426: Cooking Hacks: Sneaking in More Veggies + Meal Prep, Saving Time & Money - Cassy Joy Garcia
How to Feed Your Family Without Losing Your Mind! Cassy Joy Garcia focuses on practical cooking and meal preparation strategies for busy families. Cassy shares insights on efficient meal planning, using leftovers, and creative ways to incorporate vegetables into meals.
{REPLAY: original air date: 9/2021}
In this episode:
(00:02:59) Cooking Challenges for Busy Families
(00:03:14) Efficient Meal Preparation Strategies
(00:04:40) Dinner Series Concept -cooking once and eating multiple times from that meal.
(00:06:55) Weekly meal planning strategy
(00:10:22) Kitchen Hacks for Efficiency
(00:12:02) Cassy's approach to family meals - cooking one meal for everyone
(00:17:41) Frozen fruits and vegetables - nutritional value and convenience
(00:19:01) Meal assembly techniques and sharing cooking responsibilities in a family setting.
(00:19:45) Cassy's personal health journey and transition to Anti-Inflammatory foods
(00:22:44) The importance of understanding individual food tolerances and choices.
(00:25:28) Sneaking in Nutrients - strategies for incorporating vegetables into meals
🌟 Guest: @fedandfit
📝 Show notes: www.onairella.com/post/248-cassy-joy-garcia
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Transcript
Welcome, you're on air with Ella, where we share simple strategies and tips from people who are doing something better than we are.
Speaker A:Whether it's wellness or relationships to just living better and with more energy or changing your mindset to accomplish more in your own life and succeeding.
Speaker A:However you define it, this is where we share the best of what we're learning from the experts, and we're learning more every day.
Speaker A:Live better.
Speaker A:Start now.
Speaker A:Hey, you're on air with Ella.
Speaker A:And today I am delighted to be joined by Ms.
Speaker A:Katie Cassie Joy Garcia.
Speaker A:Hey, Cassie, how are you?
Speaker B:Hey.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker B:I'm good.
Speaker A:I have got to post a video of how cute you look today.
Speaker A:Where are you?
Speaker A:Where am I talking to you right now?
Speaker B:Right now?
Speaker B:I'm in my pantry.
Speaker A:Where's your pantry located?
Speaker B:I'm in.
Speaker B:I'm in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker B:Was that too specific?
Speaker A:I'm definitely posting the video now.
Speaker A:No, the reason I want to share the video is because Cassie looks absolutely adorable and I look like something that got scraped off the bottom of a shoe.
Speaker A:So than for showing up today, I appreciate you and sorry I couldn't do better.
Speaker A:Cassie, will you tell everybody who you are and what you do?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I'm Cassie Joy Garcia.
Speaker B:I'm the founder of fedandfit.com we just celebrated 10 years.
Speaker B:Started as a food blog, became a holistic nutritionist, and now I run Fed and Fit as more of an online editorial with a small but mighty team.
Speaker B:And we just try to solve all the problems that come up in the kitchen, Know whether it's getting an easier dinner on the table, how to have kitchen hacks, all.
Speaker B:All the things in between.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker A:I want to talk about all of those things because we are busy, Cassie, but we want to eat well.
Speaker A:And I haven't talked about food, like, properly and I don't know how long.
Speaker A:So I am just delighted to have you on today.
Speaker A:And we've been connected on Instagram for some time.
Speaker A:I have to say, your feed and your photos and your food are gorgeous.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:That's so nice.
Speaker A:You inspire me and you inspire me to want to cook, but what really happens is you inspire me to ask my husband to cook things even better.
Speaker A:So thank you for that.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Cassie, you are a mom of two Point X because you have a little one on the way.
Speaker B:Yeah, I do.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I'm sitting here with number three in my belly.
Speaker B:She'll be here in early December.
Speaker A:Oh, that's so exciting.
Speaker A:And how old are your two?
Speaker B:I have a three And a half year old and a one and a half year old.
Speaker B:We are busy.
Speaker A:I mean, that sounds exhausting.
