Healthy Recipes

On Sunday, I had the privilege of visiting the Dekalb Farmer's Market for the first time. Its a hike from our house, but we had gone out to lunch in Decatur for my brother's birthday. And of course Patrick was practically BEGGING me to go since we'd never been before. Not. I had to drag Patrick kicking and screaming(which surprisingly stopped once he realized that the beer and wine section at the Farmer's Market was OPEN. ON SUNDAY. AND THAT HE COULD BUY STUFF). I'm not complaining though. He was a good sport, as Sunday has to be the absolute worst time to go. 


The main reason I wanted to go was to switch out some 'traditional' ingredients and foods for some healthier ones. We have a Whole Foods near us, but it is so expensive that we don't go in that often. That and I get kind of annoyed with the whole health food thing. And the people involved. And I can't bring myself to buy flour at Whole Foods for $78 when I don't know that it'll be that much better for me. Or worth my $78. Because I would kind of rather spend that money on shoes. 


So the Farmer's Market is the perfect place (in my mind at least) to swap out a few old things, try a few new things, and learn some different ways to prepare your food. For dirt cheap.


So I bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables, but I also bought flax seed, hard wheat, couscous, millet, and raw un-pasteurized honey. Now the couscous doesn't really fit into the 'abnormal' category by any means, but buying 2 pounds for $1.10 was AWESOME. 


Once I got back, I went to Patrick's house to use his mom's wheat grinder. Because she has an incredible blueberry muffin recipe that is to die for. And it is completely guilt free. 


I wanted to give you guys the recipe because I love it so much, and could eat muffins and pastries as my sole source of sustenance if they weren't terrible for you. So why not find ways to make them better? And this is definitely the better way to go.

Here is the recipe:

2 1/4 cups freshly ground wheat (you want to use it within hours of it being ground or the nutrients start to deplete)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)

1 cup buttermilk (I used nonfat Kefir - its like Greek yogurt)

1 egg

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup raw honey, unpasteurized

1-1.5 C organic blueberries

1 tsp organic cinnamon

1 tsp organic vanilla

(I added a handful of millet because it is high in vitamins and gives an extra crunch)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients. Add batter to muffin pan. Cook for 15 minutes.

My other favorite recipe that I made this week was MANGO SALSA. I've posted the recipe before, but since its been awhile, here it is again:

3 mangoes

1 red pepper

1 cucumber

1 red onion

handful of chopped cilantro

lime juice to taste

*this time I also added some mint leaves from my yard

Chop everything up and voila! The PERFECT mango salsa. It's great on tacos and turkey burgers. And anything in between. I would give vats of it as gifts but I eat it too fast to give it away. :)

Boot camp at work starts next week, so I'm excited to have some more regularity to my work-outs. Mine and Ginny's schedules are now opposite, so my main motivation is now gone. But hopefully this free bootcamp class twice a week will get me back in gear.

PS - I tried a lemon kale pasta the other day, and I'll do my best to post the recipe. The jury is still out on this one. Ginny loved it, but kale and I are not quite warm and fuzzy yet.