Vegan Archives - Kristi Cirignano

Easy DIY Freezer Pickles

July 20, 2023October 5, 2017 by Kristi

Happy October, Friends!

I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful fall! I’ve been so busy with group workshops, coaching and a new certification program I’m doing through the Institute of Functional Health Coaching (much more on this in another post!) that I haven’t been blogging very much the past couple of months.

So I wanted to share something fun with you today. A few years ago we grew SOOOOO many cucumbers in our Tower Garden that I couldn’t eat or give away any more. So the kids and I made pickles. I’m not a canner, but a friend suggested we freeze them and it worked perfectly. They were delicious and lasted us all through the fall and winter. My husband and kids loved them and have been asking for more ever since.

We moved the Tower Garden inside and use grow lights now, which is amazing for lettuce, herbs and greens all winter, but I haven’t had homegrown cucumbers since then. This fall we’ve had an abundance of beautiful organic cukes from our CSA and we happen to have a beautiful bunch of dill growing on the Tower Garden right now too. So yesterday Juliette and I made eight quart jars of dill pickles. They’re in the refrigerator now for a couple of days and then I’ll put most of the jars in the freezer.

I can’t say I’m an expert pickle maker by any means, but if you google freezer dill pickles you will find several recipes. This is the one we used this year, with a few modifications (for us it required about double the vinegar plus an equal amount of water to cover the cucumbers for 8 jars. I also added chopped fresh garlic, black peppercorns and we used a lot of fresh dill). Adjust the seasonings according to your own tastes. You honestly cannot mess this up. If you decide to try this, make sure you leave a good inch at the top of your jar to allow for expansion as the pickles and brine freeze. And as an added precaution, I freeze mine with the lid off and then put the lids on after they’re frozen.

Next time you buy pickles, take time to read the ingredients. Most brands are full or preservatives and have artificial blue and yellow coloring, which is so irritating because it is so completely unnecessary!! (You can read a little bit about why you should avoid artificial colors here.) I like Bubbies brand (which is usually in the refrigerator section) but I can’t always find their dill pickles here. If you’re in the same boat, it really is easy to make your own and its such a fun thing to do with your kids. My whole crew thinks its so much fun to make and eat our own pickles!

Local friends, make sure to check my website and Facebook page often for upcoming workshops and wellness events. I have a lot of fun things in the works!!

Blessings to you and yours!

Kristi

PS. I’d love to see you at any or all of my upcoming workshops!!

Be a Smart Healthy Shopper

Friday, October 13, 2017 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

NMS Chiropractic Clinic | 2568 Waterbridge Way | Evansville, IN 47710

Join Danielle Pond (Dietician @ NMS Chiropractic) and Kristi Cirignano (Certified Health Coach) for a light healthy lunch and a fun hour of talking about how to become a smart and healthy grocery shopper & get more healthful whole foods in your life! We will talk about::

–what foods you should focus on when you’re making your grocery list or doing your shopping

–food label reading strategies including how to interpret the information on a food label and what ingredients you should absolutely avoid putting into your shopping cart or mouth

–simple ways to get more whole food nutrition into your diet

Lunch is always gluten and dairy free and we will have recipes to share! This event is free but space is limited so please RSVP to Kristi@nourished-for-life.com or via eventrite at https://smart-shopper.eventbrite.com

Raising Healthy Kids

Tuesday, October 17, 2017 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM

Kristi’s home | 10276 Shefield Ct. | Newburgh, IN 47630

We all want to raise healthy kids, but it’s a challenge in today’s environment! Do you struggle with:

–picky eaters?

–societal pressures on our families and kids to eat like everyone else?

–meal planning?

–finding time for cooking and feeding your family healthful whole foods when we are running all day from work or school to homework to sports and activities?

Eating nutrient dense whole foods is so, so important to our kids performance in school, sports and activities, and even more important to their long term health. But its not always easy! Join us for a light, healthy lunch and we’ll talk about overcoming picky eating, peer pressure & meal planning tips to set yourself up for success!

Lunch is always gluten and dairy free and we will have recipes to share.! This event is $10 per person. Please register via eventbrite at https://healthy-kids.eventbrite.com

Essential Oils & How They Can Benefit You

Friday, October 27, 2017 at 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Kristi’s home | 10276 Shefield Court | Newburgh, IN 47630

Join us for a light, healthy lunch and learn the basics of essential oils …

What are they?

How do you use them?

How can they benefit you and your family?

You will get to smell and sample a variety of oils and learn how to use them in your home!

** Please note essential oils have many benefits, but they are powerful substances and it is important do your own research on any oils that you use, use caution and make sure you are using them appropriately and safely! We will share some of my favorite resources for researching oils and their uses.

Lunch is always gluten and dairy free and we will have recipes to share. This event is $10 per person. Please register via eventbrite at https://essential-oil-basics.eventbrite.com

Summer Tomato Corn Salad

July 20, 2023August 6, 2017 by Kristi

Hello friends!

One of the fun things about focusing on eating fresh fruits and vegetables is that your meals change with the seasons and what is available locally at any given time. In the summertime, the way I cook changes completely. In the winter I tend to make a lot of soups, stews, chili, crock pot meals and heavier pasta dishes. When we have an abundance of local goodness from the farm and our farmers market, I love to eat as fresh and close to the earth as possible.

