So, I am obessesed with fall and winter. Yes, I ADORE the beach and cute summery clothes, but it pretty much ends there. Even living on the beach, summer has always been my least favorite month. Except for my birthday. (June 20th, woot woot!) I adore birthdays. And celebrations. Parties of any kind really. Anyways. I wanted to make something that tasted like fall but that was healthy. I'm really excited to make healthy dishes for the holidays this year and wanted to start testing some out. Mr. Charming and I woke up the other morning and while he was cooking us up some organic eggs I made us coconut flour pumpkin muffins. Next time I will use almond flour, because for some reason I still can't get down with the strong sweetness in the coconut flour, but these were fun and would make a good addition to a Labor Day BBQ. (and even cuter when made with stars & stripes cupcake wrappers.) You can find the recipe here. Anything warm and fluffy. Or warm and savory. Or made with pumpkins. Or squash. Or turkey. Makes me want to curl up with an old movie and countdown the days until Christmastime. <3 What's your favorite time of year and why? Send me your favorite Fall recipe and if its allergen friendly I will add it as a guest post! If it's not, I can show you how to adapt it to be!
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So this past weekend was filled with work, tons of writing and a simple date night with my love. I havn't been feeling to good lately, so we took it easy and decided to do a game night in at home (he kicked my butt at yahtzee!). I decided to skip dinner and lighten the load on my digestive system and just had my anti-inflammatory smoothie for dinner. Usually when I do this I will treat my hubby to Jamba Juice and a Builder Bar so he can get a fruit smoothie too and I ended up picking some some organic dehydrated apples to munch on if i got hungry! (which I did, and they were delicious!) We've also posted the sequel to Miss Kaity's Chinese Herb piece here, which I find fascinating and we hope you do too, even helpful! She is really inspiring me to put my own story out there more, exposing even the dark corners of all of this, why we have to eat this way, live this way. Blessed to have her be a part of the Nosh & Nurture journey. Everyone enjoy your week! Be productive and healthy!
So, my good friend Karly (and mother of our adorable Godson, Elijah, seriously how cute is this kid??) requested that I come up with a list of quick breakfast ideas for a working mom on the go who has a toddler. I thought about the mornings that even I, without any kids, have to throw a quick breakfast together to get out the door for work on time and I thought I could help out those who face this same predicament every morning. Or at least, most mornings. Below are the top 10 healthy, grab-and-go breakfasts I mix up in my week. Enjoy! P.S. I love your suggestions! Keep them coming.
Friday Flashback Fact: I grew up in an Italian household. My dad is pure Italian, (and if you've seen my gorgeous olive skinned sister Ashley, you'd see the proof) As kids we got delicious homemade meals every night of the week. We grew up with lasagna, ziti and spaghetti and meatballs (as well as salads, grilled chicken and every 80's kids staples macaroni and spaghettios). All italian meals were homemade and all traditional Italian recipes by my dad. As I grew up and moved out on my own to Hollywood and hosted my own dinner parties (another huge love of mine), my go to dish was spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and my sisters famous ziti is still a huge hit with our family. So you can imagine when I had to give up gluten and dairy in one fell swoop I was devestated over the loss of my beloved italian food. It reminded me of home and my dads homecooked meals. Having to sit out with my salad at family events hasn't been the same. And though my health comes first, and I would never cheat, I was determined to create a safe alternative that could maybe at least resemble my childhood favorite. I was perusing the store one day and I found these gluten free lasagna noodles and had seen a recipe that used white beans as "ricotta", and although that recipe included other elements I can not tolerate, I thought I'd wing it with my own version. Look how PRETTY it looked even before it was cooked! You will find the link to the recipe at the bottom of this post, and it's also Augusts featured recipe. After Mr. Charming mashed the white beans with egg and spices for me I got to layer my little creation in a baking pan. I used nitrate free sweet turkey sausage, an organic tomato basil sauce from sprouts, the alternative "cheese" mixture, lots of spinach to get my greens and of course, the gluten free noodles. A perk of using rice lasagna noodles was that I didn't have to cook them first! They came out PERFECT in baking. Above is how it looked before it went in. Make sure to use A LOT of sauce. Since the noodles are NOT cooked prior to baking, it will use the moisture from the sauce to soften your noodles.
