Funny how so many factors influence what we eat and how we eat. One of the factors that put me in a mentality of eating “whole” foods was when I started making my own baby food for Justin. Making baby food seemed completely impossible, complicated, difficult and intimidating to me when I had my first son. And yet by the time I had my second son, making baby food actually opened my world in terms of eating healthy. It just made sense to me. It became easy and uncomplicated and fun even!

And here we are again…. I just started making baby food for my baby boy and I am revisiting the simplicity of whole foods all over again.

On that note, I bought a whole organic chicken to make my very own chicken stock (which I use for most of my baby food purees). I’ve even become confident enough to slice the whole chicken into pieces…this was something I couldn’t do when I started a couple of years ago. Anyway, we don’t eat chicken at home very often mainly because we eat mostly fish, vegetables, and sometimes ground turkey. And the truth is Orlando doesn’t really like handling raw chicken and even finds it somewhat boring. So chicken rarely makes it to the weekly menu. But since I had these nice pieces of organic chicken breast defrosted in the fridge, it motivated Orlando to take advantage of it.

We both love chicken marsala but most chicken marsala recipes entail breading the chicken and pan frying the chicken which includes a considerable amount of oil.

Orlando opted to take a lighter approach and the result was phenomenal!!!!

Our meal consisted of:

• white asparagus
• cauliflower/parsnip mash
• chicken marsala with onions and mushrooms

Directions:

Onions and Mushrooms

1. Chop 1 red onion. Spray a little olive oil and  sauté in pan with a little salt and pepper until caramelized.
2. add 1 box of sliced mushrooms to the pan with the onions. When the mixture is cooked through and starts to dry up add a little bit of marsala wine to deglaze the pan.

Chicken– (we had a little under 1lb of chicken from the whole chicken I sliced up. Orlando pounded it to make the breasts thin pieces – not too thin but definitely not thick.)

1. season the chicken with salt and pepper
2. spray some olive oil on the pan. Sear the chicken for about 4 minutes or until it gets a nice color, then flip to the other side and repeat. Add a shot of marsala wine just to deglaze.
3. add the mushrooms and onions back into the pan to warm through and mix in with the chicken.
4. Cover the pan and take off heat.

Parsnip/Cauliflower Mash

1. peel and chop 4 medium parsnips (make sure to slice off the tops and bottoms)
2. chop 1 head of cauliflower.
3. Boil cauliflower and parsnips for 12 minutes. Strain water out (save water for blending)
4. Place cauliflower and parsnips in blender – you can either add 3/4 of a cup of  boiled water or grassed/organic milk and 2 tbsps of organic/unsalted butter and blend. NOTE: the amount of water/milk depends on the blender and your texture preferences. It is better to add less and add as you go along then add too much and get a soupy consistency. As you blend you will see if you need a little more liquid until you reach your desired consistency.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

White Asparagus

1. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper.
2. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

The meal was delicious because the marsala wine had a nice sweetness to it without the heaviness of the breading or frying. The sauce with the mushrooms and onions acted like a gravy for the mash. The whole meal was a success. Enjoy!

This has been an incredibly difficult week for my husband and I. Unfortunately we have witnessed the inexplicable passing of a beautiful 2 year old little girl. As relationships blossom through the years, friends become like family and their kids become a part of you…and to lose a child of a friend feels like a loss of your own.

Being privy to this event made me feel like I simply couldn’t post on my blog. I write about food. Healthy eating. Healthy lifestyle. At a time like this, I thought I had nothing to write about. But something changed. Yesterday we all united in Church to celebrate the life of this little girl. As I sat there listening to the parents of this little girl speak, I was blown away by their strength, their dignity, and their courage during these tragic moments. They gave me peace.

What?

Those most affected by this loss are the ones offering me peace?

Yes.  Because they have inner strength. They are spiritually and emotionally strong individually and as a couple.  That is something worth sharing.

The truth is that if you really break it down…we don’t know when our time will come to leave this Earth. Eating healthy does not guarantee the full ride. Regardless of your lifestyle, no one is immune from pain. People get sick, people have accidents, things happen… we all die.  We simply don’t know what cross we’ll bear and some crosses are harder than others. The saying goes: “When you think you’re going through the worst thing in the world, there is someone else who has it worse than you.”

