Tag: healthy

Culinary

Can’t believe it’s the first time I’ve made lasagna!🍜🧀

Zina Hermez

I can’t believe that at this age I’ve never made lasagna, but I do consider myself naturally a good cook – take a look at all my other recipes in this category! I love to cook! So I gave it a try yesterday – and it came out yummy good! See the pics below meant to be from start to finish – and then I will add a quick recap on how to cook it yourself at home. Don’t sweat the small stuff, as there are many different variations to making a great lasagna – but I will let you know the ingredients and steps that I used!

So this is the meat mixture, first I caramelized a chopped onion, then I added the Bob Evans, Italian pork sausage – cooked it up real well – and of course, added some salt and pepper. After this was cooked, I added Prego meat sauce.
With the Prego meat sauce! All you need to do is bring this to a boil for a few minutes!
You’re going to need to boil about 15 to 20 of these lasagna noodles, at the minimum, 12 because that will make for three full layers.
Chill the noodles before you bake, it does make for tastier lasagna noodles.
You can use baking spray – cooking spray should work also – I happen to like real unsalted butter. So I just spread it!
This is the meat sauce, a.k.a., Prego sauce with meat and Italian beef pork sausage mix (in the pic above) – it was mixed with caramelized onions, and some salt and pepper, remember?! What a combination!
After you add the first layer of meat sauce (visible underneath), then you add the FIRST layer of lasagna (chilled) noodles.
Then I topped it with Mozzarella and Parmesan, shredded cheese! So: 1) the Bottom layer is the meat sauce, 2) and then add the first layer of noodles 3) then add another layer of meat sauce and THEN the RICOTTA cheese, and finally, your layer of Mozzarella!
Repeat! I believe I’m on noodle layer two or three, so finally, just top it with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese!
Take a look at the beauty ready to go into the oven at 350-365 F, for a minimum of 45 minutes. Please note: cooking times may vary.
And Voilà! You have a yummy delicious baked pan of lasagna. I’m so thankful for my pizza slicer. Lol 🍝
Always store in Tupperware or glass. You can keep it in the fridge for up to 3 to 5 days and you can even freeze.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and I hope that gives some explanation! The idea is to make it the way you like. To summarize, I first chopped an onion, and then caramelized it, and then I added Italian beef pork, and sausage, and after that, I cooked it together with the onion and added some salt and pepper. Once you’re finished, you can add Prego meat sauce and mix it up really well. And there you will have your meat sauce layer. Then you add that to a greased baking pan as noted in the photo. After you add that to your greased baking pan, you add the next layer, which is the layer of boiled lasagna noodles. Once you add your layer of boiled lasagna noodles, you add another layer of meat sauce, then a layer of ricotta, then a layer of Mozzarella and Parmesan, shredded cheese. And you repeat the process by adding another layer of noodles, more meat sauce, more ricotta, mozzarella, etc. There are many variations to making a great lasagna. Typically you have three layers. I was very pleased with how mine turned out.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the books, Not Without God: A Story of Survival, and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She has written hundreds of blog articles and her website has had more than 100,000 viewers! Zina has been in education for 22 years and has helped people of all different backgrounds and cultures. When she is not writing or teaching, she enjoys cooking and baking and spending time with family or friends. You can reach her at zinahermez@outlook.com.

Culinary

Eating healthy is the way to go!🌽

Zina Hermez

There’s nothing like cooking healthy food. I do sometimes eat out, but I try to minimize that as much as possible. Traditionally cooking healthy food is the best route you can take. I kind of threw this together, as you can see, before I would take much more care when I cooked and took a lot longer. But sometimes taking a long time to cook can be a waste. What I mean is, there is a lot to work on during the day, first and foremost, I have to take care of my health. Therefore, eating the healthier route and cooking at home is the best way for me to go. #cooking #healthyfoodie #livehealthy #bestrong #simplethreeingredients #meal #can’tgetawayfrompop #barbecuedchicken #corn 🌽😊

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the Best-selling-book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together. Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was published last year.

Culinary

Homemade wheat walnut cake!🌾🥮🌰

Zina Hermez

One of the things I love about making this cake is that you can just combine all the ingredients at one time and mix them. It doesn’t take a lot of preparation time; you mainly have to gather all your ingredients and mix. This is my own recipe.

Pics are in order, and here’s a trick! After I buttered the cake pans, I also added sesame seeds to them. That put some nice sesame seeds on the bottom of the cakes when I flipped them over!👩‍🍳

So delicious. I’m going to add the link of a previous post I wrote when I first made this cake. It went viral. As a matter of fact, if you search this cake my blog post comes at the top of Google. Here it is: https://notwithoutgod.net/2022/07/06/assyrian-chaldean-cake%F0%9F%92%9F%E2%98%A6%EF%B8%8F/

Keep in mind when you follow this recipe there has to be a good balance between dough and cake. What I mean is, your batter can’t be too doughy. If it is, you are making more of a bread. Remember, this is a cake. You can add an extra quarter to a half cup of vegetable oil to smoothen out your ingredients if needed. You can also add up to a half cup of water. First I recommend the water. A little vegetable oil won’t hurt though.

I am not a fan of vegetable oil and always cook with extra-virgin olive oil instead. However, when it comes to baking vegetable oil is sometimes needed. Be sure not to add too much water. There has to be a good balance, It will smoothen your batter out. Just make sure you are not making wheat bread!

Here’s a pic below that shows how your batter should look before the cakes are baked:

Also, keep in mind that if you have that even balance and do this right – you may even be able to add a little bit of extra whole wheat flour. It may be half of a cup to one full cup. Don’t get too carried away with extra flour because then the cake will lose its flavor. Here’s the recipe from my initial post, again: https://notwithoutgod.net/2022/07/06/assyrian-chaldean-cake%F0%9F%92%9F%E2%98%A6%EF%B8%8F/

A little extra flour will give you more cake!🥮Here are some more pictures below, and I’m going to try to add the pics that show the steps from start to finish. Refer to the recipe link I gave you in my previous post – I will also add the ingredients below. That will tell you how much of each ingredient to use in your cake. Enjoy it!🌾🥮🌰

Three cups of whole wheat flour. One and a half cups of sugar. 2 teaspoons of baking powder or baking soda. Three eggs. One cup of milk. Again, you can add up to a half cup of water to smooth it out. Also add a tablespoon of vanilla extract. Finally, don’t forget one whole cup of chopped walnuts. Very important. Again, a quarter cup of vegetable oil won’t hurt and will smoothen it.👩‍🍳🥮
This is how your cake batter should look.🥮
A nice trick is to add sesame seeds to the cake pans just after you butter them.😊
Voila!
Yumm!👩‍🍳🥮🌰🌾

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the Best-selling-book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together. Ask about her meetings if you are interested in attending. Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to cook and bake. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was published last year.

