that stuff? A lot of things, but here is one SUPER easy application that uses all of them!

This came about because I had a couple of extra cooked potatoes from another dish (if you don't, just cook some!), and I needed to throw something together for a picnic at the lake. It can't get much easier than this, folks. I provide a recipe just for reference, but you can change it up quite drastically to make it taste the way you like. For me, potato salad doesn't need too much more than potatoes, mayo, and a pickled element.

This recipes uses 2 small potatoes and makes enough salad for a 1-person picnic.

2 small potatoes, cooked whole and unpeeled until easily pierced with a fork and cooled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp chopped fermented vegetables of your choice (I used carrots and beets)
1 Tbsp fermented mustard
Pinch of dried dill (or other herb of your choice)
salt and pepper to taste

*You could also add some chopped bell pepper, some paprika, some celery, celery salt... however you like your potato salad.

1. Cut the potatoes into small cubes.
2. Mix everything together.
3. Put in a jar and take it to the lake. The end.

Does anyone get the thrill I do from making a dish with only elements that I have made myself? This is the healthiest potato salad I have ever had, which also makes it the most delicious. No gross chemicals in store-bought mayonnaise for this lady. No yucky preservatives from store-bought pickles, or weird artificial colors from storebought mustard. Plus a ton of probiotics! Not doing potatoes because of their high starch (aka sugar) content? Cooked cauliflower florets would work fantastically too!

Whole Food, Fudgey, PALEO Brownies!

Listen. Not to toot my own horn, but I know my way around a brownie. I once held the title "Assistant Pastry Chef", and have made some sweets in my day. The kind of sweets that give you diabetes with all their white sugar and white flour, and sometimes even CORN SYRUP. I used to be a different person. As much as I hate to admit it, that is what "good" means to most people ("Former Me" included) when it comes to desserts. If you were to ask most people if they wanted a sprouted whole wheat croissant made with date sugar, they'd probably look at you and politely decline, right?!

Here is a real paradigm-changer when it comes to desserts. I promise you, there is no way you'll take a bite of this and even realize it's healthy. You can bring this to a normal ol' party and really pull the wool over your friends' eyes. They won't even know they're not eating processed sugars or refined carbohydrates! You can look at them with the twinkle of a secret in your eye thinking, "HA! These are not going to kill you!" Honestly, sometimes it's like the worse something is for us, the better it tastes. Guess what! We don't have to be naughty to have a fantastic treat!

Dates! Bananas! Both whole foods, with all their fiber in tact to help your body digest their sugars slowly. Almond butter provides the structure as well as the fat! Bittersweet chocolate is balanced out by some maple syrup (yes, aka sugar, but UNPROCESSED), a couple pastured eggs, and a few more basics and voila! Plus it's mostly made in the food processor (you could do it with a stand mixture or a handheld mixer as well), which makes it a breeze!

PREHEAT oven to 325. Gather the following Equipment:

Food Processor
small bowl
large bowl
rubber spatula
8 x 8 square baking pan
parchment paper
coconut oil for greasing pan

Gather the following Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter (homemade or store bought)
2 large eggs
4 dates, pitted and soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
1/2 ripe banana
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper and grease with coconut oil. You'll have the best luck with edges of parchment that are longer than the sides of the pan. Accomplish this by using two pieces of parchment cut to the width of the pan.

In a small bowl over a pan of low-simmering water, get your 1/3 cup chocolate chips melting. In your food processor, blend together the almond butter, eggs, soaked dates, banana, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the cocoa powder and *STIR IN BY HAND* before turning the machine back on. The cocoa will explode everywhere otherwise! Add your salt and baking soda, and blend until incorporated. Add melted chocolate and pulse just until combined. Pour this mixture into a large bowl and fold in 1/3 cup whole chocolate chips.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until edges are cooked and middle is not raw. Cool in pan. Remove from pan by pulling up the edges of the parchment paper and slice into squares. YUM!

Carrot Top Pesto

You know when you buy beautiful carrots from the store and you're left with their green tops? What on earth are you supposed to do with them? Well, that's what I am here to talk about today, my friends. No more tossing those babies in the compost. While you could always stick them in your freezer bag full of odds and ends for that chicken stock you'll be making soon, there are good reasons to eat them fresh. Not only do they taste like super-concentrated carrots (aka delicious), but they contain 6 times the vitamin C of the root and are a great source of potassium and calcium! They have chlorophyll (as does everything green), which is an excellent source of magnesium. They can be a tad bitter, so using them in something that has other strong flavors (like garlic) is a great idea! Which brings us to today's recipe.

This pesto is incredibly easy to make and versatile to use. It is practically impossible to mess up, because it's just a bunch of tasty things blended together. It freezes well, and can be used to dress cauliflower rice, put on your eggs in the morning, as a topping to your tacos, as a sauce for your spaghetti squash "noodles", or anything else you can think of that needs some green pizzaz.

You'll need a food processor or a blender.

Ingredients:

Greens from approximately 8 carrots, cut just so they're not whole
3 (or so) cloves garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 cup of almonds, leftover almond grounds from making almond milk, or any other kind of nut you like (pecans and hazelnuts also work well)
1 cup olive oil

1. Blend together everything except the olive oil in your food processor until it is ground up and consistent in texture.
2. Place this mixture in a bowl.
3. Whisk in olive oil by hand (this will ensure the oil doesn't get bitter, as it can when blended in a machine).
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

That's it! You have only 5 carrot tops? 1/3 cup of nuts? No big deal! Just add a little more or less olive oil. This pesto is totally customizable to what you have, and is so tasty. Give it a try!

