Have to Haves for your kitchen

There are certain items that I HAVE to HAVE in my kitchen & in my pantry at all times in order to always be able to create healthy substitutions to daily indulgences & low-carb recipes! Here they are along with a little insight for some of them!

• Almond Flour
• Almonds
• Coconut Flour
• Psyllium Husk
• Chia Seeds
• Flax Seed
• Coconut Oil
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Stevia
• Xanthan Gum
• Gelatine
• Grated Cheese
• Cream Cheese or Soft Goat's Cheese
• Heavy Cream
• Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
• Low Carb Wraps
• Noodle Substitutes - (Shirataki Noodles, Black bean pasta, Kelp noodles)
• A Veggie that can be made into a mock starch - (Cauliflower, Zucchini, Spaghetti Squash)

I've said it before, but the key to success for me is definitely in the preparation! If my kitchen is stocked with healthy choices & there are not options for me to snack mindlessly, or cook in an unhealthy manner, what am I left to do?!... Cook healthy & make healthy snacks!

Almonds & Almond Flour

I use almonds in every way I can! I grind them down into a coarse breading, or a finer flour, I blend them until they release their own natural oils & make almond butter, & I roast & season them for an easy snack!
According to Medical News Today, "Almonds are a source of vitamin E, copper, magnesium, and high quality protein. Almonds also contain high levels of healthy unsaturated fatty acids in addition to a lot of bioactive molecules (such as fiber, phytosterols, vitamins, other minerals, and antioxidants) which can help prevent cardiovascular heart diseases"
Almond Flour can be easily found in the majority of any of my low carb baking & any delicious breaded meats or vegetables so if you ever see me at Costco, chances are I am purchasing a huge bag & possibly even a separate bag of almond flour!

Coconut Flour & Coconut Oil
I've already gone into great depth on the benefits of Coconut Oil in a previous Bri's Keys post, but I do much more with it than simply cook, or grease a pan with it. Something else I love about this oil is it's ability to stay solid when cooled! Coconut oil is frequently used in my kitchen to make quick & easy candies that also give you a boost of energy & subside your hunger.
Coconut flour is commonly used in my kitchen in the same ways I use almond flour. I find that coconut flour has a lovely but subtle flavor on its own when used as a breading, it can be combined with shredded coconut for taste & texture,  & when combined with almond flour in baking it easily resembles traditional high carb breadings.
LiveStrong suggests cooking with coconut flour can be beneficial in more ways than simply watching carbs... "With 5 grams of fiber per tablespoon, coconut flour has far more of this indigestible carbohydrate than whole-grain flour, which has just 0.8 gram per tablespoons, or white flour, which has about 2 grams per tablespoon. Much of this fiber is the insoluble type, which adds bulk to your stool, helps you feel full, deters constipation and enhances colon health. Add coconut flour to baked goods, sauces or smoothies to help you reach the recommended 25 to 38 grams of fiber daily."

Psyllium Husk   
Psyllium Husks are often used in my baking & in any gluten free or low carb baking to add volume to baked goods but it also of course has its own health benefits to consider. 
In February (American Heart Awareness Month) 2011 Mike Roizen, MD posted an article on DoctorOz.com, "my #1 for lowering your cholesterol is a special type of soluble fiber – psyllium husks (which I learned is what Metamucil is). Psyllium and whole oats (those found in steel cut oatmeal, not in processed finely ground oatmeal) bind cholesterol in your intestine as a gel, and wisk it out in your poop (you can tell you’ve had it if the toilet paper is clean, or is that too much info?)..."

Chia Seeds
They numbers of ways you can use chia seeds to add a healthy boost to your day are vast! Smoothies, puddings, breaded meats, baked items, salad toppings, and gravies can all be enhanced with Chia seeds! Chia seeds are said to fill your tummy & suppress your appetite & who doesn't need that!? Chia seeds also have more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon, and are packed with calcium & fiber.

Flax Seed
DoctorOz.com's 3 Benefits of Flax is reason enough to want flax seed in your diet, but if that's not enough convincing, try MensFitness.com's 6 Reasons to Never Neglect Flax Seed and the fact that you can so easily make yummy flax seed muffins & a ton more recipes soon to come on my blog! The hypertension, skin cancer & cholesterol benefits were plenty reasons for me to incorporate these seeds into my weekly cooking!

