Recipes, projects & products that don’t suck.

Remember the Get Balanced course I wrote about not too long ago? It’s a 15-day course focused on balancing your cortisol levels (that would be your stress hormone), which is intricately linked to everything from weight to mood to energy. I’m 11 days in and going strong. You would not believe the amount of substance to this course. Nutritionists, Megan and Katie, have done a fabulous job of organizing the course materials and releasing them a bit at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed. There is power in knowledge and when we learn the basic science of how things like sugar, gluten and caffeine affect so many aspects of our bodies, we start to see the bigger picture. The course packet contains several great recipes,…

Last weekend we were invited to our friends’ house for a vegan, gluten-free dinner. Vegan because of us, gluten-free because of them. It was an excellent meal! For starters, there were chips & salsa and veggies & hummus. Then we enjoyed a salad with roasted pears and stir-fry with vegetables and tofu. We should have stopped there, but there was vegan, gluten-free Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, which needed to be taste-tested for the blog. Tough job, I know. I brought this dessert because I know our friends like carrot cake and so do we. I had never tried this recipe before, though, so it was a risk. Fortunately, it passed the test. I was surprised by how much I liked it. The flavor…

Hubs gets home from work, walks in the door. I’m in the kitchen, which is a disaster zone and I am very irritated… Hubs:  What’s wrong? Me:  Oh I just wasted all this time making this stupid recipe and it tastes like crap. Hubs:  Oh no. What is it? Me:  Mini chocolate tarts. They’re raw, you won’t like it. Hubs:  It looks really good. Me:  Yeah, and I think my photos turned out great, but now I can’t even use ‘em. Hubs:  (takes a bite) What’s the problem? It’s great! I love it! Me:  You’re lying. You’re just trying to make me feel better. Hubs:  (takes another bite) No I’m not – I think it’s really good! Me:  Really? I hate it. I think it’s…

In my last post, I wrote about the vegan Artichoke Spinach Dip I was going to bring to a holiday party. We went to the party on Saturday and no one there knew I was vegan or that I brought a vegan dish. They must have liked the dip because there was barely any left at the end of the night! I also went to a holiday party on Friday night and brought vegan, gluten-free banana bread. This, too, went over very well. Personally, I LOVED it. I found the recipe on Gluten-Free-Vegan-Girl, a blog written by a very smart, beautiful 17-year-old girl in Norway whose English is far better than most Americans’. Solveig just started her blog in June of this year (same as me!)…

Brrr!!! It’s so cold today. Boo. At least the sun is shining. I’m looking forward to attending a (free!) Holiday Raw Food Demo in Grand Rapids tonight, where I’ll sample and learn how to make raw pumpkin pie (among other foods). Anyone is welcome! Last week, I did a trunk show for a lovely gal (hi B!) who kindly loaned me a couple of books by Gillian McKeith (even after I accidentally spilled hot candle wax all over her hutch – I felt TERRIBLE). The books contain a wealth of information on healthy foods, nutrients, herbs, juicing, detoxing, etc. While McKeith is neither vegan nor vegetarian, many of her recipes are. B recommended that I try McKeith’s Crunchy Walnut Coleslaw recipe, which happens to be raw, vegan…