Organic Surfer Girl

I have a ton of sweet potatoes in my apartment again! I had every intention of making them this weekend so that I could have them throughout the week. Plus I wanted the measurements for you. However, I've been at my mom's house since Saturday helping with Christmas stuff and her puppies. I also had my staff holiday party on Saturday night! I'm still at her house! However, I really want to post this recipe so I'm just going to post it. :) Later this week I'll make the recipe. Then I will edit the measurements and post the picture of the potatoes. At least for now, you will have the ingredients. It's all really to taste anyway. Anyway, on to the post! First thing first, they DO NOT taste anything like the sweet potato fries one would order at a restaurant. They are not fried for one. They are baked. I got the idea the last time I received way too many sweet potatoes in my CSA. One can only eat baked sweet potato for so long before they get

Sometimes I love the cold weather and other times I do not. Cold weather involves tons of warm hearty meals such as chili, stew, lasagna, pastas, all things that I do not usually cook a lot during warm weather. Also, all things I avoided last year because I was such a newbie in clean eating. These were all traditional meals that I had growing up and made once I went off on my own. I was terrified of changing some of them due to losing the taste. There is A LOT to change in some of these recipes. This fall/winter, I plan on tackling them. I will also be introducing a lot of new recipes as well. I hope to share with you as the season progresses. This recipe I am about to share is a recipe I have used for more then 5-6 years since it came out. I read it in Shape magazine, specifically the "Make over your body in 21 days" issue. (You can locate the original recipe on the Shape website.) Since then I have made some modifications to it. I use fresh ingredients instea

Before I write this post, I must apologize for the long gap in posts. I live on Long Island where we recently have been hit by Hurricane Sandy. No gas, no power, no work. Things were crazy. I was lucky enough to have my power. However, my mother was displaced and was staying with me for about three weeks. I have gone back with her to her place in the past week due to Thanksgiving. She also got a new dog so she wanted my help with helping the dog adjust. In that time, I also had some personal issues going on as well. I do not feel the need to share them in a public forum. Just know, there's been a lot going on. As I write this, I am writing from my mother's computer.  Well today is the Monday after Thanksgiving, I had meant to write a running post, planning post and a pre-holiday prep post in the past month. Needless to say, that went out the window. I have been in the meantime, getting ideas and being somewhat creative with my recipes. If you have food sensi

The fall is here!! I love the fall, I love all things pumpkin and apple, such as apple cider and pumpkin muffins. Around this time last year, I had just started my journey on clean eating. This time around, I'm starting my journey of gluten free clean eating. Over the past few months, I have discovered that I have a gluten sensitivity. This explains the headaches, the breakouts, etc. I feel SO much better when I'm gluten free. It's a bit easier going gluten free when you already make so many things from scratch. However, I am also discovering that simple ingredients contain wheat, like soy sauce. (That explains why I bloat up like a pufferfish after I have sushi) I am also discovering that a lot of gluten free items and/or recipes contain ingredients that are not included in my clean eating lifestyle. That makes things a bit more difficult. So off I go to revamp my cooking methods, mostly the baking. I am in the process of testing out gluten free baking flour (I

The more I read about juice detox, the more I wanted to do it. Well, I finally got my juicer a few weeks ago. I was able to do the juice detox that I've been wanting to do for months!! I went off to the store and got all the food needed for a three day detox. I fully planned on writing this post after I broke the detox. It was only a three day detox, how bad could it be? I had gotten my detox plan from Food Babe. (Her website is www.foodbabe.com ) She indicated by day three, she was feeling great so I figured I'd just follow her plan. I didn't really want to go through all the other juice books and come up with my own three day detox. (Yes I was lazy. However, I do have a juice book now and will be creating several of my own juice detoxes)  There are two main reasons why one may want to do a juice cleanse. One is weight loss and the other is to eliminate toxins in the body. I obviously did and will be doing juice detox to get rid of the toxins in my body. It

If you don't have the Deliciously Organic cookbook by Carrie Vitt, I highly recommend it. Many of my new favorite recipes including this one has come from that cookbook. She also has a website, www.deliciously organic.net She often will post recipes and tips on her website. Carrie also has meal plans for a variety of diets if you would like to order one. (You do have to pay but I've read a lot of great reviews that would make it worth it.) A few weeks ago, after I was feeling better from my first cluster headache episode, I wanted to cook badly. I had my chicken out from the freezer. We had also gotten multiple bunches of carrots in our CSA. I wanted the carrots to be a great side dish. I'm not a big fan of roasted carrots or constantly eating raw carrots. I wanted to play around with the ingredient. I went to my kitchen "bibles". (please let me know if you want me to do a review of the several cookbooks that I LOVE cooking out of. I'll do a post

