My 12 Favorite Things

The Holidays are rapidly approaching so I’ve put together a list of a few (or 12) of my favorite things! These are products and recipes that I love! They help me get through the Holiday season by nourishing my body and my soul. Check them out as ideas for Holiday gifts for your loved ones or even yourself!

Earth Shoes

These shoes are an absolute miracle! These are the only thing that solved my lower back pain, and luckily now they have so many cute options to pick from!

Favorite Holiday Movie: Love Actually

This is the kind of movie you can watch over and over - it makes me laugh, makes me cry and feel warm all over. Love this movie!

Cranberry Cultured Veggies

This recipe is not just for the holidays, it is delicious (and good for you) any time of the year!. Cranberries, purple cabbage, jalapeños, ginger and onions join together for a seriously sweet and spicy dish. This is very easy to make and you can learn all about it in my Cultured Veggies Course.

Celtic Sea Salt

This is the #1 best condiment ever. Why? Because it is mineral rich and tastes the best. This is truly the best way to make every bite count. Use it the “A la Salt” way.

Barlean’s High Lignan Flax oil

The best tasting and ONLY flax to use on use for instant sauces and dressings. Why? Because it is pressed and sent straight to you or the store. FRESH is best!

Sesame Seed Sweet Potatoes

This is the recipe that started my cooking career! Ground Sesame Seeds and Barlean’s High Lignan Flax oil. OMG, you can’t believe how luscious this is. Learn how to make all your plant foods become luscious - the easy way.

Barlean’s Coconut Oil

This coconut oil is worth the effort and extra pennies. It helps to make the best tasting cookies, cakes, and coffee! I absolutely could not live without it! Learn how to make tasty treats with my raw cacao course.

Coconut Cream or Butter (Artisana)

The secret ingredient to the most decadent chocolate mousse and truffles. It is so sweet and yummy you could eat it by the spoonful. Try my Raw Cacao Course to learn how to make the most delicious treats.

Great Lakes Gelatin

Pasture-Raised and Grass-Fed Collagen Hydrolysate. This product makes my coffee and tea drinks creamy and builds my bones and ligaments strong! Mixes so easy and is affordable.

Cardamom

Mix it with coffee, Yerba Mate, or any black tea. OMG. Mix it with Barlean’s Coconut Oil and Great Lakes Gelatin for the most delicious hot drink - anytime of day.

VitaMix

I could not live without my VitaMix. Makes life in the kitchen fast and easy. This machine is so versatile and worth the expense as it will last a lifetime. You can make smoothies of all kinds, sauces and dressings, soups, creamy hot drinks, fruit sorbets, EVERYTHING. A bonus is that it is so easy to clean. Save money on raw foods and do it yourself with the VitaMix, the key to fast, healthy and affordable recipes.

Shun Ken Onion Knives

This is my “must have” - a cool knife that works and that you can sharpen. Something about these knives that creates ease and flexibility, I just love them and they make an awesome gift.

Sweet Potato with A La Oil

This is a simple recipe that is perfect for when hunger comes out of no where. I like to always keep some sweet potatoes on hand and then make them extra delicious with my sesame tamari sauce. The sesame powder I add on top is that extra little crunch and a pop of protein. The best part is to make a larger batch and store the sesame powder in the fridge for later use. I love to add it on top of roasted veggies or even a fresh green salad.

Sesame Tamari Sauce Ingredients

½ cup      Barlean’s flax oil, and/or EVOO
¼ cup      tamari soy sauce (low sodium best) – or Celtic sea salt
½ cup      ground hulled sesame seeds – sesame powder
or if you do not like soy sauce, use Celtic Sea Salt – Grey Find Ground.

To make the delicious sesame powder, I put white hulled sesame seeds in coffee grinder or blender and grind into a powder.

Next I cook vegetables of my choice. This sauce is excellent on Swiss chard, cooked beets and carrots, yams and sweet potatoes, and all other veggies.

First sprinkle sesame seeds evenly on top of cooked vegetables. Pour the oil as evenly as possible over the top of the vegetables followed by the tamari.  Salt is best on the yams and sweet potatoes.

