Organic Surfer Girl

             Life takes us up and down and all around the bend. As you can see, I'm not that consistent of a blogger.  I also haven't blogged since 2013 and boy has life given me lessons. 2014 was a stressful year with my job and trying to recover with my injuries I had in the accident in 2013.  I got another cochlear implant in 2015. I had some kidney problems that same year. I lost my job due to bankruptcy and discrimination that year as well. I moved home in 2015.  I had a nervous breakdown as well. Multiple people passed away.  I was around some pretty toxic people. 2016 wasn't exactly thrilling as I tried to get ahold of my mental health as well as my finances. I've had to work on some pretty heavy demons throughout that time. I've gained about 80lbs totally on and off since then.  My weight fluctuates unbelievably despite trying to heal m...

   Your skin is the largest organ in your body.  We often think about what we put IN our body and not what we put ON our body.   Wouldn't it make sense that the things we put on our skin also gets absorbed and into our blood stream?  So despite how clean your diet is and how you limit the toxins you consume. You are still exposing yourself to toxins through skincare.      My personal care and make up were one of the last things I converted over to a more natural, organic type of care.  I was very hesitant because who knows what was out there that I could use.  I needed it to work.  I need it to make me feel pretty.  I hated using my products because none of it ever worked.  It was annoying. Nothing ever felt good or made me feel pretty.  There is a reason there are so many brands out there right? So many products filled with chemicals.  One of them is bound to work with my skin right?  Ugh. Very often I tho...

            I genuinely love cooking seasonal recipes.  It forces me to change up my diet.  I'm eating things I would not have eaten when I was little despite how Mom made them.  (Sorry Mom for being so picky!)  Now as a grown up, I love root vegetables like turnips and parsnips. Who would have thought? I actually like kale and mashed cauliflower.  These are all things I would not have dared to go near when I was little. The fall and winter call for root vegetables.  It calls for warm and hearty meals.  I grew up eating pasta during the winter.  Since I'm unable to eat pasta constantly due to being gluten free, I turned to other recipes that would give me the same type satisfaction. I'm now making recipes that I would have turned my nose up before I turned my diet around.  Now I wonder how I ever went without ever trying these types of food.        When people think of fall, they automaticall...

              SO, I haven't blogged in many months.  Some of you may know already but I will share what's been going on.  I was in a very bad car accident in May.  I didn't really quite realize how bad it was until recently.  I'm still very banged up and am still at my mom's.  It's been over four months.  I'm still in pain.  I'm definitely better then I was before but nowhere where what I was before the accident.  It's not where I expected to be by now.  I basically spent the past four months taking off from life.  I have been going to physical therapy, chiropractors, doctors and so forth.  It's been frustrating.  I just want to run again.  I just want the pain to be gone.  I spend every day and night in pain.  It's unbelievably frustrating.  It's depressing.               I've gotten back into cooking.  I've started to implemen...

        "Plan  your meals but always leave room for options."   Much easier said then done right?  I used to be one of those people who always said planning my meals is not meant for me.  I'd plan my meals and then decide that day, I didn't want it.  I'd end up eating something completely different and something completely horrible for me.  That all changed about six months ago.  I was working two jobs.  I had no time to cook.  I had to prep in advance.  I needed to do it this time around for my health.  My health finally became a priority for me.  I wanted to take care of myself bad enough to make this planning ahead work for me.           This was also around the time I did two things, I did a detox meal plan by Prescribe Nutrition.  They have done multiple rounds since the beginning of the year a...

     So getting back into blogging is not easy when I'm not really doing much fitness related due to foot injury.  I'm also not cooking due to the foot injury.  I'm currently at my mother's house where she is doing my cooking.  I am forced to stay in bed with my foot up.       I am however using this time to really focus on my diet and mental health.  I am trying to incorporate healthy habits that I can really continue even as I recover and heal from this injury. There's menu planning, tracking my food, selecting healthy choices, good night's sleep, staying positive, drinking lemon water in the morning, and so on.  I'll spend the next few weeks discussing healthy habits and how important they are to our overall health.    The first one I'm going to focus on today is drinking room temperature lemon water when you wake up.  This is something that I've seen all over.  It's been listed in holis...