Speaker A:So when you tell me that, the very first thing I think is, how do you have time to cook, like, anything, how does that even happen?
Speaker A:And I know that what I love about you and the work that you do and the conversation that we want to have today is a lot of us are busy.
Speaker A:Some of us have little people running around.
Speaker A:Some of us have jobs or family demands and, you know, demands on all of our resources.
Speaker A:And frankly, I.
Speaker A:I don't speak for everyone when I say this, but when things get pressed, eating fresh, healthy food that makes me feel good is like the first thing to go.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:How do you do it?
Speaker B:Well, sometimes it doesn't happen.
Speaker B:It's just, you know, and that's okay, too.
Speaker B:And I got to a point where I realized sometimes food is food, right?
Speaker B:And nourishment is nourishment.
Speaker B:But the majority of the time, I want to be able to feed my family something healthy that I feel great about, that they really are going to enjoy.
Speaker B:That doesn't cost an arm and a.
Speaker B:It doesn't take a lot of time to pull together.
Speaker B:And it was a.
Speaker B:Honestly, it was the biggest riddle of my career so far was to solve that.
Speaker B:Why is getting dinner on the table such a challenge night after night?
Speaker B:Or if I am getting it on the table night after night, I am exhausted by the whole process.
Speaker B:And so what I essentially did was solve this problem by being as efficient as possible in the kitchen with my mealtime.
Speaker B:And if we think about just dinner, for example, how do I get dinner on the table so that tonight's meal isn't where all of this effort stops?
Speaker B:You know, I kind of get to do my future self a favor by getting ahead on a few things, maybe the most important pieces, so that the meal tomorrow night or the next night comes together much faster.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love that the book that you sent me, that which of course we will share with everyone, is all about, like, cooking once and eating multiple times off of that meal.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Can you talk to me a little bit about the setup?
Speaker A:Because I think the way that you framed the book, Cassie, is, you know, indicative of sort of your approach in the kitchen and nourishing yourself and your family.
Speaker A:So tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:The way that the book is set up is it's a little bit of a middle ground for folks who are maybe exhausted by making a fresh, totally involved meal, dinner, day after day, night after night.
Speaker B:And also Folks who are not interested in a significant time investment of meal prep on a weekend, for example.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So it's a little bit of somewhere in between.
Speaker B:And so we do.
Speaker B:The book is organized into what I've called dinner series.
Speaker B:In each dinner series, it's a pair of meals.
Speaker B:And so there's 120 total meals in this book, including sides and all the things that you would want to serve with it to make it a really well rounded plate.
Speaker B:And what we do is, let's say, for example, there's a roasted chicken dinner series.
Speaker B:I'm going to give an example because I think it's the best way to tell the story.
Speaker B:There's a roasted chicken dinner series, and you want to have roasted chicken for supper, and you want to have some roasted vegetables and maybe roasted potatoes to serve with it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So you stick all that stuff in the oven.
Speaker B:And what I do in my kitchen to make things easier, faster, and also more affordable.
Speaker B:If you're able to find chickens.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:A good deal on them is to stick an extra chicken in the oven while you're roasting the first one.
Speaker B:You're not going to eat both chickens tonight, but that second one will already be done.
Speaker B:And so what I do with that chicken is, let's say if I'm making this on Monday night, come Wednesday night, when we're ready for chicken again, I take this already roasted chicken, I toss it in a really delicious, sticky kind of a sesame sauce and serve it over white rice and make an entirely different meal that comes together really quickly because the primary ingredient is already prepared, if that makes sense.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I love the dinner series concept.
Speaker A:I love that you call it purposeful leftovers and strategically transforming those leftovers into the best next dish.
Speaker A:So very, very smart.
Speaker A:But it still all requires planning.
Speaker A:So can you tell me what a week looks like for you?
Speaker A:And we're going to get into the nitty gritty here.
Speaker A:I'm going to talk about real challenges that people have, but I still just kind of want to know how the other half lives.
