Dehydrator Plantain Chips

Plantains are a staple in the Ecuadorian diet.  I do very well in Ecuador on a Paleo diet because plantains are the base of so many things.  So as you all may know, I'm going to be increasing my running mileage in preparation for running the Chicago Marathon and wanted to find ways to fuel my long runs.  Plantains are definitely one of those foods that I will be using.

What I learned about dehydrating plantains is that these are a really good source of resistant starch, which is good for your gut.  When they are dehydrated on a low temperature, you preserve the resistant starch and promote healthy flora.  This resistant starch is broken down when you cook them in high heat.  These were fabulous and definitely easy to carry for hiking, long runs, etc.  Enjoy!

Here's what I did.

• 4 plantains (I used ripe ones - this depends on your preference - ripe are sweeter). 
• Coconut oil spray
• sea salt

1.  Slice the plantains thinly (some folks use a mandolin, I just sliced them with a knife).
2.  Lightly coat with coconut oil.
3.  Add sea salt to your taste.
4.  Place on dehdrator racks.
5.  Dehydrate for about 12 hours, until thoroughly dry and crispy at 118 degrees. 

It's that easy and simple!

Training for a Marathon on a Paleo Diet

Training on a Paleo Diet

This is my first blog that will track how I do training for a Marathon on a Paleo diet.  I consider this my first real week (psychologically speaking) of training.  I am going to do this blog because I can't find much at all on training for a Marathon on a Paleo diet.  I guess one of the reasons for that is that it's not really Paleo to run a Marathon - it's not like our ancestors ran marathons - maybe walked and walked for days, but certainly not run long distances.   So most Paleo folks, I think, are more inclined to do cross fit type of stuff or things like that.  Of course, I don't fit into the community of runners either - as the pre-race day party for my training group includes the traditional "carbo" loading event full of pasta, which I will not be partaking in - zucchini noodles for me, thanks!  

One of my goals with this marathon is to blog about what it’s like to train for a Marathon on a Paleo diet – no pre race carb loading with pasta and other stuff like that…. Nope.  So I’ll tell you what I do instead…and how I fuel my long runs. Of course the main goal is to raise money for Taller de Jose (read below). 

This week my menu included:

Breakfast: 

Nopalitos con Huevo

Broiled Grapefruit

Shredded Vegetable Muffins

Nut Free Pumpkin Crumb Muffins

Lunch:

Basically either breakfast or dinner leftovers

Sardine Salad

Dinner:

Seafood Jambalaya

Zucchini Noodles with Marinara Sauce and Lean Ground Beef

White Chicken Chili

Snacks: 

Plantain Chips

Pan de Yuca

This week, my training was not too different than my normal routine and the diet questions and changes in carbs won't come up much until I really start to increase my mileage.  I will keep you posted on how that goes.  However, while I am open to including rice or other gluten free grains in my diet if needed, I'm going to really try to give this a go with a fairly strict Paleo diet (which does include things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca, and plantains for me).  It's not accurate to say that a Paleo diet does not include carbs - it just does not include the highly processed or inflammatory grains. 

This is the message I sent to my friends about my decision to run the Marathon:

I never thought I would run a Marathon - but have really enjoyed running - as a “late bloomer” - I started running in my 40's and have been running now for about 4 years.  I remember my very first run, it probably lasted a whole 7 minutes with my son Atzin pushing me from behind saying “You can do it Mom!” Running has become a true pleasure and meditative practice for me.  I have now run two half marathons and countless 5K’s, 8K’s, and 10’Ks. 

Oh, I digress, back to the Marathon.... So I said to myself, if I ever run a Marathon, I would have to do it for a cause that I really believe in . . . and have always had in the back of my mind that I would run for Taller de Jose, an organization that serves as a resource center offering services of accompaniment.  They help people connect to services and services to people - that sounds simple, but they do so much more than that!  I became acquainted with Taller de Jose through my students at the Graduate School of Social Work, Dominican University.  I had a student in my class who was doing an internship there and what she was doing sounded amazing.  I made an appointment to visit the agency, and have since been partnering with them on various projects, and we have had many students do their internships there. 

