Spice Education.

There is more to spices than what meets the eye. Have you ever considered the quality of the spices you purchase in your local supermarket? Probably not. I know I didn't. I mean, if I was at Whole Foods or another natural grocer and needed a spice, I'd buy it there but I didn't exclusively buy organic spices. The key to buying spices is to buy non-irradiated. It likely won't say on the package but I can bet most supermarkets are selling irradiated spices. What is irradiation you ask? I'll fill you in.

The bottom line is irradiation damages the quality of any food in order to kill microbes, pests, and bacteria. The ionized radiation process breaks up molecules and creates free radicals. While the free radicals have the ability to kill some bacteria, they also bounce around in the food causing damage to vitamins and enzymes. The free radicals also combine with existing chemicals, like pesticides, forming new chemicals called unique radiolytic products (URPs). What are examples of URPs? Benzene and formaldehyde are two of them, but there are some URPs that exclusively pertain to irradiated foods as well.

The number one reason why companies are irradiating spices is to increase the shelf life of their product. While that may sound good to some (most importantly the government and the Canadian Nuclear Association), all it leaves us with is a degenerated food product since most of the valuable qualities of the herb or spice are killed off.

If you would like to get the most from your spices, choose organic, non-irradiated spices. If you're wondering about spices you currently own, just e-mail the company or research online! As soon as I found this out, I threw away all of my spices. That may sound dramatic, but I don't want to eat potentially carcinogenic and essentially dead food. Today, my collection of spices from Simply Organic were delivered so I can now enjoy my organic, non-irradiated food!

Back to Basics: Chewing.

Are you ever consiously aware while you're chewing? Probably not. These days, we tend to eat on the go, while distracted, working, thinking of absolutely anything else, but we don't focus on the art of chewing. You might laugh when I say art, but I think you'll understand after you give consious chewing a try. It's really hard.

We discussed chewing in depth in one of my classes a couple months ago. On the way home from school, I was hungry so I decided I'd practice chewing. I chewed a segment of a mandarin orange 77 times. I thought my brain was going to explode. It felt like the hardest thing I'd ever done. I'm sure my digestive system was thankful. Aside from the obvious of chewing food so that it can easily be swallowed, here are a few other reasons why you should spend time chewing:

- The body uses less energy to digest the well-chewed food, since the teeth and saliva have done some work. Food that hasn't been chewed sufficiently, requires more work from the body and takes away from other jobs it could be doing to keep you healthy!

- The molecules of the nutrients in the food are quickly released and assimilated while chewing.

- The longer the food stays in the mouth while chewing, the better the tongue can recognize all of the wonderful flavours. The tongue then sends a message to the brain and the brain sends a message to the digestive system. This allows the digestive system to release the appropriate digestive juice needed for that particular food!


The next time you're eating - count how many times you chew each bite on average. Slowly try to increase the amount by focusing on what you're doing. Do your digestive system a favour!

Sweet & Sour Chicken.

I said I was going to get better at making meals in advance. Mission accomplished. Now, let's just see if this can contine. Dan bought me some beautiful glass locking food storage containers that I've been eyeing up for awhile, so I was excited to use them. I despise using the microwave, so I'm excited to be able to reheat my food in these little gems using the oven at work.

I started by making the Sweet & Sour Chicken. It smelled amazing and proved to be a successful dish! Who wouldn't love these tender chicken morsels with pineapple, garlic, and ginger?!

Sweet & Sour Chicken from Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients:

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp raw honey
2 cloves organic garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp organic crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts (about 4 breasts), chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 organic medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 cup)
1 organic medium green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 cup)
1 organic small yellow onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1 3/4 cups)
12 sprigs fresh organic cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice, optional

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. Place chicken in a large shallow dish. Pour soy sauce mixture over chicken, tossing gently. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and marinade and sauté for 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add bell peppers and onion and cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are slightly tender. Add pineapple and cook for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately over rice for a complete meal, if desired.

I didn't use brown rice, and instead used quinoa spaghetti from Gogo Quinoa. If you or someone you know, is Gluten intolerant, this pasta tastes like the real deal! It is delicious and I'm so excited that I get to eat this wonderful, clean food for lunch today!

Back to Normal.

I'm over halfway through my Christmas break from school, and I know the later half is going to fly by. Time off just has a way of doing that. I haven't accomplished any school work that I had planned on, in order to make my New Year just a bit easier, but I suppose I do still have some time!

Tonight's New Year preparations will include making homemade marinara, Sweet & Sour Chicken, and Gardener's Shepherd Pie all from Clean Eating Magazine. Around the holidays, I am a total slacker when it comes to cooking. This results in me eating not so great foods and feeling a little squishy. So, here's to getting back on the healthy cooking train and removing the squish. I'm planning on making the few dishes previously mentioned so we have some quick "go to" meals for nights I'm at school and other busy times! Making meals on Sunday's and freezing them really needs to be fit into my schedule come the New Year.

I love the holidays, but I also love when life goes "back to normal" if there is such a thing. Getting back into a routine of cooking healthy, wholesome foods and exercising is so refreshing and puts a bounce in my step.

What are your goals for the New Year?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my blog loves! Thank you for hanging out with me and reading my posts! Wishing you and your family all the best this holiday season and a New Year filled with love, peace, and many blessings!

Christmas Eve & Pumpkin Spice Pancakes!

During a Trader Joe's trip sometime in November, I bought a few cans of organic pumpkin puree in anticipation of the holiday season. My baking time was limited, so I still had three cans up until a week ago when I made these pumpkin pancakes for me and Dan.

I have to share them with you because they were delicious! They were the perfect balance of pumpkin and spice. I think I'm going to have to make them again this week, since I still have two cans left. Plus it's just really gratifying to make anything that I "pin" on Pinterest!





Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Adapted from: Annie's Eats, originally from good 'ol Martha Stewart


Ingredients:


1 1/4 cups organic, whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp. agave nectar (or 2 Tbsp. brown sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. Himalayan salt
4/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup organic pumpkin puree
1 large organic egg
2 Tbsp. organic butter


Directions:


In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, agave, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir with a fork to combine. Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg, and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together until combined.


Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat. When hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan. Let cool until bubbles begin to form on the top surface. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook the second side until golden brown. Serve with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and/or whipped cream. (Or, be boring and just serve with agave nectar like me.)


Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you are all stress free and ready for a fun day tomorrow filled with family, love, and food!

Favourite Things: Christmas Blog Swap.

I have to give a huge shout out to Leigh and Lindsey for putting together such a fabulous blog swap for Canadians! Sometimes we can feel a little left out up here in the great, white North, but we had a blog swap of our very own!

My swap gift came from Bonnie, who was SO sweet. My package arrived at work and made my day. Unfortunately, some (uhh, most) parts of it are missing from the photo. What can I say, she sent me some homemade granola that was out of this world. It's all in my belly. It was made from cranberries, sun butter, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds! Packed with nutrition, just the way I like it! She also sent me an adorable frame ornament. I'm going to put in a photo of me and Dan from this Christmas! She also sent me a running magazine, and some yummy Cranberry scented bath lovelies from The Body Shop. It was absolutely wonderful and I can't thank her enough! Here is my lame photo with half of the gift missing.

I will use this magazine to motivate me to get back into a good running routine post Christmas madness!! I'm looking forward to it!