4 Mood-Enhancing, Tempting Recipes

recipesRECIPES: Did you know what you eat affects your mood? 

Here are four eco-friendly,

 energizing,

mood-enhancing

healthy and oh-so-delicious recipes for you.

These recipes were first published in my book Energy Eating, Peak Nutrition for Maximum Physical Performance, Brain Power, Body Strength and Mood Enhancement!

What makes these recipes eco-friendly? They’re vegetarian! Eating green is earth-friendly because it make the best use of the earth’s resources. Also, they’re light on sugar, which affects mood, and high in healthy plant-based protein, carbs, and fats that help improve your mood. Let me know if you’d like more mood-enhancing recipes.

Quick Black Bean Burritos

Need a speedy dinner? This dish pairs legumes and healthy carbs — and it’s ready in just 20 minutes.

Sauce:

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tsp. minced fresh garlic

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

One 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 to 2 Tbs. minced green chilies, fresh or canned, seeded

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Burritos:

Eight 10-inch flour tortillas, preferably whole wheat

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 red onion, diced

3/4 cup cooked brown rice

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

1/2 cup nonfat sour cream (optional)

1/2 avocado, diced

2 Tbs. fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Sauce: Place the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Set aside.

Burritos: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. lay a tortilla on your working surface. Spoon about 1/4 cup black beans across the center of the tortilla, followed by a tablespoon each of onion, rice, and cheese if using. Roll up and place the burrito seam side down in a 9-by-13-inch lightly oiled baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, onion, rice, and cheese.

Spoon the sauce over the burritos and backe for 12 minutes. Serve the burritos topped with the sour cream if using, avocado, and cilantro. Serves 4.

Spicy Sesame Noodles

I could eat pasta every day, especially soba. Yum!

1 pound whole-wheat soba noodles or regular linguini

1 Tbs. sesame oil

6 scallions, green parts only, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp. peeled and minced gingerroot

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Prepare the noodles according to the package directions. Drain. Transfer to a serving dish. Cover.

In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and saute the scallions, red bell pepper, and gingerroot for 2 minutes. Add the cilantro, cayenne, and soy sauce, and saute a minute more. Toss with the noodles. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Serve warm or cold. Serves 6.

Strawberry Orange Ice

This refreshing meal-ender is a pretty, deep pink and vitamin-rich.

1 cup calcium-fortified orange juice

2 cups stawberries. fresh or frozen

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Orange slices for garnish

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for the orange slices. Pour into a shallow, nonmetallic pan and freeze, stirring occasionally, until almost frozen, about 3 or so hours. (Freezing time depends on the shallowness of the container and the temperature of the freezer.) Spoon into four dessert dishes, garnish with the orange slices, and serve at once. Serves 4.

Raspberry-Peach Smoothie

A breakfast drink or dessert, this drink delivers choline-containing soy, betacarotene, calcium and other phytochemicals.

2/3 cup frozen unsweetened raspberries

1 peach, peeled, pitted, and frozen

1 banana, peeled and frozen

4 ounces reduced-fat soft silken tofu (or plain Greek yogurt)

1 1/2 cups calcium-fortified orange juice

Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Makes 2.

Sharing Hope (and recipes) with Your Heart,

Say ‘No’ and Flee from Idolatry!

Say ‘No’ and Flee from Idolatry!

Idolatry is making a god of something or someone who is NOT the God. All of us are tempted to cozy up to idols. Guest writer Ellen Castillo, one of the counselors in Heart2Heart Counselor Directory, reveals her go-to idol and how she–and you–can learn to say “no” and flee. Her article appeared first here on her website and is used with permission. 

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What do you run to? What should you run from?

 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10:15

It’s humbling to admit this. For many years my go-to idol has been. . .food. Sin is always humbling, isn’t it? And it can be embarrassing and even humiliating, except that the Gospel takes care of that kind of self-focus and self-condemnation.

