New Year's Resolution

What's It Wednesday #57

I have a confession. My New Year's Resolution actually started way before New Year's day. A rather scary and life changing event took place on December 13th which only solidified what I now call my journey to good health. My darling husband had a heart attack.

Yes, my 40 year old husband had a heart attack that lead to a stent being put in. Needless to say, hubby will be joining me on my journey to good health. Although his cholesterol was fine we have decided that changing our life style is the best course of action.

During our summer holiday, I started changing my food choices. I gave up meat. It wasn't that difficult for me since I had down it before and loved the way I felt after doing so. If my husband eats any meat at all, his meat of choice is chicken. 

For protein we snack on nuts and eat quite a bit of lentils. I had no idea of the vast variety of lentils there are in the world and available to us. 

I have quite a number of vegetarian cookbooks. These resources make it possible to not run out of ideas for cooking.   These cookbooks feature Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, African, Mediterranean, and Caribbean cuisine. 

Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Recipe

My iPad is my best friend in the kitchen. You can definitely not run out of recipes with a tablet near by. 

I go to the local Farmer's Market once a week. I also go to my neighborhood grocery store at least twice a week. So here is an example of the use of technology in the kitchen. I found these sweet potatoes on sale. I did not want to just bake them in the oven. So I went online on the iPad, Googled "Sweet Potato Indian Recipe" and voila the Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Recipe popped up. This recipe is just scrumptious.

Inside the kitchen refrigerator looks like a mini produce section. I also have a gazillion spices in the cabinet so I had everything I needed to whip this delicious dish up.

Without having cooking resources at my fingertips, I would not be able to create such a variety of foods. I never in a thousand years thought that I would every cook cauliflower and it taste great. 

I absolutely love AllRecipes.com. I have the app on all of my devices. This stir-fried okra with red bell pepper is another example of a great recipe. It's known as Bhendi Masala. The red peppers gives it such a great flavor. My five year old asks for seconds of okra. Now that is a good deal.

Now the  proverbial New Year's black-eyed peas was a bit of a challenge. No smoked neckbones, hamhock or turkey in this dish. I used tomatoes and a bit of jalapeño peppers in this traditional dish. It was good but definitely not great. It was a'ight!

Sweet sop also known as sugar apple

My husband had always wanted a mini-fridge in our bedroom for all the wrong reasons I can assure you. I just felt that that was just ridiculous. The day my husband was released from hospital after his heart attack, I went straight away to the store and bought a mini-refrigerator for his side of the bedroom. I filled it to capacity with water, healthy snacks, and fresh fruit. On the top of the unit is a double fruit basket that is filled to the brim with fruit. Can you believe I have to restock often? Our entire family enjoys the convenience of having food accessible to us. Living in the tropics has it advantages. It makes it possible to have a wide variety of fruit all year long. 

My five year old son get's the biggest kick out of assisting me with the food planning and preparation. He makes wonderful suggestions based on what we see in the cookbooks. We have also added bike riding to our daily regimen. I just chose something that I knew we would all enjoy. We also hike on the weekends at our local national park. 

I have even changed the way in which I make flat breads (rotis). I now will make them with 100% whole wheat flour or mix it half and half with gram (chickpea) flour. I have also changed the rice we consume to brown basmati or brown jasmine rice. We really love the nuttiness of the rice. 

Celery, apple, ginger, and lemon juice.

I now wake up 45 minutes to an hour earlier than I use to. I have always been a praying girl. However the change is that now I need to be still and listen as well as pray. So I incorporate meditation in my morning routine. After I meditate I pray and read scripture. I just finished reading "I Declare" by Joel Osteen and I am not the same woman I was when I started that journey with his book. Amazing!!!

I have added daily juicing to my diet as well. Hubby is not quite on board with that yet. I am working on him. I am so sure that the good folks down at my local Starbucks have put an APB out on me. Nowadays I run down the stairs (six months ago I could not run out of the room much less down the stairs) to use make myself a drink.

Kale, ginger, apple, lemon juice (my fave)

The Nutribullet effortlessly pulverizes any fruit or vegetables you put into the machine. The Nutribullet came with a juicing recipe book that I just love. I pour my juice into a big cup and sip it as I drive to work and pass the Starbucks along the way. I have so much energy after drinking one of these. However, on some weekends I do swing by and visit my friends at Starbucks and order my Skinny French Vanilla Decaf Latte, for old times sake. 

I am so grateful that my husband was able to make a full recovery from the heart attack and that we can take this journey to good health together as a family. Now you understand why I started my New Year's Resolution before January 1st. 

What are some journey's you will be taking in 2013?

xoxoxo

Paula

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