Happy New Year to all my beautiful Nosh & Nurture readers!
I realize that it's been three weeks since my last post. And that is very uncommon for me. I feel I owe an apology to my readers, to those seeking out healthy holiday recipes, to those who sponsor me. But in the last few weeks I just didn't know what to write. Mr. Charming and I suffered a loss before Christmas, and though I'm not ready to tell our story just yet, I wanted my readers to understand that I wouldn't stop posting, cooking, baking, helping for any other reason other than the fact that... I just didn't know what to write. God has a plan for all of us, and though He takes away things, dreams, pieces of us... He also gives. I am happy to announce that I have become the Managing Editor of Runway and start my new position this week. I am blessed to be able to work in such a role for something I feel so passionately about (journalism). I am also excited to share all the yummy recipes I've been compiling (I've still been baking and cooking) for you all. I'm starting off the new year intentionally. Mr. Charming bought me Lara Casey's Power Sheets to set intentional goals and reflect back on what worked and what didn't work in 2014. They help with Goal Setting and inspiring one to look at all aspects of ones life to make small steps at realizing and achieving their dreams. Here's to an amazing 2015. I will be guest blogging starting this month on some amazing blogs, so I will be linking you to those, I will also be attending the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo yet again in 2015 as an official blogger, and I will be ramping up my promotion on my wonderful sponsors. Make sure to check out I.M Healthy and the Soy Nut Butter Company for some yummy nut free products and recipes, as well as my Pumpkin Maple Granola I made using their products. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, blessed new year!
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This time of year everyone makes it a tradition to have a red cup in their hand as they shop for gifts, look at Christmas lights and start off their wintery mornings. I came across this video and its so eye opening, the amount of fat and sugar we can consume through beverages. This holiday season, and every season, I opt for options that are healthier but still warm and comforting. Try warming a bit of natural apple juice without added sugar and add a hint of cinnamon. Or try a cup of cocoa using unsweetened almond or coconut milk. And though not creamy, a cup of hot water with lemon is warm and detoxifying.
video credit: Buzzfeed
An adorable puppy in my lap, jazz piano trills on in the background from our theatre and this is my view. I couldn't love this season more... As I lay here with this happy little ball of fur bouncing around the living room, I take in our book collection. Our random, lovely little book collection that is all ours. It makes me happy that if anyone was to walk in and survey our collection, they'd know the real us. Growing up, with my devout love for reading, writing and the written word, I always envisioned a book collection that was impressive. Or smart. Or extensive in title selection. But it's so much better than the library I envisioned as a child. No leatherbound books that I've never read. No titles I bought just because they were trendy. It's authentic. It's a collection of books that have found their home on dusty shelf after dusty shelf of mine over the years. There are new ones, shiny and unopened. Old ones, tattered and re-read over and over. The collection mixes books by friends and authors I admire, women like Jen Calonita or Sandy Lo. Books on music touring, music law and life on the road, (Me). Books on anatomy and crazy science books I don't attempt to understand the pages of, (Him). Books on healthy eating and overcoming various health issues, (Guess who). Travel books, Christian literature, Bibles and books on our hopeful future pregnancy, (Us). Sometimes it's nice to take a fresh perspective on parts of your home. Parts that are uniquely you. And from where I'm sitting, with this bouncy little ball of pure joy in my lap, I got to see something pretty neat. Church on Sunday was beautiful. Mr. Charming and I invited some friends to attend with us. Dave Ramsey spoke on God and finances, and though it was a little basic to what we are already doing, its always motivational and inspiring to remember that God provides, that this is all His, and we are blessed to be able to do with it what He moves us to do with it. It's a big step for a girl like me who grew up pretty materialistic, I'm fortunate He is teaching me value and importance of people and time, more so than things.