I’ll take the humbling, because that is what keeps me from turning back to idolatry. I’ll keep purposing to reject the embarrassment and humiliation, because I know that my sins are forgiven. To try to pretend that I am not the worst of sinners is just silly because it’s written all over me. And you.

Let’s remember this: we have a Savior.

Idolatry Everywhere! 

Idolatry today comes wrapped in a lot of different packages. Food, alcohol, drugs, prescription meds, sex, materialism, shopping, anger, status, playing the victim, seeking aproval and attention, relationships, celebrities, pride of all kinds, and so many more.

There is no end, really, to what we allow to become idols in our hearts. Whatever we put before God, wherever our treasure is, whatever we worship, those are our idols.

There is a reason these idols are called “false gods.” They are counterfeits. They ultimately fail us. We actually “become like them” and that is, to put it bluntly, disgusting.

Disgusting Idols

The psalmist wrote:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them! Psalm 135:15-18 

This disgust gripped me a few months ago when I got a serious medical diagnosis that is worsened by my idolatry. I realized I had “eyes, but did not see, ears, but did not hear, and there was no breath in my mouth.”

I won’t say my idol is entirely gone now, but I am seeing consistent victories along the way. Praise God, it is His work in me, not my own. I am too weak apart from His strength. I have a long ways to go, but I am daily choosing to go toward Christ rather than my toward my false god.

Where are you going?

The Gospel Ensures Victory

One of the beautiful things about Jesus’s Gospel is that we do not need to strive for victory.

Yes, there is a part we must engage by obedience, but when (not if) we fail at times, we can praise God because He does not see what we see. Even if my hand gets caught in the cookie jar, I am forgiven.

That does not excuse my behavior nor does it give me the green light to worship my idols. It does offer me grace to get back up again and press on in obedience because of the indwelling Spirit in me. I need to know that God’s love for me does not change (nor does my eternal security) when I fail at times, and I do fail. But by God’s grace you and I can experience more victories and fewer setbacks as long as we are not relying on our own strength.

How does God deal with our idolatry? How are we to be rid of it? We see in Scripture that His dealings with His people were consistent and blatant. We see the same kind of dealings with our current culture (just view the news or your Facebook feed and you will see it.)

The Word Reveals Our Need

The commands are clear: we are to have no other gods before Him. God is a jealous God.

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:3-6 

In our personal lives, if you have a personal relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus, God deals with us and our sin of idolatry very individually and specifically. For example, my conviction came as a result of that scary medical diagnosis that requires a change of habits if I want to be healthy and live to know my grandkids, Lord willing.

We fashion our idols and enjoy them for awhile, until God reveals to us the thoughts, beliefs, and desires that lie at the core of our hearts. Those are the things that mold and transform in to our idols.

Heart Matters

Out of that core of our hearts flow the things we worship, and we must remember that those things are not going to satisfy ultimately because:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

God’s Word is clear. When God reveals our idols to us, we are then responsible to flee them.

Ephesians 4 instructs us to put off the old man, and put on the new. Through the conviction, empowering, and enabling of the Holy Spirit, we can do this. We can say no.

Titus 2:12 reminds us that grace actually teaches us to say no.

Grace. The Gospel. Spirit indwelling. SAY NO. Flee!

Sharing Hope with Your Heart,

lucy-signature-blue

Eat Well, Obey God

eat well

Did you know God wants you to eat well and take care of your body? I received a strange message from God (it’s in the Bible) one summer day several years ago. This message led me to eat a pork chop. Weird, huh?

Pork isn’t particularly healthy and I had been a vegetarian for fourteen years. God had better plans. How does an avowed vegetarian–and author of vegetarian books–end up with a chunk of pork chop on her fork?

I obeyed God.

God Spoke, I Obeyed

While at the barbecue, piling my plate with corn and coleslaw, I heard in my heart this Bible verse.