Speaker A:So, Cassie, talk to me about a week looks like when you have two littles and you know, you have a family of four, almost five.
Speaker A:How do you manage all of this with the shopping and the planning?
Speaker B:That's such a great question.
Speaker B:I like to use my time on a usually on a Saturday.
Speaker B:I really like to plan on a Saturday.
Speaker B:And I will pick.
Speaker B:Honestly, I lean on cook one's dinner fix for my week.
Speaker B:And I will say I'm going to choose two dinner series out of this book, which is going to give me four dinners, right?
Speaker B:And I like to mix and match proteins.
Speaker B:So maybe I'm grabbing something from the beef chapter and something from the seafood chapter.
Speaker B:All right, so I'm very.
Speaker B:We also have a really great vegetarian chapter, so it depends on what we're up for.
Speaker B:And so I will pick a dinner series out of both of those and then grab all of the groceries for both.
Speaker B:So we've got them ready to go.
Speaker B:But what I like to do to save even more time is when you get home from the groceries is a bit of a life hack.
Speaker B:When you get home with your groceries, I like to put them in my refrigerator in bins because when you're grocery shopping, you're probably shopping for groceries with a particular meal in mind.
Speaker B:So maybe you need cilantro.
Speaker B:And what if you need pinto beans and limes?
Speaker B:All of those are going to go into some sort of a chili verde that you're going to make sometime this week.
Speaker B:I will put those in a bin in my refrigerator.
Speaker B:The beans too, stuff that could be stored in the pantry, but it's all still together so that when it comes time to make that chili verde on a Tuesday night, I just grabbed the bin and the ingredients are already together still.
Speaker B:I don't have to rummage for everything and sometimes even the spices, you'll find the cumin and the onion powder in there as well.
Speaker B:So I will put everything away, organized by what dish I'm going to need.
Speaker B:Just to do my future self me a favor, grab em whip together this first dinner series, right?
Speaker B:Of the two, let's say it's a Monday and that's when I'm making the beef chili verde, right?
Speaker B:And I pull that together and I save half of the beef, the purposeful planned for extra like you said, and I'll save half of that, pack it up and put it with the bin for the meal that I'm going to make next.
Speaker B:And then on Tuesday I'm ready for the seafood.
Speaker B:So we're going to do a whole salmon bake with asparagus, for example.
Speaker B:That's what we're actually having tonight.
Speaker B:And I'm going to make that and then save half of that planned for leftover salmon to make for these salmon burgers that I'm going to make on Thursday.
Speaker B:And so I alternate the proteins.
Speaker B:Come Friday we're usually doing pizza.
Speaker B:In my house we do pizza on Fridays.
Speaker B:Saturdays I usually do spaghetti with just a very simple meat sauce, you know.
Speaker B:And then Sundays I get together with my family we do Sunday family dinner.
Speaker B:And so that's really how our weeks go.
Speaker B:If I'm able to get those four already planned, the shopping list is essentially already done for me.
Speaker B:And then we eat out once a week, and then we eat with family the other.
Speaker B:It all comes together really quickly.
Speaker A:I love the idea of batching everything in the fridge.
Speaker A:And just because something doesn't need to be refrigerated, of course, doesn't mean it can't be.
Speaker A:So I love the idea of batching everything.
Speaker A:So it's just super, super easy.
Speaker A:Because, honestly, the more friction you can reduce just in the process makes it so much easier to maintain any habit.
Speaker A:And for me, that's a huge point of friction is.
Speaker A:Well, first of all, my joke is.
Speaker A:But it's not a joke, is that if it has more than five ingredients, like, I'm not making it.
Speaker A:I don't cook.
Speaker A:I assemble.
Speaker A:I'm the wor, actually.
Speaker A:And if I were going to do something properly, the fact that it's kind of all spread out, even though my kitchen's organized, it's not like a disaster area.
Speaker A:Just the very fact that I have to think, A and B, move around and gather things, like, that's friction.
Speaker A:If there's friction, I'm going to find a reason not to do it.
Speaker A:So I think that's so smart.
