Homemade Herbed Sea Salt Recipe (Herbamare)

If you have not already noticed, I absolutely love Herbamare! It is a fantastic replacement for salt or bouillon in savory recipes because it adds flavor without adding as much sodium. By replacing some of the salt with savory herbs and vegetables, you can naturally reduce the sodium while increasing the depth of flavors in your meals. Additionally, the kelp, herbs, and vegetables add important trace minerals, beneficial plant compounds, and pre-biotic fibers that feed the good bacteria in your gut.

Last year I began making my own homemade herbed sea salt recipe to mimic Herbamare. This helps save money and, if you have a garden, helps preserve some of your herb and vegetable harvest! It is so incredibly easy to make once you gather up all of the ingredients. You will just need a food processor or high-powered blender. And, if you don't have all of the ingredients don't worry! This recipe is very forgiving. Experiment with different dried herbs to get the flavor you like best. You can even make a spicy sea salt by including some dried chilies and black pepper!

This homemade herbed sea salt is one of the new recipes I added to the revised edition of my Nourishing Meals book. Use it in soups and stews, on top of scrambled eggs, sprinkled over mashed avocado on toast, use it to make roasted chicken taste amazing, and in any other savory recipe.

How to Make Raw Vanilla White Chocolates (dairy-free, vegan)

Today I have a special Valentine's treat for you—a healthy recipe for raw white chocolate! This recipe uses just a few ingredients and is dairy-free. Traditional white chocolate usually contains sugar and milk solids, along with cacao butter. My recipe uses raw honey and raw cashew butter, as well as raw cacao butter. If you can't handle the buzz dark chocolate gives you then try this recipe. It's caffeine-free but still has some of the feel-good compounds found in chocolate.

You should be able to find all of the ingredients at your local health food store or online. One lucky person can win all of the ingredients, plus two silicone candy molds, for this raw white chocolate recipe on Facebook! That's right, I am doing my very first Facebook giveaway for you! Just go to our Facebook page and look for the giveaway photo at the bottom of this post. Leave a comment under the photo there. Drawing will end Monday, February 10th 2014, at 9pm PST.

How To Make Brown Rice Flour Tortillas (gluten-free, vegan)

Making your own gluten-free brown rice flour tortillas is so simple! With just a few ingredients you can make healthier tortillas at home. My recipe is egg-free and xanthan gum-free as well. I use a cast iron tortilla press to quickly press all of the tortillas, and then I cook them in a hot cast iron skillet on my stovetop. My children love to help with the entire process of making homemade tortillas too…otherwise I probably would not make them very often! Use this recipe during Phase 2 and Phase 3 of our Elimination Diet!

If you don't own a tortilla press you can roll the dough in between two pieces of parchment paper using a rolling pin. I've made so many versions of this recipe to try to figure out the best method for getting flexible tortillas. I've found that using boiling water works far better than cold or warm water. It makes a BIG difference in how pliable the tortillas are after cooking so don't skip this step! Beyond the boiling water, you can vary the amount of arrowroot powder to brown rice flour. More arrowroot equals really flexible tortillas, but they end up on the chewier side.

I'd love your feedback! So please let me know what ratio of brown rice flour to arrowroot you used and how they turned out for you in the comments section below. Thanks! :)

Packing Healthy Lunches to GO!

I've already written about packing healthy school lunches for children here. But what about you, the adult? If you are working full time or going to school, you might want some ideas on simple ways to create a nourishing lunch. Of course, taking leftovers is always an option, but what about something new?

Let's face it, if we really want to continue moving forward as a culture and as a global community, we all need to take responsibility for what we consume. Every time we eat we vote with our fork for the kind of world we want to live in. Eating is something we partake in at least three times a day. If we are rushed and decide to go out for lunch, even to a seemingly "healthy" place, we are probably unknowingly consuming genetically engineered ingredients, foods grown with pesticides and herbicides, or ingredients that are far too processed for the human body to thrive off of. It's unfortunate that the world we live in right now isn't set up for the health and well-being of the people and the planet, but we can change that....we are changing it! One big step is to buy organic ingredients and prepare your own meals.

