Category: Food and Drink (Page 7 of 10)

Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad

October 15, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I came up with this Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad to help celebrate the fall season. Fall is a great time of year for the hardier vegetables like Brussels sprouts and kale. I went to make lunch the other day while my daughter-in-law was visiting and said, “I know. Let’s make this salad I’ve been thinking about.” We both enjoyed it and we both had some ideas on how to improve it.

It’s been quite a while since I posted about my cruciferous crunch salad. This is in the same vein but has a simpler dressing and fewer veggies. I bet you could use a bag of cruciferous crunch salad with this recipe.

This recipe uses sliced Brussels sprouts and chopped kale. You can buy both of these things at the grocery store but it’s easy enough to do at home. I had fresh Brussels sprouts in my refrigerator so I sliced off the ends and then used my food processor with the slicing blade. I quickly had sliced Brussels sprouts at less than the cost of already sliced ones from the store.

You can also chop your own kale or buy pre-chopped at the store. I happened to have a bag of pre-chopped kale so it was convenient.

I used a honey crisp apple because that’s what was in my refrigerator. The honey crisp apple tasted great but you could switch the apple to something a bit more tart, if you prefer.

Ingredients for Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad

2 cups of Brussels Sprouts, sliced

2 cups chopped kale

1 diced apple (remove skin if you prefer)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles

Dressing

8 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tsp of Dijon or Brown Mustard

Directions

Mix the sliced Brussels sprouts and kale in a large bowl.

Pour the dressing ingredients into a small jar and shake well and then pour the dressing over the Brussels sprouts and kale.

Stir well, coating the vegetables with the dressing.

Cover the vegetables and let sit for at least an hour. Longer would be better. The dressing helps soften the crunchy vegetables so you could actually let this sit for a day in the refrigerator.

When it’s close to time to serve, add the chopped apple, pecans, and blue cheese. Mix well and serve.

Notes for Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad

The quantities of kale and Brussels sprouts can be adjusted based on what you have on hand. You could probably omit the kale completely if you want.

The first time I made this salad, we ate it right away. It hadn’t soften from the dressing so we decided this would be better if it sat for a while.

You could omit the blue cheese or replace it with feta cheese.

I used pecans but you could also use walnuts or maybe pumpkin seeds. Experiment with what’s in your pantry.

My daughter-in-law doesn’t like cranberries so I didn’t use them but I think dried cranberries would be an excellent addition to this salad. If you’re going to serve it over the holidays, definitely consider using them just for that splash of color.

Cabbage, Potato, and Sausage Soup in the Instant Pot

October 8, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

It’s fall once again and my heart turns to soups, including my recipe for a Cabbage, Potato, and Sausage Soup and I’m using the Instant Pot for this.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can make this just as easily on the stove. I wanted to see how the cabbage and potato would work in the Instant Pot and it turned out great.

In all of the recipes in Becoming Elli, you can count on there being a lot of recipes that include cabbage. I’m not sure why that is. I posted my basic cabbage soup recipe a while ago.

Ingredients

1/2 Tbsp. avocado oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
About 1 lb of baby red potatoes, cut in half or quarters depending on the size
1/2 of large onion, diced
1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic
About 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped into small pieces
1 package of turkey kielbasa (13 Oz), sliced
2 cups of baby spinach
4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional

Instructions

Turn the Instant Pot on to Sauté. Add the oil and let it heat.

Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the pot and stir frequently for about 5 or 6 minutes.

Stir in the sliced kielbasa and sauté for a few more minutes.

Add the minced garlic and sauté for a minute or two longer.

Turn sauté off.

Add broth, cabbage, and potatoes to the Instant Pot.

Stir in salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.

Set your Instant Pot to Soup, make sure the steam vent is set to pressurized and cook for about 30 minutes.

I usually let the steam release naturally but that’s not necessary if you’re in a hurry. When you’re ready, remove the lid.

Add the spinach and stir until it’s wilted.

Notes:

I used turkey kielbasa because that’s what I had on hand. I think chicken sausage would be great in this, as would traditional pork kielbasa. Really, any sausage will do. Use a vegan sausage if you are avoiding meat. I think you’ll want something in the sausage family for this soup. Otherwise, it’s just not cabbage, potato, and sausage soup.

You can add other vegetables to this. I think green beans would be a good addition.

