Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: A delicious green (and red, I guess) salad and a cranberry drink to beat the bloat.
Sometimes when you're hungry, you come up with the most amazing dishes ever. This is one of those. Now, I know brussels sprouts have a bad rap, but try this before you decide you hate them forever. When cooked appropriately they are delicious and oh-so good for you. Plus, who doesn't love bacon?
Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Salad:
1 bag of organic spinach (5-6 oz)
1 - 1.5 cups Brussels sprouts
6 - 8 slices of Applewood Smoked Bacon (GF, Nitrate free)
1 green zucchini
1 small bundle of asparagus
A pinch or so of sea salt, black pepper, and garlic pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Garlic Cilantro balsamic
1. For cooking the Brussels sprouts, you have some options:
A. If you have a microwave, put the Brussels sprouts (whole) into a bowl. Put 1 tsp of olive oil on them and mix well. Heat for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
B. If you don't have a microwave/don't like using microwaves like me, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Coat them with oil as mentioned above and bake for 8-10 minutes. You want them crunchy, that's the key to their deliciousness.
When you're done with that, cut the bottoms off, remove the outer 1-2 layers of leaves, and cut them in half.
2. Cook bacon and remove excess grease, then chop into small squares. Set aside for the moment.
3. Slice and dice the zucchini and asparagus.
4. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan on medium heat.
5. Cook zucchini and asparagus for roughly 5-8 minutes, but not to completion. Then add in the Brussels sprouts and chopped bacon squares. Let everything heat up nicely (roughly 3 more minutes or so) and add in spices. Pour all of this yumminess on your spinach.
For the dressing, you have two options:
A. Be lazy like I was and just hand mix everything together. It was still super delicious, I promise.
B. Blend the oil and balsamic in the a blender and then pour that over everything and mix together. It combines the two together nicely, but it will taste the same. It just looks more fancy for when you have fancy guests over for fancy dinner parties.
Last but not least, if you're looking for a safe, simple, and delicious detox drink, try this baby out. Make sure you get the good cranberry juice, which is sugar free. Adding sugar to this will defeat the purpose. I've made this a few times, just because I really like the way it tastes but does it really beat bloat? I can't tell, but it tastes good and the ingredients are good for you. Dandelion root, in particular, is AMAZING for your liver. Did you get that? AMAZING. If you can handle the taste all by itself (I have to lemon it up quite a bit) make a cup of this and drink it every morning for a few weeks. Your liver will thank you.
Jillian Michael's Detox Drink
60 oz distilled water
1 TBSP cranberry juice (sugar free, non-cocktail)
2 TBSP lemon juice (if you freshly squeeze your own, it tastes better)
1 dandelion root tea bag
Combine water and juices in a large pitcher. Add the tea bag. Leave the tea bag in the pitcher the whole day. Now, drink that whole pitcher. Yes, the whole thing. Re-make this each day and drink every day for 7 days.
She claims that you can lose 5 pounds of excess water weight in that seven days. Try it and see how it works for you.
Until next time...
Eat well, Be Well, Live Well!
How'd your salad come out? Like Brussels sprouts now or still not a fan?
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