Really Good For You Soup

I christen thee "If this soup does not cure what ails ya, I don't know what will."
I made this soup chock full of good for you ingredients last night and everybody loved it. Plus I was feeling stuffy, groggy and like I might be getting the crud again last night and now I feel fine. Weather I feel better because of the soup, a good night's sleep or the decongestant is up for debate, but I think all 3 have a good effect on the stuffy olfactory area.

So here you go... Really Good For You Soup.

• 1/2 stalk of Burdock Root (get this at the Asian Market like Super H) 
• 1 package of Shiitake Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 1 head of Swiss Chard, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced into 1/2 moons
• 3 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 tablespoon of white miso
• 1 sheet of dried seaweed (or any other sea veggie) 
• 1 box of veggie broth
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• Cilantro or Basil to garnish
• Dash of Siracha (rooster sauce) if you want a kick

Wash, scrub and peel the burdock root. This stuff is dirty - as it should be - it's a root, however it is worth it because this is the ingredient that makes this soup SUPER HEALTHY. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory, detoxifier and it boosts your immune system to new heights. I like cooking with Asian ingredients, it seems like they have a good handle on the good for you, don't get cancer, live a long and healthy life food choices. Regarding your taste buds, burdock root reminds me of jimica or a bland carrot as in it really does not have much flavor but a good bit of crunch.
Anyway... I digress...
So now chop your peeled burdock root into small pieces. Put about a teaspoon of olive or veg oil into a stock pot. Saute the onions, burdock and garlic. Cook until the onions are really tender and take care not to burn the garlic. Throw in the swiss chard and mushrooms. Let this mixture steam up for about 5 minutes. Stir it all around and let it get happy. Next pour in a box of ORGANIC veggie broth. Put the sheet of seaweed on top and let it get soggy.  Cover and cook this mixture for 30 - 45 minutes.  The seaweed will break up in the soup as it cooks. About 5 minutes before serving add a tablespoon of miso. Stir it in well.
Serve with your preferred garnish - either basil or cilantro and add a dash of Siracha if you want a little kick.
As I was eating this last night I thought that the soup could deal with a hot pepper - so I may try that next time. Otherwise - it was delicious and hearty.
Enjoy and eat well!
Namaste,
Heather

Cheesy Apples Recipe

2 cans of Comstock Apples, not pie filling (if you can not find these, get a bag of apples - peel, core & slice - simmer in a pan with a little water for about 15 minutes just so they get soft)
1 lb of Velveta Cheese, cut into small cubes
2 sticks of softened butter
1 1/2 cups of self rising flour
2 cups of sugar

Beat together softened butter, flour, sugar and velveta (use a hand mixer) mix until all ingredients are incorporated and mixture is creamy

butter a 13 x 9 pyrex dish

put apples in the dish and then top with the cheese mixture, spread the cheese mixture with the back of a spoon

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve warm as a side dish or as a desert.

We always eat this on Thanksgiving as a side dish.

Everybody always says "ewww, cheesy apples, that sounds gross but I'll take a bite" 2 seconds later with a full mouth "More, give me more! That is so good!"

I have had a hard time finding canned apples for the past few years, so I just get a bag of apples, peel, core and slice the apples into wedges. If you have one of those handy apple slicers, this is an easy job. Put the apples in a pan and add a little water, cover and let them steam for about 10 - 15 minutes, just until they are softened. And trust me, peel the apples - any sort of nutrition in this dish is strictly prohibited.

Lunch Time!

Avocado Sandwich with Veggies

I have a slight obsession with avocados. They are so tasty and good for you. The only thing I don't like is when you cut into one and its brown and mushy, or hard as a rock. My secret is to buy them when they are green and gently press the tip of the avocado. When the avocado is really dark green (but not black) and the tip gives a little bit - its avocado day! Eat it, today. It may not be good tomorrow and that $1.00+ is in the trash.

This is one of the yummy things I like to do with avocados. Make a sammy!




Avocado Sandwich:

1 perfectly ripe avocado
1/2 lemon
2 slices of sprouted bread (my fav is Ezekiel bread, find it in the frozen section)
bell pepper
tomato
lettuce

Mash the avocado in a bowl with lemon juice and salt. Toast bread
Spread avocado mash on both slices of bread
Add slices of veggies (get creative - cucumbers, squash, hot peppers) to the sammy
top with lettuce

Eat your veggies and love it!

You can't LIVE without your LIVEr!