I added the spinach at the end because it adds a lovely bright green color to the soup but you wouldn’t need to. If you want to add kale or a different green, remember that most cook longer than spinach so you would probably want to add the greens into the pot to cook with the other vegetables.

I used baby red potatoes but you can use any potato you want. Also, I always leave the skin on when I add potatoes to soup but that’s optional. I think even sweet potatoes would be good though it would change the flavor a bit.

Tuna and Sardine Salad

September 10, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 6 Comments

I never really thought I’d be writing a post about tuna and sardine salad.

The mind is a funny thing. I wanted to make lunch the other day and I thought I’d make my standard salad for lunch. I like to add protein to my salad. Usually I have some cooked chicken in the refrigerator just ready to be chopped up and added to my salad. This day, however, I was out of chicken because I used all of it in my Easy Coconut Red Curry Chicken. I was back to rummaging around in my pantry where I found a can of tuna and thought, no, that’s not what I want. A can of sardines was lurking behind the tuna. I remembered that I should definitely try to eat more sardines but didn’t really feel like making my standard sardine salad.

I wondered, “what if I mix a can of tuna with a can of sardines?” What could I do with that? I thought of adding some mayonnaise and some mustard. Wait a minute, I basically just thought of making regular old tuna salad and adding a can of sardines to it. What a radical thought! Later, I googled tuna and sardines and it turns out I’m not the first person to think of it but I guess that just proves it was a good idea.

Here’s the basic recipe that I came up with. Of course you could add whatever else you think would be good. Probably some onion would be a nice addition. I didn’t have any. How does that happen? I always have onion in the house but my trips to the grocery store don’t happen as often as they could, I guess.

Tuna and Sardine Salad

This was really good. Combining the two fish worked out really well. The two flavors definitely complemented each other.

Ingredients for Tuna Sardine Salad

1 can each of tuna and sardines

1 stalk of celery diced finely

1/2 cup of mayonnaise (start with less and add until it’s the level of creaminess you prefer.)

Juice of half a lemon

1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard or whatever mustard you have on hand.

Directions for Tuna Sardine Salad

Drain the cans of fish and then mixed them in a mixing bowl. Break the tuna apart and mash the sardines.

Stir in the celery.

Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and mustard. Mix well.

Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Notes:

I ate the tuna and sardine salad on top of a bed of greens. It would also be good as a sandwich or as a dip for crackers. I bet you could make an awesome tuna (and sardine!) melt too.

I used regular mayonnaise but if you follow a particular way of eating, any kind of mayo will do. Vegan mayo or mayo made with avocado oil would be fine.

Add in other crunchy vegetables if you have them.

This was a delicious way to eat both tuna and sardines.

Easy Coconut Red Curry Chicken

September 1, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 1 Comment

Here’s how I made an easy coconut red curry chicken. I used the ingredients I had on hand and came up with a tasty dinner that didn’t take long to assemble. Fast, easy, and good. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

I cleaned out my freezer recently and realized that I had a large bag of frozen stir fry vegetables that I needed to use sooner than later. Also, I had some cooked chicken breast that I wanted to use for my dinner. Not only did I have a can of coconut milk but I also had some red curry paste in the pantry.

Probably my dish is not very authentic Thai food but it was tasty and quick so it counts as a win for me.

I also used cauliflower rice instead of rice. It’s an easy way to add some additional veggies to your meal. If you’re wondering how to cook cauliflower rice, check out our fried riced cauliflower recipe.

Easy Coconut Red Curry Chicken

This is a one-pot meal that you can make quickly. It’s great for using up leftovers and for a weeknight dinner.

Ingredients

One can of coconut milk unsweetened

1/2 cup chicken bone broth or stock

One teaspoon tamari sauce (soy sauce would work as well)

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons red curry paste

About three cups of Frozen stir-fry vegetables

One or two cooked chicken breasts diced

Cauliflower rice

Directions

In a large frying pan, add the full can of coconut milk, the tamari sauce, lemon juice, and red curry paste. Stir and heat until everything is blended and smooth.

Add the frozen vegetables and cook for about 7 to 9 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Add the chicken and stir.

Cook a few more minutes to heat the chicken.

While the vegetables are cooking, heat your cauliflower rice.

Serve immediately over the cauliflower rice.

