Health Starts Here Challenge - Day 4

Hey everybody! It's day 4 of the Health Starts Here 28-Day Challenge and I'm feeling great! I can tell that cutting all dairy out of my diet has helped me tremendously, plus eating more vegetables than ever before has improved my energy.

For those of you who don't know me personally, I have serious back and neck issues. I see my chiropractor regularly and have gotten many massages to help. Throughout the school year, my neck and back are AWFUL because I sit in a chair all day and have to look at a laptop/pieces of paper a lot. Then I have to come home and do the same thing! Once I got on this Health Starts Here 28-Day Challenge, my back and neck have felt much better. I've had a few moments of pain in my neck and lower back, but nothing long-lasting has happened yet. I haven't been more active or anything either; the weather has been so awful that I can't do anything active outside. My days have seriously been all about sitting, lying down, cooking and eating, which isn't too different from what I do during the school year. I believe that the omission of dairy has reduced inflammation in my muscles and is making me feel better.

I highly recommend that you start incorporating Health Starts Here principals into your diet. It could be one small thing or two big things. If you suffer from chronic pain somewhere in your body, try cutting dairy out for a couple weeks and see how you feel. Try eating WAY MORE VEGETABLES and cooking with new and interesting whole grains, too.

Every morning, I start with what the Health Starts Here packet calls a "breakfast porridge". It's basically like oatmeal, but you cook a different whole grain every day. So far, I've made rolled oats, quinoa and millet (I had quinoa two days in a row because I had leftovers). Tomorrow, I'm going to make some amaranth and hopefully later on I'll have some brown rice. You can use whatever spices, nuts, seeds and fruit you want to create a different flavor every time. The following list will help you make your own breakfast porridge from time to time. Just follow the cooking instructions for your grain on the package or look some up on the Internet, add your other ingredients and eat!

What you need (serves 1):

• 1/4 cup dry whole grain (quinoa, millet, brown rice, amaranth, buckwheat, oats, etc.)
• A bit of sweetener (honey, maple syrup, date paste - you make this by pureeing some dates with water in the food processor)
• About 1/3 cup fruit (apples, pears, berries, mangoes, etc.)
• Spices of your choice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla extract, etc.)
• Seeds and/or nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds without oil, sesame seeds, etc.)
• Soymilk, almond milk or coconut milk (you can cook the grain in this or stir it in when it's time to eat)

Some suggestions I have are to put millet with berries, quinoa with strawberries and mangoes, oats with apples/pears and cinnamon, and brown rice with bananas. Remember that you don't have to follow those flavor combinations exactly. You have creativity with your breakfast and you should try something new every time!

Another thing I've been doing is drinking a green drink for my afternoon snack. I drink two tall glasses every day and it fills me up really well! I have a Vita-Mix at home, which is seriously the best blender ever, but you could make these in a normal blender as well. Keep in mind that not all blenders are as big as mine, so you might want to scale the recipe back.

What you need (serves 3 - 6, depending on how much you drink):

The Necessities

• 3 - 4 cups baby spinach
• 3 - 4 cups chopped kale
• 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries (if you have a Vita-Mix, leave the strawberry tops on)
• A small piece of peeled, fresh ginger
• 3 cups tropical juice blend, apple juice or water (100% juice only)
• 1 tall glass full of ice cubes

You need 1 - 3 of these...

• 1 apple, cut into big chunks (only remove the core if you don't have a Vita-Mix)
• 1 cup frozen mangoes
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• 1 cup frozen peaches
• 1 kiwi, peeled (add apple in a smoothie with kiwi; otherwise, it will be too tart)
• 1 avocado
• 1/3 of a medium-sized yellow squash

Just blend the ingredients on the highest setting of the blender until it reaches the desired consistency. The more ingredients you add, the more smoothie-like it will become. Try to drink as much as you can, because this drink will contribute to your servings of fruit and vegetables for the day.