Speaker A:Do you have any other little secret tips for us about reducing friction?
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:This is another favorite of mine.
Speaker B:I have a bowl that I keep in my refrigerator where I toss vegetables, things that are half used or partially used, things like that.
Speaker B:And it's where I'll put, let's say half a pint of cherry tomatoes or half of an onion that we use the other half for toppings of garnishes.
Speaker B:You know, a few mushrooms that didn't go to you, stuff like that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:A random assortment.
Speaker B:And what I do with that, for example, that meat sauce that I said I make on Saturdays, all of those vegetables go into that sauce, and so everything's going to use.
Speaker B:And so when I'm ready to make that sauce, yes, I have a marinara that I lean on for it, but it's also such a great way to make sure that I'm not wasting those veggies.
Speaker A:Okay, let's take, like a left turn just for fun here for just a minute.
Speaker A:You have two littles, you said.
Speaker A:Did you say a year and a half and three and a half?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:A lot of people cook one meal of junk.
Speaker A:P.S.
Speaker A:for the littles and then another meal for the adults.
Speaker A:And I have to say, I don't mean to be so boxy, but we did not do that.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We cooked one meal and everybody ate it.
Speaker A:And I'm wondering, what is your experience with that?
Speaker A:Because I grew up in a household with extremely picky eaters.
Speaker A:Like, my brother only ate bright red hot dogs from Hardee's for like the first 18 years of his life.
Speaker A:I don't know how he's alive.
Speaker A:I don't know how he didn't have scurvy.
Speaker A:There were four kids in my household, and everyone's eating differently.
Speaker A:It was just a disaster.
Speaker A:So I don't know if I just decided to rebel against that or if it's just because, like, I don't want to cook any more than I have to.
Speaker A:We didn't do the separate meals.
Speaker A:Do you have a philosophy there?
Speaker A:And if so, can you share any best practices with what works in your family?
Speaker B:I am team as little effort as possible on the cook, and that usually means making one meal.
Speaker B:So kiddos eat what the adults eat at the table, but their plates do look different.
Speaker B:I want to call that out because what appeals to my husband and myself may not necessarily appeal to our 1 and our 3 year old.
Speaker B:And so, for example, if there is a thinking about a stew, a veggie and beef stew, my husband and I are going to love a big hearty bowl of that, right?
Speaker B:With maybe a little crusty bread on the side and some parsley sprinkled on top.
Speaker B:You know, just a really lovely meal experience.
Speaker B:And my kids are going to look at that and just see goop, right?
Speaker B:But what they do like is if I'm able to take their little plate with the compartments and I'll fish out some of the beef, I'll fish out some of the carrots in one corner, right?
Speaker B:And I'll fish out potatoes.
Speaker B:And then I also serve.
Speaker B:I always give my kids some sort of a fresh fruit with dinner time.
Speaker B:And because they're able to see the meal deconstructed like that, it makes them so much more interested in it and they can wrap their heads around it.
Speaker B:They can see all of the components versus it being a mystery in this soup.
Speaker B:And so I found more success with that.
Speaker B:I've also found that if by giving them a sure win on the plate, something that I know they're going to love will start building momentum and get their interest going.
Speaker B:And so maybe they don't really like stewed meat, carrots and potatoes, right?
Speaker B:I know that's risky territory, but they Love raspberries.
Speaker B:That's maybe their favorite food.
Speaker B:And so if I at least put a good pile of raspberries on them, they're going to polish those off and then start on the other components.
Speaker A:I think diversification is so important and I am absolutely no expert.
Speaker A:I'm not even qualified to have this conversation.
Speaker A:I only had to raise one little person.
Speaker A:But I do think it's worth reminding ourselves that we're the ones buying the food.
Speaker A:So I know some people are listening to this and probably, you know, I'm probably getting their hackles up just a little bit because they're like, well, you don't understand.
Speaker A:My kid wouldn't eat unless I fed him the chicken nuggets or the whatever.
Speaker A:And the truth is like, we're the ones introducing the foods in the first place.
