CooCoo For CoCo...

... Coconut Rice Pudding, that is!
Here's the recipe for tonight's yummy dessert. This is a great way to use up leftover rice, have a tasty protein-rich treat, and it's so easy to make!

3 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar (or honey, to your taste)
2/3 cup raisins (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten (or egg replacer; this is optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
optional toppings: toasted coconut, nutmeg

Cook the rice, coconut milk and sugar at medium heat for about 20 minutes until thick. (If the rice is extremely dry you may need to add more liquid) Add the raisins and vanilla; continue to thicken until desired consistency. If you choose to add the egg, lower the heat and do so now, whisking it in until throughly mixed (about 2 minutes) Stir in the cinnamon. Serve hot or cold. Watch Conan and Enjoy!

The inspiration for this delightful dessert comes from my new resolution (which just happens to coincide with the beginning of a new year) to improve my energy and vitality. My eating habits are pretty healthy to begin with, but I've gotten into a few bad habits. (Hey, can I help it if I've gotten addicted to cheese while living in the freakin' dairy belt?) Unfortunately, even this kinder gentler Hep C treatment that I'll be taking is known to cause fatigue. So embarking on this journey will require as much of a foundation as I can build, right from the get go. So... who ya gonna call? Fatbusters? No, silly, call a food guru!

So last week I asked my good friend Mark Powell to stop by for a visit. Mark is not only an amazing nutritionist, he's a comic book geek (Marvel only, please! except for when Jack Kirby was at DC) and I'm selling his childhood collection on eBay. I originally met Mark through a few mutual friends. I was having a lot of back pain at the time; the chiropractor I'd been seeing was unable to help. I'd been told that Mark might be able to do something; he's a rolfer as well as a nutritional counselor. Long story short, Mark did what he could and encouraged me to get an x-ray, which eventually led to the discovery of a diseased bone. Some of you know that I'm a real bionic woman now, with a titanium hip. But that's not the point of this particular post. The point is, I spent several months working with Mark and his Super Healthy Eating program. It made perfect sense for me to ask his advice, and stand-up guy that he is, he immediately offered to give me as much counseling as I need. How lucky am I?

Mark and I had a good, long talk to refresh my memory on some of the basic principles of his program. Rather than try to paraphrase, I'll just direct you to his blog, which is informative, funny, and a darn good read. You'll find it here: http://superhealthyeatingsystem.com/
This morning I started to ease my way into things with a couple of juicy oranges, then about an hour later my favorite brekkie treat of pancakes made from Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking Mix. (note: this is a bit of a splurge and a sidetrack from the "plan" but way better than having bacon and eggs, yo) Those carbs kept me going through a morning of phone calls: to the pharmacy to order my meds, to the clinic to schedule my class session (I could just call this my Injection Refresher Course), to my pal Misti to line up tickets for a girls' b-ball game... and then some time spent taking photos for eBay, sorting through comics, and then... a nap.

Maybe you can tell by now that I really like talking about food, almost as much as I like eating it. Lunch was a huge salad of baby spinach greens, topped with chopped avocado and celery, a sprinkling of raw hemp seeds, and a super-delish lemon/tahini dressing (easy to make: 1 T tahini, 1/4 lemon juiced, a small amount of honey to sweeten) Sprouts would've been a great addition, but I didn't have any in the house. Oh well. I managed to finish putting it all together just in time to watch Jeopardy, then packed up some boxes to ship out tomorrow and cleaned up around the house. Maybe it doesn't sound like much for a normal person, but for me, one day of no dairy, being strictly gluten-free (yeah I cheated over the holidays, dammit) and getting a good amount of "clean" protein, and I've already noticed an increase in my energy.

This is good. Not perfect... maybe tomorrow I'll try to take advantage of the slight thaw we're having and take a short walk. Meds will be delivered on Wednesday, Thursday I'll head over to the clinic for that class and figure out how to schedule these injections so the fatigue won't be so bad. And I'll keep on finding foods that'll give me the most bang for the buck. I'll keep y'all posted on that. Thanks for listening.

peace out,
Laura