Want to impress that special someone with something delicious and (mostly) healthy? Look no further, friends. This won't take you much time at all.
First up, something to snack on.
Honey Drizzled Walnuts
- 1 egg white
- 1 TBSP water
- 2 cups walnuts (halves and pieces)
- 1/2 TSP apple pie spice
- 1/2 TSP cinnamon
- 1/2 cup honey
1. Preheat over to 225 degrees.
2. In a bowl, combine egg white and water. Beat until foamy. Add walnuts and toss to coat.
3. In a Ziploc bag, add spices and nuts. Seal and shake vigorously to coat the walnuts.
4. Place parchment paper on a pan and spread mixture evenly. Drizzle honey on top in zig zag pattern (approximately 1/2 cup).
5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Remove and let cool. Coat with a little more honey, if you so desire.
These are great snacks, but they also work really well in salads!
Easy Crockpot Ribs
- 2.5 lbs of ribs (I use grass fed)
- 1 quart container of mushroom broth
- 1 quart container of beef broth - (I use Pacific Natural Foods for my broths)
- 1 diced onion
- 1/4 cup Stubs BBQ Sauce- Original Flavor or 1/4 cup Better BBQ Sauce
Sprinkle in a little bit of the following herbs and spices: Garlic pepper (or dice up garlic cloves), cardamom, sea salt, paprika, pepper, ground mustard, chipotle, dulse, kelp, thyme, cumin, and basil. A lot, I know, but trust me. *wink wink*
The variety of herbs will not only make your ribs taste delicious, but they'll make you feel great as well. Each one does it's own special thing to help digestion, remove toxins, and promote better immune health.
1. Combine broths, spices and herbs, onion, and BBQ sauce in crockpot. Mix well, then add in ribs.
2. Cook ribs in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours, checking occasionally.
3. That's about it. I told you they were easy! Pull them out and eat, when ready.
If you like BBQ Sauce, I highly recommend using this Better BBQ Sauce recipe with these. Or with everything- it's that good. If you don't have time to make it, buy the version I mention, above. It's a healthy alternative to the homemade one.
Pair these with the Veggie Salad with Very Easy Vinaigrette or some roasted carrots (1 bag baby carrots, 2 TBSP's olive oil, 1 TSP rosemary. Mix together and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes, depending on how crunchy or soft you want them!).
This next recipe is easy, as it requires a prepackaged bag of gluten free cornbread mix from Pamela's. One thing I want to bring your attention to is that the bag states that it is dairy free, however, the recipe itself calls for butter. While it offers it's own variations on the bag, I have reformatted it slightly, below. Additionally, please excuse the lovely paper plate and plastic spoon picture. Fancy, I know. We're high class folks up in here!
- 1 package of Pamela's Cornbread and Muffin Mix
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- 7 TBSP's of olive oil
1. Lightly grease an 8" square pan and preheat over to 375 degrees.
2. In bowl, combine mix, honey, eggs, water, and oil.
3. Pour into pan and bake for 23-25 minutes.
4. Serve warm, with some additional honey drizzled on top.
These are really, really, super-duper incredibly good. They could technically be considered dessert, but I have an alternate idea for you- up next!
This dessert is easy and delicious, but it does require an ice cream maker and needs to be made a day in advance.
Vanilla Ice Cream Base - 1/3 cup cold water - 2 tsp's agar agar powder (not flakes) or unflavored gelatin - 1/4 cup honey or agave (I used honey) - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp pure stevia extract powder or 1/2 to 1 tsp clear stevia extract liquid (start with less and add more as needed) - 1/8 tsp finely ground sea salt - 3 1/2 cups (or two 14 ounce cans) unsweetened, regular coconut milk (not the lite version) - 1 TBSP pure vanilla extract Raspberry and Fudge Mix
- 1 small container of fresh raspberries
- 1 gluten free brownie, cut into small squares
Options: Add whole berries with fudge squares directly to ice cream or blend raspberries in blender with a TBSP of honey.
