How is everyone out there doing?

Like, really doing? Not passing small talk, but really doing a big heart check and reaching out if you need to. We've had our ups and downs with so many thoughts, theories, big feelings, grief over "normalcy", being pregnant during a pandemic, raising a toddler who is sad his world has changed. It's a lot to process. 

So very much. 

I have faith in a big, big God that will get us all through this. Praise, because I don't know how any of us could get through times like this without his provision, strength and promises. 

But until we can resume normalcy, if ever, we can stay fervent in prayer, draw close to those we love (even if from a distance) and make lots of delicious food. 

This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is so delicious and amazing that it would be great on vegetables or meat as well if you're watching grains. Or you may swap out the pasta for a grain-free variety such as almond flour pasta, garbanzo bean or edamame. 

I poured it over piping hot rice pasta and topped with chopped basil for a comfort meal I was craving. 

Grab the recipe below, comment your favorite food and reach out if you need! I'm always here to lend an ear. :) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of gluten free or grain free pasta of choice
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers in water 
• 4 oz. vegan cream cheese
• 1/4 c. fresh or dried basil 
• 2 TBSP. vegan butter
• 1 shallot
• 2 tsp. minced garlic 
• 1 C. vegan cream of choice (I used unsweetened coconut cream, almond, cashew or oat work as well) 

DIRECTIONS 

• In a large sautee pan, over medium heat, place in your butter and shallot and warm for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic and saute for an additional minute.
  
• Boil water for pasta and cook pasta to directions and set aside. 
• Add cream cheese and cream to pan and mix well until creamy.
  
• Drain jar of peppers and add peppers into the pan to warm. 
  
• Carefully transfer all ingredients to a blender or food processor (I use my Ninja and it works amazing!) and blend until creamy and no chunks remain.
  
• Pour over pasta, top with basil and enjoy!

Well. Here we are. Back on the AIP diet.

As hard as this is to work in with a busy schedule, a career and a toddler, I am SO thanfkul to the holistic professionals who found out that this diet is SO healing and SO beneficial to calming our inflammation and auto-immune issues. And PRAISE THE LORD for meal prep. You NEED to be meal prepping. If you ever need help, reach out! I can talk to you about some easy tips. 

I've found for me, it's 100% needed to come back to this from time to time when I feel myself more sluggish, carrying excess water, inflamed or reacting more from cross-contamination. I haven't put many AIP recipes on the blog, because honestly, when I'm on AIP it means I'm not at my best and the energy for recipe creation and promotion usually isn't there. However, I am trying to turn a new leaf. 

I was so blessed in 2012 when this blog really started to take off because of the connections I was making with so many women, men and children who were needing to go gluten free, dairy free or soy free and it made my heart so happy to know I could provide safe and yummy recipes to those who needed them in their season or life of food restriction.

I want to make it a point to add more healing foods, more AIP options and more whole choices when it comes to entrees in 2019/2020. 

The baked goods are pretty and fun guys, but they have their place. And unfortunately their place isn't in my home or body right now. 

For this recipe, I've found it's hard to find organic ground chicken in the stores. If you invest in a meat grinder, you'll be able to grind higher quality poultry to make this recipe.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb organic ground chicken
• 1 medium uncooked sweet potato, finely grated (I peeled and cut it and put it in my Ninja)
• 2 Tbsp. grain-free flour (cassava, coconut, tigernut)
• 2 Tbsp avocado oil 
• 1/8 c. chopped chives
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp sea salt 

Optional: You could also add a small amount of grated apple, to make Chicken Apple Nuggets. 

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment. 
• Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated. 
• Wash hands and using your hands, roll meat and potato mixer into nugget shapes and place on baking sheet. (I needed two baking sheets to fit them all)
• Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
• Serve with AIP friendly guacamole or vegan AIP coconut sour cream.

Have you incorporated an AIP lifestyle? What health changes have you seen? 