Low Carb Wraps

These are a must have for my kitchen always because when I'm hungry & limited on time it's so easy to throw together a tuna wrap, a turkey club wrap, a tortilla pizza, chips for my guacamole, or a quesadilla!



EZ Bri's Breading

Try using my low carb breading substitution on meats & vegetables when throwing together a last minute meal. You can add your preferred seasonings, use an eggwash prior to breading, or adjust the measurements to make your breading cheesier or just the way you like! I use variations of this mix for many of my recipes.

• 1 Part Coconut Flour
• 1 Part Almond Flour, Almond Meal or Grated Almonds
• 1 Part Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese 

This post is a part of Bri's Keys: Daily Improvements with Ease
look for other posts like it!

Vanilla Almond Butter Mug Cake

Delicious & Guilt Free!!!... This yummy vanilla cake with a hint of almond butter, will have you wondering why you have ever bought desserts in the market!

When you are minutes away from driving to the store & getting something indulgently sweet because you have a craving & you feel like you "deserve it"... This will save you, your waistline & your conscience!!! So easy and quick if you already have the healthy low carb options in your kitchen & it is microwaved in about a minute! LOVE IT!!!

2 tbsp Melted butter
1 tsp Coconut oil
1 Egg
1 tsp Coconut flour
3 tbsp almond flour
1tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
a dash of salt
1 tbsp almond butter
a dash of cinnamon
*1 tbsp of your favorite vanilla protein powder (optional but delicious!)
Lots of Sugar substitute ( I used about 8 packets of stevia)

Melt your butter & almond butter in a bowl & then mix the remaining ingredients.  Once you have a thoroughly mixed batter drop your tbsp of almond butter into a greased mug & microwave for 60-90 seconds (you should see the "cake" rise up)

Top off with your favorite sugar free drizzle, syrup, melted almond butter or whipped cream!

This Mug cake was a little filling for me so you can very easily separate the batter into two mugs & save one for a separate weak moment!

Zucchini Pizzette

See Baked Breaded Zucchini for Instructions!

Baked Breaded Zucchini

A healthy, tasty and low carb way to bread zucchini & anything else!

Sliced Zucchini

1 cup of grated parmesan or romano cheese

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup almond flour

2 tbsp Italian seasonings

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp red pepper flakes *optional

1 egg

3 tbsp Italian dressing                  

1/2 cup water                            

I like to grease a cookie sheet for this recipe & place it in the oven at 400 degrees while I am preparing the ingredients. I find placing the breaded zucchini on a hot greased sheet keeps them from sticking & helps brown the slices better. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl large enough to submerge your zucchini slices in seasonings. Combine egg, Italian dressing & water & whisk together in a separate bowl. Submerge each slice of zucchini in the egg mixture & then press into your dry breading bowl. Be sure to press the dry seasonings on all sides of your zucchini slice. Once each zucchini slice is coated in breading, gently place on a plate.

TIP: always keep one hand wet and one hand dry while breading foods. This will prevent caked up fingers that you end up touching your food with and creating finger prints with!

Transfer each zucchini slice to your hot cookie sheet making sure each slice lays flat. Bake for 25 minutes until bottom is brown & then broil so the tops may brown to your desire if necessary. I personally do not like to flip my zucchini because I find that's how I end up losing some of my breading!

For an extra YUM factor, serve each zucchini slice with a spoonful of tomato sauce, cheese & pepperoni or whatever pizza topping you love!

 

Grazing... Great? or God-awful?