1. Add 1/3 cup of water to small saucepan. Slowly sprinkle in the gelatin or agar agar. Let stand for 2-5 minutes to soften. Warm over medium-low heat without stirring, until it dissolves. Scrape mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. 2. Add honey, stevia, sea salt. Blend. Add coconut milk and vanilla and blend until smooth. Do a taste test and add more stevia, if needed. 3. Pour into one or more wide-mouth jars. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before churning. Make sure your ice cream maker is ready to go as well, by placing in the freezer overnight. 4. Once the appropriate time has passed, scrape the chilled mix into the ice cream canister. Churn according to manufacturers instructions. 5. Once ice cream has reached the soft serve stage, add the raspberry and fudge mix, churning until it is fully mixed, about 2 minutes. 6. Serve immediately or freeze in freezer safe containers. If you freeze, it, when you're ready to serve, take ice cream out of the freezer and place in the fridge for 30-45 minutes, to soften, or on the counter for 15-30 minutes. Alternate Recipe: Cherry Vanilla Ice Dream - 1 cup frozen, unsweetened Bing cherries, placed in a bowl while frozen and allowed to thaw - 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
- 1 TBSP honey or agave nectar
1. Drain the cherries, saving the juices, and chop them on a cutting board.
2. Add cherry juices that were saved, honey, and lemon to cherries and mix.
3. At step 5 with the original vanilla base, add the cherry vanilla mix instead.
Hi y'all. I'm short on time this weekend, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. Here's a new, healthy, and light take on traditional spaghetti and meatballs. Enjoy!
Spaghetti Spaghetti
Ingredients for the spaghetti 1 package of gluten free spaghetti (I used the Viviana brand) 1 spaghetti squash Sea salt and pepper for seasoning Olive oil Sea salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice spaghetti squash in half. Place spaghetti squash, face up, in cooking pan with 1/2 inch of water. Use enough olive oil to cover both inside halves of the spaghetti squash and sprinkle a little sea salt on it. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Prepare the spaghetti pasta as instructed on the box. Note: I waited until the squash was about half way done to cook the meatballs and make the spaghetti, that way everything was nice and warm together. Ingredients for meatballs / Recipe taken from The Garden of Eating by Chef Rachel
This recipe might look familiar from this post a few years back. Chef Rachel and her books are some of my favorite to cook from! ¼ cup old fashioned rolled oats aka oatmeal
¼ cup almond, soy, cow or goat milk
1 medium to large egg
1 ½ teaspoons dried herbs or 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs ( Italian blend, sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil or combo)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ to ½ teaspoon ground chipotle or black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
¼ cup minced fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
½ to 1 teaspoon finely ground, unrefined sea salt or 1 to 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
½ cup minced onion
1 to 1 ¼ pounds of 90-96% lean ground beef, turkey or lamb
In a medium bowl combine oats and milk, eggs, herbs, cumin, red/black pepper, garlic, parsley, salt or tamari sauce, and onion.
Crumble meat into bowl with these ingredients. Mix with hands, pulling mixture apart rather than squeezing and packing to evenly distribute seasoning. Bake meatballs on parchment lined baking sheet, or baking sheet lightly coated with coconut oil, in preheated 350 degree oven for 15-20 mins. Shake pan occasionally until done.
When everything is done cooking, combine spaghetti and spaghetti squash in a large bowl (this should serve 6, so a bowl big enough for that). Add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt and pepper. Stir. Add the meatballs on top and voila! Delicious dinner is served.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: Oils: Not just for food
Not too long ago I read this article in Cosmo and, much like the writer says about the oils, the article changed my life. I won't re-write what she said because the article is of course what inspired me to share this with all of you, but to sum it up, the author writes about her experience switching from face moisturizers to oils of all kinds.
This practice of using oil for skincare is nothing new, yet somehow it's been somewhat of a secret and has just recently grown in popularity.
While I already have more coconut oil that is humanly sane and plenty of essential oils, including the Kama Ayurveda oil I mentioned a while ago, which I still love, I hadn't really branched out from using those.Therefore, I had to go on an oil shopping spree to put her article to the full test.
I went and bought as many oils as I could find: Avocado, Apricot, Grape seed, Argan, Nighttime Baobab, Soothing Tamanu (both by Aura Cacia), and my now favorite, Seaberry by Fresh.
Ohmygoodness. How had I not done this before? Every morning and night I would try a new oil on my face and see this almost immediate glow. I stopped using my nighttime moisturize because it seemed like overkill and most days, I don't use any moisturizer during the day either. The oils (along with some sunscreen, put on prior to them) are all I need. I will note that eye cream is still essential. Getting the oils too close to the eyes tends to bring on blurry vision for the rest of the day. Not that I accidentally did that or anything.
During this time of transition from moisturizers to oils I also went and got a facial, to see if a professional would notice the difference I thought I was seeing. I will say, I'm blessed to have great skin thanks to my mom, but even with that, the last time I had a facial my skin was pretty dry and lacking luster. This time, not the case. I go to a local natural aesthetics school, SWINA, and with that you always get a student and an instructor looking at your skin. This time, both of them were blown away by how great it looked. Honestly, I've never gotten so many compliments on my skin in under 60 seconds before. And that wasn't all. Later on I heard the instructor right out my door going on and on about my face to someone else. It's clear that the ancient practice of using oils for skincare is life (and skin) changing.