If you haven't, leave any questions below and I'd be happy to assist you! It's hard, but so so so so so so so worth it! 

I've always loved weekends. My husband (my favorite human) works a corporate Monday-Friday position so our weekends have always been a blissful time to connect, travel and pursue passions side by side.

Now that we are parents to our little guy, weekends get sweeter the older Grey gets. We play, shop, travel, dress up, read, watch movies and cook together. Simply making sweet memories. Now that it's summer, I have flashbacks of my own childhood summers daily and I just love these little moments with my guys. 

Always one to want to mix it up in the kitchen, making different new dishes EVERY night, EVERY week was wearing on me. It was taking time from my family and made meal planning and grocery shopping stressful each week. So a couple of weeks ago Doug and I made a new plan. We would make a seven day meal plan and stick to it EVERY week until we got bored. We are on week four of one rotation of seven meals and it's the best decision we've made in a while. 

For our Sunday night meal we decided stuffed potatoes are a win because they are quick and we want time to really soak up the end of the weekend before my husband goes back to work. It also allows us to be creative and mix up different flavors. We made these Vegan Chili Cheese Potatoes tonight and they came out SO yummy and so pretty that I had to grab my camera and share them with you guys too! 

Share your favorite potato toppings below to inspire us and keep these babies in our weekly rotation! 

Ingredients:
2 Russet Potatoes
1 Can Annie's Black Bean Chili (its sweet + savory! Not spicy.)
2 Slices Follow Your Heart Vegan Provolone
Sea Salt 
Chives, washed and diced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 
Wash potatoes and pierce 3-4 sections with a fork.
Sprinkle sea salt on skins and bake for 45 minutes-1 hour until tender. 
While potatoes are cooking, cook chili over medium on the stove until bubbling. Remove from heat and set aside. 
While still warm, cut open carefully and insert vegan cheese to melt. 
Top with chili and chives. 
​Enjoy! 

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MyNutrishDish #CollectiveBias

Spring is in the air and that means time outdoors with the family + crisp, cool recipes.

​Our Miniature Schnauzer Charlie adores this time of year because he knows it means days at the dog park, road trips around the state and exploring the backyard to his little hearts content. I'm also enjoying the slower pace of spring as we are wrapping an issue of the magazine and summer will be a more leisurely time to play with the pups and nest to get ready for baby. 

After spending an early morning at a local farm with the hubs perusing delicious goodies, it was time to return home for lunch and naps with the pup.

Many of you have been asking me, that when I'm not making Charlie's food from scratch, what I feed him. There are many seasons of life where one may not have the resources, the time or the funds to make homemade dog food to keep on hand. It's important to know what brand to trust to make sure your fur babies are getting the best, in not only flavor and texture, but in nutritional value.  It's a delicate balance to ensure they're getting all of what they need. 

We chose the DISH from Rachael Ray™ Nutrish® dry dog food line because, like we do, she uses whole ingredients in her recipes. Our pups are family to us and it's important, knowing what I do about food and what it can do for our bodies, that they also get the best of the best. It's formulated for all size dogs too, which makes it a match for our 13 year old senior lab as well. 

I've been a fan of Rachael's for many years now, the heart she has for dogs and the quality of her product lines. Having my dogs on a wheat and corn free diet (like mama, like pups) I was ecstatic to see this new product emerge. Also free of soy, gluten, by-product, fillers or preservatives, I feel confident in knowing it's a food that can grow with him as he grows from puppy into a little man and into his senior years. 

Once the pup was fed, it was time to whip up something for me and the hubs. With Sunday being our meal prep and plan for the week day, I wanted something cool, quick and easy. So I took cues from Charlie's decadent dish, the DISH Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe with Veggies & Fruit, to create the recipe below for my Spring Chicken Salad.

