New PD Recipes this week!

If you follow a Protective Diet, you'll be happy to hear the new Premium recipes this week. I love to see a new oil free salad dressing especially if it pours on and dresses veggies just like an olive oil. I'm excited to see that the dressing will last for 10 days. Great recipes this week. Check them out if they sound go to you also!

• Balsamic Roasted Veggie Salad
• Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Fire Roasted Corn

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me plus save money buy eating at home. Click on the Getting Started Video. Protective Diet Education may qualify as a Health Savings Account expense.You may need a pre-existing diagnosis by a physician such as: obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.

Lentils, lentils, lentils

This week I listened to a podcast in ITunes: Food for thought: Favorite Food: For the Love of Lentils Released Mar 31, 2010.

I went 40 years of my life without either eating lentils or knowing that lentils existed. In the last few months, I've started adding lentils to my pantry and I started searching for recipes using lentils. So far, I tried just two recipes: Chef AJ's red lentil chili & Protective Diet Sloppy Jerrys. I've heard lots of people raving about Chef AJ red lentil chili, but I discovered quickly that I am NOT a fan. Second, I tried the P.D. Slow Cooker Sloppy Jerrys. This recipe is fabulous, so I know I do like lentils.

  

Types of Lentils

 In Colleen's podcast, I heard that lentils are popular (staple food) all over the world. People in the USA are less familiar with them. (so true!) They are used a lot in Indian Cuisine. They are lens shaped and they come in lots of different varieties. She mentioned just a couple types:

• French Green Lentils (really holds it shape after cooking, wonderful flavor)
• Brown Lentils (very common, can hold their shape, wonderful flavor, earthy flavor)
• Red Lentils (yellowish red, sometimes called yellow lentils, mostly used in dishes where they are soft)
• Black beluga lentils

I can easily find brown and red lentils at my local grocery stores and Walmart. I found French Green Lentils at a natural food grocery store (4 hrs round trip) in bulk so I picked up a tiny bit to try. The Green lentils are more expensive per pound, so I'll have to decide if they are worth it. Vita-Cost carries lentils, so I can get them shipped to my house also.

Lentils don't need to be soaked overnight like dried beans. Before cooking, you have to rinse them and pick thru (remove stones etc.). Most lentils cook in about 30 minutes and you don't want to cook in too much water/broth (you would be dumping the nutrients down the drain). She doesn't cover the pot completely when cooking.

Lentils are full of nutrition

1 cup of cooked lentils has the following:

• have 230 calories (less calorie dense than pasta)
• 90% of daily value of folate (in one cup)
•  36% of daily percent of iron
• 35% of daily percent of protein

Ways to use lentils

Recipes/ways to use lentils per Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (I haven't tried any of these). It's amazing to see how versatile lentils are. They are used in recipes from salads, burgers, lentil loafs, to stews.

1. Sprinkle lentils on a green salad
2. Brown lentils seasoned with balsamic vinegar and salt
3. Warm lentil salad (The Vegan Table) can be served over greens or eaten in a pita pocket
4. Lentil loaf
5. Dahl
6. Red lentil and artichoke stew
7. Cashew and red lentil burgers

Frugal Tip #3 - Travel with your lunch from home!

If you work out of the house, I would recommend packing your lunch to take with you instead of eating out, ordering in, or running to a fast food restaurant. I found that you can spend a lot of money on a simple sandwiches and drinks for your middle meal.

For example, There is a coffee shop downtown in the city where I work. Sandwiches are almost $7, Panini's are $8, salads are between $6.75-$8. Then add a $2 drink and you are almost close to $10 for lunch. I would take the $10 and buy some really good staples at the store for lunch. I estimate that I probably spend around $3-$4 for lunch each day by taking my own lunch and snacks. Another benefit of making my own food, is that I can control the oil (fat) I eat.

You can get an amazing amount of food at the grocery store for $10

When you shop at the grocery store for lunch, $10 will get you supplies for more than one day. I work 5 days a week, multiply $10 * 5 days and I could spend $50 a week on lunch. I can find creative ways to go grocery shopping and spend less than $50 for the week's lunch supplies.

