Mahi Mahi with Sauteed Kale, Corn & Beets



I don't usually post recipes, but yesterday I whipped up a quick healthy and tasty dinner for my family that I would like to share.  I'm not a big fan of seafood, but my husband is so I decided to make an effort to purchase more fish when I do my grocery shopping.  The past week or so I have been dealing with a very stubborn and painful migraine, so cooking dinner hasn't been something I've been wanting to nor really able to do much over the last few days.  I had some mahi mahi fillets in the refrigerator and fish is pretty quick and simple to make so I made up a quick marinade/seasoning and threw some veggies together.  I used frozen kale, canned sweet corn, and some sliced beets for the side dish.  What turned out was fragrant, tasty, and very pretty to look at!

I'm pretty sure any fish would work in this recipe, so use whatever you have on hand.  Tilapia or salmon would probably be nice with the marinade.  Don't want to use fish?  Chicken breast cutlets would be just as tasty!  I didn't let the fish marinate because it was getting late but it still came out very flavorful.  If you don't have any kale, spinach would work just as well.  I like to keep my freezer stocked with frozen veggies as they are the next best thing to having fresh produce and they keep longer.  But, fresh is good too!

Eating cleaner and healthier has been a big focus for me and my family, so I'm really proud of how this came out.  I hope you try it for your family and that you enjoy it as much as mine did!


Mahi Mahi with Kale, Corn and Beets

Jaime M. Sanders
Published 02/03/2014
Mahi Mahi with Kale, Corn & Beets
A light, healthy, and very flavorful meal!

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
  • 1 tbsp agave nectar
  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper
  • 1-2 tsp finely chopped cilantro
  • 4 fillets mahi mahi
  • 1 16 oz bag frozen chopped kale
  • 1 15 oz can sweet corn, no salt added
  • 1 16 oz jar sliced beets, drained and chopped
  • 1 tsp Celtic sea salt or kosher salt
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Combine all ingredients up to the mahi mahi. Place fillets in a resealable plastic storage bag, then add marinade. Lay flat and let marinate for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Put fillets in a baking dish, reserving the marinade and bake for 20 minutes or until fish easily flakes with a fork. Heat marinade in a small pot until slightly thickened and heated through, about 5 minutes.
  2. While fish is baking, in a large bowl add the kale, corn, beets, salt, lemon pepper and ginger. Mix well to combine. Heat olive or coconut oil in a large skillet. Add vegetables and saute until heated through, about 8-10 minutes.
  3. Serve fish over vegetables with sauce on the side. Brown rice or quinoa would make a great accompaniment.
Yield: 4 Servings
Prep Time: 00:10
Cook time: 00:30
Tags: mahi mahi, fish, food, healthy recipes

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The Ugly Truth About Depression


"I'm so tired of waking up wanting to burst into tears because of how depressed and unhappy I am. Even in my dreams, I fight depression, stress, and anxiety. The tight grasp that this disease has on me is asphyxiating. Each day I'm in a battle that I feel like I'm losing. About every two weeks I crash into a hopeless pit of desolation.  Saturday was my most recent downward spiral. Nothing, not even the love of my family, brings me out of it. It's such a horrible place to dwell in on a daily basis. I'm tired of having to need therapists and psychiatrists. I don't want to put another antidepressant into my body.  I am so stressed. I have no confidence or faith in myself. I just have one desire. To sleep and not have to wake up. Morbid, yes. But it's what I want. I can't deal. I'm scared, anxious, and paranoid all the time. The more I write about it the worse I feel. This is supposed to be cathartic. Instead it's causing me to feel more hopeless." - December 2, 2013

That was me two months ago.  I was Eeyore... in a very dark, depressing, and isolated place every day.  Month after month since my last suicide attempt (you can read about it here) I have been struggling with a crazy assortment of emotions.  I lived in my bedroom and under the covers.  Wishing that I could sleep through the rest of my life.  I hated going out and being around people.  I still kind of do at times.  Yes, it's been almost 14 months since it happened, but it still feels like it was yesterday.  So many aspects of my life has changed.  My world was turned upside down.  New obstacles and anxieties have cropped up that have made life for me very difficult.  Everything, even the smallest and most insignificant thing, creates paralyzing anxiety which jump starts the depression roller coaster.  My rational side knows that I should really be on an antidepressant to treat my depression and anxiety.  At this point, I have chronic depression or Dysthymia (Dysthymia (Chronic Depression) – Signs, Symptoms, Treatment - HealthyPlace).  But I have acquired a fear of antidepressants because the last one I was on caused me to try and kill myself.  I have a lot of anxiety about seeing a therapist or a psychiatrist because of my experience in the hospital.  I was treated like a drug addict, crazy and unstable, all of which I wasn't.  So now I fear going into places or seeing people that represent those things.