Culinary

Cornish hen premium style!🐔

Zina Hermez
It’s a first of its kind!

This Cornish hen is a first of a first! You can see the delicious ingredients on and around it. The one ingredient you can’t see is the spinach and garlic stuffed inside of its creases. Yummy, so healthy and good. I can’t wait to dig in! And get this, I sprinkled walnuts over it. I bet you that’s the first time you’ve heard of that? Have you ever heard of anyone sprinkling walnuts over a Cornish hen? Only I. Don’t forget to sprinkle with kosher salt, some table salt, and pepper at first. I’m sure it’s going to be delicious, send me a message if you’d like the recipe,

It is fairly simple just rinse it briefly, make sure there’s nothing inside, you can stuff the inside of it with stuffing or any vegetables you’d like. Preheat to 350. Monitor, check on it, at least every 5 to 10 minutes and adjust the heat as needed. This took me almost a whole hour to cook. Oh yeah, don’t forget to put one cup of water beneath it so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Also, if you’re not using oil, use unsalted butter. I used unsalted butter cubes in and all around it.

I like butter because I think it’s much safer to cook with and even better for you than some oils.🧈🌽🍃

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together.

Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was just published last year.

Culinary

Chicken lemon butter delight!🐥🍋🧈🥬🌱

Zina Hermez

Lunch today was sensational! It started out as a chicken lemon idea, of course, I had to add unsalted butter cubes to the top of the chicken. I had to dash it with kosher salt, black ground pepper, table salt, and thyme leaves. I added lemon slices to the chicken entrée. I added potatoes, I cut them into cube sizes, and put unsalted butter over the veggies in the tray as well. As you can see I did a healthy side of a mixed salad, topped with spinach, top whatever you can with spinach! The iron benefits are incredible. With some ranch drizzled over, a Coke on the side, and additional salt and pepper at hand – this dish was Fantabulous. #chef #foodie #connossieur #extravirginoliveoil 🫒 #meltedbutter #chickenrecipes #mediterranean #paleo #protein #health ⚕️👩‍⚕️👩‍🍳

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among many other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together.

Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was just published last year.

Culinary

Kufta-creation!🥩🍳🥖

Zina Hermez

You can never have enough animal food on your plate! Take a look at my kufta-creation. Two pieces of Kuftas, less than 100 g in total, cooked with parsley flakes, and spiced in salt, pepper, a dash of cumin, allspice, chili pepper flakes, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and coriander!👩‍🍳

I also have two large sized eggs, scrambled, but spiced with only salt and pepper😊. On the side I have some delicious Asiago cheese (Santorini), flavored w/Rosemary and Olive Oil to go on a wheat bun, and a warm cup of coffee.☕️

This was so yummy good!😋 Again, you can never have enough animal food on your plate to keep you young and healthy!⚕️#healthyfat #paleo #keto #mediterranean #protein #intermittentfasting #ketosis #health #healthydiet #cheese #extravirginoliveoil #wheat #fiber #dietarycholesterol 🥩🥖🍳🌱🧀🫒👩‍🍳⚕️👩‍⚕️☕️

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among many other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors can network and learn together.

Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was just published last year.

Culinary

Today’s entree 👩‍🍳⚕️🫒

Zina Hermez

From start to finish and into my stomach. No, this was not all for me. I didn’t even finish everything on my plate. 🤣 But take a look at what I just made. It was healthy and delicious. I have moved over from extra-virgin olive oil on top of the chicken breasts to unsalted butter cubes. 🧈 It cooks much better and is safer in the oven. I also dashed it with kosher salt, parsley flakes, black ground pepper, and table salt. I also added minced garlic pieces.🧄 With the potatoes cooking in the cubes of butter that melted and in the water, the spices and garlic only added some extra flavor. This was yummy good.😋 On the side, I have a cut-up Vidalia onion and a cut-up red pepper (both caramelized in extra virgin olive oil🫒), as you can see. I had to get my veggies and protein in before intermittent fasting begins. I also have a small side of Asiago cheese on wheat bread.🧀🥖 This was soo good! #protein #paleo #ketosis #fasting #mediterraneandiet #extravirginoliveoil #unsaltedbutter #health #realfood 🐣🥔🧅🧄🧀🥖🌶

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among many other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors network and learn together. 

Zina writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She likes to write about health and diet also and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was published last year.

Culinary

Mediterranean chicken asparagus lemon delight!🍋🐤🫒

Zina Hermez

Lunch was fabulous. I had 3/4 of a medium chicken breast. A side of about 15 asparagus spears with half of a sliced lemon, salted, and a side of light Lays potato chips. Last but not least, I included 2 tablespoons of hummus with a Coke. This was yummy good.

I got in two vegetable servings, and two protein servings between the healthy hummus and the chicken. The meal was cooked in extra virgin olive oil, and first I baked the chicken at 420 F for about 25 minutes. I surrounded it with the sliced lemons on the oven tray and drizzled it with extra virgin olive oil. I sprinkled kosher salt and black ground pepper over the chicken also.

I steamed the asparagus and cooked the spears in extra virgin olive oil as well, of course. I also dashed the veggies with table salt, kosher salt, and black ground pepper. I added a few cubes of unsalted butter🧈 over the asparagus. It was so good.🫒🍋🌱🐤🧆🫒

Finally, I took the chicken out of the oven early and decided to finish cooking it in the pan with the asparagus. I also added the lemons.🍋 I wanted to combine all the ingredients together, and I really wanted the chicken to soak up the taste of the butter and asparagus, salt, and lemon combo.

