Nature's flu shot

Yes, yes, this ACTUALLY WORKS. I have done it. I have not had insurance since I was 19. I'm 35 now, you can do the math. How have I taken care of myself all this time with no doctor? Well the first half , 19-29 was a disaster. I was pretty sick. Depressed, weight all over the place, always phleghmy, covered in hives, digestive issues, dry flaky skin. Yeah, sounds hot right? Well, it's not obviously. I tried to eliminate dairy and became vegan. That didn't work at all because all I was eating was wheat. Fake chicken patties, bread, fries, etc. hives got way worse and I weighed around 100 lbs and I looked disgusting. I looked very ill. That's when I decided to try the doctors. Well let me tell you, they have no idea ever on what was wrong. Truth is they barely cover nutrition in the medical field. I decided with no insurance I was going to have to do this on my own. It took ten years to really figure it out but, without a doubt, nature works, period. This isn't an all over fix all but I was sick (cold, flu) slightly once in the last two years. Immediately upon waking up not so well, I made this and slammed it throughout the day. I was 90% fine the next day, and 100% the next. In the past I would have bargained with a nurse friend for antibiotic samples, or paid to go and get seen to get some. Never again. Antibiotics wipe out ALL your bacteria, good and bad and you can't get better without the beneficial flora in your gut.  It sounds like its not good but actually, it's quite palatable! I didn't mind it at all. A regular blender will work just fine for this, you don't need a fancy juicer either. Good luck and take your whole food vitamins as well!! I take vitamin D, vitamin b-12, and mega foods mega flora probiotics everyday. I haven't been sick in A LONG time and I work in a heavily trafficked restaurant. ❤

Products I LOVE!

A list of sorts, for choosing some products that are gluten free. Being gluten free is hard......AT FIRST, then it's actually really easy once you know what your looking for. These lists being generated lately about all the foods you should avoid, are GREAT! Look at them like a list of garbage that they actually want you to pay for. Here is a very quick breakdown and how this can heal you : My body and I will completely attest, these foods are poison especially if your gluten free, Very quickly when you eat gluten as a celiac, the villi, in your intestine, are being killed by gluten. On top of this you are probably consuming gmo's as well which in turn is now also causing your gut to sometimes wear small holes in your intestines. You then eat other foods, eggs, flour, salads, anything. Then what happens is food particles are leaked into your bloodstream. Your body then attacks these particles and labels them as an allergen. This folks, is exactly whats happening, everyone is effected by this now. I'm hoping this blog will help people learn to heal their gut, heal your celiacs, your skin rashes, your period, your mood, your love of live, your hair, your skin, blah blah blah the list goes on. It is to heal your overall health as it has done for me. This will help you redirect your focus on buying foods and products and navigating a heavily factory farmed, medication nation, highly commercialized, what the hell is good for you anymore world. You will feel better, look better, actually enjoy work, and really connect with real life. I am living proof, if you knew my past then you know from the ground up that you can vote with your dollars and actually feel human again and live comfortably and well without money being the answer in a lot of ways. Our food has changed us in the most considerable ways and I'm going going back, because what is not broke, never needs to be fixed. I love hearing from people and exchanging ideas. Please don't hesitate to comment with questions, concerns, anything. I can answer many questions and am willing. There is no magic cure, there is no real answer besides putting in the work. But it's also fun too. So thanks for listening and here are things that have healed my gut.

PASTA'S: these are incredible, non-GMO, non dairy, no chemicals, two ingredients pastas that can be made soft, al dente, anything. They are super clean and digest much easier than standard pastas. Remember that brick you felt like you ate at the olive garden, These leave you full without the uncomfortable "brick belly".

These are both AMAZING! I love that the jovial brand is from Italy. Seriously, at least they understand the gluten free thing. If your not gluten free, this company is wonderful and you can find these at Wegmans, Green planet grocery, Natur-tyme, etc for around 3.00 dollars and they are organic, NON-GMO, no dairy, vegan. Its brown rice and water. The Tinkyada is WONDERFUL for the penne pasta. It is my favorite food past, present and future. I have always loved penne pasta and this brand saved my life with going gluten free. These brands fool wheat eaters, even Italians. The cook up quick so a tip......only place pasta in medium high heat boiling water and check frequently and test for your own liking. 

