Getting Fresh in the Kitchen

There are lots of debates on the best foods to eat, how to prepare them for maximum nutrition, why you should chose one over another, and avoid some altogether. I have found a balance that nourishes beyond my physical needs, and into my emotional and spiritual needs as well. In fact, choosing to eat foods that serve more than my momentary needs & that honor the gift that my body/life is, has transformed my eating and exercise habits from a chore I loathed, to a gift I cherish. Sticking with my 80/20 principle with eating choices, easily allows me to maintain my bliss & peace of mind, along with room to lean into the next level of serving choices.

Transitioning to a pescetarian, nutritional cleansing lifestyle blesses my body beyond my knowing, turning my past struggles around to where releasing pounds & inches is simple. It’s easy to want to exercise when your nutritional needs are meet, giving you energy, strength, and endurance, because that’s our natural design. Once my nutritional needs became truly meet, my body kicked in it’s natural cleansing & detoxifying abilities, enabling me to easily release pounds, inches, and countless chemicals & toxins, all while relieving me of my food cravings–the #1 reason I went back to non-serving habits in my past. With energy, feel good brain chemistry, and balance, I find it requires the same, and in most cases a lot less energy to make choices that serve me. Eating balanced assists me in keeping the other aspects of my life in balance, as well, and I love a win-win situation!

Lately, I’ve been hooked on fish tacos! Simple choices such as using organic corn tortillas in place of regular white or wheat flour tortillas always ease my mind. Corn is by no means a health food, however I find my body & mind better respond to the corn than the flour. Along with corn, wheat is not a health food either—shocker, I know! I’ve learned that for every 1 molecule of wheat, your body retains an average of 5-6 water molecules. With oaks, brown rice, and the like, the body holds on to about 1-2 water molecules, resulting in a decrease of inflammation in the body. For me, this was a subtle change that was unnoticed until I reduced my inflammatory triggers, experienced life without the inflammation and then experienced increased inflammation when I returned to adding wheat, diary, flours, alcohols, and sugars to my diet. Corn has a lot of sugar in it, and very little (if any, a lot of cases) nutritional value. I feel it still serves as a better option for now, though.

Just like the rest of life, I found I had to experiment in the kitchen to discover feedback in alignment with my preferences.  The ingredients I use are simply a suggestion, and liberate yourself by leaving out or adding to the list your personal preferences. Here’s a selection of ingredients I use for my tacos: Red Onions, Red Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Shallots, Grape Tomatoes.

I buy fresh, organic vegetables whenever possible. I have seen enough information on the depleted nutrients in our soils, harmful toxins sprayed on non-organic farms, and I find the taste & peace of mind far exceed the financial commitment. The benefits outweigh the cost, and I am setting the intention to show you more examples of this throughout my blogging. I choose to always opt for olive oil whenever possible, again, due to the abundant amount of nutritional benefits I’ve learned about olive oil over other oils. It’s a great source of healthy fats, which I will be blogging more about soon, as well.

This night, I decided to lightly saute the green beans, onions, shallots, and red bell peppers together. After heating up the pan with a spray of olive oil—I use a pump available through The Pampered Chef, not from prepackaged aerosol-like spray can—I add the veggies and toss them around a bit with fresh ground black pepper, blended sea salt & garlic, and a touch more olive oil. I buy organic spices whenever possible, due to the amount of chemicals used in processing them, and prefer fresh grind when it’s an option for more enhanced flavors. I’ll start the heat on the pan around 6-7, reducing to 4-5 when I add the veggies and give a good toss for a minute or two. Next I reduce the heat to 1-2 & place a lid over to give a gentle steam for another minute of two. I prefer a soft crispness to my veggies, and recommend you avoid over cooking to maintain nutrients & overall experience.

This particular night, I choose an Australian fish called barramundi for the tacos. Believe me, I am aware that fish are people, too, however I do keep a bit of seafood in my diet for a number of reasons. For one, it allows a bit more variety in meal options, the texture is light, and it’s a touch of meat for my husband—who is not vegetarian. After rinsing off and patting the filet dry, I added it to a heated grill pan, lightly sprayed with olive oil. I added a bit of fresh ground black pepper, blended sea salt & garlic, and an additional touch of olive oil, to avoid sticking on the flip. Once I see the fish is about half way cooked through, I flip it for a minute or two & turn the heat off, allowing the thin filet to finish cooking on the hot service of the grill pan.

Once the fish starts to flake apart a bit with a firm poke with my finger or spatula, I remove it from the heat of the pan to the cutting board. While it was cooking, I prepped a bit of thinly chopped kale & romaine lettuce, and diced a few grape tomatoes for taco topping. After allowing the fish to sit for just a minute or two, I cross cut the meat to shred it a bit for the tacos. I separated out sautéed onions & peppers, also used a bit of fresh cilantro & goat cheese crumbles on the tacos, and kale to bed the green beans & shallots.

Simple, fresh, and beautiful!! Pleasing to the pallet, body, mind, and spirit J My husband loves squeezing a bit of lime over his tacos for an additional fresh, authentically Mexican experience. Experiment, have fun, and gather your results! If I can do it, I know you can do it!

Remember:

  • The ingredients are just a suggestion
  • Fresh is always preferable
  • Organic when possible
  • Experiment to find which options best serve YOUR body, mind, and spirit!

I appreciate you taking the time to read my posting & I’ll be posting great new information, tips & tools weekly. If you have a recipe you’d like for me to try out & review, topics you’d like to hear about, or any other comments, feedback, or suggestions, kindly send me a message to AskCrissy@gmail.com and I will address the matter in a future blog posting. Be sure to subscribe to my Blog & YouTube Channel, visit my website regularly, and follow me on Facebook & Twitter, to stay plugged in to all of my offerings. As always, I wish you infinite love, blessings, peace, and joy as we take this journey together. I am blessed & honored to share my path with you.

Crissy

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