        This post took some time to put together.  I really needed to do my research before presenting my information to my readers.  Some of you may not know, recently I suffered a two week migraine (cluster) headache!  I was dizzy, throwing up and in extreme pain. I've been back and forth to the doctor several times. At one point, I actually had an allergic reaction to the migraine medication. I finally ended up at the hospital where they gave me some heavy duty pain medication to break the pain cycle.Ahh pain relief. The doctor said that if the pain cycle never breaks, it gets worse.  Um ok, I've never heard of a two week migraine, have you?  My question was and is how did I get it and how can I avoid it?       I did some research.  I decided on multiple things. I made an appointment with the neurologist.  I also made an appointment with a holistic doctor as well.  It can't hurt.  I do want to know my vitamin levels, toxin levels and so forth.  Since I'm not about p

I have been busy in the kitchen! My CSA comes every other week. It's tricky trying to come up with recipes based on the ingredients that I receive biweekly. One thing positive that has come out of the CSA pick up is that I'm forced to cook recipes that I don't cook on a regular basis. I have to cook right away otherwise this fresh farm grown food goes bad! The great thing about this particular post is that you are going to get several different muffin recipes in one post! Rather then posting several different times about the same topic, I figure I will just post the several different recipes under one topic. Muffins. Muffins are delicious. You can make any sort and it always comes out delicious. What I like about the muffins I make is that they are quick and easy to make. I often will make a couple of batches, throw it in the freezer and have some for the week. I heat it up for a minute if I would like my muffin to be warm. (Who doesn't!) I usually will ha

Wondering what to do with all that summer squash in your garden? Tired of grilling vegetables the same old boring way? Here's a quick recipe to incorporate the squash in your everyday dinner. It's also a good way to get squash into your children's tummies without them noticing that there's vegetables in their pasta! The reason I say this is because this recipe is actually from my mother's kitchen. She made it frequently while I was growing up and I loved it. I still do. So channeling my mother, I made her spaghetti and squash recipe last weekend. It was a perfect way to incorporate all the squash I got from that week's CSA. Spaghetti and Squash 1 onion diced olive oil 7 summer squash, peeled and quartered. (Mom uses green squash, I used yellow in this picture, it doesn't make a difference) 1 can of tomato sauce (or just crushed tomatoes) Parmesan cheese to taste salt to taste pepper to taste 1 lb thin spaghetti (100% whole wheat) cooked 3 tablespoo

Sometimes when anyone tries a new recipe, there are hits and misses. If the miss is from a cookbook, the reasons could be a. you didn't follow the recipe correctly or b. you just don't like the taste. If the miss is from you creating a recipe on your own, it most likely is because the flavors you brought together did not work out or the new technique of cooking did not work out. The more experienced of a chef you are, the more you know how to bring the flavors together or how to subsitute flavors in a recipe successfully. I usually don't like to play around with a recipe until I've tried it at least once with exact ingredients and directions. Lately I've been playing around with recipes without even trying the original recipe. I wasn't a bad chef before but I typically cooked the ingredients I knew and the recipes I knew. Now I've branched out to new ingredients and new recipes. My confidence has grown in the kitchen. A lot of that is due to c

 I had been trying to figure out what to make one day. We still had a whole chicken left in the freezer. I wasn't really in the mood for the slow cooker chicken that I normally make. I wanted something else, a different taste. I found this recipe in my Deliciously Organic Cookbook. This chicken recipe is by far one of the best ones I've ever made and eaten. It's really easy to make. I substituted some ingredients as I went along and it still came out tasty! It is definitely going into myy rotation of chicken recipes to be cooked. Butterflied chicken with Onions (adapted from Deliciously Organic Cookbook) 1 (4-5 lb) chicken, butterflied (to butterfly a chicken, lay it breast down. Take kitchen shears and remove the backbone by cutting it to the left and side of the spine all the way down. Remove) 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature 1-3 tablespoons tarragon (you can use any fresh herb here) 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt divided 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground b

For those of you who know what CSA is, we started our first pick up last week!!! A CSA means community supported agriculture. A CSA is where you pay before hand for a part of the farm's produce. The main factor in deciding what you get each week is how much crop was harvested that week. This means you get fresh produce that is in season. I chose fruit, vegetable and egg share from the Garden of Eve farm in Riverhead. The reason we chose this farm is due to the drop offs. The drop off closest to us is in Bayport which is right down the road from my mom. This farm also allowed for variety which I liked. You can go to www.localharvest.org to find the closest farm to you. I also did a little research on my own. Not all farms are found on this website. It just makes it easier for most. After deciding back in March, I paid for CSA pick ups biweekly from June to November. I pick up fresh produce every other Wednesday between 3 and 7pm. You get what's in season, what's

