Michael Pollan Lecture

After a fabulous night at the Michael Pollan lecture at the Granada downtown last Thursday this sister is ready to get back in the nutrition swing! I was like a little child on the edge of my seat eating up everything that he was talking about. If you are not aware of who Michael Pollan is then please look into it. He is the leading advocate for the sustainable food movement who has written multiple books unveiling the food industry in this country, among them are The Omnivore's Deilema, In Defense of Food and Food Rules. I was lucky enough to have him sign my book on Thursday night, which means yes I met him! And I was the first one in line!! It was great, absolutely great.

I think most importantly that night God really redirected me towards my dreams, towards the passion that He placed so near to my heart. After experiencing such physical healing as I did myself I want everyone else to know the miracle of the human body to heal itself by God's design. Nutrition has become such a blurred and confusing topic more than anything else, and I want nothing more than to be a part of providing people with the simplicity behind eating Biblically. I want to proved people with the knowledge to treat one's body like a HOLY temple and to empower people to feel the best they can. Our spiritual health is certainly not dependent upon but it is definitely linked to our physical health and I can say that I have experienced all of the darkness that can come along with serious health problems. I can now say that I feel better than ever and have the ability to minister to people in a whole new way, my physical health leads to a great spiritual health that allows me to give of myself in entirety.

So here I am, having just graduated UCSB with a double major in Communications and Religious Studies, saying yes to God's call to pursue nutrition. What exactly that means, He has yet to reveal, but the excitement that is building as I wait upon Him is exhilarating. God's track record of faithfulness in my life is beyond outstanding. I believe with every ounce of my heart that He is going to come through. All I can do is follow my dreams, have the most hope and know that the failure is only in not trying at all.

Be sure to check out Michael Pollan's work, he is quite educated and caught up on all the issues revolving the food industry. I can guarantee you will not be wasting your time!

"...My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Hosea 4:6

God calls us to be knowledgeable. To be aware of what's going on around us. God gave us this earth and all the living things on it. If we are to be good stewards of what we have been given I believe we have a part to play in bringing justice back to something as near to us as what we eat and where it comes from.

Please be in prayer for me as I embark on this journey towards seeking His plan in all of this. Thanks to all of my followers!

Blessings,
<3 Dani

Breakfast Bowls

Two very simple breakfast bowls that I threw together this last weekend and thought were worth sharing. Breakfast is such an important meal since it's how you start off your whole day. If you can I would definitely recommend starting your day raw. That means, NO COFFEE, however wheatgrass or other vegetable juice will certainly give you that extra kick! If you're an avid coffee drinker just trust that your body doesn't NEED the caffeine, because it doesn't. Ween off slowly or go cold turkey do what you got to do but get off!! I think if anything, a cup of coffee in the afternoon is sufficient. I know it's harder in the winter but here in Santa Barbara we are so blessed that it doesn't actually get that cold and our winter already seems to be over!

Anyways, back to my breakfast bowls. The first one is my traditional applesauce, with some soaked raw buckwheat groats thrown on top. It added a little bit of crunch to the applesauce. Soak buckwheat groats in a bowl over night, no more than 10 hours. Rinse and strain well because as you'll notice they can get quite gummy.

The second one is flaxseed porridge. Simply add about 2 T water to every T freshly ground flaxseed. Let soak and very shortly you'll notice the flaxseed will soak the water and become like a porridge, add a teaspoon of cinnamon and possibly more water depending on how thick you want it. Mix well so the cinnamon is all throughout and top with peaches and blueberries! You could also add some agave or honey if you would prefer something sweeter.

The morning sets your tone for the whole day so it is also very important for your spiritual health to have a quiet, unstressful morning. This is why I believe morning devotions are so wonderful, whether it's 5 minutes or an hour. Just giving that little time to the Lord really sets your heart and mind on the things above, on Him. Now, I know how hard it is on early mornings to do this so I am preaching to myself as well. Here are some great verses on mornings from the Bible.

