The Pumpkin Spice Hype and Our Healthy Alternative (Vegan Pumpkin Muffins!)

The Pumpkin Spice Hype and Our Healthy Alternative (Vegan Pumpkin Muffins!)

Pumpkin spice is having a moment. The first signs of fall have been solidified not from the crisp air or the colorful foliage, but the appearance of pumpkin versions of everything you can imagine. From Hershey Kisses to waffles and coffee creamer, there are so many pumpkin spice products. However, none of these are health foods, and few contain, well, pumpkin! What's going on? This post will explain the difference between pumpkin flavoring and actual pumpkin, and also offer a quick and easy pumpkin muffin recipe made of entirely whole, plant foods.

Read More

If You Don’t Eat Meat, Can’t You Become Anemic?

If You Don’t Eat Meat, Can’t You Become Anemic?

Many think that you can only get iron from meat, and that vegetarians, vegans, and those who eat just a plant-based diet don’t get enough iron and become anemic. I understand that completely. When Lacey gradually went from eating vegetarian (including eggs and fish) to plant-based (no animal products at all), I too worried that she would become anemic. Then I started reading and researching and found quite the opposite.

Read More

There's Nothing Like a Great Burger -- Make it Veggie!

There's Nothing Like a Great Burger -- Make it Veggie!

My husband, Adam, and I made the decision to eliminate all animal protein almost a year ago. We watched the eye opening film, Forks Over Knives, which explores the idea of controlling or eliminating many degenerative diseases through eating a plant-based diet. This is a diet comprised of whole, fresh foods, and plant-protein sources, without over-consuming protein. Now, this diet challenges the status quo that high-protein diets are important to good health. In fact it turns it on it's head. But this claim is backed with scientific facts and research from some of the world's greatest doctors and biochemists. In this post I will share our inspiration, experience, and, of course, an amazing recipe that eaters with all types of diets will really love and gobble right up!

Read More

No Bake Buckwheat Oats for Breakfast

No Bake Buckwheat Oats for Breakfast

For an easy, no bake breakfast, soak raw buckwheat oat groats overnight and rinse over a mesh strainer for perfect oatmeal. This meal is rich in nutrients, digests easily, and leaves us feeling light. The energy that would be spent on breaking down heavier meals like eggs and toast is energy we want to instead hold on to. We need that energy to wake up! Despite it's name, buckwheat is a wheat-less, gluten-free grain. It comes from a plant that is related to thick-steamed, leafy rhubarb. 

Read More

Building on Beauty, An Inspired Basil Dressing

Building on Beauty, An Inspired Basil Dressing

#HailToTheKale is a wildly popular Twitter hashtag. KALE t-shirts are popular (see Beyoncé). In general if you heard someone talking about healthy eating in the past few years, they've probably referenced kale, which is seriously nutritious and delicious. It is a cruiferous veggie (like broccoli) which means it is hearty and thick. To love kale even more, try this tasty dressing. And the best dressing is Kim's Classic Dressing, created by Kimberly Snyder, which I'm recreating to help you too #HailToTheKALE!

Read More

Baked Potato Pizza: Celebrate Carbs!

Baked Potato Pizza: Celebrate Carbs!

Contrary to what has been popularized by low-carb, low-fat diets, carbohydrates are essential to complete nutrition. As far as weight management and over health is concerned, carbs found in satisfying, nutrient-dense fruits and starchy vegetables, are key to a healthy diet. Every day I eat copious amounts of fresh vegetables using oil-free cooking techniques, and I have been gaining more and more vitality and effortlessly losing weight. In my experience, I learned that restrictive diets have done nothing more for me than help to shed a pound here or there, but never has my body chemistry or taste plate been so transformed then when I adopted a whole food, plant-based diet.  So to celebrate carbs, I've created a pizza made out of baked potato, one of my most favorite starchy vegetables. 

Read More

No Bake Raw Cookie Balls

No Bake Raw Cookie Balls

Raw recipes offer a lot of creative ways to transform unprocessed fresh, crunchy plant foods into forms we all love. For example. grabbing an apple makes a great snack, but blending it with a banana, almond milk, and a mango, offers something completely new—a smoothie. In a similar way, experimenting with a food processor will help you to make wonderful dips, dressings, soups, pâtés, and tasty desserts entirely out of health foods without baking or using heat. We'll show you how to make a cookie that will keep bodies and the kitchen cool on these hot summer days!

Read More

Simple Summer Lunch Dish: Janny's Feista Rice

Simple Summer Lunch Dish: Janny's Feista Rice

This one-pan meal is easy, inexpensive, and super yummy. Even better than being very tasty, it may prevent some diseases. Onions protect against cancer by acting as natural angiogenesis inhibitors, according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book Super Immunity. Tomatoes and peppers are also natural angiogenesis inhibitors.  Here are my simple steps to incorporate these natural healers into a great summer lunch. Poolside dining, anyone?

Read More

Janny's Dairy-free Summer Freeze Bowl

Janny's Dairy-free Summer Freeze Bowl

It is a warm, summer evening, and you are looking for a great dessert. Try this cold, yummy Summer Freeze Bowl, which is free of dairy (unlike other favorite summer treats)! You might be wondering, why we trying to eliminate dairy from our diet? In Dr. Fuhrman's book Eat to Live, he says this about dairy: "There are many good reasons not to consume dairy. For example, there is a strong association between dairy lactose and ischemic heart disease. There is also a clear association between high-growth-promoting foods such as dairy products and cancer. There is a clear association between milk consumption and bladder, prostate, colorectal, and testicular cancers." 

Read More