By taking a few moments out of your day on the weekend you can easily prepare a week's worth of lunches for yourself all ready to go. I like to use glass mason jars because they are easy to store in the refrigerator and transport well. After preparation, make sure to cover them tightly with a lid and store in your refrigerator for no more than 5 days, though I prefer to make enough for 3 or 4 days at a time. Below are some of my favorite combinations! It is best to wait to add the dressing until the day you plan on consuming your salad. If you have any lettuce in the salad then it is best to wait to dress it just before serving.

Beyond Breakfast Cereal: Healthy Options to Start your Day!

Many of of grew up on cold breakfast cereal with cow's milk. I did a little research and learned how this tradition began, because you see, humans have only recently begun to rely on these processed foods. Our ancestors always consumed real whole foods. Cold breakfast cereals started to become popular in the late 1800's, when Keith Kellogg discovered a pot of wheat that had been overcooked and then dried into separate flakes. He soon thereafter created Cornflakes and later Rice Krispies. Breakfast cereals are made by a process of extrusion in which ingredients, often starchy foods, are processed at high temperatures and forced through an extruder to create a specific shape. Starchy foods processed at high temperatures create a lot of browning and something called Advanced Glycated End Products, or AGES. Eating these types of foods every morning can wreak havoc on your body.

Breakfast cereals have more things against them as well. They often add a high amount of refined sugars, colorings, flavorings, contaminated low quality vitamins and minerals, and GMO ingredients. Laboratory testing of low quality nutritional supplements shows they may contain contaminants such as chemical solvents, heavy metals, and preservatives such as sodium benzoate, BHA, BHT, etc. Many people are irate that the cereal companies they trusted and fed to their families contain GMO ingredients. You can go read the Facebook pages for Kelloggs, Cheerios, and Nature Valley. They are all lit up right now with comments from concerned people calling them out on their use of toxic GMO ingredients.

The reality is that we shouldn't be consuming cold breakfast cereal at all, even the natural organic brands. There are far healthier options that will give you long lasting energy, help keep moods and behaviors balanced, and provide the right nutrients for brain function and growth. Try out a few of the options below and see what makes you feel best. This might change daily, weekly, or even seasonally. There isn't one right way as long as you are sticking with whole organic foods.

Natural Home Remedies for the Cold and Flu Season

As soon as school starts back up in the fall my children inevitably get a little sniffle or a slight cough. It's a good thing to be exposed to viruses and bacteria. It makes the immune system stronger. But how your immune system reacts depends on a lot of factors. Certain foods, nutritional supplements, herbs, and other remedies may be very beneficial during times of acute illness because they help your body heal itself naturally. This post offers you tips for building a strong immune system as well as natural home remedies to treat ear infections, coughs, fevers, colds, and flus.

Prevention: Building a Strong Immune System
Nutrient deficiencies and chemical overload cause our immune system to misbehave or not function to its highest potential. We are exposed to colds and flus nearly every day. When your immune system is functioning properly it will immediately activate white cells and destroy the pathogens keeping you healthy. If you are run down, deficient in nutrients, eating foods that you are sensitive to, or chronically stressed then your immune system may become compromised.

How to Roast Beets ~ The Easy Way!

Roasting beets softens their earthy flavor and brings out a wonderful sweetness. This way of preparing beets is so simple that you'll probably never go back to steaming, pressure cooking, or roasting in foil. All you need is a baking dish with a lid.

What can you do with roasted beets? The sweet-earthy flavor of beets is tempered by pairing them with acidic and pungent foods like orange, lemon, balsamic vinegar, feta cheese, shallots, and red onions. Adding fresh herbs like savory, thyme, and parsley can brighten the flavors even more.

After the beets have cooked and cooled, you can peel off the skins and cut them up for a marinated beet salad (like the Roasted Beet Salad with Orange Vinaigrette on page 230 in my new cookbook). You can also thinly slice them and top with goat cheese, fresh thyme leaves, freshly ground black pepper, and a lemon-olive oil dressing. Puree a whole roasted beet (remove the skins first) with the wet ingredients for a chocolate cake. Have any more ideas for using cooked beets? Please share in the comments section below!