So what’s the big deal about accompaniment and Taller de Jose? 

Well Taller de Jose offers all of their services for free – they do not charge a penny for their services.  That’s the first thing to get out of the way, in terms of why there is such a need for donations and fundraising.  Because their services are free, it means they serve many of the undocumented folks in Little Village, Cicero, and other areas in the Chicago/Chicago Metropolitan area that otherwise, would have nowhere else to turn.  My goal is to raise $1,500 dollars for them. 

Second and more importantly is the way that Taller de Jose transforms lives.  I have been in social work for over 20 years and I know that there are so many barriers for the Latinx community to access services and I also know that they are not always welcomed.  Let me share some of the quotes from service users who have had experiences at Taller de Jose that I collected during my focus groups (one of the projects I did with them was to help them identify their model):

“Oh without a doubt, TDJ helps so much.  When I came here, I came with my head down and oh, they lift your spirit (begins to cry) because at other places, I had been stepped on, treated like zero.  I am documented, and it’s the same thing, because of language or because of your skin color.  They just look at you and make assumptions.”

“My compañera is an interpreter, she helps me, she goes with me to court, she helps me fill out papers, she is with me.  She has been with me from 8 am until we get out at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. “

“I felt, I felt like I was being saved actually.  I was like, you know because I’ve called millions of people you know throughout my situation to see who can help me and my children and my mom and no one has taken the time to listen, and when she took the time to listen that made me feel wonderful.  I felt like I was being saved like someone actually cared.”

So you can see by these quotes that the website just doesn’t capture the depth of what their services provide.  It’s not just about the tangible, connecting people with resources, but it’s the way they do it and what happens when a human being feels respected and heard. 

So what is accompaniment? Here is the definition I came up with:

“Accompaniment in this context is defined as a relationship between the service user and the compañera/o grounded in values of dignity, unity, mutuality, love, and respect that uses interdisciplinary knowledge to navigate mainstream institutions, build capacity, and create more accessible and responsive systems.”

So if you would like to support my efforts and donate to Taller de Jose, here is my donation page:

https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/tallerdejose/Campaign/chicagomarathon2017/Fundraiser/LeticiaVillarrealSosa/
 Donate to my effort to run for Taller de Jose - click and pledge page

If you want to learn more about Taller de Jose, here is their webpage:

http://tallerdejose.org/wordpress1/index/

Taller de Jose Facts and Stats Page:

http://tallerdejose.org/wordpress1/index/our-services/factsandstats/

I will keep you all posted on my journey!  I can’t say I’m not kind of nervous about both the fundraising AND running a marathon! I’m still sitting here as I write, thinking “I can’t believe I’m really doing this!

In peace and love,

Leticia

Coconut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

Hello paleo, gluten free, clean eating, vegan (ish) foodies!  It has been nearly six months since I last posted a recipe.  I was going through some pictures noticing that I was on quite a marathon with cooking!  With my busy schedule and travels, I haven't had a chance to post any new recipes.  I returned about a week and a half ago from a two week trip to Ecuador.  Wow! I was certainly inspired by the food there and will be working on Paleo-ifying some of the amazing food I ate while there.  Here's one example:

Caldo de Bola

This was an amazing soup with a plantain fritter sort of thing (bola) filled with shrimp in an amazing shrimp soup.  This is "Caldo de Bola con Camarón."  I will be trying to recreate a few things, in particular this caldo de bola, the many amazing ceviches I ate there, and my most favorite: Encebollado.  Stay posted for those attempts!

Well back to this particular recipe.  I had been without a fridge for over a week.  While on my travels, our fridge broke down.  I came back to an incredibly busy schedule due to facilitating a week long, all day workshop on inclusive teaching. Needless to say, I did not work on getting the fridge repaired or getting a new fridge for that whole week.  So, I come back from travels (I had been in Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Guatemala before Ecuador. Being away for so long I had to orient myself back to my home and my kitchen) and I had no idea where anything was, there were few ingredients, and we had no fridge!  With my husband in charge of the kitchen, even my vitamix lid was missing!  How can you lose that???!!! I am waiting for the replacement from Amazon.