So now that our dear friends have lost their little one as a result of a pool drowning… the community instinctively draws their loved ones near. Cautious voices whisper: “Put floaties on your kids.” “Don’t lose sight of your kids for one minute.” “We have to be so careful.”

Parents and grandparents want to protect their young so much that after a loss like this one they rather err on the side of ridiculous just to be safe. But the truth is that even with the extra precautions, with the fear, with the hope of protecting your loved ones, accidents will continue to happen. Life will continue to happen. Unfortunately, fear of living will not save you.

The only thing we can do is to have spiritual and emotional strength….like my dear friends have…to deal with the pain.

It is that strength that we need to enjoy the good times when we have them, and bear with the bad times when they arrive.

I can’t imagine going through what my friends are going through. I can’t imagine dealing with their pain, especially considering how hard this has been for me. But I have learned from them. I have seen their faith and I am confident they will get through this and feel happiness again. I have a true admiration for them and their family.

So for today my friends, I propose that if you want to be healthy, begin from within. In order for a healthy diet to mean anything at all, your mind and your soul needs to be healthy also. Seek inner health. It doesn’t really matter what your belief system is, but have a belief system of your own and nourish it. Laugh, listen to music, focus on happy thoughts. Be good to yourself. Value your self and your being. Surround yourself with people that make you better. Be grateful. Be good to others. Meditate. Pray. Breathe.

Never stop sharpening your spiritual and emotional being…because only then will you achieve true health.

Hello everyone.

As I’ve shared in previous posts, school lunches have been challenging for me. For one thing, I have great eaters that become picky eaters when school comes around. Often times, my lunchboxes come home untouched. I’m not too concerned with my kids not eating lunch…after all, I don’t think they’ll starve to death. But it does annoy me that I put time and effort into making them lunch only for them to reject it. I also feel kind of guilty thinking they are staring down some other kid’s lunch thinking…I want that, why does my mom give me this!

Last week I spoke to the kids all week about lunch, (mainly my older one but my little one chimes in every once in a while). Every time we ate something, I would ask them “is this something you’d like to eat for lunch at school?”  I got No’s on almost all soups and meals involving veggies. It has boiled down to pasta and sandwiches. I bought a cute book at pottery barn kids a while ago with lunch ideas and pictures. I’ve been showing the book to the boys and asking them to show me pics of the foods they’re interested in for lunch.  It may seem silly that I’m giving my almost 3 and 5 year olds so much of a say in this process, but I feel its somewhat similar to cooking with the kids. I have found that the more involved they are in the process the more inclined they are in trying new things and eating well.

On Sunday we did a grocery list and they made specific requests like mandarin oranges, and raisins…and then Orly said he wanted a chocolate in his lunchbox and I said okay…and when he realized I was cool with it, he raised the stakes and said…no mommy, I don’t want a chocolate…I want a lollipop.

I took that opportunity to make a little pact with him… I said “Ok Orly, I’ll put some fun stuff in your lunchbox such as a lollipop, but you have to promise to eat the other foods I put in your lunchbox also…do we have a deal?” He agreed.  I got him these lollipops because I like the ingredients as an alternative to regular lollipops and my kids like them.

So here’s the report:

I did a mini trial run. Over the weekend I made a couple of different sandwiches/wraps that I wanted to see if they’d like.

Specifically I did:

AVOCADO/PEAR SANDWICH

So easy.

• 1 slice of ezekiel bread
• spread avocado
• place slices of pear on top

Interesting note: I thought it was so good, but Orly didn’t like it. It occurred to me to put the avocado and pear on top of an ancient grain cracker. He didn’t want to try it but I made him and he really liked it. So I guess he just didn’t like the combo on bread…he preferred it on a cracker. Yay for lunch!

HUMMUS WRAP

• 1 small ezekiel tortilla
• spread avocado on tortilla
• spread hummus on tortilla
• chop red, yellow and orange peppers into small pieces
• raisins

I was pleasantly surprised that the boys liked this wrap. I was not expecting them to like it at all!!!!  Now let’s see if it comes home from school eaten or untouched.

