Zucchini Enchilada Boats

Have you heard of Punchfork?  It's like Pinterest meets Betty Crocker.  Well - WAY better than Betty (no offense!).

It's like an online recipe catalog.  Pure awesomeness.  Basically it's a photo of a great dish and when you click on it, it links to the recipe and credits who posted it.  It's totally addictive.  The recipes range from healthy to the opposite, as well as fun, complicated, or super easy.

I've been finding my favorite recipes and then pinning them into my Wanna Try Recipes repository.

I'll admit - I usually amend the recipes to make sure they fit our food requirements...but darn is it a fun way to find new ideas!   I can look for hours!

Today, I found these fun Zucchini Enchilada Boats.  An old nanny stopped by last week and brought us a 2 foot zucchini that we weren't sure what to do with (especially since the kids don't like Zucchini). I had it figured for the compost bin.  But alas - I thought I'd give this recipe a try.  OMG.  That's all I can say. The photo below is only 1/2 of the zucchini.  And Mike and I split one of them for dinner (I will dream of eating the other half for lunch tomorrow as I sleep tonight!).

As I mentioned, my kiddos don't eat zucchini (knowingly) so I put the "stuffing" into an organic whole wheat tortilla (still looking for a 'best' option of these) and Kaelyn loved it.  Andrew was fine as long as he closed his eyes and made a game of it. Once he saw what was inside he couldn't get past it.  What is WITH the kids who have issues with how food looks?  Drives me insane.

Here is my recipe.  It's pretty similar to the original.

Ingredients

• 4 medium to large zuchini
• 2 (about 8 oz total) small zucchini
• 1 package or jar of enchilada sauce
• 8 oz cooked shredded chicken breast 
• 1 t crushed coriander
• 1 t sea salt
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup diced green purple or red pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp enchilada sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

For the Topping:

• 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar (organic raw milk or grass fed)
• chopped scallions and cilantro for garnish

Directions

Place chicken in oiled glass dish.  Season with salt and coriander. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Boil a pot of water.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4" thick. Chop the additional smaller zucchini to use in your stuffing.

Drop the zucchini halves in boiling water and cook 2-4 minutes, depending on how thick they are; remove from water.

In a large saute pan, heat oil and add onion, garlic and bell pepper. Cook on medium-low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add chopped zucchini, spinach, and cilantro; season with salt and pepper and cook about 4 minutes. Add the cumin, oregano, chili powder, water, and enchilada sauce and cook a few more minutes, then add in chicken; mix and cook 3 more minutes.

Place 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a large (or 2 small) baking dish, and place zucchini halves cut side up. Using a spoon, fill each hollowed zucchini with 1/3 cup chicken mixture, pressing firmly. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on top of the stuffed zucchini boats.

Top each boat with 1 1/2 tablespoons each of shredded cheese.

Cover with foil and bake 35 minutes until cheese is melted and zucchini is cooked through.

Top with scallions and cilantro for garnish and serve with greek yogurt if desired.

The stuffing is so good you could mix it with quinoa, top a salad, eat it with chips, etc... It's very versatile. Easy to make extra and freeze for another time...or even make on Sunday night to use later in the week.

Keeping it real! Kathy

Easy Strawberry Smoothie - non-dairy

Recently I was visiting a grand "re-opening" of Healthy Creations.  They have added some yummy smoothies to their menu.

While we were at the party, they snuck a little cinnamon into their Goji Berry smoothie and it was so yummy we told them to put it on their menu!

I decided to make one of my own to share with the kids.  It's a bit of a knock off - but the cinnamon again, is the special secret!

Strawberry Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (or other dairy/non-dairy option)

1 bag frozen strawberries (Trader Joe's)

4 dates, pitted and quartered

1/2 t cinnamon

Blend till smoothilicsious!


Keeping it real! Kathy

Back to the Basics – Camping at Palomar Mountain

Mike and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a “adult only” trip to the Bahamas back in May.  Our anniversary is in July but we needed to have one of my sister’s come watch the kids and since they are teachers – it has to happen in May or August.  We chose the cooler month here in San Diego…. knowing we’d fry on the beach in August.