Speaker A:So I love just keeping an open mind and putting yourself in their shoes.
Speaker A:Accommodating for them not having foods touch.
Speaker A:We don't want foods to touch, Cassie.
Speaker A:That is unacceptable.
Speaker A:But trying to serve them from the same efforts, I just love considering what the possibilities are there.
Speaker A:So thank you for sharing how you do that in your own household.
Speaker A:What other hacks do you have?
Speaker A:What would fall into the kitchen Hacks for efficiency and reducing friction in your world?
Speaker B:One of my favorite hacks is if you have space for freezers or any space in your freezer is to make highly strategic use of your freezers.
Speaker B:That is one of the biggest game changers in my own kitchen was making sure that my freezer was really well utilized and well organized.
Speaker B:It takes a little bit of effort, but you will be really thankful that you did.
Speaker B:And so, for example, what I will like to do, and I really like to hunt the sales, I really will go and see what's available right now.
Speaker B:I mean, every.
Speaker B:You referenced raspberries, right?
Speaker B:Which depending on the season, can be violently expensive.
Speaker B:And sometimes about once a year I can find them for a dollar a pint, you know, something that's they're really in season, they're very local.
Speaker B:And I'll stock up on those and then wash them, dry them, and freeze them on a sheet pan and then transfer them.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so that's something to always keep in mind so that you are maximizing seasonal freshness and affordability.
Speaker B:But also already semi prepped foods is a really helpful thing to do.
Speaker B:So for example, if I am making like that sesame chicken with white rice for dinner, I only need to make a cup and a half of white rice and we don't really eat leftovers.
Speaker B:Of the exact same dishes.
Speaker B:That's not the point of this program.
Speaker B:But I will always use white rice.
Speaker B:In the future, it's going to be nice to already have that cooked.
Speaker B:And so I will go ahead and double that batch.
Speaker B:I'll make three dry cups of rice because the effort on me is the same.
Speaker B:While I'm in the kitchen, we'll serve the meal and then I'll take the rest of that and then I will freeze it, label it with one serving of white rice, and date it.
Speaker B:And then when I'm in a pinch and I need something to pull together really quickly or I think, oh, gosh, because these days are going to happen, right?
Speaker B:Proteins are another really great example.
Speaker B:If chicken tenderloins are on sale, for example, go ahead and grab them, cook a whole bunch in your slow cooker or instant pot, shred them.
Speaker B:Shredded proteins do really well in the freezer, freeze them, and then that becomes a really basic protein that you can use to mix in the soup, soups.
Speaker B:You can mix it into stuffed potatoes for things like that in the future.
Speaker B:And it's already done for you.
Speaker A:Question for you about frozen food, which I have been eating an enormous amount of for the past, like, two years.
Speaker A:And what I mean is, Cassie, not frozen dinners, not like, you know, packaged, assembled meals that are frozen, but frozen vegetables, frozen fruits, you know, the frozen cauliflower rice, frozen zoodles and that type of thing.
Speaker A:And I used to think that everything, if I were truly being good and doing what I was meant to do, then I'm making fresh food.
Speaker A:And, you know, it's something that just came out of the ground a week ago.
Speaker A:My understanding now is that flash frozen fruits and veggies can actually be quite good for you, particularly if you're able to get them pesticide free, that they can actually be quite good for you because they're frozen at the time of harvesting, and so they're maintaining a higher nutrient profile.
Speaker A:Now, you are also a holistic nutritionist.
Speaker A:So I want to ask you a question with that hat on.
Speaker A:What is your take on frozen fruits and vegetables and other whole foods?
Speaker B:I'm all for it.
Speaker B:Yay.
Speaker B:I really am.
Speaker B:I'm all for it.
Speaker B:I really.
Speaker B:It is you is.
Speaker B:Typically, if you think about the way the economics of food goes, you know, they're going to.
Speaker B:You're going to get the best price on those food.
Speaker B:They're going to be harvested, like you said, at peak harvest, peak freshness, usually pretty close to site.