I actually don’t know if you can really call most of what I do during the summer “cooking”. And this hardly even qualifies as a recipe. But its still one of our favorite summer dishes.

When we make sweet corn, I always cook a few extra ears for this salad. If your corn is really fresh and tender, you don’t even have to cook it! I chop the freshest most delicious tomatoes we have (preferably a mix of sungolds, grape or cherry, and different colors of heirloom tomatoes) and then add the leftover corn (cut from the cob).

Drizzle with a good quality extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. and a generous handful of fresh basil. Summer heaven on a plate!

This salad is delicious on its own or as a side salad with an organic, pastured chicken breast.

Print Recipe

Summer Tomato Corn Salad

Calories: 235kcal

Ingredients

2-3 cobs sweet corn kernels removed (please use organic, non-GMO corn)
Aprrox. 1 lb fresh local summer tomatoes 3 medium tomatoes or a combination of sun gold, grape, cherry and heirlooms
Approx. 1/4 c. Fresh basil leaves thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine corn, tomatoes & basil in bowl. Add extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper & toss gently to combine.
Enjoy immediately or store, refrigerated, up to 2 days.

Make sure to check out the Upcoming Events on my website and follow me on Facebook for all of the latest news!

Have a great week! Especially those of you heading back to school this week!!!

XOXO,

Kristi

PS: If you’re heading back to school this week and need some lunch box inspiration, check out my blog post on Real Food School Lunches in Ten Minutes a Day!

The Skinny on Vegetable Oils & My Go-To Salad Dressings

July 20, 2023March 5, 2017 by Kristi

I hear a lot of questions about salad dressing, and with good reason. Bottled salad dressings are typically filled with highly questionable or downright harmful ingredients like highly processed GMO oils, sugar or high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and chemical emulsifiers and preservatives.

I often dress my salad with a drizzle of flax or extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar. You can find two of my favorite salads where I do just this here and here. For Mexican themed salads I love to use organic salsa or fresh homemade pico de gallo and guacamole in place of dressing.

But making your own dressing is quick and easy if you have a well stocked pantry and spice cabinet. Just follow a basic formula of 2-3 parts oil to one part acid (any variety of vinegar or citrus juice) and then experiment with adding herbs and spices to come up with your own favorites. (Technically, a vinaigrette is 3 parts fat, one part acid.) Save your old salad dressing bottles, spice or jam jars, or I like to use and re-use these very affordable salad dressing bottles from Amazon. There are other great options on Amazon as well.

Use minimally processed and health promoting oils like flax, coconut or extra virgin olive oil. Look for cold pressed or expeller pressed, organic oils.

Avoid processed “vegetable” oils including soybean, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, peanut, canola and corn oil.

These grain or seed oils are highly processed processed and refined. Can you imagine the energy and effort it takes to extract oil out of a kernel of corn?! The oil is generally extracted from the seed or bean with high heat (which destroys any nutritional value and oxidizes the oil, turning it rancid and harmful to the human body) and toxic petroleum based solvents such as hexane, traces of which remain in the oil. Then the oil must be further chemically refined to eliminate undesirable smells, flavors and colors and make it palatable. Some of these oils go through an additional process called hydrogenation, to make them solid at room temperature and increase the shelf life. These hydrogenated oils (trans fats) are used in processed foods and sold as margarine or shortening.

Soybean, corn and canola oils are almost certainly from GMO crops (unless they are certified organic). These crops have been genetically modified to withstand exponentially higher quantities of the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), which is an endocrine disrupter and “probable carcinogen”, according to the World Health Organization. Glyphosate kills everything except the genetically modified crop and then remains in our food.(1)(2)

We have been told by various adversory groups and the government’s own dietary recommendations to avoid saturated fats and replace them with polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) instead. As a result, between 1909 and 2009, the consumption of PUFAs increased by 300%!(3) Soybean oil consumption alone has increased 1000-fold since 1900.(4) In 1999, at the turn of the millennium, soybean oil made up an astonishing 20% of calories consumed in the United States.(5) And this has turned out to be incredibly detrimental to our health.

In his book Eat Fat, Get Thin (which I highly recommend) Mark Hyman, MD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, explains how this erroneous dietary advice occurred in the first place and details the studies that show diets high in PUFAs (in the form of hydrogenated oils/trans fats AND liquid vegetable oils) are among the leading causes in the epidemic of western diseases we now face including obesity, heart disease, diabetes & cancer.

