Homemade Mango Frozen Yogurt #healthydesserts #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen

I was grateful I could make a healthy dessert after being tired from cooking for Memorial Day. The non simple carb snack brought pleasure to my taste buds and left my body more relaxed to function. Thanks Lisa at Downshiftology for the recipe.

Recipe

Healthy Sesame Seed Oil Marinade #healthyseedoil #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen

I was surprised to see there was a healthy Seed oil. Not only is sesame seed oil healthy but it fights inflammation. I knew there had to be something to it where I trust Dani. 

I used fresh ginger where that's what I had in the house. Skipped the Srirracha, no thank you.... Was so happy I added rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to my pantry. It's so nice having a variety of flavors in the house and where I don't have to purchase so many meats and poultries or other because my taste buds are bored. I just found this out recently not even thinking about it.

Recipe

Healthy Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Cream Pie #healthydesserts #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen

This was better than Hometown Buffet desserts!!! Yum!!!

Creamy Dreamy Chocolate Pudding

Easy Graham Cracker Crumb Pie Crust 

I used coconut sugar for all the sugar.

(I made my own graham crackers leaving out the glaze and only using coconut sugar which was an extreme amount of work.) 

Homemade Maple Whipped Cream

Want to try this sometime on brownies powdering coconut sugar. I made some powdered coconut sugar for my son with some cinnamon rolls as the topping as part of his birthday food delivery. Haven't heard anything yet.

Italian Pasta Salads #healthyfood #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen

I have this delicious salad packed and ready to go for the week. I froze 2 servings out of the half of a recipe I made. I chose to leave out the peppers and celery and added more vegetables. 

Thanks Clean and Delicious

Recipe

Baked Ground Turkey Meatballs #healthyfood #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen #crunchcreamysweet

I used crumbled pieces of bread from the Mediterranean loaf I made in my bread machine. I didn't even toast it where the true Italian family doesn't. I feel this made it sooo good. Those are the cauliflower gnocchi I bought from Trader Joe's (post here). And of course, the basil is from the Aero Garden my son got me.  Will definitely makes these again. I have some in the freezer ready to be sauced or whatever.

Recipe  Thanks Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet!

Trader Joe's Run #foodshopping #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightingflammation #abusedwomen

Full description of items in video here.

This is my first Trader Joe's run I'm sharing. I plan on doing more. I was surprised how many items I found I could eat after looking at the back of the package of many items. I plan on doing another run and getting more items I found I can eat and share here. I think the joy in shopping for food is the fact I'm not fighting urges and splurging myself in the items I find I can eat. I used to walk in the grocery store anxious and confused previously or at least lost because I felt subconsciously to a direction. I would eat and subconsciously feel bad- though it was literally bad, for me. Things that are FDA approved aren't necessarily okay for me to eat-as well as us, but the effects won't show up right away like in me. The feeling of fatigue, sick stomach, fatigue, burning, so many others would creep in on me, me not even realizing it and feeling miserable. And then medical tests would show up to this. The first thing I did that was a diagnosis I had for over 20 years (Hashimotos) was to research it. I found other women in the same position with no ordinary medical options. I tried and tried many ideas. I found a way to incorporate some of it and found Western medicine alternatives to help me eye what might be helpful to me. I'm still always learning but I'm gaining as well. Feeling better.

Pineapple, Banana Coconut Milk Ice Cream #healthydesserts #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenfightingingflammation #abusedwomen

This is the latest flavor I found that I'm sharing that actually scoops like ice cream that I concocted myself using the granola I found at Trader Joe's (post here).

I used honey to taste, I had bought a can of pineapple tidbits where that was convenient for delivery and used the juices as well as some coconut milk to help blend for flavor, consistency, and the pineapple was frozen. I used some frozen banana, more or less as much as you like. Just throwing in frozen fruit is the start. Whether you're using juice and/or milk is up to you, just enough in getting it to blend. I usually swirl at least a couple of tablespoons of honey to start. I used my Ninja Pro ice cream button again. And I finally listened to the directions of using a loaf pan that worked well. Just let the ice cream in the loaf pan after frozen set out on the counter for a few minutes before trying to scoop it out each time you serve it. 

Mouth Watering Seasoned Lentil Potato Stew #fragrant #seasonings #healthyfood #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #braininjuries

 

Lentil Potato Stew

I'm blown away by the flavors of these spices in this stew. I'm not a big fan of lentils yet they give me a boost of energy and clarity-which I really needed tonight. I recorded a song on my new interface and did a bit of organizing. I woke up to a hard stretch of yoga. All this tired me out easily. I munched down some coconut flour brownies (post on here) in between cooking all this because I made the homemade broth and tried to organize my food for the weekend. Even with leftovers it gets tiring. This stew wasn't too bad as far as tiring me out. The taste is really something to knock your socks off. 

Lentil Stew from HealthNut Nutrition

Homemade Broth inspired by Spain On a Fork I threw mainly whatever I had to spare: stems of kale,  1 1/2 carrots scrubbed, one small potato I convinced myself was going scrubbed and cut in half as well as I slice the carrots in 3 proportions, onion powder (needed the last onion I had for the stew), 1 1/2 bay leaves (came these sizes), all the spices mentioned in a bit less where I used 4 cups of water instead. Came out good I think and complimented the stew. I used the instant pot for this broth on soup/broth button. 

Honey Sweetened Banana, Mango, Strawberry Ice Cream #healthydesserts #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen #womenwithinflammation #abusedwomen

 

Banana, Mango, Strawberry Ice Cream

I like soft serve though I put some of this in the freezer in a loaf pan as suggested. I only had one more serving so I'll see how this goes. The taste of this serving is very good and hit the spot. Will make it again. I'm finding mango brings natural sweetness-this is important for the smoothies I make with all the healthy ingredients that I don't look forward to every morning. It seems to do the same for this ice cream. I eyeballed the milk and honey; I've done this so many times so I was lucky to get it down. I wouldn't of had any more of the fruit I wanted to try the Ice Cream mode of my Ninja Pro with that I've had for 4 months and haven't officially tried it. This recipe is truly a life saver. I will try with other fruits but I'm skeptical that I'll have the same luck with sweetness.

Bread Dough Pizza and Cinnamon Rolls #healthyfood #alternativeingredients #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen

 

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

These were challenging but fun. I worry about the work with my hands and mind when I cook. I was able to get through it easy enough. I worry at times the next time I make recipes that I feel can be complicated whether or not I can get through it again-I believe; I'll be alright with this one. The easy part that helps is having a bread machine. Once the dough is done you have to manage it into a log type shape, which is the tricky part for me. Then fitting it into two cake pans which I don't have-have to get. I squished them in a rectangular baking dish and could only cut about 14 pieces instead of 20-they get thin. So that's why they're shaped a bit funny. They needed an extra three minutes in my oven so when I reheated them at 300 for about 10-12 minutes that took care of that problem. The glass dish had space where they need to be nestled next to one another to rise so I added a ramekin and baking sheet folded. It seemed to work enough to get through it. I also blended coconut sugar in my Ninja Pro which still wasn't powerful enough to get it to a powdered consistency of 1/3 cup, where I used less sugar in the cinnamon rolls I thought to use the other half in the glaze. I got a fraction of it after I glazed this one to be even more of a powdered consistency than this glaze here. I'll try that tomorrow. My Ninja burned out at one point.  

Brown Sugar Glaze

Easy Cinnamon Rolls (left out the whipping cream and of course I already mentioned I only used coconut sugar-for the whole thing)

Homemade Bread Dough Pizza

I used the other half of the 2 lb white bread recipe in my bread machine for the pizza. I added about a Tbsp and a half of leftover homemade pesto of mine swirled in with some leftover homemade pizza sauce for the bottom, I had very oiled the bread dough for consistency. Then I started adding a bit of browned ground turkey in Italian seasoning that was leftover from my air fryer pizza rolls (listed here) and then some cheese ( I kind of forgot cheese first, no matter) then the rest of the 3/4 of an 8 ounce block of mozzarella that I started with and squeezed out some frozen spinach that thawed from the freezer and baked it in my small countertop oven on the pizza setting which is about 12 minutes. I added about 5 to it. Walla! I added some chopped up basil leaves at the end. I don't know if I can go back to regular pizza dough. This was so good and satisfying. I ate a whole piece of a 4-slice pizza from a 12" pan and didn't want for anything else. The crust wasn't thick enough for me to worry about it being too much carb. 

Snap Peas and Easy Stir Fry Sauce and HEALTHY Chocolate Frosting on Coconut Flour Brownies #healthyfood #healthydesserts #womenfightinginflammation #abusedwomen #lorijeanfinnilainthekitchen

 

I found an easy way to make stir fry sauce. Instead of rice vinegar that I couldn't find locally I used apple cider vinegar which I think gave it a kick. I don't use seed oils so when I make Asian food I use olive oil or I suppose avocado would be good too. I had leftover green pepper instead of red and made up for the difference in snap peas at the local market which made the recipe. What I found astonishing is how the leftover rice, because I only eat so much of it during a meal, in the Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice by Six Sisters Stuff (here recently on this blog) was good with this and how these women help make kid friendly meals (there's cream of chicken soup in the rice). The rice brought back home. This was a very easy recipe and I will incorporate shrimp with this recipe next time.

All Recipes Chicken, Pepper, and Snap Pea Stir Fry by Cally in the April/May issue pg. 58.

You can't go wrong with a non simple carb dessert after eating a simple carb for dinner. My system thanks me that it doesn't have to work so hard and therefore I function all around better routinely with a brain injury, autoimmune disease, and many injuries from abuse that could literally kill me. I want to cry sometimes because of the discomfort that I don't even realize is there sometimes, but I'm finding staying once step ahead with delectable tastes of food keeps my body happy so I don't think about them. And of course I have to find the alternatives that I can live with which is a lot of work and research. I get exhausted racing to keep up with it all-but I know it's crucial. I let the chocolate melt down a bit after being in the freezer to make the chocolate into frosting then I freeze some of the brownies or keep them in the fridge till I'm ready to eat them because the coconut oil in the frosting will melt down to a non frosting consistency. It's worth it though because the cool taste of both blend well.

Dark Chocolate Coconut Flour Brownies

Homemade Dark Chocolate