Using some of the same whole ingredients founds in Charlie's nosh - green apples, cranberries and chicken became the stars of our lunchtime fare. Serving it with my favorite gluten free brown rice crackers gave us the whole grains needed to round out our protein packed meal. 

This salad is cool and refreshing and serves 2. The cranberries offer a welcome sweetness while the tart apple and spring greens lend a nice crunch. 

It was the perfect compliment to the refreshing homemade lemonade we picked up at the farm this morning and I felt good knowing Charlie was enjoying a meal that was also packed with vitamins and minerals that his little energetic, growing body needs. 

If you are wanting to make the switch or want to try DISH from Rachael Ray™ Nutrish® remember to gradually introduce the food by incorporating it into your current dog food over the course of 7-10 days. Slowly replace your dog’s current food with DISH until it’s completely switched over. 

We found it at Target and it was simple to find, located in the Pet Supply and Dog Food section of the store. Many stores carry it, and you can check the store locator for a store near you. 

Charlie adores this food and gets excited for mealtime, which shows me it's an authentic win in our household. 

​And for those of you who know my heart for dogs, Rachael’s personal proceeds are given to Rachael’s Rescue, an organization that was created to help shelter pets in need. She has donated over $10M to date towards food, medical supplies and treatments for these unfortunate animals. A win/win for my dogs and those without a home. 
​

Have you tried DISH from Rachael Ray™ Nutrish®?  Or, do you have an adorable photo of your pup to share with me? Leave it in the comments below or contact me. Seriously can never have enough cute dog photos on the internet in my opinion. 

Do you have a favorite quick and easy go-to spring salad recipe? I'd love to try + taste! Share below!

Spring has sprung and that means family picnics, holidays beginning again and basking in my second trimester "glow". 

I'm glad to have gotten back into the swing of working and taking care of our home again. The first trimester was rough on me. You can read about that here and here. But the nausea and fatigue has subsided and I feel productive again. (YAY!) There are many exciting things in the works for the blog & my nutrition business launch, as well as my role as Managing Editor for BASIC Magazine. We are wrapping our second issue, our Spring issue, and that's taken most of my time lately, I was even proofing in between prepping tonights delicious dinner. 

With St. Patrick's Day just a couple of days away, I wanted something traditional that's easy for you all to prepare as well. Trader Joe's has an amazing pre-cooked Corned Beef right now that you just throw in the oven for 35 minutes and voila! you have dinner. We tasted it on a recent shopping trip and knew it had to be the star of our dinner to celebrate the Irish holiday. 

I'm also thankful I have my appetite back. For so long I was too nauseous to eat much of anything, then it was weird random cravings, followed by a short lived (thank God) vegetable aversion and finally the baby has tapped into his or her mama's foodie style and now I'm back to craving all of my Paleo favorites. Eggs are still the star that make me feel the best. 

We went with the traditional white fingerling potatoes to accompany the corned beef, even though white potatoes aren't my best friend some days. I've abstained from potatoes for the most part so we splurged tonight. They are best served warm with vegan butter, herbs and sea salt or paleo ketchup. If you are off white potato, try the corned beef with one of my following side dishes that would pair wonderfully with this traditional dish:
​

• Herbed Sweet Potatoes 
• Cauliflower Rice
• Steamed Asparagus

I also added my Maple Thyme Carrots for some added vegetable content in the dish. 

And of course, it wouldn't be the full traditional meal without my Apple Cider Cabbage which you can prepare and cook while your main dish is in the oven. It has amazing cleansing benefits and adds a great nutrient boost. 

I would love to know if you enjoyed if you tried any combination above or share what your favorite St. Pattie's Day meal is!
​

It's officially Fall. This fact means my palette begins to crave all the fall favorites. Soups, stews, turkey, sweet potatoes and all the traditional Thanksgiving-related fixings. However, living in Arizona, it's still reaching triple digits and it doesn't sound like the funnest afternoon to have my oven heating the house to temperatures that will melt us.