• Spinach bag ($2-$3)
• baby carrots (less than $1.50)
• radishes ($1)
• cucumbers ($1)
• green onions ($1)
• 5 lbs of red potatoes ($2-$3)
• a bunch of bananas ($1-$2)
• whole wheat pasta (usually less then $2 a box)
• oats (I find these as low as $.70/# in bulk on sale)

Options

The options of what you take for lunch depends on if you have a thermos, cooler, office microwave, or office refrigerator.  I use a personal cooler to carry all my lunch items to work with me each day. I do have access to a microwave. So heating up the dinner from the night before (having a hot lunch), is always an option for me. All of the Protective Diet recipes make multiple servings, so you can make a soup recipe and have lunch for at least three days from one recipe. When I worked in a building without a microwave, I would use my thermos to take hot soup from home.

Cold lunch/snack ideas

• Nice green salad with fixings you have in your fridge (I usually use spinach, but pick up mixed greens when they look fresh in the store).
• Salads: Greek Salad, Chickpea Cucumber Salad, Caesar Salad, Confetti Kale Salad
• Cold cooked potatoes (I snack on these or add salsa, beans, green onions, etc. on top)
• Whole wheat pita bread stuffed with greens and veggies
• Open Face Kale and Hummus Sandwich :Whole grain bread, hummus, onions and greens (I saw this in the documentary PlanEat. You can switch it up also to add what you like. I usually add tomato slices also, since I love tomato.)
• Happy Hummus Wrap (Happy Herbivore): Line a tortilla or wrap with red pepper hummus. Add fresh veggies such as sprouts, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, celery and white mushrooms, all sliced thin. (take everything in separate containers and make the wrap when you eat)
• Sides: Three Bean Salad, Creamy Mustard and Herb Potato Salad, Black Bean and Corn Summer Salad, Garlic Bread Sticks
• Pasta Salad: cook pasta  then add beans and/or veggies you like such as tomato, onion, olives, cucumbers, celery. You can use a dressing like Garlic and Herb Balsamic for the dressing.
• Fresh Fruit Salad: Fruit Jar
• Oat and Yogurt parfait
• Oatmeal - if you have access to hot water from a coffee machine, you may be able to take oats and make oatmeal at your desk.

Frugal Tip #2 - Make your own Buns and Soft Pocket Bread

I love saving money!

I save a lot of money by making things at home instead of buying them already made. One example is bread. On the list of P.D. approved recipe ingredients is Amazon Ezekiel Bread made by Food for Life. If you click on that link you will find that one loaf of bread costs $17.50. Ok, so that's just a crazy price. I did however find Ezekiel bread in the frozen section of a Natural Food grocery market that is a 4 hours round trip for me. It was somewhere between $4-5 a loaf. But, I couldn't bring myself to pick up a loaf for that price.

What are my options?

I know some people don't bake or have a fear of baking. That's not the case for me. I bake regularly and have made homemade bread for the last few years for my family in the bread machine I received as a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. Homemade bread doesn't scare me, but making my own buns and pocket bread did. I found two recipes at Protective Diet, that use whole wheat flour, as options. I was very skeptical that this could work. I tried my first batch of pocket bread back in January and I was hooked. It was easy & tasted great!

How much does the recipe cost?

The basic ingredients for the Protective Diet Burger Buns and Soft Pocket Bread are exactly the same. I've calculated that my cost for the ingredients is $1.25. This doesn't take into account my time to make the buns/pockets are the cost of energy. The soft pocket bread makes either 8 regular ($.15)/each or 12 mini ($.10/each). The burger bun recipe yields 6 buns ($.20/each). Since these recipe are part of her premium recipes collection. You do have to have subscribe to the site see the recipes and the video.

How long do they take?

Burger Buns: Prep Time 20 minutes, Inactive Time: 60 minutes, Bake Time: 11 minutes
Soft Pocket Bread: Prep Time: 20 minutes, Cook Time: 10 minutes: Ready in: 1 hr and 30 minutes

How do I store them?

After my buns/soft bread is cooked, I put them in freezer bags and put in the freezer. When I need a pocket/bun I just remove the quantity I need. I either leave out to defrost or toast it up to eat.

What tools do I need?

