Birthday Treat for a Sick Child

This recipe happened as my daughter went to bed the night before her 10th birthday with a fever. We have a way of doing birthdays at our house that starts the celebration right as everyone wakes up. You can understand my daughters disappointment when we told her we would have to wait until she feels better before we can have a real birth DAY.

It was only natural to make her a treat that she might be able to eat at least a little bit of so she can still feel the birthday love in between all her naps and sips of warm soothing tea.

When my kids have a fever I eliminate all solids and have them drink lots of simple liquids: herbal teas, warm lemon water, broths. As they start feeling the need to eat I give them very soft and easy to digest foods. Still emphasizing on plenty of liquids.

When I presented my daughter with this birthday treat, she was happy to be able to eat a little something sweet.

Vegan Fruit Parfait

Ingredients

(This is an estimate as I didn’t really measure anything)

• 5 very ripe Manila mangoes
• 1tsp of turmeric (fresh is best, powder works great)
• 1 cup coconut yogurt, or young coconut meat blended to a cream
• 1 cup berry sauce (I made my own by boiling down 1 cup frozen berries with 1 cup water, 1 tsp arrowroot powder, I added honey at the end once it was boiled down)
• Optional: 1/4 cup toasted coconut shreds

Steps:

Make berry sauce

Blend mangoes and turmeric until very thick and creamy

Layer in glasses or bowl and enjoy!

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Healing Golden Tea

No, this is not another web recipe for the famous golden milk. This recipe was created purely in the hopes of healing me from sickness.

I very rarely get sick. Every couple years maybe less? I do get a runny nose or a cough at times, but that’s not really being sick. Being sick is when I cannot take care of my household or anything else because my energy is so low and I just need to rest and take care of myself. Being sick for me is when something is so physically uncomfortable that I need to retreat and put the only energy I have towards healing.

That’s what happened on sunday. Thankfully it was on a sunday where my husband was home and we had nothing planned, so I could just set up the living room as an ongoing movie theater and let myself melt in the couch.

When I get sick I do two things: I cut out most foods and I drink PLENTY of liquids. I try to make those liquids relevant to what I am feeling in the moment. This is where this tea came in. I needed something that felt healing, while providing some quality nutrients to help assist my immune system in fighting what I had. What I had was a very sore throat that led up to my ear and create a lot of pain there as well. The left side of my neck and ear were swollen to the point of creating pressure in my head. I didn’t have any mucus so I didn’t want to consume too much heating foods such as garlic. Which is my go to for runny noses and colds. It felt like an infection so I treated it as such.

Lemon Peel: it has all the same vitamins as lemon juice but 5 to 10 times more potent. In my case I used it because it helps against bacterial infections as well as overgrowth of parasites. If I did have an infection, this will help lower it. For a sore throat you can chew on some lemon peel without swallowing it for 5-10 minutes, kinda like gum. I make sure to use organic for this.

Turmeric: helps fight inflammation, increases immune system strength amongst many other things. But those two I mentioned are the reason I used it.

Coconut oil: It helps the body absorb turmeric as it is fat soluble. And also since I was barely eating, it felt good to have a tiny bit of fat in my system.

Ginger: anti-inflamatory, as well as helps lower infections. It’s warming and improves circulation. Good for upset stomachs and digestion.

Mint leaves: helps soothe headaches as well as alleviate inflammation. It has germicidal qualities that help keep bacteria in the mouth under control. And it tastes good 🙂

 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lemon, with peel on
• 1/2 to a whole lemon juice
• 1 large chunk of ginger, the size of a knuckle about
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 5-10 mint leaves
• dash of himalayan pink salt or any other good salt as long as it’s not table salt
• Large spoonful of raw local honey, raw is important here, you don’t want to use honey that has been heated as it looses all of it’s nutritional value.
• 3 cups hot water

 

Steps:

• put everything in a blender and blend on high until everything is very well combined
• pour in a thermos and sip throughout the day.

 

I made the is the first day I felt something was coming on and after the first sip I said to my husband: “This tastes like it’s going to heal me”. Not in a bad way, in a potent and delicious way. I very much enjoyed drinking this and made myself one last batch this morning just to be sure. My kids happily drank some as well. We tend to all take medicine when person is sick. Since everything we take at my house is all plant based and usually home made, there are no side effects of taking those while healthy.

