Habits - Are You Addicted to Dopamine?

Jennifer Louden, life coach extraordinaire, who has been such a great teacher and support to me for years, shares some amazing information on dopamine, what it's for, and what dopamine addiction is all about.

I found this so fascinating (and helpful) particularly as I work on finding my balance and ditching bad habits.  And by fascinating, I have to say, it kind of freaked me out.

I've talked about it a little bit over the past few days with colleagues, and people were intrigued to know more.  By intrigued, I mean "What?! Are you kidding me?  I need to see this information."

So who better to get the info from than straight from Jen.

Jennifer Louden's dopamine article

Freezer Meal: Slow Cooker Cabbage Casserole

Cabbage is a crazy versatile food. It's cheap and keeps for quite some time in the crisper.  I usually make cole slaw (on a different day, let's not over do it!)  with 1/2 a cabbage, and then use the other 1/2 for a meal like this one.

Prep Day Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped 
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp your favourite seasoning (such as basil or oregano or Herbs de Provence)
• cooking spray

Cooking Day Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
• 3 cups broth (beef OR chicken OR vegetable)

Prep Day Directions:

Label an extra large freezer bag with what it is, what to add (if anything), and Cooking Day directions.

1. In a large pot, brown the onions, the garlic, and the ground meat.  
2. Remove pot from heat, and drain off any excess oil.
3. Add cabbage, carrots, salt, pepper, seasoning. 
4. Stir to combine.
5. Allow to cool slightly, then load it all into the freezer bag, flatten it, then freeze it. 

Cooking Day Directions:

Night before, if you remember, take it out of the freezer and leave the bag in a bowl in fridge to slightly thaw overnight.  If you don't remember, just run some lukewarm water over it in the morning (still in bag) to loosen the contents a bit.

1. Spray the slow cooker with the non-stick cooking spray. 
2. Put the rice in the slow cooker.
3. Place the bag contents in the slow cooker, on top of the rice.
4. Pour the broth on top. 
5. Cook 4 - 6 hours on low.
6. Stir before serving. 

This is good as is, or spiced up a bit with hot sauce or soy sauce or whatever tickles your fancy.  Serves 6 - 8.

Bon appetit!!!!

Freezer Meal: Slow Cooker Veggie Beef Stew

Prep Day:

Label an extra large freezer bag with what it is, what to add (if anything), and cooking directions.

Place in the extra-large freezer bag:

2 lbs. stewing beef
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 carrots, sliced
2 cups green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen corn
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. beef stock base (or mushroom base or vegetable base) - powder or liquid concentrate
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup red wine (or apple juice if you don't want to waste wine)
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Day of:
Add 1 1/2 cups water to slow cooker before cooking.

Freeze lying flat. If you're paranoid like me, put the freezer bag in a grocery bag, "just in case".

To cook:
Night before, if you remember, take it out of the freezer and leave the bag in a bowl in fridge to slightly thaw overnight.  If you don't remember, just run some lukewarm water over it in the morning (still in bag) to loosen the contents a bit.

Place bag contents in slow cooker, add additional ingredients, stir, and then cook 8 - 10 hours on low.
This is good as is, or over potatoes.  Serves 6 - 8.

Bon appetit!!!!