TUNA SANDWICH

• tuna
• mayonnaise
• dijon mustard
• slices of apple
• raisins
• chopped celery
• squeezed lemon

I mixed it all together to make a nice tuna salad and then I put it inside a butter lettuce leaf and then inside a mini pita pocket. I forgot, however, to take a picture of it!!!!! I will definitely post a pic the next time I make it.

The pita pocket actually made the boys’ first actual lunch at school!!! They really liked it.

Note: Orlando made homemade mayonnaise. We had a couple of trial runs because he was using peanut oil as a healthier alternative and it just didn’t work out. Then he made a batch with olive oil that was edible but not fantastic…when we perfect it we’ll post the recipe!

I put a side of mandarin oranges and as promised…their lollipop! It was a success!!!

What are you all putting in your kids’ lunchboxes??? We need lots of ideas!

I sat down in front of my computer this morning determined to start blogging again. It almost feels like getting together with an old friend where you are kind of nervous that you will have nothing in common anymore…but at the same time you have so much to say that you don’t know where to begin. I confess I even went back to my very first blog, (Why this Journey Began), which was from almost a year ago, to read it again and reconnect with my purpose.

So much has been going on in our lives. Running a home with 2 toddlers and a baby and both parents working is a lot to handle. It is easy to go on autopilot simply to survive. At some point I started feeling like I had nothing to write about because to be quite honest we’ve established certain recipes in our lives and it feels like we do a lot of the same most of the time. But after reading my very first post this morning, I realized that I did not create this blog only to post recipes. After all, if you want to find a healthy recipe of any kind you can put in a google search and get hundreds of them in seconds. I created this blog to share ideas and experiences and offer options on changing your lifestyle….along with delicious recipes that we’ve found in our journey.

I had almost forgotten in the robotic state that I had entered, that lifestyle has much more to do with changing your thoughts about food and eating than it does with the actual recipes. So here we are again, summer is ending and routines are picking up again…everyone is trying to reestablish sleep schedules for their children, buying uniforms and backpacks, and gathering the materials necessary to begin another year of school. Even for those that aren’t parents, everyone knows traffic is about to get worse and the relax ambiance of summer is almost over. The month of August in many ways is similar to December and getting ready for the actual New Year.

So I’m feeling that way about my blog. I have so much to share. From what’s been going on with the baby and his weight gain, our Sarasota vacation, school lunches for the boys, the eating psychology conference I attended….the list goes on and on. I’m so excited about it that I want to plop down in front of this computer and just spit everything out. But that would make for an extremely long and confusing post!!!

So for today, I just want to share that I’ve regrouped and reenergized and am ready to blog again.

And because its Sunday and for some of us this is the last week before school starts I wanted to make some recommendations.

TAKE SOME TIME TO PLAN – we all know that to eat healthy we need some level of planning.  Do your groceries, think about your breakfasts, lunches and dinners this week. Pre-cut vegetables and fruits for your smoothies if you know you won’t do it in the morning. Even if planning means thinking about what foods you want to eat this week, it’ll put you in a driver’s seat state of mind.

STOCK UP – Go to the grocery store. Stock up on healthy foods that you know you and your family enjoy.

TRIAL RUN- This is something I intend to do this week. I put Orly in a gymnastics camp for one week this summer and some days he came home with his lunch untouched. I didn’t understand and he told me that there are foods that he and I quote….”likes to eat at home but doesn’t like to eat for lunch.” Not sure what this is about. Maybe he doesn’t like his lunches to look different than the other kids. Maybe he doesn’t like the food because its been sitting out too long. Who knows. So since I believe he deserves a say in what he eats and I want him to enjoy eating healthy….I am dedicating myself this week to doing a trial run of different “lunch” appropriate foods. That way he can say yay or nay and give me an idea what’s going to work for him this year. I’ll keep you posted on how this works.