On Friday night Soul Shine Yoga & Wellness had our first nutrition workshop with Donna Terrazas. Let me just say she is AMAZING - a true wealth of information. She has been doing the whole natural healing, great diet, and energy healing before it was cool. She used to give her kids "ninja juice" green chlorophyl and juice mixed, named after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 80s version youngins). One of her children was doing his first anatomy project and he was diagraming our insides and she was telling him how important our livers are to the body. He perked up and said "Mommy! Liver, Live! See LIVE. You can't live without your LIVER!" He was right on.
In the West we do not give our liver its due. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) the liver is the most important organ in the body. We tend to focus on our hearts in the USA. The liver is the "general" he tells us what to do. Right now its time to create, live, plow the fields and eat greeeeeen.  We also need to eat tart, sour foods like lemons, limes and grapefruit. Herbs that support the liver are milk thistle and dandelion.

Here is a simple recipe for a gentle liver cleanse:
2 beets (raw)
1 - 2 lemons, juiced
1/4 - 1/2 cup of flax oil

Mix this all together and eat 2 teaspoons a day. If you eat more, the cleansing will be more intense. Trust me, beets are very cleansing! I juiced an entire beet one time, added some other stuff like apple and a cucumber. I drank about 5 sips before I had a headache, and then it was off to the bathroom I went!

Take care of your liver - just don't over do a cleanse.
Love & Light
H

Dear Sugar,

Dear Sugar,

I want you to know that I really enjoyed our time together during the holidays. It was great being with you again, and yes, it brought back fond memories of old times. But I'm afraid I gave you the wrong idea, and I want to make it really clear: things cannot go back to the way they were. What I mean is I can't see you anymore, Sugar. Despite all that is so good between us, our relationship is bad for me. When we were together, I was depressed and tired and I gained weight - yeah, I know you like me with "a little junk in the trunk" (your words, not mine), but this time, it's about me and what I want for myself. I can't always be defining myself by what you see in me, you know? So I need for this to be our last communication. If you care for me at all, please respect this and don't even think about showing up for dessert tonight - we already said our goodbyes last night. And this morning. :-) I'm sorry if this hurts you - some part of me will always love you. But from now on, when we see each other at the coffee shop, the bakery, the candy aisle - those special places where we always used to find each other - let's just look the other way, okay? And move on.

Sincerely,

Heather

* * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Alcohol,

R U busy 2nite? Call me! XXXXXX00000000

-H

PS - I can not claim this one, found it on FB - too funny (and true) not to share!

Cancer Prevention

Since cancer has invaded my family I have radically changed my life. My diet has changed and my faith continues to grow. I truly believe your outlook on life will change your life. So...besides the obvious, like quitting smoking, how can we prevent cancer? Well from all of my research regarding this topic, all roads lead us to these things: strengthen your immune system, alkalize your diet and stay away from sugar, processed foods and toxins.

Lets take these 3 facets and examine each one of them.

How to strengthen your immune system: detox your body by eating high fiber foods or doing a cleanse (talk to your doctor about the best cleanse for you) to get rid of the toxic sludge living in your intestines, eat lots of greens, foods high in antioxidants and learn how to deal with stress in a healthy way, stress will make you sick quick! Ever notice how you feel run down or get a cold when stress takes over your life? This is where yoga, exercise, friends, meditation and taking time for yourself come in. You really need to find a way to de-stress. PLEASE get it out of your head that it is selfish to do something for yourself, you can not take care of others unless you are healthy. This is where I think your outlook on life comes into center stage. If you feel like you can not take time for yourself, then you are not going to enjoy it even when you do. This takes changing your belief system, and that takes a lot of work! Talk to a counselor, pastor or close friend that you trust about this and maybe some light will come into your life.

Alkalize your diet!

Cancer feeds off of acidic foods. Cancer can not live in an oxygen filled environment. Cancer is death, oxygen is life. So fill your plate and juicer with these foods:

List 1

List 2

Long story short: eat lots of greeeeeeeeeen food such as cucumbers, spinach, and kale - lots of fruits, including lemons and grapefruit (they are alkalizing weird huh?) and tofu, most nuts, legumes etc...are all on the alkaline food list. Does this sound familiar to anyone? We have always been told to "eat our veggies" but I do not think that anyone has ever really, truly, deeply, thought about the health implications of NOT eating them.

Stay away from sugar, processed foods and toxins.