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 1 Timothy 4:4, NIV

It sounds silly but this was a spiritual crisis for me. Would I stick to my vegetarian principles and eat well (i.e., no meat), or be thankful for the food set before me and obey God?

There sat a pork chop on my plate. I held a fork and knife. I stabbed. I ate. The verdict: Delicious!

My hubby grinned. My children looked at each other, wide-eyed. I forked another piece of pork.

Even though my vegetarian days ended a dozen years ago, I keep my meat intake to a minimum in order to eat well. One reason: Eating green is eco-friendly. Eco-friendly eating is good stewardship of God’s creation. I’d love to share a few recipes I wrote. I hope you like them. Eat well, my friends.

3 Delicious Vegetarian Recipes 

Quick Black Bean Burritos

This dish pairs legumes and cheese with healthy carbs. It’s ready in 20 minutes.

Sauce:

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tsp. minced fresh garlic

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

One 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 to 2 Tbs. minced green chilies, fresh or canned, seeded

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Burritos:

Eight 10-inch flour tortillas, preferably whole wheat

One 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 red onion, diced

3/4 cup cooked brown rice

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

1/2  cup nonfat sour cream

1/2 avocado, diced (optional)

2 Tbs. fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Sauce: Place the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Set aside.

Burritos: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. lay a tortilla on your working surface. Spoon about 1/4 cup black beans across the center of the tortilla, followed by a tablespoon each of onion, rice, and cheese. Roll up and place the burrito seam side down in a 9-by-13-inch lightly oiled baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, onion, rice, and cheese.

Spoon the sauce over the burritos and bake for 12 minutes. Serve the burritos topped with the sour cream, avocado if using and cilantro. Serves 4.

Spicy Sesame Noodles

Pasta with Asian flair. Soba is best but linguini works too.

1 pound whole-wheat soba noodles or regular linguini

1 Tbs. sesame oil

6 scallions, green parts only, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp. peeled and minced ginger root

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 tsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Prepare the noodles according to the package directions. Drain. Transfer to a serving dish. Cover.

In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and saute the scallions, red bell pepper, and ginger root for 2 minutes. Add the cilantro, cayenne, and soy sauce, and saute a minute more. Toss with the noodles. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Serve warm or cold. Serves 6.

Strawberry Orange Ice

This refreshing ice is a pretty, deep pink and vitamin-rich.

1 cup calcium-fortified orange juice

2 cups strawberries. fresh or frozen

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Orange slices for garnish

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for the orange slices. Pour into a shallow, nonmetallic pan and freeze, stirring occasionally, until almost frozen, about 3 or so hours. (Freezing time depends on the shallowness of the container and the temperature of the freezer.) Spoon into four dessert dishes, garnish with the orange slices, and serve at once. Serves 4.

Sharing Hope with Your Heart,

lucy-signature-blue

are food cravings bad. . .or GOOD?

Food cravings sound bad but sometimes they are good. Do you know the difference? Do you know when you ought to fulfill a craving? Find out.

You’re at your computer when a food craving strikes. It comes quick. It comes strong. Like a panther on the hunt.

With swimsuit weather looming you may have tried a diet to slim down or made a promise to cut out a favorite snack. You want to feel better, look better, and live longer. . .but this food craving: Should you give in?

Your pantry or fridge is calling your name. What should you do?

A. Try your very, very best to ignore your food craving.

B. Run to kitchen, grab your snack, and feed your craving.

The Shocking Truth

If you selected B, you chose wisely. Fulfilling a biological food craving, which differ from emotional food craving, is smart because you’re listening to your body. The result: you’ll think and feel better. (By the way, my newly revised e-book Energy Eating (first published in 1999) is coming out this summer and covers whole health wellness.)

Did you know that carbohydrate-cravers tend to have lower serotonin levels than people who prefer protein-rich snacks? Their lower serotonin levels prompts them to eat carbs to help counter the blues, nervousness and irritability. When they get their serotonin “fix,” their mood improves.

