Hot Seed Breakfast Cereal

I used to be a huge fan of breakfast cereal. My favorite cereals were Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, Honey Nut Cherrios, Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal packets, Quaker Oat Squares...huge fan of cold cereal. As I went gluten and dairy free my breakfast cereal choices were extremely limited. I found other options and I started drinking rice milk and that was okay. I would eat hot rice cereal with maple syrup and ghee or gluten-free oatmeal. Then the real shocker came when I found out that I had to limit my intake of sugar and eat higher amounts of protein because I had low blood sugar and hypoglycemia. Boo, what was I to do? Breakfast cereals weren't on my list.

I started eating eggs for breakfast with sauteed greens, which I love. I would blend up protein shakes and sometimes I'd just have lunch or dinner stuff for breakfast. Now I don't really believe that breakfast has to be cereal centric.

But, recently I was trying to come up something quick and easy and totally approved for blood sugar issues. This cereal can be hot or cold, but since it turned cool I decided to add warm water instead and I like it even better. This certainly fits my allergen-free lifestyle and its easy to prep. This is really versatile so once you have your flax and chia base you can really add whatever you like. Make your own concoction and share with us.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps Flax Seeds (mix dark brown and golden for a visually appealing cereal)
• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds

Tasty Mixins - Add a few and mix it up day to day

• 1 tbsp Hempseeds
• 1 tsp. Sesame Seeds
• 1 tsp. Pumpkin Seeds
• 1 Scoop of your favorite protein powder (right now I have been adding chocolate flavor so my cereal tastes a little like brownie batter)
• 1 tsp. Golden Berries
• 1 tsp. Goji Berries
• 1 tsp. Raw Cacao Nibs
• 5-10 drops of Liquid Stevia (or to taste)

Hot Seed Breakfast Cereal - MaryLangfield.com

 Directions:

1. Grab a glass bowl (larger than you think you need the first few times). Put the flax and chia in the bowl and add any dried fruits like the goji and golden berries.
2. Add warm/hot water. I usually add about a cup of water, but it depends on what you want the consistency to be. These two really thicken up when wet so if you want the cereal more runny and not oatmeal then add more water. (I boil my water in advance and let the water temp cool a bit to warm because I don't want to overheat the nutrients in the flax and chia, but boiling water will work too).
3. Stir, stir, stir
4. Add your yummy mixins
5. Stir, stir, stir
6. Add water if its too thick.

Add other tasty options like:

• Superfoods like Maca, Bee Pollen, Aloe Vera, Coconut (1 tsp. of oil, 1 ounce milk or shredded flakes)
• Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews, Brazil, Pine....)
• Fresh Berries (Blueberries, Cherries, Raspberries, Strawberries...)
• Sunflower seeds 

Smoked Salmon Pate

OMG - OMega 3 Goodness

Smoked Salmon Pate

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Yield: approx 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound Salmon (2 fillets)

1 1/2 tablespoons of alder wood chips

2 tbsps of Lemon Juice

2 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsps of organic butter (I used goat butter =YUM)

Celtic Sea Salt and Ground Pepper to taste

Fresh Dill (optional)

Directions:
1. In a stove top smoker, add wood chips and place salmon fillets on the grate.
2. Add the lid to the smoker, turn burners on low - set timer for 20 minutes (walk away or prepare something else)
3. When timer goes off, check to make sure salmon is done
4. Place salmon in food processor with lemon juice, butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, dill or other magical ingredients of your choosing
5. Blend until smooth
6. Do a taste test and add more salt, pepper - to your liking
7. Scrape out Pate and place in a sealed container in the fridge for a few hours
8. Serve and Enjoy


Try this as a quick dinner, snack or appetizer.


This was super simple and quick. It is also really tasty (if you enjoy salmon). If you do not have a stove top smoker, just bake the salmon and then follow the instructions starting with step 4.