Yeah, cancer lives off of sugar. Sugar. It loves it, it also loves dairy. Case in point, my sister has major sugar and dairy cravings now. She did not before cancer invaded her body. We also need to detox by cleaning out our bathrooms of most of the items that have parabens, aluminum, Amines, Dioxane and more. For more info on this topic check out the blog about cosmetics from a few days ago.

None of us can see into the future, maybe even if we do all of this and never take another drink of soda we still may get cancer. I am not naive enough to think that doing all of this will make you invincible. However, I think that its worth the effort to detox our minds, bodies and spirits and renew ourselves with life! Healthy, abundant, happy life! We are not going to live forever, but I want to be healthy and full of vibrant life while I am here on this beautiful planet.

Sweet Stuff

You may have seen some new sweeteners out on the market lately containing something strange called stevia. What is stevia? Huh?

Its an herb, and its natural and its very, very sweet and it has no calories.

Natural AND No Calories! I have died and gone to food heaven!

I have been using stevia for a few years now and it was not FDA approved as a food, so it was sold as a supplement, so you did not see it in a lot of products, until now. It seems that the FDA has approved stevia as a food (thanks to big companies like Coke and Pepsi) and its now popping up under the new name of Truvia, PureVida, Sun Crystals, and Sweet Leaf.

The OG (I'm so gangsta, ha!) is Sweet Leaf. That is the one I have been using for a long time. Its also the purest one as far as I can tell. It is very sweet, and has a kick of fiber as well. It works very well in drinks, smoothies and such. I have never tried to cook with it and I really don't plan on it. If I do bake, I will use raw sugar or agave nectar. But for your coffee, tea or smoothie - Sweet Leaf is perfect. They also have it in liquid form in lots of different flavors such as vanilla, lemon and chocolate. I loooooove the vanilla one! This one is produced by Wisdom Natural Brands and they only make 3 products, Sweet Leaf, a Mate Tea and Sweet & Slender. I tend to trust smaller companies more than the big guys, so this is my #1 choice.

Now lets get to the others...

PureVia is distributed by Pepsi. It will be put in all kinds of beverages and the first will be SoBe Life. I have not tried this one yet, but from the description it looks like its been more refined than Sweet Leaf and I automatically get suspicious when a huge company like PepsiCo is involved. But, hey, I may be wrong and it may be better than Sweet Leaf. I am open minded enough to give it a shot.

Sun Crystals...I have tried this one and I loooove it too. It does have some sugar in it, so the texture is almost the same as real sugar. This one is distributed by Johnson & Johnson. So, yeah, I get suspicious here too. However, the ingredients are sugar cane and stevia. That is it, and apparently you can bake with it - goodie!

Truvia...this one is made with stevia AND sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols are very hard to digest and are not good for your tummy. So I have totally avoided this one. Its marketed as "Truvia - Natural Sweetener" not ALL natural sweetener. This one is manufactured by Cargill (a huge food company) and is being used by Coke. I am wondering if some fancy marketing shuffle is going on here with all of the sugar alcohol and such.

I do think that this is a move in the right direction. I just hope that the big guys don't mess up a good thing.

ALSO - the best option yet, and one I plan on doing ASAP is grow your own stevia! Its as easy as growing any other herb and then you know the source better than anything you could possibly buy in the store.

Click here on a link to buy organic stevia seeds and powder.

LOVE, LIGHT AND SWEETNESS!

Anyone up for a challenge?

Anyone up for a challenge? I am.

As a yoga teacher I get asked all kinds of questions about health, well being, diet, and as a vegetarian people get annoyed with me at the dinner table. But believe me, I am not sitting up on my shiny, eco-friendly, green, vegetarian, yoga throne looking down on everyone who eats meat, drinks milk or does not know what down dog is. Seriously, we live in the real world here!

I also have a confession to make, I am not all that healthy. I really do make an effort to eat healthy, practice yoga daily; but beer, fried shrimp, sugar and chocolate all have a foothold in my life. So in an effort to practice what I preach - I wonder what it would really feel like to be as healthy as I can be for the next 21 days? It takes 21 days to integrate a new habit in your life, so this will be the 21 day healthy as I can be challenge!

I am always on Hailey's case regarding her diet, but who am I to talk the talk if I do not walk the walk? And I mean, really walk it - get down and dirty with it. Granted, I do not have cancer, but we all have the potential to get it and I DON'T want it. I started this journey yesterday by taking a "mental health" day off. I did not go to work, I read a Twilight book and sat on the couch for most of the day. Sounds very couch potato-e, but it was much needed! I also ate very healthy and took all my vitamins. I did a great yoga practice even though it was hard to peel myself off the couch and I went to bed at 10:00.