If you have any questions about Health Starts Here, how to cook various grains, making green smoothies, my life outside of the kitchen or something of that nature, email me at tweenchef123@gmail.com and/or go to www.wholefoodsmarket.com\healthstartshere. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow this blog, follow me on Twitter (@MDchef_123) and tell your friends and family about Teens Can Cook, Too!

Health Starts Here 28-Day Challenge

Hey everybody! Sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. I feel like I say that at the opening of every blog post I've written this year... I'm a bad blogger! As you know, the month of June is INSANE for everyone and there really isn't much time to just sit at your computer and write blog posts.

I'm not going to be posting recipes anymore. I have a set that I'm going to work with for my cookbook and I don't want to share them all before the book comes out. I don't have an agent or a publisher or a photographer yet, and I haven't tested the recipes to make them perfect, so it'll be awhile. However, I do plan on making videos about how to fend for yourself in the kitchen, simple cooking techniques and about my life outside of the kitchen.

If you want an update on my garden, you'll be disappointed. The weather in the Seattle area has been absolutely miserable and there's no way we could get the garden going like this. The tomato plants still aren't doing very well. We'll be lucky to get any tomatoes at all this year. Once the weather clears up, we'll plant our starters and seeds. Hopefully those will produce lots of delicious vegetables for us!

Yesterday, I started the Health Starts Here 28-Day Challenge! Health Starts Here is a program through Whole Foods Market that encourages people to eat whole foods, plant-strong diets, healthy fats and nutrient dense meals without any refined oils or sweeteners, dairy and eggs.

My goal with Health Starts Here is to teach all my teen (and adult, but mostly teen) readers that if I can go 28 days without any refined oil, sugars, refined grains, dairy or eggs, then you can eat a healthful diet with lots of vegetables and minimal amounts of oil and animal products. For most kids, immediately jumping into a Health Starts Here way of eating would be too much to handle. However, if you adjust to a diet that's halfway there, I suggest you take the 28-Day Challenge at your local Whole Foods!

I've had a lot of people ask me why eating oils, dairy, eggs and refined sugars is bad. I couldn't answer until last night at the class. The explanations are below.

Eggs: In our class, we didn't have enough time to talk about eggs. I think eggs aren't allowed because eggs cause inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is the main cause of our pain and health issues.

Dairy: Dairy is a MAJOR inflammatory. Another reason that we shouldn't eat it is because it promotes the growth of cancerous cells. Cancerous cells are cells that multiply out of control. When a protein from dairy called casein is added to the body, it encourages the cancerous cells to grow and causes information. Studies show that there are spikes in cancerous cell growth when a cancer patient consumes dairy.

Oils: Before starting Health Starts Here, I always cooked with olive oil because I was told it was good for me. At the class, we learned that the studies that show olive oil is good are potentially misleading. Decades ago, studies were conducted about the benefits of olive oil in Greece. The people that they tested were very athletic and carried fish on their backs because that's how Greeks lived decades ago (I have no idea how they live now though), and a little bit of olive oil didn't do them any harm. But what about someone who doesn't carry a huge fish on their back all day? Olive oil is good: compared to what? Every tablespoon of olive oil is 120 calories. By omitting the oil, you've just created space for more vegetables or whole grains to nourish your body.

Refined ingredients: Refined ingredients don't give your body energy. They waste the space that could be used for healthy ingredients, take many resources to process (which in turn hurts the environment) and can cause inflammation.

Just because I started this doesn't mean I'm revising all of my recipes to be Health Starts Here friendly. I want my cookbook to be for kids who either need to start eating more healthy meals or kids who eat lots of vegetables and want to learn how to be able to cook for themselves. Taking a kid who knows nothing about cooking and throwing them into a Health Starts Here situation would not be good. I do want my next cookbook (which is hard to even think about at this point) to be mostly Health Starts Here recipes. The first book will just be a transitional book, I guess.