Again, it was delicious all around! #mediterraneanfood #healthydiet #intermittentfasting #keto #paleo #healthyliving 😊👩‍🍳⚕️

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book(s), Not Without God: A Story of Survival and Not Without God: Hope In the Storm. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on The Neil Haley (media giant’s) Show, The Intuitive Edge podcast, and on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’broadcast as well as Grace and Truth Radio World!

Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and parts of the world. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among many other places. Last August she created the “Writing Because I Can’t Not Write Group” meetings and workshops where aspiring and seasoned authors network and learn together.

Win a writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She likes to write about health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm was published last year.

Culinary

Christmas cookies (a healthier version) 🍪👩‍🍳🎄

Zina Hermez

One way to make your cookies healthier is to use whole wheat flour. These cookies are used with whole wheat mill flour. It gives them a nutritional benefit. Not only is whole wheat flour better for your digestive tract, but it is also better for people with diabetes. I’m not a diabetic, but I always choose whole wheat over white whenever I can. We all have the potential to be, so we have to be careful.

One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is to bake, especially around Christmas time. I also sprinkled these homemade cookies to give them a holiday effect.🤶 They turned out delicious! Another trick is to use melted butter. Most recipes will call for a stick of butter.🧈

I melt the butter almost all the way through. Because when you melt the butter it makes it easier to turn your ingredients into a dough. No need for a mixer. Just melt your stick of butter, and you can easily roll your combination into a cookie dough. I like to space each cookie two inches apart and make larger ones.🍪👩‍🍳

Another tip is to use parchment paper. I always use parchment paper it’s a nice clean sheet and it gives the cookies a nice round shape. The cookies turn out smoother than when you use aluminum foil, for example. Baking is fun and making healthier choices makes it even better. Follow my blog for more tips and tricks.👩‍🍳🤶🍪

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast as well as ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Chicken broccoli medley🥦🐣🫒

Zina Hermez

This #dish is so yummy. It’s #chicken #broccoli medley, I added some #sharp #cheddar and #wholewheat #bread as you can see below. With a little #ranch on the side, this meal was delicious. Cooked in extra-virgin olive oil, with #koshersalt #groundblackpepper and a little table salt, of course. It’s healthy and tasty too! Of course I had to have some water on the side.😊🫒🥦🥦🐣 #mediterraneandiet #ketorecipes #protein #paleodiet #healthy #paleofood ⚕️🥦👩‍🍳

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast as well as ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

This is a healthy breakfast 🍳🍅🥩

Zina Hermez

What people don’t realize is how healthy eggs are. The myth is that eggs are not good for you because of the cholesterol. But dietary cholesterol is not the same as cholesterol in your heart. On the contrary, eggs are super good for you. My dietitian had told me that I should have two eggs every morning for enough protein intake. This is a very healthy breakfast, although the sausage is processed, ground beef would’ve been the better choice. Nonetheless, this is still a healthy breakfast. Eggs are good for you, meat is a ‘healthy fat’ and whole wheat bread with a cup of coffee is the way to go.🍳🥚🥩🍖🍗🌾☕️ #paleo #paleorecipes #mediterraneanfood #mediterraneandiet #paleodiet #health⚕️🍅🫒☕️

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s also been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast as well as ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Tonight’s healthy meal!🍃🥕🐥

Zina Hermez

Today I made a single piece of chicken thigh. Yes, there’s fat on it. Don’t let the fat freak you out! You can see I surrounded it with veggies. A little healthy fat won’t kill you! It’s actually extremely healthy for you, contrary to popular belief. I seasoned it with thyme leaves, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and a little table salt. I have about one to two cups of peas and carrots surrounding it. I also added a half cup of water to the bottom of the pan while cooking and added “butter” flavored cooking spray to the bottom also. I baked it at 400 F for about 40-45 minutes. Cooking times can vary. You’ll have to check on it. I used a cake pan to keep it all together.😀 Butter has health benefits, so does meat and veggies are low carbs!!! I drizzled extra virgin olive oil over the veggies along with a little salt and pepper. I also have a cup of rice sprinkled with mini cubed potatoes and curry seasoning on the side. It’s a mini version of my ‘karee,’ dish, in other words, my tomato beef stew sauce that I like to put over my rice. Of course, this is a cup of brown rice—to have optimal health! Total calories: a low 502 (and I didn’t finish all the chicken) but this is not including drinks or condiments.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Southwestern Egg Rolls!🧀🌶🫓

Zina Hermez

I want to share my recipe before I forget. Although I don’t have the note paper I wrote my recipe on, I think I can share the ingredients and what to do because I remember and have done it before. So, here it goes…😊

Ingredients:

2 shredded chicken breast pieces, 4 oz. each (optional)

1 can of rinsed black beans (15 oz)

A bunch of Green onions, about 6-8 bulbs, just cut off the tips and slice thin

1 tspn kosher salt

1/2 tspn chili powder (optional, I don’t like food that is too spicy, so I just sprinkle some chili pepper seasoning over the egg rolls to give them a nice look!)

1/2 tspn black ground pepper

1/4 tspn cayenne

1/4 tspn cumin (optional)

Mexican style shredded cheese (8 oz. package)

1 white onion (chopped into small pieces)

2 cups frozen corn, thawed (optional)

1 16 oz. (Vegan) egg roll slices, try to use about twenty slices of dough

First, you want to add 1-2 tbspns of extra virgin olive oil to a pan and add the black beans (make sure to rinse the beans well first) and add onions (both scallions and white, rinsed and chopped first, of course) over medium to high heat and mix often for a few minutes. Also add the kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne to the mix (and cumin if you’ve included it). After the vegetables look colorful and bright you know they’re done. The onions will also soften a bit. Don’t overcook. They will also cook when they’re fried in the egg roll. Set the mixture aside in a plate so it can cool.

Here are a few pics!

I decided to add chicken, but I precooked it. So I just added it to the mixed combination after all of it cooled. See below.

Now you have the filling! You just have to roll…🫓

I like to add a little bit of flour to a clean surface then place down my dough roll, but this is optional. The Dough slice already has some flour on it!

You only need 1-2 tblspns of the filling to add to the center of your egg roll. One is good. You don’t want too much filling, then it will be hard to fold the egg roll. Dab each corner with water you can use a brush or your finger. This helps hold the roll together.

