Scones

If you are in the mood for having a cheat day, but want to stay as healthy as possible? Try these scones! They are super easy and extremely delicious and versatile. I was in the creative cooking mood and put together this recipe.

For the scones:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbs maple syrup

Mix coconut flour, almond flour and baking soda together in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl mix the coconut milk, eggs, vanilla and maple syrup (make sure it's the pure organic).

Beat the coconut milk egg mixture in with the dry ingredients on medium speed.

Heat up 1 cup coconut oil in a medium frying pan. When the oil is melted keep on medium heat. Drop the scone batter in spoon sized clumps into the hot oil. Flip when the first side is browning.
When done remove from heat and serve with whatever topping of your choosing.

We used maple syrup to dip our scones in but other ideas are honey or honey butter (with coconut butter if you're trying to keep it really healthy), fruit of any kind or agave.

Another way to change up the recipe is putting different things in the batter such as chocolate chips or coconut. This recipe will be fun to play with in the future!

Vacation Season

This past weekend I went on my first vacation of vacation season!
I went to Las Vegas, Nevada with my mom and sister, Hannah.

We had a blast, and I contribute a lot of that good time to what I was eating. A lot of times it's hard to keep a good diet on vacation when you're away from your kitchen and home. Not to mention, it's almost impossible to find actual healthy meals at restaurants and fast food isn't an option. Luckily I thought of this and planned ahead!

I didn't keep completely to my diet, or else I would have starved. I only had one meal planned but it helped me feel more nourished and balanced than if I hadn't planned anything at all.

What I did was make a little chia seed to-go bag. In sandwich bags I put 2tbs chia seeds, 2 tbs hemp seeds, 2 tbs unsweetened shredded coconut and about a tbs of honey. I brought along a gallon of almond milk in a cooler and when I was ready to eat I put 3/4 cup of almond milk in the bag with the rest of the ingredients. I let it sit for 10 minutes before enjoying.

It might not sound like a lot but it is surprisingly very filling and nutritious. I usually eat this at home for breakfast or lunch and mix up the ingredients sometimes. Coconut isn't the only option. You can basically put anything you want in. If using for travel purposes it's best to put non-perishable items in or use a cooler to store perishables. Other ingredients I have used are berries and other various fruits such as apples and oranges. This can be a really fun meal to mix and match and try different things. You can also use other sweeteners like agave or maple syrup.

I'm going to continue to look for other travel friendly healthy meals so we'll be all ready for any vacation, so keep checking back for updates!

Comfort Foods

This week was a rough one for me. My 15 year old kitty Panther passed away. He was actually my sister Hannah's cat, but when she moved to Cedar City and wasn't able to take him with her, I took him in. My roommates welcomed and loved him, almost as much as I did. He had such a friendly, calming and comforting spirit. He made friends with anyone who approached him. He got very sick though and wasn't responding to medicine. It was his time, he's not suffering anymore and he lived a good full life.

So I have been very un-motivated and mopey lately. I haven't wanted to make the effort to actually cook anything. I decided yesterday, that it would be a comfort food day.

I started my day off drinking warm honey and lemon water. On an empty stomach, this helps start digestion and it also helps to wake me up when I'm having trouble getting out of bed. For breakfast I made a chocolate smoothie. Cocoa is really good for depression, it triggers the production of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. In my smoothie I used a whole banana, 1/4 cup coconut oil, handful of spinach, one kale leaf, 3 tbs cocoa powder, vanilla protein powder and 1 cup dark chocolate almond milk (add more to make thinner) It was the chocolaty goodness I needed to start my day.

My wonderful mother gave me a new cookbook for my birthday. I finally tried out a recipe from it yesterday! It's Called The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, but no worries, I don't have cancer! I just thought it would be a great book to have around for fun and if anyone gets cancer, I'm covered!

Since soup is such a great comfort food for me, I decided to try out the recipe on the cover. It's called Thai It Up Chicken Soup. This soup was so glorious! So much flavor, so nourishing and definitely comforting.