That's where my Thanksgiving-inspired salad comes in. This is one of my favorite go-to lunches right now. Super simple, crisp and cool, I still get to please my palette with falls favorite tastes. Juicy turkey breast? Check. Sweet, tart cranberries, check. And to top it off I pair this with a cool, savory side of bacon and sweet potato salad and boom, it's like Thanksgiving and summer made a love child.

A love child of crisp, cool, crunchy goodness that bursts with all the flavors of the holiday season. 

Ingredients:
Fresh turkey breast, shredded
1-2 C. Organic Romaine Lettuce
Steve's Paleo Goods Cranberries (no added sugar or corn syrup)

Toss & top with a cranberry vinaigrette or Apple Cider Vinegar & enjoy! 

After Mr. Charming and I spent the day Dating Our City, we knew we wanted to end it with a lovely evening at home with a delicious meal.  And we wanted to try something new. 

There seems to be a new phenomenon in the Paleo world in the form of a new book. Being a part of the Paleo community, I'm probably more exposed to things of this nature than most, but I couldn't deny that a certain title kept coming up again and again and again. Paleo Takeout by Russ Crandall. 

Russ Crandall, like many of us in the Paleo world, suffered health ailments that brought him to the realization that food can heal. Except he struggled with much more than the average 20-something. At the young age of twenty-five, Crandall suffered a stroke and has since used his struggles and his story to inspire others through food. A concept very near & dear to my heart. 

Not only is his story inspiring, but he is hands on with his readers. Answering questions, helping to tweak recipes and touring to meet his fans and readers face to face. In the day and age we live in, it's so refreshing to still see that since of connection & community. And aside from all of the RAVE food reviews after people trying out his recipes, it was something endearing that made me RUSH out to pick up my own copy.

Now, here on Nosh & Nurture, I try to infuse a lot of "comfort" food and easy recipes here, to show you that you CAN cook healthy and fast at home. Russ shows us that delicious take-out doesn't have to be a thing of our past. With a background in food, he put together a curated collection of a delicious mix of foods from around the world that are typical 'fast food' eats - and then made them Paleo. 

The first one I tried was a dish I've missed for nearly five years. Honey Sesame Chicken. I altered the recipe slightly to my specifications and needs, (ie: no sesame seeds pictured on mine) but I can tell you hands down that 1. It was 100% satisfying. 2. It was 1000% delicious and 3. I will be serving this at a dinner party in the very near future. 

That third statement is huge. When it comes to hosting dinner parties I only ever serve food that is not only Paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free, but I serve food that will pass off as the "real deal". Food that kids will not only eat but enjoy and foods that make people ask, "where can I get more of this?" 

Mr. Charming and I will be trying many more of Mr. Crandall's recipes and I can tell you it's the best $20 I've spent in a long time.

For more information on  Paleo Takeout visit his website here, or the facebook group here, where you can connect with all of us foodies who are trying out his book, page by delicious page.

P.S. this is not a sponsored post. Just a post by a fan who wants to hug this man for bringing crispy honey chicken back into my life. 

I've been really, really bad at doing recipe testing and food photography lately. Finishing up school for my diploma in Personal Nutrition, working full time, trying to start our family & blogging gets to be a bit much (don't get me wrong, I LOVE what I do, but by the end of the day, I'd rather make something I know it quick and nutritious. 

I'll get back to making more elaborate and yummy special stuff, but for tonight. Here's #WhatIAte. 

When shopping at Sprouts over the weekend they had a box of Organic Turkey Patties in stock - just two ingredients: Organic Turkey & Rosemary. They were a bit pricey, but with multiple case studies, work and the blog - paying $10.99 for a whole box was worth it to me to make sure I'm eating protein over carbs when I'm in a time crunch.

I bought a pre-diced container of organic onion while I was there too. Makes it so easy to throw a handful into the pan while the meat is cooking (I did 8 minutes on each side for the patty, I like my meat a little more 'done' than most.)