One of the issues with the studies on which this dietary advice was based is that they didn’t differentiate between the two types of PUFAs–omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids fight inflammation and disease, while omega-6 fats fuel inflammatory pathways in the body.(6)

A healthful diet should include equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids. The typical American diet now contains many, many more omega-6s than omega-3s. (7) Too many omega-6 oils in our diet promotes inflammation in our bodies(8)(9). Dr. Jospeh Hibbeln, a leading researcher at the National Institutes of Health, believes that the over-consumption of omega-6 fats and the underconsumption of omega-3 fats have led to increases in:

cardiovascular disease
Type 2 diabetes
obesity
metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes)
irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease
macular degeneration (age-related blindness)
rheumatoid arthritis
asthma
cancer
psychiatric disorders and
autoimmune disease (10)

Most Americans cook with these oils at home, eat them in restaurants, and they are found in almost every packaged, processed food we buy. Even commercially raised meat is high in omega-6s. Wild game and grass fed or pastured animals are high in omega 3-s, because the animals are consuming mostly grass and green plants. But since the Industrial Revolution, commercial farmers have been feeding animals grains and seeds high in omega-6s and low in omega-3s, rather than the animals’ traditional diets. This means even the meat most of us eat is high in omega-6s and very low in omega-3s.(11)

You can reduce your consumption of inflammatory omega-6 oils by changing the fats you cook with at home, avoiding processed packaged foods, avoiding fast food and being careful what you choose in restaurants and switching to meat from grass fed or pastured animals. Making your own salad dressing with healthful oils is also a good start to regaining the right balance of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Making your own dressing is so easy and gives you endless flavor options with health promoting, real foods. Here are four of my go-to salad dressings, along with our favorite salad pairings. Try all of them and then experiment and come up with your own favorites!

Greek Dressing

3/4 c. good quality extra virgin olive oil (I use California Olive Ranch)

1/2 c. Red wine vinegar (or Bragg’s apple cider vinegar)

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground mustard seed

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp good quality sea salt (I use Celtic sea salt or Redmond Real Salt)

Pour all ingredients into a glass jar or a 12 oz. dressing bottle and shake well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Good quality extra virgin olive oil solidifies and turns cloudy in the refrigerator. This is one way you can tell whether your olive oil is pure and of good quality. In a study done a few years ago at UC Davis, the vast majority of EVOO tested was found to not actually be extra virgin or to be adulterated with lower quality processed oils. So when you’re paying for extra virgin olive oil for its health benefits, its good to confirm you actually have the good stuff! Just take it out of the refrigerator 15-20 minutes before you want to use it, or let the bottle sit in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Shake well and enjoy this dressing with green leaf, red leaf or romaine lettuce, topped with tomato, cucumber, red onion and black olives. Optionally add a bit of feta or goat cheese.

Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (juice from 1-2 lemons)

2 T Dijon mustard

Sea salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in a small jar or dressing bottle with a lid and shake well. Alternatively, add the first three ingredients to your Vitamix, blend, and then drizzle in the olive oil with the blender running till you have a smooth creamy emulsification. We like this dressing on spinach, kale, bok choy or other dark leafy Asian greens such as pak choy, mizuna or yukina savoy. On each salad I like to add crumbled bacon (please only use nitrate-free bacon from clean, pastured animals), sliced hard boiled egg (or feta cheese) and a handful of walnuts, pecans or sunflower seeds. The tartness of the dressing and some added fat from the bacon, egg and nuts really cuts through these sometimes slightly tough or bitter greens.

Dairy Free Creamy Caesar Dressing

*Adapted from Once Upon a Time: Recipes and Recollection from a Rover City (Jr. League of Evansville 2003)

3 cloves fresh garlic

3/4 c. mayonnaise (For the healthiest option, make you own mayo. If you use store bought, look for one with the fewest and best ingredients possible. We usually use Real Mayo which isn’t perfect but better than some other options.)

2 tsp. capers with brine

1/2 to 1 tsp. anchovy paste (we like the full tsp–the saltiness and umami from the anchovy makes up for the missing cheese in this recipe, but tailor this to your anchovy taste!)

1 T fresh lemon juice

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (I use Celtic Sea Salt or Redmond Real Salt)

Place all ingredients in your Vitamix or a good quality blender and blend until smooth. We love to toss this dressing with chopped romain and top it with grilled chicken for a gluten and dairy free Chicken Caesar Salad. Sometimes I make crutons from gluten free bread to make my kids happy, but its just as good without.

Shallot Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

l shallot, cut in half or quarters

2 T raw honey

3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Place first 5 ingredients in your Vitamix and blend. With blender running, slowly add olive oil and keep blending until you have a smooth emulsification.

We enjoy this dressing on mixed greens with berries or dried fruit and nuts. I also like beets and an avocado with this dressing. Optionally add some crumbled Gorgonzola or blue cheese.

In other news …

Shred10

I am hosting two new Shred10 accountability groups starting Monday, March 6 and Monday, April 3. You do not have to be local to join in! This ten day program will help you jump start your health and includes help with meal planning and recipes, daily private coaching from me by text or phone and plenty of encouragement and accountability to help you achieve your health and wellness goals.

If you are ready to take the next step in your health journey, contact me for more information. Life is way too short not to be your healthiest and feel your best every single day!!

Prime Time Health

Four Wednesday evenings in March, beginning this Wednesday, March 8, I’ll be teaching a workshop series called Prime Time Health. This workshop is a wealth of information for any adults or seniors who want to take charge of your own health and learn how to feel better, sleep better, have more energy, reduce inflammation and prevent disease. If you want to live longer and better, this series is for you!

Taste the Shred

On March 16, from 6 to 7 pm, we have an event at the Newburgh Central Library called Taste the Shred. Chef Adam Edwards will be cooking up several recipes from our Shred10 guidebook for you to taste. Join us to learn more about this health changing ten-day program and see for yourself how delicious healthy can be!

