Good Morning from NYC!

Hello strangers!

Matthew and I accompanied Allan on his business trip to NYC. He is here for an Über fancy Target photo shoot while Matthew and I are working from the hotel and site seeing.

Before leaving Minneapolis last week, I stocked up on clean goodies at Trader Joe's for the plane and hotel room, because the closest Whole Foods is 1 mile away and I knew that I wouldn't have time to run there every day. :) So, we have organic dry roasted almonds, dried mango, unsweetened trek mix (in single serving baggies), a box of Cherry Cashew Pure bars, organic apples and organic bananas.

I absolutely LOVE these bars!

We have been visiting lots of amazing restaurants in the Meatpacking district and Chelsea - many of them organic or sustainable! Pastis, Spice Market, One Lucky Duck, Le Pain Quotidien, Swich and The Green Table to name a few!

Our first night here it rained cats and dogs, so we geared up and walked the mile from the Hotel Gansevoort, where we are staying, to the Whole Foods in Chelsea to stock up on baby items and bottled water (a necessary evil).

By the time we were back to the hotel Allan was soaked, but I managed to stay quite dry in my new North Face rain jacket and boots.

Matthew also stayed dry in the stroller and its new rain gear.

Allan has the nice camera on the photo shoot with him, but when he gets back tonight I plan to download all of my yummy food pics and post them.

Matthew and I are running out of things to do that are baby friendly and within walking distance, so I would love to know your favorite pastimes in NYC - organic clothing shops, site seeing, clean restaurants, etc.

What should we do for the next week???

Pumpkin Love

I have been completely in LOVE with pumpkin lately.

The other day I made these lovely pumpkin donuts.

AMAZING! We gobbled these up while they were still warm.

To clean up the recipe, I subbed the brown sugar for sucanat, butter for coconut butter, nutmeg for pumpkin pie spice and white flour for white whole wheat flour. I accidentally forgot the buttermilk on the countertop, so it didn't make it into the recipe, but the donuts turned out delicious... just a little denser and chewier.

Here is my cleaned up version of Polly's recipe:

Pumpkin Donuts


1 cup pumpkin
1/4 c sucanat
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 c skim milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice, let sit for a couple minutes)
1 tbsp coconut butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup white whole wheat flour


Preheat oven to 350°. Prep donut pan by spraying with cooking spray. In a medium sized bowl combine all ingredients with a whisk. Pour into gallon sized zip lock bag. Cut tip off one of the corners and squeeze into a donut pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Let donuts cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and invert the pan onto a plate. The donuts should pop right out of the pan. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy!

Makes 6 donuts.

A Perfect Waffle

A perfectly crisped waffle covered in strawberries
and a light drizzle of pure maple syrup

For the last few days I have been craving waffles! So, last night I indulged my craving by making whole wheat & oatmeal waffles accompanied by a simple, yet delicious egg bake.

Look at all of those nooks and crannies! :)

This meal was so delectable that it doubled as my lunch today!


Whole Grain Waffles

Preheat your waffle iron.

In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients:

2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups oat flour (grind up rolled oats in a blender)
4 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp sucanat
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the wet ingredients:

2 cups skim milk
4 egg whites, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp maple extract

Whisk together until just moistened. Do not over mix, batter should be lumpy.

If desired, add 1 cup of berries.

Pour 1/2 c waffle batter onto preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's guidelines.

Makes 8 waffles.

Farmer's Markets

This morning I woke up to the dreary, damp, gray weather that can be common as Fall transitions to Winter in Minnesota and I was reminded of a beautiful Saturday morning that we spent at the Mill City Farmer's Market this Summer.






Unfortunately, this coming weekend marks the end to most of the regular Farmer's Markets in Minnesota. We love attending the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Sunday mornings and I am always saddened by the end of the season.

Here is a glimpse into the wonderful day that we spent as a family at our favorite Farmer's Market.