 

I really do think that drinking this helped a huge deal in my speedy recovery. 24 hours later and I was already ready to eat again. While I only stuck to soups and fruits to ease back in to “normal living”, I felt good enough to eat.

For other natural home remedies that I have used and liked check out these recipes:

Cough Suppressant

Immunity Boosting Tincture

Multi Vitamins for kids

 

What home remedies do you use when you are feeling under the weather?

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Spaghetti

Grain free spaghetti that takes less than 5 minutes to make? Ummmm, yes please!! If you are a sweet potato fan and a noodle fan, than I don’t see why you wouldn’t love this! I’ve been making zucchini noodles for years with my spiralizer. And I truly adore them. I don’t see why I would ever replace them as they are my favorite noodle alternative. But these sweet potato noodles are so fun and much more kid friendly! Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes (or as many as you want really)
• water
• ice cubes

Steps:

• In a pot bring enough water to a boil where you would be able to submerge your sweet potato pasta with
• in the meantime, following the instructions of your spiralizer, “noodelize” (that is too a word!) your sweet potatos
• once the water is boiling put your “pasta” in, and set your timer for 3 minutes
• really pay close attention as your noodles could quickly turn to mush if you leave them in the booing water too long. Taste them and take them out when they are still a little crunchy, but barely.
• drain when they are to your liking and stick them in a bowl filled with water and ice in order to stop the cooking. Let cool for a couple minutes before draining again.
• serve how ever you feel like!

For this time around I had made miso soup and the kids really wanted noodles to go with it. So I served it these. But of course just a basic tomato or pesto sauce would work great too 🙂

The Gift of Inspiration

Inspiration is truly a gift. Being inspired allows me to try out new things, expand my mind and get out of my comfort zone. Being inspired is how I keep the momentum going, how I keep coming up with ideas to improve my cooking, my fitness, my relationships, my life. I get inspired from all kinds of places: videos, Facebook, restaurants, magazines, blogs, conversations. I wouldn’t come up with half the stuff I do if it weren’t for all of those things. I am so grateful to live in a world where inspiration is so prevalent, where people so eagerly share ideas. Inspiration is truly a gift. Knowing how much I get from being inspired by others, I feel so honored to have gotten the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Knowing that others feel inspired thanks to what I put out in the world, is also a gift. Thank you so much to Karen at Sweetbabyveg for, not only following my site and my offerings but for nominating me for this award! Karen’s blog is so inspiring. She shares innovative (and delicious looking!) recipes and beautiful photographs of her vintage style and finds, and the gorgeous produce she grows. Each photograph tells a story. I am inspired by how she so beautifully captures her creations. Karen makes me want to garden 🙂 And then cook with what I garden, and then take awesome pictures 🙂

This is such a lovely award. This award allows us to show our love and support to other bloggers we follow and admire, while promoting their offerings to the blogging world and introduce new readers to their site. It also allows us to share our inspirations, because without inspiration, blogging would quickly become dull, no? And I think inspiration should be acknowledged. It keeps the flow going.

So here are the rules of this award:

1. As the recipient you should thank the person who nominated you by linking to his/her blog and displaying the award logo;

2. Nominate up to 15 other blogs. Link to their blogs and inform them about the nomination;

3. Share three things that inspired you the most this week.

Because I rarely play by the rules, I will jump to #3 now and will nominate my inspiring blogs at the end 🙂 Here a some things that have inspired me this week:

1. Dried things. 

Pictured here are dried dates, Deglet Noor variety. I don’t usually buy Deglet Noor as they are much drier than my go-to favorite the Medjool date. But for some reason I picked some up at the farmers market. Feeling like branching out of my juicy, rich and taffy-like date habit. I am planning on making a savory dish with these. Not sure what yet. If it turns out amazing, you can be sure you’ll get to read about it here 🙂

Also pictured here are dried chanterelles mushrooms. Brought to me all the way from the French Pyrenees. Freshly picked in the mountains, then dried at my parents house before flying over the ocean to land in my kitchen. What a special treat these are!! I look forward to coming up with something delectable to use these in.