Spring is in the air, friends! Its a perfect time to get outside, breath deeply and get serious about changing your health and your future!

XOXO,

Kristi

PS. Make sure to follow Nourished for Life on Facebook for all of the latest news and even more health and wellness related information!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19539684
https://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/Q&A_Glyphosate.pdf
TEDxHarvardLaw — Dr. Stephan Guyenet, The American Diet
Mark Hyman, MD, Eat Fat, Get Thin (2016) at p. 80
Hyman at p. 117
Hyman at p. 77, 118
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332206002435
Hyman at 79
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19022225
Hyman at 124-24, citing Hibbeln JR, Nieminen LR, Blasbalg TL, Riggs,JA, Lands WE. Healthy intakes of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids; estimations considering worldwide diversity. Am J Clin Nutrition. 2006 Jun:83(6 Suupl.); 1483S-93S.
Hyman at p. 117

Healing Chronic Inflammation & 3 Healthy Treats (Strawberry Smoothie, Banana Swirl Ice Cream & Healthy Mocha Frappuccino)

July 20, 2023January 26, 2017 by Kristi

Hello friends! I’ve been working on some behind the scenes organizational things here at Nourished for Life and I have some really exciting things planned for the year that I can’t wait to share with you!

In February and March we have 4 workshops (2 individual workshops & 2 different workshop series) scheduled. Please check out the Specials and Upcoming Events for all of the details. Sign up for one or all of these opportunities and bring a friend or two with you! They are all going to be so much fun and packed full of amazing info to help you wherever you are in your health journey!

If you follow me here or on Facebook, you know I’ve been “shredding” this month and I have to tell you I LOVE this program and I love how great I feel. Shred 10 is a ten day program to help you detox and jump start your health. We use tons of whole food nutrition, avoid harmful & inflammatory foods, drink plenty of water, eat your last meal by 6 pm to allow your body time to digest and really rest and rejuvenate during the night, get at least 8 hours of sleep and 20-30 minutes of movement every day. Most of our participants feel so great that they stick with it well beyond the ten days.

I am gluten and dairy free and eat real, whole unprocessed foods and avoid sugar and caffeine most of the time. But even I found myself having a few too many cheats and treats over the holidays and in need of a detox program. It doesn’t take very much of these inflammatory foods for me to start seeing signs of chronic inflammation such as really dry, red & itchy skin, breaks outs and joint pain. I started having quite a bit of knee pain and at bedtime on New Years Eve was a bit horrified to see my knees were swollen and black and blue! I’m 41 and have 4 young kids. My youngest is 2 and I plan to be able to keep up with her and dance at her wedding. I also know these symptoms are big red warning flags telling me my body is in a state of chronic inflammation, which will lead to more serious health problems if I don’t do something about it. Chronic inflammation is at the root of so many health conditions and diseases.

So I started shredding January 2 and I’m thrilled that I’m back to feeling great! I even wore a dress that showed my knees and high heel boots to church on Sunday. It’s amazing how even a small amount of inflammatory foods can cause such havoc on our bodies! And amazing how quickly our bodies can heal when we nourish them properly with real whole foods and a healthy lifestyle.

Common signs of chronic inflammation include:

skin issues (eczema, psoriasis, red, blotchy or itchy skin, blemishes or break outs)
ongoing swelling, joint or muscle pain
seasonal allergies and asthma
IBS or digestive problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation)
food allergies and sensitivities
fatigue or lethargy
high blood pressure
blood sugar problems

Please don’t make the mistake of thinking these symptoms are just part of life, or a normal part of aging! Many health conditions and diseases are associated with chronic inflammation, including things like heart disease, cancer and autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, Chron’s disease or rheumatoid arthritis. Please pay attention to your body and take steps to eliminate chronic inflammation.

If you suffer from any of these signs of chronic inflammation, a whole food, plant based diet and healthful lifestyle changes can help. If you want to reduce your risk of disease, feel bettter, have more energy or achieve your ideal weight, the Shred 10 is a great way to get started and see a big difference in your health in a short period of time. The program includes a terrific guidebook with a wealth of info and recipes, private health coaching from yours truly and a private Facebook group for added support, encouragement and accountability. Our last group was amazing and I’m so excited for our new group starting February 6. Please contact me if you’d like to be included or learn more! You won’t be sorry!

A 3 month private health coaching package is also a great option if you need help fighting chronic inflammation through diet and lifestyle changes. Contact me to schedule your Initial Wellness Consultation and take advantage of my January coaching special.

I start almost every day with a green smoothie and since I’ve been shredding, smoothies and shakes have been a big part of my life the past few weeks! You can find my favorite green smoothies here. Today I’m sharing three of our other favorites.

Strawberry smoothies are my oldest daughter’s favorite.

Banana Swirl is in honor of my youngest daughter, who LOVES Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. In one episode Daniel tries some new healthy foods and finds out he likes them! He and his mom make a banana smoothie in the blender for dessert and Mom Tiger calls it “Banana Swirl”. So if you have a toddler, find that episode on Amazon Prime and whip up some Banana Swirl together! Use ripe, already frozen bananas and it can be a smoothie or ice cream, depending on how much milk you add.