Speaker B:There's not a whole lot of transit time before they're frozen.
Speaker B:And so to your point, a lot of those micronutrients are preserved and there's integrity in them and the texture is what's just going to be different for you in the end product.
Speaker B:But if you're cooking it anyways, right, if you're applying, if you're planning to apply heat or not, maybe not even heat, you're going to blend it in something like frozen fruit in a smoothie.
Speaker B:It makes no difference, you know, and if anything, you're probably going to save yourself a little bit of money and you might even be able to optimize the nutrients.
Speaker A:Oh, that's a relief, because this is how I'm embarrassed to tell you.
Speaker A:I'm genuinely embarrassed to share this with you, but so many of my meals are opening up four different bags of vegetables and putting them in a wok with coconut aminos or some other kind of sauce and sauteing them and then eating, like, a humongous bowl of saucy vegetables.
Speaker A:Like, that's actually a meal.
Speaker A:If I'm.
Speaker A:To me, if left to my own devices, that's what's happening.
Speaker B:That sounds fantastic.
Speaker B:You know, meal one is always going to be a little bit heavier lifting in.
Speaker B:In the way these dinner series are broken up, right.
Speaker B:Meal one's gonna have a little bitty heavy, heavier lifting.
Speaker B:So maybe it is roasting the chicken or maybe it is cooking the lentils in advance from, like, from the vegetarian chapter.
Speaker B:But meal two is assembly.
Speaker B:The whole meal, too, is built around assembly.
Speaker B:So if you're looking to share the responsibility of getting dinner on the table, if you have somebody in the house that you can partner with in that, you might look at divvying up the responsibilities based on interest in the kitchen.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And so the person who really probably enjoys a more involved cooking experience, assign meal one to them.
Speaker B:And then the other person, if they're looking to contribute, they could do the assembly for meal two.
Speaker A:Very smart.
Speaker A:Let's talk a little bit about your journey and how you got here.
Speaker A:Because did.
Speaker A:Did hear you correctly that you started as a blogger and then you became a nutritionist, and now you're an empire.
Speaker A:Let me ask you a question.
Speaker A:Did you have your own journey with food that led you here in the first place?
Speaker A:And I ask you that because I find that most of us do.
Speaker B:Yes, I did.
Speaker B:And I do.
Speaker B:I was in my early 20s and I was really unwell.
Speaker B:And this was back before the conversation revolved around food quality.
Speaker B:We weren't talking about that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We weren't talking about how you could really influence your health with the kinds of foods that were showing up on your plate or that individual bodies had certain intolerances to certain food groups.
Speaker B:There really wasn't a whole lot of conversation, at least not in the certain main circles that I was in.
Speaker B:And it was all focused around if you wanted to see a difference in your health.
Speaker B:Wellness.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That was all weight related.
Speaker B:That's all we ever I ever thought about then.
Speaker B:Then it was eat less, exercise more.
Speaker B:That was really the only prescriptive model out there.
Speaker B:And after that didn't work over and over again, I thought there's gotta be a different approach here.
Speaker B:And so I kind of took myself on as my first unofficial nutrition client and I started playing with the kinds of foods that were showing up my on my plate.
Speaker B:And I didn't realize how crummy I felt.
Speaker B:I thought that maybe I was just gaining a little bit.
Speaker B:I thought I was after college and I was just gaining weight because I wasn't, I don't know, running enough.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:I had this totally misconstrued perception of what health was and I started eating more anti inflammatory foods.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Is really what I started to do.
Speaker B:And I really don't think there's good food or bad food, I really don't.
Speaker B:And I think that it's just a matter of choosing the ones that are right for you in the moment.
Speaker B:But when I started changing, focusing on anti inflammatory foods, I had knee and hip pain in my early 20s that I did not realize were optional.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:And over time really, really did go away.
Speaker B:Mental fog energy, really, my attitude, all the kinds of things clicked into place and I felt like I got a new lease on life.
