The Perfect Hard Boiled Egg

SH here & I am a big fan of hard boiled eggs for snacks during the work week. They are super filling, have the good fats for you, great for your heart and full of vitamins for your bod to use all day.

I always kind of just threw the eggs in boiling water and hoped for the best. But thanks to Pinterest, I found the recipe to make the perfect hard boiled egg. No more eggs cracking and exploding in hot water - I can't eat them when they are gross.

This is the genius blogger with the perfect hard boiled egg recipe: Foodie Army Wife
- The trick is to keep the eggs in the pot as the water starts to boil so they can adjust to the hot temp without cracking
- Cooling the eggs down ASAP is also very important AND IT MAKES IT SO EASY TO PEEL!!

I found a great article about how awesome hard boiled eggs are - here are some highlights below but be sure to check out the whole article!
1. Good Fats: Replacing saturated and trans fats as much as possible with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats stabilizes your blood cholesterol levels and lowers your overall risk of heart disease

2. High Protein: Hard-boiled eggs are naturally high in protein. You need protein to build muscle mass, but it also helps repair all tissues in your body and provides structure for cellular walls.

3. Eye Health: One of the major vitamins in eggs is vitamin A. This vitamin is a component of a protein that absorbs light in your retinas, protects membranes around the cornea and lessens your risk of night blindness. 

4. Strong Bones: Hard-boiled eggs provide vitamin D to keep your bones and teeth strong. Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium and regulates calcium levels in your blood. This process ensures that your skeleton gets the calcium it needs for strength and structure.

via

Quinoa 101

I get a lot of questions about quinoa, why I use it in so many recipes, and why I eat so much of a "grain", when I should really be getting rid of all those "carbs".

Well, instead of writing a lengthy boring blog post about it, I found an incredible video by Health Counselor Dani Spies, whose website is packed with information about some of the most basic ingredients.  Here she'll explain, in detail, that quinoa is not actually a grain (it's closely related to spinach and beets) and how it's a powerhouse of protein and nutrition.  She'll also show you how to cook it (all in under 4 minutes!)

Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers

This recipe is very similar to the Quinoa Stuffed Pattypan but I did changed up some of the ingredients & flavors.  The concept is the same.

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup Red Inca Quinoa or regular white Quinoa
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 diced onion
Cilantro
1/4 cup tomato sauce
3 tbsp Earth Balance butter
chili powder, ground cumin, onion powder, cayenne red pepper, all to taste
2 green bell peppers

Directions:
1. Put quinoa and veggie broth in pot & bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add lid and turn on low. Cook for 15 minutes.
2. While quinoa is cooking, cut the tops of the bell peppers and hollow out.
3.  Add diced garlic, onion, and cilantro to quinoa.
4. Add tomato sauce, Earth Balance butter, and all seasonings to quinoa. Cook on simmer for another 5 minutes, stir occasionally.
5. Place cooked quinoa in hollowed out peppers. (Extra quinoa that cannot fit in peppers can be placed directly on pan...just be sure to stir it every 5 minutes in oven to keep it from burning.) Place on baking sheet in 375 oven for 18-23 minutes.
6. ENJOY!

Quinoa Stuffed Pattypan

This is a fabulous summer recipe I adapted from the Oh She Glows blog.  The light cucumber taste with the grainy quinoa makes for a filling but light tasting dinner. Have with a side of red wine and good company.

Ingredients:
2 pattypan
1 cup uncooked quinoa/2 cup vegetable broth
1 clove diced garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
1/2 cucumber
1/4 cup tomato sauce
3 tbsp Earth Balance "butter"
Fresh parsley
Fresh ground pepper
parmesan "cheese"
lemon pepper, italian seasonings....all to taste

Directions:
1. Put quinoa & veggie broth in saucepan and bring to boil.  Once boiling, add lid and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Add garlic & stir.
2. While quinoa is cooking fill a pot of water & bring to boil.  Put in pattypan and cook for 6-7 minutes.

This, my friends, is pattypan.