1. Baking Pan(s)
2. Silicon Mat(s)/ parchment paper
3. Measuring Spoons/Cups to measure ingredients
4. Small and large bowl
5. Fork for mixing
6. Rolling pin
7. Oven for baking

Why do these bread recipes appeal to me?

• I think this is a great option since I know that the bread buns/pockets have healthy ingredients, no preservatives, only the ingredients that I am adding. 
• I can make the bread buns/pockets up on the weekend and save them in the freezer for later use. 
• They are easy for me to make. I don't find the skill level to be difficult with lots of steps and I don't dread making the buns.
• I'm using ingredients that I always have on hand in my pantry. I always have whole wheat, white whole wheat, and whole wheat pastry flour stocked up.
• If I went to the store to buy buns for $1.25, the quality would be very low. So I think I'm getting great tasting buns for a very nice price.

I hope you might consider making your own bread products at home to save money each month. I haven't found an actual loaf of bread recipe that meets my standards: whole wheat flour, vegan (no dairy, honey), no oil. etc, but I'm always on the search. If I find one, I'll be sure to post.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me plus save money buy eating at home. Click on the Getting Started Video. Protective Diet Education may qualify as a Health Savings Account expense.You may need a pre-existing diagnosis by a physician such as: obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.

House Mayo Recipe

I stopped eating mayo this summer when I started reading food labels. Most packaged mayos contain soybean oil and I'm trying to avoid that product. At first, I didn't think I could eat a healthier version of mayo, but I found a House Mayo Recipe on the Protective Diet website.

It's actually a super easy recipe to whip up. I used  my blender and it took my less than 5 minutes from start to finish, including finding my ingredients. There are two recipes on the website for mayo. I picked this one because it has vinegar in it to help it to stay fresh in the fridge longer. That part is important to me. I don't use a lot of mayo or keep mayo on hand at all times, but I am going to use it in a different recipe later today. I'll keep my mayo in the fridge in a glass canning jar.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see Julie Marie's yummy plant based healthy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me plus save money buy eating at home. Click on the Getting Started Video. Protective Diet Education may qualify as a Health Savings Account expense.You may need a pre-existing diagnosis by a physician such as: obesity, hypertension, diabetes etc.

Tools for a Protective Diet

I have to admit that you will need more tools to cook healthy than to eat freezer meals or canned soups. Over the last 9 months, I've been gradually adding more items to my kitchen to help me prepare meals.

Here's some of the things I've purchased that I think you'll need

• 2 Silicon Baking Mats (Buy these right away...these are very important when not cooking with oil) and 2 baking pans
• Sharp knives for chopping
• Storage containers (I like the 4 cup glass bowls with plastic lids for soups and salads for lunch. I find I need more containers now that I did before for storing food.)
• Blender - One day I'll get a high speed blender, but so far I have a Ninja Mega Kitchen System
• Silicon muffin liners (a silicon muffin or ceramic pan would work also, but these were a lot cheaper).
• Mixing Bowls
• Measuring spoons and cups 
• Rolling Pin
• Pots and pans for cooking soups/onions, etc.

These are not essential but I like to have

• Instant Pot (pressure cooker for making rice, vegetable broth, etc.) 
• Cutting board
• 1 Gallon paint strainer (I picked this up just recently to make Rice Milk).
• Cast Iron tortilla press (this was only $20 at Amazon. I used my points and have already recouped my cost by not buying premade corn tortilla shells since January.)
• Food processor
• Flour sack towels (for wrapping and storing your herbs and green onions)

Protective Diet Education - Teleclass every Tuesday

Tuesday Live Teleclass at 8pm CT.

When you join Protective Diet Premium Recipes you also get access to Protective Diet Education which includes Tuesday weekly teleclasses and 74 archive teleclass videos (all an hour long). This week's class is Oven tips.

If you are unable to watch at that time, they are always recorded and added to the archive section. If you are able to join along, you are able to learn and chat along with others all over the world. You can ask your questions on the topic in the chat box that she can answer for you during the class.

You'll find she has lots of great tips to help you save money and keep your fridge, freezer and pantry stocked. My favorite topics to date were'Beans, Beans, Beans.', Protective Diet spices, and PD Staples are stocked.

Keep track of what you eat!