If you read the Cosmo article, please note I didn't try the oils she lists at the bottom. I did try the Josie Maran argan oil she liked, but I was more impressed with Acure pure essential argan oil.
The best thing about the oils is that they last a long time because you only need a few drops. Also, I think it's important to call out some comments left on the Cosmo article. Many of the readers said they also wash their hair with oils and have other skin and body care uses that sounded pretty darn amazing.
My suggestion? Join the oil club. You will not regret it. In fact, I think you'll find your daily skincare routines to be far more exciting and luxurious.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: RawJuvenate Organic Detox System
RawJuvenate
Groupon has been a good friend to me ever since it's inception. It does nice things for me, like show me awesome deals on half off (or more) everything from trampoline jumping to this new discovery, RawGreen Organics.
Whether or not you can snag a sweet deal like I did, I highly recommend checking out this company and their detox systems. For the last few weeks I've been on the RawJuvenate Complete Organic Detox System and I have loved every minute of it. How many people can say that about a cleanse that lasts 4 weeks? Not many, I assure you.
Here's the scoop: You replace one meal a day with a mix of the Organic Super Greens and the Vegan Protein and you take their supplements. That's it. Done. Finito.
It's gluten free, vegan friendly, and certified organic. Best of all...it actually tastes good. WHAT!? I know, your mind has been blown. Here's my secret...
I tried the mix with plain water. Bad idea. Then I tried it in a smoothie but I could still taste the powder and it was not enjoyable. Finally, I tried mixing it with one can of my favorite C20 Coconut Water and...da da da daaaaa! DELICIOUS.
For realz.
I'm at the point where I crave this stuff and get excited for the next day to come just so I can have it again. That never happens for me with powder mixes. Not never, not ever.
The best part about this company is that they have a variety of items for health and wellness that also come with a variety of price tags. So while the 4 week system may be out of your budget, they have a cheaper 2 week system that will still do your body good.
Of course, the big question is does it work. From my perspective, yes. I tried taking it at a variety of times during the day and I recommend trying using it to replace either breakfast or lunch because it does help boost the energy. I also felt like my endurance levels were better, especially since I've been pretty lazy lately. I just felt kind of good overall.
Go get your green clean on, ladies and gentleman! You won't be disappointed.
I saw this today and had to immediately share it with you. It's only three minutes long, but it's incredibly impactful- and true. We need more scarecrows that take action like this. We need to be those scarecrows.
Also, the song is perfect for this video. Hauntingly so.
For more information on the back story of this video, click here.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: News you need
Unfortunateley, I am feeling more than a bit under the weather friends, and due to that this is going to be a less than stellar post. I didn't want to leave you without anything though, so here are some links I recently received in my email that are important to your mental, emotional, and physical well being.
First off, a blog post from Martha Beck on How to Deal with Transition. I don't know about you, but I've had more than my fair share of transition lately, so I found this one to be particularly interesting. It also fits along very nicely with my current focus on Commanding Your Time.
Here's a blip (blurb? blop?) from the article:
Emma is a poster girl for Newton’s first law of motion: Once she starts doing something, she just keeps doing it until acted upon by some external force. Each day when Emma’s alarm clock rings, she drowsily hits the snooze button several times. The shower, when she finally gets there, is so steamy and fragrant, she lingers twice as long as strictly necessary. She dresses hurriedly, only to check the mirror and change. And so it goes: Coffee savoring takes 15 minutes; lipstick experimentation, five minutes; car key searching, another 10. Emma often arrives at the office late—but that’s okay, because once there, she works into the night, until an external force in the form of her frustrated husband calls to see if she’s alive. Emma stays up late to offer compensatory companionship, ensuring that in the morning, when the alarm clock rings, she’ll be too tired to get up.
People either think Emma is an inconsiderate laggard or they shrug off her chronic difficulty making transitions, give her lavish time cushions, and judge her based on anything but punctuality.
There’s a key difference between people who become irritated with Emma and those who share Emma’s inability to segue from one thing to the next.
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation".
Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.
Monday Mantra: Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam: I will either find a way or make one
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned in the past how stubborn I am...no? Well, I am. Really stubborn. And because I also have a gluten allergy, I am limited in what I can and can't eat. So when I found out Famous Dave's has the most delicious burnt ends possibly ever (sorry to everyone from Kansas who had the best burnt ends formerly), and that I can't eat them, I had to find a way to make them myself. Stubborn + Determined = GF Burnt Ends. Yay!