"Grazing" is a term that can refer to snacking all day or eating several smaller meals throughout your days rather than three traditional meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Mindless Grazing:
What I am about to say should be common sense, but sometimes we all need to step back and take an honest look at our actions to see if they are conducive to the goals we are trying to obtain... Grazing on crap will lead to crappy results! It is easy to tell yourself "a small piece, a little bite, just a few chips or a few fries won't hurt me!" but if you had to add up all of those small grazing allowances, I wonder how many extra calories they would account for on your day, or even your week! You may have heard before that "1 pound = 3,500 calories". So, in order to gain weight, all you have to do is intake an extra 500 calories per day from what you are already burning. That task can be a lot easier than you would think if you are taking into account the mindless grazing you may be doing. The extra coffee creamer or sugar in the morning + the minty candies at work + the extra soda/energy drink/coffee w/ cream & sugar because you are tired + just a couple of your co-worker's chips or fries + a bite of your kid's dinner they did not finish or your mate's dessert =  Weight gain accomplished!!! If your grazing looks similar to this, you are setting yourself up to gain a pound a week & that's assuming the rest of your meals are healthy & setting you up to expend more calories than you intake! When I first had thoughts about healthy eating & my calorie intake vs. expenditure I had to do things the difficult way. I had a little food journal that I would bring everywhere with me & every time a substance of any kind went into my mouth I would write it down. Then I would calculate how many total calories I consumed during my days. Doing this can be quite surprising when you are convinced that you only ate once, or are only snacking occasionally or snacking healthy and should be losing weight. Nowadays keeping track of your grazing is much simpler with apps for your phone such as MyFitnessPal which allow you to scan bar codes & have most foods along with their calories immediately accessible.

How Many Times a Day Should I Eat?:
There are so many studies out there that claim to prove that grazing is either the corner stone of a healthy diet & metabolism or the wrong thing to do while trying to lose weight. If you visit Dailymail,  USnews, or  Prevention.com you will find very convincing articles that state eating smaller and more frequent meals daily to lose weight is not the way to go.  Jillianmichaels.com claims "if you keep eating small amounts of food throughout the day, you'll never burn any fat." Confusingly contradicting those thoughts and those articles, Webmd.com  while listing "10 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism" states "Eating more often can help you lose weight. When you eat large meals with many hours in between, your metabolism slows down between meals." In the popular, Menshealth.com you will find an article titled "Eat More Food, Lose More Fat" in which Katherine Tallmadge, R.D., author of Diet Simple states "Your body can metabolize only so much protein at one time...  Protein is metabolized better when it's divided evenly."

The point is, I can only testify to what has worked for me thus far. When I began my healthy living journey, I knew that my metabolism needed a jolt. Everything I read at that point was telling me that I should eat healthier & more frequently throughout the day which was a stark contrast from what I had been doing & what was definitely not working for me! I did not have much energy & because I was more sedentary I did not have the desire to eat more meals nor did I think "more meals" could possibly stop me from plunging further down the rabbit hole of obesity. I tried this "more meals = more weight loss" concept & it worked for me! Clearly, not just any meals will do the trick! You can not eat what comes out of a drive through window 5-6 times a day & possibly expect improvements! Whether you decide to watch your carbs like I do, or not, I wholeheartedly believe in a principle that I originally learned from The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss - You should start your day with protein & every meal should have a source of protein in it! (The 4-Hour Body is an excellent read with so many tips if you are serious about this weight loss journey & if you are like me & would enjoy knowing the specifics & the science behind why certain practices work.) In my opinion, healthy grazing is an excellent way to at least start your journey if you have a significant amount of weight to lose because it helps you omit temptation & the desire to cheat yourself. If you are already eating a healthy meal or a snack that you personally took time to prepare every 2-3 hours, not only is that box of donuts at lunch going to look less desirable, but your hunger for it will have already been fulfilled with something more nutritious. If you usually experience a slump in energy after eating, partaking in smaller more frequent feedings throughout the day that require less energy to digest all at once can give you a more sustainable energy source all day & eventually even lead to enough energy to workout during a time you are usually exhausted! Lastly, if you are like me & trying to healthy eat on a budget or hate to waste things in general, when you are setting yourself up for success in the beginning of the week by preparing all of these meals for each of your days, you are certainly not going to want to waste them and make an unhealthy choice therefore spending more money on food & letting your prepared snacks go to waste!

In conclusion, if you are out of options & want so desperately to start moving in the right direction, why not take an honest look at your grazing behaviors & then try something new? See if eating more healthy & prepped meals throughout your day gives you the same boost in energy & jump start on weight loss that it did for me! At very minimum it will definitely shrink your appetite & help you start some very healthy habits that you can continue whether you believe in all day grazing or not!

Here are some great articles that will make you think twice about mindless grazing!

The Seattle Times : Think Twice Before You Nibble On Just One

Everydayhealth.com: Quiz: How Many Calories Do You Mindlessly Eat?


This post is a part of Bri's Keys: Daily Improvements with Ease
look for other posts like it!