COMMIT TO ONE CHANGE– Its hard to live a perfectly healthy, balanced life. Some of us eat better than others, some of us exercise more than others, some of us are more spiritual than others. The point is that we can all stand to improve. And we should never be totally complacent in our current situation. So try to make one change this week. Maybe start exercising, maybe commit to one healthy meal every day this week (lunch, breakfast or dinner), maybe you can commit to taking 10 minutes during the day to take deep breaths this week. Whatever you do, make one change (no matter how small) that you think will make a positive impact in your life if you adopt permanently.

Hope these suggestions help you get in the frame of mind for a healthy, powerful, energized week. I’m excited!!!!

Happy Sunday!

Ladies and Gents… Summer is here! It is hot and sunny outside and the beach is delicious! Last Friday I went to the beach with my brother, a girlfriend of mine, and all of our little children.

Clearly we had to prep for food. The process of choosing food for an outing is usually stressful for me, but for some unknown reason,  this time I just knew what to take.

I got a bunch of containers and ziplock bags and packed the following:

• 1 large ziplock of baby spinach and raw broccoli bites
• 1 container of Kosher Petite Dills
• 1 container with all my salad toppings – chopped carrots, chia seeds, hemp seeds, almonds, pistachios, and raisins
• 1 lemon
• 1 container of sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and celtic sea salt
• 1 container of tuna salad (recipe below)
• 1 container of raw mixed nuts – cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds
• 1 ziplock bag with gluten free crackers
• 3 chobani yogurts (1 for each of our kids)

My girlfriend took the most delicious mangoes and water and a big cooler to store all of this stuff.

TUNA SALAD RECIPE

• white solid albacore tuna
• dijon mustard
• lemon
• celery finely chopped
• tomato finely chopped
• apple finely chopped

By the time we arrived at the beach and brought all of our kids and bags and the cooler, it was 12:30pm…lunchtime.

My brother was starving. My girlfriend was too and she took a look at the food that I had brought and seemed disappointed. She told me that she didn’t think it was enough food and maybe we should get some chicken from Publix or something to fill us up because everyone was hungry. That peace that I had when preparing the food immediately dissipated!!!

To make a long story short, we never got the chicken.  I gave the boys yogurt and the tuna on crackers; prepared the salads for the adults with all of my toppings and added the tuna and chopped mango on top with the balsamic vinegar from my tomatoes.

As we began eating the salad, I felt terrible for my friend and my brother. I thought to myself, here I am imposing my healthy food on these people instead of getting something they want. I was a little embarrassed that I had thought this was enough food, and overall I felt I had messed this up. But at the same time I thought the salad was totally delicious. All of a sudden my brother said “Oh my God!!! This is amazing!” My girlfriend said the same and said “wow, I never thought I could get full from this and i’m totally satisfied” WHAT A RELIEF!!!!  They even thanked me for being a positive influence on them 🙂

I went home and talked to Orlando about it and Orlando agreed the food just didn’t seem like beach food. He said when you think of beach food you think of sandwiches and chips…finger foods… not eating salad on a plate with a fork and knife. Maybe I didn’t pack
“beach” appropriate food…but I will tell you some of the pros of what I did pack.

• The food was delicious and refreshing…the mango really did take my salad to another level!!!! The balsamic tomatoes, the lemony tuna, the fresh salad…it was perfect for a hot day.
• We didn’t pick at food all day long. We ate a good lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day in the beach.
• We didn’t get stuffed. You know how gross you feel when you eat a bunch of knick knacks and chips and your belly sticks out…that didn’t happen to us.
• The kids ate well. I am sure that if we had balsamic tomatoes, pickles, and chips, pastelitos, and other junk food…my boys would have gone straight for the junk food! But since there were no other options, they ate yogurt, pickles, tomatoes, tuna, mango, nuts … light, refreshing foods…and they enjoyed it.
• At the end of the day, we all felt good about our choices. Cheating definitely has its perks and sometimes it is totally worth it. But rarely do you spend a day at the beach picking at junk food and feel “good” at the end of the day. You may enjoy it at the moment but later you probably regret it. Well, we really didn’t have the opportunity to cheat, but at the end of the day there were no regrets!

