Archive for the ‘Recipes for Smart People’ Category

We live in a country where a former commissioner of the FDA, a Harvard trained doctor, went dumpster diving, at night, to find out why it is so hard to stop eating  Chili’s Grill and Bar’s chicken wings and egg rolls.

(BTW, This makes me a David Kessler fan!)

Apparently the restaurant would not hand over the secret ingredients, and Dr. Kessler, author of The End of Overeating, knew that he would find the ingredient list on the outside of the box.

What did he find?

The ingredient list for Southwestern Eggrolls mentioned salt eight different times; sugars showed up five times. The “egg rolls,” which are deep-fried in fat, contain chicken that has been chopped up like meatloaf to give it a “melt in the mouth” quality that also makes it faster to eat. By the time a diner has finished this appetizer, she has consumed 910 calories, 57 grams of fat and 1,960 milligrams of sodium.  Thanks Lindsay Layton, Washington Post. Click for entire article
(For comparison, a little less than a half a cup of peanut butter has 50 grams of fat. )

Instead of satisfying hunger, the salt-fat-sugar combination will stimulate that diner’s brain to crave more, Kessler said.

If sugar has hijacked your brain, get some help

This short video takes a moment to load, but it is worth it. Listen to what he says about sugar!!

Successful Weight Loss Means Changing Eating Habits

Can you remember a fall in love with food moment?

I fell in love with Minestrone soup in Italy.

I was pregnant, DRAMATICALLY exhausted, and starving. Even now, I can feel the love steaming from the bowl. With the first bite, I felt so much better.

Lisa Crunick loves Marcel Hazan’s Classics of Italian Cooking.

Years later, Marcel Hazan took me into her kitchen, via her book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Now I want you to fall head over heels with how easy this is to make, how delicious it tastes, and how amazing you are to make something teeming with flavor, nutrition, and love.

The vegetables are ones we take for granted. Cooked together they are Mama Mia.

Minestrone Soup

1/4 to 1/2 olive oil
1 yellow onion
You are going to into a nice little relaxing trance as you chop or dice, to please yourself, the following vegetables:
3-4 carrots, 2-3 potatoes, 1 c. inner part of the celery, 2 med zucchini, 2 c.green beans
about a half of a medium size head of cabbage to equal about four cups shredded
1  28 oz can of quality pureed tomatoes
1  15 oz can of rinsed cannellini beans
Beef stock if you happen to have some, and are not vegetarian…. otherwise, water is perfect.
If you have an old and dry end piece of Parmesan or Romano cheese, you could put it to good use here, but it is not necessary

However, you will want freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese at serving time. I also recommend you have some crusty white bread on hand and more olive oil. The more olive oil you eat, the happier you will be. yayaya!

You need a place to chop the vegetables, close to the pot, at least a four quart one and a big spoon.

Dice the onion and saute it in 1/4 cup olive oil until soft and slightly golden.

I like to begin with the carrots. I find the short stubby ones to be the sweetest, and no not the pre-cut ones in the bag, but go ahead if that is all you have. Ahem..Think of the vegetables in regard to your spoon. Do you want a big slice of carrot or do you want itsy-bitsy pieces?

Add the cut carrots to the onions and stir. While this cooks on low heat, chop the celery. The sweetest part of the celery is the inner stalks which are almost white. Use the leaves if you have them. If you are using outer, greener stalks, I would dice them into very small pieces because they can be tough.

Toss in the celery and stir. Let everything continue to cook as you dice the potatoes. Add the potatoes and stir again.

While that is cooking, dice the zucchini, and then add and stir.

Look at all the colors of the vegetables, glistening with olive oil. Your soup is going to be so delicious! I like to add a little salt now.

I also love David Kessler’s book, The End of Overeating

In David Kessler’s excellent book, The End of Overeating, he talks about how restaurants strive to get the fat, salt, and sweet to bliss points. Here, you are in control of your own bliss point!

I confess I rarely use fresh green beans. Frozen work fine. Add the green beans.

Add the can of tomatoes. Add the shredded cabbage. Cabbage is very sweet and like celery, the closer you get to the center, the sweeter it is.
I even grate the core for this reason. Some of will us take sweet however we can get it!!

Add the cannelloni beans and the cheese rind if you have it.

Add water or beef broth. How much? Leave a couple inches from the top of your pot. You want to cook this until the vegetables are soft.
The liquid is going to cook down and you can always add more water if you need it.

You are going to let this simmer until everything is soft and lovely. You won’t eat it until tomorrow because you want all of the flavors to relax into one big happy mouth party!

Add some pepper. Refrigerate overnight.

While you are reheating the soup, pour some olive oil into a frying pan. Add thick pieces of bread. Day old is better, but whatever you have is going to work. Slightly brown the bread on both sides. You can put this in the bottom of the bowls or cut up like croutons and add to the top.
Yes, this is good fat. It adds to your bliss. Enjoy!

Live in Seattle, WA?  Interested in becoming one of Lisa Crunick’s Hypnotherapy clients?

I have two weight loss slots left for the year.  If you are thinking it is your time to mind your magnificence, now is a good time.

Do you eat organic, play soccer, and smoke on your back deck? or something like that?  I am offering a very small group session for people are ready to ditch their habit. Click here.

Image courtesy of  flickr.pointykitty.org

This is not really a recipe. This is intuitive. You toss it together to please your taste buds and give your tummy that happy, satisfied feeling. And we love that to be easy, right?

This salad was inspired by “Oh my gosh, Robert is here and I want to feed him something delicious and he is totally vegan.”  And it turns out that everyone loves this salad.

Ingredients

1 cup of cooked quinoa (red or black)  *Easy recipe

10 oz of cooked and cooled lima beans

Chopped cooked beets. I used fresh, however you could use canned. Be sure to drain them really well.

2 T Sesame Seed Oil.

Rice vinegar to taste

a  pinch of sugar

This salad is beautiful.

Mix Sesame seed oil and rice vinegar in the bottom of the bowl.

Add lima beans and quinoa.

Garnish top with beets.

Day 2. Mix leftover bean salad with fresh greens. You may want to add more sesame seed oil and rice vinegar.  Yummy!
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The easiest way to cook quinoa:

Rinse one cup of red or black quinoa.

Put in a saucepan and add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Put on a lid and turn the stove off.

The quinoa will be perfect in about twenty minutes.

Quinoa is really handy to have in your refrigerator. It is a complete protein which you can easily add it to many things. I enjoy it beneath a fried egg, with a little cottage cheese in the morning.

Private Hypnosis and EFT Sessions

More on Quinoa

Get Your Quinoa On!

Quinoa is delicious, easier to make than rice, and a complete protein! Gluten free, quinoa is not really a grain, but a seed. The Inca Indians fed it to their warriors in the spring to increase endurance and spiritual awareness.

I know you want that so here is how easy it is: Rinse 1 cup of quinoa  (red is my favorite)

Throw into a sauce pan and add two cups of water.

Bring to a boil. Let it boil for a minute. Put on a lid.

Turn of the stove and in about 15 minutes it will be perfect.

Have some peas left over from last night’s dinner? Scoop out some quinoa, add the peas and douse with a little olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon and a little salt and pepper and toss!

Olive oil, lemon and quinoa are a happy trio.

Create your own lunch heaven: add avocado and tomatoes or lima beans, or black beans and cumin.

Would you like to feel more playful in your body?

Download my free hypnosis for Love the Skin You Are In. You may get up from listening and find yourself feeling full of fun!

Do you eat too much sugar? Check out my 7 tips to reduce cravings.