Summery Ceviche Recipes

As the weather gets warmer, a little cool, citrusy ceviche sounds just right!

I have to admit I've never made ceviche before as I've been completely intimidated by the idea of "cooking" raw fish with lime and salt.  But my husband, who is definitely more adventurous than I am in the kitchen, decided to give it a try a few years ago.

Wow, was I in for an amazing surprise! It is delicious and I could NOT believe how easy it is to make. He has made it a few times and I just found these new recipes in my "Clean Eating" magazine, so I'm inspired for more.

Hope you enjoy them!

Tomato Jalapeño Ceviche

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless cod fillets, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3/4 cups fresh lime juice (about 6 limes)
  
• Pinch sea slat or kosher salt, plus additional to taste
• 2 vine tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and minced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

1. Transfer serving dishes to freezer to chill.
2. In large stainless steel, glass or ceramic bowl, add cod, lime juice and pinch salt; toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, until cod is opaque throughout and springy to the touch.
3. Drain and discard lime juice from cod.  Return cod to bowl and add tomatoes, jalapeño, onion and cilantro.  Season with additional salt and toss gently to combine.  Serve immediately in chilled bowls.

Serves 8

Salmon-Dill Ceviche

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless wild salmon fillets, sut into 1/2- inch cubes
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
• Pinch sea slat or kosher salt, plus additional to taste
• 1 cucumber, seeded and diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup loosely packed chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup minced fresh chives

Instructions:

1. Transfer serving dishes to freezer to chill.
2. In large stainless steel, glass or ceramic bowl, add salmon, lemon juice and pinch salt; toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, until salmon is opaque-pink throughout and springy to the touch.
3. Drain and discard lemon juice from salmon. Return salmon to bowl and add cucumber, onion, dill and chives.  Season with additional salt and toss gently to combine. Divide among chilled bowl and serve immediately.

Serves 8

Some ideas:

• I think a little avocado would go great in both of these!! 
• You can put the ceviche on a big bowl and people can spoon a bit into a cracker or hearty (small) piece of bread.
• Great for picnics! Bring in a small cooler and enjoy with a side green salad, perhaps some tortilla chips, and of course... some chilled white vino!! Ahhhh.... summer... :)
  

¡Buen Provecho!

With a NY state of mind.

Wow. What an amazing weekend I had in NYC! It wasn't so much the city itself (as I didn't really had time to venture much) but I was at a conference for my school with some incredible speakers like Dr. Oz, Dr. Mark Hyman, Keri Glassman, Marie Forleo, Lissa Rankin (awesome!), Daphne Miller among others. I learned not only about nutrition, but about sleep, life coaching, creating success in your life; there was even a little "farming crash course"... and some daily LOVE! I also got to bond and make friendships with some lovely Midwest ladies from my school group. So, so great!


To continue that "NY state of mind", last night I went to a private screening of the movie "Fed Up" in honor of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Stephen Devries of the Gaples Institute, Representative Robyn Gabel (18th District), and Margo Wootan from the CSPI.  It was great! I really liked the movie and the discussion was both informative and encouraging.  

Last week, I had promised my own review of "Fed Up" and here it is.

The film takes an in-depth look at America's worsening obesity epidemic, pointing fingers at culprits other than consumers, arguing that the conventional wisdom of "eat less, move more" (calories in/calories out) is insufficient to address the magnitude of the obesity epidemic. It was interesting that the film questions "why have waistlines continued to grow in tandem with the rise of the fitness revolution? why are toddlers getting fat?" Hmmm...

The film puts most of the blame on marketing companies, ineffective government, lobbyists, poor food education, school-lunch programs- but the big bad in the film is "SUGAR". Showing how processed foods saddles consumers with addictions and misperceptions about the food they're consuming. It chronicles how this all came about with the "fat-free movement" in the 70's and 80's as researchers learned that "fat will get you fat". Now, as the film shows, there is more evidence pointing at the sugar that was added to the products from which fat was removed, as being the real danger.