All in all we had a wonderful day. And although my meal plan seemed like a total flop at the beginning, it ended up being a success. And it encouraged me to share that with you. Maybe the next time you pack the cooler for your beach outing you’ll remember this post and pack some refreshing foods. Maybe next time you can be a positive influence on someone else. And maybe “beach” food can be anything we want it to be…as long as we have plates and silverware!

Its incredible how our bodies work. I’ve always heard that stress is a killer. There is talk about stress being a cause for depression, for being overweight, for cancer, for heart disease, I’ve even heard stress affects your gums. There are books and seminars all focused on managing and reducing stress. The word STRESS is quite common in our vocabularies. Yet it came as a complete and utter shock to me when I was recently told that my newborn baby is not gaining weight because stress is affecting my milk supply.

Since the birth of Ryan, my third son, I have gone through a series of events both positive and negative that have not allowed me to slow down. Having a newborn is a stressful event all by itself if you consider the physical part of the labor, the sleepless nights, and a new little person making its demands with cries instead of words. So when you sprinkle on work, other children, and exigent circumstances that require your presence and time, it can make for a bit of a disaster. I knew I was stressed. And I knew I was tired. But I also consider myself to be a person who copes very well under difficult situations. I thought I was juggling my life just fine.

And then last Thursday I took Ryan to a mommy and me class that I enjoy attending. I had not been able to go for about 3 weeks because I had been traveling or so busy…but on Thursday I felt I had to go. I felt I owed it to Ryan to spend a little quality time just him and I. It was there that Faith (the lady who heads this group) looked at Ryan and told me “honey, I think Ryan has lost weight since the last time I saw him. He is alarmingly thin. You should take him to your pediatrician.” I almost died. I had not noticed that my son looked so thin. All my other children have been pretty thin so I wasn’t expecting to have a chunky baby. But this lady has known me a long time and has never uttered those words about any of my boys. I went straight to the Pediatrician that day and discovered that Ryan was not gaining the appropriate amount of weight. My pediatrician sat with me and heard about what had been going on during this time and said… “Caroline, stress is the anti-milk.” The baby was not dehydrated and had been peeing and pooping so it seemed that I had enough milk but it wasn’t “fatty enough.” Well, as it often does, everything seemed to crash at that moment. I couldn’t get enough milk out when I pumped, my son cried frustrated at the breast as if he couldn’t get it out…I thought it was over… I lost my milk.
I am thankful to my pediatrician because he didn’t force me to give up. He recommended to me that I drink “malta with leche condensada” (an old cuban remedy) to increase the fat in my milk and said to come back in a week. “If in a week the baby doesn’t gain weight…then we’ll talk about it” he said.  I left the office so upset. I immediately called my general practitioner for some words of wisdom and even took the baby to see him. He said the baby was neurologically doing great but a bit too thin…and so was I.
Although he did not recommend the malta with leche condensada…he did give me a series of steps I needed to take to increase the fat in my milk. But he reiterated over and over to me that the key was that I RELAX.

This has been an eye opening experience for me. I thought I was doing right by not eating “unhealthy foods” but my lifestyle was no better than before I was eating healthy. I had to take a hard look at what I had been doing recently and I realized:

• I had been forgetting to take my vitamins
• I was not drinking enough water
• I was skipping meals because I was in too much of a hurry all the time
• I wasn’t eating “bad” foods…but I wasn’t eating enough of the “good” foods either.
• I wasn’t sleeping enough.

These are just a few of the factors that went into my milk production shutting down. You see, our bodies tell us in different ways when there is something wrong.  We gain weight, we lose weight, our blood pressure goes up, our cholesterol goes up, our gums get inflamed, we feel depressed and tired, we get chest pains.  There are always signs to indicate that we are not living our life optimally from a physical, emotional, or spiritual perspective. Yet we often ignore the signs until we are in a critical state.