Hazelnut Ice Cream

This weekend Matthew is getting baptized. As you can imagine, we are super excited and cannot wait for the service. Afterwards, we are hosting a lunch/BBQ at our house for 20+ relatives. Here's what is on the clean eating menu (pictures to come early next week):

• Turkey Burgers
• Turkey Brats
• Steak Burgers
• Bakery Buns
• Burger toppings: pineapple, avocado, romaine, tomato, red onion, etc.
• Spinach and mixed greens topped with chevre, dried cranberries and walnuts with balsamic vinaigrette
• Yukon golds, sweet potatoes and onions, seasoned and grilled
• Guacamole, salsa and hummus with chips, baby carrots and celery
• Fruit
• Homemade Apple Pie
• Homemade Ice Cream

Thinking about ice cream made me relive a recent delicious homemade ice cream experience. A couple weeks ago I made the Raw Hazelnut Ice Cream from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. It was super creamy and ultra delicious.

The hazelnuts gave it a really cool cream soda color and an amazingly complex and rich taste. In fact, this ice cream was so flavorful and rich that I could only eat 1 scoop per sitting - which was perfect for me because I tend to overeat ice cream if I have it in the house.

Chocolate Cravings

Most nights I get completely ravenous around 8:30 PM. Usually Allan grabs a bowl of Panda Puffs and organic 1% milk and sometimes I follow suit and grab a bowl of homemade granola. But some nights granola will just not do - all I want is chocolate.

However, my desire to loose the rest of the baby weight (13 lbs) is usually much stronger than my desire for chocolate, so I came up with the following compromise:

1 cup of fresh raspberries

+

I took 1/4 square of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate and melted it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Then added a little drizzle of agave nectar and stirred it up. Raspberries with dark chocolate sauce... HEAVENLY!

Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate is 100% cacao and needs a tiny bit of agave or maple syrup to balance out the bitterness. But the combination is a beautiful evening snack.

Homemade Applesauce

On Sunday after church, my parents and sister came over to watch the Vikings game, make applesauce, bake apple crisp and eat chili and cornbread. 

We peeled, cored and sliced 3 pecks of local MacIntosh, Cortland and Jonathan apples to make two big batches of applesauce and 2 pans of apple crisp.

One batch of applesauce was just apples for the apple of my eye to enjoy some day soon.

The other was spiked with apple juice concentrate and cinnamon sticks.

Do you mash up your applesauce once it has cooked or do you enjoy it chunky? We love chunky cinnamony applesauce around here.

Purple Pride Smoothie

In honor of the official start to the Vikings regular season, Matt and I made the following super simple smoothie, which I quickly gobbled up. Can you gobble up a smoothie? Anyways, I sure did. :) Even if you are not a Vikings fan, you will certainly enjoy this beautifully filling smoothie.

Purple Pride Smoothie

1/2 c cottage cheese

1/2 c milk

dash cinnamon

dash vanilla extract

1 tsp maca powder

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 banana

1 c frozen blueberries

Place all ingredients in your VitaMix or other high speed blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour into a tall glass, preferably one donning a snazzy Vikings logo, and enjoy!

Do you sip your smoothies through a straw or straight up? I know that I personally love to use a straw with cold drinks.

Kingfield Farmer's Market

Compared to other areas of the country, Minnesota has a relatively short growing season with most crops being available between the months of July and September. During the summer months, we enjoy shopping at local farmer's markets as a family. Fortunately there is an abundance of nearby markets to visit.

This past weekend we felt like visiting a small farmer's market that offers a bunch of organic produce, live music and yummy sustainable eats from a food truck. The Kingfield Farmer's Market is my favorite farmer's market. This week we picked up tomatoes, sweet corn, spaghetti squash, plums and pears.

We also shared watermelon tomato gazpacho and a greek salad from Chef Shack.

Piel de Sapo Melon

Our family LOVES melon. It seems we always have diced melon in the fridge ready to devour. Usually it's a simple cantaloupe or seedless watermelon; however, recently we tried yellow watermelon - our conclusion was that it was good, but not as yummy as traditional red watermelon.