My current favorite is my copy cat Healthy Mocha Frappucino. Save your pocket book and your health and make this at home instead of going through the drive thru at Starbucks! If you use protein shakes, I love and recommend Juice Plus Complete, which is a whole food, plant based protein powder that will keep you full, stabilize your energy and help control cravings.

So that’s my smoothie round-up for today. Try them all and let me know in the comments which one is your favorite!

Print Recipe

Strawberry Smoothie, Banana Swirl & Healthy Mocha Frappuccino

Ingredients

Strawberry Smoothie

1 c. Almond milk
1 very ripe banana peeled and frozen
2-3 cups frozen strawberries
1 scoop vanilla
Juice Plus Complete
plant based protein powder optional

Banana Swirl

1-2 cups
full fat canned coconut milk
3 very ripe bananas peeled and frozen

Healthy Mocha Frappuccino

1 c. Almond milk
1 scoop chocolate
Juice Plus Complete plant based protein powder
1-2 cups ice
Optional -- add 1 shot of decaff espresso or a drop of peppermint extract

Instructions

When your bananas get very ripe on your counter (partially brown and super sweet) peel and freeze in a gallon size zip lock baggie for smoothies or muffins.
Place all ingredients in a high powered blender, like a [Vitamix| http://amzn.to/2jeVVWv], in the order listed. Make sure liquid is in the bottom of the blender. Add additional milk as needed, to get the desired consistency or thickness.
We like to eat Banana Swirl as an ice cream, so I tend to use less milk. If you want a smoothie consistency, use more milk.
When using canned, full fat coconut milk, shake the can well before opening. If it is cool in your home, the cream will separate from the coconut water and will be at the top of your can. Stir well and use equal amounts of cream and water, or add more of the water for a thinner smoothie. Save the remaining coconut water and/or cream for another use!

XOXO,

Kristi

Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

July 22, 2023October 4, 2016 by Kristi

One of our favorite places is our local CSA, Seton Harvest, otherwise known as “the farm”. Of course we get amazing, locally grown, chemical free produce, usually harvested the day we pick it up. But its more than that. Going to the farm to pick up our weekly share, we get to escape our normal routine and stresses and breathe in the fresh country air; visit with friends; pet the dogs; feed the chickens; pick strawberries, fresh herbs, arugula, sungold tomatoes or whatever is in season and available for u-pick; hunt for caterpillars; chase butterflies; climb piles of mulch and make mazes out of bales of hale (yes that was us, sorry Joe and Julie!)

My big kids have practically grown up at the farm and it makes me so happy to see my youngest experiencing her first year running around the farm and loving it just as much as the rest of us do. Perhaps most of all, I LOVE that my kids know who grows their food and where it comes from (not just the supermarket!) and that they love things like eggplant and eagerly ask Farmer Joe when it will be in season and that they love to pick greens like arugula and sorrell and eat them on the drive home.

One of our favorite events at the farm is the annual sweet potato harvest, when we enjoy a beautiful fall evening of fellowship and digging sweet potatoes. Sadly, kid schedules haven’t allowed us to participate the last couple of years, so these pictures are a few years old, but we have been enjoying the labors of our fellow shareholders this week. When was the last time you dug up a sweet potato and then took it home and roasted it with fresh garlic (also fresh from the farm)? If you haven’t been so lucky, put it on your bucket list and find a time and place to experience this!

Even if you can’t harvest your own sweet potatoes, you can still make these sweet potatoes! This recipe is very loosely based on a recipe I found in Victoria magazine many years ago. I can’t tell you what issue or who the original author was but I do know it was a Thanksgiving recipe and it had crispy sage leaves on top. We’ve kept it simple, just sweet potatoes and fresh garlic, maybe a pinch of sea salt at the end if you think you need it. That’s it. And they are so good.

Whether you need a new sweet potato recipe for your Thanksgiving dinner or just a nutrient dense side dish for the next time you grill — these will hit the spot. In a pinch, you can make them without the marinating time, but that is truly the secret to this recipe. Skip it and you will have perfectly fine roasted sweet potatoes. Plan ahead a bit and you will be rewarded with amazingly delicious, crispy potatoes infused with garlicky goodness.

One quick equipment note: I highly recommend a good mandoline for this recipe and any others involving sliced vegetables. It makes quick work of the sweet potatoes here, and ensures that they are all the same thickness so they cook evenly and at the same speed. I have this OXO Mandoline and love it!

Print Recipe

Garlicky Roasted Sweet Potatoes

These sweet potatoes are marinated in garlic and extra virgin olive oil and roasted to crispy golden perfection. So simple and yet so delicious!

