dino feathers.

kale. 

people have been eating this superfood for over 2,000 years. 

it is packed with more than 100% of your daily requirement in vitamins A, K & C and is oozing with free-radical-neutralizing antioxidants {known as cancer-fighting properties}. also, kale's high fiber content aids in digestion and keeps inflammation at bay. yes, please!

so, sometimes it's hard for me to convince the hubster that eating kale is...super fun. 

enter: my fabulous recipe for dino feathers.

ingredients:

one bunch of rinsed, trimmed organic dinosaur kale

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

pepper

1. preheat oven broiler {high}

2. cover cookie sheet with foil 

{if you are as lazy as me, this will make cleanup a breeze.}

3. lay each dino leaf in one layer on your cookie sheet.

4. brush each feather with olive oil

5. salt and pepper to taste

6. broil in the oven for 5 minutes. 

{each oven is different, so you may need to increase / decrease cook time and turn your feathers over mid-way if still not crispy. just keep an eye on 'em, as they burn quickly!}

7. enjoy as a side to a salad, fish, or well...by themselves! 

p.s.//when you eat these, you may want to nibble the tops and toss the ends. the bottoms tend to get a little tough. i didn't trim the ends because i think the feather presentation is kind of adorable. can kale be adorable? 

yes, yes it can.

Salad for Dessert.

I do not, shall not, and absolutely refuse to buy ready-made pre-packaged salad dressing...including but not limited to: Italian, ranch, thousand island, vinaigrettes of all shapes and sizes, and Caesar...however, I eat a non-naked, and quite beautifully dressed salad almost every day.

Maybe it's in my head, but I can't taste anything in my salad when I cover it in one of these processed chemical explosions, "flavored" with ingredients representative of the name. All I can taste is salty slop. No wonder people get tired of a salad like this...there is only one taste! I suppose I could buy organic/natural/blah blah blah dressing, but my other fun fact is that packaged dressing is SO MUCH more expensive than homemade! My homemade Caesar is actually one of my favorite recipes, but it must be made fresh for every batch. Even that only takes a few minutes, and a few pennies!

For example, last night I made a variation of poppy-seed dressing {sans poppy-seeds  because I didn't have any on hand}. I swear, with this dressing, I could eat 1,000,000 pounds of spinach, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And brunch, and linner, even dessert.  Yes, it has sugar in it, but a little goes a long way, so you shouldn't notice a blood sugar spike. I'd rather staple my life on a lil teeny tiny itsy bitsy bit of REAL cane sugar than that creepy soliduously congealed hydroglobulmicropolysaccarine stuff. Ugh, goosebumps.

Most Delicious Dressing Ever:

1/2 cup white cane sugar

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/2 small white onion

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 teaspoon sea salt

&

1 cup canola oil

Blend the first 5 ingredients in a blender. Then, keep the blender going and drizzle the canola oil in slowly {organic, if you have a pesticide-free preference}, and blend until thick. This is where you can quickly pulse in about 1.5 tablespoons of poppy-seeds if you so desire.

{Pour in 12oz mason jar and it will keep in the fridge for a looong time. Also, meet the only plant I have been able to keep alive that is not a cactus/succulent/palm tree! Yay!}

{A fully dressed spinach salad. Please disregard my awful apartment lighting.}

I'm pretty sure we made that batch for wildly less than the common "all natural" $5+ dressing that would be purchased at the store.

I'm serious, I wake up craving this on a spinach salad instead of French toast or pastries. I would rather have this for dessert than a bowl of ice cream {but not in lieu of chocolate, let's not get out of control here}. Maybe that's not normal, but I think it's crazy delish.

Lemon.

I am a little behind in posts. A LOT has happened during the last month, as I took another three week hiatus from my second job {that CPA thing} and have spent time with the husband {SANS medical school AND rotations} during his winter break. Before catching you up on the happenings worth mentioning, I have to take a moment to share a moment that changed my life three weeks ago while eating at a darling seafood bistro in Santa Cruz:

Lemon. In. Clam. Chowder.

Try it. You won't be sorry.

In fact, I can't get enough lemon lately in anything. 