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night." Psalm 92:1-2

"Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

"For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

If you're looking for a solid devotional with short readings I would highly recommend Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest, I am LOVING it!

Enjoy,
<3 Dani

Backyard Bowls

I have been wanting to post about Backyard Bowls for awhile for now. It's an Acai bowl place, probounced Ah-sai-ee, here in Santa Barbara. This Brazilian traditional sweet treat is popping up everywhere in the states now. This place is really healthy, they have great options such as bee pollen, hemp and cashew milk, ground flaxseed and goji berries! I took my mom here and she really enjoyed it as well.

Acai berries are little purple berries that come from the Amazon Rainforests. raved about for their extremely high anti-oxidant content. Antioxidants are so important because they help protect your bodies cells against damage from unstable molecules like free radicals, which can lead to cancer formation. Blueberries have been widely heralded for being high in antioxidants, but the acai berry outranks them by far. The unfortunate thing is that they can be grown here in the U.S., they are imported and during the processes preservation and traveling they loose many valuable nutrients. The other unfortunate side of the acai berry craze is that here in America we almost always ruin a good thing by adding sugar. Which is exactly the case with acai. The great thing about Backyard Bowls is that you can ask for pure acai because they have two options! So be sure to that when you go in there!

I tried the Green Bowl for the first time last week and it's delicious. You might be scared because it's green but the acai is so sweet it overpowers all the broccoli and spinach that are thrown in there also. I always ask for flaxseed instead of granola because I feel like there's so much sugar from all the fruit anyways. Try this one, I dare you! This bowl is SUPER healthy :)

The original Backyard Bowls is downtown Santa Barbara but a newer location opened up in Goleta so be sure to check this place out if you haven't already!!

Blessings,
<3 Dani

p.s. If you really get into acai bowls, they can easily be made at home. You can buy pure acai juice, freeze it, then blend with bananas and whatever else you choose then slice some strawberries and add your favorite toppings like flaxseed or bee pollen! The possibilities are really endless!

Butternut Squash and Barley Risotto

I pretty much had the whole day off yesterday and got really inspired to cook again! I spent sometime blogging and got some great ideas. Then I went straight to the kitchen and put myself to work!

I was so excited because my boyfriend Ryan came over for dinner and I haven't really had the chance to cook for him before. And he liked it! He even had seconds, so I know he actually liked it! He's trying to eat all healthy now too so I have even more incentive to start cooking again!

Risotto is a traditional Italian dish made from rice. It's creamy and generally made with lots of parmesan cheese which makes it difficult to make vegan. However, with the consistency of squash I would say this dish came out relatively similar to a traditional risotto.

The other really exciting thing about this cooking adventure was that I finally used my new Misto! It's an oil sprayer that you fill up with whatever oil you like, which is so great because you put all kinds of healthy oils like flaxseed or grapeseed! I put grapeseed in mine since I was going to be using it to line pans for cooking most of time. Grapeseed is an excellent oil for maintaining nutrients under high heat.

Recipe
grapeseed oil
small butternut squash
1 sweet onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
half a lemon
10 or so fresh sage leaves
3/4 C barley

Peel, seed and cube the butternut squash. Dice the onion. Spray an oven dish with grapeseed oil or you can toss the veggies in a little drizzle. Layer butternut squash and onion in the dish. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top, add garlic and finely diced sage. Mix all around and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. Keep checking the squash by piercing a knife, you want the squash very done.Cook the barley as directed. Generally, you'll want to start with doubling the amount of water to barley, so in this recipe use 1 1/2 C water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. I added about another C of water and kept letting it simmer for another 15 minutes probably, for this recipe you'll want it well cooked. Once the butternut squash is done, using a fork mash it well and then fold into the pan with steaming hot barley and mix together thoroughly.

Enjoy,
<3 Dani

Healthy Snacks

By special request I have decided to write a post on healthy snacks. Some people are big snackers and some just aren't. I myself am not a huge snacker but I have experience in this area because Bianca is a major snacker. If you're trying to eat healthier and you know you're a snacker than it's very important to have healthy stuff around to grab when the munchies come along!