Speaker B:And so it was at that moment and yes, my body composition changed, but I know that was no longer the thing that I was chasing, you know, I was chasing how great I felt.
Speaker B:And so I wanted to share my lessons learned.
Speaker B:I thought there I can't be the only person.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And by that it was how do I cook?
Speaker B:How do I make this?
Speaker B:Instead of just chicken and steamed broccoli and sweet potato, how do I make this into an interesting meal?
Speaker B:And so that's when I started recipe developing, sharing those on the website.
Speaker B:And it just blossomed over time.
Speaker B:And what I found is that as long as I kept sharing genuine stories, my lessons learned, things that I was solving in my own pursuit of wellness, you know, whatever that looks like, and it's evolved over time and I was answering questions of my readers, then I just, I haven't lost Any steam in that.
Speaker B:And that's what I feel like my job is still to do is to answer questions as they come to me.
Speaker A:Well, and your foods and your recipes are beautifully diverse.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:But I do have a question.
Speaker A:What was the shift for you into anti inflammatory?
Speaker A:What did that mean for you specifically?
Speaker B:So what that meant specifically is I looked at what major food groups could possibly cause more inflammation in the body and then what major food groups could reduce inflammation in the body.
Speaker B:And I started with some of the lowest hanging fruit.
Speaker B:So, for example, at the time, and this is true now that I have the kind of knowledge base of a holistic nutritionist and working with a bunch of folks depending on how healthy your gut is, it really comes down to gut health, right?
Speaker B:And mine was not in a great state.
Speaker B:Grains tend to cause inflammation in the body if you have an unhealthy gut, right?
Speaker B:Those kinds of food groups, dairy, can cause inflammation.
Speaker B:Even something as healthy and wonderful and nourishing as an egg, in my opinion.
Speaker B:So I think an egg is a really great choice.
Speaker B:But if you eat so many of them and you have an unhealthy gut, then it could turn into an inflammatory food for you.
Speaker B:But this is a moving target, right?
Speaker B:The foods that are going to increase, possibly increase inflammation in the body and the foods that are going to take away from it are going to possibly move and shift over time as you, as you switch up the foods on your plate.
Speaker B:And so that's really kind of what it meant.
Speaker B:I focused a whole lot more on as many healthy healing proteins as I could.
Speaker B:Starches that were a little bit more, I don't want to say simple because that brings to mind something different but straightforward starches like a sweet potato, right?
Speaker B:A baked potato, plantains, single ingredient kind of starches, fruits, vegetables, stuff like that.
Speaker B:And then I slowly expanded.
Speaker B:And I'll tell you that what I also found is that over time, after I'd healed myself, things that foods that I could all of a sudden tolerate, like dairy, like some grains, started, I was able to reincorporate without consequence.
Speaker A:I think that's so important.
Speaker A:I think that that nuance gets lost in this conversation a lot because we demonize dairy.
Speaker A:I certainly have and kind of still do because cow's milk, just as a beverage, I'm not a huge fan of, but I eat cheese.
Speaker A:Eggs, I know get mixed reviews.
Speaker A:But the truth is, so much of it has to do with the state your body is in when consuming.
Speaker A:I sometimes can eat eggs and sometimes I cannot.
Speaker A:It a hundred percent depends on what's happening inside your gut.
Speaker A:And I can't speak to that.
Speaker A:So what I love and when I talk about how diverse your recipes are, is I love that you're not shying away from any major food groups, but you're very clear about which ones have.
Speaker A:Which just meets everybody's needs, no matter where they are in their journey.
Speaker A:So I just think it's really useful information to have.
Speaker A:So thank you for that and thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker A:I appreciate you being so open to these completely random questions that I'm throwing at you.
Speaker A:I have one more, and this is a listener question I had a listener ask.
Speaker A:I don't mean to sound basic, but I really don't know how to incorporate vegetables creatively into my meals.
Speaker A:They always end up as like a very simple side dish, like a lump of potatoes or green beans or.
Speaker A:And I, I get what she's saying.
Speaker A:When I was a kid, we had like a meat and two sides, you know, and the sides usually came out of like a can.