3.  While pattypan is also cooking, preparing stuffing.  In food processor add onion, carrot, 1/2 peeled cucumber & process until mixed/chopped together. (Leave in food processor)

Onion, carrot, and cucumber.

4. In a small bowl, mix softened Earth Balance & tomato sauce together.  Add to quinoa when finished cooking.

5. After pattypan is finished and mostly cooled, cut the tops off and scoop out the inside.  Take what you scooped out and add to the food processor with onion, carrot, and cucumber & process together.
6. Take this vegetable mixture and add to quinoa in pan. Stir. Add in seasonings (lemon pepper, etc).
7. Stuff pattypan with vegetable/quinoa mixture. Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes.

Whatever extra quinoa mixture you have, just place directly on the pan.

8. Top with parsley and parmesan "cheese" and add to oven for 2 more minutes to melt "cheese".

Had to adapt and use cheddar "cheese" instead.  Still good but definitely not AS good as the parmesan.

ENJOY!!

The truth about protein.

This post is for our vegans, vegetarians, or those curious about how we don't wither away and die.  This is also to get you thinking about the food you consume and how meat is not the end all-be all to protein consumption.  I'm not saying you have to give up your meat, meat-eaters, I'm just saying let's love our veggies & beans a little more!

                                                                                   photo credit happykanppy

American's have become extremely protein focused & obsessed while meat has intrusively made it's way onto the center of our plates.  Most American meals revolve around a piece of meat while other "less important" items are pushed to the side, donning the name "sides" or "side dishes". It was actually thought by many, at one point in our history, that vegetarians would quite literally die of protein deficiency.  Surprise! We don't.  So, let's get the truth about protein, what we need, how we can get it, and why these "sides" can give us the same benefits that meat can (and offer more in nutrients!)

Well, first, what is protein? Protein (other than the standard scientific definition) helps build muscle, hair, nails, & connective tissue in the human body.  Many of the body's chemicals are also made up of protein (enzymes, neurotransmitters, hormones, DNA), so it seems obvious that it would be a crucial part of our diet.  But how much do you actually need?

Your recommended protein consumption will vary based on your age, weight, & how active of a lifestyle you live.  This typically seems to be the calculation used by many: weight (in pounds) x .37= daily protein minimum in grams.  Are you 126 pounds? You should be consuming at least 46 grams of protein a day (up to about 58g).  There are more complicated methods out there, but this is the standard used by most nutritionists.

Now, how easy is it to reach this minimum on a meat-free diet? Actually, let me make this more strict.  Meat free AND dairy free.  Here's an example menu for one day.  You will see the food and then the grams of protein within that specific food:

Look at that! With this menu, you've actually exceeded the daily recommended MINIMUM, sans meat & dairy.  This is just one example.

In America, the average weight of each person has skyrocketed from 50 years ago.  In 1960, the average woman weighed 140.2 pounds.  Today, the average woman's weight is 164.3, but the average protein consumption of each American is 91 grams.  But let's do the math.  164 x .37= 60.  The average person is consuming over 30 grams more in protein than necessary.  And let's keep in mind, most Americans are sedentary (desk jobs, watching TV, and getting little to no exercise) so there's especially no reason for the extra protein. So, while people are kicking and screaming about how vegetarians/vegans are not getting enough protein, this may be true for some, but in reality, most meat eaters are over consuming and many vegans are getting just the right amount.

"Remember, though, with protein, more is not necessarily better. There do not appear to be health advantages to consuming a high protein diet. Diets that are high in protein may even increase the risk of osteoporosis and kidney disease." -Protein in the Vegan Diet 

But be careful vegetarians.  I know some of you, and scarfing down microwave dinners and pasta every meal of the day is a very easy way to prove all of this wrong.  You're not fooling anyone by saying your eating habits are healthier simply because you don't eat meat. There's much more to it than that. The key is to eat a variety of foods that are fresh and nutritious.  Hot pockets and baked ziti won't cut it.

Here's a list of vegan friendly foods that you can add to your meals that have a decent amount of protein (thanks to The Vegetarian Resource Group).  Meat eaters- think about how these can become main dishes and not just a side next to your burger or steak.

-Lacey