“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills.”

They say every seven years, our bodies reinvent themselves. Refueling, reshaping, replenishing; out with the old, in with the new. I think I might be at a seven year checkpoint, both in body and in spirit. When the winds of change blow, sometimes eating habits can get caught in the current and stray from what we know is healthy. The last couple of weeks has been a series of tornadoes for me, and my temptation has been to go straight to what is deceptively named “comfort food”. Comfort foods tend to be the ones that convert to sugar quicker — chocolate, candy, carbs, and fried foods. When our bodies start to crave comfort food, it’s our job to change our cravings the same way some people build walls while others build windmills. This week’s post is about building windmills with our cravings. This week I’m taking my two favourite temptations: pizza and wings.

RECIPE #1
I love chicken wings. I love the hot sauce, I love the blue cheese. I love the sauce on my fingers. I love the whole experience. But I don’t love the fat. And those little wings have a too much fat in them to make them worth it. Add on the fat from the blue cheese sauce and the butter in the hot sauce and you have a heart attack in waiting. I love chicken wings, but I love my arteries more. The dressing is best after it is refrigerated for a few hours or overnight, so consider making ahead.

“BLUE” CHEESE AND HOT WINGS
1/2 cup of ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp red pepper and black pepper seasoning (use more for spicier wings)
1 tsp dried roasted garlic or 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp minced onion seasoning
2 egg whites
1 lb chicken breast fingers (slice up chicken breasts to make fingers)
6 tbsp of hot sauce (like Tabasco)

Dressing:
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 low fat feta cheese

For wings, preheat oven to 350F. Combine flax seed, red and black pepper, garlic and onion seasoning in a bowl.

In another big bowl, crack egg whites. Dip chicken strips in egg whites, then coat with flax seed mixture. Transfer to baking sheet and bake in oven for 5 minutes.

Remove and spread hot sauce on front and back of chicken strips. Return to oven and back for 10 more minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.

For dressing, in a bowl mix together yogurt, Dijon mustard, and garlic clove. Stir in feta cheese, using a form to make sure feta is crumbled.

RECIPE #2
Pizza is definitely one of my comfort foods. I would want to eat pizza everyday and with this next recipe, I just might be able to without the compromise to my health (don’t actually eat this pizza everyday; it’s not good to eat any meal every day). The base for this pizza is Ezekiel bread, which is a a sprouted grain brain. While most other breads offer you bad carbs from unrefined flours, this bread actually offers you protein. The combination of sprouted wheat, lentils, barley, oat, and rye produces 8 amino acids making it a complete protein. I also like this recipe because you can make it using leftovers from the chicken wing recipe!

PIZZAZZ
1 tomato (you can use tomato sauce as well, but check the sodium content to get one with low sodium)
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of dried basil
pinch of ground black pepper
2 slices of Ezekiel bread
6 oz of leftover grilled chicken (or spicy chicken “wings”)
2/3 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 tbsp grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

Slice tomatoes, season with herbs and pepper, and assemble on each slice of bread.

Cut chicken into thin slices and lay on tomatoes.

Divide cottage cheese evenly on chicken and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in toaster oven at 400F for about 20 minutes or until golden on top.

You can substitute any topping you like and use the dipping sauce from your wings with your pizza!