If you have any questions about Health Starts Here or how to get started, you can email me at tweenchef123@gmail.com and/or visit http://wholefoodsmarket.com\healthstartshere for more details and Health Starts Here recipes. Remember to follow this blog, subscribe to me on YouTube, follow me on Twitter (@MDchef_123) and tell your friends about Teens Can Cook, Too!

Bilingual Video

Hey, everybody! Sorry I haven't posted. The garden isn't doing so well - we tried making a makeshift greenhouse for the tomatoes, but the plastic blocked the sunlight more than aticipated and the plants are dying. We're still planning on planting the rest of our starters, though, so stay tuned for pictures!

In Spanish, I was assigned a project where I had to make a presentation of something I'm very passionate about. I chose to do a YouTube video in both English and Spanish for mine. The link is below! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6CblWLJiMc

School is almost out, and I'll try to be better about posting!

Stay healthy!

Follow me on this blog and on Twitter! @MDchef_123 Subscribe on YouTube, too! And email me at tweenchef123@gmail.com if you have any questions/ideas/etc.

Interviews at the Issaquah Farmers' Market

Hey, guys! I feel really pathetic because I haven't posted in three months, and I really don't have a very good excuse for why that is. But after I came back from Costa Rica (which was the best trip I've EVER been on), I decided that I absolutely had to post about the things I learned. I also wanted to post about organic gardening too, so I did.

My family is restarting our garden. We used to have one, but we neglected it for the past couple years and it grew full of weeds. This year, we're weeding it out and planting TONS of plants! We've already put four tomato plants in the ground, plus we've bought starters for more tomatoes and twelve other types of plants! My mom is planning to buy some organic seeds at PCC or Whole Foods in a bit so we can grow lettuce, snap peas and more.

In Costa Rica, we learned lots about the banana plantations and the importance of buying local and organic produce (it was a school trip, so we had to gain something educationally while we were there). As you obviously know, I've been super involved in cooking and buying organics. In fact, this year, my New Year's Resolution was to eat only all-natural foods, and I've stuck with it (unless I have to eat something artificial at someone's house to be polite) wholeheartedly. Even so, what I learned in Costa Rica opened my eyes to the fact that purchasing local produce and growing your own food is way more impactful than I thought. There will be more posts to come about the problems with banana plantations and (hopefully) some thoughts from my classmates about Costa Rica as well.

Today, I went to the Issaquah Farmers' Market and bought all those plant starters for the garden. The Seattle Tilth brought organic plant starters from a few different farms in Washington State. While I was there, I interviewed two people: Joyce Behrendt from Ode To Joy Farm (she has a booth at the Farmers' Market) and Justin Davis from Seattle Tilth. Below are their interviews. My questions are in bold, and the person's answers are in normal text.

Ode to Joy Farm, Enumclaw, WA

Joyce Behrendt

Which animal does Ode to Joy Farm specialize in raising?

We raise chickens. It’s easier to raise livestock than to grow plants because of all the digging involved in planting!

Does your farm sell organics? If so, share a piece of information that will motivate readers to purchase organics.

We raise all organic, all free range animals. I believe that the flavor of an organic animal or organic animal product is better and fresher. By not using pesticides and letting the animals run free, our products also have better nutrition.

Why should families all start their own gardens?

There’s a statistic that all stores have a three day supply of vegetables and fruits, but if you grow your own food and learn how to effectively preserve it, you can make the most out of your food and feed a family better. Gardening is also better for the environment and teaches you how to preserve food.

Seattle Tilth

Justin Davis

Which types of vegetables does Seattle Tilth specialize in selling?

We sell all types of organic vegetables, but our most popular starter is tomatoes because they are almost impossible to grow from seed.                     

Share a piece of information that will motivate teenage readers to purchase organics.

What you put inside of your body is extremely important. It’s even more important at a young age; what you eat when you’re young is going to stick around with you for a while and will affect your growth. Also, organics are the kind of food that nature intended for humans to eat. It’s better for you to eat like our ancestors ate instead of consuming artificially chemicals. Following tradition is best for your health.

Why should families all start their own gardens?