First, bring the scoop of filling a little closer towards you and begin to roll the dough slice away from you, then, midway into the roll, fold the sides in and continue to roll (away from you). Also dab the corner/end with water to help it stick! Keep fingers dry.

It takes a little time to get the folding right, but once you do it will be a piece of cake!

Now you can begin to fry!🥘

I used classic olive oil—2-4 cups. It’s a healthier choice than vegetable oil. Folded side down when you fry.

The frying should take no more than 2-3 minutes. At first a little extra. But your last batch should fry up really quickly. Be sure to watch and flip. Don’t move your pan around. Keep it in place for safety. Be careful. Keep heat on high.

Set them aside to cool!

Voila! You have yummy Southwestern egg rolls! Cooking time: at least two hours due to the three phases. Cutting vegetables, making the filling and frying! Average calories: 250 per egg roll.🫓🧀🌶

Enjoy!😊

About Zina 

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Homemade Whole Wheat Raisin Cookies!🍪👩‍🍳❤️‍🩹

Zina Hermez

Last night I made some yummy cookies. As you know, wheat is a much better alternative to white. Wheat bread and wheat rice are better for you in terms of balancing blood sugar. If you’re going to have a grain, it should be wheat or a darker color, such as Rye. Rye bread also is rich in B vitamins (1, 2, and 3).

I will post some pictures below. I also want to share the recipe in case anyone would like to make them. They came out to 25 cookies all together. What’s great about making a large batch of cookies is you can refrigerate them for up to 1 week and then freeze what you have not consumed for 1-3 months.. I like to put each cookie in its own plastic baggy.

Ingredients:

3/4-1cup of unsalted OR salted butter, and partially melt the butter in a pan

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar

2 eggs

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat flour (all purpose flour)

3/4-1 cup of raisins (I used mixed raisins of different kinds)

1/2 tspn of vanilla extract

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn baking soda

AND, this recipe is so easy. STEP 1: basically MIX all ingredients together (in no particular order!). It is fun. Now, there may be excess flour that doesn’t want to mix in. So you will have to add about 1/2 cup to a full cup of water, a little at a time, to smoothen the mixture out.

You want the mixture to have a dough like form but to be smooth enough to scoop onto a cookie sheet. Use parchment paper for best results. Scrape up all the excess flour. You can scoop with a tablespoon, and set the cookies about 1-2 inches apart.

This should come out to 20-25 cookies.

Voila! You have Whole Wheat Raisin cookies! By the way, chopped walnuts would be great to add too but are not necessary. It’s optional. Some people like to add 1 cup of uncooked cooking oats. Oats are also great for helping to regulate blood sugar!

Bake at 375-400 F. You may have to go back and forth between the temperature. Check on them every 2 minutes. They only need 10-12 minutes. But cooking times will vary. When the outer rims are golden they are done. But don’t burn! Once you leave them to sit for at least an hour, they will continue to form.

Enjoy!🍪🍪👩‍🍳

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

“Food-Network inspired Oven roasted chicken!”🐤🧅🥔🥑🌱🫒

Zina Hermez

Tonight’s #dinner was fabulous, and I want to post it before I forget my recipe in case anyone wants to try it! It’s a Food Network-inspired #oven #roasted #chicken and I added a lot to it!🐤😀 First, I cut up my #veggies. I chopped two #potatoes, one onion, an #avocado, and a #lemon 🥔🥔🧅🍋🥑. Then, I put each to the side on their plates. I rinsed off my whole #chicken (it was a fresh young chicken, 5 pounds). Then I #rinsed it quickly on the inside and don’t forget to move anything excess or inside the chicken. Then I placed the chicken on the oven-safe plate. I melted two tablespoons, no more than 1/4 cup of #saltedbutter. After that, I added one tablespoon of #thymeleaves to the butter. Do not completely #melt the #butter 🧈 Then add the thyme leaves (1 tbsp) to the butter. You need a brush to dress the chicken. After that dash the chicken with #koshersalt and #blackpepper. Then, make sure to add cooking spray to your oven-safe plate under the chicken, or you can grease the bottom of the plate with butter if you have no #cooking spray. Add one or two cups of #water to the plate, so the chicken sits in a little water. You don’t want it sticking to the plate during the cooking process. After that, design your cut-up veggies all around. After that, I like to drizzle the whole thing with #extravirginoliveoil 🫒 but it’s not completely necessary. I also like to dash again but this time with table salt. Finally, squeeze part of the #lemon over it to give it that #zesty taste🍋🍋🍋. Yummy! You have chicken, lemon, thyme, potatoes, an onion AND an avocado! What more could you want?👩‍🍳😃🧅🥑🥔🌱 Cook at 400-425F for up to one hour. Cooking times will vary. Check on it every five to ten minutes. If the top starts to burn, you want to lower the temperature, and spice it with a little more salt (do not over salt!) you can always add more after it’s done. But if you make something too salty you can’t fix it. #Under-salting is always best! The kosher salt is really rich and works its way into it nicely so you don’t need much. Check on it every five to ten minutes, again, but mine didn’t need one whole hour. Your thermometer should read at least 160 F. Voila! It’s done!🥑🥔🌱🧈🍋🧅🐤

Voila!🐤🥑🍋

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

The importance of fasting for health ⚕️☕️👩‍⚕️

Zina Hermez

You need to cut 500-1,000 calories per day to lose weight and it would average one or more pounds a week. It averages at least a few pounds of weight loss per week, actually! I know because I’ve done it before and was on a losing weight streak for months! I’m going back to my intermittent fasting plan again. I’m good with eating meat so that keeps my calorie intake in check because you naturally burn meat calories off—but I need to go back to fasting after 6:30 pm, anyway. It also gives your body a break, insulin rises every time you eat. So here I’m having a ‘honey vanilla chamomile tea.’ It is next to 0 calories and so yummy!☕️ The nice thing about intermittent fasting is you can still have black coffee, sugarless tea, and water in the evening to curb your appetite. It works! #intermittentfasting #tea #healthylifestyle #redmeat #diet #health #mediterranean #paleo #fastingforhealth

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

A healthy breakfast meal 🍳🥩🥖☕️

Zina Hermez

The benefits of #redmeat and #eggs for #health is priceless and I can’t emphasize it enough. The vital #nutrients your #body needs are contained in these two foods. Don’t get me wrong: #vegetables (and other low carbs) are helpful. #fruit can be beneficial (yet, quite sugary at times), nonetheless, no matter how many fruits and vegetables you decide to eat, red meat and eggs are still the #best. You can have 5,000 eggs and it will not harm you. Dietary #cholesterol does not affect cholesterol levels in your #heart And the #protein contained in #eggs is valuable. The #vitamins #nutrients and #iron contained in red meat is vital. It’s not that you can’t get your source of #protein any other way. But it’s so easy with eggs and meat. Think #paleo #diet Think caveman days. Think to when there was no such thing as #organic or #lowfat or 2 % #milk , or fat free. Think real #food That is what will keep you #healthy and strong. Here we have two #kofta pieces: 222 calories. Two eggs (large) 160 calories. A half of WHEAT bread:🥖 102 cal. And coffee cup ☕️ 67 cal. w/cream and sugar (8 oz). Total: 551 calories (probably less!).