Prep Time2 15

Cook Time30

Total Time2 45

Ingredients

5-7 medium Sweet Potatoes (approx. 3 lbs.)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 3/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices. Use a mandoline to make this much easier and ensure your slices will be the same size and cook evenly.
Mince the garlic.
Put the sliced potatoes and garlic in a gallon size zip lock freezer bag. Add the olive oil. Zip the bag and then turn and massage the bag until the garlic and olive oil is distributed well. You want every slice of potato to be well coated, with some oil accumulating in the bottom of the bag. Lay the bag on one side and let it sit on the counter for at least 2 hours or in the refrigerator up to 24 hours. Turn the bag over a few times. This allows the olive oil to become infused with garlic flavor and gives the potatoes plenty of time to marinate in the garlic infused olive oil. The longer they marinate, the more flavor you will have.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the potato slices from the bag and lay evenly in a single layer on 2 or 3 baking sheets. The slices can overlap a bit, but you don't want to pile them up or the potatoes will steam, rather than roast, and will be mushy not crispy.
Roast for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom of your oven part way through. At 20 minutes, start checking the potatoes. There is a very fine line between crispy potatoes and burnt potatoes. We like ours just this side of burnt. So it may seem a bit fussy, but I check them, remove any slices that are dark enough, and then put the pans back into the oven, checking every 2-3 minutes and repeating this procedure until they are all done perfectly. If you prefer not to fuss over your potatoes this much, just take them out when the first few are browned but not yet burned and the others are just beginning to turn golden brown around the edges or on the underside when you flip one over. They will be delicious either way!

Maple Pecan Pumpkin Spice Muffins

July 22, 2023September 22, 2016 by Kristi

It’s fall!

I’m already seeing pumpkin everything, everywhere. So in honor of the first day of fall and one of my favorite times of year, I’m joining in the pumpkin love today.

You should absolutely jump on the pumpkin bandwagon this fall too. Not just because its delicious, but because pumpkin is packed full of nutrition. Pumpkin is very high in Vitamin A, one serving providing 245% RDA. It is also a good source of calcium, Vitamin C, several B vitamins (including folate) and a number of minerals including magnesium, potassium and phosphorus.

These amazingly moist and flavorful muffins are the perfect way to satisfy your pumpkin spice cravings with health promoting ingredients and without any sugar or other harmful ingredients.

They are free of gluten, dairy, sugar and refined oils. They are paleo and vegetarian, and can easily be made vegan as well by substituting flax eggs. They are high in protein due to the almond butter, almond meal and eggs. Use eggs from pastured chickens for a healthy dose of omega -3s. And they freeze well too. I love to keep these in the freezer to pull out and pop in the oven for a quick healthy weekday breakfast.

Treat yourself to some delicious, healthful, pumpkin-y goodness!

Print Recipe

Maple Pecan Pumpkin Spice Muffins (gluten & dairy free, paleo)

Ingredients

1 very ripe banana mashed
1 c.
Organic pumpkin purée
3 eggs
1 c.
Almond butter
1/2 c.
Real maple syrup
1 tsp.
Vanilla extract
1 c.
Almond meal
1 tsp.
Baking soda
1 tsp. Unprocessed sea salt (I use
Celtic Sea Salt
or
Redmond Real Salt
)
2 tsp. Ground cinnamon
1 tsp. Ground ginger
1/2 tsp. Ground nutmeg

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin well with coconut oil or a bsking spray. If you prefer you can use paper or silicone muffin wrappers, but I really like these muffins with a bit of a crusty edge from baking directly in the pan.
Placed ripe, peeled banana in a mixing bowl and mash it with a fork.
Add the pumpkin purée and eggs and mix well. Add in the almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla, mixing until the batter is smooth and well combined.
Stir in the dry ingredients and spices and mix until combined.
Spoon into muffin tins,filling each cup about 3/4 of the way full. You should have 18 muffins. Bake 20-22 minutes. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes and then carefully remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.
Enjoy your healthy pumpkin-y goodness!

Summer Salad with Berries and Avocado

July 22, 2023August 1, 2016 by Kristi

One of my favorite ways to get more fruits and vegetables into my diet is green smoothies. You can read about why I love green smoothies so much and get two of my favorite recipes here.

Another favorite way is to have a big green salad for lunch. My sister just did the Whole 30 plan a few months ago and she has been a good influence on my lunch habits. While we were on vacation earlier in the summer in St. Joseph, Michigan (a beautiful beach town on Lake Michigan with an amazing farmer’s market!) she got me back in the habit of having a big salad for lunch. It is such a great way to boost your nutrition for the day. My mom also often adds fruit to her salads. So I have been taking lessons from both of them and getting more creative with my salads. I just wish we had access to these beautiful farmer’s market berries all year long.

This is currently one of my favorite lunches. I even packed it for lunch on the beach several days. Mixed greens with fresh berries, avocado and pistachios for a little crunch. In place of dressing I just squeeze half a lemon over my salad and drizzle with a good quality extra virgin olive oil. Loaded with nutrition, satisfying and delicious–this salad keeps me feeling good all afternoon!

This salad has 2 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit and packs a huge nutritional punch. Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are all low glycemic and among the most nutrient dense fruits you can eat, containing more antioxidants than almost any other fruit. Blueberries, specifically, are rich in proanthocyanidin, an important antioxidant that has been found to fight cancer, promote weight loss and give you healthy glowing skin. I used blueberries and strawberries this time, but blackberries are in season here right now and are delicious in this salad too.

Avocado is also often considered a super fruit because of its nutritional content (high in folate, Vitamin K, and potassium among other things) and because it is high in healthy, monounsaturated fat. The healthy fats from the avocado, olive oil and nuts increase the satiety factor and help keep you feeling full. In addition, salad greens such as romain, kale, chard and spinach are all great sources of carotenoids, and studies have found adding avocado to your salad increases the rate at which your cells absorb and utilize these important antioxidants by two to six times. And, of course, the addition of healthy fats also increases the bio-availability of fat-soluable vitamins A, D, E, and K.

