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You are here: Home / 2014 / Archives for November 2014

Archives for November 2014

The Raw Cranberry Relish that Stole Thanksgiving

November 26, 2014 by Sarah

I have three siblings, and all of them live out of town. They were all here yesterday for an early Thanksgiving celebration, and my mom thought she would take advantage of all of us being in the same town at once. She has been going through pictures and old keepsakes the past couple weeks and found her stash of notes and cards and letters we wrote to our parents when we were kids. We had a fun time laughing at all of the different blasts from the past, but nothing was quite as funny as this letter that we came across.

Let me preface by saying that I was in 7th grade when I wrote this, and I recruited my 5th grade sister to help with my persuasion techniques.

I can’t tell if I was trying to be funny with the whole overly formal writing or I thought it would increase the probability of us getting what we wanted. Either way, I had some nice elements of imagery and emotional connection going on, and I don’t even know where I came up with some of these words, but it definitely provided for some great entertainment.

Notice the wite-out over the time and repetition of ‘o’clock’. HAHA!

Kid Letter

Apparently we were sincerely sincere about this letter and our ‘startling statement’ of a request.

Hopefully you got a kick out of that because I sure did.

But back to some food. When I say this raw cranberry sauce stole Thanksgiving, I mean like a star actor stole the show and not like the Grinch who stole Christmas. 🙂

Cranberry Relish

Cranberry Relish

This fresh tasting addition to your Thanksgiving dinner will blow your mind! It’s probably unlike any cranberry relish you’ve ever had before.

***A note on the essential oil use in this recipe: you should not ingest just any essential oil. Make sure that the orange essential oil is Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG) because these are a high enough quality that they are safe to ingest. I use and love dōTERRA oils, and you can buy them here.

Cranberry Relish Cranberry Relish

5.0 from 1 reviews
Raw Cranberry Relish
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Total time
15 mins
 
Author: Sarah
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds of organic fresh cranberries (about 1½ bags)
  • 2 tbsp. raw honey (or more, to taste)
  • 4 apples, diced into small pieces
  • Juice from 3 lemons, freshly squeezed or juiced
  • 10 drops wild orange essential oil
Instructions
  1. Dice ½ of a bag of cranberries and add it to the diced apples, lemon juice, raw honey and essential oil. Depending on how tart you want it, you may want to change the amount of raw honey you put in the recipe.
  2. Place 1 bag of cranberries in the food processor with the 'S' blade and process until shredded (about 10 seconds)
  3. Mix processed cranberries with diced mixture and let marinade in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
3.2.2802

Eat up tomorrow! 😉 And be thankful for the awesome body you’ve been given!!

Love on those close to you, but most importantly, love on yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

With love,

Sarah

 

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks, Vegan

Making Local Work

November 24, 2014 by Sarah

Calling all Michiganders and the like.

If you live in a climate similar to mine, you may have thought to yourself, I hear all this buzz about eating local, but how the heck do I get fresh, local produce in the wintertime?!

I mean, we were just bombarded with snow in the middle of November for goodness sakes; the tomatoes don’t stand a chance!

Well, that’s where greenhouses come in.

I recently learned about and visited a market farm about an hour north of where I live that uses an acre-sized computer-controlled greenhouse to grow organic produce. It’s called Good News Farm. They have a program where you can buy a farm box filled with fresh, organic produce each week, and they have pick-up locations all over the state! If you live in Michigan, you should definitely take a look to see if there is one near you. If you don’t, there may be something similar in your area, and you could ask around or do a google search for organic greenhouse farming.

