Creamy Mexican Chicken

This recipe is Dr. Eric Ubrin's specialty.  As a Maximized Living doctor and bachelor, he is especially talented at developing healthful recipes that are yummy and easy!  This recipe has been passed all over the world by word-of-mouth through those who know Dr. Eric.  It is high-time it is written down, with Dr. Eric's blessings, of course. 

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless, organic chicken breasts

12- 16 ounces salsa

1 package organic cream cheese

Put the chicken in a crock pot and cover with your favorite salsa.  Cover and cook for 4 - 12 hours on low. Ten minutes before serving, add the cream cheese and return the lid to the crock pot. When ready to serve, stir well to mix in the melted cream cheese, and break up the chicken which should easily shred.  Serve over lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and garnish with gaucamole. May also serve on a coconut wrap (try Julian Bakery's Paleo Wraps) for Maximized Living Advanced Plan, or a sprouted tortillas shell for Maximized Living Core Plan.

Bullet-Proof Coffee

Some proponents recommend using Bullet-proof coffee as a breakfast replacement and I totally disagree. Rather, be sure to have your bullet-proof coffee with a healthful breakfast. If you are going to drink coffee, this recipe is a great way to add healthful fats and avoid the dangerous sweeteners and other chemicals that are typically in a yummy "creamer"

Ingredients

6-12 ounces hot, fresh-brewed, organic coffee

1 tablespoon grass-fed butter

1 teaspoon organic coconut oil

Stevia (vanilla stevia drops are my personal favorite)

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds. Hold the lid in place as you start the blender, and consider gradually building the speed you are running to high. Hot liquid flying all over you from the blender is not an experience you want to have.

Pour into a cup and enjoy! The butter will create a foam on the top that will taste and feel like a latte!

Fresh Sauerkraut

Why fresh sauerkraut?  Fresh sauerkraut is made using an ancient process called lacto-fermentation that can be used to preserve just about any fruit or vegetable.  It involves no cooking and thereby retains the live enzymes in the produce.  The lacto-fermentation process imparts live beneficial bacteria into the food that we desperately need.  Our gut is designed to have as many as 2 pounds of beneficial bacterial in and around it.  With the overuse of antibiotics and chlorine in our water, combined with very little live food, our guts have a fraction of the beneficial bacteria it needs and we pay the price with our health.  Fresh sauerkraut has a delightful salty-sour taste that becomes even more pleasing as we remove sugar from our lives, get over the cravings, expand our palate beyond sweet and learn to really taste food.

Before making sauerkraut, a little planning ahead of time is necessary as you will need whey (the watery part form yogurt - not the powdered form used in protein shakes and smoothies), and whey needs to be prepared. It involves less than 5 minutes of prep time, with several hours of wait time.

Ingredients and supplies for making Whey

1 cup - 1 quart grass-fed, full fat Yogurt

Linen-style kitchen towel that has been washed in fragrance-free soap, and rinsed with vinegar

Strainer

Glass bowl or 1 quart measuring cup

You will only need 1/4 cup of whey for the sauerkraut, and 1 cup of yogurt will yield that much and then some. When preparing whey, I frequently make more to be used in other recipes. 

Put the strainer over the glass bowl and line it with one layer of the kitchen towel (or may substitute several layers of cheese cloth). Leave this out on the counter for several hours. Whey is the part that will be dripping into the bowl. Extra whey can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar for as long as 3 months if you have captured the clear liquid only and don't have any of the white creamy part mixed in. The part left in the cloth can be used as a Greek-style yogurt, or strained longer and deeper to yield cream cheese*.

Ingredients and supplies for making Fresh Sauerkraut

1 medium head organic cabbage (green or red)

1/4 cup whey

1 T salt

1 T caraway (optional, but very yummy, and an additional boost to digestion).

A very large bowl

A meat pounder, food pusher, or pestle

3 quart-sized wide-mouth jars

Clean and core the cabbage and cut into thin slices using a sharp knife with cutting board, food processor or mandolin and place in the large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Use the pounder, pusher, or pestle to pound the cabbage (while mixing in other ingredients) for at least 10 minutes, working to break cells in the cabbage to release liquid. As you work, you should find cabbage liquid gathering at the bottom of the bowl. When done, place the cabbage in the jars, using the pounder to pound the cabbage down, and let the liquid rise to cover the cabbage. Leave 1" or more clearance from the top of the jar. Scrape any cabbage down the sides of the jar so that it is all submerged into the liquid. Put caps on jars, and let sit at room temperature for 3 days. Sometimes the sauerkraut bubbles over, so some preventative layers of paper towels under the jars is a good idea.  After 3 days, refrigerate the sauerkraut. It is ready to eat at this time, but the flavors will continue to improve with a little time. This will keep for  3 - 6 months.  