I am going to do my best to do this even with Hailey in the hospital, and me possibly going to Texas in the near future. What is the point of being healthy and good to your God Pod if you do not do it when you need it most - when you are under tremendous amounts of stress?

Here is my plan for the next 21 days and feel free to jump on board if you want.

1. Juice a very very very green juice every day

2. Add lots of fiber

3. Cut sugar out completely

4. Gradually go dairy free - ugh, we are the only species on the planet that eats another species milk, that should be enough to get you thinking about that one. I will even try vegan cheese and let you know if I die from gagging or if its as tasty as the reviews make it out to be.

5. MOVE every day! Yoga at least 4 times a week and incorporate dance, walking and hooping etc... Yoga is the best all around exercise - but I love to boooogie so I want to nurture that side of my spirit as well. What do you like to do? Bike, hike, dance? DO IT!

6. Prayer and meditation daily - reading the Bible and finding what God wants me to know right now in my life. If the Bible is not your thing, then please find something that inspires you and brings you closer to God. This will make the biggest difference in your life!

7. Less time on the computer and in front of the boob tube (I really feel my brain turning to cottage cheese some nights)

8. Eat TONS more veggies - eat the rainbow every day! Fiber, vitamins, delicious food...enjoy God's bounty!

9. Take more QUALITY time for ME

10. Use the support from friends, family, church family, my hubby and online community

11. NO more beer, its just not good for you on any level. If I do have an adult beverage, it will only be organic wine.

12. Drink 64+ oz of pure water a day

13. Phase out processed foods as much as possible, if processed food makes it into my body its going to have a very short list of ingredients

14. Take all of my vitamins and supplements

15. Alkalize my diet as much as possible (cancer loves an acidic body!)

16. Don't give up but do pamper myself when things get tough

17. Daily affirmations

I hope that this will cleanse my body of toxins that are hiding out in my system, give me more energy and balance my mood during this stressful time.

I will blog as much as I can and give you encouragement, feedback on food, recipes, yoga info, new ways to shake your groove thang and much more.

Any ideas, recipes etc...are welcome!

Love & light

$UGAR

I always tell my clients that are looking to lose weight that its 90% what you eat and 10% exercise. The amount of sugar we eat is insane and it needs to be stopped! But, I am trying to eat a low sugar diet and its darn near impossible. Forget any convenience foods...or soup...or even my favorite hummus. I about keeled over when I saw that my favorite hummus had high fructose corn syrup in it...gag.

Mmmmmm....breakfast

I love breakfast, its my favorite meal. However, I tend to skip it or just grab something sweet like a granola bar or a high fiber cookie. Yeah, a cookie. Its one of those TLC cookies with like 5 grams of fiber in it, leave me alone!


Anyway...really...we need to eat a good breakfast. We alllllllllllll know this. We have heard it all our lives, but who has time to whip up a good for you breakfast when you are not sure if you put mascara on both eyes or just one???

Well, I have come up with some solutions. I will share with you some great, quick, easy recipes that will get your digestive fire going in the morning and give you good, consistent energy until lunch.

The first recipe is for a yummy to the tummy oatmeal. This will take some prep work, but only one night a week.

Ingredients:


2 - 3 apples (depending on size)


1 teaspoon of grated ginger (fresh only please!)


1 teaspoon of cinnamon (honestly y'all, I am only guessing on the measurements, play around)


1/4 cup of dried cranberries (see if you can find the unsweetened kind)


water (or soy milk)


oatmeal


pinch of salt


butter


PURE REAL *NOT HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP* MAPLE SYRUP (I abhor high fructose corn syrup)

On a night when you are already cooking (this will save you time) cut up your apples, grate your ginger and throw about a pat of butter in the pan. Then throw the apples, ginger, cranberries and cinnamon in there...let it get all nice and soft. Turn the pan down low and let them go for a while. We are stewing the apples, not frying them.

Put your apple goodness in a bowl and store it in the fridge till the next morning.


Also, while you are at it, you can pre-measure out your oatmeal, salt and a dash of cinnamon for the next day, put it in a Tupperware bowl and have it ready for you in the morning. Maybe this will take some pressure off and you will actually get mascara on both eyes.