There are a few reasons. The most important is because organic food that was grown for you is not cheap, as your parents can probably attest! If you grow it yourself, you can cut the cost of organic produce in half, and if you become gain more experience and knowledge, you could save even more money. Another reason is because it’s the freshest food, and fresher food tastes better. You can’t beat something that you just picked!

What are five tips you want to give to us gardeners out there?

1)      For gardeners in the Seattle area, go to the Seattle Tilth website. There’s lots of info for new gardeners, plus information on classes and seminars that will teach you how to garden properly.

2)      STAY ORGANIC. It’s easy to get sucked into the claims that artificial fertilizers will make your plants grow bigger and better, but those chemicals aren’t very good for you.

3)      Grow what you like to eat. If you grow only what you want to grow, it’ll excite you! Your garden has limited space, so you don’t want to waste space in your garden on stuff that you aren’t going to eat.

4)      Grow things that are expensive to buy at the store. People like growing potatoes, but they’re not very expensive at the store. It’s a really good idea to grow tomatoes, though, because they’re super expensive at the store and you can cut costs by growing them yourself.

5)      For Seattle growers, take advantage of the climate! Greens like lettuce, kale, spinach and chard grow really well here and are easy to grow from seed.

Is there any way that readers of my blog can find more information about Seattle Tilth?

Go to www.seattletilth.org for more information!

 My mom was able to capture the last half of Justin's interview on video. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ_8IajIhqA&feature=youtube_gdata to watch it!

Stay healthy, and if you have space for it, start a garden! It most definitely isn't too late to start. My family is still in the process of weeding ours out (and believe me, the weeds completely overtook the place!). I'll be posting some progress pictures of my garden to show you all that you can do it, and so you can watch our plants grow up!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow this blog, follow me on Twitter and email me if you have any recipe/gardening questions. Oh, and happy early Mothers' Day!

5 New Videos!

Hey, guys! Long time, no see! I've been busy with school, plus I just got over a nasty cold. That doesn't leave you any time for cooking! Fortunately, mid-winter break has given me plenty of time to post 5 new videos! Pooley, Juliet and I had a blast last night filming. Happy birthday, Pooley!

One of the videos is promoting the Pass It on Project, which is a new attempt to spread my recipes around in order to make a change. The Pass It on Project video will tell you more about its purpose, but I'm still going to leave you with 4 simple instructions that you can send to your friends.

1) Pick a video of mine with a recipe you think you'll like.
2) Cook the food for your family/friends.
3) Send the video to 5 or more people (the more the merrier)!
4) The people you send it to must repeat steps 1 - 3.

Here are all the videos!

The Pass It On Project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRchnY7o8Q&context=C3bd336aADOEgsToPDskJfKICAwCY3NM6zZqJHveea

Homemade Pasta Sauce:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LimfKaMuj94&feature=channel

Calzones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIFwxheZl4&context=C3bd336aADOEgsToPDskJfKICAwCY3NM6zZqJHveea

Italian Salad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ULrZ1dvV4&feature=channel

Bloopers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ3GYduJE44&feature=channel

Thanks for reading my blog! Follow me here, subscribe to me on YouTube, follow me on Twitter (@MDchef_123) and email me if you have any questions/comments about the new videos! I'd love to hear about your successes with the Pass It on Project. Stay healthy!

Tips and Tricks for Quick Meals on Weeknights

Hey, everybody! I thought I'd post some helpful tips on how to cook something simple with the ingredients around your house. When you don't have the time to go to the store and pick up ingredients, it's nice to know how to throw together a good meal in a matter of minutes.

My first simple and easy suggestion helps you if you have lots of tomatoes, onions and canned beans. The 3 steps are as follows.

1. Bring ? cup(s) of water to a boil (I left a blank so you could insert the amount needed to feed you family. Remember that the ratio of rice to water is 1:2.) Add ? cup(s) of white rice. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. When rice is almost done cooking, heat a little bit I olive oil in a skillet (the size of the skillet depends on how many people you are feeding). Add the amoun of diced onions you need and sauté until slightly transparent. Add the right amount of tomatoes and canned beans (preferably
garbanzo or cannellini, but any kind will work) and sauté until tomatoes are soft.