Or if you’re really adventurous, you could even have your own greenhouse 😉
Great Deals on Greenhouses - Eartheasy.com

By visiting the farm, we learned all about their veganic growing methods and saw the whole greenhouse. We also met some of the high schoolers who work on the farm and are given scholarships for tuition at the local private school. I sure didn’t miss the opportunity to snap some shots of this beautiful operation.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking 🙂

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

 

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm

Good News Farm-56

Good News Farm

I’m so excited to start receiving boxes soon and be able to contribute to local, sustainable farming! Hope you’ve been inspired to do the same 🙂

With love,

Sarah

 

 

 

Filed Under: Education, Inspiration

Cherry Chocolate Chia Pudding

November 19, 2014 by Sarah

Because cherries and chocolate just complement each other so nicely.

And because we all need a reason to entertain our palettes.

This chia pudding is just the perfect little treat for any hour of the day, but it’s not just a sweet tooth satisfier. Oh, no. It can also be a delicious pick-me-up.

Why?

Chocolate Cherry Chia Pudding

Because chia seeds are what we call ‘nutrient dense’, meaning they contain many nutrients per calorie. In other words, they’re the total opposite of empty calories. Because chia seeds are loaded with healthy fats and protein that can provide you with energy along with many other benefits. They also contain Magnesium, which is a mineral many people may not receive enough of! I also recently learned that gelatinous foods, like chia, aloe and seaweed, promote cleansing. One more reason to love and eat those awesome little seeds on the regular! And all the fiber in them will also keep you regular too, if you know what I’m sayin’.

It’s nice to make a double portion of this recipe so you can keep some in the fridge or enjoy some with a friend! Or eat it all yourself in one sitting. No judgement what.so.ever.

Cherries

Chocolate Cherry Chia Pudding

If you let the pudding sit overnight, the dried cherries will soak up the liquid from the milk and become all plump and juicy. JUST HOW I LIKE ‘EM 😉

Get organic Chia Seeds here:

Cherry Chocolate Chia Pudding
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Total time
10 mins
 
Author: Sarah
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
  • 1 large or 2 small bananas
  • ¼ cup chia seeds
  • ¾ cup coconut milk
  • small handful of dried cherries, cut in half
  • 1 tsp. cherry concentrate (optional)
  • 1 tbsp. raw cacao powder
  • small handful shredded coconut (optional-can be used in pudding and/or as garnish)
Instructions
  1. Mash bananas in a bowl.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and stir.
  3. Leave in the fridge for a couple hours or overnight.
  4. Mix again before eating and stir in more milk if too thick.
3.2.2802

For more ways to get creative with your chia creations, check out my Beginner’s Guide to Chia Porridge!

Filed Under: Breakfast, Desserts, Recipes, Snacks, Uncategorized, Vegan

Decluttering Life

November 14, 2014 by Sarah

I recently started reading about the idea of minimalism and found it quite fascinating. I came across the website ‘The Minimalists‘ and read for awhile about what minimalism is and different ways to carry out a more minimalistic lifestyle.

The authors of the website, Joshua and Ryan, briefly explain Minimalism as:

“a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.”

Could it really be possible that having too much stuff makes us stressed out and possibly feel overwhelmed at times? I know it does for me! And something crazy to think about is this: most of us spend a good portion of our lives working and paying for things we can’t even enjoy because we may lack the free time to do so. I love the idea that eliminating extra things from our life can help us free up time and money to spend on what really matters to us, adding value to our lives in a way that mere stuff can’t.

I realized I could afford (haha) a little minimalism in my life, and I set out on my first task last weekend. I read about this minimalism game where you get rid of one thing on the first day of the month, two on the second, three on the third, and so forth. By the end, it gets tougher and tougher as you start having to get rid of many more things; it ends up being a total of 465 items!!

I thought I’d try and do as much as I could in one day.

I headed back to my dad’s house, where a lot of my stuff is being stored (really all the stuff from my old apartment that I didn’t need on the island over the summer and everything from my childhood!), and I went to town.

I didn’t count, but I managed to get rid of A TON of things. I just kept reminding myself how irritating clutter can be while I added endless items to the giveaway bag and the trash.