So enjoy this nutrient dense salad for lunch and you can feel good all day knowing you are giving your body a good dose of the nourishment it needs to fight inflammation, prevent disease and stay healthy!

But don’t worry …

If you glaze over reading all of this nutritional information, I’m with you. I share it just to motivate you (and me), but the truth is you don’t need to remember one word of it. I don’t believe in counting calories or fat grams or even tracking RDAs of specific nutrients, unless you need to address a specific health concern. If you want to skip to the bottom line, all you really need to know (to paraphrase Michael Pollan) is:

Eat real whole foods. Mostly vegetables, fruits and healthy fats.

Skip the sugar and processed junk.

And watch your health soar.

Print Recipe

Summer Salad with Berries and Avocado

Ingredients

5 oz approx. 4 cups fresh mixed salad greens*
1 cup fresh berries* I used blueberries and strawberries here but blackberries are in season right now and I love them too!
1/2 of an avocado cut in thin slices
1/4 cup pistachios

Dressing

1/2 lemon
Approx. 2 T
Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Please use organic greens and berries, where possible.
Spread salad on a dinner plate and top with berries.
Make sure your avocado is ripe. It should feel soft when you squeeze it. Cut it in half, slicing around the seed, and twist the halves apart. Use the side without the seed. With the avocado still in the peel,slice through the flesh lengthwise with a knife, then use a spoon to scoop it out of the peel. Make sure you get all of the green parts and leave only the peel, as most of the nutrients are in the darkest green parts of the avocado closest to the peel. Spread the slices on your salad. Leave the seed in the other half. Rub the flesh with a bit of lemon juice, wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator for another meal.
Sprinkle with pistachios or the nut of your choice. Walnuts are great here too.
Drizzle with the juice of 1/2 a lemon (I squeeze mine right over the salad) and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Enjoy and feel good knowing you've given yourself a great dose of the nourishment your body needs to feel great and stay healthy!

Sources for nutritional information:

World’s Healthiest Foods — www.whfoods.com

Self Nutrition Data — www.nutritiondata.self.com

Start Your Day Right Smoothies

July 22, 2023July 18, 2016 by Kristi

Good morning, friends! I thought today I’d let you in on one of my favorite “secrets” to improving your health and feeling great all day–green smoothies.

I can’t even tell you what a difference it makes in my whole day when I begin it with a green smoothie. I’m happier, I have more energy, my mind is focused and clear and I’m far less likely to make poor food choices throughout the rest of day. If I don’t take time to have a smoothie with breakfast or AS my breakfast, it’s bad news for the rest of the day. I’m more likely to be tired and crabby, I have less energy, I’m more prone to brain fog and I’m much more likely to give in to cravings and snack on unhealthy food choices which make me feel even worse. It starts a bad downward spiral for the day.

How, you might be asking, can one tiny little habit like a morning green smoothie do ALL of this?

Smoothies are packed with nutrients. Most nutrition experts currently recommend that we eat at least 9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, which isn’t always easy. I work hard at it and I don’t always achieve this. Unless I start my day with a green smoothie that gets in 4-6 servings right off the bat. These phytonutrients, especially first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, go straight into your blood stream and fuel every single cell in your body. Your body will say: “Yes! Thank you!! THIS is the fuel I need to perform my very best and feel great today.” No really, it will. You can almost hear it.

Imagine what would happen if I filled my car up with Diet Coke or Gatorade instead of gasoline. You would look at me and think, “You idiot. No wonder your car won’t start.” And yet that’s exactly what we do with our bodies. We try to fuel our bodies with sugar and processed junk and then we wonder why they don’t run well. Why we don’t feel good and why we, as individuals and as a society, are getting sicker and sicker.

A recent study validated my own personal green smoothie experience, finding that in addition to all of the other amazing short and long term health benefits, people who eat more fruits and vegetables are actually happier and have greater psychological well-being!

Smoothies are high in fiber, but partially-digested (the blender does some of the work for you) so it’s easy on your digestive system. And all of this fiber keeps things moving. Did you know you should have at least 2 bowel movements per day? (Sorry, but it’s really important!) This helps you avoid bloating, gas and constipation, which gives you a flat tummy and helps you feel great. And when your elimination system is working properly, it is promptly removing toxins that make you feel bad and cause inflammation and harm to your health. This is a critical part of your body’s detoxification, or “garbage removal” system. Smoothies literally help move toxic waste from your waist.

I always add 2 tablespoons of good fat to my smoothies. Coconut oil, flax oil, flax seeds, chia seeds, avocado or a nut butter. It’s a great way to get in those brain-boosting and oh-so-important Omega-3 fatty acids. Healthy fats are essential because every single cell in our body uses them for energy. Your body doesn’t store good fats, a healthy balanced body burns good fats for energy. (Sugar and simple carbs are actually what your body primarily stores as fat.) Healthy fats are released slowly into your bloodstream, giving you sustained energy. And healthy fats make our foods taste better and more satisfying. If you’re trying to loose weight, sipping on a smoothie for breakfast and throughout the morning as a snack is a great way to satisfy your hunger and nutritional needs without a lot of calories.

