Read it! The Balanced Plate

This morning I perused my bookcase looking for a book to flip through while watching Sage play with his favorite toys and things he likes to think are toys. I landed on The Balanced Plate by The Balanced Plate by Renée Loux It's been a while sine I've picked it up, and I had forgot what a great book it is. Her book is filled not only with great recipes, but lots of good information on food in general.  She gets into the benefits of whole food and why eating organic is so important. One of my favorite parts of this book is the in depth look at the kitchen and everything in it, from spices to composting and even how to clean your kitchen naturally. Then after all that you get into all of her amazing recipes!

I don't think you could go wrong with this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to better their eating or even just their life. Which is why I am sharing it with you today, just because I think you should know about it! I linked it up to Amazon so you can order it now if you want, or go find it at your local bookstore, if you are lucky enough to have one near you still.

Our amazing Thanksgiving!

Our thanksgiving was simply amazing! It was so warm and beautiful, I don't think I've ever seen such a nice Thanksgiving day. We started off the day with some very amazing very out of season strawberry picking. {this is why it pays to know your farmers!} Sage was loving it! We let him pick some strawberries, and play in the dirt,,, he got a mouthful of both, plus a little bit of the strawberry plant too. He spit it all out, but it was funny seeing him 'eat' a strawberry.

We took a quick little jaunt up the creek after we left the farm. The colors of the leaves were so pretty. We found a massive wild grape plant that was climbing all the trees around it. Sage was loving this too! He definitely takes after his daddy and his love of nature already!

We had and early-ish dinner outside since the weather was cooperating so nicely. Everything was AMAZING! The menu was simple and delicious. There ended up only being a few of us, so we had leftovers for days! Which was a good thing, since it was all so tasty!

Although Sage didn't get to try any of the food this year, it didn't stop him from checking it all out! He had his fingers in anything he could reach! 

All in all, it was a great day filled with friends, family and great food. What more could you ask for?

Let's make Scones!

Last week I came across a recipe for vegan scones and drooled about them all week long. I wasn't going to make them because we are trying to go pretty much gluten free. Then I thought 'duh! Just make them, but without the gluten!' So, I played around with the recipe and ended up with some delicious and not too bad for you scones! And now I get to share them with you! The recipe that is, you have to make them yourself. The good news is they were pretty quick, and easy too!

Gluten-Free Vegan Scones

Takes about 30 minutes start to finish. Makes 12 good sized scones.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Gluten-Free flour

1/2 Cup Teft Flour

1/2 Cup Ground Almonds or Almond Flour

3/4 tsp. Xanthan Gum*

1/3 Cup Sugar + some for topping

1 Tbs. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1 1/4 Cup Canned Coconut milk (cold) + some for topping

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips or Carob Chips (vegan) OR fruit

*the Xanthan Gum helps to bind the flours, which is nice, but if you don't have it, you could skip it.

Preheat oven to 425

Mix all your dry ingredients: flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.

Add your wet ingredients: vanilla extract and coconut milk. Stir until combined.

Fold in your chocolate chips or fruit.

On a floured surface, form the dough into a 3/4 inch thick disc. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into wedges, like a pie. I cut mine into 12 pieces, and they were a great size.

Place the wedges on a parchment lined cookie sheet an inch or 2 apart. Brush on coconut milk over each scone and sprinkle a good amount of sugar over that.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

I made a batch of these after dinner, and didn't think they would make it to the morning, they were that good! We did manage to save a few that night. I hope you get to enjoy these yourself this weekend. I am going to make more for sure, but this time maybe with blackberries!

Banana Blueberry Muffins from By the Porchlight

Today I have one of my lovely sponsors sharing a very delicious looking recipe with all of you! I won't keep you from it any longer, I'm sure you'll want to run to the kitchen after reading this!...


Hey there! I'm Lesley from By the Porchlight! I'm about to hit my 1-year blogging anniversary and have had a great year! I write about all things creative, good reads, good causes and all of life's adventures in between. Oh, and I can't forget good eats! I love cooking and baking so I thought I'd share a new recipe with you!

So, here we have it! Banana blueberry muffins! They were delicious and guess what?! Healthy, too! I was looking to try out my new coconut oil in and came across this recipe. I love banana bread and blueberry muffins so putting the two things together could not be wrong! I made a couple of alterations to the recipe above to suit my tastes & cupboard's stock a bit better.

What you'll need:

3 large bananas, or 4 smaller ones
1 cup sugar (you could use another sweetener, though)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup frozen blueberries
4 tbsps margarine

In one bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Then add the sugar and coconut oil. Mix well.

Next, in a second bowl, mix together 2 cups flour (1 cup each white and whole wheat), salt and baking soda.

Blend together the contents of both bowls. After the flour and banana mixtures are well mixed, fold in the blueberries.

Next, set aside the muffin batter. You'll need another bowl (yes, lots of bowls!) to make the crumbly topping.

