Carrot Dessert Bites

So sweet and innocent looking, but packed with nutrition!

Try these dessert bites for your next work potluck. That's what I did. People will be shocked to learn that they are gluten free, mostly raw, have no processed sugar, and contain a vegetable!

Can you believe these are ALL the ingredients for this recipe? No cake mix or cups of sugar needed.

Carrot Dessert Bites
Makes 20+ balls

4 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (about ¾ cup)
1 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw cashews
7-8 large dates, pitted
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
Zest of one orange
Unsweetened shredded coconut, for rolling

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, process carrots until finely ground. Remove and set aside.

Process the walnuts and cashews in the food processor until finely ground. Add the dates and process until finely chopped and incorporated into the nuts scraping the sides occasionally. Add the carrots, ginger, cinnamon, and orange zest (if using) and process until dough forms.

Shape the mixture into small balls. Roll in shredded coconut to coat. Refrigertate. Serve like cookies. 

Modified from original recipe written by Hallie at dailybitesblog.com

Try This Comfort Food: Fried Rice

What would it look like if we changed our idea of what "comfort food" means? For me comfort food is usually a warm, rich, stick-to-your-bones kind of meal. Toss out the fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. Those foods can be delicious, but very nutritionally limited. Here is a warm rich comfort food kind of meal that is also full of whole grains, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. Feed your body and your soul!

Fried Rice

2-3 cups Cooked Brown Rice
2 Eggs
1 Bunch of Bok Choy, chopped
2-3 Carrots, cut into match sticks
2 Red and Yellow Peppers
1 Onion, thinly sliced
5-6 Shiitaki Mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of snap peas
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
Peanut Oil for Sauteing
Soy Sauce
Soy Sprouts (to top your dish)

Use your biggest frying pan, or a wok if you have one. Scramble and fry your eggs in a tiny pit of peanut oil, remove from pan, chop into small pieces and set aside. Add more peanut oil and cook onions until translucent, add in garlic, ginger, and all of the other vegetables except for the bok choy and mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes (they should still be a little crisp). Stir in rice and heat through if it came from the fridge. Return the eggs to the mixture. Add in the bok choy, mushrooms, and stir in some soy sauce. Once everything is combined and cooked to your liking, scoop into dishes and top with soy sprouts or scallions. Enjoy!

Vitamin C: Communication!

For one week every summer of my childhood, I attended a multi-generational retreat called UUMAC. Of course there was official programming, "camp outings" to the local attractions like six-flags and white water rafting, and evening entertainment (I served as DJ for a few years in a row). Think Dirty Dancing but for Unitarian Universalists. (Fun fact: that's where I met my partner Dillan!) It was a blast, yes, but most importantly it was a week of face-to-face relationship building communication with all kinds of folks. This was the kind of communication that goes far beyond "how are ya?" and "gosh, there was so much traffic today." It was communication about beliefs, experiences, values, and feelings.

There was a core youth group of about a dozen beautiful individuals whom I would see once a year at UUMAC every summer throughout high school. Those were the years when no one seemed to understand us back home, but these relationships fueled me throughout the year. We all went on with our lives after high school, went to universities all over the East Coast, then moved to Colorado or Massachusetts or wherever. Some of us have gotten married, bought houses, had babies, just generally continued on our respective paths.

The UUMAC Youth, +/- a few, all grown up. Sort of.

Last week I traveled from Boston to Northern Virginia for my first UUMAC reunion in almost a decade. I was so grateful that so many of us prioritized this time, and traveled all those miles, just for the sake of our little community. I have to admit that I was nervous. These people were at the center of my world during my adolescence, but that was years ago. I have grown and changed, and I was sure they had too. It's a big commitment to spend a weekend with 'strangers'. But the visit proved to be even more meaningful than I could have imagined. Despite some serious sleep deprivation and a major change to my usual food routine, I came home feeling energized and renewed.