Notes:

This is obviously a pretty versatile recipe. If you don’t have stir fry vegetables, just use whatever vegetables you have on hand. This would be a good way to use up those partially used frozen bags of veggies in the freezer.

You could also use chicken thighs instead of the breasts. Whatever you have on hand will be fine.

I chose to use cauliflower rice but you could use jasmine rice or brown rice. Whatever you have on hand is fine. I think this would be great over some rice noodles.

Let me know if you make this and how it turned out.

Keeping Healthy Routines When Life Gets in the Way

August 8, 2020 / Chris Brown / 3 Comments

It’s been a crazy summer for me and I’m having a difficult time keeping healthy routines because life is getting in the way.

I’d like to blame the virus. It certainly didn’t help.

My time the past month has really been refocused as a caregiver, so while I don’t have free time, I do have “hang out” downtime.

My normal summer routines include:

Hours of bike riding. Usually two rides a week
A two hour short ride and a longer really fun day ride with a big group on the weekend.
Group exercise at the gym
Big veggie salads at potlucks with friends
Some summer fun on the lake
A week vacation on the ocean beach with lots of walking and contemplation

This summer has been very memorable, but not a good workout way. I’ve been squeezing in ways to keep up my fitness

Bringing hand weights and dumbbells with me
Bringing my bike in my car (along with helmet, gloves, bike shoes, water bottles and fanny pack) and taking the opportunity when I can go for a short ride, even just for 15 minutes!
Walking in a parking lot before doing the “pick up” at the grocery store
Doing more stairs while carrying small loads while doing laundry and cleaning out old faded holiday decorations
Switching dinner from a “meal” to an earlier in the evening small snack to reduce my overall calorie intake

I’ve also had to do a lot more driving in my car in the last month, so I’m trying to focus on getting back into my positive mental attitude by listening to uplifting podcasts again. Of course I have been revisiting some of my favorite Fit Strong Women Over 50 episodes. They always inspire me.

To me being fit and getting stronger is about strengthening the mind to become more resilient as well as the body.

Mental fitness has been a big focus for me. Here’s what I’ve been doing to stimulate my para sympathetic nervous system (the relax and restore response instead of fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system):

5 or 6 minute meditations (close eyes, focus on breathing and letting thoughts slide by like passing cars on a street)
Yoga nidra for deep relaxation (especially at night or early morning.) One of my favorites is a 10 year old podcast from UCLA with 3 short episodes as well as Dr. Melissa West for longer guided yoga nidra meditations
4-7-8 breathing (4 inhale, 7 hold, 8 mouth exhale for 4 rounds)
Remembering and reciting in my some of my favorite “hang in there” mantras. This too shall pass. You can do hard things. Just for Today.
When I feel anxiety start to build, I may do some EFT tapping.
Focus on the horizon, the longer term instead of what is directly in front of me

I’ve especially been trying to keeping food in perspective. With my eating this summer, probably the thing that is serving me best is planning ahead. I have been focused on two parts: meal planning and meal prepping.

By making plain chicken in the slow cooker for the week ahead, I can add fresh vegetables, some cheese or other sides to switch it up, but not require lots of cooking while away. Using pick up from a grocery store helps cut down time (as well as avoid exposure) and helps me not impulse spend as well.

Full disclosure – don’t get the idea that I have it all together! I’m still trying to get a handle on it all. Forgetting to set the timer is not a good way to make cabbage steaks. I usually love sliced cabbage with some olive oil roasted in the oven for about an hour (turn once) but I forgot and when my nose smelled something I realized I really should have set the timer.

Cooking Fail — Crispy cabbage was not what I was going for…

I have a little cooler that has been really helpful on these hot days. Keeping water and healthy snacks in it has made a good difference. Because of the changes in routine, I’ve been fighting the urge for stress eating as well. I keep reminding myself, it doesn’t solve anything.

What tricks do you use to keep your good healthy and fitness when your normal routines are completely changed?

Can You Be Fit and Strong on a Road Trip?

June 25, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

I’ve had to make a few trips out of town this year and I’m wondering if it’s possible to be fit and strong on a road trip. It’s definitely a challenge,

Eating While Traveling

My trips this year have been road trips. I’ve learned to pack food for the journey because trying to eat on the road is not great. Stopping to eat at a restaurant takes time and choices aren’t great anyway. That leaves eating at a fast food restaurant or grabbing snacks from a gas station. I remember reading Michael Pollan’s Food Rules. One of the rules was don’t buy food where you buy gasoline. There’s a reason for that. Gas stations are now mini restaurants; some have fast food franchises tucked inside the station. It’s challenging to find healthy, unprocessed food in one of these places. You might be able to find an apple and sometimes you’ll see a cup of hummus with a few veggies but there’s not a lot.

