Yummy Recipe!

Hey girls!

Sorry my posts have been a bit scattered and few lately.  So much has been going on in my life, and in a couple of weeks I will be able to share all of that with you.  Also, we recently haven't had internet at home, so it's always challenging finding a place to create posts, when not having access at your home.  So it's been a bit frustrating.  And you've all been well missed!

Today I have a yummy recipe to share with you!  Sorry it's not fashion related, but it is delicious, so hopefully that will do! :)

Quick Date-Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal



Makes 1
serving





Ingredients

• 1 cup organic rolled oats


• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (you can use less, or you can use brown rice syrup
  to make it more superhero!)


• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts


• 1/3 crisp apple, cut in cubes


• About 5 dates, pitted and chopped


• Fine sea salt to taste


• 3 shakes of ground cinnamon


• Scant 1 teaspoon flaxseed oil

Steps

1. Bring a kettle of water to boil


2. Combine the oats, syrup, nuts, apple, and dates in a bowl


3. Add a pinch or two of salt, then pour enough hot water to just cover the
   oats (don’t add too much, or it will be too watery)


4. Cover the bowl with a plate or pot lid, and let the oatmeal stand until the
   oats have absorbed the water


5. Stir, and add a little more water if the oats look too dry


6. Let the oatmeal cool a little, and then drizzle with the flaxseed
   oil

This recipe is from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.  If you haven't looked through this cookbook yet, you definitely should!  Doesn't that oatmeal look like the best oatmeal you have ever seen??!!  For those that have a nut allergy, like me, you can just exclude the walnuts, and eat the oatmeal as is, or add something else to it in place of the walnuts.  Like another type of dried fruit or something!  Quite yummy!  And doesn't it sound so simple?  I think anyone could make this, no matter your cooking abilities!  

Enjoy girls!

picture credit

Radicchio Pizza with White Truffle Oil

This is what I had for dinner, so yummy and good for you.  I've been eating more brown rice with my meals.  Trying to get a good amount of grains in my diet.  Alicia Silverstone, in her book The Kind Diet, suggests brown rice as a good and easy way to get grains.  I also just picked up some pearled barley which is a great grain as well.  I'm interested to give that a shot.  Hopefully it's good! The rice is just paired with my sauteed veggie mix of zucchini, green pepper, and I added a few sauteed onions too after this photo, simple but delicious!

I also recently made The Kind Diet's  

Radicchio Pizza with Truffle Oil

photo credit

Above is a picture of Alicia's, which looked so yummy, I had to give it a try!  Here is the recipe:

  

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

• 1 large head radicchio
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 pinch of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp. of White truffle oil, to taste
• 1 fresh pizza crust (preferably a healthy, whole grain one)

Steps

1. Cut the radicchio in half, then slice each half crosswise into thin ribbons (as thin as possible).
2. Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few dashes of white truffle oil to taste.
3. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Toast the pizza crust in the oven for 7 minutes, or until it is heated through and slightly golden, but not crunchy.
5. Scatter the dressed radicchio over the pizza crust and return to the oven for another 3-5 minutes, until the radicchio is warm and just starting to wilt.
6. Serve immediately.

I had actually never heard of a radicchio before, have any of you??  

This is what it looks like:

I ended up buying two because I thought they looked rather small.  I only needed about 1 and 1/2 though.

Aren't they sorta of pretty after being cut open?

 It took me a while to find a whole grain crust.  I finally found a good spelt one! 

The pizza was so easy to put together.  That's my type of recipe!  How about you?

I was a bit worried though, about how flavorful this pizza would be so I added some red onions to top it off.  

This is the first time I've ever used white truffle oil.  I was very excited to try it because I've heard how tasty it makes everything.  To be honest though, the flavoring of it was not all that good!  It made the radicchio taste funny to me and my husband.  Maybe I put too much on?  It didn't seem like much to me, when I was mixing it in.  Have any of you used White Truffle Oil before?

Other then the white truffle oil the pizza was very good!  My favorite part was the spelt crust!!!  So yummy!  I would highly recommend using a spelt crust for any type of pizza recipe!