I could no longer ignore anything because it wasn’t about my life, it was about my child’s. And isn’t it incredible that the only way that I could help my son was by taking care of myself? Nature is incredible. Our bodies are incredible. I had to make changes and they had to be drastic. I started with the easy part first…the nutrition. Based on a combination of advice from my doctor and pediatrician, I supplemented my diet with the following:

• 5 protein shakes a day – (Jay Robb organic protein) with chia, sesame, flax, and hemp seeds, unsweetened almond milk and organic maca powder.
• Horchata with water
• hard boiled eggs, avocados, coconut oil (in increased quantities)
• 4 1.5L bottles of water per day (I believe this one was the key to increasing my milk supply)
• gaia lactation support tea before bed
• Guinness beer ( I drank about 3 of them during that first week)

I’m still working on the more difficult task…the RELAX part. I’m not a very relaxed person in the first place… so this one was quite the challenge. I bought lavender oil and took hot baths with epson salt and lavender. I also tried to slow down in general and get more sleep, laugh more, and listen to music. And I tried to alleviate my anxiety by trusting in what I was doing. I believed my milk supply was going to increase. I believed the changes I made would help make the baby gain weight. I’m happy to report that  I took my son back 1 week later and he had gained 4 oz! Yay!

This is a work in progress and its not over, but my milk supply has definitely gone up. My son is back on track and things are improving. And I’ve learned a lesson. Taking care of yourself is the best way to take care of your family. If you’re not okay, then you are of no use to those that depend on you. So address the issues you are having. Don’t ignore the signs!!!!!

This lifestyle has made me quite adventurous in trying new foods. It is an experience for me. I never know what i’m going to like or dislike…my palette has changed so dramatically and is open to so many new flavors that the process is quite exciting.

My son’s school had a spring bazaar the other day and a company called Teena’s Pride donated an incredible variety of organic vegetables to our school to sell. What an amazing experience it was to walk into the school and see so many vegetables and herbs to choose from. I bought a bok choy plant, swiss chard plant, a white egg plant, mint and some scallions.

I loved going home with my little plants!!!!

Coincidentally, Orlando had found these beautiful golden beets at Whole Foods that day so we had all these bright beautiful veggies to work with that week!

The next morning I had these plants in my kitchen and I just couldn’t wait to use them…so what is the first thing I do when I have leafy greens… I make a smoothie!!!

Here’s the recipe:

• 4 leaves of Bok Choy
• 1 small avocado
• 1 peeled red pear
• a squirt of lemon

This smoothie came out fantastic. The avocado made it creamy, the pear gave it some sweetness, the lemon added just the right tang. It was great.

But more than delicious, it is nutritious. Check out the health benefits of this smoothie:

Bok Choy – member of the cabbage family

• Bok Choy is similar to broccoli and brussel sprouts…otherwise known as a cruciferous vegetable.
  
• It is loaded with vitamins A and C – in fact it is said that one cup of shredded bok choy has 34 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin c and more than a full day’s intake of vitamin A!
• One cup also contains about 3% of the recommended daily intake of magnesium and phosphorus, 7% of calcium and 26% of Vitamin K.
• I’m not done…it has 11% of the recommended daily intake of folate vitamin B-6 and 4% of potassium.
• It also contains the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin which are great for your eyes.

So basically Bok Choy is good for your heart, good for your eyes, good for your bones and its an anti-cancer food. WOW! And that’s only with one cup. And yet it has a measly 9 calories.

Avocados also contain fiber, potassium, and vitamins but are best known for being a source of good heart-healthy fats, which are crucial in your daily diet. Despite the known “fat” controversy that there has been over the years, good fat is essential in lowering LDL cholesterol.

Pears and Lemons are powerful cleansers for the body and are popular in detox smoothies and juices.

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day… well if that is true, then make it count with this powerful smoothie.

Have a wonderful day!!!

I am so incredibly proud of my girlfriend Frances that I am dedicating this post to her. Frances was hosting a party the other day for her friend who sells Mary Kay, Rebecca Pereira. Simultaneously, Rebecca is encouraging Frances to join the Women’s Cancer Association. Anyway, the invitation called for Makeup and Munchies…little did the invitees know that the “munchies” part would be mainly veggies!!!!