Simple Ways to Preserve Fruit

This time of year the fruit is falling off the trees and many people wonder how they can preserve it. A lot of fresh fruit ends up rotting. Maybe this is part of nature's grand design to add compost to the soil surrounding the roots? I don't know, but this time of year is very busy for most folks who have fruit trees and berry bushes. There are a few simple methods you can utilize to quickly preserve fruit.

We freeze much of our fruit in a extra freezer in our garage. Though this might not be the most energy efficient way, it is fairly easy and quick as long as you have an extra freezer. Dehydrating is probably the safest way because you don't need to worry about losing a whole freezer full of food if your power goes out for an extended period of time, plus it requires little energy. Canning is another method but much of the nutrients and enzymes are destroyed through the heating process. I wrote a whole chapter about preserving the harvest in our new cookbook, Nourishing Meals, if you want to learn more. Plus there are recipes in that chapter for vinegars, lacto-fermented vegetables, and sauces like Cayenne Hot Sauce!

Packing Healthy Food for Air Travel

Trying to pack up and get out the door on time to catch an airplane can be difficult as it is, but add in packing all of your own food for the day, and you have what sounds like a bit of work. I've been packing my own food for airplane trips since I was twenty years old and I can tell you, that with a little planning, it can be very simple. There are some restrictions of what is allowed through security and what is not. I hope this post will inspire you to ditch the airplane/airport food in favor of healthier options brought from home.

This past winter I took all five children on a trip to visit my family in the midwest. And I did it again this past June, though Tom met us out there part way through our trip and flew back home with us....how nice it was to have another adult helping out! On our trip in February I had everything planned, organized, and packed the day before we left, including most of our food. Getting out the door went very smoothly. On our last trip, coming back home from my parents' house, I had nothing planned which caused quite a bit of chaos right before we left for the airport!

Detox with Spring Greens

Spring Nettles

I'm spending all of my writing time finishing the new cookbook so today I have another guest post for you from a friend and acupuncturist here in Northwestern Washington. Nancy Moore runs a busy acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine practice. She can also be found on her oriental medicine blog. Today she talks about bitter spring greens and why, at this time of year, it is of utmost importance to support our detoxifying organs, the liver and gallbladder. ~Ali

Green is the color associated with springtime in Chinese medicine, which, in the Five Element cycle, is the Wood phase, a time to cleanse and nourish the Liver and Gallbladder systems.

The best remedies for stimulating and supporting the Liver-Gallbladder systems are colored green! Chlorophyll-rich leafy greens have the new, active, ascending nature of spring within them to help detoxify and de-stagnate our bodies in this season of renewal.

Some of these greens also have the bitter taste that is almost completely absent in our diet, which herbalist Jim McDonald feels is essential for health. In a great article entitled “Blessed Bitters” McDonald suggests that many of our modern-day health woes are the result of Bitter Deficiency Syndrome. He states that bitters stimulate all digestive secretions and stomach acid, help regulate the absorption of vitamin B12, normalize blood sugar, promote the production and release of pancreatic enzymes and bile, strengthen the tone of tissues throughout the digestive tract, heal damaged mucous membranes, soothe gastric reflux, aid intestinal peristalsis, and reduce cravings for sweets.

On an emotional level, dark green leafy vegetables and bitters have both a grounding quality and a “releasing” property—calming an edgy-irritable system and helping us let go of sluggish, stuck, negative energy. This makes sense when we remember that a large portion of our “feel-good” neurotransmitters—including serotonin and dopamine—are utilized in the gut, not the brain. Greens, especially those that are pungent (sour) or bitter, stimulate these!

Photo Credit: Nancy Moore

Greens for Liver-Gallbladder Stimulation and Health:

• Arugula 
• Radicchio
• Collards 
• Kale 
• Endive 
• Escarole 
• Mizuna 
• Sorrel 
• Spinach
• Parsley 
• Watercress
• Red or green mustard greens 
• Dandelion greens
• Nettles 

In other words, the same kind of greens you find in an expensive restaurant salad!