Something I get a lot with eating healthy is "I would rather enjoy life and eat 'good' food" I assume by "good" people mean flavor. The thing is, is what I eat is absolutely incredible. I am a major foodie so I will never ever sacrifice flavor for nutrition in my meals. I have gone back and forth with clean and non clean eating a lot lately. My body hates it, but it's allowing me to really compare the two lifestyles. For me, sugar and fat filled foods are natural comfort foods because it's what I grew up with. My body never ever craves these foods, but it's my emotions and subconscious that crave them. When I am feeling depressed or anxious, these foods are the first things I think of. As I enjoy more and more clean recipes, though, they are becoming my comfort foods. I feel like I am enjoying my life a lot because I'm not being drug down by disease and the ill-affects of malnourished food. My body feels lighter, I feel abled, creative, empowered and I have energy. This is enjoying life to me.

This soup was amazing!! I really, really like Thai food and soups though. What I love about this soup is when you first eat it, it's an explosion of flavor in your mouth. The broth is so rich and full, I could probably drink it alone it's so good. Not only was the flavor great, but I could feel the nutrients in the soup disperse throughout my body. Such nutrient-rich foods cause almost a second flavor reaction. It feels like my whole body is tasting the soup and just soaking in all of the great nutrients. I wasn't even able to finish my bowl of soup because it was so filling and I had so much left over. This could easily feed a family or a good group of people.

I really hope that you enjoy this recipe and that it will help nourish your life with lots of nutrients and goodness!

Thai It Up Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken broth

2 shallots, or 1 small red onion, peeled and halved

6 1-inch pieces of unpeeled fresh ginger

1 stalk lemongrass, bruised and cut into chunks

2 kaffir lime leaves, or 1 teaspoon lime zest

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 15-ounce can coconut milk

3 1/2 ounces rice noodles, broken into 2-inch pieces

1 cup peeled and finely diced carrot

Pinch of cayenne (optional)

1 organic chicken breast half, cut into 1/8-inch-thick diagonal slices

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

2 tablespoons sliced scallion, cut thinly on diagonal, for garnish.

Directions:

Combine the broth, shallots, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt in a soup pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, scoop out all of the solids and discard. Stir in the coconut milk and continue to simmer, being careful not to boil, for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the rice noodles into a bowl of hot water and soak until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Stir the carrot and cayenne into the soup, simmer for 2 minutes, then add the chicken and simmer for an additional 7 minutes, until the chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked. Stir in the noodles, lime juice, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. You may want to add a bit more salt and 1/8 teaspoon of maple syrup. Serve garnished with the cilantro and scallion.

Variation: For an extra immune booster, add 1 cup of stemmed and sliced shiitake mushrooms when you add the chicken.

Blueberry, Lemon and Almond Birthday Cake

My birthday, February 13th, was this past weekend. It was by far the best birthday I've ever had. This is the first year I have been living my life true to myself and only allowing people who truly care about me, to be a part of my life. My birthday was so filled with love and support from all of my closest friends and family.

In celebration, I made this amazing birthday cake for myself. It was a huge hit at my party! Everyone loved it and I started getting requests from friends to make different things for them! All of the love and support was extremely encouraging.

I found the original recipe on Green Kitchen Stories but I changed the oil to coconut oil because I prefer to use coconut over any other kinds of oil. I made this cake twice, the first time using chia seeds in place of eggs, and it turned out just as well as the cake with eggs.

Blueberry, Lemon, Poppy Seed & Almond Cake
Serves 8-10

4 cups (400 g) almond flour
3 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (120 ml) melted coconut oil
1/2 cup (120 ml) honey or maple syrup
2 small organic lemons
3 large eggs (replace with chia seeds* if you are vegan)
2 cups (300 g) blueberries (save half for topping)

Glazing1 cup/240 ml (250 g) Turkish yogurt, drained (use vegan cream cheese if you are vegan)
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Combine almond flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside. Heat oil and honey in a sauce pan on very low heat until combined. Grate the zest from the 2 lemons and add it to the honey/oil batter. Divide them in half and squeeze the juice from three of the halves into the mixture, saving one half for the glazing. Add the batter to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs and then fold them into the batter together with 1 cup of the blueberries. Stir gently around with a wooden spoon until combined. Grease a 8-inch spring form cake tin, and add the batter to it.