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

I’d like to be a “culinary queen!”👸🍅🥮👩‍🍳

Zina Hermez

This is how it looks when I decide to ‘whip something up’ really quickly!😂👩‍🍳 I had a little family company over yesterday and planned it just the night before. All @authenticmeals #original #cooking and my very own #recipes !!! Ka’ree as the main #meal accompanied with #brownrice, of course! The main dish—and #homemadewalnutcake for dessert. This time I added #toasted #sesameseeds to the top of the #cake to add a twist! Yummy. We also had #homemadewheatchocolatechipcookies! #coffee and few other things!🍚🍛🌾🍶🍪 #mediterraneandiet #paleo #protein #keto #homemade #diet #cook #baking #entertaininginstyle #fresh #food #foodie #tomatostew #beef #protein #health ⚕️🍅🧅🥩

Finally, when a baby terrorizes your living space!💕😂👶 It’s OK.🙆‍♀️🙅‍♀️ We just cleaned it right up!😂♥️😃

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Today’s healthy lunch!🐤🥔🌾

Zina Hermez

This is a pretty healthy concoction for a late lunch today. The worst part: is potatoes. Potatoes are a ‘starchy vegetable’ and not the best choice. But they are yummy and by far not the worst thing you can have! They’re still a vegetable. I added brown rice (definitely the best ‘grain’ choice)! I try to steer clear of white bread and white rice. Wheat and brown are always the way to go! I did add a tablespoon of butter (unsalted) to the potatoes! Yummy. And contrary to popular belief: the chicken with skin is not bad for you. It’s what we call a ‘healthy fat.’ ALL saturated fat is not bad. You don’t constantly have to have Turkey or veggie burgers. A little skin on your meat won’t kill you. You can always tear it off, anyway. Think real food! Do away with ‘skinny meals,’ low fat, and fat-free. Those are not healthier choices. Low-fat cheese is not healthier than whole milk or cheese. Low-fat milk doesn’t benefit you greatly over regular milk. They are not making you skinnier. They just make you hungrier because of their added alternatives. Don’t miss the vital nutrients your body needs. The lemon was for squeezing over the rice and chicken and potatoes! I love the zest of the lemon and the taste of it with some added salt!🍋 Total calories: (roughly) 590 without adding drinks or condiments.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Whole Wheat Flour Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies!🍪🍪👩‍🍳

Zina Hermez

Yesterday night I made homemade whole wheat chocolate chip walnut cookies and they are sooo delicious! Yumm! Since whole wheat is a much better alternative to white flour, I would like to share my recipe to put a health spin on baking. The next time you make homemade cookies, you may want to try whole wheat flour yourselves! It is better for you than white flour. 🍪🍪☕️

This recipe calls for:

3 cups of whole wheat flour

2 tspns baking soda

16 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar (optional)

3/4 tspn salt

2 eggs

2 tspns vanilla extract

8 ounces of chocolate chips

2 cups crushed walnuts

First, you whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Put in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, sugar(s), eggs, and vanilla, and these don’t need to be too well blended just combine. Oops, don’t forget to add the walnuts and chocolate chips also!

Then, add the flour mix from the separate bowl. Now that all ingredients are in one bowl, use a wooden or regular spoon to combine and mix them together.

The mixture may seem a little dough like and hard to combine at first. Here’s the trick: add up to a half cup of water (as much as needed but not too much!) to moisten the combination of all the ingredients. Use your hand to knead. Put the mixture into cookie dough form.

You can even add extra flour and extra water to the combo mix to make more cookies. I added 2-3 cups extra flour and a little more water! It came out to 43 cookies!

Scoop the cookie dough (1-2 tablespoon sizes) onto oven trays covered with parchment paper, and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 F. Then move the trays around to rotate cookies, bake for an additional 8-10 minutes. The edges should be golden brown!🍪👩‍🍳

Then let them cool on oven racks for at least an hour. Refrigerate. You can even freeze them for up to a month!🍪☕️🌰

Mixture of the second bowl.
All ingredients combined.
After adding water and kneading.
Cookie dough!
Voila!
Me while baking last night!👩‍🍳☕️🍪

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Writing, Speaking, and Media

Jimmy Tuman — National Youth Speaker and Mentor💕

Zina Hermez

Today I had the pleasure of meeting some special friends for breakfast🍳. Jim Tuman, his wife, Jan, and my longtime friend, Ginger, and I met for breakfast at a local resteraunt.

Jim Tuman is a sociologist, educator, and has been a radio and TV personality who has spoken to millions of people in more than 1,500 schools nationwide.

He has asked kids to examine their motives, goals, feelings, and wants them to make meaningful decisions about their futures. He has helped prevent teen suicide across the country.