 My Food Journal

I found it helpful to write down what I eat each day especially since I'm very new to a Protective Diet. I find that it makes me more accountable for what I'm putting in my mouth. I bought myself a spiral fat book on February 6th to keep right in my purse. Each day has a dedicated page.

I make three columns on each sheet

• food/drink
• was it PD
• count of vegetables/fruit

 For example, February 17th was Fat Tuesday and I can see that I slipped. This was my journal for that day:

• Tea
• Oats        
• SoyMilk
• Frozen berries                                    1
• Cooked apples                                    1
• Paczki (bad)              NO
• Mixed vegetables                               1
• Potatoes
• Tea
• Spinach/Romaine Salad with Veg     2
• Sloppy Jerries                                    1
• Whole wheat P.D. Burger Bun
• Tea

 Paczki's

I come from a Polish heritage and Fat Tuesday is the day for Paczki's. This is a pastry similar to a doughnut that my grandma would spend hours making and then cooked them in oil. The traditional reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, because their consumption was forbidden by Catholic fasting practices during Lent. My non-polish mother tried to learn how to make them from my grandmother, but they were a lot of work. It was a special treasure if grandma sent some to us that day.

A co-worker/friend brings them into work each year for our entire team. In my head a little voice said  "it is something I indulge in only once a year". On one hand, I almost felt like I was letting down my deceased Polish grandma looking down at me from heaven and my co-worker if I didn't eat it. On the other hand, I was letting down my body if I did eat it. It was a strange mental struggle. Yes, I joined in on that Fat Tuesday celebration and yes I wrote it down in my food journal. I did select and eat one Paczki that morning from the deli box, although I felt horribly guilty afterward. Now that I look at that page, I feel bad that I wasn't strong enough to just say "No thank you".

Focusing on the good

On  the other hand, when I look at my journal page, I can see a rough number of fruits and vegetables that I consumed on that Tuesday. In previous years in winter, the number of fresh fruits and vegetables consumed would have been maybe zero or one. When you are consuming meat, cheese, and dairy your grocery bill is expensive$$ and you don't have money left over for the fresh fruits and vegetables section. I avoided that section like a plague. If I bought anything during the winter it might have been a tomato, iceburg lettuce, a bag of oranges or a couple apples. Since last May, I always have spinach, kale, romaine/mixed greens and other colors in my fridge. I calculated that I probably ate 6 that day which is just amazing to me. It is definitely cheaper to buy these fresh items in the summer, plus they taste better in the summer, but it's now a special treat for me to eat the rainbow all year.

Each day is a new food challenge so that's why I record my food journal for me. Do you use a food journal? Does it help you stay accountable?

Kale is the bomb!!

My first adventure with kale

It's a little embarrassing to admit that I had never purchased kale before the Summer of 2014. At first, I played it very safe. I made kale smoothies hiding it with sugar and frozen fruit. I got a little adventurous with kale chips, but then I read an article about kale being bad if you had thyroid problems. I was having my thyroid tested so I pretty much gave up kale. I decided that Spinach would be safer. After getting the results that my thyroid was normal and joining Protective Diet, I'm happy to report that I'm eating kale again.

Trying kale a second time

This time, I'm find that I like kale in different recipes. For example, I now eat and enjoy kale for breakfast. It makes for a quick and different breakfast when I need a change from oats. I always have cooked potatoes on hand. I heat up the potatoes in the oven while I shower. I then chop up my potatoes into little pieces and mix up my kale and Protective Diet Daily Dressing in a bowl. It's a warm tasty treat for a Michigan winter morning.

Keeping cooked potatoes always on hand

This is a trick I learned either in December or January. I cook up 5-6 potatoes at a time in my Instant Pot; then store them in my fridge. I'm able to add them to salads  to bulk them up or just have them handy for a snack. (I just eat them cold at my desk or on my commute home.) Potatoes are so economical to buy, easy to find at my local grocery stores and easy to add to my diet. Potatoes are often on sale, so I pick up the bag that is on sale that week. I've gone thru a lot of potatoes since the beginning of the year. I haven't kept track of the number of pounds, but I know it has been a lot.

Friday's in Lent, what a challenge they were

I grew up Catholic and every year during lent we had the hardest time trying to find meatless dishes. My mom was like 'what are we going to eat?'. 

