Cherryaki Marinade

Since I no longer eat anything with sugar or honey, I've had to get a bit creative with sweetening my foods. I absolutely love teriyaki sauce, but because there is sugar in it, I can no longer eat it. That is what lead to me creating this "Cherryaki" sauce, using cherries instead of sugar, which is much healthier than traditional teriyaki sauce.

You may use this recipe to replace anything that calls for teriyaki sauce or to marinate any kind of meat; Turkey, beef, chicken, or even meatless recipes for you vegetarian readers, or anything else your tastebuds desire with teriyaki can be used. I like to grill my teriyaki marinated meat, but any other cooking method you desire may be used.

One of the foods I have also stopped eating is soy sauce. Since cutting this out of my diet, I have discovered a product called "Liquid Aminos" made by Bragg. This is a delicious soy sauce substitute; It tastes just like soy sauce if not better and is available at most grocery stores and whole food markets. It's much better for you than regular soy sauce; There are no additives or artificial ingredients and is organic, not fermented like soy sauce, and contains 16 different amino acids. You may use soy sauce if you'd like, but I would highly recommend trying the liquid aminos.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup cherries, pits and stems removed
- 1/3 cup Bragg liquid aminos
- 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp. grapeseed oil (or any other oil of your choice)

Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend/process for a few minutes.

To marinate, pour sauce into a plastic bag or bowl with food to be marinated, tightly cover (or seal/close bag) and let meat sit in marinade in refrigerator for at least 45 minutes (or longer) before cooking.

(Shown in photo above: I marinated chicken breast tenders and put them on the grill to cook.)

Breakfast Burritos

High in protein and nutrient rich vegetables, breakfast burritos are delicious and a great idea for breakfast when you have leftover vegetables and meat from your dinner the night before. If you do not have any leftovers, then you can saute some vegetables until tender and/or meat until fully cooked.

Be creative:. You can use leftover taco mix, chunky pasta sauce, any kind of cooked vegetable or lean meat; Chop it up into small chunks and mix it in a bowl with eggs. Because of cholesterol in eggs, I use one full egg combined with 3 egg whites. Depending on your diet, you may decide to use whole eggs, just egg whites, or a combination of both like I do.

Scramble the eggs until cooked. Put the cooked egg mixture onto a whole wheat or corn tortilla wrap or taco shell. Top it with sugar free salsa, wrap it up and enjoy.

Super Healthy Taco Mix

When I first started eating gluten free, I had trouble finding a taco seasoning mix that didn't have either wheat flour or MSG, which was very frustrating to me. I made up this taco seasoning recipe, which tastes much better than packaged mixes, and with all the vegetables in there, it's much healthier than any other recipe I've tried. This recipe is gluten free and sugar free, and super healthy for you!

Recipe:

- 3 tbsp. grapeseed oil (or other oil of your choice)

- 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced

- 2 pounds of lean ground chicken, turkey, or beef

- 1 large onion, chopped

- 2 medium bell peppers, chopped

- 2 medium-large tomatoes, chopped

- 1/2 cup water

- 2 tbsp. chili powder

- 2 tsp. ground cumin

- 2 tsp. paprika

- 2 tsp. oregano

- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Coat the bottom of a large saute pan with oil. Add ground meat, garlic, onion, and peppers, and brown until cooked. While that cooks, combine chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. When meat is cooked, drain fat an add in tomatoes, spices, and water. Cook for another 10-15 minutes on medium-high heat, until tomatoes are tender and most of the liquid has simmered out. Let cool, and serve.

I usually put this mix in either a whole wheat tortilla wrap or corn taco shell and top with lettuce, salsa, and (Chobani) non-fat plain yogurt. (The yogurt is a healthier option fo people who usually like sour cream on their taco.) Be creative, and as always, check your ingredients for "junk," such as white flour ("unwhole wheat") and sugar.

For my vegetarian friends, use 1 lb. tofu and 1 lb. beans instead of the ground meat. Skip the browning the meat part of the recipe, and just saute the peppers, onion, and garlic by themselves. Add in tofu and beans and continue with recipe.

Fruit and yogurt smoothies, tasty and so good for you!

Being someone who has suffered from digestive problems for just about my whole life, I find a bit of relief in eating yogurt. Yogurt contains Probiotics, which are healthy and beneficial live organisms that help maintain the healthy bacteria (also known as microflora) in your intestines, helping with digestive and immune function. When I stopped eating dairy products 6 weeks ago, the only thing I didn't stop eating was yogurt because of the benefits of the Probiotics in it.

When choosing a yogurt, you have to be careful with which one you purchase. Although you may think light yogurt is your best option if you are trying to lose weight, you need to realize that often these yogurts are not good for you because of additives and sugar substitutes that they may use in them such as Aspartame, Splenda, and Saccharin. I feel that to prevent buying these types of yogurts, your best bet is to buy a yogurt that is plain, and contains only cream or milk and "live active cultures." To flavor the yogurt, you may add your own fruit, nuts, or even some Stevia to sweeten it up. (the only sugar substitute that I will use, but keep in mind, only use it in moderate amounts because since it is so new to the market, it has not been thoroughly tested yet)

The yogurt I use is Chobani non-fat plain yogurt. I choose this because if you read the label, you will see that the only ingredients it contains are "nonfat milk and five live active cultures." That's it. No junk, no sugar, no sugar substitutes; just milk and Probiotics.

RECIPE:

- 2 cups fresh fruit (use whatever you'd like. In the photo, I used blueberries, strawberries, and cherries with the pits removed obviously)

- 1 1/3 cups plain yogurt (or one 16 oz. container)

- 1/3 cup rice milk

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Prepare fruit by peeling, removing pits/seeds, removing leaves (from things like strawberries), or any other part of the fruit that was not meant to eating. Pour into blender. Add yogurt and rice milk. (and vanilla if desired) Blend to desired consistency. Some people like their fruit a bit chunky, others like it very smooth. Pour into a glass and drink. Yes, it's that simple. If the smoothie isn't sweet enough for you, a small amount of stevia may also be added (I used PureVia brand) to the smoothies. This recipe makes 2-3 servings.

Another idea: if you plan ahead, freeze the rice milk in ice cube trays. This will make it more like a frozen smoothie, extra chilly, and great to drink on hot days or after a hard workout.

Enjoy!