Jim wants to create school environments where students and teachers feel ‘safe, valued, and loved,’ he says. Here is a PBS documentary that was done on Jim it is very moving! People are in tears over Jim’s unique compassion!

https://youtu.be/JN7gCRPJBHc

Continue reading “Jimmy Tuman — National Youth Speaker and Mentor💕” →
Culinary

Red meat for health 🥩⚕️🧅🌾

Zina Hermez

Did you know that eating meat promotes a healthy lifestyle? When you eat lots of protein, you’re able to burn off 20-25% of it, and you don’t even need to exercise! As a matter of fact, you can live a sedentary life and still lose weight as long as you eat right! Do not fear red meat. I tend to follow a paleo and Mediterranean-style diet. Think back to the caveman, obesity did not exist during their time. We didn’t have the faulty guidelines we go by now. Vegetable oil packaged foods are not good for you, six grains per day (as recommended on the USDA food pyramid is not good for you), and fruits are not healthy and okay in abundance because they grow on plants and trees. They contain a lot of sugar. Did you know that in NY City you cannot send your child to school with whole milk? Did you know that they’re given pizza and donuts, though? Saturated fat is not all bad and doesn’t cause heart disease. Therefore, red meat, even bacon, is OK. I have lost around thirty pounds since last year in November. When I first started I was on a strict diet—eating only 1,200-1,300 low calories per day. Now I’m eating up to 1,800-1,900 calories and still maintaining the same weight! And it is not because of more exercise! I make sure to get in meat at least one 4-6 ounces two times per day with a side of veggies. I have two eggs for breakfast every morning. I still get in some sugar and snack (within limits). Eating protein each day once to three times per day promotes health. The nutrients in red meat are vital for me. Iron, B1, B12, Vitamin D, and other nutrients are crucial. You can’t get them the same way anywhere else.🥩🥓🍗🍖

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Homemade Whole Wheat Walnut Cake!🥮🌾🌰

Zina Hermez

Baking has always been a favorite past time since I was a kid. At home they’d call me ‘Betty Crocker.’ As an adult I’ve grown more into the baking art and really enjoy embracing my ethnic side with the foods I make!🫒

They said it couldn’t be done, but I did it. Homemade wheat walnut cake from scratch! It’s never been done without white flour as far as I know. Mom was proud. I altered this traditional recipe to make it healthier. It is delicious! Even more delicious than the all-purpose flour version.

I have to be original and think of healthier methods. I hope I see posts from people in the future who have swapped the all purpose white or self rising flour for whole wheat cakes.

I altered the recipe a bit. Since it’s a foreign food, I was able to locate a few people who made this and one even attached a video. I didn’t follow the exact measurements. The better you get with baking the more you just know what to do.

Here is my own recipe:

It contains 3 and a 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 3 eggs, two teaspoons of baking powder, crushed walnuts (as many as you’d like :), a cup of whole milk, a cup and a half of sugar, a cup of butter, a tablespoon of vanilla extract, and I add a little water to make it more of a liquid form. You don’t want the cake mix to seem like dough. You are not making bread, you are making a cake. That’s why I add about a half cup or less of water. You basically mix them all together. I add a little extra flour (about a cup or two) to make two cakes each time. You can slice and freeze the cakes for up to a month. You bake at 350 F for a minimum of 30 minutes. Baking time can take up to an hour. Once your toothpick comes clean you’ll know it’s done.😊🥮☕️

Oh, and it might not be a bad idea to add about a 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into the mix.☺️ It will help the cake to keep that liquid form.

#wheat #wholewheatflour #diabeticfriendly #cake #betterthanwhite #assyrianchaldean #yummyfood #walnuts #tchai #tea #coffee #cake #mediterranean #style #foodie #conossieur 🥮☕️😀

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Tabbouleh and Meat pies!🫓🌿🍋

Zina Hermez

I made these wonderful meat “pizza” and tabbouleh pies yesterday! The taste was fantastic! I added a hint of citrus 🍋 to each one and combined with the parsley, tomatoes, yellow peppers and onions. Yummmmm! That’s all I have to say. I made the dough from scratch and enjoyed it! I also love to embrace my ethnic side! #mediterranean #health #food #foodie #paleo #keto #tabbouleh #diet #weightloss #healthnut #connossieur #food #traditional 🧅🌿🫑🥖🍅

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s recently been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students of all ages from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Happy Forth! Eat well!🌟🇺🇸🌱

Zina Hermez

Happy Fourth of July!☄️ There is a war in America. It’s a war on food. This was my breakfast today. We are taught to not eat animal products and that vegetarianism or being a vegan is healthier! Simply not true. No evidence supports the idea that eggs, cheese, or red meat cause cancer or even heart disease; on the contrary, people who gravitate towards ‘low fat,’ no sugar, sugar-free, low protein, and more of a plant-based diet have been proven to get sicker. High fructose corn syrup is widely used; and it’s even worse than sugar. Sugar is ok in moderation, in my opinion. Too much of anything is not good. Mostly all processed food contains high fructose corn syrup. Vegetable oil is another item widely used that’s not good for you. I only use extra virgin olive oil unless I’m making a cake mix that calls for vegetable oil. I don’t eat out at restaurants much. The way food is cooked in most restaurants is with vegetable-heated oils and not healthy for you. My idea is to reduce carbs (I’m in a constant struggle with myself to stay away from snacks, but I do snack a little!). Again, we have to find that balance. The point is, when you gravitate more towards protein/nutrients in healthy ‘fat’ through meat/poultry/fish, etc. you eat less because your body feels fuller. There is iron, B1, B12, and a whole bunch of other vitamins in meats. It’s incredibly healthy! You can even turn around diabetes. The other thing I do is fast more in the nighttime hours. I eat very little and do not eat dinner late at night.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Yesterday’s dinner was delicious!🥩🍜🥔🧅

Zina Hermez

I did it again! Today I even had leftovers!😀 I can’t stress enough that meat is good for you. I have lost weight by adopting this method. Having at least one 4-6 ounce meat/poultry/fish per day along with a side of low carb veggies can really improve your health. Red meat is ideal for me because at times I can be mildly anemic. The health and nutrition provided by following this plan: a paleo, or even Mediterranean style plan is priceless! I have lost weight and am now fitting into pants I haven’t worn in years! Of course limiting snacks and sugar helps along with fasting in the evening/near bed time hours. I am not one to eat dinner at night. This top sirloin fillet was cooked to perfection and the asparagus and Asian style noodles made it so yummy. I also worked in potatoes and onions. Yumm! I love the feeling after I’ve just had some good nutrition.🥩🍜🧅🥔🌱

Cookin’ in my kitchen!🍃😃

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Today’s dish was nutritious🍅🫒🍆

Zina Hermez

Today’s main course was incredible! I got some really great nutrition in with this one! #baked #chicken with sliced #eggplants along with cut up #potatoes You can’t leave out some fresh #healthy #tomatoes The thing I love about cooking meals like this is all you mainly have to do is cut up the #veggies 🍆🥔🍅 Then design them in a pretty way in a nice #baking dish. But of course, use #salt and #pepper on the ingredients. I used #kosher salt and ground pepper. I also added non-stick cooking spray as well as a cup of water to the bottom so it wouldn’t stick. I #baked at 350 F for at least 35 minutes, more like 45, and even increased the temperature to 400 F for the last ten minutes or so. You be the judge of when it’s finished. Oh, and I drizzled #extravirginoliveoil over the #chicken and #potatoes and other #vegetables. This was delicious! #yummy #paleo #keto #lowcarbrecipes #mediterranean 🫒 #healthyfood #healthylifestyle #foodie #health🐤🥔🍆

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Mornin’ Breakfast☀️🍳

Zina Hermez
Heart-shaped eggs w/kuftas and a side of cut up potatoes and onions!