Really for her there are only two options: eggs or fish. You have to have the main meat or meat fill in (eggs or fish) and then the side dishes. It was a horrible challenge we dreaded each year.

Now I  think, "OMG!, there are so many meatless options for Lent, what where we thinking all those years?"

In fact, I had this conversation with my mom again last week. I said "Mom, there are so many options!", but I don't think she takes me seriously. Where would she get her protein?

I think Fridays in Lent are a perfect time for my family (yes mom, that includes you) to try healthy vegan dishes.

Some simple ideas to start with:

• chowders/soups
•  meatless pasta dishes
• salads
• stir-fry

Some more complex dishes might be some bean dishes such as:

• beef-less tacos
• Mini Burgers
• Mexican Pizza

To begin looking for recipes, sign up for a login at the Protective Diet website. You can search for recipes by name or ingredients or just go up to the top and select All Recipes. All recipes lets you look for recipes by category. My first time on the site I went directly to Soup and Stew since that's my comfort food. I make soups all year long. Probably because I find soups go a long way. I cook on one day and eat for many. If I'm over three meals on a dish, I usually freeze the left overs for another day.

I no longer find meatless Fridays in Lent a challenge.

It's the first day of Spring, Yeah!

Yeah! It's the first day of Spring. 

 

Here in Michigan, that means that we will be getting less snow soon. It was actually above freezing today. It was supposed to get to 50, but only made it in the 40s. I had high hopes of finally walking outside, but it's also dreary and raining. We still even have snow on the ground and 30 inches of ice on our lake.

I have to admit. . . I've been thinking about my garden already, though. We usually put plants in the ground after June 1st. This year, I plan on having more herbs. In the fall, I brought my parsley and mint inside. I've been able to keep them alive thru the winter. It's so fun having herbs on hand to use in fall and winter dishes. This year I want to get rosemary, oregano, dill, and basil plants. I also need a couple more parsley plants since lots of recipes on the Protective Diet site call for parsley.

Last year we had good luck with green beans, carrots, radishes and zucchini. Our tomatoes, squash, cauliflower, potatoes and cauliflower did not do very well.

My Favorite vegetable is zucchini. 

I never had too many. I never got sick of eating zucchini. I used my zucchini from my garden, my mom's garden, from the farmer's market and from the store. I experimented with lots of different recipes last year. I put some grated in the freezer, but I ran out way before November. So this year, I need to plant more and find new recipes that will qualify under a Protective Diet.

I might even be a little bit adventurous and try spinach, beets or lettuce. Do you have a garden? What do you grow?

I have brown rice, so what should I have for supper?

The nice thing about a Protective Diet Premium membership is that you can search recipes by ingredients. For example, tonight I  had a lot of brown rice made up ahead. I wanted to use for supper, so I searched for brown rice on the PD website to see what I could make.

I found that I had the ingredients for Roasted Squash Curry. This is actually a free recipe on the site so anyone can create a login and get the recipe. She has an option to use pumpkin puree, so I actually used that instead of squash.

It was a delicious, tasty and healthy rice dish. It makes a lot, so I will have leftovers for a couple days. Bonus!

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me.

Blueberry Muffins

My kids love blueberry muffins. So finding a healthy blueberry muffin that the kids like is a bonus.

This weekend I tried Protective Diet (PD) Blueberry Breakfast muffins. The recipe calls for fresh blueberries, but I was able to make it just fine with frozen berries. I used a regular muffin pan with silicon muffin liners. The recipe was real quick to whip up & cook. I've been adding these as a snack for my kids this week.

This is a free recipe at Protective Diet and I think everyone should try it. It's a tasty muffin that is oil free, egg free and sugar free. It's heart healthy

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me.

It's the first day of March

Finally, we are getting closer to Spring. Here in Michigan it's 28 degrees today. That's actually very warm. Last week, we had days that didn't get above zero. I'm happy the days are longer and that Spring is not far now.

This type of Michigan weather makes for perfect days to stay in and cook healthy delicious food. I don't feel guilty staying in my kitchen and not going outside. Plus, with having the oven on, it warms up the house. It's eleven am and I've started on a couple things I can eat this week.

