Cooking Your Way to Gorgeous (24 page)

Ingredients: Filling

1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup baby carrots

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons fresh (or ¾ teaspoon dried) thyme leaves

12 ounces fresh mushrooms, halved or quartered if large—powerful nutrients; low-cal, fat-free, cholesterol-free, very low in sodium

1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half, optional

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Topping

One 8 x 12-inch rectangle of prepared puff pastry dough, thawed*

1 egg white mixed with 1 teaspoon water in a bowl

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon fresh (or ¼ teaspoon dried) thyme

*
Note:
For tender, flaky crusts, choose heat-resistant glass pie plates or aluminum pie pans with a dull finish. Shiny pie pans are not recommended because they reflect heat, causing a soggy bottom crust.

Preparation:

1
Combine the chicken, carrots, broth, wine, and thyme in a saucepan and simmer for approximately 8 to 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken and carrots to a plate. When they are cool enough to handle, tear the chicken into pieces. Reserve the broth for later use in this recipe.

2
In a large frying pan, sauté the mushrooms and bell pepper in the oil on medium-high heat, stirring often, until lightly browned. Lower the heat to medium, add the garlic and flour, stir in well until no flour lumps remain, and sauté for an additional minute. Add the cooked chicken and carrots.

3
Gradually add the reserved broth/wine mixture and optional cream, stirring continuously. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon the mixture into an 8 x 12-inch glass or ceramic baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan.

4
Place the puff pastry dough on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Cut the dough into 12 pieces. Brush the top surface of the dough with the egg white/water mix and sprinkle with Parmesan and thyme. Lay the cut dough on top of the chicken in the baking dish.

5
Bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and browned.

Crunchy Chicken Tenders
with Probiotic Dressing

Makes 4 Servings

T
his dish is full of surprises. You get the WOW taste factor of your Sunday football hot wings, but with lean protein breast meat instead of fatty wing meat. The herb-buttermilk dressing has a probiotics base. Probiotics are my all-time favorite beautifiers. They are the major leaguers for boosting beauty. They are “the good bacteria” already alive and thriving in the digestive system. You can treat and even prevent some illnesses with foods and supplements containing certain kinds of live bacteria. Probiotics powder is available inexpensively; it is tasteless and dissolves nicely. You literally can sprinkle it on most any kind of food, or swirl it into dip or dressing, as we do below. Everyone gets the health benefits.

Ingredients: Chicken

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded to even thickness and cut into strips

Olive oil, for drizzling

Dressing

1/3 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons 2 percent Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon minced chives

1 teaspoon probiotic powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon crumbled blue cheese, optional

For Serving

4 stalks celery, cut into sticks

2 romaine hearts, quartered

Hot sauce, to taste

Preparation: Chicken

1
Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray with nonstick spray.

2
Combine the buttermilk, mustard, salt, and cayenne in a glass or porcelain dish. Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl or spread on a dish. Dip the chicken in the buttermilk mixture, then transfer to the bowl or dish with breadcrumbs, pressing to coat. Place the coated chicken on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Bake until the chicken is golden and cooked through, about
16 minutes. Season with salt.

Dressing

For dressing, combine the buttermilk, yogurt, chives, probiotics powder, and salt in a bowl. Add the blue cheese, if desired.

To serve

Serve the chicken with dressing, celery, romaine hearts, and hot sauce.

NIGHTIME PROBIOTICS FOR GLOWING SKIN

Nighttime beauty trick: Take 1 probiotic capsule, gently open the casing, and tap the powder into a dollop of your pm moisturizer. Swirl it into the moisturizer and apply to your face as usual. It may feel pasty; this is normal. The mixture will feel slightly granular, which is why this is best for nighttime treatment. In the morning your skin will glow, and glowing skin is going to be your new normal.

HOME-SPA TREATMENTS FOR GLOWY NAILS

1. Soak your nails in a bowl of warm almond oil or olive oil for half an hour daily. Don’t wash your fingers but gently massage the oil into your fingernails. Practice this on a daily basis to cure brittle nails, and enhance shine.
   
2. Apply a mixture of honey and lemon to your fingernails and toenails. Massage this mixture into the nail and do not wash it off if you can manage it.
   
