Healthy Chocolate for a Hedonistic Valentine’s Day
I might have mentioned this once or twice...I LOVE chocolate. (Can't wait to show you the chocolate making class I attended in the Costa Rican rain forest last month ~ video coming!) And one of my FAVORITE chocolate brands is from right here in NYC. Gnosis (which means knowledge of intuition, experience, and heart) Chocolate is made from the best quality, organic, raw , ethically sourced cacao available. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here’s great news: Gnosis Chocolate’s organic, Passion Collection is here… brimming with chocolate’s love-enhancing ingredients and crowned with aphrodisiacs from around the world! And it’s all created 100% by hand in Gnosis’s kitchen - folded into raw vegan chocolate that’s free of soy, dairy, cholesterol, and refined sugar. You already know that chocolate is a veritable laboratory of love. Its chemicals stimulate our brain juices to flow into rivers of desire: serotonin to heighten sexual excitation, … [Read More...]
Chia Seed Pudding with Coconut & Vanilla (Paula Deen – Are You There?)
Weight loss & energy food tip here - and this food is ch-ch-ch-Cheap! If you saw my natural energy drink "Chia Fresca" recipe video, you'll know I've been lovin' my Chia Seeds for a while now. Used for centuries by native Central Americans, Chia seeds were considered a powerful energy food and provide excellent nutrition. Filled with detox-supportive fiber, chia seeds, which look like little grey, tan or black poppy seeds, provide the best plant source of those fabulous Omega-3s that protect your heart,brain, skin and joint health. Plus, all that fiber is GREAT for diabetics who need to stabilize their blood sugar and lose weight. Do you think Paula Deen knows about chia seeds? If you know her, send her this recipe - I'd love to be on her show! (*The extra cinnamon in this recipe helps balance blood sugar levels even more - one of those super ingredients diabetics and border-line diabetics should be using!) Soak these seeds in liquid for 15+ minutes, and they … [Read More...]
Learning from Divorce about Detox
Going through a divorce over the last few years brought countless opportunities to see how my mind is set on “self-sabotage mode” to undermine the best intentions for my life and health. “You’re a failure,” or “I’m doing it wrong again” were favorite put-downs of my mechanical-mind-machine. (I’ll bet you have something similar on endless repeat!) While running a business, learning to be a single mom, and trying to figure out how to date again after 10 years, I was constantly battered by my own harsh thoughts. Then I saw that I (or my mind) was the only thing holding me back. I wanted to create a new, productive, healthy lifestyle, but I was getting sidetracked by complaints and self-created drama. Sure, there were plenty of chances to blame outside forces, to place all responsibility on the world, my ex-, the weather – anything – but that way of living wasn’t getting me anywhere. There were times when life was starting to feel sweet … [Read More...]
Reversing Diabetes With Diet – Beautiful Testimonial
Sometimes the power of simple, healthy food truly astounds me. My mother's boyfriend Emilio is a middle aged farmer/bus driver who grew up in Texas and Mexico, has a passion for saving farm animals, and has lived with Type 2 Diabetes for most of his adult life. Strong and active his whole life, Emilio was overweight and beginning to see signs that his body couldn't handle the strain and illness any longer. When a serious infection set in and his ability to work was compromised, Emilio set out to make some big changes to his diet. With my mom's help, Emilio read my books and started to change his diet to address his long standing health issues. Switching from a diet based on lard, sugars, and fried foods, Emilio has lost over 80 pounds and is almost off his medications. Read Emilio's story for yourself: "I have started to reverse my diabetes that I'd dealt with for decades. Matter of fact I only have to take one pill a day and no more … [Read More...]
Win Blissful Bites Cookbook! Comment to enter by 12/2 ~
"The Blissful Chef" Christy Morgan's new cookbook offers delicious solutions to the age old problem: what should I eat now? With clean ingredients, instructional photos, and a genius palate, Christy's book is a great addition to an experienced cook's library - or the perfect gift for a new veg-curious home chef! Cooking in a way that’s good for you and for the environment—not to mention delicious—doesn’t have to be a pain; in fact, it can be sheer bliss. In Blissful Bites: Vegan Meals That Nourish Mind, Body, and Planet, Christy Morgan shows readers how to make healthy, delicious, animal-product free meals without a lot of effort. It’s been long-accepted that giving up animal products also means giving up easy and enjoyable cooking, but that’s just not true. Blissful Bites is a refreshing introduction to the idea that switching to a plant-based diet that uses locally grown and organic products can be easy and rewarding—for both body and mind. Blissful Bites includes … [Read More...]
The Gratitude Game
You might not feel thankful for what you have right now - Maybe you're stuck in a repetitive cycle of "I don't like my body - it's feeling tired, and pained, and I don't like how I feel." or "Why can't I lose those last 10 pounds?" or even "Why is my body always doing stupid thing like craving sugar?!" I've been in that head space before - thinking myself in circles about what I'm eating, how my body doesn't feel the way I think it should, and how there are so many women who are better looking than me - that they've figured it out, and I don't have a clue. The good news is, you're not alone - welcome to the human race! Your brain is often working against your hopeful, happy goals of peace, health and abundance, while your body is just trying to keep up with the daily grind, metabolizing your food, breathing, circulating, moving, standing, and all the other million actions it must undertake on a daily basis - it does so much stuff you don't even know about, and here you … [Read More...]
Making Pumpkin Pancakes Gluten-Free: A Friend Asks
My friend Claire, a gluten-free girl, filmmaker and amazing nurse, wrote: "I found your pumpkin pancakes recipe in your Vegan Cooking For Dummies book and thought YUM! Now I'm in major pumpkin craving mode, but I have a couple of questions for the celiacs out there: 1. I have a few GF flour mixes at home but judging from the recipes I've looked at I'll probably have to go buy some xanthan gum and add a little bit of that. Not sure exactly what it does but it's in all the GF recipes I've looked at - I used to have a collection of flours but they all expired - I don't bake often enough to make those purchases worthwhile, and there are some good GF flour mixes available (expensive, but available). 2. I have recently switched to almond milk from rice milk (tried hemp milk, not for me; I steer clear of soy milk). Not sure if I'd still have to curdle it with apple cider vinegar, but I have that in the refrig too... What should I do?" Alex Answers: Really - pancakes are really … [Read More...]
Cooking With Kids: Apple Pie "Ice Cream"
When my son's kindergarten teacher asked me to come in and prepare a recipe with the class, my mind somehow came up with a healthy, yet fun recipe that the kids could help create: Apple Pie Ice Cream! Now, it's not really ice cream, but I believe anything you scoop with an ice cream scooper can be called ice cream. Gluten-free, vegan, and mostly raw, this recipe was actually a big hit, and most of the class ate their entire scoop - even some kids who said "Ew, gross!" Here's how we made this healthy snack together: APPLE PIE "ICE CREAM" ~ Serves 4-6 8 Medjool dates, pitted 3-4 Honeycrisp apples, cored 1/2 cup oat bran 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon Directions Have the kids use plastic or kid-safe knives to remove the pits and throw away. Cut the apples into quarters and remove the seeds and core. Use the grating/shredding blade in your food processor to grate the apples. Scoop into a large mixing bowl. Replace the grating/shredding blade with the S-blade and combine the … [Read More...]