2. My pedometer, the Fitbit.

It is such a tiny little gadget that makes such a big difference. I started wearing this pedometer when I was pregnant with my 3rd baby because I wanted to make sure that even if I didn’t exercise much, I was at least walking a significant amount. And it worked. So well actually that I have kept wearing it and love it. This thing inspires me to keep moving. It inspires me to walk to places I would normally drive to. Seeing the numbers on it motivate me to want to walk more as I love seeing the numbers go up, feeling accomplished at the end of the day if I hit my target. If I hit my target steps in a day, and didn’t do a workout, I still feel accomplished. I have also successfully stopped beating myself up if I don’t hit my target, knowing that there is always a tomorrow to walk more, making this tool an all around win for me. I didn’t think I was someone who needed to see numbers like that to keep me motivated to move, but it turns out I am. And I definitely don’t mind it. I end up getting inspired to walk all around the neighborhood just so I can get my steps in. And I discover new places, walk up higher sets of stairs with my boys and get my body moving. Seeing my progress as I go is inspiring to me.

3. My beautiful family.

They inspire me every day, every week, every month. It is thanks to them that I live the life I live today. Most of my recipe creations happen because of them. Each of them bring different ideas forth that allow me to create something new in all aspects of my life. They inspire me to be authentic, loving, vulnerable, bad ass. They make me want to laugh and cry. They inspire me to allow myself to feel every emotion to the fullest. This blog wouldn’t happen without them.

As for my own personal nominations, here you go (in no particular order of preference):

Cooking with Toddlers. I love seeing posts in my reader from this person. The beautiful simplicity of her photographs and recipes are inspiring. And the whole feel of her blog is heart warming and sweet. Not to mention that she is cooking with a toddler 😉

Type one Type Happy. A girl with diabetes who knows how to live life to the fullest while maintaining a positive attitude through learning how to live with her condition. She has uplifting messages and great advice for diabetics (and non diabetics!).

Blissful Brit. This girl is fun to follow. She has a variety of blog entries, always entertaining and uplifting. She keeps it real and shares herself candidly. If you are in search for a fun, energetic, healthy, coffee lover who shares about her life, love of good food with a sprinkle of fitness and a bucketful of coffee, Britt might be your girl.

Earthly Radiance. This is my very good friend Sam’s blog. And she is all about sharing her finds in the natural beauty department. Weather you are looking to improve your skin with natural face cream, or make your own lip gloss and dry shampoo, check her out for tips on using mother earth as your greatest resource. Plus Sam has a heart of gold and a beautiful daughter, and both of those radiate on her blog.

Food For your Mood. This woman’s blog is so beautiful and inspiring. She has countless recipes, all looking and sounding delicious. She does a great job at keeping up with seasonal posts and giving us various recipes for each celebration. I highly recommend you check her out for some tasty inspiration.

Simply Sweetly Veggie. Here is a blog after my own heart. The woman at this blog has very similar beliefs to mine when it comes to what should go into your body. I love reading recipes where every single ingredient is something I don’t feel the need to alter to make it to my liking. She has a sweet tooth like me and seems to be equally in love with chocolate as I am. Yet never compromises her health to satisfy her cravings. Love it.

These are the ones that stand to me right now, today. I am constantly inspired by everything that I read here on WordPress, and if I follow you, it means I truly appreciate what you have to offer. Thank you to all of the bloggers out there for being a part of this world wide web 🙂

Sleeping like a Baby

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Who ever decided that this phrase was to be used as a positive comment? I mean babies, generally, aren’t great at sleeping. New borns wake up every couple hours to eat. If I were to get up every couple hours and go to the kitchen for a snack I doubt I would feel like I was getting good rest, (not to mention the amount of pounds I would be putting on). If you are one of the lucky one’s whose baby just decided to sleep through the night at just a few weeks old (I hate you), you are very lucky.

I have 3 kids, one of them is still a baby. And in my world, sleeping like a baby means you don’t sleep enough, at least from a parent’s perspective. My daughter was a decent night sleeper, but a terrible napper. I couldn’t put her down. She slept well on me but as soon as I tried to lay her on the bed she would wake up. I didn’t mind too much as she was my first and I had nothing else to do but to carry her around, go for walks, clean the house and such. It was extra cuddling time. It was just frustrating when I wanted to get a workout in or take a shower. My first son, had digestive troubles for the first few months, so nights were awful. I would have to walk him around at 2am trying to help sooth his aching belly. He was a great napper though. I could put him down and he would stay asleep for at least an hour. Which was awesome. Since him and I would spend so much time together in the middle of the night, I welcomed the hour long break in the day. My baby now, is a terrible sleeper all around. He wakes up frequently at night, and I can rarely put him down for naps. He naps on me during the day, and is snuggled by my side at night, frequently waking up for a snack or just to make sure I am still there.( God forbid I went to the bathroom during one of his wakings.)