This is one quick way to know whether your food craving is biological or emotional: When you have a biological food craving and fulfill it, you feel nourished. It doesn’t take much food to meet your biological needs either. One bagel, a wedge or two of low-fat cheese, or a couple of chocolates–that’s it.

Emotions Run Wild

In contrast, emotional eating looks for comfort in food. It goes along with “I’m a loser” self-talk. Also, one small treat is never enough. Never.

Emotional eaters confuse love and self-acceptance with food. It is their drug of choice. Their god.

Lonely? Spooning in a pint of ice cream seems a safe “friend.” Anxious? Crunching a king-size bag of chips can give nervous hands something to do. Angry? Eating any food in excess can be a distraction and a way to “stuff” feelings–until self-hate slithers around your ankles and chains you.

Been there? Yeah, me too. I think we all have.

So Now What?

If have a food craving and it is biologically driven, fulfill it. Pronto.

If you are an emotional eater, please turn to the Lord for strength. He will help you. Ask him to show you why you turn to food for comfort.

Give Him your emotions: your anger, your sadness, your happiness, your anxiety, your resentment, all of it. Every time you’re tempted to act out your emotions and eat, pray. Ask Him whether this is what he wants you to do. If you need help in handling emotional eating, turn to a friend or a counselor.

Question: What food do you usually crave? Me? Chocolate! Please share. Your sharing encourages others. Thanks.

With Joy Overflowing!

what to do when you’re depressed

When you neglect self care, you open the dark door to depression. Take care of yourself. This is God’s will for you.

Have you tumbled into the pitfall of self neglect when life goes nuts? Every woman has.

I remember many times when I cared for a sick kid (and a sneezy-queasy hubby), getting them medicine or water or barf bowls, running myself ragged, and losing sleep. Then when one child was on the mend and I entertained her the best I could, the flu bug bit another child. More medicine. More barf bowls. More worry.

For me less sleep and less good food, unless one dark chocolate after another counts. No? I didn’t think so.

Sometimes we care for everyone but ourselves when we are busy, hurt, or trying to prove our worth, and often end up depressed. So what should you do when you’re depressed or to head off despair?

For a clue, let’s listen to a true story of how God cared for a man who experienced great victory and now suffered deep depression:

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.

“I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” (1 Kings 19:3-7)

Anticipate a Low After a High

Elijah had experienced a great victory against enemies of God and their evil queen Jezebel. A sort of David-Goliath faceoff and the giant dropped dead. Here, however, it was one against 450 false prophets of the false god Baal. The false prophets all died in a blood bath. Then came the queen’s creepy death threat: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

Elijah ran for his life.

Eat Right

The angel told Elijah to eat. He filled up on delicious whole-grain bread and drank water, both miraculously provided. After facing the false prophets and proving that God is God, and knowing a powerful person wants you dead, Elijah was physically spent and emotionally drained even though he walked close to God.

Do the Next Thing

Did you notice that the angel told Elijah to get up? When overwhelmed by busyness, hurt, or depression, it’s tempting to do nothing except maybe change TV channels with a remote. Getting up and doing the next thing — whether getting dressed, eating breakfast, or making a phone call — moves us in a positive direction and spares us a deeper depression of self-pity.

Rest

The average woman needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep daily, more while pregnant, injured, or ill. Are you getting enough? Too much?

Make a godly habit of falling asleep at the same time each night (or morning, if you work third shift) and waking up at the same time each morning. Ban the TV from the bedroom. Steer clear of a computer screen at least one hour before bed. TV-watching and computer use can interfere with sleep.

All of these together — rest, doing the next thing, eating right, and anticipating a low — help you avoid the pit of self neglect and even depression.

Tomorrow is my fourth post in my series on REST. This particular post is counter-intuitive. Can you guess what it is?

With Joy Overflowing!

Lucy

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