There were hugs, games, laughing, creativity, and even a dance party. There was also A LOT of catching up to do. We spent one night basically recounting the last 10 years of our lives into the wee hours of the morning. I was reminded: living out loud allows others to do the same. Most of us started out with the basics, but as we felt safer and remembered that bond from years ago, we got more real-- and that's where the magic happens. I noticed that as I shared intimately about the more vulnerable or confusing parts of my recent decade, I heard others share similar hardships or experiences. Even though some of us are taught to "keep it together" or "not to air our dirty laundry" I find that sharing openly in a safe space can bloom into a really precious exchange.

Beauty is in the balance. Yes, the weekend was lots of fun. But real joy happens when we have both the yin and yang. The laughter and the tears. If we hadn't made time for the hard stuff, the laughter wouldn't have felt nearly as light and the connections not nearly so deep. So I was grateful that no one shied away from those hard parts. Instead those moments were met with hugs and warmth.

When we can share our experiences and make the space for others to do so we can be fed at a very deep level, fortified with vitamin C (C for communication!) It's so amazing how both listening and being heard can feed us. Of course we should practice using our voice and communicating our ideas and feelings. It's the listening that more of us struggle with. I don't always do it perfectly, but I know when I practice mindful listening without needing to fix or have the right response or reaction I feel centered and present.

I'll encourage you to seek your own "Vitamin C" in the safe spaces in your lives, with old friends, new friends, a therapist, or your health coach. It looks different for each of us. Sometimes it may be challenging or messy. Sometimes we feel grossly unprepared or ill-equipped. Sometimes we don't want to brag, or be a downer, and we feel like "no one wants to hear about this stuff anyway." Some are trying to communicate around that big dark road block called aphasia, or a voice disorder. But I'll encourage you to just do your best anyway and experience the results.

Spice Up Your Plate

I love recipes. There was a time when I used to be so committed to recipes to guide, or shall I say dictate, my cooking that I was lost without one. Now that I have spent more time in the kitchen learning what works for my palate and my patience, I feel confident taking more liberties with my recipes. Recipes still play a very important role for me, however they are now more of a guide or inspiration than a instruction manual.
I've pretty much got the 'food' part down when orchestrating a meal. I know I want to have some greens, some plant based fiber, some healthy fats, and protein (either plant or animal derived). I want to limit the processed elements, and most importantly I want it to be lip smacking delicious. You can't really go wrong with this formula, but whole foods with limited chemical flavors and extra ingredients can be 'bland' to the Standard American Palate. That's why the Universe has given us SPICES.
Using spices effectively continues to be an area of growth for me, as it is for many people. But the more I experiment the more confidence I drum up.

It's not just decoration! We use our spice rack everyday. We've even customized it with the spices that we use most often. I mean, who actually uses "Pizza Seasoning" and "Crushed Mint" in everyday cooking?

My Tips for Spicing Up Your Plate:
1. Do your research: Google search a few different versions of the recipe that you are attempting. If you are making chicken and rice soup, see what spice combos and ratios come up most often in different cook's renditions.
2. Stick with the same spice 'family': think about recipes you've used before. You will often see bay leaves, thyme, and basil together. Where there is chili powder there is often cumin. Indian dishes (some of the most spice-tastic of all) like curry, cardamom, ginger, turmeric etc...
3. Steer clear of seasoning mixes: they often have lots of salt. And don't get me wrong, salt is a beautiful thing, but you can add that at the end.
4. Don't be shy! if you skimp on your amounts, you may not taste it at all. Also, keep your spice supply fresh because as they age spices lose some potency.

And if you needed more reasons to spice up your plate, check out this review of a new study out of Penn State which demonstrated that meals rich in antioxidant spices resulted in significantly lower presence of triglycerides and insulin levels in the body after a meal. This is an important finding because it could lower heart disease and diabetes risk. That's some delicious science!

Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

Breakfast can be tough to manage for us regular humans. Five out of seven days each week most of us are rushing out the door, rubbing sleepies from our eyes, and trailing coats, scarves and phone chargers. But that's no excuse for missing the most important meal of the day! A healthful breakfast will jump start our metabolism and give us energy throughout the morning, helping us avoid reaching for coffee or sugar at 9 or 10am.