I also asked myself the following questions to help in situations where I was a little torn:

1. When was the last time I used this?

Obviously it really depends greatly on the item, but if I’ve gone several months or years without using or needing this item, it was usually out the door. Unless maybe it’s a first aid kit and not using it makes you cry,

Hallelujah

…and then you still keep it on hand.

2. Do I see myself using this anytime soon?

Chances are, you probably won’t. Some things are just a thing of the past, and that’s a great thing. Trust me. It was in the case of my stained white flat-brimmed hat that I never really wore.. except for in these selfies from 10th grade:

G   G

…I’m still laughing. What was I thinking?!

3. Is this item really adding any value to my life?

I know that necklace and poster I made when I was little was SO CUTE and took SO MUCH TIME to make, but it really doesn’t do anything for me now. And neither does that cute little mini bag I crocheted so I could keep all my pens and pencils right next to my bed for some intense journaling and diary-filling activities. I’m all about keepsakes, but I realized I’ve maaaybe been a little bit hoardy in some ways (no, not horny, although when you say it fast, it does kind of sound like that, haha).

I definitely want to go back again soon because I didn’t even bust open the doors of my closet where this kind of stuff may possibly fall out on me:

Lisa Frank

CD Player

Beanie Babies

…these things are still going to be worth loads of cash someday, right?!

You can also visit this page from Becoming Minimalist for more ideas on how to declutter your life. The author offers various creative ideas on how you can start eliminating unnecessary stuff from your life right away!

How about you? What do you think about minimalism?

When’s the last time you had a declutter day or would you be interested in playing the minimalist game I mentioned?

With love,

Sarah

 

 

Filed Under: Inspiration

Love Your Onion Friends

November 7, 2014 by Sarah

Looking for a great versatile food to add a pop of flavor to a variety of different dishes?

Stop your intensive searching!! Turn to some Balsamic-Glazed Onions!

These babies are delicious. Or could it just be that I am in love with balsamic vinegar? I guess just try them for yourself, and then we’ll know if my opinion is biased or not 😉

Balsamic Onion Salad

I have to give a little credit to work again for this one. We had a flatbread that had balsamic onions on it, and the onions tasted so freaking yummy on it. So I inquired (like usual).

The good news is that they’re way easy and quick to make.

The additional good news is that they’re flavor- bursting exploding good. Did I already cover that? Very well, I repeat myself.

Balsamic Onion Salad

This salad was especially fun to eat because I didn’t use any dressing. It’s one of those ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of salads. Gotta love a salad that’s not afraid to show its true colors: bed of greens, balsamic-glazed onions, goat cheese crumbles, sliced cucumber and avocado.

The reason I didn’t feel the need to use dressing was two-fold: the balsamic onions covered the flavor division nicely, and the avocado and goat cheese together add creaminess so when you mix the salad, it coats the other ingredients!

These onions are nice to keep in the fridge to add to salads on-the-go. Other than salads, you can put the onions on or with tons of things like eggs and quiches, sandwiches, lettuce wraps, quinoa/rice and sautéed veggies, homemade pizza, and proteins (chicken/steak/fish, etc.) – to name a few.

And lastly, these red onions don’t just taste good; my brother recently did a post about some of the health benefits of red onions over at Healthy Wild and Free! You better believe they are good for you, and this is a great way for you to include them into your diet 🙂

Balsamic-Glazed Onions
 
Print
Prep time
5 mins
Cook time
3 mins
Total time
8 mins
 
Author: Sarah
Ingredients
  • 1 red onion
  • small amount of coconut oil (or whatever oil you use for sautéing)
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • dash of rosemary and/or thyme (optional)
Instructions
  1. Slice up the red onion into medium-sized pieces and place in a pan with the oil.
  2. Sauté on medium-high heat for only a couple of minutes until the purple fades a little but the onions are still crunchy (about three to four minutes).
  3. Place onions in a seal tight container and cover about ¾ of the onions with balsamic vinegar.
  4. Sprinkle a dash rosemary and thyme and stir in.
  5. Place lid on and let marinade overnight in the refrigerator.
3.2.2802

Can you think of other dishes to add these balsamic-glazed onions to?