3. Apply a mixture of a vitamin E capsule and ¼ teaspoon warm olive oil to strengthen brittle nails, and enhance shine.
   
4. Prepare a scrub to harden nails by mixing a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon each of olive oil and castor oil, and ½ cup shelled, ground walnuts. Apply this paste to the hands, fingernails, toenails, and feet, and gently scrub them. You may want to eat it—but rinse it off with lukewarm water instead. Repeat twice a week.
   
5. Before going out, apply a thick layer of milk cream or petroleum jelly to your hands and fingernails and slip on cotton gloves to keep them hypermoisturized.
   

TIP:
Nail ridges may indicate a lack of protein, iron, or calcium. Enrich your diet with those nutrients; otherwise, take silica supplements or get silica from foods such as alfalfa, asparagus, bell peppers, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, flaxseeds, mustard greens, oats, olives, radishes, rice, soybeans, and white onions.

TIP:
A warm olive oil soak for 10 to 15 minutes a day for a month, then twice a week thereafter, will help brittle nails. Also, smooth on a generous amount of olive oil to hands before bed; massage hands and rub in well. Put on white cotton gloves, or clinical gloves if you have them, and go to sleep. Your hands will be softer and smoother in the morning, and your nails will be nourished. Follow up with cuticle cream and your weak, thin nails are a goner.

ALL-OVER BODY BEAUTY BATH

If you want help with bumpy, orange peel–like skin, try this Alka Seltzer/oatmeal/honey/milk bath. Run a hot bath; place 2 Alka Seltzer tablets, a bottle of carbonated water, and 1/2 gallon of milk into the tub. Swirl it around with your hand. Next, add 1 cup of dry oatmeal and 1/2 cup of honey and get in. The heat of the bath opens your pores; the carbonation of the water makes the active ingredients more effective. Slather the bath mixture on your body (picture yourself in ancient Greece!), and rub it into your skin from head to toe. The Alka Seltzer in the warm lactic acid bath will deeply hydrate, smooth, tone, brighten, and lighten your skin. The oatmeal serves as a natural exfoliant, and the honey is a natural skin conditioner. Add a shea or cocoa butter moisturizer after you towel off and your skin will feel silky and soft.

Chapter 6

Living the Sweet Life

You don’t have to give up dessert
when you’re eating smart. You just have to eat smart(er) desserts. To deprive yourself of sweets is akin to being on a beach without SPF—an outdated and painful notion. For me, the situation always arises when my goal of sticking to a dessert-free eating plan gets outdone by my sweet tooth; yes, the sweets always triumph, and I’m okay with that because I’ve learned how to eat the right kinds of desserts. But the question remains, how do we satisfy the sweet tooth without the guilt and total lack of nutrition? By now, I know you can help answer that question: add in beauty boosters!

Here’s where you get to let loose—just a bit—and have fun experimenting with a something-for-everyone array of dessert recipes that are sweet and satisfying. Any of these desserts are appropriate as a cap to a dinner party, or to eat casually at home after a weekday meal. I think these options have all the right stuff, but there’s no sugarcoating the facts: You should enjoy in moderation. And to be sure we’re on the same page here, my friend, remember that just because you get a beauty boon doesn’t mean you can overindulge. The recipes in this chapter aren’t a solution to low-cal dessert consumption, but what you do get are the tools to enjoy savvy desserts with
superfood ingredients
and hopefully a guilt-free good time. We don’t want to live life prohibitively, but we want to make smart choices that maximize the goodness God gave us and revel in the delights that come with it.

TOP

5
Hero Foods for Sweet-Tooth Savvy

Dark chocolate—more antioxidant-rich than milk chocolate.

Green tea—antioxidants and steady energy.

Almond milk—more beneficial and nutritious than ordinary dairy milk, due to the fact that it contains more nutrients and it has not been subjected to the same processing.

Fresh cream—lactic acid is good for the complexion.

Goji berries—superfruit antioxidant.

Dark Chocolate, Sea Salt,
and Avocado Cookies

Makes About 2 Dozen Cookies

S
kin-healing ingredients in a decadent dessert are the way to go if you’re going to go for it. I love these cookies; they are so innovative and really taste great. Cookies are great for a lunchbag, after-school treat, or weekend snack with a cup of green tea. This recipe is a cool teaching tool for kids, too, showing them how to substitute healthy ingredients for the not-so-healthy ones—and still get full flavor. Eating small amounts of chocolate may boost physical endurance, too. A 5-gram piece of dark chocolate—roughly the size of two postage stamps—is the optimal daily dosage.

Ingredients:

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour