Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Black Bean Oat Brownies

Since this recipe has been in high demand lately, I thought I would post it for everyone. There are many black bean brownie recipes out there, and the main idea is to replace processed, refined flour with protein and fiber-rich black beans. It also uses agave nectar (or can substitue maple sysrup or brown rice syrup) so that you are using a lower-glycemic and natural sweetener - a much better choice than white sugar! This recipe originally came from my aunt (who is also a health counselor) Amie Hall of From Your Inside Out, and I've made some changes. It is AMAZING! Give it a try - easy to make, delicious and a good choice for a chocolatey brownie. Enjoy!


Black Bean Oat Brownies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 35-40 minutes
Yields: 32 small brownies

Ingredients:
12 oz. organic chocolate (can use chocolate chips or carob chips)
16 oz. can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
3 organic or local eggs
1/2 - 2/3 cup agave nectar, brown rice syrup or real maple syrup
3 tablespoons organic coconut oil (use refined for no coconut flavor)
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1/2 cup organic rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place chips in a heat resistant bowl in pot of a boiling water until melted. Can use microwave if preferred (stir and check every 30 seconds to avoid burning).
3. Melt coconut oil using same method as chocolate.
4. Combine all ingredients in blender or food processer and blend until smooth, scraping sides as needed.
5. Pour batter into one 9 X 13 pan or two 8” or 9” square pans sprayed with organic olive oil or greased with butter.
6. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes.
7. Allow to cool or place in refrigerator, cut and serve.

©2009 Kendall Scott Wellness
Adapted from Amie G. Hall - From Your Inside Out

Friday, October 30, 2009

Food for the Holidays - November 7th


It's not too late to sign up for my "Healthy Holidays" class on November 7th at 9:45am. Learn some great ways to make your food a little healthier (but still delicious!) over the holidays. Also, find out what super foods will help give you the energy you need during this busy time of year!Take home some yummy recipes and sample a couple of my favorites! Sign up here.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Rice Cooker


If you don't have a rice cooker, I highly recommend that you make the small investment. I bought mine at Target, but they can be found anywhere kitchen gadgets are sold. They make cooking your whole grains so much easier. For those of you working with me, you know how important it is to include whole grains in your diet - brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat, barley, amaranth - the list goes on! However, these grains do take longer to cook and you really do have to watch the pot to make sure nothing boils over or dries out. That is where the rice cooker comes in. You simply measure your grains and water with the measuring cup provided with the cooker, add to the pot, cover, push a button and let it go! No need to keep an eye on it, and usually it takes less time to cook.


For instance, this morning, I combined millet, steel cut oats and amaranth in my little rice cooker, added water and let it do the work while I hopped in the shower, got dressed and ready for my day. I came downstairs to the wonderful smell of my grains, ready to eat...just scoop some in a bowl and add real maple syrup, cinnamon, nuts, berries, dried fruit, coconut - whatever you like. This is a pretty common breakfast for my husband and me. It's also a great way to prepare whole grains, like brown rice, for dinner.


Try to steer away from processed pastas and breads and include some more whole grains in your diet - get yourself a rice cooker and you'll see how easy it is!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Winter Farmers' Markets & CSAs in Maine!



Now that we've reached the fall season, many of us are thinking ahead to the winter months. If you've been enjoying fresh produce all summer long from local farmers' markets or your share from a farm with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offerings, fear not - you can continue to enjoy your local produce all year long!

Most open-air farmers' markets continue well into October, but after that, we can turn to indoor winter markets. In Maine, there are several indoor farmers' markets where local farmers and vendors offer many root veggies, plus meats, eggs, cheeses and more. Purchasing from these vendors is a great way to continue supporting your local community AND know exactly where your food is coming from. A list of winter markets can be found here.

As for CSAs - there are several available over the winter and many give you support in storaging produce, recipes and instructions on canning or freezing the food. Some even offer fresh summertime vegetables like radishes and arugula because they grow in greenhouses. Click here for a list of Maine Winter CSAs.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Eat Your Cacao


All you chocolate freaks out there...there's good news! Eating raw, unprocessed chocolate has many nutritional benefits! All chocolate comes from a huge berry (cacao pod) which is what grows on the cacao tree. The pods contain about 30 beans or seeds called cacao beans, which are made up of tiny cacao nibs.


You can purchase and eat the cacao beans, nibs and powder. Cacao is considered a superfood! The powder has the fat removed and is usually raw. Cacao powder (not to be confused with cocoa powder - the processed, less nutritional form) can be used in many ways and offers a host of benefits to your health. Cacao is full of powerful antioxidants (more than blueberries, red wine and green tea), which fight free radicals and the effects of aging. Cacao is also rich in magnesium, a micronutrient many Americans are missing in their diets. The health benefits go on from there!


Cacao can be incorporated into your diet in many delicious ways! Adding a spoonful to a smoothie or making a chocolate sauce are two easy ways to add cacao. Next time you are having a big chocolate craving, instead of reaching for a candy bar, opt for sweets made up of this amazing superfood!


In the next couple months, I will be offering a chocolate class, all about cacaco - why it's so good, where to find it and how to prepare it for some yummy, healthy eating! To receive updates on the chocolate class and others like this, be sure to sign up for the Kendall Scott Wellness e-newsletter by clicking here.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Today's article in the New York Times was contributed by one of my favorite food/health gurus, Michael Pollan! It's a must read!!!