Fresh summer dessert

This summer has been intense. The heat and humidity has been stifling. This summer seems to be trying to rival the crazy winter we had of below freezing temps and ice and snow storms. As the heat has cooled down into the mid-80's the weather has been joyous. This little lull allowed this time to bake a crisp as well as homemade coconut milk ice cream. Both were delicious. Yum!

Stone Fruit Crisp

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp of lemon
• 1/4 cup of Sucanat
• 5 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1/2 cup gluten-free oats
• 1/2 cup Almond flour
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 tsp of himalayan sea salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Place fruit in baking dish - Pie plate or other 9 inch pan
3. Place all other ingredients into the Vita-Mix and blend
4. Add the crumbly mix to the top of the fruit - evenly
5. Bake for 25 minutes or longer depending on your oven (my oven runs hot)
6. Eat with Coconut, Almond & Raspberry Ice Cream. Yum!

Coconut, Almond & Raspberry Ice Cream (Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pints of Raspberries
• 3 tbsp of fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1/4 cup of vanilla agave
• 1 cup Almond Milk
• 3 cups Coconut Milk
• 1 tbsp pur vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in the Vita-Mix and blend
2. Scoop out and place in Ice Cream Maker for 20 minutes
3. Scoop out of ice cream maker into freezer friendly container and freeze for a minimum of 1 hour.
4. Enjoy with Fruit Crisp!

My Individual List of "poison" foods

Over the last 6 - 7 years as I have been working toward healing my various ailments (depression, bad skin, digestive discomfort, weight gain, insomnia, etc) I started doing a lot of research. My goal was to try and determine what I could do holistically to turn these problem areas around naturally and without prescriptions.

The two main tools I found have been through diet and lifestyle.

Each person is an individual and although there are many foods that are not beneficial, junk foods, excess sweets & alcohol, bad fat. Sometimes there are seemingly good foods that although are not "bad" can actually be seen as a poison to your own individual body. I know that using the word "poison" must seem like overkill, but as I have watched myself and my clients' health transform I think the word poison is actually very fitting.

Here are my individual foods that do not agree with my body:

• Bananas
• Soy (including Tofu, Tempeh, Edamame) 
• Catfish
• Cow's Milk
• Coffee
• Cornmeal
• Fructose
• Gluten containing foods (this is a major issue for many people and it is very hard to avoid if you use convenience pre-packaged foods)
• Halibut (sent me to the emergency room twice, though the doctors said it couldn't be the fish)
• Lamb
• Liver
• Mushrooms (again with the mold issue)
• Oat (typically cross contaminated with gluten)
• Peanuts (they can contain a lot of mold and I am very sensitive to mold)
• Pork
• White Potatoes (though I believe my clients on the whole do better leaving these out of their diet as it is such a high glycemic food)
• I still enjoy potatoes though rarely and I select Yukon Gold/Fingerling, Purple, Blue or Sweet Potatoes
• Shellfish (clams, crabs, oysters, scallops, shrimp, lobster)
• Strawberries
• Sucrose
• Black & Green Tea

It took me a while to tune into this knowledge. Even when I intuitively knew that dairy had something to do with being bloated. Or that gluten might have something to do with my lack of concentration, or that bananas (the perfect food for SO many reasons) would cause constipation - I still didn't want to believe it. I mean it seemed like an awful lot of work to remove these foods from my diet. Right!?!

Most of my clients know there are foods that do not work for them, but they continue to eat these foods because they are so common and they don't know any different. They also don't trust themselves and rather buy into whatever diet plan seems the most alluring at the time. And, I don't blame them - its what I did since I was 8 years old. My recommendation to you is to try tuning into that knowledge and seeing how much better you feel when you do.