I will tell you in the year and half that I have been eating gluten and dairy free this has to be one of the BEST dishes I've made. Mr. Charming even said it tasted JUST like lasagna and that you couldn't even tell I used white beans instead of cheese. We cozied up with a movie and each went back for seconds. Ok, thirds. Sometimes you just have to indulge. We will be making this again and I look forward to bringing this to my next Italian family dinner! For the recipe, click here. First off I want to welcome all the new Nosh & Nurture readers! :) Welcome! I hope you enjoy this little place I've made. I adore mornings. (not too early of course.) But I do. To awaken with time to enjoy a good breakfast, connecting with God through prayer or a devotional (The Good Morning Lord app is my absolute favorite!) and thinking about and planning my day when there is so much hope, another clean slate, when I long to be productive. Some days I am, others not, but you musn't beat yourself up for the days you are not. I'm working hard to learn this. Not everyday is going to be a gold star day. A day when I've done the laundry, completed a day of work at the studio, finished an article, written a blog and cooked a gorgeous meal for Mr. Charming. While that is the hope that lies in every morning, sometimes, more often than not, that's not the picture that is painted at the end of my day. And that's ok. Do the best you can with the tools (and in my case, energy) you are given that day and let the rest go. One way that I try to ensure a productive day, or at least morning, is having a protein filled breakfast. Whether it's through my anti-inflammatory protein shake, veggies, fruits, almonds, meats or eggs I try to always have a filling breakfast with no or minimal sugar. (mmmm!) This morning I am enjoying my paleo breakfast bowl. My version of this is here. It's beyond delicious, filling and has no sugar. I paired it with a hot mug of unsweetened chocolate almond milk with a splash of coconut milk vanilla creamer (only 3g of sugar.) I try to make a habit out of getting energy from my beverages in the form of protein (almonds) instead of caffeine which my body cannot tolerate. The beauty of this recipe is you can include any type of veggie or herb you choose! Enjoy! And may everyone have a happy, healthy and productive Wednesday!
So, since Mr. Charming and I had a day off together I decided to go big and whip up the amazing Paleo biscuits and gravy that you can find here. We got to sleep in a bit and I wanted to make us something yummy that would keep us full for more project: redecorate/renovate. (Mr. Charming is building a home theatre, while I am refinishing chairs for the kitchen) and as I was preparing them I realized we hadn't made this since our cabin trip last November! Insanity. Below are the ingredients I used in the biscuits and gravy. Have I mentioned how much I ADORE using almond meal to bake with?! I love the mealy, hearty consistency it gives my baked goods. While I was waiting for these glorious little biscuits to bake so I could start the gravy... ... I decided to do some work on Nosh & Nurture and have a little snack. I didn't want to spoil my appetite but we were taking a slow, relaxing Sunday morning and I woke up hungry so I treated myself to a little coconut milk yogurt and organic strawberries. MMMM. once the biscuits were done I started the gravy. It will always be a little thinner than one desires when cooking, so take it off the heat and let it sit for ten minutes to thicken. I usually will pop my biscuits back in the oven on warm for this. It is truly a delicious, hearty Sunday brunch. Perfect for rainy weather such as this. I also like to add a little jam to one of my biscuits. Trader Joe's has a jam that has NO added sugar! Just fruit juices and fruit! Hope you all have a beautiful Sunday that refreshes you!
A reader asked...
"What types of flours do you regularly use?" See my answer here. And feel free to send in your questions. There are many reasons why I adore Sundays. 1. It's the one day Mr. Charming and I have off together and connecting to my husband is the second best thing I need to refresh & inspire me for the week. 2. The number one is our time with God. Getting to worship as husband and wife, spend time making our house a home as husband and wife, and spending quality time with friends and family sharing in community. 3. Delicious mornings sleeping in and having time to make breakfast more of an adventure and less of a grab-what-ya-can-and-kiss-me-quick-on-the-way-out-the-door-to-work breakfast. I love cooking with Mr. Charming, making healthy, organic meals and sitting down together sharing in prayer and our plans for the day. This morning we made my Oat Pancakes, I added a few Enjoy Life dairy-free chocolate chips to them this morning as a treat since we've both been working so much and eating so clean lately. I served them with organic eggs. And because of the chocolate chips I didn't need to put ANYTHING on them. YUM! After breakfast we spent the morning at Home Depot. Mr. Charming has an affinity for home projects and he is super handy at building and home design/decor. (Fun fact: he went to ASU for architecture!) He decided to work on building our home theatre (in the very beginning stages, I'll update as we go.) So I decided to deep clean the kitchen, which we are also redecorating. Here are some of the cute touches I've added to make it more "us". I am accenting with seafoam-y blue and coral. Which I LOVE! The Paleo Comfort Food cookbook was lent to me by a friend and it was SUCH a saving grace in the beginning of my food journey before I started experimenting with my own recipes. I also LOVE chalkboard labeled jars there are a lot of them throughout our kitchen/pantry. Even though I stopped drinking coffee long ago, I still keep my coffee pot on hand for hosting dinners, holidays and for making tea. I also have an OBSESSION with coffee mugs. Seriously, I drive Mr. Charming kind of crazy. And yes. That is a central perk mug. I also have a slight obsession with FRIENDS. Deep cleaning is hard work, but I think I ate something that didn't agree with me yesterday or the day before (I gave daiya cheese a try. Nutritional yeast. I'm not sure that was a great idea.. may have been the GF oats. Sometimes my body doesn't care for grains.) So I'm not feeling three meals a day right now, the pancakes kept me plenty full. But I was feeling snacky so I made a trail mix that was refreshing, crunchy and had a touch of sweet! It was so yummy! You can find the recipe here.
