how to use leftover fruit 101

 feeling ever-so-slightly guilty about being a quitter with the juice fast.  the good news is, it puts you in a good mind-set with eating habits afterwards.  you're just excited to put anything in your mouth that you can chew! 

matt and i had a long conversation about how to improve our diet this year.  i tend to pack on the pounds (majorly) during the winter when the vegetables are starchier and i don't go to the farmer's market.  i crave heavier meals and get a little lazy with cooking and we tend to eat out a lot more.


 

 i would consider matt and i to be "foodies" and we loooooooove going out to eat....like, all the time.  we are really bad about ordering anything and everything we want.  see some of our many gluttonous meals on my Tumblr.  i am NOT THAT GIRL that orders a salad at dinner.  i want an appetizer, a huge meal, a salad, dessert, a cocktail....i want to try everything!  sometimes our server's jaw will hit the ground like, are y'all really gonna order all that food???  like when we go to midwood smokehouse and order the pimento cheese fries topped with bbq brisket AND the "pig-out" which is meant for a family of four or more lol.  so basically what i am saying is we have ZERO sense of self-control and over-indulge all the time.  so i've come up with a plan to come up with 7 to 14 healthy dinner meals and we will rotate them every week to keep on track with our healthy eating plan.  we also decided to go out to eat once a week and allow ourselves anything we want!  it will make my life easier with planning meals and grocery shopping and we will be eating well every night.

for tonight, i made turkey burgers on onion rolls topped with lettuce, sprouts, tomatos, red onion, and colby-jack cheese.  i made a huge size of kale chips that you simply CANNOT over-indulge in.  you can literally eat an entire pan and it's ok, it's good for you!  to make kale chips, i like to buy the pre-washed and cut kale from Trader Joe's.  spray a pan with olive oil and spread kale evenly on the tray.  spray with olive oil over the kale chips and season with sea salt. i also like to add crushed red pepper and nutritional yeast.  bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

i have pounds and pounds and pounds of fresh organic fruit still from the failed fast, so i need to find ways to consume fruit.  tonight for dessert i made a quick "poached pear dessert".  so easy!  i just juiced a pear and two oranges and used the juice plus a cup of water and a few tablespoons of brown sugar to simmer in a small pot.  skin and halve the pears and drop them in to simmer for 20 minutes or until they are soft.  delicious!