While I agree and appreciate this coming to light, I worry about the message people may get.  Forget about fat, it is the sugar that matters. I don't think it is that easy and I hope people don't get that simplistic message from the film and the new "Big Bad Sugar" movement. In my opinion, it is more about whole foods vs. processed foods than it is about fat vs. sugar.  I wish they would have made it a "processed food-free 10 days" for their "Fed Up challenge".

The film also spends some time explaining why the old myth of "a calorie is a calorie" and "calories in/calories out" equation are dead WRONG. I especially appreciate that, as it is a difficult conversation with many who still believe this as the basics of energy balance.

But I thought "Fed Up" was most affecting when it focused on human stories, dropping in on the lives of a handful of smart, heartbreakingly obese kids not given the tools to determine their fates. It is a shame they didn't spend more time on these kids and their struggles, because watching a 400-pound 14 year old struggle to stay alive and going through gastric bypass? That's more motivating than any facts and statistics.

Go check it out! and let me know what you think.

To continue my learning and inspiring "NY state of mind", tomorrow I head out to the suburbs to see Dr. Mercola on a presentation titled "Take Control of Your Health".
I'm loving that title!!! :)

Are you Fed Up?

I surely am. But I am very grateful for this incredible documentary exposing how the food industry (in collaboration with government) have such a big role in promoting unhealthy diets.

This is finally going mainstream!

Fed Up is the new film by Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar-wining producer of An Inconvenient Truth) and director Stephanie Soechtig, showing in theaters all over the nation.

It opened up last Friday but I haven't seen it yet. I am super excited to have been invited next week to a private screening in Chicago honoring the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It will be followed by a panel discussion with CSPI Founder and Executive Director- Michael Jacobson, CSPI Director of Nutrition Policy- Margo Wootan and Representative Robyn Gabel. These guys have done amazing work in bringing some important food policy changes in government, so it will be very interesting to hear what they have to say.

So while I haven't seen it, the reviews (even by movie critics), have been raving!

These are some of the reviews and comments I've read...

By Dr. Mark Hyman (I’m a huge fan!)

It is a powerful indictment of how the food industry hooks us on addictive processed foods laden with hidden sugars. And through a scathing history of how the food industry has influenced policy, marketing and behavior.

Government agricultural subsidies, food programs (WIC -- Women, Infant and Children nutrition, school lunch, SNAP or Food Stamps, etc.), FDA (Food and Drug Administration) policies (approving HFCS and artificial sweeteners as GRAS), and FTC (Federal Trade Commission) policies (allowing $30 billion of junk food marketing mostly to kids), directly results in our obesity and chronic disease burden.

Read full article here...

By Marion Nestle (another awesome person in the nutrition and food politics world!)

The movie Fed Up, a documentary hard-hitting exposé of the food industry’s role in promoting unhealthy diets and childhood obesity. It spares nothing in showing the devastating effects of obesity on kids.

It is especially tough on food company marketing and industry-sponsored research.  

Read full article here...

Even Rolling Stones magazine wrote a review about it!

Few workout regimens, including Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program, get at the root of the problem – that exercise without diet won't get you very far. Another myth busted is the panacea of low-fat foods. Here's just one dirty little secret: as fat is removed from food products the manufacturers replace it with sugar to improve the taste and keep us all addicted. Junk food = junkie America.

Read full article here...

Want more??

• Watch the trailer here…
• Find out where it is playing here…
• SHARE on social media here…
• See Katie Couric’s excellent ABC news interview here…
• Read the New York Times review here…

I'll be sharing my own review and recommendations after watching the film next week, can't wait! I hope you get to see it too, and please let me know what you think.

A Letter To Generation Z Moms

Dear Mothers

As a Health Coach, I will work (and currently work) with a lot of women- many and most of them mothers like you and me. I've come to realize that today we feel unnecessary stress over parenting.  I don’t mean the kind of stress if your child gets sick, financial stress, or the fear of something happening to them- I call this the “natural stress”.  I’m talking about the “OMG we are ruining our children and their WHOLE generation!!!” stress.

This I believe, is largely due to the enormous amounts of information we receive in the form of (I’m sure well-intentioned) articles, Facebook posts, even books about what we, as apparently a whole generation, are doing WRONG.