We enjoyed our time on a remote island with only 1,500 inhabitants.  We were there for only 5 nights.  It was all we dreamed of – very remote beach with fine flour soft white/pink sand.  Calm turquoise water.  You get the picture. 

 It was life changing.

A couple of days into the trip we took part in an impromptu adventure including a very risky ride in a 1947 Army Jeep – no seatbelts, heck no windows or roll bar either.   It was one of those things that just happened – without thought.  And suddenly I was bumping along in this jeep on an unpaved road, inches from certain death, when I realized I was having fun (kinda like the old days!), but equally freaked out about orphaning my children.

When we came home, we realized how far away we’ve been from fun.  Unprompted, unplanned, unsafe fun.

And we started to talk about how we grew up.

No seatbelts

No carseats

No parents on bike rides into town

Don’t get me wrong.  My parents were strict.  Notoriously strict. 

But that didn’t stop us from having fun.

My dad had his own small airplane. We flew to Florida all the time.  We took a Winnebago and drove from Chicago through Colorado to Lake Powell and then took a houseboat for a week on the lake.  We rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon 13 times (we got hooked!).  Heck, we hiked the Grand Canyon twice and took the mules two other times (North AND South Rim!).   We hiked Havasupai Canyon – and stayed in a Havasupai Indian’s house when we determined we couldn’t make it back out in the same day! 

I distinctly remember

-being stuck on several occasions in the middle of the desert with an overheated car and not enough water for survival. 

-falling on a cactus on a hike and getting more needles in my arm than were in the cactus in the first place.

-bouncing around in the airplane in the middle of a thunderstorm unable to find an airport and puking into a bucket.

- peeing in a large coffee can on the airplane anytime you had to pee since we always flew for 8 hours before stopping for fuel.

-looking at the stars in the desert sky while sleeping on cots – seeing who could find a satellite first, or name a proper constellation.

-making lifelong relationships with other campers.

Then I grew up.  On my own I backpacked through Europe.  Para glided and Canyoned in the Swiss Alps.  Drove across the country and across Baja Mexico(pre drug-wars, but still, those teenage militia guys were everywhere!).  I won’t even tell you the things I did while living near South Central Los Angeles for College!

And Mike – he grew up on BMX bikes, then motocross.  He rode with one buddy up and down all of Baja Mexico.  His family was a camping family.  They were in the desert practically more than they were home.

But for the last 5 years, we’ve been having kids.  For the last 5 years we’ve stuck with a routine of napping and eating and not driving too too far. 

And now we’ve had enough. 

We’re turning over a new leaf!

We've reconfirmed our values and gotten centered about what we want the rest of our life to look like.

We’re going to camp with our kids.

We’re going to take our family on adventures.

We’re going to get away from the “safe” life we’ve created.  The one where we don’t think we’ll get hurt or sick but we also don’t form close friendships with the people around us.

And last weekend, we took a daytrip to get started.

Our friends have a campsite up on Palomar Mountain. They actually lease it so they are able to keep a small structure on their plot with all of their necessities in it.  It makes for an easy trip to go back and forth anytime they want.

We ate like kings.

We played like kids.

We got dirty, stinky, and eaten by mosquitoes (okay, at least I did – 27 on one leg and 39 on the other – I have SWEAT blood!).

 

I didn’t take enough pictures to record it.

But we’ll be going back.

Again and again and again.

The kids can’t wait!

And I’m looking more ideas for where to go to completely let loose and stop following rules!!!

 

Keeping it real! Kathy

Restaurant Review: True Food $$

Today I had a business lunch with a colleague who shares in the "whole food journey."  When we meet for lunch we always look for the newest health conscious find.  Today we hit the jackpot.

Dr. Andrew Weil has teamed up to create a restaurant that showcases foods that support an anti-inflammatory diet.  Although there are other Tru Food restaurant locations, the one in San Diego just opened last month.  They've done a great job on creating a WHOLE experience. From the herb plants on the way in the door, to the orange/vanilla infused water (to D.I.E. for - I'm still peeing b/c I drank so much of it - it tastes like a creamsicle I swear - try it at home by just adding a vanilla bean and sliced oranges to a pitcher of water.), to the farm table wait stands.  I could go on and on.