I have some AMAZING recipes coming your way this week. Oh man. My friend came over last night and we whipped up one of her famous soup recipes and she is letting me share it with all of you! It's PACKED with veggie, superfood goodness, but is still hearty, creamy AND filling while remaining gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free and sugar-free. I told you it's amazing. I would love to hear what you guys have cooking for Thanksgiving. I'm also wrapping up my Whole 30 posts to share the rest of our Whole 30 journey and a photo series of "Whats On My Plate" for my Paleo Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving lovelies! I haven't done a Tickle Me Tuesday in a while, so I thought it was time. I've been feeling very blessed & grateful lately. This time of year has something to do with it. The holidays are upon us, there are so many fun activities happening and work is booming. Eating healthier, going to therapy and making more times for social interaction and relaxation also has a lot to do with it. I would love for you all to chime in each week when I post these as I'd love to hear your happy moments from your week. It's been proven that recording your happy moments whether to your social network, to an app like "Happier" or in a personal journal on your nightstand can help you to feel happier and more balanced. Reflecting on the silver linings in your day can help to erase some of the gloom. If you're in a period of your life where it's a hard list to make, and we ALL go through these periods, let me know how I can pray for you :)
1. Fall cleaning. I know I'm probably one of those weird people who actually ENJOYS having time to clean. I put in extra hours at work yesterday so I could work this morning and then spend the afternoon cleaning my house. It's therapeutic and allows the puppies time to play and spend time with me when I'm not working. 2. Halloween. I am a Christmas FANatic, while Mr. Charming is all about Halloween. He adores Christmas too, but his family has a long-standing tradition of making Halloween epic, so we are hosting a charity haunted house and we hope to raise a ton of money for our chosen charity Angels, Knights & Stars. 3. Hope. Hope for my fertility appointments to go well. Hope that certain family issues can be resolved. Just hope. Even though I'm not where I would like these situations to be, I hold fast to the hope that God provides me and thats how my fertility and family issues can still make the list. 4. My dogs. Charlie & Princeton are my fur babies. They brighten my day when I have a ton of work to do. My lunch break consists of cooking up healthy food and playing with them. I think it makes both of our days exciting. 5. Christmas music. I played my first Christmas song day before yesterday. I don't care that it's October. It's Fall, and to me that means it is fair game. ;) Yesterday marked Day 1 of Mr. Charming and I's Whole 30. For you not familiar with the Whole 30, it's a 30 day nutritional program where you simply eat only whole foods. Vegetables, organic meats, eggs, and some fruits are the staples, while seeds and some nuts are ok. No legumes, no dairy, no grains and no sugar. We decided to do this together for a few reasons. 1. I want to eventually move to being fully grain free and I thought this would be a good cleanse and reset for my system to not rely so heavily on them as part of my meals, especially breakfast. 2. To do something together, and get back to enjoying the same meals like we did before. and 3. To help our fertility. For breakfast on day one, I prepared us baked sweet potatoes, topped with organic spinach, sea salt and an over-medium egg drizzled with olive oil. It was amazing and filling, and being able to have sweet potato every once in a while helps curb the sugar cravings that will inevitably come, because, it's me. And my sugar dragon is a beast. After breakfast we hopped in the car and went to the local pumpkin patch. I had never done a corn maze, and there were two, a small one and a large one, so we did the small one, took some photos and headed out to peruse the book store. (I could spend all day in a Barnes & Noble if you let me.) It's still neat to be able to see work I've done on the bookstore shelves. It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl, (that and win a Grammy). And sometimes I have to pinch myself. I'm so blessed to do what I love and am glad I took the leap of faith to do it. Sometimes when we think we've got it all figured out, or know the path we're "supposed to be on", something happens, the road shifts, or gets blocked off, and we must detour, and though it can be scary, sometimes it can lead to such great blessings and other dreams coming true. After the bookstore we took Charlie, (our new baby schnauzer) to a local shopping centers Howl-O-Ween event. The event was for dogs who wanted to trick-or-treat the shops and get treats! Yes I have become that dog-mom. For now he is my baby. So he gets trick-or-treating. And treats. Late afternoon we returned home to meal two of our Whole 30 in which I made a "Burger Salad". Grass fed beef with peppers and garlic, cherry tomatoes and avocado topped romaine lettuce. It was delicious.