I've definitely been enjoying trying out new foods and recipes lately.  Have any of you tried anything recently that you either loved or hated??  Any amazing stories of cooking successes in the kitchen or total failures?  lol  I'm sure it would be fun to share! :)

Three Books, A Kind Diet, and an Outfit

My cat has an interesting expression on her face doesn't she? hehe

The other day I actually went to our public library!  I haven't been there in forever, not that I have a problem with the library or don't enjoy reading.  On the contrary, reading is one of my biggest passions!  Why I don't go to the library much is because I'd rather own a book then have to return it.  My husband and I both love adding new books to our shelves and read as much as we can.  Thankfully we both share that passion.  The reason I decided to go to the library was mainly because there are a few books out there I wanted read, but actually wasn't quite sure if I should fully commit and buy them.  I figured the best solution would be to just borrow them from the library.

I walked away with three books during this trip.  The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, and two semi-silly reads, which aren't normally my forte so that's why I decided to get them from the library, both of which are written by Tori Spelling, one titled sTORI TELLING and another UNCHARTED TERRITORI.

I started with The Kind Diet first, because I've heard so many good things about it, from interviews by Alicia herself, other reviewers/celebs and blogger friend Leia! :)  It's also a New York Time's Bestseller!  

Blue 3/4 sleeve cardigan: Merona (Target), Black Tank: Charlotte Russe, Jeans: Bongo

Flower Necklace: F21, Headband:  Claires : P,

Booties:  Colin Stuart (courtesy Designer Apparel)

I couldn't put the book down!  I finished reading the entire book (part of it is an actual book and then part cookbook)  the very next day!  I've already ordered it to buy!

It's definitely worth owning, with so many useful bits of information and great recipes, you really can't go wrong!  I'm not a vegan, but even if you aren't it helps you see things from a different perspective and learn how your body reacts to certain things you eat, and what are considered "kind foods" and "nasty foods".  

Alicia offers three different categories for people wanting to try out new eating styles:  Flirting, Vegan, and Superhero.  Flirting is kind of where I am.  Flirting with the idea of subbing out better alternatives for meat and other artificial foods.  I'm not a huge meat eater anyway.  I eat a burger/steak maybe once/twice a month, and the last couple times I've had read meat it's actually made me really sick, so that's way I find flirting more and more appealing.  More often then not the meat I do eat is grilled chicken, or grilled fish.  Even that's only, maybe, twice a week.  So I'm not a huge meat eater.  My primary goal is to go 4 weeks without any type of meat.  And then see what happens from there.

Right now, I'm 2 days into week 2.  I made it all the way through my fist week! 

I generally eat healthy, or at least try to. : )  But this is a bit different for me, and I'm excited to start focusing more on what types of food I'm eating, grains, beans, and veggies, etc. vs. counting my calories.  Sometimes counting calories can be taxing on me emotionally and I get discouraged.  Hopefully this turns out to be better for me in the long run!  

And although I haven't given up dairy, I have been really trying to swap out dairy free products for my usual dairy filled ones.  I've switched to Whole Soy yogurt (the brand Alicia suggested).  Which, is actually very good!  I was kind of scared to try soy yogurt, but was quite impressed.  My favorite flavor is raspberry so far. 

I've also bought Tofutti dairy-free mint chocolate chip "ice cream" sandwiches, which you guessed it, aren't really made out of ice cream! :)  Yet, they are still yummy.  I've dappled in soy "ice cream" products before, but this kind was new to me.  My freezer is usually stocked with vegan/veggie Morning Star/and or Bocca burgers anyway.  They are lower in calories, so they've already been helpful, since last year, when I started watching my calories, and trying to lose weight.  Another thing is, I've been eating brown rice daily, with usually 2 of my meals.  So, yeah that's basically where I stand.......

Have any of you read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone?  I highly suggest it if you haven't!  Have you recently tried something new with your eating habits?  Are you a big meat eater? Or maybe a vegetarian/and or vegan? I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you do to eat right, or if you try to eat right?  What works best for you?