How do you do that? Grab a notebook and start charting how you feel after you eat. You will start pin pointing what sets you off whether its migraines, gas and bloating, zits cropping up, your energy might be zapped, maybe your allergies are worse. Once you chart how you feel take the time to trust that knowledge. Pay attention to what you have been consuming - food and beverages (and don't forget about your body care!). Not only will you be much closer to your optimal health goals you'll realize that it is a lot less work to eat the right foods than the wrong. 

If you are interested in learning how to do an elimination diet and getting support then sign up for my newsletter on my website www.MaryLangfield.com and look out for one of my upcoming group programs (you'll get recipes & other health tips too).

Cabbage Saute

I was asked to post this recipe that I made for Christmas. I hope you enjoy it as a main meal or as a side dish with lunch/dinner or for breakfast with a side of chicken sausage. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 Small Cabbage or 1/2 large
• 1 leek, sliced into rings (or yellow onions)
• 1 bunch of kale (de-stemmed)
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• Pinch Himalayan sea salt
• 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ume Plum Vinegar - to taste

Directions:

1. Chop up the cabbage, chop up/rip the kale leaves, mince the garlic
2. Heat your pan on low, add the extra-virgin olive oil
3. Add the leek and let it sweat a bit
4. Add the sliced cabbage, stir and coat the veggies with olive oil, cover for 7 minutes (or so)
5. Add the kale with a bit of himalayan sea salt, cover for a few minutes until wilted
6. Add the ume plum vinegar to taste (it gives the greens a lovely sour taste)
7. Serve and enjoy. Makes enough for 6.

As with any recipe you may need to "play" with the ingredients to get the flavor you desire. Please do not feel constricted to follow these directions exactly. If you don't have cabbage, use what you have like zucchini or green beans.

Simple Soup

Hands down soup is my favorite food. I love them all - creamy, brothy, chunky, noodley...yum. Soup is nourishing and filling and it heats you up when it is chilly outside. Soup can also be paired with just about anything and everything - salads, sandwiches, pastas, entrees.

However, sometimes making soup seems like a chore. Forget that! Instead of slaving away just toss some "stuff" in a pot and call it simple soup. Don't over think it.

This soup is super healthy and nutritious and you can take this recipe and recreate it everyday by using other frozen veggie bags and adding favorite herbs or condiments to give it flavor.

• 1 Bag of Frozen Broccoli
• 1 Bag of Frozen Green Beans
• 1 Box of Chicken Stock
• 2 Large Leeks - chopped
• 3 Celery Stems - chopped
• 2 TBSP of Fresh Parsley 
• 1-2 Bay leaves
• 4 Cloves of Garlic - minced
• 2 TBSP of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tsp (+) Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Sea Salt
• Couple cranks of ground pepper
• Pumpkin Oil - little drizzle over each bowl (totally optional, yet tasty)

1. In a stock pot, heat the extra-virgin olive oil on low heat. Once the pan is hot add the leeks, celery, bay leaves and cover
2. Add the garlic after a few minutes
3. Once the veggies are softening up add the box of chicken broth (about 4 cups)
4. Toss in the frozen veggies (add whatever you like no need to follow recipes 100% all the time - cauliflower, peas, spinach, zucchini would also be be great choices and easy to find frozen)
5. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and add salt, pepper, more garlic (optional), parsley
6. Shut off heat and pulse in a Vita-Mix blender if you want a creamy consistency or only blend part of the soup keeping some of it chunky.
7. This is COMPLETELY optional, but super delicious add a drizzle of pumpkin oil on top. Not only is it tasty, but it makes the soup look extra fancy!

This was a thick soup so if you wanted it thinner, blend it more or add extra stock. 

Serves 6

Super duper FIBER biscuit

Teff Flour was on sale at my co-op today and I decided to grab it up.
What is Teff? It is a gluten-free grain; used in Ethiopian staple bread, injera; it makes tasty quick breads, pancakes and waffles; substitute up to 20% in recipes; teff has a sweet, malty flavor; use to thicken stews, soups, sauces. 