I thought hosting a party was pressure enough, but I got a call from Frances that I did not expect. She said, “Caro I want to make a healthy dinner for this party.” At first glance, this may not appear to be a big deal. But the reality is that it is a huge deal.  It is quite intimidating for a person that generally does not cook (FRANCES DOES NOT COOK!) to not only make a meal…but make an unpopular dish for a group of people and risk the whole thing to be a flop.

But my brave friend Frances decided this was a risk she was willing to take. We planned and plotted on what dish would be appropriate for this event. We thought Kale chips would be a good idea and at the suggestion of Orlando, we decided on Ratatouille as the main meal.

Frances even asked her friend to refrain from bringing dessert. What touched my soul deepest was the REASON Frances made this decision. She told me that she agreed with my post on Breast Cancer Awareness. She said that one of the things she wanted to bring to the Woman’s Cancer Association was the awareness that if we are going to get together to raise funds for cancer research and create support for women with cancer…we should participate fully and start with eating anti-cancer foods ourselves. She took this seriously and put all her energy in making this happen at her party. I am so impressed by her.

…On to the party….

Her party menu consisted of:

• grapes, multigrain crackers, hummus and kale chips as appetizers
• ratatouille as the main course

She took the Ratatouille recipe from Pile on the Greens, went to the store and bought all the ingredients.

Then she called in for a little help from the veggie expert:

Orlando taught her how to chop egg plant and guided her through the process. She followed our recipe and worked hard to make this incredible platter of pure veggies…

Then she sprinkled some cheese on top…

and voila!!!

She also made delicious kale chips. To make kale chips you just break off little chip like pieces…toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and put in the oven at 375 until crispy.

All the girls were totally impressed. Not only did the meal look and smell delicious…

it tasted delicious too!

At the end of it all we had happy girls that got to spend quality time together, laugh, play with makeup, and eat healthy, satisfying food.

Now THAT was a successful party!!!! Thank you Frances for supporting this cause, spreading the word, and walking the talk. You inspire me my dear friend.

En papillote is a healthy, low-fat cooking method where you steam bake your food in a pouch of parchment paper. If you’re looking for a delicious, healthy, aromatic meal… you have to try this cooking method! You can use this method to cook poultry but we have only used it for fish. When Orlando made it the first time, he made it with Salmon and I was blown away. The thing about it is that your entire meal is sealed in this little pouch, and when you open it up, it’s like a little piece of heaven. It has this delicious, earthy smell. The fish is completely moist and juicy, and the whole meal takes the flavors that you put in that pouch. And its actually one of the easiest recipes to make. Oh, and one added benefit…no mess. When you’re done, toss the pouch and relax because there will be no cleaning pots this evening!

These are the basic steps:

• Preheat oven at 350
• Slice the veggies you want to use (if you’re in a hurry or don’t want the extra hassle, you can buy a pre-sliced (unfrozen) veggie bag with a mix of veggies). Orlando used for our meal Green and Red Peppers and Red Onions.
• Slice a few lemons
• toss the veggies in a bowl with some light olive oil, light salt and pepper (the salt and pepper is always optional, and we like to err on the side of too little instead of too much!)
• season the fish (in our case wild salmon) with a little salt and pepper
• place on top of parchment paper 
• then you fold the parchment paper and staple all the sides to make sure that you make a little sealed package
• Pour in some fresh squeezed lemon juice and a little white wine
• Put in the oven to cook for 15 minutes.
• Open the pouch and enjoy!!!!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT GRAINS IN YOUR MEAL….

I happen to think this is such a fantastic meal that it can be eaten by itself or maybe with a side of roasted asparagus…but a lot of people just aren’t satisfied without some sort of grain in their dinner.

Orlando tried this same recipe with a delicious snapper, but this time added pre-cooked quinoa into the pouch. (I had made the quinoa for the boys earlier so it didn’t add to his cooking time.) This recipe had some yellow peppers also…and just because he loves me, he snuck in 2 pieces of scallops in the pouch because they are my favorite. The meal was spectacular!!!!!!! The beauty of the quinoa was that it soaked in all the juices of the lemon and white wine. WOW!!!!!

I highly recommend this recipe. And your options for what goes in that little pouch are endless. Next time I’m going to ask him to put some delicious herbs in there. Will let you know how it goes!!!!