You know, the ones that say we:

Are spoiling them
Make them feel entitled
Protect them too much
Over schedule them
Solve their problems 
Make them the center of our lives
..or make them feel “special”…

I’m not here to talk about my parenting style or defend one thing over the other, but I want to make YOU, fellow mothers of my generation, feel good on this Mother’s Day week, and perhaps ease some of that stress that can be a heavy burden to your health.

Think about it… did our parents and grandparents do better than we do? We don’t have ANY issues? Wow!...
Oh no that’s right, it’s the French kids that are perfect!

Call me crazy but…I think if we LOVE our children.  RESPECT them.  TAKE CARE of them and DO OUR BEST every day, our children will be fine, actually they will be GREAT.

Will they have to deal with this or that? I am sure they will. But so have I.  And my mother for that matter.

Lastly... remember every younger generation has been criticized by the ones who came before it... and vice versa. Did you know the Baby Boomers are actually the “entitled generation”??

What??... I rest my case.

With Love,
Marisa

My 21-Day Challenge- Will you join me??

As we approach May I want to invite you to enter a little challenge with me...

A 21-day MEDITATION challenge.

WAIT!!! Don't go!!

Before you close the page at the thought of "meditation" and your perception of it, PLEASE stay with me.  At least finish reading and see what you think.

I hate meditation. I hate sitting still. My mind just goes too much. But I also know meditation is exactly what I need. And if you are like me, trust me, it is for you too.

In the past I've struggled with some anxiety, insomnia, brain fog, and what today they would probably diagnose as ADD, but while I feel much better these days regarding these, the time I've felt my BEST was between 9-11 years ago when I was meditating daily... and consistently.

My mind felt focused; I had more patience. I was not reacting but looking at things from a "step back" or what they call your "inner self".  I was very aware of myself, of my every little bit of self, and it felt incredible.

I was more in control of myself and felt happier and more peaceful than I have ever felt.

I'd love to be back there, I really do.  But I know the only way is sitting in that meditation mat and doing the work.

And ironically, once I start and get in a routine it feels like the best 20 minutes of my day.

So here is THE CHALLENGE.

What to Do?
Meditate EVERY day for 21 days. Why 21 days? Because they say it takes 21 days to create a habit, so I'm sticking to that to create my new habit.

Start Date?

Thursday, May 1st, 2014

How long?
Start with 5 minutes for a couple of days, then go up to 10 minutes for about 5 days, gradually increasing and reaching 15 to 20 minutes a day. The key is to do something, so if you think some days are going to just be 5 or 10 minutes, that is fine, but DO IT EVERY DAY!

How do I Meditate?

• Sit on a cushion, pillow or rolled blanket in a comfortable crossed legged position.  Rest your hands in your knees; palms up or down, don't worry too much about your position, but do try to feel comfortable.
• You may want to wear a sweater or socks if the area is cold as your body will cool off by siting still.
• Try to do it when you know it will be quieter in your home, office, or wherever you are going to meditate.
• Close your eyes, and let your breath be.  Do not manipulate it to breathe deeper or shallower, just let the breath be. Observe your breath as the air comes in and as it flows out.
• Your mind will THINK. DO NOT try to stop it.  It won't happen- the nature of the mind is to think and this is the key reason why most people get frustrated with meditation. When the mind wanders just bring your attention back to your breath.

That is all you will do for 15-20 minutes.  Again. It is NOT about stopping the mind from thinking.

Meditation is about exercising your mind and bringing it back to YOU, through your breath, rather than letting your thoughts control your mind. Slowly, and with practice, it will silence itself, your mind will be quieter and your inner self will surface.

Through meditation you will learn that you are NOT your thoughts, and will find this inner self, inner wisdom, intuition, (or whatever you want to call it!) that perhaps you've never known before, and everything will be clearer.

But please keep in mind it takes work, lots of work, so don't expect major revelations on your first, second, even third meditation day.  It comes with time and effort, and thus the purpose of this challenge. 

So, what do you think?
Are you up for the challenge to a more focused, productive, calm, peaceful, aware, loving and compassionate YOU?!?!  I promise you a great, and perhaps transformational, experience. Let me know if you are, I really hope so.

Are you a snacker?