Bake for about 40-50 minutes (depending on size of the pan and oven), or until golden on the outside and baked all way through (you can cover the cake with tin foil during the last 15 minutes of the baking time, if it starts looking burned) . Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before removing the sides. Meanwhile, start making the glazing. Drain yogurt in a milk cloth or coffee filter for about 10 minutes. This is to make the yogurt less runny. Discard the water and combine the thick yogurt with honey vanilla extract and the juice from the remaining lemon half. Leave to chill in the fridge. When the cake has cooled completely, cover it with glazing, top with the remaining blueberries and serve. You could also just serve the cake with blueberries and yogurt on the side.

* You can replace three eggs with 3 tbsp chia seeds and 9 tbsp water that you combine and let sit for 15 minutes.

Chocolate

I'm obsessed with chocolate and it was the one thing I swore I would never give up.

Which is why I am thrilled that chocolate is actually really good for you! In this article put out by the Collective Evolution, an 110-year-old man states that chocolate is the top five foods that will help you live longer. My plan is to live until I'm at least 100, so that was incredibly good news for me. I can eat all the chocolate I want!

I buy my chocolate from Sprouts and get fair trade 70% or above, anything much lower won't give you the same benefits. Eating it straight is fantastic, but I love baking with it. This past week I made a delicious chocolate cake! It turned out very moist and delicious! This recipe calls for eggs but you can use chia seeds as a substitute. The best thing about healthy cake is that it's good for you and you can eat as much as you want! It doesn't weigh you down or give you the crazy sugar crash.

I got this recipe from Green Kitchen Stories. If you are into healthy eating and haven't heard of this blog, you NEED to look at this blog. It's seriously incredible.

Enjoy!

Banana, Almond & Chocolate Cake10 servings

This recipe calls for a lot of cacao, so make sure to choose a good tasting one. It’s a quite small cake but very rich, so 10 servings should still be enough.

200 g / 2 cups / 500 ml almond flour
25 g / 1/3 cup / 6 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder 
1 tsp baking powder
sea salt
2 eggs
2 bananas
1/3 cup / 80 ml cold pressed rapeseed oil or olive oil
1/2 cup / 120 ml maple syrup or honey

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F.
Add almond flour, cacao powder, baking powder and sea salt to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Crack the eggs into a medium size mixing bowl and beat for about a minute. Mash the bananas with a fork and add to the eggs together with oil and syrup. Beat until all is well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a whisk to stir until everything is mixed. Grease a small/medium size baking pan with oil. Mix a little almond flour with cacao powder and coat the sides with the mixture to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan. Pour the batter into the greased form and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely before carefully tilting it out of the pan and adding the ganache. Serve with fresh berries and a dollop of turkish yogurt.

Cappuccino Ganache80 g / 3 oz dark chocolate (70%)1 single shot (4 cl) hot espresso or strong brewed coffee4 tbsp heated milk of choice (plant based or regular)

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Pour the hot espresso and heated milk over the chocolate and leave for a minute to melt. Use a spoon to stir until completely smooth. Pour the ganache over the cake and watch as is firms up. If the ganache thickens before you have poured it over the cake, you can melt it again over a water bath.

Zucchini Spaghetti

I absolutely love spaghetti but part of my diet is avoiding anything gluten. So I came up a very filling, gluten free spaghetti option. I am super proud of myself for this recipe because it's one of my complete originals and it turned out super well. I've never written a recipe from scratch before and I'm not use to writing out measurements (I usually just throw whatever in and play by taste) so please bear with me on this one. Also feel free to take something out, put something in or change it to whatever suites you!