If you are using a leafy green such as chard, knead mixture into chard, slightly stirring sesame seeds, oil and tamari to form a sauce. And just like that you have a hearty lunch filled with good healthy fats!

Cranberry Cultured Vegetables with Purple Cabbage

This mixture really rocks. There is just the perfect amount of sweetness, heat and spice that makes it so tasty and with all these fabulous ingredients, it is very healthy too!

Prepare Cranberry Sauce Directions
1 12 oz package of organic cranberries
¾  cup water
1 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
Zest of one orange rind

Combine all ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer for about 10 minutes until cranberries are soft. Remove from heat and let cool before adding it to the cabbage (directions for mixture below).  

You can use a sugar substitute if you like, however the sugar in this recipe will add a wonderful flavor, and when the entire batch is done, there will not be much sugar in each serving. Also, the sugars will be transformed into friendly bacteria! If you do not culture the recipe or give it time for the fermentation process, you could consider the mixture a wonderful relish salad that is very tasty and great to any meal.

Directions for Vegetables
2 heads purple cabbage
4-5 onions
4 jalapenos (seeded)
3 in piece of ginger (graded)
Optional to add cilantro
Salt to taste (season on the saltier side because it fades after fermentation process)

Preparing Your Vegetables
Wash the outer layers of the cabbage and set aside to use for the canopy of the vegetables. Rough chop the cabbage and process in a food processor until it is about the size of a relish (not too small though).

Peel onions and process as well. Remove the seeds from the jalapenos and process. Peel and grate the ginger or process.

Instructions For Fermentation Process

1. Combine all ingredients into one large bowl (glass or porcelain). Do not use stainless steel or plastic.

2. Cover the mixture with the outer layers of the cabbage leaves - covering every morsel of veggie. Make sure the sides of the bowl above the canopy line are clean of any food particles. The canopy acts as a protectant.

3. Then place a plate on top of the canopy, doing your best to find a plate the fits over most the canopy and mixture below.

4. Place something that can act as a weight on top of the plate. A  rock works well (make sure it is clean - best to boil for 5 minutes if you are not sure), or a mason jar of water. The idea is to put some weight on the top of the plate so there is some pressure applied to the mixture below.

5. Cover the entire bowl with weight with a clean towel and place in a cool (preferably dark) place. If it is covered then it will be dark inside.

Let the mixture sit for at least 3-4 days, but no more than 7.  It may start to bubble, which means it is fermenting, but just leave it alone. When it is time to harvest, remove all the materials on top of the mixture. Toss out the canopy cabbage leaves. Put mixture into jars and refrigerate. The jars will last in the fridge for months.

Take a jar to potlucks, or a friends for a holiday gift or just enjoy them on your own. Serve them with everything!!

Fried Banana Recipe

It was 9:00PM and I was starving. I had just returned home from the neighbors. We cracked open a bottle of wine, nibbled on some crackers and olives, and never had a full dinner. When we parted way they gave me a few bananas from their tree. Now, there is no where on Earth that I know of that grows bananas like we do in Hawaii, yet any ripe organic bananas will do for this recipe. Yes, this is what I had for dinner, and it was delicious and satisfying. It would be too filling for a dessert if following a meal, so its best on its own. Oh, and by the way, this is a completely legal meal from the Medical Medium. I know, the wine was not. So, I made up for it with this late dinner. Here is how simple it is:

Ingredients
2 ripe Bananas
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1 tbsp Maple syrup
Pinch of salt

Directions
Place the coconut oil and in skillet and warm it to medium high heat. While it is warming, slice the bananas in half from top to bottom.When the oil is hot place one side of the bananas in it and cook. The coconut oil should sizzle but not smoke.

Let them cook for about 3 to 5 min on each side (They will not get the golden brown color on them until you drizzle the maple syrup on top).

Once they are cooked on both sides, drizzle some of the maple syrup on them and turn them over. Turn them a couple times until the maple syrup begins to cook (try not to let it burn or smoke).

When they have that golden brown look, remove them from the heat and gentle drizzle a pinch of salt on top.

Accompany the meal with a fresh raw piece of fruit, or top with a dairy free yogurt of your choice.

YUM!