On Long Island, every Memorial day is an extensive air show at Jones Beach. I've never gone. This year is my first year going! It however requires being at the beach all day. You have to get there early to get a good spot and then stay until about 3 or 4 when the show is over. I enjoyed the show greatly. That being said, its required to bring your own food unless you want to spend money at all the food stands.  I I did not want to buy processed food nor bring processed food. We hit up the supermarket and our cookbooks the night before. We bought tons of fruit, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes and peppers to munch on. We made homemade roasted red pepper hummus, homemade fresh squeezed lemonade and homemade potato salad. Nothing contained chemicals which was what we were looking for. The only thing that contained sugar was the lemonade. To be honest, it was my first time making it, I didn't want to screw around with it by adding honey or m

As I've mentioned it's tough work being a clean eater. I have to constantly look up recipes, modify recipes, cook the recipes, look up places to obtain local food, vegetables, produce, dairy and meat, look up restaurants that serve local food. It's tough in the beginning, especially when I'm not sure where to go. There's no easy one stop for all on the island. As I progress, I'm going to add resources to the list on the side of my page. For now, here's a list of my resources and how I selected that particular one. First, let me start with produce. Now one would think, living on an island, it should be relatively easy to obtain local organic fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. It's not. I've had to go to Whole Foods. Why Whole Foods and not another supermarket, well honestly, Whole Foods has a bigger selection, plus it allows me to know where my food came from. The farms out east are not open during the winter and neither are the loca

Ok so obviously no one is perfect. I haven't been 100% perfect. I find it difficult mostly when I'm out. I spend a lot of time at my parents house. I often either a. forget to bring my own food or b. just enjoy their food. My mom has been trying to eat better as well so its not like I'm eating junk food. I have continued to educate myself and improve habits here and there. Eating this way, living this life style requires a lot of creativity, time and energy. All of which I've had none recently. I've gotten sick numerous times over the past several months. It's not fun when you as the chef in the house are sick too. No desire to cook or anything. Having a sprained ankle means minimal exercise. I've had a ton of stomach problems recently too. I am contributing this to not being diligent about my diet. I've found that when I'm not strict, I have stomach problems. I become constipated. I get migraines. It's NOT fun. I don&#

Over the past several months, there have been a slew of articles that I've been reading. Some I've posted on my facebook page and others I've just shared with my boyfriend. I wanted to share some of the following articles with you so you can continue to learn about our foods along with me 1. I'm glad I stopped eating Kashi back in September. I had also stopped eating Cascadian Farms. Goes to show just how much the food industry is in charge and not us. 2. The yellow goo at the top is margarine. The yellow goo at the left is "reduced fat margarine" The stuff with the ants all over it is butter. If the ants don't want to eat it, why should we??? DISGUSTING!!! 3. Are the foods we are eating killing us? - This article discusses just how much has changed in the foods, the hidden ingredients and the addictions 4. Does eating organic food turn you into a jerk? - This article was recently posted on my news feed today. It discusses how some people ask mul

Between the past two weeks, I have been sick. Chicken Soup was called for. It made me feel better. This recipe is a combination of my mother's chicken soup and 100daysofrealfood.com chicken soup. I had leftover slow cooked chicken in the fridge so it was easy to pull out. The only thing I did not really like about the first time making this was the type of pasta I used. I was in a rush. Also, there really isn't too much of a selection of 100% whole wheat pasta in most stores. I'd used a different one next time I make it. Homemade Chicken Soup 9 cups chicken stock/broth 1 bag of whole wheat pasta - the really really tiny ones if possible 10 carrots, peeled and chopped 5 celery stalks, washed and chopped 2 cups cooked chicken , shredded Salt & pepper, to taste Directions Bring chicken stock to a boil Add dry whole-grain noodles to stock and set the timer according to pasta package directions. When there are 5 minutes left in the cooking time throw in the chopp

Some of you may know, I am planning on converting all my cleaning products to homemade cleaning products. Why you may ask? Well if I'm not willing to put chemicals in my body, why should I inhale them? Why should I surround myself with chemicals especially since I try so hard to avoid putting them in my body. Between following certain blogs and pinterest, it wasn't quite hard to find a recipe. The question was, was it hard to find the products, was it difficult to make, and was it worth it. I discovered it was a lot cheaper to make my own soap then to replace it multiple times from the supermarket. I also discovered that it was fairly easy to make. I recently made this homemade dish soap from a recipe I found on www.frugalsustainable.com Recipe as followed: Homemade Liquid Dish Soap  Ingredients:  1 ½ cups hot water 1 tablespoon shredded bar soap (i.e. castile bar soap, ivory, or a homemade simple soap) 1 tablespoon white vinegar 1 tablespoon Super Washing Sod