In the morning - if you have time - boil your water and cook your oatmeal the old fashioned way - on the stove. Mix in your apple goodness, a little pure maple syrup and enjoy.


If you don't have time for all of that, add water to the oatmeal, add your apples and stick it in the microwave until its done. I find that you have to add more water when you cook it this way, or it will turn out like a mass of goo that is not very appetizing. Go with the stove top if you can.

Hope this help with your morning rush! And don't forget to get all your makeup on and shave BOTH legs.

Love and Light,

Heather

Good Eatin'

I made the best vegetarian stew last night, if I do say so myself. For most of us, vegetarian and stew do not go together, beef and stew - yes, but veggie stew - not so much. Well, let me change your mind with this delicious creation that Mike and I gobbled up last night. Today I ate the rest, now I feel like I am going to explode, but it was so tasty I could not help myself.

Coconut Sweet Potato Stew:

1 baking potato
1 sweet potato
1 can of garbanzo beans
2 cans coconut milk
1 can vegetable broth
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 tsp - 1 tbs of flour
salt
pepper
curry powder
garlic

Crank up the oven to 400. Dice the potatoes into chunks, bake the chunks on a baking sheet, and put a little oil on the pan so the potatoes do not stick. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.

In an big ol' pot saute for just a minute or two the zucchini, squash and garlic, just to get them a little soft and to bring out the flavor of the garlic.

Drain the can of beans and rinse. Add the beans to the pot, and add the coconut milk and broth.

Now add salt, pepper and curry powder to your taste. Be careful with curry powder, too much can be overpowering. Taste as you go, then see what you need to add.

When the potatoes are finished baking, mash 1/2 of them and keep the other half chunky. Add the potatoes to the pot. Stir to break up any chunks of the mashed taters.

Let it all simmer for a bit on the stove top on medium until its bubbly. Taste for seasoning again and see if you need more salt or curry.

Sift about a tablespoon of flour or nutritional yeast (can be found at health food stores) over the top of the stew and stir like crazy. This will thicken the broth. Turn it down to low and let it simmer for another minute or two.

We had traditional flat bread with this meal, a light salad would have been nice too.

Enjoy!

Cucumbers, Kale and an Apple, oh my!

So far juicing has been great! I have not been doing it long enough to see any real results, but what I notice immediately after drinking my fresh juice, I have some pep in my step. I honestly do not feel the need for caffeine like I normally do in the morning. Considering the ingredients sound less than delightful, let me assure you, even Mike liked it. After I forced a sip down his throat and he actually said "not bad!"

Take that into consideration as you read the following recipes. These are the two combos I have been drinking since Sunday.

Green Monster:

1 pear

handful of each:

kale

sprouts

spinach

Green Apple:

1 apple

1 cucumber

handful of each:

kale

sprouts

Seriously, its good and the fruit takes over the drink. I am going to try beet juice tonight...

Time to clean out the pipes...and the blood, and the liver...

I have cleaned out my house and my closet...its time to clean my temple.

After a summer of stress, about 100 Fat Tires (and bud lights), more fast food than I'd like to admit, lack of sleep and lack of a standard yoga routine, its time to cleanse! I am starting a month long cleanse on Sunday. Giddyup!

I have stolen my sister's juicer (insert evil laugh - muahhhaaa) and I will using this sucker every day. I will juice greens, veggies, some fruit, grasses, ginger etc...I will also be eating more "whole" foods and much less processed food.

Juicing has amazing benefits according to those who do it regularly. The enzymes from the raw veggies make your skin glow, remove toxins from your body, give you a "boost" with out caffeine, and totally do a body goooood. The over processed veggie juices in the grocery store are nowhere near the same, they are loaded with sugar, additives etc...to make them taste good. I will hopefully find some combos that do taste good so I can stick to this plan. I will be sure to share recipes and blunders along the way.



On this cleanse I am also giving my poor worn out liver a break, so no alcohol for 30 days, at least. I am also (since I am finally settled in the new casa) going to start practicing yoga asana at least 6 times a week if not every day. Yoga is a lifestyle for me, so I do practice some form of yoga (part of the 8 limbs...another blog for another time) every day - but asana is the fire that gets the toxins OUT of your precious, beautiful body.

Wish me luck, and have you ever cleansed? Tell me about how you cleanse. How do you feel different? What has worked for you? Anything really nasty and stupid that you have tried?



PS. My sister NEVER uses her juicer, if she did I would have never taken it. Maybe if I find some good juicing recipies she will start...