I know sometimes it's hard finding a balance with loved ones with food. At least for me, some of my friends and family think many things I eat are strange or undesirable. That's why I love this recipe, I can make it for myself and whoever I'm with and it's not a pain to try and make two different things to please everyone. I made this the other night for my boyfriend and I and he really loved it! So try it out with the whole fam!

Ingredients:

1tbs coconut oil
1/4 onion chopped in small pieces
1 garlic clove or 1 tsp garlic powder.
1tsp oregano
1tsp basil
1 roma tomato
1/2 red pepper
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup meat of your choice (optional)
(I used chicken one time and it turned out great.
Ground beef would go best but chicken is leaner)
2 small zucchini

Start by boiling 5-6 cups of water in a medium pot for the zucchini noodles. Meanwhile bring the coconut oil to medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, meat, basil and oregano. While the meat is cooking cut the zucchini into thin spaghetti-like pieces and add to the boiling water. Boil for about 8 minutes. Cut the tomatoes and red pepper in onc-inch pieces and add to the frying pan once the meat is fully cooked. Let cook for about five minutes. Add the tomato paste, water and apple cider vinegar and stir until all is combined. Salt and pepper to taste. When the zucchini noodles are done, put the noodles and sauce together in a bowl and you are done!

The Sun: Energy

Since it's winter, my depression has been raging. I have had lower energy levels and none of my normal foods have sounded appetizing at all. Panther (my adorable black kitty) is the one who enlightened me on what I needed. My body usually tells me through cravings what I need to eat, what supplement I need to take etc. but being depressed can make me numb and not as receptive to my body.

As soon as winter came around, Panther started walking around meowing until I would open all of the windows in the room he was in. He would just sit in the sunlight looking so pleased and I noticed him having more energy. I finally started paying attention to him and I took my blanket off of my window and started looking for foods that gave me energy. I stopped trying to force my body to eat foods that it didn't need and I started adding more energy-rich foods. Some really good winter foods that I've been eating are brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, kale, cabbage, kiwi, lemons (really good for weight loss) and onions. The past two days I have been giving my body a break from food, however, so that it can focus on healing this cold. Instead, I have been drinking orange juice mixed with cranberry (for bladder health) and nettle and chamomile teas. My body is so happy! I haven't been hungry at all and I have been healing much more quickly than usual.

Panther enjoying the sun

Dates are another huge great, natural source of energy. I have been frustrated with granola bars from stores. Even if they advertise as healthy, often times there are still preservatives to give it a longer shelf life. Usually there is also nuts, which my stomach struggles with. I was frustrated because granola bars are easy to grab on the go for a quick energy boost. Luckily I found this recipe for energy date bars! I got the recipe from the Collective Evolution website. They are so fantastic. After trying these bars, I think that my roommate, Amanda, is finally believing me when I say healthy eating can be so delicious! They are super easy to make too. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

– 2 cups pitted dates
– ¾ cup raw cacao powder
– 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut or coconut chips
– 1 tbsp honey
– 1 tsp sea salt

Directions:

No oven preheating needed! Line an 8×8 baking tray with parchment paper. Process dates, cacao powder, ¾ cup coconut, honey, salt, and 2 tbsp. water in a food processor until smooth (you’ll have to scrape down the sides a few times). Press mixture firmly into prepared pan.

