My thoughts on meditation

Meditation

Part of my quest for better health includes mental, emotional, and spiritual well being.  Today's world is filled with almost 24-7 demands. It used to be we could turn off distractions and rest but now with social media and technology that's portable it's difficult to escape. Now add in the mixture having Attention Deficit Disorder and with it the inability to focus it just create chaos. 

Now yes I'm on medicine for my ADD but I've also added something else to help.  Meditation. I know, I know it sounds so new age and weird but it works. Closing my eyes and focusing on just breathing or on one concept (like positive thinking) has been to say the least life changing. My ability to focus and concentrate has improved immensely. I also know that morning meditations help me to keep a positive outlook during the day. I missed a day earlier this week and I was grouchy.   My family has noticed the improvement and encourage me to continue meditation. I found this post on the Facebook page for My Uoga Online and I think it accurately depicts my brain before and after meditation.

Creative cooking

In my attempt to make gluten free ravioli I realized that the dough was too sticky to roll out and cut individually. What could I do? Waste the dough? Throw it out? Hmm- use a mini muffin pan to make the ravioli and to stuff them. I stuffed mine with mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar. I baked them in the oven for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. They taste great! This recipe is a keeper! In the future I plan to make them with chicken or turkey instead of mushrooms and a tomato sauce.

Yumaste 

Cinnamon walnut brittle

This brittle is a sweet treat! Easy to make and diabetic friendly with a pinch of cinnamon to give something extra.

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar or Whey Low

1/4 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups walnuts

In a heavy duty pan (a lighter weight pan will cause the sugar to burn- I use a cast iron pan) melt the sugar

Once sugar is completely melted remove from heat

Add vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon 

On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper place Walnuts trying to not layer them

Pore melted sugar over walnuts as evenly as possible

Freeze for several hours

Break apart and enjoy

Yumaste 

A poor attempt at gluten free baking

Don't let this bread fool you- it looks ok but taste terrible. I figure that I could have done with less baking powder since I think that is causing the bad aftertaste. A failed attempt is still an opportunity to learn.

Gluten free bread- an experiment

I love bread- it's wonderful and glorious and joyfully filled with carbs. But... I also live with people who cannot have bread. The idea of life without bread- that magnificent dietary staple seemed depressing. It did until I found a recipe for gluten free flaxseed based bread. It sounds good- in theory and the first few bites were ok but it was off somehow.  The texture was close to regular bread, the rosemary and oregano helped to flavor the bread, and yet there was an aftertaste. I'm not going to give up on finding an alternative to bread but this recipe is going in the trash.

Sugar substitute

There are a lot of sugar substitutes out on the markets.  Most of them have a bitter aftertaste and are made from questionable ingredients.  I have found one product though that tastes similar to sugar, doesn't have an aftertaste, can be used for baking, cooking, or just to sweeten a cup of tea or coffee.  Whey Low is a diabetic friendly sweetener that can b used measure for measure in place of sugar.  It is made with natural sugars like sucrose, fructose, and lactose.  The sweetener was developed by a husband seeking to help his wife who was diagnosed with diabetes.  There are a variety of types of Whey Low including a brown sugar alternative, one for making ice cream, and one particularly marketed for Type-2 diabetics.  I use all of these products and my family can't tell the difference between Whey Low and sugar in their food.

Diabetic friendly dessert

Several people in my family either have diabetes or are borderline diabetic.  Dessert often means blah, bland pudding or sugar free candy.  I have a recipe for cinnamon walnut brittle that diabetics and non-diabetics alike will enjoy.  Tomorrow is my uncle's 60th birthday and I plan on making some to take to him later today since we are supposed to get snow tomorrow evening.  I will post a picture of the brittle along with the recipe later.

Yumaste!!

Gluten Free Pasta

I'm gonna do it- this time I'm serious... I'm gonna make gluten free pasta from scratch. The stuff in the box at the local health food store isn't very appetizing or flavorful.  So I'm going to try to make my own. I will attempt to make ravioli stuffed with mushrooms. I will probably end up using every pot and pan I own and may run away screaming but the pursuit of food that is healthy and that taste good is worthy of trial and error. I will let y'all know how this experiment turns out.

Best Ever Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets Recipe

These chicken nuggets are so easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 cups of ground flax seed
2-3 tsp of cornstarch*
olive oil
salt
herbs of choice- I used rosemary, sage, thyme, turmeric
onion powder
garlic powder
salt and pepper

Directions:
in one bowl mix together the olive oil and cornstarch put aside
in another bowl mix together the ground flax seed, herbs, salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder (for the last ingredients season to taste)
Thaw out the chicken breast and cut into chunks or pieces
dip the chicken in the oil/cornstarch mixture then into the dry mix (best to use the wet hand/dry hand method- less likely to get Frankenstein fingers)
Place chicken on baking sheet- I used a stoneware sheet for the best result
Bake chicken in oven at 375 degrees until crispy- usually takes 25-35 minutes
* the oil and cornstarch mixture is used to replace eggs as a coating to help the flax seed stick to the chicken

We dipped the chicken in mustard but for a kid friendly option ketchup works just as well

Enjoy!!!!!

Yumaste

The best gluten free chicken nuggets ever

I have tried to find a gluten free version of chicken nuggets to feed my family and until now it was illusive. But here we have a herbed chicken nugget. The coating a mixture of herbs and ground flaxseed. It's amazing. Recipe to follow.

The best gluten free chicken nuggets ever

I have tried to find a gluten free version of chicken nuggets to feed my family and until now it was illusive. But here we have a herbed chicken nugget. The coating a mixture of herbs and ground flaxseed. It's amazing. Recipe to follow.

Yumaste

Hi, everyone!  Let me introduce myself and tell you a little about the this blog.  I'm a history professor at a community college.  When I'm not grading papers I can usually be found in the kitchen baking or cooking.  I've recently begun a quest to pursue overall health- physically, mentally, and emotionally. Part of the journey so far has included daily meditation. I wanted to share my journey with others as well as my cooking adventures. In my family food allergies are common.  These allergies include: gluten, fish, shellfish, eggs, dairy, and peanuts, and chocolate (yes chocolate- it's just awful).  So you can imagine that I have to get creative when cooking food that won't result in hives, but thy also tastes good as well.  I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures and misadventures!!!

Yumaste