3. Add cooked rice in the tomato, onion and bean mixture. Season with salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Add Parmesan cheese (you should add a little at a time to make sure you achieve the right amount of cheese for your taste). Serve with fresh, chopped herbs (if you have any).

I made this recipe very general to give you freedom and make you think. The more recipes like this you see, the better you'll get at thinking on your feet in the kitchen.

Stay healthy!

Chipotle

Hey, everybody! I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a long time - you'd think that because I'm not in school, I have time, but I haven't been using it to post. I was browsing on YouTube and a video caught my eye. It was posted by Chipotle. Chipotle is a fast Mexican restaurant, but it does fast-food in a sustainable way. By this, I mean that all the food at Chipotle is all-natural. Some of their produce is organic, and most is locally grown. All of the meat is, at the minimum, raised with no antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. They prefer to feed their customers animals that also are raised without confinement and are fed the diet that nature wants them to consume, but depending on the location of the restaurant, the animals at the restaurant are different (i.e. the cows in all California stores may be grass fed, but the ones in Oregon aren't grass fed because Oregon doesn't have grass-fed cows available for Chipotle's use. Remember that this example is hypothetical). Chipotle is one of my favorite fast lunch stops, and I feel good about supporting their business. Here's the link to the video they posted on YouTube - it's entitled "Back to the Start," and it depicts exactly how the food system got out of whack. It's like a 3 minute, animated version of Food, Inc. http://www.youtube.com/user/chipotle?v=aMfSGt6rHos&feature=pyv&ad=9074663106&kw=free%20music%20videos

Stay healthy!

Mental Chew

Hey, everybody! I have super exciting news - I was featured in a post on the website Mental Chew! Check out my interview and seasonal recipe right here: http://www.mental-chew.com/2011/12/sharing-sunday-teens-can-cook-too.html

Not only did Val and I have a Q&A for her website, but we had one for mine as well. Here are some of the things we talked about.

Q: What is your favorite dish you've ever cooked? Why?

A: This is tricky. I think my Chicken Tikka Masala is my favorite because we had it at a friend's house for dinner and I went home the next day and tried to rework the recipe. When we finally got it, we were so excited and now it is one of our special treat meals.

Q: hat are some tricks you've found save money when buying organics?

A: I wrote a post about meal planning and cutting costs, not quality and the main ideas were to not skimp on meat, dairy and produce. Stay away from foods in boxes and cans. Shop sales and talk to your grocer about buying in bulk.

Q: Any tips on how to keep kids and adults alike enthused by eating healthy?

A: Plant a garden and eat from it! If you can't, participate in a CSA. Plan meals produce first. Watch cooking shows, read food blogs and leaf through friends' cookbooks. Make recipes your own and make sure everyone participates in the cooking of the meal.

Q: What motivated you to start a cooking blog?

A: When I found out I was pregnant with my son in 2006, my whole view on what I was eating completely shifted. It is a tremendous responsibility to think that every item that passes through your lips effects someone else directly. In addition, just before my pregnancy, I traveled to Costa Rica and to Peru where I gained a tremendous respect for the effect our food can have on our global environment.

 
So, I began to read and watch documentaries about where our food comes from and how it is being treated.

Thus began our journey to start our own garden. My husband was sucked into my vortex of research and seed purchasing and now he even claims to enjoy it. Love.

Along the way we have become a family of four. I am no longer a middle school math and science teacher. I am a mom. I am a mom who is striving to do the best for my kids and this blog is a record of my gardening journey with them. For them.

You can read more about this on her blog: http://mental-chew.com/

Thank you so much, Val! Follow her on Twitter (@MentalChew)! Remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow this blog, follow me on Twitter and email me if you want to share anything with me! Thanks so much, and I couldn't have done this without you!