Magnesium!

Magnesium! Making our own body butter! There is so much to talk about, I'm happy you're here.

Have you been craving chocolate? Having muscle cramps? Difficulty sleeping? Anxiety? Lapses in memory? Chances are that you (along with most of the other people in the world) have a magnesium deficiency. Today we are going to stray from the normal everyday healthy food post, and touch on something, that although edible (not tasty, but edible), will impact our health in a different yet very important way!

I adhere to the idea that we should not put anything on our skin that we can't eat. Our skin is our biggest organ and the stuff we put on it eventually makes its way into our blood! You know we absorb something like 7 pounds of chemicals through our skin every year through the use of cosmetics? Yuck! That's why making your own is so important, because just like having control over what we eat by cooking our own food, we want to have control over what is absorbed through our skin (to a degree, of course) by making the stuff that we are slathering ourselves (and our babies) with.

For example, many cosmetics are made with a chemical called DEA, which is believed to cause detrimental effects on brain development when babies are exposed to it prenatally (hi, pregnant ladies!). Glycol Ethers are chemicals found in many cosmetics that can cause infertility in men and can be dangerous to pregnant women. Formaldehyde is sometimes hiding in many things that we buy, which in large amounts can cause things like asthma and menstrual disorders in women. Wowzers! Now, I'm not a scientist, but the one thing that I can guarantee is that when making this body butter, there will be absolutely none of the things I just listed, as well as no:

- lead
- mercury
- glucocorticoids (may cause skin problems)
- parabens (many research studies have found these in breast cancer tumors)
- artificial fragrances
- synthetic colors

...Or any of the other things that are meant to make cosmetics smell/look/feel a certain way and be preserved when made in large quantities.

So we're on the same page, yes? Wonderful. Now let's talk about magnesium.

Magnesium is a mineral that is, like many other minerals, super important for many reasons. Without magnesium, we could not produce energy, our muscles would be in a permanent state of contraction, and we could not adjust the levels of cholesterol produced and released into the blood stream. Because of the farming practices widely used in our food system, the soil that our vegetables are grown in is magnesium-deficient, which means we are not getting the magnesium from vegetables that we once did. Carbonated beverages, which so many of us enjoy, contain phosphates...these substances actually bind with magnesium inside the digestive tract, rendering it unavailable to the body.

Magnesium is necessary for maintenance and regulation of enzyme activity in the body (think digestion), DNA and RNA, and energy production. Magnesium is a macro-mineral, along with calcium, sodium, and potassium and is needed by the body in large amounts. It is also an essential mineral, which means that it needs to be obtained from an outside source because our bodies do not make it. Honestly, the importance of magnesium cannot be expressed enough! you can read more here.

So in other words, here are the good things magnesium facilitates:

- Moving blood sugar into your muscles and disposing of lactic acid (which causes pain and cramping, especially during exercise)
- Lessening depression and anxiety
- Regulating blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetics by supporting insulin function
- Lowering inflammation in the body
- Improving mood and reducing water retention in women with PMS
- Helping you sleep
- Lessening morning sickness in pregnant women
- Supporting strong bones

And guess what: magnesium is best absorbed through our SKIN! You can take an oral supplement, but the amount that remains is pretty minimal after being exposed to the acids and enzymes in the digestive system and being filtered through the kidneys. Still, it is always good to eat magnesium-rich food anyway, and use this body butter as a supplement. Here is a list of some good magnesium-providing foods.

This recipe is easy, fast, and flexible in that you can control what essential oils you use! I used lavender, because among over things, magnesium helps facilitate better sleep, something lavender is know to do as well. Why not let them work together to relax those muscles and get you ready for bed after a hard day?

Gather the following:
1. 1 large glass jar
2. Small saucepan or pot filled about 2 inches up with water.
3. A hand mixer or immersion blender
4. A small mixing bowl
5. Small, airtight glass jar for storage

Ingredients:
1. 1/2 cup magnesium oil *You can also make your own magnesium oil by dissolving 1/2 cup magnesium flakes in 1/2 cup filtered water.
2. 1/4 cup coconut oil
3. 1/8 cup shea butter
4. 1 tsp avocado oil, almond oil, or apricot seed kernel oil (or this can be omitted)
5. 2 Tbsp beeswax
6. 10 drops lavender essential oil (or you could use a different one if you prefer).

Process:
1. Combine coconut oil, shea butter, beeswax, and optional oil (#4) in a glass jar.
2. Place the jar in the saucepan filled with water, and over low heat, slowly melt the ingredients, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove the jar from the saucepan and allow ingredients to cool for 10 minutes.

4. Pour the mixture into a bowl and mix with a hand blender or immersion blender on medium-low speed. Slowly add the magnesium oil as you blend.

5. Once the mixture is well mixed, place the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes.
6. Add the lavender (or other) essential oil, mixing at low speed. Once it is incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and whip for 1 minute to create a body butter texture.
7. Scoop the butter into the glass jar.

8. Store next to your bed for use before going to sleep, or use as a massage oil for tired muscles. Makes about 1 cup, so you could get 2 small jars and share some with a friend!

Remember, there are no gross chemicals or alcohol in our beautiful body butter, so be prepared to allow some time for it to seep into your skin! This will keep for about 6 months, so use it up before time is up!

Questions? Suggestions? Stories? Please share! I welcome your comments, and I would also love if you came to chat with me at Glow Fitness! <3