The last two—dandelion greens and nettles—are abundant and free greens in this area, both packed full of super nutrients. Dandelion greens (in our local food co-op salad section now, or in some backyards near you) have been used for centuries for general detoxification, liver, gallbladder, and kidney health, joint problems, blood purification, eczema, poor digestion, and breast health. Harvest them in less traveled areas away from animal contamination. Nettles are high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, boron, carotenoids, iron, and the flavonoid quercetin, which has been found to have anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine effects for seasonal allergies. Nettles can be collected all around the area—just wear gloves and cook or dehydrate them to eliminate the stinging properties.

If the bitter flavor of some greens is not appealing, try adding them slowly into the diet to allow the brain and digestive system time to adjust. You can add a little vinegar or lemon juice to mellow the bitter flavor which will also aid in the assimilation of minerals. Adding freshly grated ginger to a dressing “warms up” the flavor of salad greens.

Above all, open yourself to new tastes, ideas, and experiences in this amazing season of growth. Go green, baby!

by Nancy Moore, Licensed Acupuncturist & Herbalist

Spring Chives in my Garden

Some recipes using greens you might like:

Spring Green Smoothie

Beet Pear and Almond Salad

Raw Kale and Avocado Salad

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Overcoming Emotional Blocks during Dietary Changes

I am excited to share with you today our first guest blog post! We mainly focus on the physical side of health through diet and don't talk much about the emotional or spiritual side. The path of healing is an interconnected path, meandering through all planes of existence. We are operating on all levels at all times even though we might not be aware of it. Today Colleen, from this little lark, has shared 5 Ways to Overcome Emotional Blocks that may occur when embarking on a new diet or while undergoing a shift in one's current diet. Colleen blogs about the many facets of the healing arts that improve physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Follow this little lark on Facebook for inspiration during transformation. ~Ali :)

Heraclitus, the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, was onto something when he stated "The only thing constant is change." Though hearing this statement does not necessarily make transitions any easier. When we discover we have food sensitivities or allergies, a lot of different emotions can surface. We can feel joy in knowing health and healing are underway, but we can also feel isolated, different, and challenged in having to implement a completely different dietary lifestyle. The following suggestions are meant to support and encourage you through this phase. If something that is not listed has worked for you, please comment and share, as we are all here to learn from one another!



5 WAYS TO OVERCOME EMOTIONAL BLOCKS DURING DIETARY CHANGES

1.  Positive Thinking! In order to get over these emotional blocks, it is important to know that a lifestyle change always involves a positive mindset. Oprah Winfrey hit it on the nail when she said "My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment." Make each moment count with a positive attitude.

2.  Practicing compassion, unconditional self love, and acceptance through dietary transitions will lighten our expectations and give more room for learning and growth. Our heart must be in it so we can celebrate when goals are reached, as well as call upon it when times get tough. We become open to knowing that there are ups and downs to every endeavor, and as this happens, we are able to go with the flow and be more present with our daily choices. Don't be too hard on yourself if you have not met certain health goals, just pick up where you left off and try again.

3.  Remember all those symptoms you are trying to resolve! Physically: weight gain/loss, hives, rashes, headaches, water retention, digestive disturbances, respiratory issues, nervous system imbalances. Mental/Emotional: fatigue, sluggishness, mood swings, inability to concentrate or focus... Life feels better without them! Remind yourself of this often.

4.  Find support. Surrounding yourself with people who can support you can really make the difference. Friends and family are always wonderful to have on your side, but you can also find support in community groups, online forums, websites, and blogs. Many, many people want to share their stories and more often than not, they will resonate with something you have or are experiencing.

5.  Be creative in the kitchen and HAVE FUN! We are so very lucky to have Whole Life Nutrition as a resource to support your dietary needs as well as introduce so many new and exciting foods to try. No one ever said eliminating certain foods had to be boring! If you do feel you are getting bored of the new foods you are eating, chances are you are in need of a few good new recipes to change it up. An extra bonus: share your food in the household or at a gathering! More often than not, people love what you will have to offer and realize that being health conscious is the way to go!


"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." ~Les Brown

Please share anything else that you have found to work for you in the comments section. You can read more of what Colleen has to offer on her blog, this little lark, or on her Facebook page.