Here's what I am working on in my kitchen:

• Protective Diet Chia Jam (I'll use for my oatmeal this week)
• Veggie Broth (cooking a very basic broth in my Instant Pot- onions, leeks, carrots and celery)
• Dried Chick Peas are soaking (I'll cook these up in my Instant Pot when my broth is done.)
• Protective Diet Chocolate Bird Seed

I think I'll make P.D. Chickpea Cucumber Salad later today. I'll look to see what other recipes look good, so I can make up my lunch for tomorrow. Hope you are staying warm and enjoying March 1st wherever you are.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me.

Friday - What's for lunch?

My Lunch: 

Friday's lunch was soup and salad. I like lunches that are easy to grab in the morning. I don't have a lot of extra time in the morning to put together my lunch and it's so much better for me to take my lunch than to try to find a healthy lunch eating out.

So for lunch I had the following

• Protective Diet Veggie Chili
• Salad made with romaine, spinach and cabbage, cucumbers, carrots
• Protective Diet - Daily Dressing
• Apple

PD Daily Dressing:

 I'm so glad I found Protective Diet (PD) , especially for yummy dressings for salad. Before I signed up for Protective Diet Premium Recipes, I searched for alternate dressings to make on my own that didn't have bad ingredients: soybean or other oil, sugar, etc. I hadn't found a dressing that I liked. So far I've tried two PD, the daily dressing and the French Dressing. They are both very, very tasty and healthy. I can't wait to try the others.

What I learned Today: 

I found that I ended up not taking enough for lunch today. I was really hungry in two hours and ate a tangerine. Then an hour later, I had a banana. I always make sure I have something healthy to snack on in my bag so I don't go grab a candy bar or anything else non-healthy from the vending machine at work. I'm still in the phase where I'm trying to figure out how much food I need to eat to feel me up. So for Monday, I'm definitely taking a larger lunch.

If you are new to Protective Diet, you have to create a login to see her yummy recipes. She has two types of recipes on the site: free and premium. I invite you to create a free login on the Protective Diet site to try her free healthy recipes. I'm confident that you will love them like me.

Here's my Breakfast

Here's my breakfast today: Steel cut oats, frozen mixed berries from Walmart and a PD Latte on the side. I need something that will keep me full until noon. I believe a 1/2 cup of oats will do the trick. What did you have today to start your day?

Good Morning, how do you like your chili?

I start my day out before 5 am each morning. I want at least an hour before the kids wake up to have some me time. I have a morning ritual that feels nice. I start some warm water and add lemon for a wonderful warm-me-up drink. I update myself on my facebook and email and then I do some yoga.

I've fallen into a yoga routine since May. I feel like I needed something slower past to gently warm my body in the morning. I used to try to do some high energy stuff in the morning, but I think after you turn 40, that isn't very excited. I just had no motivation to slip the DVD in.

I started with My Yoga Online. They've recently merged with GaiamTv. It's great to have my favorite instructors each morning for only $10. Some days I feel like Kundalini yoga; other mornings yin yoga. Some of my favorite instructors are Zain Saraswati Jamal, David Magone, Lindsay Lewis, Tommy Rosen, Melina Meza, Gurmukh, and Bernie Clark.

For dinner last night I made Protective Diet (PD) Veggie Chili. I've made it before and it was delicious. I threw the three types of beans that I had in the house, which are different than the ones listed on her recipe. It's a flexible recipe that will work with what type of beans you have on hand.The problem we have in my family is that my husband likes a thick chili (like stew) and I like a thin watery chili (like soup). So I made my chili thicker for my husband this time, which means I didn't like it as well. How do you like your chili?


Check out the chili recipe at Protective Diet Here: http://protectivediet.com/veggie-chili.html?affiliate=100

Until next time. .

How do I start out my day?

Most days I start out my day with oats. I eat either rolled oats or steel cut oats. I love that oats are heart healthy. I need something that will fill me up, so I can make it to lunch without my belly growling at my desk.

One easy way to cook my steel cut oats is by using my Instant Pot (which I LOVE!!!).

I find the biggest pain of cooking oats is watching it on the stove or microwave to make sure it doesn't boil over. I've solved this by using my Instant Pot. I put my oats in and leave it. I continue on with my morning tasks without having to babysit my oats.