      My last post was about two and half months ago.  I actually had about three posts waiting to be published at certain times.  I will post them as I get back to regular scheduled postings. SO much as happened personally for me in the past few months.  I'm also hoping to make a new layout for my blog as well.  I'm realizing the blue on blue is not that easy to read.  Newbie blogger mistake!        Some of the delays were quite honestly, I didn't have the adapter to upload pictures into my new computer.  I felt awkward posting recipes without the pictures.  I learned this from blogging, pictures are ALWAYS helpful when it comes to recipe posts.  I wanted to do a new layout.  I just simply didn't have the time to make all these changes I wanted to do.  I was working two jobs.  I was working six days a week.  All I was doing was working and working out.    ...

I definitely enjoy certain foods now that I used to shy away from. I either A. thought it was too healthy, b. thought it was gross or c. I just plain old didn't know how to cook it. As I've embarked on this clean eating lifestyle, everything has changed. My taste palates have changed, my idea of what's healthy and tasty has changed and my confidence in the kitchen has grown. I eat and cook foods now that I never would have done a few years ago. I wouldn't have thought twice about buying Pillsbury cookies or having frozen dinners in my house as quick meal. Now, I much rather put in the work and have fresh homemade food. It's tastier, healthier and I can control what goes in my mouth. I can't go back to my old eating habits, even if I tried. Knowing what I know about where my food comes from has been the biggest game changer for me. It has helped bring me to this point in my life where I can honestly say I am the happiest I've ever...

I've been sick the past few days. I even had to call in sick for work which I do not like to do. I simply do not have time to be sick! *note to whoever got me sick, I'm very mad at you! Although I honestly think it is the constant in and out of the cold weather at my morning job that is doing me in. It does wear on the body after awhile. So the past few days I've had a sore throat, cough, congestion and a fever. I don't really like taking medication because if I don't fill my body up with artificial coloring and chemicals. If I avoid that kind of stuff when I'm healthy then why would I do it when I'm sick? My eventual goal for 2013 is to have alternative medicine in my medicine cabinet instead of your typical Nyquil arsenal. Have you seen the ingredient list for that? It's full of food coloring and chemicals. I wish I saved the last bottle so I could list the ingredients for you. If you look it up online, it just lists the active ingr...

The first time I made this meal was for Christmas dinner. I needed a vegetarian dish for my aunt. It ended up being a hit with everyone at the table. My 92 year old grandma took seconds and then said "if no one else is having anymore, I'll just take the rest home." That is definitely how you know it was a hit. The only thing that I wish I had more of, was the vegetables. So when I made it tonight, I doubled the vegetables and it came out perfect! What I love about this recipe is that it truly showcases winter root vegetables. Until I changed my diet, I always ate the vegetables I liked at anytime of the year. Now I focus on eating seasonally and local. This is exactly why I like this recipe. I also like this recipe because it's a vegetarian dish. I've significantly reduced my meat consumption. This dish fills you up without wanting more or missing anything. I won't keep you waiting any longer, here is the adapted recipe from Vegetar...

It's been about two months since my last post and WOW a lot has happened. I truly apologize to my readers for the lack of new food recipes and posts. There was however magic in the kitchen. There just wasn't any time to sit and write the posts. However, Snowstorm Nemo has given me that time. Here is an update on my life. I cooked an amazing gluten free Christmas dinner. I made gluten free stuffed rolled pork loin, roasted winter vegetable vegetarian jambalaya and carrot soufflé. (My brother in law is allergic to gluten, dairy and eggs) Everything that I had made, he was able to eat, except the carrot soufflé. That was a request made by his wife, my sister. (Recipes will be posted shortly). During Christmas break, there was a lot of family illness and a death. A lot of family time, I'm ok with that. I have the type of the family that is always there for each other. This was a time where we needed each other. I also got to close a major chapter in my li...

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 appointme...