Before you get ahead of yourself and ask WHY I might be craving something so random {every day, all day}, let me assure you: no, my eggo is not preggo. Instead, it might have something to do with my vacation diet not consisting of nearly enough things green or juiced.

I'm pretty good at listening to my body, and here are some of the reasons I expect why it is subconsciously telling me to devour anything that has to do with this gorgeously vibrant jewel of nature:

• Lemons are low in calories, 29 calories per 100 g, one of the lowest among the citrus groups. 
  
  
• Lemon contains no saturated fats or cholesterol, but is rich in dietary fiber (7.36% of RDA). Lemon is one of the very low glycemic fruits.
  
  
• Its acidic taste is due to citric acid (up to 8% in its juice), which is a natural preservative,  & aids digestion. Studies found that citric acid helps dissolve kidney stones.
  
  
• Lemons are an excellent source of Vitamin C, a powerful water soluble natural anti-oxidant. This vitamin is helpful in preventing scurvy, resist against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the blood.
  
  
• Lemons contain a variety of phytochemicals. Hesperetin, naringin, and naringenin are flavonoid glycosides commonly found in citrus fruits. Naringenin is found to have a bio-active effect on human health as antioxidant, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory, and immune system modulator. This substance has also been shown to reduce oxidant injury to DNA in the cells in-vitro studies.
  
  
• Lemons contain a small level of vitamin A, and other flavonoid anti-oxidants such as α, and ß-carotenes, beta-cryptoxanthin, zea-xanthin and lutein. These compounds are known to have antioxidant properties. Vitamin A also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is also essential for vision. Consumption of natural fruits rich in flavonoids helps the body to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  
  
• Lemons contain a healthy amount of minerals like iron, copper, potassium, and calcium. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids helps control heart rate and blood pressure.
  
  
  It seems that my need for a post-holiday-obesity-detox is physically manifesting itself!  Isn't that fascinating? Back to work, and back to eating right.
  

  

  
  
  
  

Green Juice.

Over the past four years, I have discovered the fabulousness that is juicing.  I have been incorporating three-day cleanses via The Blueprint Cleanse into my life at least twice a year. Juicing has changed my life. Now that my body knows about green juice, I wake up craving it.

The thing with Blueprint is that it's shipped overnight from NYC {and it's raw & organic...so it's not CHEAP}. Only recently has the company expanded production and made their juices available {in a flash pasteurized version to extend shelf-life for a few days} in Whole Foods stores across the country. Of course, as soon as we moved from La Jolla, it came to that store!! Luckily, I found a great {cost effective at $3.75 a bottle at Safeway} substitute by Evolution. 

You might be thinking, "Why doesn't this crazy person get a juicer?"

Trust me, I've weighed that thought against both the pros and cons. I've decided that as long as I'm working {also said: as long as I have zero disposable time}, the convenience of grabbing the 2lbs-of-green-veggies-in-a-perfectly-chilled-little-bottle from the fridge outweighs the cost and process of gathering, juicing, storing and cleaning.

On our most recent trip to Kauai, our barefooted Wailua hiking guide {a local "Grandma" of five...who, by the way, looked younger than my own mother and had shiny salt & pepper hair down to the middle of her back} told me that cancer and disease cannot survive in an alkaline body. She brought a large mason jar of green juice with her where ever she went. She told me that green juice helps the body lower its acidity {brought on by things such as coffee, most fruits, and meat} and balance the pH back to alkaline.

OK, enough of this chemistry lesson. For a more practical real life example: Since drinking high pressure-processed natural green juice, I've had more energy and less random food cravings because I'm actually getting the vitamins I need. I never get sick {ruh roh, knock on wood}.  In juice form, the nutrients go directly into the bloodstream within minutes.  I can literally feel my skin and organs absorbing the vitamins, minerals and enzymes. I know, I'm a freak. But I love it. 

I don't care how poor I am...I will never give up my green juice.

**UPDATE: Blueprint juices are spreading like wildfire & are now available at most Whole Foods grocery stores, as well as several other locations all around the country! Click here to see if your location is included!