So, I pack easy to eat things for in the car. I might bring apples, nuts, a snack or protein bar that I’ve bought at home. (Don’t forget to check out Chris and my sampling of protein bars!) I also make sure to have lots of water in the car with me. I usually fill a couple of my sports bottles and then throw in some extra bought bottles of water. I have run out of water while stuck in a traffic jam and it makes a miserable experience even worse.

I usually start my morning travels with a travel mug of coffee. Finding decent coffee on the road is not always easy. It seems like there are Starbucks and coffee shops everywhere but it turns out not to be true.

Exercising While Traveling

Days filled with long drives are usually days when I don’t hit my step goal with my Fitbit. When I know I’m going to be in the car all day, I try to get in a brisk walk before starting the drive. I’m usually eager to get on the road so that walk is usually a short one.

When I stop for gas or a bathroom break, I try to walk around the gas station or rest area and not take a straight line from the store to my car. I also try to do some stretching exercises at those breaks. I can usually find a step to do some heel drops if nothing else.

The problem with sitting in the car all day is that it’s tiring. It’s amazing how it saps the energy from your body.

Sometimes when I reach my destination, I’m able to get in a good walk. That is energizing for sure. Other times that doesn’t happen and I’ve learned to just accept that it’s not going to happen and I’ll not worry about reaching my goals that day.

Fit and Strong on a Road Trip?

I think it’s not easy to maintain a healthy way of eating and moving while on the road but with some planning, it’s possible to not go too far astray.

Do you have any suggestions? Anything that works well for you? Please share your ideas!

Cooking Cabbage in the Instant Pot

June 14, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

Cooking cabbage in the Instant Pot is so quick and easy. This recipe is perfect for nights when you need some vegetables quickly. One of the things I like about the Instant Pot is that you can cook things quickly and easily. You load it up and turn it on and only deal with it again when the Instant Pot turns off.

I just have to share this recipe even though it’s another cabbage recipe. We provide a lot of ways to cook cabbage here at the Becoming Elli website. We’ve posted recipes for cabbage soup, keto cabbage, spicy cabbage in the crockpot, and others. Just go to the website and do a search on cabbage. You’ll see what I mean.

You only need three items for this recipe: cabbage, broth, and butter. That’s it. I used chicken bone both but you could use vegetable broth or even water. Beef broth might work too but I’ve never used it.

You can also add some salt and pepper to this dish if you like.

I used Kerrygold butter but regular butter will work well too. I just love my Kerrygold.

Cooking Cabbage in the Instant Pot

Ingredients

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth or water

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 head of cabbage, roughly chopped

Directions

Put broth and butter in the bottom of the Instant Pot.

Place cabbage into the pot.

Put the lid on the pot.

Pressure cook for 6 minutes. You can let the pressure release naturally for a few minutes and then manually release the pressure.

Notes

You can add carrots or potatoes to this. If you add potatoes, increase the cooking time to 9 minutes. The size of the potato will affect the cooking time.

I think you’ll enjoy this recipe. If you try it, let me know what you think. You can email me at jill@becomingelli.com or just leave a message below or on our Facebook page.

Pam Sherman’s Big Ass Salad

May 25, 2020 / Chris Brown / 3 Comments

Are you wondering about the Big Ass Salad?

During our recent podcast interview with Pam Sherman, she mentioned that she has a salad every day.

Not just any salad, but one she refers to as the BAS! The Big Ass Salad. She says the cabbage is more filling than a spring mix.

Jill and I just couldn’t let that go! We needed the recipe… and photos!
Thank you Pam for this delicious inspiration!!

Here’s the recipe for my favorite BAS

Spinach – I cut this up as I hate big lettuce leaves
Green cabbage – finely chopped
Fruit – in the winter I use apples or pears, summer, any berry is fantastic
Nut – we love almonds and pistachios but any nut works great
Cheese – crumbled goat is our go to!
Balsamic onions – cook onion until soft(either red/yellow work), add balsamic vinegar and cook down until vinegar is absorbed into the onion.