Today, I made some ice tea (because I now have a fridge to store it).  Given that it's a very hot day today (90 degrees but the feel is like 100 due to humidity), I wanted a sweet treat without baking.  I wanted to use some coconut butter I still had, but didn't have a lot of other ingredients.  These cookies are now in the fridge as I wait for them to harden a bit.  However, I already ate one before going in the fridge and they are delicious!  So easy, no baking so ideal for those of you living in hot climates, and good for you! 

Just as a side note, also remember "fat doesn't make you fat!"  Coconut oil has medium chain triglycerides (MCFA), which is an important building block for all of our cells and can reduce cholesterol and heart disease.  Coconut oil can boost our immunity, kill bacteria and viruses, protect from degenerative diseases, and prevent osteoporosis.  Contrary to what some folks might think, the MCFAs are burned for energy and can stimulate your metabolism.  I know, it's hard to believe with how we have been socialized to fear fat.  Believe me, since I have lost my 42 pounds nearly 5 years ago, I have not put that weight back on, not even in Ecuador!  And I ate a lot!  My hypothesis is that I have managed to change my metabolism on a paleo diet.  Of course, this is total speculation based on an n of 1.  My own case study.  However, the benefits of coconut oil have been documented.  Here are two articles that discuss the health benefits of coconut oil. 

Helmer, J. (2007). Cook and beautify with coconut oil. Better Nutrition, 69(3), 40-42.  
Rubin, J. (2003). Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - the Good Saturated Fat. Total Health, 25(3), 30.

Just to offer some balance, medical doctors don't agree that coconut oil is as healthy as some claim it to be.  Of course, I don't really trust most mainstream medical doctors and always do my own research.  In truth, a lot more longitudinal studies could be done to better assess the health benefits or risks of coconut oil (most are short term - so even meta-analyses of studies are somewhat inconclusive).  You probably didn't need all that, but it's fun - I like to look up nutrition articles.

I almost forgot!!! The recipe:

1/2 cup of coconut butter (I used a bit of the vanilla cake flavor I had combined with a chocolate flavor I had).
1/3 cup of almond butter
1/4 cup of almond flour
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

All you do is mix all the ingredients in a bowl (I softened/melted the coconut butter)
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet
Use a Tablespoon to scoop the batter and make them into little balls
Place on the parchment paper and put in the fridge to cool!

All done!!  Have fun!! Enjoy!! Great activity to do with your kids!

Love you all,

Leticia

Avocado Chocolate Bread

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup avocado
3 TBS coconut oil (melted)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 TBS coconut cream
3 TBS raw honey
2 eggs
1/2 cup pecans
2 cups almond flour (I use honeyville almond flour or I purchase almond meal at Trader Joe's).
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup raw cacao
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips (you can either use Enjoy Life or Lily's Chocolates, I purchase these at Whole Foods and now I do a lot of my shopping at Thrive Market).  Lily's Chocolates are stevia sweetened, nonGMO, and gluten free.  Enjoy Life are dairy, nut, and soy free.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a food processor, pulse the avocado, coconut oil, vanilla extract, coconut cream, honey, and eggs. 
3. Now transfer that mixture to a bowl. 
4. Chop up the pecans and add them to the mixture.  
5. Add the almond flour, baking soda, cacao powder, salt, and chocolate chips. 
6. Combine ingredients gently. 
7. Prepare an 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 inch loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper, and spraying it with coconut oil. 
8. Spoon the batter into the pan.  
9. Top with chocolate chips.  
10. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  

Paleo-ish Enchiladas Estilo Fresnillo

Making these was a big project, so when I want to make something like this, but don't have the time, I do prep in stages.  One day I diced the onion, made the chorizo, I boiled the water and soaked the chiles, and prepped the chicken.  On another day, I made the chile sauce and boiled the water for the cabbage leaves, and assembled them.  Then I had them in a baking pan ready to go into the oven when I was ready to "start" dinner so that they would be fresh out of the oven.  Making dinner meant I only had to put them in the oven and make the cauliflower rice as the side dish. 

