YOUR STOMACH WILL THANK YOU

So it's January, guys! The time of the year when we try to connect to better habits. One habit that many of us focus on is eating smarter, myself included. This January marked the start of another round of Whole30 eating! Last year I did it with the intention of looking for a food sensitivity. This year I'm focusing on looking at what foods make me feel really great and give me the most sustainable energy. Working at home sometimes led me to snacking on some questionable things like a whole bag of popcorn chips from Trader Joe's (oops!). No surprise here, I would feel like crashing early in the afternoon. You know, that 2:30 feeling? Well I had it biiiiiig time. Part of the challenge with Whole30 is finding or creating recipes that are compliant. If you aren't familiar with Whole30, it essentially embraces a paleo diet for 30 days. Read about it! It's wonderful! And TBH, it can feel like a mental battlefield at times, but I think that makes you a stronger human 💪

Anyway! I have been trying to find different ways to get those very important probiotics in my system. Kombucha in the form of GT's Synergy, flavor: Guava Goddess is usually my standby but I wanted to try something new. When I visited the Wedge Co-Op in Minneapolis, Angelica's Garden raw kimchi caught my eye! It's locally made and the flavors seemed like they would be spicy and delicious (I was right, btw :) ) soooooo I gave it a go and made a stir fry! What I love about kimchi, cousin of sauerkraut, is that it introduces good bacteria into your system to help you digest your food more easily. This recipe is pretty simple, to follow so have fun with it! Add more veggies, different protein, use rice instead of cauliflower rice, whatever you please. No matter how you made it, your stomach will thank you, your taste buds will too!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Coconut Aminos

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp garlic chili sauce

2 tsp ginger powder

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbs sesame oil

1 lb pork tenderloin, silver skin removed

2 cups spinach

1 jar kimchi

1 tbs olive oil

rice of your choosing (I used cauliflower rice)

HOW TO

Cut pork into 1 inch slices

Combine coconut aminos, vinegar, chili sauce, ginger, and sesame oil in a small bowl and cover pork

Place in refrigerator between 20 minutes and 1 hour

While pork is marinating, strain kimchi and save fluid and wash spinach

Heat wok or large skillet over medium heat with olive oil until you notice steam from the pan

Add pork and cook until the outside is browned then remove to a clean plate

Add kimchi and spinach to pan and mix in some fluid from the pork marinade and kimchi

When veggies become soft, add the pork back to the skillet and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Plate your rice and top with pork mixture

Enjoy!

ART SUPPLY FAVORITES 2

Hello! Once again I have been itching to share with you some of my recent favorite art supplies. ANNNND it is just in time for the holiday season in case you're buying for an art loving person in your life!

I haven't purchased a lot of supplies lately, so some of the things I'm sharing are things I already owned. The others are things I did buy, used and loved. Assume that the things I shared in my last video are still favorites of mine as well, but I don't want to repeat myself so if you want to see that video too, have a look! 

Enjoy the video I've made with a little explanation on why I love these arting gems.

Bamboo pen
Small plastic transparent t-square ruler
Pebeo drawing gum
Artist Loft water color paint pallet
Rhodia Paper: dot pad and blank

MUESLI FOR BREAKFAST

What can I say, I love breakfast. I even love to eat it in the morning!

There was a time when I preferred my breakfast consumption to take place at dinner time or even after that! When I used to work at a library during college I would go out to IHOP after the night shift was over with some fellow co-workers and eat many a stack of pancakes.

Anyway. Times have sure changed! My jam during breakfast time recently has been oatmeal. What is a more quintessentially fall or winter food than oatmeal?

My number 1 oat-love right now is Seven Sundays Muesli. Specifically, the Unsweetened Bircher variety. This is a breakfast loving brand from my city, Minneapolis! YAY! The contents are more than just oats, it contains barley, currents, dates, almonds, apples, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and more. You can prepare it cold, soaked, or my favorite, heated. Basically you take equal parts oat and water over a hot stove top. Heat up until it starts to bubble and bring the heat down and stir that sucker until it is cooked to your liking.

You can do whatever you want from here, grab a spoon, add milk, or any favorable garnish. I have been really loving the combination of the hot oats, almond milk, and sliced banana. I enjoy every bite as well as sipping on some tea or coffee to get my day started.

Beginning a day this way feels is just like getting a hug from my kitchen.

Enjoy the video below of me getting down in the kitchen and making my favorite breakfast of the moment.

Sidenote:
This was another attempt at video and it seems that every time I put one together I learn a lot. I used Final Cut Express this time for editing and I do like it, but of course, there was a learning curve. This time I learned about the different file codecs and compressions for audio files. Bringing small videos like this together from storyboarding, shooting, directing and editing is a lot of work and a lot satisfying.