A well arranged bucket of vegetables.  Doesn't "sound" appealing but look at that bowl. It was delicious. The cucumber dip was amazing!

I've been dying to try the combination of tomatoes and watermelon. It's all the rage. I'm not a sweet/tangy combination person so I'll admit, I don't need to have this combination again. But it was very good and anyone who likes sweet and salty will absolutely love it.  I love that they had yellow and red watermelon as well as red/yellow heirloom tomatoes.  Yum.

Their menu was fun and eclectic...and seasonal.  So it'll always be changing.  They had meat as well (a bison burger no less) and pizzas (not sure how that supports an anti-inflammatory diet...but good to know what the options are).  

They use all natural sweeteners - most of the fun drinks were made with honey, as were many desserts. But I noticed some agave too.

Definitely give it a try.  It's a great meeting place - wonderful atmosphere. It makes me so happy and fills my soul when I find a restaurant that is serving whole foods that truly feed our bodies.  It made for a great day and a high-energy business lunch.

Keeping it real! Kathy

Finding Potassium

I love researching things about health and nutrition.  It’s amazing to learn about how what we eat can help some ailment we are having.

Last week while we were in Chicagoland, I was talking with my dad about his back pain.  At night his legs get a Charlie horse type of feeling – without pain.  It sounded an awful lot like being pregnant.  I remember when I was pregnant feeling like I understood what it felt like to be old.  So much of what you experience is similar to being elderly.  Tired all the time, out of breath, achy, back pain, swelling, clumsy, onset of Alzheimer – like symptoms, etc.

I could go on about that for hours. 

 

Here is my dad on the left - celebrating 80 with some brother-in-law's!

Back to the elderly.  My dad is really getting no help from the doctors.  Being, well, elderly, he puts all of his trust into the docs.  It's just how he was raised.  He doesn't question what they say.  He truly looks to them for help.  It’s such a shame b/c doctors aren't equipped to help with all our ailments.  Their profession is so misunderstood.  Our mismatched expectations of our doctors takes our own burden of responsibility off of our plates.  I’m constantly working with my parents on this and it kills me that I’m not nearby to take them to their appointments and help them make sense of what the doctors know and what they need to find out for themselves.

I digress.

I decided that one thing my dad could do on his own, without harming himself, would be to try to get more potassium.  If it works for pregnancy, it’s worth a try, right?

So here goes.

Foods High in Potassium

Tomato Paste

Halibut

Beet Greens (yum! Not kidding- cook them like spinach – they are so yummy)

Salmon

Condensed Milk (What????)

Dates

White Beans

Raisins

Baked Potato

Tomato puree

Farther down the list is Trail Mix,  Sweet Potato, boiled Spinach, French Fries, Dried Apricots, Carrot Juice….and THEN Banana. 

Isn’t that crazy?  I thought Bananas were so high in potassium.  Yet they’re like 23^rd on the list. And my dad eats ½ a banana.  Not enough to replenish, my friend. Not enough.

Here’s more information on potassium

Low potassium levels (hypokalemia), can cause weakness as cellular processes are impaired.

Potassium is a mineral (electrolyte) in the body. Almost 98% of potassium is found inside the cells. Small changes in the level of potassium that is present outside the cells can have severe effects on the heart, nerves, and muscles.

Potassium is important to maintain several bodily functions:

•                Muscles need potassium to contract.


•                The heart muscle needs potassium to beat properly and regulate blood pressure.

The kidney is the main organ that controls the balance of potassium by removing excess potassium into the urine.

When potassium levels are low (hypokalemia), you can become weak as cellular processes are impaired.

•                The normal potassium level is 3.5-5.0 mEq/L (mEq/L stand for milliequivalents per liter of blood and this is a measure used to evaluate the level). Low potassium is defined as a potassium level below 3.5 mEq/L.

Almost one out of five people hospitalized in the United States has a low potassium level.

If I have anything to do with it, it's not going to be my dad! He has tractors to ride and grandkids to hang out with!

Keeping it real! Kathy