 

With love,

Sarah

 

Filed Under: Breakfast, Education, Greens, Inspiration, Salads

Five Things I Learned from my Menu Tasting at Work

November 3, 2014 by Sarah

Menu Tasting

I work at a farm-to-table fine dining restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our menu changes seasonally, we buy as much as we can locally (we even have our own garden in the summer), and I can finally genuinely recommend dishes now.We recently started our new fall menu and had a tasting. I was told to bring my camera, and me, being the aspiring food photographer that I am, jumped on that opportunity like there was no tomorrow. Even though I had to take the pictures quick, I think they some of them still turned out pretty nice.

I also learned, realized, and was reminded of some things that are useful in my own cooking. They’re not super profound, but something doesn’t necessarily have to be profound to offer insights. I guess I could call these subtle reminders and inspirations 🙂

1. Do what you gotta do to try and eat local!

616 Tasting-27-2lamb t-bones, finger eggplants, za’atar, carrot-orange puree, chermoula

616 Tasting-21-2 Apple-ginger stuffed pork loin, currants, steel cut oats persillade, turnips, vintage port reduction

Menu Tastingturkey duo (breast and confit leg and thigh), green beans, chanterelle duxelle, cranberry polenta

At the restaurant, we have an herb garden outside in the summer and fall, and we buy local produce when it’s available. Aside from just produce, we try to get some of our meats and dairy from local sources as well; all three of the pictures above show meats bought from Michigan farms, and we also get local cheeses and amish butter.

Buying local supports the farmers in your area, and you get to see right where your food comes from and possibly get to know your farmers as well. Look for farmers and farmers markets in your area, join a CSA, or grow your own food (you can grow herbs indoors in the winter!). I recently learned about a farm here in Michigan that grows vegetables through the winter in a greenhouse, and they have a FarmBox that costs $22 for a small box or $30 for a large one. They’re dropped up at many different locations and all you do is go pick up your box each week at one of the closest locations. What a great price and way to get local, fresh, organic, seasonal produce! I’m in the process of signing up and am excited to start receiving boxes soon 🙂 I will most likely post about it all in the future so stay tuned!

2. Eat with the seasons.

I was happy to see on our new menu things like pumpkin seed puree, sour apple slaw, jicama, kohlrabi, brussel sprout leaves, gingerbread spices, butternut squash, ginger-apple stuffing, cranberries, and cauliflower.

I don’t do this as often as I could, but this one rolls right off of #1 because eating local and eating with the seasons go hand in hand. A couple benefits of eating with the seasons are enhanced flavor and nutritional value and affordability. Not only is the produce cheaper, but it also tastes better and may also have more nutrients. Seasons are apart of nature’s balance and we often forget what to eat and how to eat seasonally because of modern food processing. We have so much available to us year round, but eating seasonally is going to offer us the best tasting, most affordable foods. Look for charts that show what’s being grown in your region during different months of the year.

Menu Tastingslow-roasted short rib, pumpkin seed puree, celiriac-caper slaw, pickled mustard seeds

616 Tasting-12-2cane syrup and tequila marinated mahi mahi, braised mustard greens, sour apple slaw

3. Make your own dressings.

616 Tasting-6-2jicama, lovage, arugula, citrus segments, smoked paprika vinaigrette

From this menu, and the last one, I came to realize that making dressing is not all that hard and can actually be kind of fun. As I talked about in my last post, I don’t really like to buy conventional dressings because I’d rather skip out on some of the junk, know what all the ingredients are and experiment making simpler ones myself.

