Veggie Power

Check out this yummy kale my mom gave me fresh from her garden today!

[sorry for yet another crummy iPhone photo, I still haven't unloaded my CF card]

She gave me kale and I made a salad. I figured I would share how I make my own salad and dressing.

First I start with whatever greens I feel like using. Today it's kale, obviously. Whatever other veggies looked good from the market. Today that's tomatoes and broccoli. I know I might be breaking all kinds of pairing rules, but the point is to eat what you like, that is available and as local as possible. I try to add a protein of some kind. Today is pecans. Mmmmm. Makes me think of pie and Thanksgiving, but I digress. Then the dressing.

Equal parts oil and vinegar. I use olive oil and apple cider vinegar mostly, but I've also tried balsamic and grape seed oil. The apple cider vinegar is super healthy, and the olive oil helps your body better absorb the licopene in the tomatoes. So, that's my go to combo. Sweeten with honey to taste. Add a little acid. In this case I used lime juice. Pour over the salad and toss with salt and fresh cracked pepper, and its a meal. Of course today I'm carb loading for the race Saturday, so I'm eating a bowl of brown rice and quinoa, too.

The fact that I haven't had a single piece of candy or junk food since the 1st means I'm slowly conquering this sugar addiction one meal at a time. Of course, wanting to feel like a million bucks when I run this race Saturday has a lot to do with it.

I don't eat healthy to LOOK a certain way. I eat healthy to FEEL a certain way. Running has proven to me over and over again that the quality of my runs/workouts and my ability to push that extra 10 minutes or conquer that daunting hill, it is all connected to the kind of food I put in my body. All calories are not created equal. Now if I could just remember that AFTER I cross the finish line. :-)

Ok. Enough About Me, Let's Talk About Food

I started this blog to give me a place to share our autism story and provide a way for me to share our corn-free and/or egg-free recipes. I think it's gotten a little heavy on the 'story' and a little light on the recipes. It's not that I'm not cooking. I just haven't really had much time or energy for experimentation with new recipes. However, I've been working on a few things lately. Especially given my new found conviction for 'clean eating'. That's hard enough for a grown up who wants to change their lifestyle. It's a whole other challenge when you're talking about changing your children's eating habits, too. Not that their diet is crazy unhealthy right now. Just not what I would like it to be.

I decided to start things out with small measurable goals. That's the way you get where you want with a fitness program. I figure that's a good idea for new nutrition goals, too.

My first goal this year will be to find a vegetable I can get them to eat raw. Raw fruit, no problem. There's not much they'll turn down. Well, except for Jackson. He won't eat anything with seeds. Texture issues. Raw veggies, no way. Not even covered in ranch dressing. That's their dad's fault. He won't eat anything like that. No ranch or sour cream. I can get them to eat most steamed veggies when I make it a requirement for getting a treat after their meal. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. However, I want them to enjoy the benefits of raw veggies, too. We started with cucumber salad, one of my favorite summer veggie treats. I cut the onions really big so they could pick them out. Can't expect a kid to eat straight raw onions, right?

Cucumber Salad

1 Cucumber
1 Tomato
1/2 Onion
1 tsp fresh chopped Cilantro
1-2 tsp Olive Oil
Sea Salt or Kosher Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Peel and slice cucumbers. Slice or cube tomatoes. Chop onion and cilantro. Combine veggies and cilantro in a bowl. Drizzle EVOO over the top. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes enough for about 4 good servings.

Well, I guess I should have said, you can't expect a kid to eat straight raw cucumbers or tomatoes either. I swear I could eat most of it all by myself, but they didn't like it. Oh, well. On to the next experiment. I've crumbled feta cheese over the top before. My sister-in-law uses my recipe but adds carrots. I think I'll keep trying this with other raw veggies until I find a combo they all like. Farmer's market here I come!