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How to Make Lacto-Fermented Vegetables without Whey (plus video)

Lacto-fermented vegetables are cultured vegetables. You've probably heard of sauerkraut, kim chi, and sour dill pickles, right? These are all forms of lacto-fermentation. Many people use whey as a starter but it is not necessary given you use enough salt. Making your own lacto-fermented veggies is so easy that once you start you'll be hooked!

Traditionally, lacto-fermentation was used to preserve the harvest and store vegetables for the winter. If you have a garden full of cabbage, cauliflower, beets, carrots, and green beans and don't know how to store them all, consider making a few batches of lacto-fermented vegetables. These veggies can be stored in your refrigerator for months....if they last that long!

Lacto-fermented vegetables provide a viable source of probiotics (at a cost well below most supplements) to heal and maintain a healthy gut. These beneficial microorganisms attach to receptors in our guts that send a signal to the immune system that says everything is okay, no need to overreact to foods and other things entering the gut, let's keep everything calm. If you are dealing with multiple allergies, chances are your gut is out of balance and is in need of a daily dose of beneficial microorganisms. These crispy, sour, salty vegetables are highly addicting and an easy, economical way to maintain a healthy gut. These vegetables are also important to include daily if you are following our Elimination Diet.

Tom graciously helped me make a video for you on how to make lacto-fermented vegetables! After many video takes (with Tom behind the camera recording me), my postpartum baby brain could not quite deliver the message as succinctly as I wanted, so he stepped in, and in one take we finished this video (even though he had never made lacto-fermented veggies before)!

How to Make Powdered Coconut Sugar

I like to use coconut sugar when making a treat for our family and friends. It has a rich, caramel-like flavor that isn't too sweet. Plus, coconut sugar doesn't have that heart-palpitating affect like cane sugar does. This powdered coconut sugar recipe can be used to make icing for cookies and cakes, or used wherever powdered sugar is called for in a recipe.

Coconut sugar is a low-glycemic granulated sweetener, with an index of 35. Compare that to honey with a glycemic index of 75, cauliflower at 30, lentils at 35, and watermelon at 100.

Coconut sugar comes from the sap of the coconut palm blossoms. It is dried and granulated making it perfect for cooking and baking. Use it to replace any other granulated sweetener in equal amounts. Coconut sugar is dark so keep in mind that it will turn your "white cake" brown. It is best used in chocolate or spiced molasses type treats. Use it in sweet or savory sauces and in marinades. Use it basically anyplace a granulated sugar is called for. Now you can also replace regular powdered cane sugar with coconut sugar using this method.

How to Make Turkey Stock

For many of you Thanksgiving revolved around a turkey, right? You can make good use of the leftover bones and skin and create a nourishing bone broth. Stock made from leftover vegetable scraps and the bones of animals is extremely economical. Think of how much that box of organic chicken broth costs at your local grocery store? And think of the added flavors and strange ingredients in those store-bought stocks. A gigantic pot of homemade stock can be made for less than the cost of one store-bought carton of stock.

Turkey stock is dark and richly flavored. It can be used to make soup (such as wild rice and veggie soup or turkey-noodle soup), turkey tetrazzini, turkey meatballs, in sauces, or simply heated with garlic and herbs to sip on if you have a cold. And it is remarkably easy to make! All you need to do is add veggies, water, and the leftover turkey bones and skin. Then cover and walk away from it. Come back a few hours later and strain into jars. That's it!

Lentil and Kale Dal + a Video!

Lentils are what we make for dinner if I have not planned ahead of time to soak beans or buy ingredients for a meal. Lentils are inexpensive and cook quickly without the need for soaking. However, if you are gluten-sensitive or celiac, there is one thing you need to know about lentils. They are often cross-contaminated with gluten grains. We made a short video in our kitchen to show you. Hope you enjoy!

Healthy Easter Basket Ideas

Did you know that Americans spend around $2 billion each year on Easter candy? Did you know that loading up Easter baskets with candy is a relatively new phenomenon? Eggs have always been a part of Spring and Easter festivals predating Passover. Eggs are a pagan symbol of fertility and rebirth. Dying eggs came a bit later and may have originated in Poland, possibly around the 13th century. But candy? How did that come into play?