I’ve learned to adapt to this. I do a lot with him sleeping on me during the day. Heck, I’ve even figured out how to workout! (yep, that’s me in the video). But he wakes up easily if one of his siblings is too noisy.

I’ve learned ways to make my life more manageable on intense sleep deprivation. I would even say I’ve become quite good at it. There was a time I would wake up resentful, not feel like doing anything at all, just zombie around all day and couldn’t get the older kids to bed fast enough at night just so I could lay down myself.

But now, I feel like I live a life full of awesomeness. I am not getting any more sleep than a few months ago. My baby still wakes up several times a night. But I’ve adjusted and just like most things in life, it takes on average 6 weeks for our bodies to adapt to any new routine. So I guess you could say that I have hit a sleep deprivation plateau, where my body has gotten used to the amount of sleep I am getting and I can now sustain the lifestyle that I have without too much struggle.

For the most part, I have accepted the fact that my life right now is not powered by sleep. But there are days when I get frustrated and just wish he would sleep more. So when I see or hear the phrase “I slept like a baby”, and I think, “wow you must’ve had a crappy night”.

“I slept like a toddler”. Now there’s a phrase that makes sense to me!! Both my older kids sleep great. And as soon as we night weaned them, they started sleeping through the night and haven’t gone back. It. Is. Wonderful.

I live a very full life on very little sleep. I have never been so tired and so happy at the same time. Although I do not get that much sleep, I have stopped resenting that. Letting go of the thought that I NEED more sleep, made it that I have been able to allow myself to function at whatever level I can each day without judgement. Sure I regularly want more sleep, but I don’t believe I always need it. Some days I feel like I am awesome and I get so much done, and some days I can barely get myself dressed and out the door for school drop off without wishing it was 7pm already. But everyday I am accepting. And that acceptance has taken away a lot of the frustration, the annoyance and the short temperedness. These early days with the babies are the ones that go by the fastest. It won’t be that long before the baby sleeps through the night. And soon enough they will all be in school all day long. Finding out who I am right now, in these moments of sleep deprivation, is an interesting process to me. As long as I don’t make it about other people and lash out at my family, then all is good.

So there are my thoughts on sleeping like a baby. The eternal optimistic that I am has found many positives in my sleep deprivation to make me not hate life, but I won’t hide that I am looking forward to the day I get more than 2-3 hours of sleep in a row. I am not ready for night weaning yet, and that is why it hasn’t happened.

If you have a sleep deprived life, please share your experience and what you do to deal with it. I hope most people have a better experience than I do, because truth be told, it does suck to not get enough sleep.

 

Cacao Pudding

A couple weeks ago I posted a chocolate mousse recipe that was so divine and reich and decadent. I had some inquiries about making a similar recipe without chocolate chips. So I did it and here is the result. I loved it. It was equally as satisfying and delicious as the first one, yet much lighter. The good thing is its not as dense if you are wanting something lighter to eat, the bad thing, well its lighter so it’s much easier to eat the whole batch, oops. Also, it doesn’t change consistency much. The other chocolate mousse becomes almost like fudge after setting in the fridge for a bit, this one stays pudding like. This pudding though, is higher in nutritional value than the other one. I added a little cayenne pepper to mine for a little extra kick, as I love spicy chocolate things! So there you have it folks. Try both and let me know which one you prefer!

Ingredients:

• 14 or 19 oz organic soft tofu (depends on the packages you have at your store, it doesn’t make a huge difference)
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/4 coconut oil
• 1/4 cup+ 2 TBS maple syrup
• dash of salt

Steps:

• melt coconut oil
• put everything in a food processor or blender
• blend until creamy
• serve and enjoy!