Tortillas:
9-10 cabbage leaves

Chile Sauce:
8-10 dried chiles (I used what I had at home: a combination of anchos, guajillo, and red new mexico).  Being true to enchiladas fresnillo, the recommended chile is ancho. 
Water to boil and soak the chiles
 1/4 inch piece of cinammon bark
a pinch of cloves
1/8 tsp of dried oregano
1/8 tsp of dried thyme
1/8 tsp of dried marjoram
1/2 tsp of black pepper
1 TBS of sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup raw almonds, toasted (I used soaked)
sea salt to taste

Garnishes:
1/4 cup queso fresco (you can use more, I was just concerned about the calories).
1 medium white onion
1 avocado
3/4 sour cream
1 1/2 cup chorizo

Filling:
3 lbs of cooked chicken
5 cups of spinach
1 cup of mushrooms
cumin (1/2 to 1 tsp)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
olive oil (I used green chile infused olive oil because I have some in the house right now). 



Direction for the filling:
1. Boil the chicken
2. Shred the chicken, then saute with spices and add the spinach and mushrooms.

Directions for chile sauce
1. Soak the chiles for about 20 minutes.
2. Remove the seeds and the stem from the chiles by rinsing them.
3. Place the chiles in the blender with a cup of the water in which they were soaking.
4. Blend, add more liquid if needed (add the chicken broth).
5. Add the spices and blend.
6. Toast the sesame seeds and almonds.
7.  Add those to the blender.
8. Saute the sauce in a little bit of olive oil, adding more liquid if needed for your desired consistency.

Make the cabbage leaf "tortillas."
1. Boil a large pot of water.
2. Carfully remove the entire leaf one by one on the cabbage head
3. Blanch the cabbage leafs for about 1-2 minutes (I put in 4 at a time)

Assemble the enchiladas
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare the baking pan by spraying with olive oil spray
3. Dip the cabbage leaf in the sauce
4. Place on baking pan, fill, and roll.
5. If any sauce is left over, take it and spread it on the enchiladas so that you use all of it and they are generously covered with chile sauce.
6. Add the onion, chorizo, and cheese sprinkled on top.
7. Cover and bake for about 45 minutes. 
8. Serve with avocado, radishes, and sour cream

Mexican Cauliflower Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 TBS preferred fat (butter, coconut oil, or palm oil).  I used palm oil in this recipe because it helps give it that nice red/orange color.
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 cup of carrot, finely chopped
• 1 cauliflower head
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth or water
• 1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions: 

• Melt butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Add onion, garlic, and carrot and cook until onions become translucent, around 5 minutes
• To rice the cauliflower, use the shred attachment in the food processor.  Add the cauliflower rice to the skillet and saute until rice starts to brown. About 5-10 minutes. 
• Add turmeric and sea salt, stir to combine
• Reduce heat to medium low and pour in the chicken broth or water and tomato paste. 
• Remove from heat and serve immediately

2 WW SP
 

Kale Pine Nut Tart

Here is the other recipe that ya'll wanted!  This was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients for the Crust:
1 1/2 cups of almond four
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 TBS dried rosemary
2 scallions
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (you can substitute a different fat)
1 TBS water

Instructions for Crust: 

• In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, rosemary, scallions
• In a smaller bowl, whisk oil and water 
• Stir in wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. 
• Press the dough into a 9 inch tart pan. 
• Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. 
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling. 

Ingredients for Filling: 
3 cups of chopped kale
1 small shallot
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs, whisked
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pine nuts

Instructions for Filling: 

• In a large pot with a steamer basket, wilt the kale over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until bright green. 
• Place the kale, shallot, and salt in a food processor and pulse. 
• Transfer kale mixture to a bowl and stir in eggs, cranberries, and pine nuts. 
• Pour the mixture into the crust. 
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned around the edges and cooked through. 
• Let the tart cool for 30 minutes and then serve.