This brisket recipe all by itself is awesome. I've made this many, many times and always with a resounding YUM from all who eat it. In fact, this is often a requested item, so just in that all by itself you know you've got something good here. All you have to do is take that and do a little more work to get your delicious burnt ends. And while this does take some serious time, it is worth it.
Gluten Free Burnt Ends
Get yo'self a Brisket and your favorite GF BBQ sauce, and get to cooking!
Ingredients for Brisket:
1 four-pound untrimmed brisket
1 tablespoon of salt
1.5 tablespoons of black pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle/chili pepper
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 onion cut into slivers
1/2 cup of GF soy sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of water 1/2 cup broth
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
2. Mix together the salt, black pepper, chipotle (or as Jack from Jack in the Box says, Chip-a-top-lay) and diced garlic, and rub all over your brisket (more heavily on the meatier side but also a bit on the fat side as well). Allow the brisket to come to room temperature.
3. In a large roasting pan, add the slivered onions, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and water.
4. Place the brisket in the pan, fat side up.
5. Cover the pan tightly with first parchment paper, then aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for four hours. Continue cooking for another hour, or roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes per pound.
6. Take the brisket out of the oven...it should be tender to the touch. Let it sit out of the pan for half an hour.
To turn your brisket into burnt ends (this is how I did it, anyway):
1. Trim the hard fat and soft fat from the meat, leaving on some of the meat for that little extra oomph
2. Take what you just trimmed and chop it up. Put it in an oven safe dish and cover with your favorite BBQ sauce. Cover with parchment paper and foil, as before.
3. Bake on 250 degrees for an additional 30-45 minutes (you will want to adjust this depending on how crunchy or tender you want these. I did 30 minutes and they were tender, but I would've liked more crunch)
4. When they reach your texture of choice, let them cool and cover with additional BBQ sauce as needed.
The leftover meat from the brisket can be eaten right away, or you can keep it warm to serve with the burnt ends.
I found the original version of this next recipe on Tasting Table, but as I'm not a big fan of regular white potatoes and several other ingredients that it called for, I modified it. A lot. This is the strangest tasting potato salad you will ever eat. It's also delicious. I had multiple thumbs up from the guys on this one, so you know that's a good sign since there were "green things" aka vegetables in here. My only suggestion would be to maybe leave the snap peas out. I like them by themselves more than I do in this salad. Also a reminder, whenever you're buying additional ingredients (like the Dijon mustard or the soy sauce) make sure everything is 100% gluten free.
6 ounces ham, diced (GF of course, but also preferably nitrate free)
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
2 celery stalks thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
2 TSP's extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
1. Make the dressing: In a medium bowl whisk together the veganaise, garlic, lemon, mustard, Tabasco, paprika, cumin, black pepper, soy sauce, and sea salt.
2. Hard boil your eggs in a medium saucepan over high heat for 15 mins. Immediately (this is the key to easy shell peeling) put them in ice cold water with ice. When they are cool enough to handle, roll them on the counter and crack the shell, the peel away, then dice them up.
3. Bring a large pot of water to boil on high heat. Add the potatoes and boil for 20-30 mins, or until tender. Use a fork to check them (it should easily puncture the potatoes). Turn off the heat and add the snap peas to the hot water to cook. Leave them in for 2 mins, then remove the potatoes and the peas. Cool them under cold running water. Cut the potatoes into small bites. I removed the skins, but do as you please with that. Chop up the snap peas.
4. Put the potatoes, eggs, snap peas, ham, bell pepper, celery, and dill pickles into a large bowl. Add the dressing and mix well. Add a little more salt, pepper, and veganaise if you want a creamier salad.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: In the words of Ludacris, stand up!
Ever since I recently went back to school, I've noticed how much sitting I do. For work, I sit. For school, I sit. All this sitting has been driving me crazy, so I decided to look into what sitting all day does to the body and friends, it's not good.
Many, many of us have day jobs where we're tied to the phone or email, conference calls or project planning, sitting on our bums tied to a desk. Even right now, I'm sitting here as I type this and, according to the research done on this lack of movement, my glute muscles are melting away.
In an article I recently read in Natural Health Magazine, standing burns roughly 60 more calories an hour versus sitting. Add that number up over the course of an eight hour day and you just found yourself almost 500 extra calories you could be burning by doing practically nothing. One very alarming thing the article said was that exercising on a regular basis won't be able to to help you if you're sitting down all day, every day. Yikes!
Sitting causes our muscles to shorten and the lack of movement in our bodies can seriously mess up our circulation, digestive system, and even (get this) increase our risk of heart disease. And if you're a slumper, your spine is in some serious trouble.
