Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Healthy Treasures Blog!


I've felt led and driven to create another blog.

It's a blog where I focus on sharing information about my favorite tools, remedies and resources that can help others be a healthier and more spiritual people and help them prepare, holistically, for possible future crisis'.

The creation of this blog was a big decision for me. Blogs always look so simple but the time and effort that goes into making, maintaining and adding to them is monumental. But, I have felt led to do so and therefore went ahead with the creation of this baby.

You can find my blog here.

Among a variety of other topics, I'll be posting video recipes of my favorite food staples on Healthy Treasures but will continue to post a variety of recipes on Get Well as I have always done before.

Thanks ahead of time for supporting me in this new adventure!

~Claudia

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Chicken, Quinoa & Greens Salad


Here's one little dish we just made with the thought of pasta salad on our minds ... (it was yummy!)

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa
6-8 chicken tenders / 4-5 chicken breasts
1 cup olives, chopped
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1/2 - 1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 large kale/collard leaves, de-stemmed and chopped
3/4 cup mayo (make your own! It's super easy and much better for you!)
sea salt
pepper
red onion (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.

2. Cook chicken (perhaps cook in crock pot during day so it's ready by the evening)

3. Chop up all veggies.

4. Chop up chicken.

5. Rinse quinoa under cold water (if it's still hot from being cooked).

6. Place all ingredients, including the mayo, into a large bowl and mix.

7. Sprinkle with desired amount of sea salt and black pepper.

Enjoy!!


Tip: How do I cook my chicken?

Well, cooking it in a crock pot is the way to go but if I didn't choose that route I place about 1/4 cup of water in a skillet. Set the chicken inside. Place a lid on top and cook on medium-low until done, adding more water, if necessary.

By cooking the chicken this way you're avoiding the rubbery texture that forms when boiling the chicken in water.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Sunflower-Kale Chips


Like I had mentioned - I need to find some "chips" the kids will like so that, they too, can have something healthy and nummy to snack on.

Well, I knew they liked the regular kale chips - which is fine but they go so fast and aren't very filling. I wanted something with a bit more protein. So I came up with this recipe and the kids like it! Yay! (As do I!)

Here's the recipe:

2 cups brown/golden flax seeds, soaked
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds, soaked
6-8 kale leaves
1/2 garlic chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 green onions
1 1/4 tsp chili powder
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup water

1. Soak the flax seeds in 4 cups of water the night before (or 8 hours or so).
Soak the sunflower seeds in 3 cups of water the night before (or 8 hours or so).

2. Drain and rinse sunflower seeds.(Flax seeds won't need to be drained - they'll be gooey - all of it will go into the mixture.)

3. Chop up kale into small pieces (either by hand or using food processor or high powered blender).

4. To the kale, add all other ingredients and process/blend until smooth.

5. Grease dehydrator sheets.

6. Smear mixture onto trays keeping it thick enough that you can't see the tray - but not much thicker than that.

7. Dehydrate for 8-10 hours at 110° - 115°.

8. Peel chips off of sheet and flip over. (Mine broke into pieces as I did this. No biggie - they're going to be broken up anyway.)

9. Dehydrate anther 6-10 hours or until desired crispiness has developed.

As always - hope you
enjoy!!

Goulash


My mother, being German, made Goulash quite often on Sunday's. We loved it. Normally we'd place the goulash over potatoes but seeing as how we're staying away from starchy foods we placed the goulash over quinoa.

Other options would be: brown rice or gluten free pasta. So yummy!!

Here's the recipe:

1 lb stew meat / stir fry meat
1 onion, chopped
2 T paprika (hungarian is best)
1+ tsp sea salt
pepper
2 T. coconut oil (or butter)

1. Place the meat in a bowl and sprinkle with paprika and 1 tsp salt. Mix around until it's well covered. (You can add more paprika or salt if you'd like.)

2. Melt coconut oil in large skillet on medium heat.

3. Place meat in skillet.

4. Cook meat until it's cooked through, allowing some browning to occur (to make a better gravy).

5. Add a bit of water (1/4 - 1/2 cup), place lid on top, turn down heat to medium-low and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes, adding more water, if necessary.

6. Add another 1 cup of water and stir some more.

7. Add more salt - to taste.

8. Add more water, if needed.

Place on top of potatoes, pasta, quinoa or brown  rice. Or eat alone, dipping bread into gravy.

So simple and so yummy!!


Collard Sandwich Wrap


We are still eating sandwiches ... only we're substituting the bread for some greens!