Speaker A:But we're not judging.
Speaker A:You know, we didn't all grow up with this beautiful options available to us and all these fresh foods and all, you know, we didn't have zoodles.
Speaker A:Zoodles did not exist when I was growing up, Cassie.
Speaker A:So let me ask you, what are some of the more creative ways you've increased vegetable consumption or just increased the consumption with within your family unit?
Speaker A:Because kids aren't always running with their arms in the air towards consuming more vegetables, right?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Please pass the broccoli.
Speaker B:No, not necessarily.
Speaker B:You know the thing that comes to mind first in answering that question.
Speaker B:Well, first, the thing that comes to mind is you're so not alone.
Speaker B:To your point also because that's so common.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And to think, like, it has to be something green has to be on the plate for it to represent the vegetable.
Speaker B:The way that I like to get more veggies in.
Speaker B:And I really started doing this before I had kids, but sneak them in.
Speaker B:And I don't mean like, we need to be blending black beans into our brownies.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That's not really what I'm talking about.
Speaker A:They're so pleased that you said, I.
Speaker B:I'm team have a brownie, you know, but if you're making a chili.
Speaker B:When my, when I married my husband, he loves chili.
Speaker B:And I always put finely chopped kale in our chili.
Speaker B:And it probably sounds a little bizarre, but I saw it as I wanted to get another nutrient vegetable in this because again, because I don't have to serve A vegetable side with this bowl of chili, I just like to cook it in.
Speaker B:And so if you can, when you're going through the grocery store, go through the produce section and grab what's in season, grab what maybe interests you, grab what you're.
Speaker B:You might be a little bit interested in.
Speaker B:Start there.
Speaker B:Start with the things that interest you and then get them home.
Speaker B:Whip out the food processor if you've got one, and grate them, or grate them with a hand grater, but shred them as finely as you can and then fold them them into something you're cooking, especially summer squash, zucchinis and the yellow squash.
Speaker B:They almost melt into whatever you're cooking and you're able to incorporate more vegetables.
Speaker B:The nutrient value and the veggie value of the meal just went through the roof, you know.
Speaker B:And so I say sneak it in for yourself.
Speaker B:Not that you're trying to hide it, but it's just going to help make it more of the meal.
Speaker A:Agree.
Speaker A:It's a quantity thing.
Speaker A:You're just upping your servings.
Speaker A:You're increasing your nutrient density.
Speaker A:So I'm a big fan of that, too.
Speaker A:And again, from the most basic point of view, I'll just say most vegetables get along, so don't be afraid to combine.
Speaker A:Make a vegetable medley out of three different things that you have in the fridge or the freezer, because a lot of vegetables get along, especially when a yummy fat is introduced.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:That's my only contribution to the conversation.
Speaker A:Cassie.
Speaker A:That's all I got.
Speaker B:That's a great one.
Speaker B:That's helpful.
Speaker A:Cassie, you have been an utter delight.
Speaker A:Thank you for talking to me from your pantry.
Speaker A:I've thoroughly enjoyed learning more about how people who do this well do it well.
Speaker A:Thank you very much for being inspiring.
Speaker A:Thank you for this book filled with very delicious options.
Speaker A:Tell us where to find you.
Speaker B:The website is fed and fit.com and then I'm probably the most active in social media land over on Instagram and that's where you can also find demonstrations of cook one's dinner fix because sometimes it's easier to show it and so you'll be able to find a lot of demos there.
Speaker A:Well, thank you for making our lives a little bit easier and a lot more delicious, Cassie.
Speaker A:Appreciate you.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Okay, that's a wrap.
Speaker A:I hope you enjoyed today's show and got something out of it that you can use.
Speaker A:If you did and you want to learn more, find me on Instagram airwithella or open the show Notes for this episode and get all the links@onairella.com there's no whiff, it's just on airela.com thanks for listening.
Speaker A:Thank you for sharing the show, and thanks for inspiring me.
Speaker A:You are, quite simply awesome.