Process the remaining coconut in a food processor or coffee grinder until fine. Scatter the coconut over the top of the bars and press it in until it’s adhered. Chill in the fridge until firm. This recipe makes 12 bars and can be stored for 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Recently I ordered this book off of Amazon called The Herbal Alchemist's Handbook. It is so incredible. The very first chapter of the book is about the sun, which felt heaven sent since that is exactly what has been on my mind lately. It discusses the herbs that are associated with the sun. Those include: angelica, ash, bay, calendula, chamomile, celandine, eyebright, frankincense, juniper, mistletoe, rosemary, saffron, safflower, Saint-John's-wort, sunflower, tormentilla and walnuts. The book states "Solar herbs restore equilibrium to the entire physical system, often serving as tonics to the heart and promoting the free flow of vital energy." I have been defusing rosemary essential oil in my room and have drinking chamomile tea and the difference is tremendous. Both give me energy radiant energy that is nothing like a sugar high. This energy is empowering and strengthening in every part of my body. The herb I haven't tried yet that I will get today and try out is Saint-John's-wort. The book claims that it leads "to more confidence and the ability to take action toward personal and professional goals and responsibilities." So next time you're reaching for that energy drink filled with toxins remember that you can experience more fulfilling energy and way of life through diet and herb use.

A Better Life: My Story

Hello and welcome to my health blog!

I want to begin by telling my story to give a little bit of context and background for future posts. 

My entire life I have had pretty major health concerns. By the time I turned 21 years old I had already had two hip surgeries, ankle surgery for arthritis, shingles, chronic UTIs, chronic stomach pain, excess weight, chronic depression, ADHD, anxiety, PTSD, and many other health problems. 

Spring 2013 I was working in a group home for disabled adults. I had a traumatic event happen and weeks later woke at 3am wetting the bed and my kidney, bladder and stomach were in excruciating pain. I went into the ER and they gave me the same antibiotics I always got for UTIs and got no answer whatsoever about what was going on with my stomach. My condition worsened over the next few weeks and eventually I was experiencing psychosis, consciousness blanks, constant stomach pain, constant UTI symptoms, and constant headaches. Every doctor I went to couldn't tell me what was going on. One doctor gave me a medication that subdued my stomach pain but I knew there was still problems. I had stopped eating completely and eventually quit my job, which I loved, and couldn't get out of bed for weeks. 

Finally, I came across a link to a cleanse put together by holistic health coach, Anita Keetch. It was more than just a cleanse though. The program included a detailed workbook that included tons of enriching recipes, tips and suggestions on how to change my lifestyle. She listed symptoms that the cleanse would heal, and I found that all of my symptoms were on the list. I was so excited to get started! I also communicated personally with Anita and we were able to talk about my personal issues and solutions for them. My wonderful mother helped me get all of the food and supplies I needed to do the cleanse. 

Fast forward to two months ago. I had lost a total of 30lbs and had more energy than I had every felt in my life. I had stopped taking my stomach medication completely and had no health concerns whatsoever. I was the happiest I had ever been in my life. Before the cleanse I had zero energy almost constantly. Because my digestive system was so damaged, my body would struggle to extract nutrients from food and provide me the energy I needed just for my day to day life. I thought I was just extremely lazy but realistically my energy was so low that I couldn't even function on some days. 

Since then I have been slacking on my diet and positive lifestyle. Which is why I wanted to start this blog! I want to be able to share and communicate with people who want and seek after a similar way of living. I will be posting recipes, stories and inspirational/educational material for everyone to benefit from. 

Even though I lost a lot of weight I never wanted to do one of those before and after photos of my body. I always felt like the real progress was shown in my life and my face. I don't hide things well, you can always tell when I'm upset. It's usually a curse, but I now love looking back through my pictures and see the difference in my face. So here is a before and an after picture that I feel truly reflects my progress and change.

Before

After

I haven't been eating as well as I would like and I have been living in a way that isn't harmonious to my beliefs, but I am much closer than I was 8 months ago. At the peak of my health I had almost zero symptoms of mental or physical illness. I'm not in horrible health currently but my goal is zero health problems including mental health. Eventually I would like to be off of both mood stabilizers and my sleeping medication. I believe this is possible through diet and awareness.

I named my blog Healthy Living: Here and Now because that is the lifestyle I strive for every day. I try to live in the here and now in everything that I do, which is a huge contribution to my changes. I want this blog to help me be more aware and accountable of my decisions with food and life. I believe that awareness is the first step to any great life change. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my health ramblings!