What do you eat for breakfast?? I posted up a granola recipe several months back. I also posted up waffles. I do also make whole wheat blue berry pancakes. (I'm thinking of starting a tab that indicates my recipes and easy access) I wanted to share with you these three quick recipes for breakfast. My mom made the following all the time, this with potatoes as well. I was craving it. You could eat this at anytime in the day. It also goes good on Italian bread too. (Yes I'm trying to find a recipe to make that whole wheat!) Egg Frittata with Asparagus . 4-6 Eggs Asparagus Salt and Pepper to taste Olive oil 1. Heat up pan with olive oil over med high heat 2. Chop up asparagus and place in plan 3. After asparagus have soften, place eggs (mixed in a bowl) in pan. 4. Wait until eggs have browned on the bottom and flip. 5. When eggs are done cooking, take off the pan and eat. *don't mind the mess in the picture. I didn't flip so well! Eggs with kale and red pe

OW! Shin splints hurt. Badly. They also make it impossible to be mobile. As my ankle healed, I wanted to run. Plus the weather outside was getting nicer. I'm home during the day and should take advantage of this. However, I couldn't even get around the block without being in pain. I would end up hobbling home. Even if I walked and slowed down my pace! They still came, both legs, I could predict it. I would try to do 1 mile to 2-2 and half miles. "No way!" my shins screamed. In the past, I gladly used this as an excuse to say, "I'm simply not a runner", despite always wanting to at least complete a 5k. It was disheartening. This time around, I was determined to not make this the case again. I needed to change my mindset and my routine. Something had to give and this time, I wasn't going to stop running. So, what did I do? I went to the one person in my life that have been running her whole lives. My sister, Jackie, who has been r

Since cleaning up my diet, I make an attempt to try new recipes, new food, etc. I also have discovered that since my taste buds have drastically changed, foods that I might not have liked previously, I like now.  I absolutely encourage everyone to try new recipes/food at least once a week. I love trying new fruits and vegetables. It is so much fun! To date I have tried: Kale Butternut Squash Couscous - I make plain and then flavor it with my own batch of seasoning Quiona Ginger Kombucha Tumeric Guava Almond Flour Almond Milk *I currently can't remember any others but as I try new things, it will pop up on the blog as I go. Guava! it's a bit tart. I sliced in in half. I scooped out the seeds which its soft and fleshy in the middle. Then I just bit off the rest which is a bit hard. It is definitely yummy! I currently have a papaya and two coconuts ready to be cut and eaten! I can't wait. What new things have you tried lately? "And then he tells me, "Y

You have to like fish to like this recipe. I've made it twice so far. It's come out yummy both times. It's quick and easy to make. I like it and will make it again. Spring Pilaf with Salmon and Asparagus (From Cooking Light: Through the Seasons) Ingredients 4 cups of water 4 (6-oz) salmon fillets. (you can also get one long one and cut it) 1 Tablespoon of butter 2 cups diagonally cut asparagus 3 cups cooked brown rice 1 cup fresh or frozen peas 1/2 cup vegetable broth 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley 2 tablespoons fresh chives 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Directions: 1. Bring water to a boil in a large skillet: Add salmon (skin side up) Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fish with a slotted spoon and discard water. Break fish into large pieces 2. Return pan to heat; melt butter over med-high heat. Add aspara

One night I was hungry, I were trying to think of what was for dinner. I looked in my kitchen and put together this quick meal. Quick, easy and yummy Penne with garlic and broccoli Ingredients: 1 bag of whole wheat penne 2 whole garlic heads (or more if you like a lot of garlic) 3 whole broccoli bunches (or if you are using freezed broccoli, use the whole bag) Olive oil Salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. Boil pasta as directed 2. Heat up olive oil in pan 3. Toss garlic in pan until browned 4. After garlic is browned, toss in broccoli. (If you are used fresh, cut off the stems (you can save these to make cream of broccoli) ) 5. After broccoli is soften, combine with pasta, season as desired. Dinner is served! “The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun” Duke Kahanamoku

          It's official, my stomach does not like me. :(  I've been doing some research on diets without gall bladders.  Surprisingly, there is none! A few guidelines here and there.  The doctors lied.  They all said that one could eat a normal diet after a month or so after the surgery.  They fail to realize just how much the gall bladder really does aid in digestion.  My liver is now doing all the work. I am heading the in the right direction.  The few guidelines out there do require that one eats a "real food diet" which I mean, no preservatives, processed food, and etc.  However, I now have to eliminate food from my diet. This includes, caffeine,oranges, grapefruits, minimal dairy, minimal chicken, turkey and red meat.  I also have to eat small frequent meals.   So bear with me as I go along this journey as well.  I not only have to eliminate food but change how I eat as well.  Wish me luck.         Anyway, last week I posted my dinner recipe. It was three differ