Some theorize that it was the exchange of Hot Cross Buns for Easter many hundreds of years ago that began the treat giving on Easter. In 1361, a monk named Father Thomas Rockcliffe began a tradition of giving Hot Cross Buns to the poor of St. Albans on Good Friday. Interestingly, like so many Easter symbols, Hot Cross Buns have their roots in ancient pagan traditions. Hot cross buns are regarded by many as the outgrowth of the ancient Pagan sacramental cakes, eaten by Anglo-Saxons in honor of their goddess, Eostre. The cross on the bun representing the four quarters of the moon.

The exact origin of the Easter Bunny is unclear, but rabbits are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life. Some theorize that it has its roots in the 1700's when Germans settled on the East Coast of the United States and brought with them their tradition of an egg-laying hare called "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws." Their children made nests in which this creature would lay its colored eggs. The custom then eventually spread across the United States and the Easter Bunny's early morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, using decorated baskets to replace the nests.

The business of selling candy on Easter began to take off from the 1930's to the 1960's when candy makers began developing new candies and displaying them in storefront windows before Easter. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2007, each person in the U.S. eats about 24.5 pounds of candy per year! That is a lot of toxic sugar, food dyes, and chemical stabilizers going into a young child's growing body each year!

Are there other alternatives? Yes! 

How to Make Gluten-Free Gravy

Making gluten-free gravy is so simple. No need to add butter and make a roux. I have a few tips for creating rich, flavorful pan juices from cooking a bird, whether it be a turkey or chicken. These photos use a local, pastured, organic chicken, but I cook a whole turkey the same way using a larger stainless steel roasting pan. And if you want nothing to do with cooking a turkey this year then check out my recipe for this vegetarian main dish: Butternut Squash Casserole with Sage and Shallots.

To create rich pan juices, place your rinsed bird in a glass baking pan (9 x 13-inch for chicken or 10 x 14-inch for turkey). Chop up a large onion and a few stalks of celery. Toss them with a few teaspoons of Herbamare. Fill the cavity of the chicken with the celery and onions. If you are cooking a turkey you can use your favorite gluten-free stuffing recipe. I use my Wild Rice Stuffing.

Place the remainder of the celery and onions around the bird in the bottom of the pan. Add plenty of sprigs of fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, sage, and marjoram. Add a few chopped carrots and a whole head of garlic, cut in half cross-wise.

How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Making your own pumpkin puree is really very simple. But there are a few important steps to ensure a thick puree. The water content of fresh pumpkin puree and canned puree can vary widely. Cooking pumpkin with water creates a thin puree, which will then cause your breads, muffins, cookies, and pies to be overly moist. Roasting pumpkin without any added water creates a thick puree that will most likely match the consistency of canned pumpkin. Plus, freshly made pumpkin puree tastes so much better than canned. It is sweeter, smoother, and just down-right delicious! Once you have made your own pumpkin puree, you can freeze it in containers for later use or store it in the fridge for up to a week.

How to Make Honey-Sweetened Jam

Homemade jam is usually so full of sugar, but it doesn't have to be! Using Pomona's Pectin, one can make a low-sugar, honey-sweetened, or fruit juice-sweetened homemade jam. This particular pectin comes from citrus peel. The jelling is activated by calcium water (mono calcium phosphate) which comes with the pectin. It is so easy to make jam from all of your freshly picked fruit of the season. Making and canning jam is one of the great ways to preserve the harvest!

Last year I experimented quite a bit with some of the hundreds of pounds of fruit we harvested. I made an awesome Vanilla-Plum Jam sweetened with coconut sugar, a Honey-Sweetened Blueberry Jam, Spiced Peach Jam made without pectin and with sugar, Blueberry-Lemon Jam made with a small amount of pureed unripe, immature apples as the pectin source (unripe apples are high in pectin), a tart Italian Plum-Agave Jam, and Cherry-Peach Jam sweetened with grape juice concentrate. Let me tell you, homemade jam makes for many wonderful Christmas gifts!

