Healthy Celebration

Dessert Platter

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate Love & Happiness.
In our culture, most people like to celebrate by sharing a meal of delicious foods topped off with yummy desserts.  If you are watching your weight or just eating healthier in general, you can still enjoy delicious foods.  Here's what I chose to eat for my Valentine's Day dinner. It was healthy and quite delicious.

Dinner

For dinner, I served grilled salmon, spinach stir-fry and freshly sliced cherry tomatoes. I love tomatoes!
The spinach stir-fry and salmon were both prepared using olive oil and the tomatoes were simply sprinkled with sea salt.

Dessert (pictured above) was a raw dessert platter that included fresh whole strawberries. The strawberries were so sweet...they were perfect. So, what are those heart-shaped thingies? LOL!  They are delicious little morsels of raw goodness. I call them Brazil Nut Dateys (cookies). No sugar is added to these little bad boys making them a very healthy treat. They are made using raw organic Brazil nuts, coconut flakes, barhi dates, and a pinch of sea salt.  I added organic cacao powder  to some of the mixture to create a chocolate flavor.  After all, what is Valentine's Day without chocolate, right?  These little dateys were shaped into mini hearts using a heart-shaped mold, which created the perfect bite-size portion, in honor of Valentine's Day. No guilt there! :-)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day whether you are single or in a relationship. I really enjoyed my evening.

What did your Valentine's Day dinner consist of?

My Chocolate Fix!

Hello Sweet Peaches!
It's been a while since I last blogged.
Here's what's been going on in my world...

Lots of lemons for the Master Cleanse

After the New Year rolled around, I decided to cleanse my body by doing the Master Cleanse.
I started my cleanse on January 3rd.
I did the Master Cleanse for 10 days and then I juiced for 4 days. On day 15, I added fresh fruit & vegetables to my juicing days.  So my entire cleanse lasted 20 days. I lost 10 pounds.
Since the cleanse ended, I decided not to eat poultry (chicken or turkey) for...I don't know...I don't miss those things so I may not ever eat them again.  Who knows! I'm taking my healthy living journey one day at a time.  I gave up pork and beef over a year ago and I don't miss those meats at all, so for me I don't think I'll miss the poultry much at all.  Lately I've been eating a lot of salads and whole fruits. I've also been making a lot of smoothies and juicing a lot.  As for juicing, my niece and nephew gave me a juicer about 3 years ago for Christmas. I used it a few times when I first got it, then I put it away. LoL!  I figured since I did the MC, I would end it with fresh juices and I've been using it almost daily every since.  I'm so glad I didn't get rid of my juicer and I'm so thankful for the goodness that it is providing my body.  I feel so good when I drink fresh green juices.  I've made juices with green leafies(collards, kale, green leaf lettuce, etc.), vegetables & fruit and I've also made juices with just green leafies and fruits.  I found that my favorite combination is a simple juice made with just 1 type of green leafy and 1 type of fruit.  The best 2 combos so far have been collards & pineapple and also kale & mineola oranges.  So simple, yet so good and nutritious.

Spinach & Salmon Stir-fry

So, what  other things have I been eating since January 22?
As far a cooked foods go, I've been eating a lot of stir-fries: salmon & spinach stir-fry and stir-fry collard greens. The recipes are in my booklet.  I've also just had plain grilled salmon with a side of cooked veggies. Yes, I've been eating a LOT of salmon lately! 
As I type this, I'm realizing I haven't eaten out but once since the beginning of January...and I don't miss it at all.  Even when I did eat out, I ordered fish & veggies and I remember thinking that I would have enjoyed it more, had I cooked my own meal at home. I'm getting better at this healthy eating thing that's for sure. :)

Wow! I just made an amazing chocolate shake. It is so delicious, I just had to share. I'm drinking it as I type this blog. Yum!!!
Just the chocolate fix I needed!
Recipe: Choco-Brazil Nut Shake
1-1/2 cups water
2 frozen bananas
1 tspn cacao powder
4 bahri dates
a handful of Brazil nuts
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour in your favorite glass and drink up! Delicious!
Notes: if you don't have frozen bananas, use 1 cup of water and a half cup of ice.
Also, you may want to start out with 2 dates and add more until you get to your desired sweetness.
That's it!

Feel free to leave a comment or ask questions by leaving a comment. I'd be more than happy to hear from you!