Raw Butternut Granola

I am loving the fall and all the new flavors that comes with it. Sticking with my butternut and pumping spice theme I made a raw granola. I love how soothing and comforting this granola is, I would suggest eating it with warm milk to really bring out all the flavors. Although it tastes great with a quick splash of cold milk as well 🙂

The sweetness level is very low here, so I would suggest adding more syrup if you prefer to have a sweeter breakfast. I like it this way since I often feel like adding sliced bananas to my granola and that creates the perfect amount of sweet for me.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sprouted buckwheat
• 1 cup oats
• 2 apples cored
• 1 TBS fresh ginger
• 1 cup butternut squash
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 4 medjool dates ( I use medjool because they are big and juicy and soft and sweet, everything perfect for making raw treats)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup soaked pumpkin seeds (at least 4 hours)

Steps:

• in a food processor put apples, maple syrup, ginger, spices, vanilla and dates.
• once well combined, add squash and blend until week incorporated
• in a large bowl add this mixture to the oats, buckwheat cranberries and pumpkin seeds
• put on reflex sheet in dehydrator at 115 F for at east 12-14 hours.
• serve with almond milk or milk of choice
• store in a jar for weeks!

Almond Coconut Milk

So simple and so delicious. Homemade almond milk is a staple in my house. I use it for so many things. From drinking straight up, to using it on raw granola, to having it in my smoothies or mixing it up in a dessert. It is a must. And making it fresh really doesn’t take that long. For the basic recipe click here. 

Here I wanted to mix in some coconut because I have had the store bought one and it is delicious!!! So naturally I had to make my own. Because of how delicious it is, I cannot make it too often. It doesn’t last 20 minutes in our fridge 😉 And I like to have almond milk ready to go in the fridge. 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds, soaked at least 8 hours
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup shredded coconut

Steps:

• Put everything in blender
• Blend
• Squeeze through nut milk bag
• Enjoy within 3 days!

Make sure to save the pulp to create some tasty recipes with it!!

Sprouting buckwheat

Since I use sprouted buckwheat quite a bit at home and in recipes, I figured I would share with you my very easy process for doing it. Although most of the recipes I use buckwheat in, I take the time to sprout for a few days before hand, just soaking the buckwheat overnight is great as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw buckwheat groats
• 2-3 cups filtered water

Steps:

• rinse the buckwheat thoroughly a few times in cold water, the water will get slimy, this is normal.
• place in a large bowl with water and let the buckwheat sit for a minimum of 8 hours.
• rinse thoroughly one more time and put in your sprouting set up or use immediately.

Above I show my home made sprouting set up. You can use sprouting bags, or nut milk bags, or sprouting containers, there is a plethora of options out there.( I have several of them). But since I tend to make huge batches of sprouted buckwheat at once, I like to have a bigger container.

I put a thin towel or a cheese cloth inside a large strainer with a plate underneath the strainer in order to catch any excess water. After the buckwheat has been soaking for hours and I rinsed it, I put it on the towel inside the strainer. There’s the setup! Easy!

Then all you have to do is rinse or water the sprouts morning and night until you see little tails growing.(It can take from 2 to 4 days, depending on the heat and humidity) That’s the seed becoming alive and multiplying its nutritional value as well as increasing it’s digestibility. Who wouldn’t want to take the time to do that!?

I have started spraying my seeds with a water bottle sprayer thingy. It works great and I end up giving them just enough moisture so they don’t dry out. I also like to gently move the seeds around with my hand to get them to breath and allow them to grow better.

That’s it! Isn’t it easy? It takes time, yes, but it is so easy and so worth it!

Use your sprouts immediately or you can keep them in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days. I am not sure how long they last as I always sprout for a specific recipe, or I dehydrate them to make buckwheat crispies that I can keep in my cupboard for weeks.

Homemade Almond Milk and Pulp

I really love the taste of freshly made almond milk. Here is the most basic recipe to make your own at home. It’s cheaper than buying it in a box, and you are guaranteed freshness and premium quality of nutrients. Although it does take some thinking ahead for the soaking process. But once that is done, the whole process takes less than 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw organic almonds, soaked overnight
• 3 cups water

Steps

• blend together in a high speed blender
• over a bowl, pour mixture through a nut milk bag (a colander lined with cheese cloth will work fine)
• extract all the liquid by massaging the bag or squeezing the cloth
• you will be left with delicious almond milk in the bowl and almond pulp in the bag or cloth

This will give you about 3 cups of milk. The milk will stay good for a couple days in the fridge. You can add dates or cacao powder or anything you like to the milk to make it a delicious treat. The pulp can be dehydrated to become almond flour, or used to make some tasty raw deserts or spreads.