Cream together the margarine and sugar and then add the flour. This should end up crumbly.

Pour the muffin batter into a greased tin. (I can't live without my Pampered Chef stoneware!) The batter should yield 12 large muffins. Top with the crumble.

As you can see, my topping wasn't so crumbly. I didn't really follow the directly for this, just threw some flour, sugar and margarine together haha. But it still tasted good!

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done! If it comes out batter-covered, bake the muffins another 3-5 minutes and check again.

And ta-da! Now you have delicious muffins!




I hope you'll come visit me at By the Porchlight and let me know how your muffins turned out! Thanks for letting me hang out today! Happy baking!

Thinking about Thanksgiving

The past few years we have done Thanksgiving at the in-laws, which is great because my MIL can cook! Plus she makes most things vegan, so we can eat pretty much everything but the turkey! This year we are going to my aunts, which is going to be so much fun, but I feel like I should make something amazing and vegan to bring along. So, where do I turn? Pintrest of course! I have found tons of yummy things to try, I'm just not sure what to do yet. Here are my top picks so far.

Crispy Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Source: recipenewz.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Stuffed Mushroom Phyllo Roll

Source: ohsheglows.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales

Source: blog.fatfreevegan.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

Source: veganpiggy.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Vegan Harvest Pies

Source: vegandad.blogspot.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

But then there are amazing deserts too!

Like the classic:
Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Or this really fun:
Pumpkin Pie Tortilla Rolls

Source: sweetlittlebluebird.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Those I'd have to 'healthy' up a bit, but they are just too cute!

I'm sure I'll eat a whole lot of stuff {or stuffing} that I wouldn't normally eat everyday. And I'll probably be a little lax on the vegan thing and let some stuff slide. My uncles mom makes the BEST berry pie in the world, I bet it's not vegan, but I'm going to eat it anyway! LOL! A little butter won't kill me!

Anyone else trying something different this year? Or do you have to have the traditional Thanksgiving meal?

I know if I don't get mashed potatoes and stuffing, it's not Thanksgiving! And if I don't eat at least one olive off my finger it might as well have been just another Thursday.

Pinned it and did it!

So most of the time the things I pin pretty much stay there... as pins. BUT, this week I have done not one, but TWO things that I pinned! I know, pretty awesome right!?!

So the first thing is this adorable little lamb hat.

Source: etsy.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

I found this about a year ago and knew I would have to make it for my kids one day! So I pinned it and showed it to a friend... she almost died! She said I HAD to make her one when she had a baby, and now she is, so I made it!
The one I pinned however was for sale, not a pattern, but I found a similar pattern here and got to work.

She is going to love it!!!

And the second thing I pinned the other day and haven't stopped thinking about it, so I made it!
Soft Pretzels! OMG! Seriously the best thing ever! Plus they are vegan!

Source: maria-rose.blogspot.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

I followed her recipe, but used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and by the time I added 4 cups of flour I decided there was no way it could take any more, so I stopped there. Also, the recipe says to cook for 20 minutes, but I took one sheet out at 14 and one out at 17 {they obviously weren't cooking even}. I probably could have done less, one sheet turned out a little crispy. But they taste delicious! Especially with mustard!

MMMMM...That's the best way to eat them!!!

I think I'm going to keep this up! The whole pinning then DOing thing!

Is there any Pinterest project you've done lately?

7 & 8: Juicing and Vitamins!

Okay... I'm a slacker! I didn't post yesterday, so I'm doubling up today!
Since I'm doubling up, I picked to things that kinda go together.
First, juicing! It's so so so good for you!

Not only do you get all the nutrients, and much faster, but could you imagine actually eating everything you could drink in a juice?! I mean, I like kale, but I don't think I want to spend a few hours chewing away at a whole bunch of it! Want to know a little more about juicing? Check out this post I did about it here.

Now for the vitamins! I take vitamins just to supplement my diet. I try {sometimes i forget} to take a multi vitamin, a B vitamin supplement and Vitamin C everyday. I take C for lots of other things too! If I'm feeling a cold coming on I down the C, if I have a rash or bug bites I take C {it's a natural anti-histamine} even if I'm just feeling out of it I usually up my C. There are other vitamins I like to take too, like E {it's great for your skin and your insides} and garlic, primrose oil, niacin.... the list really could go on and on. They all do different thing, and some work best in combination with others. If you are interested you should look into it and see what's best for you. I like natural vitamins with no coloring or any 'extras'.

Source: mynaturalmarket.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Do you take vitamins regularly? Or juice?

A new favorite... berry breakfast bowl!

I am usually an oats for breakfast kinda girl, but we have been trying to eat more raw food lately, so we've been switching things up! This has become my new favorite and it's so easy, I had to share!