Here's some info from the Huffington Post on the dangers of sitting and what you can do as an alternative. I had a very dedicated co-worker who created a work station that transformed from a sitting station to a standing one, and let me tell you, she was obviously ahead of her game. Here's another article from the New York Times which also offers up some important info on why sitting too much is bad for your health.
If you have to sit all day, try this Balance Ball, from Gaiam, which helps you to create perfect posture while strengthening your abs as you sit. I've not tried it, but it looks pretty cool. Plus, it's on sale right now.
If you have to sit all day long at work, try to make sure you move at least once every hour. The Insight Lite Timer app helps you to set a reminder on your phone with a lovely chiming bell as often as you like. Get up and stretch, go for a walk around the office, and if you have a headset on your phone, walk around while you talk if at all possible. Whatever you do, make sure you keep moving.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: News you need on the new Monsanto Protection Act and what you can do
You know Monsanto news has gone big time when Jon Stewart chimes in on it, and thank goodness for that! We need as many supporters as we can get for this, and if they happen to be famous and have their own TV show, well, that's just better for all of us.
Recently, many of us heard about the Monsanto Protection Act that was signed in by our president. But do you really understand what it means? Let me lay it out for you like this...
Have you heard of the Umbrella Corporation? It's a fictional company in the Resident Evil series, that "specializes" in pharmaceuticals, biological weaponry, and last but not least, genetic engineering. If you're a fan of either the video games or the movies, you know that things get out of hand and the Umbrella Corporation ends up ruling and ruining the entire world because of their genetic and biological testing. People die. A lot of people die. In fact, civilization as we know it is gone. And the way they went about it was to portray to the people a nice, innocent cover of being a consumer production company for cosmetics and (are you ready for this?) food.
Let that soak in for a second. Now, let's look at Monsanto.
Monsanto is a genetically modified food company. They "specialize" in creating genetically modified food substances. They "specialize" in genetic engineering. They appeal to the masses as a sustainable agriculture company. Monsanto is a real company. If we do a comparison of them and the Umbrella Corporation, we're all in real trouble.
Why?
Because putting a patent on living things, creating Terminator/Suicide Seeds (which prevent the natural cultivation and renewal of crops year over year), and creating food like substances (that we eat) made from chemicals that cause bugs stomachs to explode upon consumption, is cause for concern.
Now, let's break this down a little further. Let's say you are allergic to something...corn, perhaps. And let's say these GMO foods, regardless of which food, all contain some component of corn in them because that's part of their newly created DNA. You eat a bell pepper, a strawberry, an apple, and BAM- you break out into hives. You're essentially screwed. You can't eat anything GMO, but you'll never even know what is or isn't GMO because they refuse to label it. And let's be honest, there are a lot of people with allergies to corn, but that's just a minor concern.
Take into account that these GMO foods contain a multitude of chemicals that our bodies do not know how to handle and we have a serious epidemic on our hands. Twenty years ago no one - not me, you, your grandma or grandpa, or second cousin twice removed - would have seen this coming. Fake fruits and veggies? No way! That's a science fiction novel waiting to happen. But it did happen. It's happening now. If things continue down this path, years from now they will have to create a vaccine for all of humanity just to be able to tolerate eating food. And if that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will.
I want you all to consider something for a moment...
If you have anyone you love in your life - your child, boyfriend, wife, mother, aunt, dog - would you feel comfortable handing them a bottle of Roundup weed killer and asking them to drink from it? Because that's what a GMO food is. It isn't a fruit or a veggie full of nutrient rich vitamins and minerals that help prevent disease. It is a genetically modified food organism that, instead or preventing disease, causes it.
Last but not least, I ask you this: If Shady McGrady Monsanto refuses to label their products, what does that tell you? If you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide. If those products are sooooo safe and you're not the least bit concerned about your profit margin decreasing, label your damn fake foods, Monsanto!
Whew. I need a punching bag and a nap, because this shit is ridiculous.
Here's an article I received in my inbox that gives you more details on it and also lets you know what you can do to stop them. I've also put together a lovely visual montage (sort of) of the things people are saying about Monsanto.
We're not alone. We need to keep fighting.
Key Next Steps For US Food Policy
Here is the "inside story" with complete details you need to know about what happened with HR 933, Continuing Resolution including the “Monsanto Protection Act” the President signed this week. I detail actions we took, what this means, and suggest steps for the future. Please read this to the end to be well-informed and please respond.