Today, I'm trying a new method I found on Protective Diet. Julie has a Steel Cut Oats Recipe for the stove top. I invite you to give this a try also. I'm going to add in Mixed Berry Chia Seed jam with my oats. I can't wait.

How do you start your day?

Until next time. . .

Why did I start my journey to get healthier?

Why did I start? I started my journey to be healthy when the dr. suggested I might have thyroid problems. This was about a year and a half ago. That's when I started researching and making small changes.

What issues did I have when I started? I really wasn't a ton over weight. I weighed 20 lbs more than I do, but I guess that is a lot on a 5'1 frame. I wasn't feeling very well though. I was having problems with my lungs, so I was taking a daily medicine for that. I had really bad allergies and was taking a daily medicine for that. I think some of my other issues were side affects of the medicine. My immune system seemed to be in the tank. My body seemed really sore and creaky all the time. My digestion after eating bread and pizza was really bad. My neck and shoulders were so tight I was getting migraines and headaches a lot. My knees, ankles, knees and wrists were all issues. I was tired A LOT, so I was drinking lots of coffee. I couldn't sleep so I was using Melatonin every night.

I was maybe eating one fruit or vegetable each day. I wasn't feeling good, so it was time to change.

How did I start? I started just adding juices or smoothies in the morning to my breakfast. It was a small change, but at least I was getting more fruit and veggies into my diet.

Then, I started doing more salads at lunch and cutting back on my caffeine. I next started with cutting out white milk, bread, and pizza. My digestion started getting back on track. I wasn't feeling sluggish and bloated after eating, I was feeling great.

I then went on to reducing the amount of processed foods that I was eating. No more boxed foods, canned soups and frozen lunches. This caused me to cook a lot more. I was spending more time in the kitchen making foods, but it was fun.

My first Challenge: In October, I did the October Unprocessed Challenge. This was great and challenging at the same time. I didn't realize all the hidden sugar in simple things like ketchup, dressings, and other foods you don't expect to find sugar. While the month was hard, I continued eating like this thru November.

Online Resources and Books: During that time I started reading The Starch Solution, How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and other books. I started adding in more plant based foods right away. I found that plant based foods are filling and satisfying. I love listening to the YouTube videos by Chef AJ. She eventually lead me to finding Protective Diet, which I am doing now. The neat thing is that this is not a diet. It's a way of life to protect yourself from disease, which is ultimately my goal.

How I feel now: I can say that I seriously feel 100% better than I did before. I didn't realize how bad I was feeling. I don't have problems with my joints, my digestion, migraines or headaches anymore. These issues just disappeared. I sleep great now without any help of Melatonin or other sleep aids. I have stopped my daily lung medicine, since I don't seem to have any issues with my lungs anymore. I also think my skin and my hair have changed. I'm am excited about continuing this journey in health.

Protective Diet Journey

Since my November post, I've done lots of reading and researching. I've found that I really like Protective diet recipes. So I've decided to blog about these exciting new recipes as I try them.

I've been subscribing to Protective Diet for about a month. I first started with a free login to review her recipes. I tried some and I really liked the taste of her recipes and her helpful videos. About two weeks ago, I signed up for a premium subscription. I love that she is your coach thru this journey to be healthy. She spends many hours each week making recipes for the group that are healthy and tasty. I've been getting a newsletter each week with at least one new recipe. There is a PD Interactive support group meeting online each Tuesday night and a coaching hour each Saturday morning.

Today, I made Baked Apples for breakfast. I added these warm yummy apples to rolled oats, cinnamon, and soy milk. It was a wonderful warm breakfast for this cold Michigan morning. These apples are so tasty, I'm going to make them every week.

For lunch, I had beans and brown rice with some fruit on the side.

For dinner, I was in the mood for pasta, so I tried Guiltless Baked Mac n Cheese. It sure is a wonderful recipe. The kids weren't super excited about it, but that could have been because of the parsley and onions. I love that once you follow the list of PD items to stock in your pantry. you can make lots of PD friendly meals just with only a couple fresh ingredients each week. I had greens on the side of my mac n cheese to make it a complete meal. I had leftovers, so I already have my lunch packed for tomorrow.

Until next time,


Click here for other Protective Diet recipes.