This seriously only takes like three minutes and it's delicious! You kind of feel like you're being bad and eating dessert for breakfast, but it's all good for you!
All you need is:

*fruit- today I used strawberries, blueberries and apples. Use what you like {or have in your kitchen}
*coconut milk- I'm sure you could use another kind of milk, but THIS is delicious and good for you!
*cinnamon- tasty and great for you! It's shown to lower cholesterol and helps stabilize blood sugar!
*flax seed{freshly ground}- High in Omega-3's and is a great cleansing food!

Wash and cut your fruit.

Add your coconut milk, cinnamon and flax seed.

Stir and your done!

It's not quite as pretty when it's all mixed, but it's very yummy!

What do you think? Looks pretty tasty right!? What are your favorite healthy breakfasts?

Insta-Friday time!

What a slow week it's been. Nothing too exciting, just the same ol' stuff

Lilly nibbling on the fuzz on her tennis ball. She's a freak.

Took a little drive the other night. 

Made another version of those corn fritters. This one was even easier. Grated squash, chopped onion, cornmeal, garlic, salt and pepper. Topped with avocado of course! 5 minute lunch.

We had a really lazy day this week. It was great.

and another quick lunch! So yummy!

It's been super nice the past few days! I got to get some sunning in!

Well, that's all for today. I think I'm going to go sit in the sun for awhile! Have a great weekend!

linking up with:

What's on your plate?

I try not to be too pushy on here, but I watched 'The Future of Food' again last night, and I am a little fired up! If you haven't seen this I recommend you do. It's a great documentary that shows the truth of how the U.S. agriculture truly works, GMO foods and what you are really getting in the 'food' you buy.



Watching this movie really makes me a little sad that our country has allowed this to happen. BUT we can change things! Every dollar you spend tells the retailers what you want. If you buy healthful organic food you are telling them that you care about where your food comes from and it's impact on our planet.

I know for some people it is hard to go completely organic, maybe you live somewhere that it's not very popular yet. Every little bit helps! The more you buy the more they will stock!
Here are the top 5 things to buy organic to avoid GMO: wheat, soy, corn, canola, and cotton.

Also, this is a handy little chart to help you decide what produce is most important to buy organic.

The best way I have found to getting great local organic food is to find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) near you. It's usually a small to medium sized farm that grows a variety of food throughout the seasons and you get a box full of that weeks bounty every week. Straight from the farm to your house, you cant get better than that! Here is a neat site that explains it more, and you can type in your Zip code and it will show you CSA farms around you. 

Thanks for letting me rant a little! This is something that is really important to me and I feel like I need to share it every once in a while. I hope this made sense and isn't just rambling...

Striving for health

In the past four years I have been on a journey to become healthy.  It all started back in 2008 when my husband got really sick and we started looking into what was causing his illness.  One thing led to another and we ended up finding that diet was the number one cause to ALL illness.  So we started to change how we ate.  With every new book we read, or film we watched or natural doctor he saw we would learn more and change something.  We started by removing all processed foods from our diet. Then switched to all organic foods. We soon gave up most meats, then dairy and after a while most things with gluten.

Now, this was over quite a big span of time, we didn't just change overnight.  It took time and adjusting before it became a way of life.  When we started all of this it was to save my husband, which I'm very happy to say that it did... completely!  But, the other great thing that happened with all the changes we made is how much better I felt!  I didn't realize I was so unhealthy before we started this.  Yes, I knew I could lose a few pounds, and stop eating so much garbage food.  I did have for years what my doctor at the time called 'a sensitive stomach' and they assured me it was completely normal. Basically every time I ate I had a stomachache. Sometimes it would be minor, sometimes I would have to go lay down.  I had become used to this, it was just a part of life.  Well, about two months into our diet change I realized I couldn't remember the last time I had a stomachache from eating.  I was stoked!

So, we have been eating healthy ever since, still modifying our diet when we learn about anything new.  Since 2008 I have lost over 20 pounds just from eating healthy. Most of that came off in the beginning, but a little more here and there since then. Now I have come to a new challenge, I have lost the extra weight and eat healthy, but I am NOT in shape.  I do not work out at all.  I have the muscles of a 10 year old girl!  I have been wanting to shape up for a while, but have been completely unmotivated.  Now that is changing!  We are taking a trip to the Grand Canyon in September and I just might die if I went in the shape I am now.  Not to mention the fact that I deserve to be in shape, what good is a healthy body if I do nothing with it!?!

I am sharing this today in hopes that one: I will hold myself accountable{if I tell everyone I am going to do it I have to, right?}  two: I hope to gain support from others possibly doing the same thing.  and three: to inspire someone else to shape up and be healthy!  You deserve it!

I am taking measurements to track my changes.  I figure I'll probably gain weight, or at least not lose any while working out because I should be gaining muscle! =) I also happened to find my starting measurements from 2008.  It's crazy how much of a difference 20 pounds makes! So, here they are, and I'll post them again after a while.

I think a little fitness motivation is in order now!

Source: pictureperfectbodywerkit.tumblr.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

I want to be that toned!

Source: iowagirleats.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Seems easy enough.

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Love this!

So, happy working out everyone! Let's get in shape!!!