There are so many gluten free pasta's, i get it but they are made with horrible, very unhealthy ingredients. The corn pastas are absolutely disgusting, gmo corn, unnecessary ingredients, and they taste oh so bad. The brown rice pasta is an incredible version of the old wheat stand by and wildly more nutritious. 

 

 

DRINK LIQUID SUNSHINE... I.E. CHLORYPHYLL

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE ALMOND BUTTER!!

I know that this may seem duh to some people, but there was a time i didn't know how to do this either. I go through almond butter like its water. It is well over $6 for a small jar. Only enough for a few smoothies. Its depressing and it seems like i am always out of it!! So this is almond/walnut cinnamon honey butter but you can do this with any nuts and add your own spin but it's a good basic recipe to follow for whatever you come up with!


You will need: an oven or not, any kind of nuts about 6 0z(cashew, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts)...blah blah, you get the point, a food processor or some amazing wizardry blender. Use a food processor if you don't have a vita-mix blender. Trust me. It is easier to roast the nuts a little bit if you don't have a great blender or food processor. I always use a little raw honey, a tiny baby pinch of Himalayan salt, and time!


The recipe:
6oz pure raw organic nuts.
2 teaspoons of raw organic honey.
Tiny dash of Himalayan salt.
A small dash of water can help this get a little bit creamier.

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place nuts on baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for around 13 minutes. Shake them around every couple of minutes to prevent burning and keep a close eye on them. Especially cashews! When they are done throw them into a food processor fitted with an S blade and start on low until they are nice and broken up into tiny pieces. It will seem like all you have is dust but, let the food processor do it's job because this can take around fifteen minutes to happen. Keep going!! Halfway through add 2 teaspoons of raw honey and a tiny pinch of the salt. Start it up again and let it go. I don't use oil because frankly oil is a calorie waster, it is  not necessary, it is pure fat and does absolutely nothing good for your body. It also cuts the fat and calories by volumes compared to store bought oil laden nut butters. You can achieve the same effect to make it creamier with plain water.  It doesn't make any difference to the nut butter.  At the very end I add a touch of cinnamon and sometimes nutmeg. Nuts are extremely healthy and valuable to the human body. They contain many vital nutrients and minerals. They contain many unsaturated fats. They contain lots of fiber, vitamin e, omega 3 fatty acids, and L-arginine.  L-arginine helps to improve the artery walls by making them more flexible and less prone to blood clots. Hope this helps, its a lot cheaper to buy raw nuts than buying the store bought butter and is so much more healthy. Very taste too!! My favorite is walnut cashew almond cinnamon butter.

amazing tomato cucumber salad!

Okay, so again, i want to thank Dinosaur BBQ for the inspiration for this one however, you know i put my own spin on it. This goes well with any BBQ or vegan or veggie party you could imagine. Its relatively quick to make and the longer it marinates the better. Although it was quite good right after i made it. I definitely used all organic products for this but I'm sure regular stuff would work the same. It just may not taste as good!! lol!

The dressing: make this part first!

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar. I used spectrum organics
1/8 cup wegmans basting oil, or any flavored olive oil would work well
1/4 rice vinegar. I used wegmans organic.
1 TBSP mrs. dash table salt
1 TBSP mrs. dash onion and herb
1TBSP mrs. dash spicy


Add all wet ingredients and toss in a huge handful of fresh basil finely chopped, an entire organic red onion thin sliced rings cut in half and i used about 6 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Toss together and let marinate. I also added a chopped shallot for extra zing.

I used about three organic vine tomatoes. I feel they work best because vine tomatoes are kinda spicy. Next slice thinly the vine end of the tomato off. Flip it over and cut it halfway, turn halfway and slice so there is four quarters. To finish, cut each quarter in half. Basically you end up with 6-8 wedges. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In my case i sprinkled with one turn of my pink Himalayan salt and plenty of mrs. dash table salt and spicy mrs. dash also.  Set aside.

I used a mandolin slicer for the onion and i definitely recommend using it for the cucumber. Thin slice one big cucumber and add it to the dressing.

Pile everything together and add one to two tablespoons of fresh thyme. I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes. This is now my favorite snack. It has been in the fridge since Saturday and it is now Monday and it is HELLA GOOD!! ENJOY!

plant based pancakes. she said they are good for you?.....STOP IT!