Here's some ideas:

-dried fruit

-trail mix

-Larabar's, fruit and nut bars that are mostly raw

-almond butter with celery or carrots or apple slices or banana

-hummus with veggies slices (cucumber, celery, carrots, snap peas, etc.)

-popcorn, preferably with olive oil and NOT butter (I know Trader Joe's makes a pre-popped bag), toppings like nutritional yeast or cinnamon are great on popcorn for a little flavor

-rice cakes (brown rice preferably), topped with hummus or almond butter and fruit preserves (made without sugar), a great alternative for fruit preserves is to buy frozen berries and leave them in the fridge, they defrost and becomes all mushy, it's a bit messy but completely natural

-tortilla chips and salsa

-crackers, WHOLE GRAIN, meaning no enriched or white flour, preferably gluten free

Alright, if you keep these things handy you'll certainly be good to go anytime you get hungry before your next meal! Snack away!

Blessings,
<3 Dani

Raw "Oatmeal" made with Oat Groats

I finally had some time this morning to use my VitaMix, which I had gotten for Christmas and hadn't even opened yet! I know so sad. But to my surprise it was a much smaller VitaMix than I had ever seen. At first I was disappointed but then I realized you know what, there's no reason that I need that big of blender anyways. It actually works out so much better for storage! So thanks Mom and Dad!

It's been a little warmer here in Santa Barbara so I've been increasing my raw foods. It really is so much easier to eat raw when it's warm, I just can't do it as much with the cold weather. But I will say I think I am getting ahead of myself here becuase I have been rather cold myself lately. Either way, I'm venturing into raw grains for breakfast. I made this raw oatmeal from soaked oat groats and it was delicious!!! Omigosh, the "oatmeal" was really gooey and reminded me of cake batter! Try this! Unfortunately, you will need a VitaMix blender to grind those tough oat groats into the right consistency.

You'll need to buy raw oat groats and then soak them in filtered water for at least 12 hours. I simply placed a few handfuls in a glass bowl, filled the bowl with water, covered with a paper towel and let sit in the cupboard. After 12 hours, drain and rinse well. Sometimes oat groats can acquire a bitter taste, this is where the rinsing helps. Place in your VitaMix with some water and blend on low variable, adding water to get the right consistency. Which there really is no right or wrong it's more like what you would prefer. I added about a cup of water to mine because I wanted it to be pourable yet thick.

Then to make this into a well rounded breakfast bowl I added a spoonful of ground flaxseed, sliced bananas and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It has become my new favorite breakfast! I know I said that about my other breakfast too but once I make something new and exciting I just get so into it!
Thought I'd include this picture for a less glamorous yet more reasonable look into this breakfast. Once you mix all the wonderful toppings into the oatmeal it's a sticky delicious mess!

Hope you enjoy as much as me!
<3 Dani

Quinoa with Kiwi and Strawberries

I've been venturing into different breakfast bowls lately. This one is my new favorite. It feels like springtime because of the kiwi and strawberries so it gets me excited! And with this wonderful weather were having here in Santa Barbara it's perfect! I even ate it cold one morning. I love the warm weather.

Quinoa is such a hearty grain and is a great way to start your day. This meal could also make a great snack, you could easily make a bunch and leave it refrigerated for a couple days. I've been making a large batch of quinoa and then each morning mixing in the fruit. I like to prepare the quinoa with extra water so that it comes out more like a porridge, but that's just me. I use 1 C quinoa to about 3 C water, I know it's a lot but it comes out great that way for breakfast bowls! It's kind of thicker and mushy like oatmeal.

Recipe
quinoa
1 T ground flaxseed
2 Kiwi's
couple of strawberries
Place desired amount of quinoa in a bowl. Finely dice kiwi and strawberries. Add flaxseed then fruit and mix well. Enjoy!

It's so simple and so delicious! Two posts this week, I'm doing much better!! I have another breakfast bowl coming soon too so stay tuned :)

Blessings,
Dani