Category Archives: All blog posts

Spin It!

My school-loving first grader is not so happy that her four-year-old brother is already on summer vacation while she has an whopping EIGHT more days of school before she joins him. The envy is palpable. And all this from a child who counts down the days until school BEGINS in the fall, plays school on Saturdays, and desperately begs to have school friends over to play because “it’s so long until tomorrow when I get to see them again!” It’s baffling! After enduring the hundredth chorus since Thursday of “WHY does Tucker get to be done with school and I still have to go? It’s not FAIR…” I finally sat her down and had a little chat about spin.

I explained that I understood she was really looking forward to summer vacation and I thought that was great! However, by turning her joyful anticipation it into an ongoing litany of complaints about still being in school she was making herself and everyone around her miserable. I challenged her to focus instead on how excited she was about the impending summer and to make THAT the focus of her dialogue instead. I even role played for her in my best exuberant 7 year old voice…

“I am so excited about summer! It is going to be great! In less than two weeks I am going to fill my days with swimming and playdates and day camps. I’m going to have a lemonade stand and make 50 different kinds of popsicles. I want to go to the zoo and Kings Island and have my cousins sleep over. Maybe I can make a LIST of all the great things I’m going to do this summer and hang it up in my room!!”

Same situation. Eight more days of school till summer. But a MUCH more pleasant dialogue. Don’t you think?

So…..where can you do the same for yourself? Instead of “I hate hate hate that I weigh this much,” could you say “When I am lighter I am going to love how it feels to buy new clothes.”

Or instead of “I hate my job,” try “I love dreaming about jobs I might really love. I’m almost ready to start looking for a new one!”

Or rather than “I am a terrible cook and I never have a plan for dinner,” try “What would it be like if I knew how to cook or tried planning our meals a week in advance? I would feel so confident and relaxed!”

Same reality. Different spin. Try it…and see if you feel a little more optimistic about life when you do!

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Bleu Cheese Portobello Burgers

Is it bleu cheese or blue cheese? It doesn’t really matter (and either is correct). With grilling season in full swing, these yummy “burgers” will keep you out of a barbecue rut.  There’s no need to limit yourself to ground beef  when there are so many other interesting things to put inside that bun!

As a starting point, try these! These grilled portobellos are topped with a sprinkling of bleu cheese, a pile of port-glazed caramelized onions and some fresh arugula and tomato. Each layer of flavor threatens to outdo the last. If you don’t care for cheese (or you’re limiting dairy) you can easily eliminate the cheese without sacrificing flavor!

 

Bleu Cheese Portobello Burgers

adapted from EatingWell May/June 201

serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed and caps wiped clean

3 cups thinly sliced red or sweet onion

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup ruby port*

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided

1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese (or goat cheese) – optional

4 whole-wheat hamburger buns

1 cup baby arugula (or baby spinach)

1 tomato

Directions:

1. Whisk 2 tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, and garlic in a bowl. Brush over both sides of mushrooms and let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce to low heat and add water and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is browned and very soft, about 15 minutes.

3. Raise heat slightly and add port to onions and cook stirring occasionally until mostly evaporated, about 3 minutes more. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Remove from heat and cover.

4. Preheat grill to medium. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper over mushrooms. Grill, gill-side down, for 3-5 minutes. Turn over and top each with 2 tablespoons of cheese. Grill until the mushrooms are tender, another 3-4 minutes. Toast the buns in the last few minutes.

5. Divide the onions among the mushrooms. Place arugula and 1 slice of tomato on the bottom of the bun. Place the mushroom on top (cheese side-up) and top with bun.

*Note: Port is a Spanish/Portuguese wine that is much sweeter than most other red wines. For this reason port can en part a “sweetness” to a dish that a red table wine cannot. If you do not have port, an adequate substitute would be 1/4 cup dark red wine (Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz)and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar combined.

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Do One Thing

I first learned of Robyn O’Brien when I was a student at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. During that time, I was reading everything I could get my hands on about healthy eating, and I discovered her book, The Unhealthy Truth, in my local library. Her passion, her tenacity, and her genuine concern for the safety of our food supply has earned her the title of “The Erin Brockovich of Food!”

Robyn is a somewhat unlikely food advocate, having been raised on “BBQ and Twinkies” in her home state of Texas. But an episode in which her youngest child had a violent allergic reaction to scrambled eggs caused her to investigate WHY food allergies are at an all time high and what other effects our diet is having on our health. What she learned shifted her activism and over-achieving genes into high gear.

Robyn has spent the last five years researching the state of our food supply and what she’s uncovered is alarming. As a mom of four with “a limited budget and limited time” she really understands the challenges we’re all facing.  I’m including a link to an 18 minute You Tube video of the talk she gave at a TED conference that will be a huge help to those of you without the time to read her book. You can listen to this in your car on your mobile phone (without watching the screen of course!) so no excuses…

As her book description states, “O’Brien turns to accredited research conducted in Europe that confirms the toxicity of America’s food supply, and traces the relationship between Big Food and Big Money that has ensured that the United States is one of the only developed countries in the world to allow hidden toxins in our food-toxins that can be blamed for the alarming recent increases in allergies, ADHD, cancer, and asthma among our children.” The data is undeniable, friends. As much as we may not want to hear it or believe it, the typical American diet is hazardous to our health.

Learning about Robyn’s work will inspire you to make changes in your own life; I can almost guarantee it. Figuring out where to begin can be overwhelming so I’m especially passionate about Robyn’s “DO ONE THING” message. She urges us to pick one – just one – thing we can do to make our food healthier. She evenprovides a list of ideas here. What will your one thing be? The changes are simpler than you think.

If you’d like to make even more significant changes, or have some questions after hearing what Robyn has to say, I invite you to schedule a FREE initial consultation with a Nourish coach, call us today at 513-245-4224 or email us to set up an appointment. We can help you take the steps that will put you and your family on a healthier track. You can even make that meeting your ONE THING!

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