A couple weeks ago I picked up this bad boy at the local Kowalski's...

Piel de Sapo Melon

Piel de Sapo translated means toad skin, which is exactly what the skin of this melon resembles.

  

The interior flesh was very soft and delicate with the sweet smell of cantaloupe but the taste of an extremely ripe and flavorful honeydew melon. It kind of reminded me of the Galia melon that I tried last year, but with a much smoother texture - almost melt in your mouth.

In other news, we will be visiting Santa Monica because Allan is shooting a commercial in South Pasadena and would love suggestions on fun places to visit and great (healthy) places to eat - preferably within walking distance of the Miramar hotel.

What fun new Summer foods have you tried this year?

What does it mean to eat clean?

I am often asked what I did to lose weight successfully. When I answer that the secret to my body transformation is simply clean eating and vigorous exercise I am greeted by three distinct reactions:

The honest and inquisitive, What exactly is clean eating?

The judgmental and know-it-all, Really? That’s it.

The well-intentioned and interested, I would really like to eat clean, but don’t know how to start. Do you have any advice?

Today I will address the question, What does it mean to eat clean?

Cantaloupe and Blueberries

Clean eating is a thoughtful way of nourishing your body. Our bodies are designed to consume foods that are whole, natural and bursting with nutrients; however, most of us do not consume foods that respect these needs. Clean eating replaces processed, refined, toxic and nutritionally devoid foods with those that are as close to nature as possible. This creates a diet that will transform you into your best self: healthy, vibrant and lean.

By combining natural, whole foods into 5-6 small meals a day, each consisting of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, clean eating will transform your body into an energetic powerhouse.

Grilled Chicken on Bibb Lettuce topped with Almond Butter

Eating clean is also good for the World. It is a preservationist approach to making smart food choices that respect the land, animals and your health. The core values of clean eating focus on making local, sustainable, eco-friendly choices that minimize waste and conserve resources.

Eating close to nature translates to shopping the outer aisles at the supermarket, especially the produce, bulk bin, dairy and meat departments, visiting farmer’s markets and making contact with local farmers and suppliers using sites like localharvest.org.

Quinoa Mango Salad

The following are some examples of easy swaps that you can make to clean up your diet, please note that this is not a comprehensive list:

Category of food	Conventional choice	Clean choice
Sweetener	Refined, white sugar Corn Syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup Dextrose Artificial Sweeteners (Splenda, Aspartame, etc.) Sugar Alcohols (Xylitol, sorbitol, etc.)	SuCaNat (Sugar Cane Natural) Agave Nectar Raw Honey Maple Syrup Maple Sugar Flakes Dates
Grains/Flour	Enriched White Flour White Rice Flour Unbleached white flour White Rice Quick Cooking Oats Semolina (white) Pasta	Whole Wheat Flour White Whole Wheat Flour Brown Rice Flour Kamut Flour Spelt Flour Brown Rice Wild Rice Rolled Oats Steel Cut Oats Whole Grain Malt O Meal Whole Wheat Pasta Brown Rice Pasta Multi-grain Pasta
Produce	Conventionally Grown Produce	Organic Produce, specifically those you intend to eat the skin of and the “Dirty Dozen”: Apples Cherries Imported Grapes Nectarines Peaches Berries Peppers Celery Spinach Kale Potatoes
Dairy and Eggs	Milk from cows treated with rBST Conventional Cheese Conventional Yogurt Conventional Eggs	Organic Milk Cheese that is free of hormones and antibiotics Organic Yogurt Cage-free or Organic Eggs
Meat	Conventional meat from animals treated with hormones and antibiotics Processed, cured and preserved meats (bacon, hot dogs, brats, deli meat)	Meat from animals not treated with hormones and antibiotics, preferably allowed to roam in their natural environment Uncured meats that do not contain added nitrates, nitrites, preservatives and sodium

In future posts I will explore the topics of how to start eating clean, the importance of reading nutrition labels, and how to shop each grocery store department. Also, check out a previous post that gave you a glimpse into my Simply Clean Fridge.