No-Guilt Ricotta Arugula Pizza with Crumbled Blue Cheese

blog by: kim

We love pizza, but it’s obviously not the healthiest choice. Whatever bad foods we love, there is usually a healthier alternative. So make pizza your own way. Whoever thought of putting lettuce on pizza deserves a gold star. Not just any lettuce; I'm talking arugula. It's that spicy leafy lettuce that is often found in spring mixes but makes any pizza much better. Add some sweet apple slices or dried fruits with crumbled blue cheese and this tastes sensational. Does this look like food deprivation? I think not...

This easy recipe has wheat crust and lower fat cheese to cut calories, and the more veggies you pile on, the more disease-fighting anti-oxidants you get!

No-Guilt Ricotta Arugula Pizza with Crumbled Blue Cheese

(makes 2 thin-crust pizzas)

2 whole wheat tortillas- Try the Food for Life Organic Ezekiel sprouted grain 9” tortilla (you can also buy a raw/uncooked whole wheat pizza dough and grill it outside if you are feeling daring!) By now you know the all-white bleached flour dough has zero nutritional value and adds unwanted fat.

Choose the veggies or fruits you like. Hey, it’s your pizza. Be creative.

Below are some suggestions:

1/4 red onion, sliced thin

zucchini, sliced thin

red pepper, sliced thin

shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil

¼ cup sliced apples

a handful of raisons or dried cranberries

1 oz grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese

1 cup spring mix greens with arugula- you can buy them in bags at the store

salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil to taste

Optional: a wee handful of blue cheese to sprinkle on top

Drizzle a little olive oil on the top and bottom of each tortilla. 

Place on a cookie sheet or baking stone. Drop 1 tsp. size amounts of ricotta cheese around the pizza. Layer on arugula mix, onions, zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms and  fruits. Sprinkle on parmesan cheese, sprinkle more arugula over the top if you want, add salt and pepper to taste, blue cheese crumbles and drizzle about 1 tsp of olive oil on top as needed. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges of tortilla begin to brown. (For those of you not using the grill for these)

How your No-Guilt Pizza creation looks will depend on the ingredients you choose to top it off with. Pour a glass of red vino and enjoy. Under 200 calories a slice.

Some recipes call for the greens to be added before baking, others suggest after. It is up to you, how you prefer it. Less baking= more nutrients & enzymes in your greens.


Check out Tracy's blog. She's the California girl on a quest to fall in love with Florida.
http://www.myothercitybythebay.com/2011/07/06/crave-tampa-bay/


Love, kim

~ 0 ~

"I’ll have a double cappuccino, half-caf, non-fat milk, with enough foam to be aesthetically pleasing, but not so much that it would leave a moustache"
~ Niles Crane, Frasier

It's Raw. It's Naked.

blog by: kim


Forgive me, for it has been a long time since I blogged. I ditch my personal blog at times for writing gigs that actually pay (hell, I didn't say pay much). But I like writing occasionally what I want, in the tone I want without a care about typos, formatting, editors or listing my sources.

I seem to be the type of girl that likes to have her hands in a few things. It's just who I am. It's not a bad thing~ so spare me the raised eyebrows. I have always been a self-confessed "foodie" and equally fascinated with all things healthy, especially as the years go by and I am more aware of what abusing our bodies can actually do to us. I watch in horror at what years of heavy drinking/smoking and eating has done to some people I know.

Raw, Creamy Banana Coconut Ice Cream

Nope, you won't catch me shaking my finger at you or playing the food police. Even I fall victim to a delicious dessert, an occasional plate of nachos or fresh, warm bread. When I stumbled across the trendy raw food scene, I was enamored. I was in love.

I dove into books & websites like www.rawfusionliving.com by Dr. Rose, Ph.d and read Raw Food/Real World by Sarma Melngailis ~ owner of Pure Foods & Wine in New York City. Note to self: must make it there to try the gourmet raw foods and see my friends who live there, but i digress. I also have Eating in the Raw by Carol Alt and a few more.

Before I dazzle you with the fact that celebs like Sting, Demi Moore and Donna Karan live by this way of eating; there is a very real reason it does a body good. Still with me? Why does raw food effect the body in the amazing way it does? ENZYMES. Enzymes are the spark of life. Most of us could care less about any of this and give zero thought to the crap we put in our bodies. Healthy enzymes that we need are basically killed off when food is heated. 

I am not talking about eating raw meat. I am primarily speaking of fresh, organic vegetables, fruits and nuts. When foods are heated above 116 degrees, their vitamins and enzymes become denatured and  inactive. When you cook food, you loose those vitamins. Think of it this way: fevers above 107 degrees are generally deadly because at that point our enzymes self destruct. Scientists have known for years that when you cook food, you loose vitamins and minerals and destroy enzymes. Raw Fusion explains this.

I don't believe in any extreme lifestyles or fad diets. I think even if you increase your raw veggies, nuts and fruits by 40% to 50% (my words) you will feel better, more vital, have less PMS, less sick days, drop weight, feel less moody, have more energy and a higher libido.

Get The Glow

This is a topic that has been greatly covered and many books have been written on it. I don't even begin to scratch the surface, nor am I am expert. I am like everyone else trying to find my way. I am learning too. I don't think I can be 100% raw, I love my breads too much. However, I equally adore fresh veggies and the feeling I get from eating this way, so I will happily drink a fresh, green smoothie loaded with kale, swiss chard, berries, bananas and apples. Mmm! I love going to Dr. Rose's Raw Foods classes because she feeds everyone all sorts of delish dishes and entertains us while educating us. Who doesn't need to be more empowered?

