It’S Just Better . . . in a Bowl!: Cooking Real Food for a Healthier You

By Debra Abeling

Cooking real food has many health benefits for you and your family, and its just better eaten out of a bowl. This book will teach you what real food is, why use a bowl, and how to stock a healthy pantry and kitchen. You will also learn healthy substitutions, ingredients for building a healthy bowl, along with meal prepping ideas. There are many recipes using simple real ingredients to make breakfast, soup and stew, salad, dinner, and dessert bowls. Its just better cooking real food that is served in a bowl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: May 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781489712257

Debra Abeling

Debra Abeling has owned and operated a catering business, completed a chef’s training program from Westlake Culinary Institute in Westlake Village, California, and worked as a personal chef as well as a corporate chef. In 2014, she completed a year long Health Coach program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City, New York. She has also completed two year-long life coaching programs with Cloud-Townsend Resources in Southern California. Debra believes that there is a definite connection between the foods we eat and how our bodies function. Food affects our health and well-being. Cooking real food, foods that God intended us to eat, that are unprocessed, unrefined, free of chemicals, additives or preservatives, will help you and your family improve your quality of life. It's a lifestyle, not a diet that makes the difference. She has a passion for cooking, creating good simple dishes made with real food, and a desire to pass this on to others. Debra resides in Fontana, California with her husband Michael and is a mother of three wonderful daughters.

Book preview

It’s Just Better …

in a Bowl!

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DEBRA ABELING

Copyright © 2016, 2017 Debra Abeling.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

LifeRich Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.liferichpublishing.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1226-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1227-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1225-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017905589

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 5/8/2017

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Contents

Introduction

What Is Real Food?

Why a Bowl?

Types of Bowls

Stocking Your Healthy Kitchen

Kitchen Essentials

Dirty Dozen—Clean Fifteen

They Taste Better in Season

Healthy Substitutions

Ingredients for Building a Healthy Bowl

It’s Just Better with Meal Prepping

Wake up to a Breakfast Bowl

Serving up the Soup and Stew Bowl

Tossing the Salad Bowl

Dishing up the Dinner Bowl

Proteins

Whole Grains

Fruits and Vegetables

Extras

Delicious Dessert Bowls

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

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Introduction

Would you like to feel better, eat better, think better, or perhaps perform better?

What if you could find better in a bowl?

Simply cooking a bowl of real food can add a significant amount of much-needed nutrition to our bodies for optimal health. Yes, buying, preparing, and eating real foods are important ingredients in building a healthy lifestyle for you and your family. What we put into our bodies really does affect our well-being.

Take some time to look through your kitchen pantry. Take an inventory of what is on the shelves. Then ask yourself a few questions:

• Can I pronounce the ingredients listed on the labels and packaging?

• Is there an abundance of sugar in these foods?

• How many ingredients are in these products?

• How much processed food am I feeding my family?

• Lastly, perhaps if I choose differently, could my family and I experience more energy and a new vitality for life, resulting in feeling, thinking, and performing better?

I know it can be a bit overwhelming, even intimidating at first, but take this first step and assess what can be better. Be as honest as you can; face what’s really in that pantry. Then take steps to make healthier choices.

Five years ago, I asked myself these same questions. I thought I was choosing wisely but was amazed at what I had stocked in my pantry. Convenience items were the call of the day. I also noticed changes in how I felt physically. I sensed that what I was choosing to eat was somehow involved. In my quest to just be better, I enrolled and then graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. It was during my studies that I became convinced that food was a huge ingredient that affected my recipe for life. Food is not the only ingredient, but it’s a strong player when it comes to health and well-being.

I have adopted seven ingredients in my It’s Just Better philosophy of health and wellness:

1 It’s just better with Jesus.

2 It’s just better with purpose/goals.

3 It’s just better with relationships.

4 It’s just better without debt.

5 It’s just better with adequate sleep.

6 It’s just better with some exercise.

7 And it’s just better with real food.

I am writing this book to help you get started on your journey to better health. It is a journey, so take it one step at a time. I will coach you on how to stock your kitchen pantry, including what basic kitchen equipment will be helpful, and provide you with helpful tips, recipes, and so much more.

The recipes in this book are easy to make yet very tasty. Get ready for a fun time experimenting, tasting, and dishing up real food served up in a bowl you and your family will enjoy.

Grab your favorite apron … put it on … and begin your journey to better!

Bon appetite!

Debra Abeling, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

What Is Real Food?

My definition of real food is: food that our God