Send me an email to info@proorganic.org to confirm you received this message now, and feel free to leave your comments and suggestions. Thank you for thousands of encouraging emails and conversations about our work! If you want to unsubscribe, you must follow the link at the bottom of this email to do so because I have no control over the email server. Like, share, and participate in our facebook group www.facebook.com/proorganic.org which receives as many as over 200,000 views monthly and features a wealth of valuable information about food, health, regulatory affairs, gardening, and many inputs. We read every email and Facebook comment, and many of you know from experience that we answer personally when possible. Please know, our all-volunteer effort is funded solely and at great personal cost and risk by the Petition Author without any outside support or financial affiliation. Ours is a historic example of what citizens can accomplish when commitment and vision combine in action.
Your efforts and responses to our phone campaign request has been humbling and we cannot thank you enough. We estimate well over 60,000 calls were received by the White House this week, though some of you reported having to dial as many as 100 times to get through! What’s more, we arranged for the Food Democracy Now 250,000-plus-signer petition seeking Veto of HR 733 to be brought directly to the President's personal attention. We received help at very high Administration levels and express our deep appreciation.
Proorganic.org does not speak for the entire Food Policy movement. However, aside from the White House itself, we were the most intimately involved with President Obama among all food policy organizations so this is a "from the horse's mouth" account. This email serves to share elements of what happened this week with the goal of helping everyone concerned work together more effectively to achieve our goals.
First of all, you need to realize the Continuing Resolution is only a six month law. No part of this law lives beyond September 2013, no matter what it provides. You should take comfort in that, and heed this as a call to action for the future.
Second, you need to realize passing periodic Continuing Resolutions has been at the highest level of political importance for Presidents over the past 2 decades. Without passage, the Government shuts down, leading the nation into certain disaster. Whatever political objectives any President has, first and foremost, the government must be funded. For this reason, we did not promote a Veto campaign, but we helped Food Democracy Now in their Veto campaign because of our common long-term objectives.
Section 735 "Monsanto Rider" is reported by NY Daily News to have been written in concert with Monsanto by Sen. Roy Blount (R-MO), perhaps Monsanto’s biggest Senate contribution beneficiary. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) allowed the language to stand without consultation with the Agriculture Subcommittee, or any others, for that matter. This infamous action has been widely criticized in the strongest terms, even within the Senate. Sen. Mikulski's Facebook page has dozens of comments in opposition. Unlike a typical "Rider," the "Section 735" paragraph did not appear at the end of the bill. Because of this, the President could not issue a Signing Statement nullifying it. We know Mr. Obama consulted the White House Consul in detail to explore this possibility.
Most believe Section 735 of this bill violates the US Constitution’s “Separation of Powers” which provides for the Courts to maintain authority whenever cases are brought. This provision requires the Secretary of Agriculture to grant permits and temporary deregulation without Court intervention. Additional opinions suggest it violates the National Environmental Policy Act which calls for various Environmental Impact disclosures among other procedures.
This is the problem we face: The US doesn’t really have a National Policy on Food and Agriculture. Corporate interests and regulators have never been governed by a solid Policy framework. We need Policy that comes from a clear and sustained public debate followed by legislation towards sustainable, healthy, and scientifically legitimate Food Policy. While tens of millions of citizens are actively involved in various national debates about topics like abortion, and other hot button issues, Food Policy gets relatively minor attention, though literally everyone eats. Occasionally, some voices involved in Food Policy advocacy compete with each other – leading to potential fragmentation and dilution of our power. We must eliminate that as a factor, and work in concert like a well-tuned orchestra to be effective. A group of important leading Food advocacy organizations including ProOrganic.org is being convened by Center for Food Safety which will address strategy and tactics next week.
Our task over the next six months is to stimulate a vast national hot-button debate that puts tremendous pressure on all elected officials AND which leads to wise food-policy legislation. Some of this is already being drafted now. If that past year has taught us at ProOrganic anything, it’s that fighting Monsanto or the FDA is not leadership, it’s an understandable, but relatively ineffective reaction. Have to move beyond opposition towards proposition.
Leadership means we grow our movement to 100 million people who demand Food Policy and who use it as a litmus test for supporting elected officials’ ambitions. ANY President, Governor, Senator or Congressman would have to support us or face political failure. The outrage over Section 735 and its assault on the Constitution should be used to spark many more people to involvement and action. We absolutely have to use this moment wisely, because we just got “fifteen minutes of fame” and we can exploit this to our advantage.
Now it’s time to craft a crystal clear message that everybody can understand and get excited about. We have to get so many people involved in the debate that the message comes loud and clear to the all elected officials. At ProOrganic.org, we see this week’s events as an opportunity to stimulate a turning-point in the National conversation.
Thanks ever so much: You will hear from me again shortly.
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: A delicious green (and red, I guess) salad and a cranberry drink to beat the bloat.