Nourishing Ourselves

I've sat down at the computer numerous times this past week, each time starting a new post. I have wonderful recipes with lovely photos to share but somehow I just wasn't inspired enough to follow through with them. Writing a blog post, or anything in my life for that matter, comes from some sort of deep seated inspiration. It's about sharing what's alive in me to light a spark in you.

Spring is here in all of its aliveness. We've been watching leaves change from a light, vibrant green to a more subdued, darker green. The ladybugs have come out of hibernation and my boys are fascinated by them. They go on daily, if not hourly, ladybug hunts through our herb garden, giggling with delight as the bugs crawl up there arms and fly away. All of the tulips in our garden beds are now in our house in vases. They simply don't stand a chance outside against my five year old daughter. "Look mama what I picked for you!" she calls to me.

Life is beautiful, and although this is a recipe blog, our lives are filled with so much more than food. Nourishing ourselves not only comes from what we put in our mouths but what we take in from our environment, the people around us, and our thoughts about it all. Life seems to be held in a delicate balance. Managing children, meals, cleaning, exercise, taking care of your own needs, and fun can be difficult to balance sometimes and at other times not so much. It all flows best when we are nourished.

But what does it mean to be nourished?

Tasting and feeling satisfied by wonderful, nutritious food is certainly a large part of it. Being able to properly digest and absorb your food is by far one of the most important aspects of nourishment. The health of our bodies lies in the health of our guts. Creating a healthy gut is a first step.

We are also nourished by filling up our senses with beautiful things, such as noticing the way the evening sunshine dances on the leaves or the sound of the spring rains pounding on the roof. A garden full of young, tender herbs. Sunflower seeds sprouting before your eyes. Apple trees blooming, bees buzzing. Noticing and breathing in the magnificence in your own back yard is nourishment. In fact, simply breathing deeply is nourishment.

Taking care of your own needs and exercising is nourishment. For if you didn't move your body, how would it function properly and get nutrients where they needed to go? Right now I am taking a yoga class twice a week and working out on other days, one of them with a personal trainer. I am also receiving Soma Bodywork once a week by a very skilled practitioner here in Bellingham. Years of breastfeeding and a few pregnancies compiled with sleep deprivation can disrupt the flow of energy in your physical and emotional bodies. Soma works to reintegrate your whole being at the neuromuscular level.

New experiences nourish us. Taking a new trail on your hike is a simple, new experience. Reading a new book, learning a new skill, cultivating a new friendship, even spring cleaning, would all be considered nourishment. Children's brains develop and grow through new experiences. But ours can too. It's never too late.

I receive emails each day called "Daily OM" and today's was entitled 'Gladdening Nourishment' which I thought was fitting as I pondered writing this post today. The first lines of the email were this: "Do something silly today, the pure act of being silly can reset our serious nature and help create the shift we need." Doing something silly is a new experience and new experiences can create new, neural pathways in the brain. Gosh, what a simple way to stay healthy. I need to take note, ha ha.

Another part of the email I wanted to share is this: "We play yet we do not lose ourselves in play, and our imaginations are never truly given free reign because we regard the products of irrational creativity as being valueless. Yet silliness itself does indeed constitute a vital part of human existence on a myriad of levels. Our first taste of ethereal bliss is often a consequence of our willingness to dabble in what we deem outrageous, nonsensical, or absurd. We delight in ridiculousness not only because laughter is intrinsically pleasurable, but also because it serves as a reminder that existence itself is fun."

What nourishes you?

A few other notes:

We have a winner for the Dairy-Free Cookbook giveaway I did last week. Please go back to that post and scroll to the bottom, I have updated it with the winner's name and comment. If you won, please email me your shipping address.

I have a cooking class at the Cordata co-op in Bellingham, WA coming up on May 3rd entitled "Wholesome Gluten-Free Baking" ~ more details on our website.

The Nutritionist is in: Tom Malterre, MS, CN will be available to discuss diet questions and concerns Free of charge with you at the Bellingham, WA Food Co-op on the following dates:

• April 28th, 2010 at the Downtown store from 4:30 - 6:30pm
• April 29th, 2010 at the Cordata store from 5 - 7pm

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