Let your senses be your guide. Cooking and food preparation is a science AND an art. Your senses will know when a properly lacto-fermented food has a delightful sour smell, and when it smells rotten. Your eyes will tell you that the colors are vibrant and alive, and when it is to be thrown out. Enjoy fresh sauerkraut as a condiment, ingredient where a salty/sour taste is desired, by itself, or added to a schmear where your family will not even notice you snuck live beneficial bacteria into their food.

* If you want more whey, and cream cheese left in the cloth, there is one more step: When it seems not much more whey is draining, take the cloth by four corners, and tie them together around the handle of a wooden spoon. Place the wooden spoon across the top of a pitcher, letting the cloth with cream cheese in it dangle into the pitcher.  Let drip for several more hours. Refrigerate the whey in a glass jar. Scrape the "cream cheese" out and store in a glass container in the refrigerator. This cream cheese will not taste like store-bought cream cheese, as it has a sour taste, like the yogurt. It is still full of beneficial bacteria, so it is really a superior product. When used in recipes, like a schmear (See my Smoked Salmon Schmear), you will not notice the sour taste at all. 

Smoked Salmon Schmear

Scmear is German for spread and makes this simple dish sound fancier than it is.  A food processor is a must for this recipe which always gets rave reviews.

8 oz. organic cream cheese, slightly softened

1-3 oz. grilled, smoked or sushi-grade raw salmon

1-4 T fresh sauerkraut (optional)

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Dash of cayenne or pepper sauce (optional)

Blend all ingredients in the food processor until smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Serve with raw veggies and flax crackers for Advanced Plan. Try it with Mary’s Gone Crackers for core plan.  I have enjoyed it on a Maximized Living Healthful Bun as a sandwich.  Yum!  Check out Kim Roberto’s blog for the Healthful Bun recipe. The address is smartmeals.wordpress.com.  

A note about the salmon: Use wild-caught salmon from deep cold waters of Pacific or specifically from Alaska to minimize mercury exposure.  If you live in the Atlanta area, Dekalb Farmer’s Market makes their own smoked salmon that is minimally processed with salt, pepper, and bay leaves only.  It is what I use in my schmear.

A note about sauerkraut:  This is an option I use because I’m always trying to figure out ways to “sneak” fermented vegetables with live cultures (probiotics) into my loved-ones.  No one ever notices them in a schmear.  I will be posting my recipe for making a yummy fresh sauerkraut full of live beneficial bacteria soon.  If you don’t want to go through the trouble and would still like to employ live cultures in your version of this recipe, Bubbies is a brand available in most natural markets.  Look for it in the refrigerated section.

Sweet and Salty Organic Popcorn

Maximized Living Core Plan

½ cup organic pop corn kernels

2 T organic coconut oil

¼ - ½  tsp sea salt (or to taste)

Dash of stevia (or to taste)

Melt the coconut oil in a deep 12” fry pan with lid over medium high heat. While it is melting, sprinkle the salt and stevia evenly over the bottom of the pan. Add the popcorn and cover. Shake the pan over the stove during the popping phase.  Remove the pan from the burner when popping slows to once per second. Shake the pan before removing the lid a few more times to be certain popping is done. Pour into a large bowl and enjoy!

Salty Organic Popcorn

Maximized Living Core Plan

½ cup organic pop corn kernels

2 T organic coconut oil

2 tsp. Real Salt’s organic Natural Seasoning salt or ½ tsp. Sea Salt

Seasoning (like garlic) of your choosing if not using seasoning salt (optional)

Melt the coconut oil in a deep 12” fry pan with lid over medium high heat. While it is melting, sprinkle the salt and seasonings evenly over the bottom of the pan. Add the popcorn and cover.  Shake the pan over the stove during the popping phase. Remove the pan from the burner when popping slows to once per minute. Shake the pan before removing the lid a few more times to be certain popping is done. Pour into a large bowl or individual servings.

Peanut Butter Frosting

This frosting was served at a recent Maximized Living dessert night on top of Decadent Chocolate Cake made without sugar, artificial sweeteners, or grains.  The Decadent Chocolate Cake is not to be believed until it is tried.  It is sooo yummy!  The recipe is available on the famous Kimberly Roberto's blog at smartmeals.wordpress.com.  

Ingredients

1 cup organic (raw if possible) whipping cream

4 ounces organic (raw if possible) cream cheese, softened

1/2  cup of valencia natural peanut butter

2 tablespoons organic butter, softened

1/2 cup Xylitol or Swerve

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

While softening the butter and cream cheese, put the mixing bowl and beaters you will be using for the whipping cream in the refrigerator to chill for a few minutes.

Then beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, butter, xylitol or swerve and vanilla until smooth.  Gently fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until mixed.  Frost cake.  Refrigerate the cake if you ar not going to eat it right away.  Can be eaten cold, but my family enjoys better if it has been sitting out at room temperature for 30- 40 minutes before eating.