Sometimes when you're hungry, you come up with the most amazing dishes ever. This is one of those. Now, I know brussels sprouts have a bad rap, but try this before you decide you hate them forever. When cooked appropriately they are delicious and oh-so good for you. Plus, who doesn't love bacon?
Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad
Serves 4-6 people Salad:
1 bag of organic spinach (5-6 oz)
1 - 1.5 cups Brussels sprouts
6 - 8 slices of Applewood Smoked Bacon (GF, Nitrate free)
1 green zucchini
1 small bundle of asparagus
A pinch or so of sea salt, black pepper, and garlic pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Garlic Cilantro balsamic
1. For cooking the Brussels sprouts, you have some options:
A. If you have a microwave, put the Brussels sprouts (whole) into a bowl. Put 1 tsp of olive oil on them and mix well. Heat for 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
B. If you don't have a microwave/don't like using microwaves like me, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Coat them with oil as mentioned above and bake for 8-10 minutes. You want them crunchy, that's the key to their deliciousness.
When you're done with that, cut the bottoms off, remove the outer 1-2 layers of leaves, and cut them in half.
2. Cook bacon and remove excess grease, then chop into small squares. Set aside for the moment.
3. Slice and dice the zucchini and asparagus.
4. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan on medium heat.
5. Cook zucchini and asparagus for roughly 5-8 minutes, but not to completion. Then add in the Brussels sprouts and chopped bacon squares. Let everything heat up nicely (roughly 3 more minutes or so) and add in spices. Pour all of this yumminess on your spinach.
For the dressing, you have two options:
A. Be lazy like I was and just hand mix everything together. It was still super delicious, I promise.
B. Blend the oil and balsamic in the a blender and then pour that over everything and mix together. It combines the two together nicely, but it will taste the same. It just looks more fancy for when you have fancy guests over for fancy dinner parties.
Last but not least, if you're looking for a safe, simple, and delicious detox drink, try this baby out. Make sure you get the good cranberry juice, which is sugar free. Adding sugar to this will defeat the purpose. I've made this a few times, just because I really like the way it tastes but does it really beat bloat? I can't tell, but it tastes good and the ingredients are good for you. Dandelion root, in particular, is AMAZING for your liver. Did you get that? AMAZING. If you can handle the taste all by itself (I have to lemon it up quite a bit) make a cup of this and drink it every morning for a few weeks. Your liver will thank you.
Jillian Michael's Detox Drink
60 oz distilled water
1 TBSP cranberry juice (sugar free, non-cocktail)
2 TBSP lemon juice (if you freshly squeeze your own, it tastes better)
1 dandelion root tea bag
Combine water and juices in a large pitcher. Add the tea bag. Leave the tea bag in the pitcher the whole day. Now, drink that whole pitcher. Yes, the whole thing. Re-make this each day and drink every day for 7 days.
She claims that you can lose 5 pounds of excess water weight in that seven days. Try it and see how it works for you.
Until next time...
Eat well, Be Well, Live Well!
How'd your salad come out? Like Brussels sprouts now or still not a fan? Facebook Twitter
Wellness is a term widely used that has multiple meanings around health and positive life style changes leading to well-being. Here we will use the term "wellness" as a means of defining a life free from disease as well as a way to explore alternative medicines, what they offer, and what this could mean for you.
Every month I'll do a post on a health and wellness related topic. This will give you a chance to explore other options, become informed, and make the best overall decision for your own well-being.
In the World of Wellness: I wasn't kidding when I said there was a lot today. GlutenEase, healthy apps for your mind and body, juicing recipes, cleaning your kitchen the safe and natural way, GF banana pancakes, and the best black tea you've never tasted. Whew- that was a mouthful.
There have been so many good and delicious things I've tried lately, I couldn't pick just one so I decided to tell you about all of them. You might overload on awesomeness. You've been warned.
GlutenEase Please
For my gluten allergy friends, you're going to love this. I was recently introduced to a supplement called GlutenEase. It helps to cut down the effects of a gluten attack with it's anti-inflammatory response, making a reaction to foods containing gluten far more manageable. In fact, with some people it didn't just cut the pain in half, it eliminated it entirely. This will all depend on just how allergic you are to gluten. Click on the link above to be taken to the Amazon store for more info and reviews on this amazing product.
I was also informed by my Reflexologist, who suffers from celiac disease, that drinking Kombucha after a gluten attack can cut the pain and suffering in half. While I've yet to try this, I can see how this could be a possibility as Kombucha is good for liver support and the healthier your liver, the healthier you are all in all. Maybe give this a shot next time you unfortunately and accidentally come in contact with gluten.