I have a phobia of medications and anything having to do with the treatment of mental illness.  I can't seem to get myself to the point of going to see someone for treatment.  Every time I think I'm okay with getting back on medication and going to counseling, I get a panic attack and my thoughts are fixated on what happened while I was hospitalized.  I become crippled with fear.  It's a terrible cycle of events.  I have been able to talk more openly about it recently and have tried to focus on the positive parts of my life.  That has helped, along with not letting things out of my control bring me into a state of panic.  It's a challenging exercise but I'm getting better at it.

Over the past two or three weeks, my focus has been on getting healthy.  I completed a three-day detox, did a gallbladder/liver flush, and have been making my own water kefir* to help support a healthy immune system.  My progress is slow but (hopefully) steady and soon I will get to a place where I am not so scared anymore.  At this time, I am not ready but it's not as scary as it was two, four, or six months ago.

*I plan on making a post on the benefits of kefir and how to make it soon!

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Check out "Understanding Middle-of-the-night Insomnia" sharing hub at WEGO Health!



Are you an empowered Health Activist? WEGO Health has a new sharing hub focused on middle-of-the-night insomnia:  

http://sharinghub.wegohealth.com/understanding-middle-of-the-night-insomnia


Many people have trouble going back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night.  This sharing hub has a lot of great resources for those who are suffering from this condition and are interested in learning more.

Take a few minutes to check out this helpful new sharing hub!  Post about the “Understanding Middle-of-the-night Insomnia” Sharing Hub on your blog, tweet it and get the word out on Facebook.

Watch, learn and share!

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Book Review: A Story Unfinished by Matt Mooney



Matt and Ginny Mooney were elated to find out they were pregnant with their first child.  As any expecting new parents, they were filled with joy and excitement and couldn't wait to welcome their new baby into the world.  At thirty weeks pregnant, Matt and Ginny were given the devastating news that their child had a genetic disorder, Trisomy 18 or Edwards syndrome.  This diagnosis could mean that the baby would not survive birth or if he should, that it would only be for a few hours or a few days.  But when Eliot was born, not only did he survive, he lived for 99 days.

Each day that Eliot was alive was celebrated.  It was a gift that Matt and Ginny cherished.  Although their lives have changed drastically and their world turned upside down, they never ceased to acknowledge the blessing that Eliot was to the world.  The lessons that Eliot's life taught Matt and Ginny surprised them and helped them more than they could have ever imagined.  The power of prayer, faith, community and hope surrounded, guided and uplifted this family.  To see Matt's personal relationship with God and how Eliot's life help to transform and strengthen it is purely amazing, beautiful, and encouraging.

Just from reading the title I knew that this book would move me. What I underestimated was by how much. At first glance, the story of losing a child is a heartbreaking one. Yet, Matt and his wife Ginny have laid out the beautiful lessons that are weaved into that loss. I so appreciate how candid and truthful they were in telling this story. It is their faith, community of friends and family, and each other that get them through the most difficult part of their lives. But most of all, their appreciation of the precious time they had with Eliot and how they cherished each moment, no matter how distraught or difficult they may have been, was most enjoyable to read. You are able to witness the growth of two people in their own knowledge of themselves and in their faith and you can't help but want to take that journey with them. A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot is the document of a beautiful life and the beautiful blessings Eliot brought with him and shared with the world.

For each day of his life, 99 balloons were released at Eliot's funeral which was documented in this YouTube video.  The responses from the video created a lot of buzz nationwide.  So much so that Matt and Ginny were featured on The Today Show and Oprah.  