I hope you all have a blessed and beautiful Sunday! I also got some great recipe submissions from some of you and I will get those up soon. I just need to go over them and confirm they are gluten-dairy and grain free! Talk soon! Muah! It's almost the 4th of July, the day we celebrate this amazing country where we get to live our dreams and be free everyday with fireworks, bbq's, and of course apple pie. Apple pie is a staple of our great country. It's a delicious, ooey-gooey warm comfort food that evokes memories of childhood, grandmas house, mom baking in the kitchen while you played outside. Ok, maybe I'm waxing a little too romantic, taking us back to the 50's, but you get my drift. It's something that has it's own right to be celebrated. And paired with vanilla icecream. Now, as a GAPS girl. Gluten-free girl, dairy-free girl, grain-free girl and almost sugar-free girl I had to say goodbye to a lot of the american "comfort" foods or "staples" of the american diet, which believe me i am happy about. But sometimes I miss some warm and yummy that brings me back to my childhood. Don't we all? That's why, like so many of my recipes, I wanted to find a way to recreate my own version of the apple pie. They sell "Gluten free" ready made apple pies. However they are still loaded with cane sugar, milk, or other nasty preservatives I don't want to consume. I did use a gluten-free pie crust for this, because it was a new product made with VERY few, pure ingredients that I was happy about. The recipe isn't paleo, due to the use of potato starch, and I did use a pinch of organic maple sugar to up the sweetness factor to take to a party. But when made with organic apples and cinnamon, it will cook into a gooey mountain of natural sweetness that you needn't add any sugar too. The recipe can be found here. Enjoy a Happy & Safe 4th of July Noshers! With mine & Mr. Charming's hectic schedules sometimes we realize it's been weeks since we've been able to connect with family. Those are the times I get to recharge. To get love, to give love. As much as I advocate eating well, supplementing and physical fitness... quality time with loved ones ranks very high on the health-o-meter as well in my book. Check out the deliciousness that was part of the festivities. Getting together for games not have to equal beer, wings and pizza like American TV portrays it to be. My brother-in-law fired up the grill and we made grilled organic chicken and steaks and I tossed together some spinach, avocado, sea salt and apple cider vinegar for a heart healthy tangy salad. I added a little cinnamon applesauce on the side to mix up flavors and we enjoyed a meal together that was not only good for us but that gave us energy to endure a late night session of board game play.
For dessert I had a leftover piece of my gluten-free apple pie that I will debut on here next, with a mug of hot vanilla almond milk! It was SCRUMPTIOUS. I would LOVE to hear what your favorite board games are? I'm always up to try new ones. My birthday is next week and there is a game called "Wordie Wars" that I want so bad since I LOVE word games. (go figure) That's all I asked for, haha. Well that and gift cards to buy pretty clothes. Because what true girlie girl doesn't LOVE new clothes? |
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aboutNosh & Nurture was born of this journey I am on to better the health of myself, my family and those around me. What started as a simple compilation of recipes has grown to a all-around lifestyle journal with ways to incorporate organic products into your home, pantry and beauty cabinet. I also include stories on pregnancy, new motherhood, travel, Proverbs 31 marriage, and spiritual health, as I am a Christian who couldn't do any of this without my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. For more of my story you can click here.
All recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free with a lot of soy-free, grain-free, sugar-free options. |
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