Who doesn't love a delicious breakfast muffin? But those Dunkin' drive-throughs are dangerous - find lots of sugar and preservatives in their treats. 


Try this Make-Ahead Breakfast Solution. These morning glory muffins are great toasted with butter, or nut (almond or peanut) butter. Freeze half your batch to last longer. I modified the Whole Foods recipe by substituting the sugar and brown sugar with honey (read more about the benefits of honey over refined sugar here). 


Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

1 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour 
1/2 cup of honey 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 eggs 
2/3 cup canola oil 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 Fuji apple, cored, peeled and diced 
1/2 cup seedless raisins 
1/2 cup grated carrots 
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped 
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dried flaked unsweetened coconut, divided 

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, honey, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, eggs, oil and vanilla, then add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add apples, raisins, carrots, walnuts and 1/4 cup of the coconut and stir gently until well combined. 

Spoon batter into 16 paper-lined muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Top evenly with remaining 4 teaspoons coconut and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through.

Hey Honey!

Boston Honey Company:
 my favorite local honey people

So now you know more about how reducing your sugar intake could benefit your health (see my previous post about sugar here), but also that sweetness and sweet flavors are an important part of a balanced life and diet. Luckily there are a number of natural and possibly less toxic alternatives to highly processed white sugar such as sweet fruits (which have naturally occurring fructose) maple syrup, and honey. Honey is still a form of sugar, but unlike highly refined white sugar, it can be consumed in a more raw and natural form and has a number of beneficial components. According to the The National Honey Board (a federal research and promotion board under USDA oversight):

"Honey is composed primarily of carbohydrates (natural sugars) and water, as well as trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. Providing 17 grams of carbohydrates and 64 calories per tablespoon, honey is an all-natural sweetener without any added ingredients.

Honey also contains a variety of flavonoids and phenolic acids, which act as antioxidants, scavenging and eliminating free radicals. Generally, darker honeys have higher antioxidant content than lighter honeys." 

Additionally some people find that eating raw local honey improves their seasonal allergy symptoms.

Now, we are not talking about the honey that comes in that adorable plastic bear. While cute, and reminiscent of my childhood, that honey is highly processed, can have extra fillers and ingredients, and is likely NOT local (many times from Asia). Local, raw, and organic honey can be found at your farmers market or in health food stores and sometimes in conventional grocery stores (just check the label).

Enjoy it, honey!

Sugar's Effect on the Body and Brain

Sweetness is an important part of life, in our diets, our personal endeavors,  and in our relationships. The sweetness in life is an important counterpart to the sour and bitterness of life. According to Macrobiotic Philosophy, sugar has "yin" or contractive qualities, which balances our "yang" or expansive qualities.

We have all heard that too much sugar is "bad for us" and that as a society we are consuming "too much sugar." A nasty combination. Yes, sugar has “empty calories” and can contribute to weight gain, but I'd like to shed some light on some of the less talked about reasons we might want to reduce the amount of sugar we eat. 

·      Sugar can suppress the immune system and feed bacteria and fungi (such as candida or yeast) in the body. (4)

·      Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium, which can contribute to osteoporosis

·      Sugar can promote insulin resistance which can lead to Type 2 Diabetes (1)

·      Sugar contributes to obesity, because it has a high caloric content with no nutritional value leaving your body 'hungry' (1)

·      Sugar can raise blood levels of triglycerides which increases cholesterol and heart disease risk (3)

·      Sugar can impact ability to concentrate, especially in children

·      Chronic high blood sugar can contribute to Alzheimer's Disease (2)

·      Sugar has addictive qualities, similar to cocaine!

·      And many many more….

Consider how much refined sugar and added sugar you are putting in your body each day or week. What would your health be like if you reduced your sugar intake?

1. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err100/err100.pdf  USDA document suggesting the initiation of taxes on Sweetened Beverages

2. Alzheimers and High Blood Sugar

 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201109/alzheimers-and-high-blood-sugar

3. Is Sugar Toxic? NYTimes April 2010  

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=all

4. 10 Immune Boosters and Busters WebMD  http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/10-immune-system-busters-boosters