Breakfast should be nutritious and good for you. I have two eggs for breakfast just about every morning because of the benefits of the eggs and the protein. This morning I made heart shaped eggs.💕🥚 The nutrition is priceless. Do away with the myth that the egg yolk is bad for you. The yellow yolk is not bad; on the contrary, it provides a variety of benefits. There is no evidence that dietary cholesterol raises blood level cholesterol. Animal products can be really good for you. Red meat (beef) does not cause inflammation; red meat reduces disease because it has a variety of benefits including iron and B1, B12, and B16 vitamins. Therefore, I made these amazing little “kuftas” on the side, and each one is only 67 calories. They were spiced to perfection and yummy. I also had my low carb side of veggies (mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil), and lightly salted with pepper.🥔🧅 With a cup of coffee, today’s breakfast was delicious!☕️

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

The benefits of meat for health!🍃🥩🥔

Zina Hermez

I will never get tired of healthy cooking. This was worth the wait! I just added some ‘hickory’ barbecue sauce to go with this yummy steak!🥩 First, it was pan-seared in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and unsalted butter (w/kosher salt and pepper!). THEN, it was cooked on the stovetop. Later put in to bake at 400 F for 35-45 minutes. Wow! I added the fresh spinach (also cooked) and cut up onions. Perfect with a side of brown rice and potatoes! This meal actually increases your chance of weight loss. It’s the iron in the spinach, and many nutrients in the meat. This is very nutritious. I will never get tired of healthy cooking! #paleo #keto #diet #mediterranean #lowcarb #veggies #meat #cooking #steak #foodie #conoisseur

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the popular, Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been on ESPN’s “Solutions from the Huddle” broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

It’s what’s for dinner!🥩🌽🌾

Zina Hermez

The steak and sides turned out fantastic! First I rubbed both sides with a dash of kosher salt and ground pepper. Then I pan-seared using 1-2 tablespoons of heated olive oil along with a tablespoon of unsalted butter. I flipped the steaks(s) every 3-5 minutes until well cooked. Note: I also added a half cup of water to keep the steak moist and prevent it from burning to the bottom of the pan. Then I moved over the steaks and put them on to the oven-safe plate and added the just rinsed frozen vegetables. I spilled the veggies over the steak in the oven safe. I first coated the plate safely with non-stick cooking spray. Again, I added a cup of water to the bottom of the oven safe. I cooked at 400-425 F for 25-35 minutes and then used a thermometer (steak has to be cooked to at least 145 F) to ensure they are cooked. I even splashed with a hint of wine and added barbecue sauce. I accompanied with brown rice and the veggies. Yummy! This was so delicious!

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s just been featured on the well-known and popular, Intuitive Edge podcast! She’s also been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World! Zina’s written several hundred articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world from many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Chicken-kale lemon skillet!🍋🥬🍅

Zina Hermez

https://www.facebook.com/zina.hermez.7/videos/3121567264824925/

Good morning, friends, today I want to share a video of the new recipe I made yesterday. Chicken-kale lemon skillet. After watching the video I want to add a few edits. You only need to use two tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil in total. Once just before you begin panfrying the chicken, and the other tablespoon should be used when you cook/mix up the veggies! That will be enough. You also only need one 1/4 of a teaspoon of kosher salt to sprinkle over each piece of chicken while panfrying. Kosher salt is rich and tasty, a little goes a long way. Also, before transferring your chicken and veggies into an oven-safe plate to prepare for more cooking, you want to use some nonstick cooking spray on your oven-safe plate. You also want to add one cup of water to the oven-safe plate after you have put down your chicken and veggies. The water will help your chicken and veggies to stay moist. I ended up cooking at 425 F for at least 20 minutes and then cranked the heat up to 450-500 for the last 5-10 minutes. You will judge when it is done by how the chicken looks and by using a cooking thermometer. Once the chicken has reached 155 F it is done! You can serve!

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

The Importance of Fasting for Health!⚕️

Zina Hermez

Intermittent fasting will get rid of any type of inflammation you have associated with -itis. Tendinitis, arthritis, colitis, etc. It will improve your skin, hair, nails, and organs. It increases fat burning and promotes anti aging. It is more effective than exercise! it helps with brain cells and improves cognitive function. It can kill cancer cells and reverse diabetes. The less you eat the better, and an 8 hour OR LESS window of eating would be ideal. I tend to do the 16:8. I eat during the hours of 10 to 6 and stop from 6pm and on. Giving me 16 hours of no food! Your body naturally goes into ketosis and stops burning carbohydrates for fuel. It will burn fat (it starts to burn it’s own fat), the right kind of fuel. Every time you eat you trigger insulin and the more times you eat in a day, the less chance you have of losing weight. Snacking is the worst thing you can do.:) I will attach Dr. Berg’s video. It just reinforces what I already knew. Intermittent fasting is the way to go! https://youtu.be/xF0OJh19Ubw

I had breakfast this morning and packed my lunch because I knew I’d be out. Here it is. Just to give you a sample of my ‘health meal.’🍅🐤🌾🍋 #brownrice #bakedchicken #tomatoes #lemon

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Don’t gravitate towards sugar!🍥

Zina Hermez

The idea that you have to completely cut out sugar or carbs in order to lose weight is a myth. Carbs are in almost everything. We have ‘good carbs’ and ‘bad carbs.’ A banana has carbs, but they are a ‘low carb.’ As a matter of fact, the idea that a ‘plant based diet’ is the key to losing weight and health is a myth also. The food pyramid should be flipped upside down. It’s no wonder diabetes and heart disease are two of the most prominent diseases in this country. We are conditioned to gravitate towards sugar and taught that butter, milk, and meat are ‘bad for us.’ We’re taught that egg yolk is dangerous; however, new findings have reported that you don’t get high cholesterol from dietary cholesterol such as eggs, red meat, and ‘fatty’ dairy.


