Self-Congratulation, Snow Salutations, Sugar Detox Week 1, and Super-immunity Slow-Cooker Chicken "Noodle" Soup

No, I could not pass up the opportunity for the overkill of alliteration, but I do actually have something to share on all of these "S" topics.

Self-Congratulation: I have to give a shout-out to one of my friends (she will remain nameless so no internet weirdos go track her down and harm her), who is two weeks into a paleo lifestyle and made my week by actually trying my recipes I share and giving me feedback - this week she made BBQ Pizza, my Mexican Beef Stew and the Chick-Fil-A nuggets. The majority of the time, I feel like I am sharing information with air and if it wasn't for being able to see my number of page views, I would give up. However, to have someone actually read my posts, make the recipes I have shared and to give me feedback on them is awesome. What is even better is that she has loved them and and is feeling great eating paleo (hence the self-congratulation, yay me, yay her)! She made my day this week when I received the following email from her after she made a version of this BBQ Chicken Pizza I shared:

That BBQ pizza was SO. FREAKING. DELICIOUS.

I was feeling a little disappointed prepping it thinking it would taste like a "healthy pizza" and be nowhere near as satisfying as "real" pizza, but I was so wrong. I topped it with shrimp, spinach, red onions, nutritional yeast, bbq sauce and cilantro- so good and cannot wait to eat the leftovers.

A) Cheese? What cheese? Nutritional yeast was a great substitute and omitting cheese did not make me feel like the pizza was missing something important as I had feared.

B) Dare I say I liked it better than normal pizza? Had several helpings and cannot recall ever being this excited about a pizza.

C) Oh wow I don't feel bloated and fat afterwards as pizza usually makes me feel... crazy!

THANK YOU FOR THE RECIPE AND FOR ENCOURAGING ME TO PALEO! (Yes, it is a verb now.)  Nearly two weeks in and so happy!

If you make any of the recipes I share, please let me know and give me feedback, even if it's to tell me it was disgusting and you will never making something I share again.

Snow Salutations: In case you are like me and didn't have time for the news this week - there is a snow storm in the Northeast. It is actually quite lovely to be writing this post, looking out my window at the two feet of snow piled up outside. I'm sure I will feel differently tomorrow when I venture out. I'm using the snow storm as an opportunity (and excuse) not to leave my apartment for one whole day - the only problem was what to do about the yoga class I planned on attending today. I've been listening to the Fed+Fit Podcast and yesterday I listened to an episode where they talked about committing to your scheduled workout and how to stick to it when it seems life is getting in the way. Well, I couldn't very well just roll around in my bed with that replaying through my mind, so I went surfing the internet for a good at home yoga video. After finding a couple that I just really couldn't stand, I finally found this one on PopSugar. It is a great 30 minute yoga routine that gets your heart rate up and gives some good stretching. Bonus tip: if you do it next to your radiator its just like being at hot yoga!

"Moo-less" chocolate mousse

Sugar Detox Week 1: For those of you that read my last post, you will have seen that I am doing a 21 day sugar detox (aka 21dsd). The first few days were seriously rough, the world was a cruel place to live in and all I looked forward to was when it was going to be time for my 1 fruit a day. On day 2, I had to get 4 shots of espresso just to deal with life. However, I am happy to say that come day 4, I started feeling much better and SLEEPING much better. I've also lost a couple of pounds in this first week, which I am sure is due to inflammation and water weight that was built up in my system. One of the things I love most about kicking refined sugars, processed foods and in this case, natural sugars, is that you realize how delicious and sweet food is on its own. Your palate shifts and you start to question why you ever bought sugar in the first place. I honestly have been so happy with my green-tipped bananas/green apples and nut butter and "not-sweet" treats such as this "moo-less" chocolate mousse and these chocolate almond butter cups that I have been tempted to throw out all my sweeteners (not going to do that because they are too expensive). I'm excited for feeling even better the next two weeks and keeping better sugar habits moving forward.

Carrot Porridge

Super-immunity Slow-Cooker Chicken "Noodle" Soup: In my last post, I said I was looking forward to trying and sharing new recipes throughout my sugar detox. I had really high hopes for this carrot porridge recipe I wrote. Don't get me wrong, it worked, and it was good and I ate it twice, but I didn't love it, my life was not changed by it, and I probably won't make it again. What did work just great was a chicken noodle soup that I made and I am thrilled to share it with you.

I wasn't feeling great with the change in weather and two cures came to mind - 1. bone broth and 2. chicken noodle soup. If you have a half a brain cell, you quickly put together that those things can and should be combined into one super cure-all: chicken noodle soup made with bone broth. Before I share the recipe though, I will provide the quick and dirty on why bone broth is good for you as that is where the "super-immunity" comes into play. Bone broth delivers important nutrients to your body in an easily absorbed and digested form, it contains collagen which is essential for maintaining your gut health and some shockingly-high percent of your immunity depends on your gut-health. For more (real) information you should check out this link or this one or this one.

Now, onto the food...

Into the slow-cooker

You may have seen in previous posts that I am a big fan of using whole chickens - it is cost efficient and tasty. Well, I have to admit that I have really outdown myself in efficiency this time. In addition to wanting bone broth and chicken noodle soup, I also really just wanted some delicious, crispy-skinned roasted chicken for dinner. Never fear, I was able to satisfy all of my desires. First, I roasted a chicken and had 1 leg for dinner. Then, I pulled all the meat off the bone, placed the bones in my slow-cooker with filtered water and apple cider and made my bone broth by cooking on low for 24 hours. Next, I let it cool and removed all the bones from my broth, giving some pieces off the carcass to my kitty of course. Then I added in 3 medium carrots, the pulled chicken,  garlic cloves, celery, leeks, bay leaves, salt, pepper and spiralized celery root and cooked it on high for 3 hours (low 6 hours would also work). Voila, Super-immunity Chicken Noodle Soup. I had a giant bowl that night, saved 2c portion for lunch that week and froze the rest for the future! Just as a side note - each 2c portion has less than 300 calories in it - definitely needed my snack the day I had that for lunch.

Into the freezer!

To give you the slow-cooker summary recipe:

Ingredients

Cooked meat from one whole chicken (or about 3c shredded chicken)
1 qt chicken bone broth (homemade preferred as above or see this link)
3 medium carrots (peeled and chopped)
4 celery stalks washed and chopped)
1 large leek (make sure to wash these, dirt gets trapped between the layers!)
2 small-medium celery root (peeled then spiralized or shredded for "noodles" or cut into chunks if going noodle-less)
6 garlic cloves (smashed)
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions 
Put everything in slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.