Did you know that three-quarters of health care is spent on preventable diseases, most of which are linked to DIET? Unfortunately it's more profitable for the health care industry to treat these diseases rather than work to prevent them. Check it out!

Big Food Vs. Big Insurance

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Quick and Easy Breakfast

I often have days when I REALLY don't want to take the time to make breakfast and perhaps need something I can bring with me in the car. I've found one of the greatest breakfasts is a smoothie with all natural ingredients. You can add so many different foods to provide you with an energizing, sustaining breakfast. Remember to buy local and/or organic when you can. Here's one to try:

8 oz. Rice or Almond milk
1 Banana
1/2 Avocado
2 T. shredded coconut
1/2 cup berries (fresh or frozen - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries)
Handful of leafy greens (baby spinach, swiss chard, kale, beet greens)
Add 1 tspn Honey if added sweetness is desired

Friday, August 28, 2009

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

This is an amazing article in TIME about our food supply. What are you really eating and what does it mean for your health, your wallet and the environment? This is the what we all need to know!

Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Making a Rice Combo for Dinner


I often have those days or evenings when I just don't know what I'm going to cook for dinner. Can you relate? It just feels like I'm using up too much brain power trying to figure it out - simple, quick, healthy. Those are usually my goals - and of course - delicious! However, too often I just don't want to figure out what to put together, so I've created a life saver of a dish - the Rice Combo!!!

For example, for dinner tonight I knew I wanted to have some beets I picked up at the farmer's market (by the way - boiled sliced beets, drizzled with crumbled goat cheese, olive oil and crushed pecans - yum!), but what else would we have with those beets? I had no meat or fish at all, and while I'm not a huge meat gal myself, my husband definitely likes to have his fair share. Usually, I'll do a quality, lean protein, lots of veggies and some whole grains. Then you have your nice, neat three part dinner. That wasn't happening.

Introducing the Rice Combo! Basically, I cook some organic brown rice (or quinoa, wild rice, forbidden rice) in my rice cooker - no monitoring needed. Then I saute in a pan other foods that I have, like veggies, beans, lentils, herbs, spices and oil. I check my pantry, the fridge and think about what would be some tasty, healthy foods to add. I try to add variety, different colors, textures and lots of veggies. Once those are mostly cooked, I add the cooked rice to the pan and mix it all together.

Here's what I came up with tonight: forbidden rice, green lentils, fresh corn I cut off leftover cooked corn cobs, scallions, garlic, yellow pepper and toasted sesame oil. Voila! I also decided to throw the beet greens in with the rice and just have the beets on the side. It's simple, super easy and if you make enough - perfect for lunch the next day. And my husband loves it! :)
The next time you are at a loss for what to have for dinner - experiement with a rice combo of your own!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Upcoming Workshops

I'm excited to announce that I have scheduled my first group workshop at the Yoga Center of Maine (YCOM) in Auburn, Maine. It's all about sugar and learning how to understand our sweet cravings! Please visit my website for more info or to register for the class.

I will also be holding a group Women's Nutrition program at YCOM, beginning in September. This is a seven week program, spanning over a few months. It will be a great way to start working toward your health goals - losing weight, increasing energy, fighting disease - with the additional support of other women with similar goals in mind. The dates are being finalized, so stay tuned!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Welcome to the KSW blog!

Welcome to my blog for Kendall Scott Wellness! I hope that this blog will provide you with some fun, interesting and new info about health and wellness, the latest happenings for Kendall Scott Wellness, my personal experiences with nutrition, great healthy recipes and more. Today's blog is a little intro as to what KSW is all about and an invitation to a free health consult!

I began Kendall Scott Wellness in March 2009. The mission for KSW is to help others experience a refreshing, fun and innovative approach to health through health and nutrition counseling. Through simple, gradual changes to your lifestyle and daily diet, you can meet your personal health and wellness goals - lose weight, increase energy, be happy, feel stronger, age healthfully, improve chronic illnesses and get off medications. The food we eat can do so much for our bodies - more than traditional textbook definitions of nutrition could ever encompass. "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

What I DON'T encourage is the following: counting calories or points, stop eating sweets, eat barely enough so your stomach and body is never satisfied or eat grass and sticks all day. :) No way! Are you kidding? I can't live like that and neither should anyone else. I love food, love to eat and want others to find the fun in food too. It shouldn't be stressful, painful or emotionally taxing.

Think about what your health-related goals are over the next six months. Are you having trouble achieving them on your own? What would your life be like if you could reach your goals? Probably pretty amazing, and the truth is you CAN reach them. I promise! Not only can you reach your goals, but I think you'd be very pleasantly surprised by the additional unexpected benefits that arise. For me personally, going through chemotherapy and surgery, but eating foods that supported my body, is what made me realize that food really is fuel for our bodies, but also much more - it's connected to our moods, physical aches and pains, the majority of illnesses, mental alertness, and literally every part of your life.

Ok, I'm already beginning to ramble a bit, but this is simply something I believe in whole heartedly and hope to help others get to where they want to be. I invite you to a free health consultation just to see what health counseling can offer you. You'll be able to discuss your health concerns confidentially with me and learn how we can work together to get you where you want to be. Health consults and counseling can be done over the phone - in fact I have several clients on the opposite side of the country! Visit http://kendallscottwellness.com/ to schedule a free consult.