 
99 Balloons
99 Balloons Aftermath


The outreach from the community and the entire nation has culminated in the organization 99 Balloons, helping individuals with disabilities nationally and globally.  Matt and Ginny live in Fayetteville, Arkansas with Eliot's three siblings - Hazel, Anders, and Lena, who was adopted from the Ukraine and has special needs.



Matt Mooney
Connect with Matt, Ginny and 99 Balloons

Matt's blog:  www.theatypicallife.com
Ginny's blog:  www.orbitofthemooneys.blogspot.com
Eliot's blog:  www.mattandginny.blogspot.com
99 Balloons:  www.99balloons.org
Facebook:  www.facebook.com
Twitter:  @mattmooney





Product Specs

Title:  A Story Unfinished
Author:  Matt Mooney
Publisher:  Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City
Date of Publication:  July 1, 2013
Retail Price:  $15.99
Pages:  200 pages
ISBN:  978-0-8341-3011-1




You can also read my review of this book on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com.



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Apologies and Forgiveness


I'm pretty behind on this month's Bloggy Moms blog dare.  I'm finally caught up to today's prompt, "I want to apologize...".  I decided to repost an entry from the Wego Health Activist Blog Challenge back in April that touched on forgiveness.  I hope you enjoy!




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Holiday Schmoliday


The entire holiday season has me so ready for January 2nd.  This November marked the one year anniversary of a very traumatic event in my life that almost killed me.  I'm still trying to move past that and November represents a lot of grief, guilt, shame and trauma for me.  Last year's Thanksgiving I had a lot to be grateful for but I was pretty bummed and confused and didn't feel like going through the motions of celebrating a holiday.  I didn't care to so much this year either.  Thanksgiving takes three days to prepare just for everyone to be done eating in 20 minutes.  Afterward, my body is in shambles.  

Christmas means putting more stress on my body to put up the tree and decorations.  Then, trying to give the kids a decent Christmas morning with only one parent working and a measly check from Social Security every month that gets eaten up by bills stresses both me and my husband out.  We do what we can, and I know that there are families out there who can't do anything at all.  At the end of the day, we just want to make those who matter most to us happy and put smiles on the faces of our children.  I know I can't give them everything they want but try to make up for it by creating special moments and memories that they will hold on to forever.  Sometimes, due to a migraine or a flare up from the fibromyalgia, my ability to do those things are limited or halted all together.  I just don't know how I'm going to feel from one day to the next and that creates a lot of anxiety and stress for me.  So I wind up wishing for the holidays to be over so that I won't have to worry about whether or not I'll be able to enjoy them with my family or not.  I got through last month and the Christmas tree and decorations are up.  I had to spend most of yesterday in bed due to the pain my body was in from all the bending, stooping and reaching but the results were happy kids.  That's what it's all about anyway, right?











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Stop It! Just Stop It!


Yeah, that's what I'm usually screaming in my head at any given moment throughout the day.  Whether its due to a migraine, a Fibromyalgia flare, the excruciating carpal tunnel in my hands or the negative speak of depression I'm telling something to quit harassing me.  As it gets colder outside and winter weather starts to creep in, my bones ache more and my muscles spasm longer and harder.  I quietly endure the pain and wish for it to stop, go away and never come back.  Every morning when I wake up, I'm greeted with a migraine that most who have never had one would be sure to make them feel as if they were dying.  To me it's mild enough to still get my kids off to school but frequent enough to wish for it to stop, go away and never come back.  Daily, I battle and try to fend off negative brain chatter, anxious thoughts, and feelings of hopelessness.  Sometimes I win them and other times I lose, but I always wish for them to stop, go away and never come back.

It would be nice to just deal with the physical illnesses alone.  That's much easier for me to cope with than the mental illnesses.  They have hurt me (and my family) more than all of my other conditions combined and cause more dysfunction in my life.  Unfortunately, I'll be dealing with them for the rest of my life and will continue to have moments in time where they will be well managed and others when they will be harder to control.  I watched this video on Upworthy about depression that was made by the World Health Organization or WHO.  It really describes what it is like living with it with great accuracy.  Please watch it and share it, especially if you live with depression and need help getting your loved ones and friends to understand what it is and how it affects you.



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