I do take kitchen scissors and chop up everything finely- it makes it so much easier to eat!

For my Big Ass Salad dressing I use..

1 cup cashew/almond milk
1 Tbl honey mustard
1/2-1 Tbl chopped garlic
few shakes of coconut aminos- worchestershire works as well
1/3 cup while balsamic or red balsamic
1-2 Tbl of hummus to make it creamy!

Mix all in magic bullet or blender.

Enjoy!!

Eating Healthy during Uncertain Times

March 29, 2020 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I am finding it difficult to eat healthy and keep my protein, carbohydrate and fat levels in the right amount. Eating healthy during uncertain times has been a big challenge for me.

For some reason I am craving carbs and find it difficult to not gravitate to them. Maybe it is the comfort food aspect?

Maybe its because I’m anxious and a little bored. I’m looking for a comforting distraction.

I’m posting these photos that I took a while back to help inspire me to meal prep veggies and lean protein.

While most of the time I am doing fine, I notice I’m more lonely and find myself having a mini pity party over the things that have been curtailed and the routines that I love that are missing.

I feel that I should just count my blessings, make my gratitude list and stop whining. I’m really lucky in so many ways.

Part of fixing the uncertainty I know is to control what I can. And so, I’m going to try to control my food prep by cutting up lots of veggies and preparing some of the frozen chicken so that grabbing good choices is easier than too many bread/potato style carbs that I have been gravitating too.

How are you doing with your food choices during this time when we are staying home, not going out and staying safe? Are you finding ways to trick yourself into eating healthy during uncertain times? Please jot a comment below or leave a message on the Becoming Elli Voicemail at 330-970-6662. I’d love to hear how you are dealing with all this.

Cabbage Soup is Lunch of Choice

March 5, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

I am having cabbage soup for lunch today. I made a large batch of soup a few weeks ago and put some containers of it in the freezer to save for later. Today is a cold, snowy day here in Ohio and I’m working from home. I was daydreaming about what I was going to eat for lunch and decided to get a container of soup out of the freezer.

Customizing the Soup

The best thing about this soup is that I can add to it. When I made this soup originally, I added some cooked chicken and beans to the soup.

Today I decided to use up the chopped butternut squash that was in my refrigerator so I chopped it into smaller pieces, coated it with some avocado oil, and roasted it. I intend to add the butternut squash to my soup. I also have spinach in the refrigerator. It doesn’t take long to cook spinach so I’ll heat up the soup, add the squash, and add a handful of the spinach. That makes a great bowl of soup. If I wanted to add protein, some beans or shredded chicken might be a nice addition.

I make the big pot of soup without adding much in the way to seasoning. I’ll add some salt and pepper maybe. When I’m doctoring up the soup for a meal, I can add more seasoning to the smaller bowl. Some ideas on that might be some Italian seasonings or just some oregano with the salt and pepper. Sometimes I add some cayenne pepper to spice it up a bit. I think you could add some taco seasoning to the soup as well. Whatever strikes your fancy will work.

I’ll have some Mary’s Gone Crackers and goat cheese as a side dish. If you read this blog often, you know that I love those crackers.

I just noticed that we have many recipes for cabbage on the Becoming Elli website and recipes for soup but we don’t have a recipe for cabbage soup. The closest thing is Chris’ recipe for vegetable soup. So, let me give you my recipe.

You’ll want to know that you can swap vegetables in or out of this soup. Use what you have on hand.

Recipe for Basic Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

1 Tbs oil (I use avocado oil)

1 onion, diced

3 carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

1½ cups green beans, chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 can diced tomatoes

½ head of cabbage, chopped into small pieces

8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth

Directions

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat the oil and then saute the onion in it until the onion begins to soften.

Add the carrots, celery, green beans, tomatoes, and cabbage.

Pour in the chicken broth.

Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until cabbage is tender.

Notes

When you’re ready to eat the soup, add whatever ingredients you want.

Suggestions could be pasta or noodles, cooked chicken, chopped sausage, canned beans, greens, cooked potato. Use what you have on hand.

If you add white beans, kale, and some Italian spices, top your bowl of soup with some Parmesan cheese.

If you add chicken and cumin, top the soup with tortilla strips or some cheddar cheese.

Consider your soup to be the base for whatever you want.