Tonight's dinner is pictured in the Eat Real Food photo I had made for Instagram, and it was delicious! Pork chops drizzled with a natural BBQ sauce, with a side of carrots and organic potato and leek soup. I'd love to hear who else is doing or has done a Whole 30 and what your favorite meal was? :) Here's to Happy & Healthy eating all season long! This is a sponsored post. I received free product from Soy Nut Butter Co. in exchange for writing this review. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions, as well as the photography, are my own. Have I mentioned for the 14th billionth time how much I LOVE FALL. No? Ok. Cool. Well then this would be the 14th billionth time. Fall makes all my food-loving tendencies just bubble over. The crockpot gets a permanent residence on my counter, and cinnamon goes in EVERYTHING. Which is good, because cinnamon is super good for you. So it's a win/win. It's easy to make savory fall dinners and desserts. What I wanted, was to find a delicious FALL themed breakfast that was more substantial than the latte's everyone's carting around in their mittened hands and healthier than a muffin or donut. I met the wonderful people at Soy Nut Butter Co. recently and a light went off. So many of my readers and friends have been requesting more nut-free recipes, and Soy Nut Butter Co. has an extensive product line that allows my recipe-creating loving ways to go wild. I recently got a bag of their new gluten-free breakfast granola made with their soy-nut butter (that's right, a non-nut butter that tastes like peanut butter) and apples, and I knew what I had to do. I wanted to created a warm-the-soul fall breakfast cereal that my non-nut eaters could enjoy. So many of my other featured cereals use almonds, and this one is completely nut free. AND as a bonus, as I don't include much soy in my diet, when I do I make sure it's non-GMO and Soy Nut Butter Co. soy is GMO free. It was SUPER easy to create, and the additions of pumpkin, organic maple syrup and cinnamon gave the cereal such an added robust warmth. The pumpkin seeds added additional crunch to the already wonderfully crunchy granola, but added another fall aspect. Since the Soy Nut Butter Co. granola is already prepared, I simply had to prepare my sweet maple pumpkin coating to mix it into. A little maple syrup, organic pumpkin puree and coconut oil, mixed in nicely with the granola and cinnamon. Once baked, the aroma was heavenly and once cooled, it was enjoyed both as a cereal with dairy-free milk or a top coconut yogurt, or as a handy snack to take to the pumpkin patch. Pumpkin Maple Granola
(using Soy Nut Butter Co. Gluten Free Apple Granola) Ingredients: 2 C. Soy Nut Butter Co. Gluten-Free Apple Granola 3/4 C. Pepitas 2 Tsp. Organic Cinnamon 1 TBSP. Coconut Oil 1/8 C. Organic Pumpkin Puree 1/8 C. Organic Maple Syrup Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. Pour the Soy Nut Butter Co. Gluten-Free Apple Granola into a medium sized mixing bowl, adding in the pepitas and cinnamon, stir. In a small bowl, mix the coconut oil, maple syrup and pumpkin puree with a small whisk until fully mixed. Pour the wet ingredients into your granola and seed mix, and coat completely. Spread onto parchment paper and bake for 10-20 minutes until aromatic. Be careful not to burn your granola, as it's already prepared oats. Let cool completely and store in an airtight container. Enjoy! I would love to hear the delicious healthy fall recipes you are all trying! Halloween is huge in our family. And by huge I mean an all-out-movie-style-production. Growing up, Halloween to me was dressing up in a cute fairy, animal or movie character costume and walking around my neighborhood with my parents for candy. Pretty simple, right? When I grew up and outgrew the door-to-door, begging-for-candy ritual, I joined in on the high school Halloween parties decked out in Mean Girl-esque sexy costumes, and truth be told, still enjoyed the candy. Then I met Mr. Charming. His family, on the other hand, are the ones who sit on their porches, scaring the small children of the neighborhood. Decked out in scary costumes, with elaborate porch entryways designed to terrify with the latest decor from the Halloween stores. Those houses that you felt just weren't worth visiting for a mini-snickers or dum-dum lollipop. Fast forward to a couple of years into our relationship, and Mr. Charming and his brother in law decided to take it to the next level. And when I say next level, I mean amped WAY up. As building went underway to create our first annual Phantom Manor Haunt, the marketer in me decided to take the reigns on spreading the word and found us what would be our first of many charities. Building commenced, and in our first year we raised money for the Foundation For Blind Children, in the years that followed we raised money for our local church and Habitat For Humanity where Mr. Charming went on to help build a house. The boys LOVE doing it, not only because we get to give back, but they get to scare tons of people and build awesome props. Mr. Charming previously went to school for architecture and his brother in law's are super handy and great with building and tools, and the family members and actors that participate get so into it, so it makes it a lot of fun. And I help paint. That's my strong suit. Painting & hosting by yours truly. haha. For those in Arizona interested in checking it out, giving back and visiting us, all of the the information can be found at the official Phantom Manor Charity Haunt website or the flyer above. For more information on this years chosen charity, Angels, Knights and Stars can be found here. They are an amazing charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for over a dozen serious tragedies that inflict our youth today. Here's to another year of giving back through thrills, chills, treats and sweets! And remember, Halloween doesn't have to be about sugar-laden treats. There are many alternatives to Halloween Candy that kids will still love. Click here for my list! |
Welcome! My name is Mandi & I hope you stay in this happy little space a while. I'm a Christian, a wife to my Mr. Charming, mama to baby Greyson, healthy food-lover, traveler, professional journalist and Personal Nutritionist who hopes to inspire others with my story...
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October 2017
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