At first, I was using iceberg lettuce only. (Don't want to scar the kids right off the bat.) But a couple of nights ago I decided to take the plunge and use collard AND iceberg lettuce.

They totally loved it! Gobbled it right up! I can't help but think that the pickles are what makes the kids love these sandwiches so much. (We get non-heated or vinegarized pickles from the health food store.)

Here's the simple recipe:

Chicken (or other meat), sliced
Pickles, sliced
Mayonnaise
Iceberg Lettuce
Collard

Instructions:

1. Spread some mayo on one half of the iceberg lettuce leaf.

2. Place meat, pickles and anything else inside.

3. Place other half of iceberg lettuce on top.

4. Wrap with a collard leaf, keeping one end open.

Other additions can be used too, of course. Such as olives, sauerkraut, tomatoes, and anything else you like your sandwiches to have.

Enjoy!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Candida Diet / "Paleo Diet" Staples


Just posted a whole bunch of recipes (no, I don't try to keep it all scheduled and stretched out throughout the week - I don't post on this blog to make money or follow "normal" blog guidelines. I'm just sharing great recipes that help to keep my Lyme under control and that help heal my family's digestive systems - and that means I might post a handful of recipes at once.)

That being said ...

This whole new diet thing has been fun and ... challenging thus far. So far the kids are happy with the food. (Why is it that kids have to complain about the food upon looking at it {draining my energy, I must say} but then totally love it once they actually try it {due to mama basically forcing them to try at least one bite}?)

Anyway, kids have started diflucan. Our protocol thus far is:

1st Phase:

Diflucan for 2 weeks along with Paleo-like diet, digestive enzymes with every meal, probiotics after every meal, lemon water every morning (helps alkalize, rehydrate and gives a boost to the liver and digestive system), and b12 supplement.

2nd Phase:

After the two weeks of diflucan we're gonna turn to essential oils for 2 weeks to take care of what diflucan couldn't take care of. Probiotics, digestive enzymes, diet, b12 and lemon water will continue to be a part of what we do.

3rd Phase:

After those two weeks are up we'll use Sanum rememdies to get rid of whatever Candida the diflucan and oils couldn't get rid of and start with the L-Glutamine to help restore the lining of their digestive tracts.

Am I serious about getting this under control? You bet!!

I've had enough with this blasted Candida overgrowth. We'll never get our digestive systems in order with that hanging around (in excessive amounts, of course, because everybody has Candida - it's just when it gets out of control that it becomes a problem.)

Today is our second day on the diet. Kids started taking Diflucan last night. We've dealt with some headaches and bouts of fatigue with the kids thus far. But then it passes and they move on. Tells me something's changing. Which is good.

So far our food staples are:

Meats (chicken, chicken broths, some red meat, salmon, some bacon - no other pork besides that)

Vegetables: leafy greens, carrots, onions, cabbage, etc. etc.

Eggs - every day!

Nuts: almonds, cashews, some walnuts

Seeds: flax, sunflower, sesame

Coconut Milk

Fruit

Fermented foods: sauerkraut, daddy's fermented drinks

Supplements: digestive enzymes, probiotics, diflucan, b12, biotin,


Sounds so healing doesn't it? Does to me. No grains to cause stress to the digestive system. No yeasts (even in sourdough breads) to add to the Candida. No other grains to turn into sugar once being digested. No starchy foods - another sugar issue. And no dairy to stay away from gut-stressing components like casein or lactose.

Red Pepper Flax Crackers


So I'm totally diggin' these crackers but my kids aren't. :( I've got to find a flax seed cracker they'll actually like. But, who knows, maybe they'll come to like these too.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups flax seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 small tomato, chopped
1/4 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
3/4 - 1 tsp sea salt
juice from 1 lemon

Soak flax seeds in 4 cups of water for 2-8 hours.

Soak sunflower seeds in 3 cups water for 2-8 hours.

- - -

Drain sunflower seed water.

Place sunflower seeds in food processor.

Add in all other ingredients - besides the flax seeds.

Process until smooth. (takes some time but keep going)

Add in (thickened) soaked flax seeds.

Pulse until its well incorporated.

Grease dehydrator sheets.

Pour and spread mixture onto sheets keeping to 1/8" to 1/16" thickness.

Dehydrate at 105° for 8 hours.

- - -

After 8 hours, flip crackers onto mesh sheets.

Dehydrate for another 8 hours @ 115°.

Break, store in container @ room temperature for weeks and enjoy!!

*You can try scoring the flax mixture after first putting it on the tray for more even pieces ... but this may make flipping it a bit harder. OR try scoring them AFTER you've flipped them.