Actually, it doesn’t impact ‘bad’ cholesterol or your ’LDL’ at all.

Here is a sample breakfast of mine:


Here is a sample dinner:


I have lost weight and found my journey back to health by incorporating either meat, poultry, or fish twice per day. I have a side of veggies and one egg every morning. I stick to a calorie restrictive diet and home cook my own meals. Eating this way w/a healthy snack each day makes me feel full. I’m getting enough nutrition and iron to sustain me. I don’t have to gravitate towards sugar. Follow me for more tips on diet and health or let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to help!

Oh, and please spare me with the ’lowfat’ and ‘nonfat,’ reduced ‘fat’ stuff. Please don’t offer me protein ’shakes’ or ’skinny meals.’ That stuff is packed with things that are unhealthier than ‘fat’ or sugar. I steer clear of those products. Real food balanced with the right portion sizes is the key. We are taught to over eat.

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Signature Mediterranean Sampler Meal!

Zina Hermez

My Signature Sampler Mediterranean Meal!🐤🌾🌽

This was one of my main dishes while doing the Mediterranean diet back in November, and it’s still great to eat this way. Brown rice (if you’re going to have a grain, make it brown or whole wheat, for bread). Of course, there are other healthier grains, but brown rice and wheat bread were my go tos while I was on the Mediterranean diet. You may have learned that skin on chicken is bad for you, but the latest findings show that some skin on chicken is OK to have at least once in a while. It’s got Omega 3 fatty acids, which are good for your heart. And I don’t mean you should have at it and order Kentucky Fried Chicken or anything. All restaurant food can be more damaging than you realize. Heated ‘oil,’ especially vegetable oil and canola is a leading cause of obesity and diabetes in this country. You can see I have cooked homemade–and this piece of chicken thigh (w/skin) is 239 calories, 4 oz. The 1/2 cup of brown rice is 180 calories and the ‘mixed veggies,’ half-cup, are only 35 calories! It’s a win-win-win! And you’re getting in some ‘low’ or healthier carbs. Carbs to watch out for: sugary stuff, processed, cookies, TV dinner type, etc. Another note: I added a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil to the rice AND the veggies and sprinkled them with KOSHER salt and some black ground pepper. Kosher salt–definitely the healthier option! Total calories in this meal: 454 calories (not including drinks or condiments). I’ve been thinking of writing a healthy cookbook someday, and this would definitely be a meal I add!😃🍽️🌾

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Tomato-onion Chicken skillet!🍅🧅

Zina Hermez



Today I decided to create a new recipe, and it tastes pretty delicious!! First I started by caramelizing the onions for 5 minutes, and if you’re wondering how I did that I will explain. You coat a pan with one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and then turn the heat up to medium-high heat. If the onions start to turn brown they are not burning, they are caramelizing it’s a natural process when cooking onions.🧅 Oh, I only sliced half of a large sweet onion. Then you add the tomato (I chopped a full Roma tomato) and continued to mix them together frequently. I cooked for an additional 5 minutes once I added the tomato. Don’t cook for too long or your tomatoes will become too soft. Then I moved the tomato-onion combo to a hot plate on the side. After that, I cooked the chicken. You can use two 4 oz. chicken thighs (skinless) or chicken breast pieces. Using the same hot pan, you coat one more time with a table spoon of extra virgin olive oil (you may need to add a little nonstick cooking spray or butter during the cooking process). Start with the smooth side of the chicken, again, cook on medium to high heat for 5 minutes then flip the chicken over. Cook for 5 minutes than flip, again. Please note: you will need to continue this process several times to make sure the chicken is cooked. Also, keeping the chicken covered with a lid will make it cook faster. Another note, you should keep 3-5 oz. of water on hand to continually add water to your chicken/pan. Adding the water with the oil and the chicken will make it boil over some and then fry a bit to get that nice brown look. Your chicken is not cooked until it has reached a temp of at least 145. Finally, I added a half cup of the tomato-onion combo and laid it over the chicken thigh piece. Yummy! I also have leftovers for tomorrow. #mediterranean #mediterraneanfood #paleo #paleodiet #healthylifestyle 🐤🍅🧅

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. She’s been featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written more than 500 articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog, and the Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She also writes on health and diet and loves to help others. Her latest book, Not Without God: Hope In the Storm is live and for sale! Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Without-God-Hope-Storm-ebook/dp/B09P9T2DLT

Culinary

Today’s Healthy Meal🍅🌾🌿

Zina Hermez

Today’s #healthychoice meal. A cup of grilled chicken pesto w/vegetables (145 calories)! A quarter cup of ‘minute’ brown rice (58 calories), and a chopped Roma tomato (17 calories). I love raw tomatoes!🍅 This lunch follows a heart-healthy ‘Mediterranean’ plan with a total of a low 220 calories you can’t go wrong. I guess the only downside (if there is one) would be the pasta combined with the brown rice. They are both considered ‘grains’ so that would account for two-grain servings for the day. More than enough. The chicken accounts for the protein and the tomato, the vegetable. Accompany this with some water to drink and you are on your way to living a healthier lifestyle! 🌾🍛🌿

About Zina

Zina Hermez has authored the best-selling book, Not Without God: A Story of Survival. She’s been featured in numerous articles, guest posts, podcasts, websites, newsletters, and magazines. Recently she was featured on ESPN’s ‘Solutions from the Huddle’ broadcast and on Grace and Truth Radio World. Zina’s written hundreds of articles and has taught thousands of students from all over the world spanning many different backgrounds and cultures. She’s appeared in Christianity Today, the Suite T blog and Southern Writers magazine among other places. She writes on faith, science, and overcoming adversity. She is also a major foodie and loves to help others. You can connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, Linked In, or Twitter.