Mind and Body Smartphone Apps
In today's high tech news, have you heard of The Eatery app for your iPhone? Instead of counting calories you use photos from week over week snapshots of what you ate to see your healthiest meals, what improvements you made, and what you need to work on. You take a picture of what you're eating, load it to the app, then rate it based on how healthy you think what you're eating is. Other users can also rate your meal, as well as your Facebook friends. If you're a visual person, this may be the app for you.
If you're looking for a way to be a little more mindful of what you're doing when you're doing it, try the Insight Timer Lite app. You set a time on the app, anywhere from 1-60 minutes, for the Tibetan singing bowl to chime once, twice, or three times, ensuring you're focus is brought back to whatever you were working on- whether it be meditation, trying to eat more mindfully, or even trying to focus on something specific throughout your day. It's a beautiful chime and a very helpful app, one I use often when I feel rattled and need to bring my attention back to the important things.
A Cleaner Oven, A Cleaner House
A few weeks back on my Facebook page I mentioned an all natural and super easy way to clean your oven. Did I mention super easy? Yeah, SUPER EASY. All you need is white vinegar and some baking soda. Before I cleaned it, my oven resembled Mordor. I was too afraid to take a picture, like my soul my get locked in the camera with my dirty, filthy oven picture. But...twenty minutes after I tried this method it was beautiful, shiny, and new looking. And I didn't even have to scrub it. I took a sponge over everything and 95% wiped right off. For the harder to clean spots I just repeated what I'd done earlier.
Just sprinkle a good amount of baking soda all over the door and anywhere else inside that you need to clean. Then put some white vinegar into a spray bottle and spritz it onto the baking soda. Let it sit for 20 minutes or longer for best and easiest-on-the-elbow-grease results. This can also be used in sinks, tubs, showers, toilets- everything. It's safe, natural, and even if you buy the largest baking soda container and largest white vinegar bottle you can find, you'll still be saving money (quantity and quality) over the store chemical products.
I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Juicing
After owning a juicer for, oh, a year or so, I finally decided to use it and now I'm addicted. I totally get the juicing craze. I had a ton of energy after drinking the juices, plus I noticed how bright and healthy my skin started looking after just a few days. I've been more focused on the fruit juice blends than the veggie ones, but I'm branching out a little. Baby steps, they say. First use the juicer- check. See? I'll get there.
Here are my favorite combos thus far:
1 pink grapefruit, 1 gala apple, 1 6oz clamshell of blackberries, two handfuls of large strawberries
1 s6oz clamshell of raspberries, 1 gala apple, 1 granny smith apple
6-8 carrots, 1 orange, 1 pomegranate
2 gala apples, 1 orange
1 6oz clamshell of blackberries, 1 navel orange
2 gala apples, 1 orange, two handfuls of strawberries
Gluten Free, Paleo Cinnamon Banana Pancakes
If you missed it on my Facebook page, here is a new and incredibly easy gluten free, Paleo approved pancake recipe that I found on Pinterest.
Cinnamon Banana Pancakes
Recipe taken from blogilates Ingredients
2 eggs
1 banana
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added this to the original recipe)
Directions
1. Mush Banana
2. Crack Eggs
3. Mix together
4. Oil griddle
5. Pour in
6. Flip, eat, yum
These are so good on their own, you don't even need syrup. In fact, I thought the syrup ruined them. Click on the link above to see a picture of these babies!
The Best Tea You've Never Tried
Last, but definitely not least, if you haven't heard of (or more importantly, tried) Harney and Sons Fine Teas, you're truly missing out on some of the best tea ever. I recently discovered their tea at a restaurant in California and became so enthralled with it that I started dreaming about it at night. It was a cinnamon spiced black tea with the most amazing aroma all in itself that I wanted to find a way to bottle it up as a perfume and wear it around my neck. But once I actually tried it- oh my. Ohmygoodness. Oh my holy-wow-I-need-to-marry-this-tea goodness.
Yep, that delicious.
The flavor in particular that I adore is the Hot Cinnamon Spice black tea. You can get a sample on their website for $2.00 or you can go all in like I did and get a 7oz container that I've only had for a month and is already half empty. You won't regret it.
Until next month's World of Wellness post...
Eat well, live well, be well!
Any favorite juicing recipes you absolutely can't live without? Or amazing delicious teas? Share with me at one of the links below! Twitter Facebook
1. Add 1/3 cup of water to small saucepan. Slowly sprinkle in the gelatin or agar agar. Let stand for 2-5 minutes to soften. Warm over medium-low heat without stirring, until it dissolves. Scrape mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.