So, here are my favorite Start Your Day Out Right Smoothies. These are the recipes I recommend for green smoothie beginners because they’re mild tasting, delicious and kid-friendly. If you already love green smoothies, or as you acquire a taste for them, you should up the nutritional value even more by adding stronger greens like chard, kale, collards and dandelion greens and using more vegetables and less fruit.

Try it every day for a week and see if it revolutionizes your day! I’d love to hear what you think if you do! And if you have a favorite green smoothie recipe please share in the comments!

Print Recipe

Start Your Day Right Smoothies

Ingredients

Tropical Green Smoothie

10 oz. package of spinach leaves or any dark leafy green
2 T Coconut oil
1 c. Water
1 Frozen banana
2 c. Frozen mixed yellow and orange fruit I like a blend of pinespple, mango and peaches

Banana Peanut Butter Green Smoothie

10 oz. package of spinach leaves or any dark leafy green
2 T Peanut butter all natural/no sugar added, use organic where possible( or substitute all natural almond butter)
1 c. Water or Almond milk
2 Frozen bananas
*Use organic greens and peanut butter when possible. Most leafy greens are on the EWG's Dirty Dozen list of produce with the highest levels of pesticide residue and peanuts are also one of the most heavily sprayed crops.

Instructions

Add the greens, oil or nut butter and liquid to your blender first and blend on high until the greens are completely puréed. Then add the frozen fruit and blend until smooth. You may want to add more or less liquid or some ice, depending on how thick and creamy you like your smoothies. I like to be able to drink mine with a straw, so I make them fairly thin.
These recipes make approximately 2-4 small servings for a family for breakfast or one larger smoothie for one person for breakfast and to sip throughout the morning, Enjoy your new morning habit and see how great you feel!

Matteo’s Buckwheat Pancakes

July 22, 2023July 5, 2016 by Kristi

Five years ago when my son Matteo was diagnosed with intolerances to gluten, dairy and soy, I had a really steep learning curve. For the longest time we lived on clean meat, fruit, vegetables and rice while I tried to learn how to cook and bake with our limitations. In the end, we’ve adjusted quite well and our whole family is healthier for it. Aside from eating a lot more fruits and vegetables (did you know we should all eat at least 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day?) we’ve learned to enjoy quinoa, buckwheat and a variety of nutrient dense grains, seeds and other whole foods.

Buckwheat isn’t actually wheat at all, or even a grain. It’s an incredibly nutrient dense fruit seed with over 80 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients including manganese, copper, magnesium, phosphorus and folate. It is low glycemic and high in protein, fiber and antioxidants. Among its many health benefits, buckwheat has been found to help reduce inflammation and lower unhealthy LDL cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels. It’s a great alternative for those with celiac or gluten sensitivities and a good source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. But you should add buckwheat to your diet even if you aren’t vegetarian and don’t avoid gluten. Especially these pancakes.

These buckwheat pancakes were one of my first successful efforts in the world of gluten free baking so it seems fitting the recipe should be part of my first blog post. There was a time when Matteo would eat them two (or even three) times/day. They’re that good. Kid and in-law approved. The recipe is very forgiving and endlessly adaptable. If you’re used to white buttermilk style pancakes, try substituting unbleached all-purpose flour (or your favorite all-purpose gluten free blend) for one-third to one-half of the buckwheat flour and gradually increase the buckwheat as you acquire a taste for it.

Serve them with 100% real maple syrup (none of that fake artificially flavored corn syrup stuff please!!) And whatever you do, don’t skip the cinnamon and orange extract. Trust me on this one. Cinnamon has many healing properties, and cinnamon and orange are fantastic together and in combination with real maple syrup.

I’ve made several dozen batches of these pancakes in the last week to photograph. As I sorted through all of the too dark, too light or mis-shaped pancakes looking for the perfect ones I decided these aren’t picture perfect, food stylist pancakes. They’re better. Thick, hearty, nutrient-dense, delicious, four-hungy-kids-waiting-impatiently-for-their-breakfast pancakes. No need for perfection. Your hungry family will love them just as much as mine does.

Print Recipe

Matteo’s Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients

6 oz. approx. 1-1/4 c. buckwheat flour
2 oz. 1/2 c. ground flaxseed (flax meal)
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2 eggs at room temperature* (or flax gel for vegan option, see note below)
4 oz. 1/2 c. Melted coconut oil (applesauce also works well as a substitute in this recipe, it will just make your pancakes a bit cakier)
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 tsp. Orange extract
8 fl.oz. 1 cup almond or coconut milk, at room temperature*
1 Tbsp. Apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Mix milk and Apple cider vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes.
Whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl or a large measuring cup, mix wet ingredients together. Then add to dry ingredients and stir until combined. These are fairly thick and hearty pancakes. If you like your pancakes thinner, feel free to add a bit more almond milk or water to the batter.
Lightly oil your pancake pan and warm it over medium-high heat. Cook pancakes 3-5 minutes per side, flipping to the second side when you start to see a few bubbles form.
Serve with 100% real maple syrup.