Breakfast is usually oats for me, gluten free of course.  As much as I hate pancakes, and I do hate them,  once in a blue moon I really want one. I want a good one though and I don't want to feel as though i have eaten a bunch of rocks after I'm finished! Most pancakes are so heavy because they usually have tons of flour, which is tons of unnecessary calories, tons of butter, eggs and also a ton of sugar. You really don't need any of these things. If you are going to drown it in syrup or butter, why have it in the recipe too and while your enjoying these yummy things its also extremely full of nutrients. All I am saying is if it tastes awesome and makes you feel good, why the hell not!?!?! The maple syrup in this recipe is NOT mrs. butterworth or junky syrup that is actually disguised as pretty much 97% processed GMO corn syrup and about 1% fake maple flavor and 2% or much higher aspartame, drug fiend sugar. You need to use the real unfooled around with maple syrup that comes from a tree, perhaps in Vermont or locally, with a grade rating of A. That is the pure stuff! It has many nutritional properties in it's natural state.

You will need:

2 CUPS GF bob's rolled oats. (These will need to be processed in a food processor till it is a fine flour, you can use regular flour if you must!)
2 TABLESPOONS PURE MAPLE SYRUP
2 TEASPOONS baking powder (aluminum free please)
1/4 TEASPOON  pink himilayan salt
1 CUP vanilla almond milk
1 TEASPOON organic vanilla extract
1 TEASPOON cinnamon
1/2 CUP purified water
Pinch or more of nutmeg.
One cup or more of blueberries, walnuts, bananas, apples, raspberries, i could go on but you need one cup of some delicious organic fruit to complete it!


Begin by mixing the ground up oat flour with the baking powder, the salt and all the spices. In another bowl mix maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla and water. Once both bowls are well combined fold both together gently. I usually add the blueberries or whatever your using for your fruit or chocolate last. The batter works better if you set aside for ten minutes after making them to let them set a bit. I did these over medium heat in a non stick skillet. When you see the bottom starting to brown and gets bubbly flip them over and let go about another 3 mins on the other side. Then just enjoy the hearty, healthy goodness that awaits!!

chocolate bannana pumpkin muffins, watch out they taste GOOD!

So, in my fork over knives quest to find something that at least resembled a cupcake or muffin and tasted good is not an easy task. I only use oats for flour, no oil, no refined sugar and more recently no eggs. I know some of you think this sounds ridiculous but, I am intolerant to wheat, dairy, shrimp(gross anyway, who cares) and eggs. I would get all sad here but, its really the best thing to ever happen to me. Not only did i finally learn how to cook but, I also learned how to get really creative. Really quickly, here are the "rules" to fork over knives. Organic, no meat, no fish, no oil, no refined sugars, no eggs, no dairy and  completely plant based. No, I'm not crazy but since I'm allergic to most of it i was halfway there! I recommend however that you at least watch the documentary. It is quite moving and the doctors involved grew up on dairy farms and actually did REAL research. It could potentially save your life and give you good reason to be motivated to do so. I'm rambling and i know you want a cupcake so here we go......

You will need:
1 15 oz can of organic pumpkin puree (or sweet potato would be awesome too!)
1 medium mashed banana
1/4 pure maple syrup, or agave, or organic cane sugar. (Simple syrup made from organic sugar would work here too)
1 teaspoon pure organic vanilla
2 cups of oat flour. (I use Bob's red mill gluten free oats. Not quick oats, rolled oats. You will need to food process them into a fine flour.)
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
One cup organic no dairy chocolate chips. (I use ENJOY LIFE BRAND. They are REAL chocolate without soy lechiten and without milk and any other crap that doesn't need to be there)


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mash the banana and add the pumpkin, maple syrup, and the vanilla extract. Mix to combine. In another bowl mix all of your dried ingredients except chocolate chips. Again, if using rolled oats, make sure to food process them to a flour. Usually takes a couple minutes. Lightly combine all ingredients folding and incorporating gently to make sure the final product is not too tough. At last, fold in chocolate chips and spoon mixture into cupcake liners or silicone baking cups. Baking time is around twenty minutes although, i left mine for twenty five minutes. I could have gone slightly longer as you want to see the tops slightly browning. Let cool for five minutes and store any leftovers, if there are any, in an airtight container.  <3!!