A scrumptious day the anti-inflammatory way!

Eating an anti-inflammatory diet is a fun challenge for me in the kitchen.  I enjoy changing recipes and experimenting with spices and ingredients that take a dish to the anti-inflammatory side.  Sometimes its a win and sometimes....well not so much.

Here is a day full of "wins."

For breakfast I started out with Natures Path Organic Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola cereal with a heaping tablespoon of vanilla yogurt.  This is a bowl full of inflammation fighting goodness.

For lunch I whipped up the Inflammation Fighting Tuna Salad.  Delicious! 

Dinner actually made me giddy.  I haven't been this excited about a meal in a while.  This is Moroccan Inspired Chicken Thighs.  It is absolutely amazing over basmati rice.  The cinnamon, ginger, and cumin are all super inflammation fighters and the flavors complimented this dish perfectly.



Eating an anti-inflammatory diet is obviously filled with delicious meals throughout each and every day.  No need to be sad about eating this way when you can enjoy scrumptious days like this one!





Mediterranean Quinoa Salad: Anniversary getaway in Leavenworth, WA

My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past weekend.  A favorite destination point of ours is Leavenworth, WA.  It is a Bavarian town tucked away in the mountains.  It is beautiful and the German food is delicious.  So we packed up our pop up trailer and our Schnoodle Sparky,

and headed to Leavenworth.  We had a beautiful camping spot right on the Icicle River. 

Look at our view from the trailer window.  The river at night was so gorgeous that I couldn't sleep.  I just kept looking at it in awe.  

We hiked and golfed and ate, ate, and oh ya....we ate some more.  I knew ahead of time that I would not be eating very anti-inflammatory and would probably suffer just a little bit.  Once a year, for great German schnitzel and spaetzle with mushroom gravy, it's worth it!.  Since I eat pretty good most of the time I don't have a lot of pain when I stray from my anti-inflammatory diet, but I did have some by the time we returned home.   So, naturally I hopped right back into eating great.  I started with some amazing cherries that we purchased on our way home at a fruit stand.  They are so very anti-inflammatory and do a great job at calming down inflammation.


Then I whipped up some salmon croquettes and quinoa salad.

 

The salmon, of course, is full of omega 3's which calm inflammation, plus I add flax seed.  The quinoa salad has a lemon vinaigrette made with olive oil and kalamata olives.  Both of those are very anti-inflammatory.  I was asked about the inflammation factor of quinoa and I honestly do not know.  Quinoa is packed with iron and protein and is so good for you that I have included it in my diet.  The olive oil, olives and salmon definitely add so much anti-inflammatory action in this meal that you do not need to worry about Quinoa.  Just enjoy the meal and the benefits. 

Here is the recipe for my Mediterranean Quinoa Salad:

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup basic vinaigrette

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup kalamata olive, pitted and sliced

Add the Quinoa and salt to the water.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and turn down to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.  Take off of the the heat and let set for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix.  Refrigerate. 

This is actually good hot or cold .  I like it better cold and it keeps well for a few days in the refrigerator.