For many people, snacking is necessary.  Snacking may help regulate and boost metabolism, balance blood glucose levels, and reduce levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream. High fiber healthy fat snacks can get you to your next meal!

For me this works... I need to eat every 3 to 4 hours, and sometimes life doesn't allow for this. I have breakfast very early before dropping my daughter off at school, and the midday is always my busiest time, so I need a snack to hold me until lunch.

What can I say... I'm a fan of snacks- they make me not binge, stop cravings, and choose healthier foods on my main meals.

Keep in mind: ONLY because this works for me. (I might recommend something different for some of you.)

My snacking advice...

1. Stay away from processed and eat WHOLE FOODS (you know, the ones that come from the Earth, not a bag or box with a lot of ingredients.)
2. Always HAVE some with you (in your purse, car, etc)
3. DON'T SNACK if you are NOT hungry.
4. Try DRINKING WATER before reaching for a snack.

Here is my list of fave healthy snacks:

• Hummus with carrots and celery
• Berries and (a handful!) of nuts
• Apple with almond butter
• Homemade granola
• Trail mix
• Fruit with small amount of kefir or cultured cottage cheese (if dairy is OK for you)
• Kale chips
• Homemade herbed popcorn
• Chia Pudding

and my newest addition to the "snack arsenal"...

Sweet Curry Roasted Chickpea Mix

Eat this snack treat on its own or add a cupful to basmati rice, yogurt, or a bed of greens with a tamari dressing!

Ingredients:
1 cup dried chickpeas
1 Tbspn olive oil
1 Tbspn Organic Maple Syrup
1 Tbspn curry powder*
1 cup roasted and salted cashews
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 tspn sea salt (optional, as the cashews have salt already)

Instructions:

Soak chickpeas overnight in a medium bowl with a lid.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Rinse chickpeas with cold water and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place another piece of parchment paper over chickpeas.  This extra piece of parchment paper will prevent the peas from popping all over your oven- think popcorn!

Bake chickpeas for 25-30 minutes.  Start checking at 20 minutes.  Eat a pea and test its texture.  You want it to be more crunchy than chewy.  Be aware so the peas don't burn though.

When done, place peas in a bowl and ad all other ingredients.  Stir well to make sure all ingredients are evenly coated.

* Be creative! If you like spicy, try with cayenne pepper too, you can always adjust as you mix it all!

What's YOUR favorite (healthy) snack?

Featured SPRING Recipe

Last time I talked about my Spring Clean Cooking class and the wonderful vegetables and fruits popping up in Spring.  Here I leave you with one of the recipes we cooked, and one of my personal FAVORITE Spring recipes!!

*By the way, we made the recipe with quinoa instead of couscous, as couscous is wheat derived and some of us are sensitive to gluten.  I also like the added protein from quinoa, but either way, it is delish!*

Israeli Couscous with Asparagus, Peas, and Sugar Snaps

Israeli couscous is small, round, toasted pasta with grains about the size of peppercorns. Serve this dish chilled or at room temperature.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 large garlic cloves, minced, divided
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 1/3 cups Israeli couscous (6 to 7 ounces)
1 3/4 cups (or more) vegetable broth
14 ounces slender asparagus spears, trimmed, cut diagonally into 3/4-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 cup shelled fresh green peas or frozen, thawed
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Whisk 2 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, 1 garlic clove, and lemon peel in small bowl; set dressing aside. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add couscous, sprinkle with salt,
and sauté until most of couscous is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups broth, increase heat, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 10 minutes, adding more broth by tablespoonfuls if too dry.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add asparagus, sugar snap peas, green peas, and remaining garlic clove. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; sauté until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Transfer vegetables to large bowl.

Add couscous to bowl with vegetables. Drizzle dressing over. Add chives and cheese; toss. Season with salt and pepper.

Test-kitchen tip:
To trim asparagus, hold onto the top of the stalk with one hand and bend the bottom of the stalk with your other hand. The stalk will snap, separating the woody end from the tender top.

Ingredient tip:
Some sugar snap peas have a tough string running along the top of the pod. To remove it, snap off the leaf end and pull the string.

Enjoy!!