Teff is high in protein and I look for that in my grains. A whole grain and protein combination is helpful as it allows the absorption of the sugar into the body more slowly so that we receive steady energy from that food. That means that we are less likely to keep snacking mindlessly on a food. Unlike, say eating regular cookies we may purchase from the store where the flour has been reduced to the endosperm of the grain and no longer whole. Therefore, we are left with only the sugary part of the grain and this can lead more quickly to blood sugar imbalances.

Ideally I wanted to make a gluten-free bread, but given the fact I didn't have all the ingredients, I settled for teff cookies. I remembered seeing a recipe from my friend Michelle and I decided to use her recipe as a guideline. What I found however is that these cookies had a firmer more biscuit consistency than a chewy cookie (perhaps a bit of baking powder would remedy). 

• 1 1/2 cups teff flour
• 1/2 cup roasted butternut squash puree
• 1/4 cup agave/molassas mix
• 1 cup coconut cream concentrate (from Tropical Traditions)
• 1/2 tsp. salt celtic or himalayan sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. I tossed all the ingredients, except the teff flour into my Vitamix Blender because the coconut cream concentrate is very solid at room temperature. So I needed to break it up and make it smooth again and the vitamix can easily handle that manipulation. You might need to add a little coconut oil to do so.
3. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend well. 
4. Scoop out the dough with a cookie scoop or a tbsp spoon and place on parchment lined cookie sheets (super easy clean up). 
5. Using a fork, press down to flatten the cookies
6. Bake for 10-13 minutes
7. Approx: 2 dozen cookies 

We did a little culinary math and it seems these cookies have approximately 5 grams of fiber per cookie - that's a lot.

If you order from Tropical Traditions they have wonderful coconut goodness. Enter this code 5531550 when you order and you will receive a free coconut oil book with your order which has some great info as well as recipes!

Gooey Goodness

This week I had one of those days where I wanted a treat. In fact, I needed a treat and only a chocolate chip cookie could squelch my desire. I searched one of my favorite gluten-free sites knowing that Elana would inspire me. I came away with lots of ideas, but decided to create a cookie based on her Double Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. In typical MulberryMary fashion I could not follow the recipe 100% as I believe recipes are really just a guide or a road map to get one started. So I made a few changes. This isn't always a good thing, but this time it worked out pretty well even for someone who doesn't spend much time baking. Who am I kidding? I do not spend any time baking for a reason. When I was younger I had CRAZY sugar cravings and I would sometimes polish off way more of whatever I had made, usually homemade brownies. I considered baking to be a very dangerous hobby so I  stopped. Many of you know that curbing sugar cravings is one of my favorite healthy topics and specialty. Now that I don't turn into the cookie monster every time I eat something sweet I figured I could handle baking a bit more. That doesn't mean I don't have something sweet daily - fruit, smoothie, made up dessert - it just means I usually only make enough for a single serving.

Not so classic chocolate chip cookie recipe:
2.5 cups of almond flour
1/2 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking soda
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup vanilla agave nectar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I use the Enjoy brand as they are dairy, nut & soy free)
1/2 cup goji berries (also known as wolfberries)
1/4 cup of shredded coconut

Here is where I tried my best to follow Elana's directions. However, my cookies did NOT yield 3 doz. My cookies turned out pretty big so I had one dozen cookies. Also, my cookies were really soft and chewy and not firm and hard. I could have added a bit more flour, but I was totally okay with this. You can also see that the outsides of the cookie look burnt, but they actually weren't.

Instructions per Elana:

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
2. In a medium bowl combine grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla
3. Stir wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined
4. Fold in chocolate chips, goji berries and shredded coconut(try adding sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds and a bit of cinnamon)
5. Spoon dough 1 heaping tablespoon at a time onto a parchment lined baking sheet, pressing down with palm of your hand to flatten
6. Bake at 350 for 7 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden (Mine took about 12 minutes to bake - I checked often)
7. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then serve

Enjoy!