My friend and I hit Whole Foods while we were in the area (the closest one is about 25 miles from me) and I found a bag of Paleo cranberries. Again just two ingredients - cranberries & pure apple juice for the preservative/sweetener. I rarely do dried fruit, but for some reason I was craving a salad with fruit on top so I added some along with fresh organic pear on a bed of butter lettuce and topped it all with Apple Cider Vinegar to give it a tangy kick that will help detox. 

It's become one of my new favorite summer lunches. What is on your plate this season?

I love Chinese takeout. OK. Let me rephrase that, I LOVED Chinese takeout. I think it's probably been close to three or four years since I've gotten take-out because of how they prepare the food, so I make it a mission to recreate old loves on a regular basis, in a much healthier, more organic way.

I found a gluten-free, spaghetti squash recipe that I wanted to try, but it used brown sugar and spices that I couldn't have, and some other items that are on my list of can't's so I altered it to make my own version. I make this when Mr. Charming and I need a vegan meal to break up the week, but you can add seafood, chicken or steak if you wish. 

We personally like to top ours with strips of fresh avocado. But what DON'T I like to top with avocado?

Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
1/2 Onion
3 cloves of minced garlic
1-3 tsp of fresh grated ginger (use 1 and will have a stronger soy sauce/garlic flavor, using 2-3 with make it spicy and gingery, I go back and forth depending on my taste buds.)
1/2 C. gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos if you are avoiding soy
2 C. cole slaw lettuce mix
1 stalk of celery
2 TBSP. of olive oil 


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut spaghetti squash open length wise and scoop out seeds. Place in a cake pan with open sides down and fill shallowly with water so that the cut open portion is submerged. 

Place in oven and cook for 40-50 minutes until soft. While squash is cooking, dice onion and celery and sautee in olive oil over medium-high heat until warm, but not too soft. Toss in cabbage and cook for two to three minutes until fragrant. Set aside. 

In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, minced garlic and grated ginger. Set aside. 

Once squash is done put all ingredients into a wok or large pan over medium-high heat and mix until warm.

Serve immediately with chop sticks and top with any items of your choice. Shredded chicken, steak strips or avocado would be my top suggestions. 

For an added touch: Try pairing the meal with these awesome gluten-free fortune cookies from the Instructables Blog. 

Mandi's Tip: Replace the Cornstarch with Tapioca or Potato Starch. And use organic sugar in place of regular sugar. 

This is a Whole 30 inspired recipe that I altered using my recipe for the potato buns and implementing nutritious bone broth into the pork.  Read more about Whole 30 by clicking here. 

Ingredients: 
For The Pork:
1 Medium Sweet Onion, cubed
4 Large Carrots, cut into small chunks
2 Lb. Boneless Pork Roast
1 C. Homemade Bone Broth
BBQ Sauce (I use Nature's Hollow Hickory Maple, see my review here)


For The "Buns":
1 large sweet potato, very round and thick
Organic olive oil
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder


Directions:
For The Pork:
Place cut up vegetables and bone broth in bottom of crock pot.  Cut twine from pork roast and place on top of vegetables in broth.  Sprinkle generously with sea salt and garlic powder.  Set to Low and cook for 8 hours.  Longer if you have a larger roast.  Once cooked, place on cutting board and using two forks, shred finely and add to a bowl with desired amount of BBQ sauce. 

For The "Buns": 
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Wash and peel sweet potato.  Using a large knife, cut potato into 1/4" rounds.  Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and brush with olive oil.  Top with sea salt, garlic powder and any additional spices or herbs of your choosing.  Black pepper works great as well.  Flip each slice and do the same on the opposite side.  Cook for 35 minutes or until crispy and golden. 


Assemble your sliders, top with lettuce and extra sauce.  Serve hot with a side of fresh avocado and a chilled, summery homemade lemonade.