I will say- excessive drinking, smoking, chronic stress, a bad diet and sleepless nights will lead you to an early grave...and you'll probably feel like garbage in the years leading up to it. Many people have picked up the raw foods eating idea after suffering from serious health issues. That's not the case with me, so I can't speculate; but I read that eating this way clears up things from high blood pressure to diabetes to IBS to bad skin conditions, allergies, headaches, heartburn and  pre-cancerous conditions.

Go Raw. Live Long

So why do so few people eat raw or even have a clue what it's about? Because we are creatures of habit and we play "follow the leader". It's human nature. It takes time to undo deeply rooted habits, right or wrong. There's been a boom in health and wellness in recent years, as we have become a more educated generation. If you have always done something one way, why question it? Traditionally, some societies eat more raw foods than others. Not as much here in America, but it's changing. With concerns about increasing disease and obesity, people are becoming more aware. Right Sarma?

I have heard "eating raw makes my stomach hurt" This is temporary because your body simply isn't used to eating that way yet. I love the great recipes you can make raw. 
I added photos of some of the foods to this blog.

For the yummy recipes, refer to Raw Fusion recipes. www.rawfusionliving.com  Healthy alternatives to your favorite comfort foods. It's actually not as daunting as it all sounds. I don't "do" daunting anyway.

I'm respectful to the ways people choose to eat, this is not a fad diet~ just a return to eating simpler, less processed, less cooked and healthier foods.

Bon Appetit

The Paper Bag Lunch Girl

blog by: kim

School Cafeteria

Me: “what did your mom make you for lunch?”

Little girl next to me: “peanut butter and jelly on wonder bread, fritos, a twinkie with soda. why are you staring at my food kimmy? what do you have in your paper bag?”

“uh…a sprout sandwich, an apple for dessert and some warm apple juice. raisons for snack. wanna  trade?”

“no weird paper bag girl!”

And so it was my cafeteria life in grade school. A few times it was Triscuits with raw veggies. Whaa? No wonder why I can’t get enough peanut butter as an adult.

When I was really little, I’d dream about those crunchy greasy things that kids called potato chips and secretly wish my mother didn’t sprinkle wheat germ on my food. What  was that anyway? 

As a kid I wanted  junk food and I was not pleased that I couldn’t just have a normal lunch like the rest of the kids. The friday pizza looked so good. If I was given a little money to buy white milk in the school cafeteria, I’d sneak and buy some sort of chocolate hostess cake instead and then lick my little fingers clean. Yummy.

It’s funny how our eating habits as kids makes a difference on how we eat as adults. Even though I didn’t grow up with both parents, years later I remember my father being  good about eating healthy. I was utterly horrified by this. He and my step mom would juice things, fruit, veggies, you name it- it went down that little tube and came out in liquid form. I’d stand there and shake my head and scowl. "Pffft… how odd" I’d say. 

What little I knew. But to this day, I still stick to my coffee as you can see... 

And why oh why did dad work out almost daily? I understand it now, but the time it made no sense. Talk about discipline. I was more interested in boys.

Nowadays I have finally settled into a happy medium. I’m not overboard with the healthy stuff,  you still have to live and enjoy life! But I  also choose whole wheat over white, virtually no greasy fried foods,  chips only on occasion and so on and so forth. I am not disciplined enough to eat all non fat /gluten free/sugar free foods that I cannot pronounce. One must live a little now and then, yes? 

Which brings me to the issue of dieting. I have heard of some of the funniest fad diets. No matter what, even if you take off the weight- if you don’t figure out how to eat healthy and moderate the calories over the long term, it’ll just creep back on. Losing weight AND maintaining it, is about lifestyle. Healthy eating habits and routine exercise are the only way to go. I know. Don't look at me that way. I didn’t write the rules.

Check out these funny fad diets:

The Twinkie Diet- Eat junk food and lose weight? By sticking to 1,800 calories a day - around 600-800 fewer than needed to maintain weight – the guy lost 10 lbs in the first three weeks of his "diet". It shouldn't come as such as surprise. After all, you could lose weight eating two candy bars a day: it's the calories-in verses calories-out that matter.

Eat Backwards and Lose Weight- The Reverse Diet has you reversing the order of what you eat: a heavy dinner for breakfast, regular meal for lunch, then a light breakfast for dinner.

The Lemon and Lime Diet-
According to this diet's rules, you are allowed to only ingest two things (besides water): lemons and limes. The diet's creator believed that this diet would promote health. However, the smarter people out there realize that only eating lemons and limes will cause a serious diet imbalance. No, really?

The Master Cleanse
- It’s has become famous due to the variety of celebs that swear by it. This diet involves drinking water along with maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and lemons. While you'll certainly lose weight by just ingesting these four things, you're looking at a serious imbalance in your body. Just thinking about it makes me very grumpy.

The Toddler Diet - Just eat toddlers. Oh my, that is funny.

But focus back over here. Fad diets don’t offer a healthy, long-term weight control plan. They are so very restrictive. They aren’t a healthy form of dieting that can be incorporated into life for the long haul.

Many diets buy into “yo-yo dieting". Yo-yo dieting is the back and forth gain and loss of weight from excessive dieting. Real weight loss is slow when it is finally done from a healthy perspective.

People who go on fad diets are putting their body at risk for disease and illness. Most fad diets restrict you from eating foods that are packed with the vitamins and nutrients the human body needs to protect itself from fatigue and sickness.

 So maybe, just maybe those people that raised me were actually onto something. Perhaps now I’m a little more thankful for my embarrassing, sprout- filled cafeteria days after all. 

love, the weird paper bag girl