I’m a lover of greens and dressing them well helps make your dishes and salads taste phenomenal! Here are some combinations I’ve seen:

shallot, garlic, salt and pepper, dijon mustard, any type of vinegar (sherry, balsamic, white wine)

paprika vinaigrette-dijon mustard, salt and pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, white vinegar, paprika

apple cider vinaigrette-apple cider, olive oil, salt and pepper, honey, lemon juice, shallot

white balsamic vinaigrette-white balsamic vinegar, shallot, garlic, olive oil, dijon mustard

You’ll notice some similarities in these dressings. Shallot and/or garlic (minced), salt and pepper, olive oil, and something astringent (usually vinegar). You can play around with proportions using these ingredients and make a dressing you like that you can keep in the fridge! Also, check out my last post titiled ‘The Pack-a-Salad Method’ to learn about more dressing ideas.

4. Vary your greens..and how you cook them!

616 Tasting-32-2black pepper papardelle, chanterelles, brussel sprout leaves, braised lamb neck and reduction, butternut squash

616 Tasting-39-2duck breast, ginger ale reduction, puffed wild rice, braised swiss chard, sliced radish

Some new greens we have on this menu include swiss chard, mustard greens, lovage, celery hearts, and brussel sprout leaves. The swiss chard and mustard greens are braised, and if you don’t know what that means exactly, neither did I.

I recently inquired about what braising entails exactly and found out that it is the process of searing – kind of like sautéing on high heat – the food first in a pan (possibly with garlic/onion/shallot and oil) and then adding a small amount of liquid and cooking it on low heat in a closed container. The greens taste really great actually by doing this because you break down some of the firmness of greens like swiss chard and you can add other flavors that cook right into the greens. It also tastes nice when eating it with the protein like the duck above. I look forward to trying this method with collard greens!

The lovage and celery hearts are both raw. Using raw greens is great for salads and garnishes to dishes. The brussel sprout leaves are cooked with the pasta dish and is a great reminder that you can cook greens (and other vegetables) into so many different dishes -pasta, quinoa, eggs, rice – during or towards the end of the cooking process. Usually you want to add greens towards the very end so they don’t get overcooked.

5. Experiment with making reductions.

I used to not know what a reduction was. Then when I did, I thought it must be complicated.

The truth is that it’s not at all. Place ingredients (below) in a pan. Boil and stir so the water cooks off in the form of steam and you are left with a thicker consistency than you started with. You should end up with a sauce-like consistency but the longer you heat, the more syrup-like consistency. Don’t ever cover the pan with a lid though because you need the water to steam off!

Reductions make for some great sauces to many different dishes. And the best part about them; they’re bold and full of character. Probably like your uncle.

You can make reductions with different combinations of some of the following:

  • vinegar (balsamic, white/red wine, white, sherry, apple cider, champagne)
  • juices (orange, cranberry, lemon, lime, apple juice/cider)
  • stock (chicken, beef, fish, vegetable)
  • garlic, onions or shallots
  • seasonings (rosemary, thyme, tarragon, salt, pepper)
  • wine (any red or white, ports)

You can just do very simple ones with just vinegar and stock, but if you love experimenting in the kitchen, play around with the ingredients mentioned above and what you have on hand! You may not want to do this often because reducing takes a little bit of time, but if you’re looking to have a nice meal and you want to add some bold flavors, this can be your answer! Just imagine your friends’ faces when you tell them you made, say, a New York Strip steak with a shallot red red wine reduction.

So, the bottom line and moral of my story here: you don’t have to pay $35 for a good home-cooked wholesome dish that features real and nourishing ingredients and tastes divine (unless you’re serving maybe 6 or 7 people, which is even better!). I used to think cooking in general was this big beast, and I didn’t want to touch it. Once I finally took the plunge and started learning about food and cooking in general, I realized that it’s such an art and a fun one at that!

And now for a little YOLO action right here:

616 Tasting-89-2 Menu Tasting

homemade brown butter cake and homemade pomegranate and pumpkin gelato

Filed Under: Education, Greens

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My name is Sarah. This is a wellness blog where I hope to encourage and inspire you on your mission to healthier living. Read More…

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