The Beauty of Homemade- Gluten Free & Vegan Pesto

Okay come on, who doesn't love smothering their pasta in pesto?  Well, healthy food lovers, you are in luck because this girl has taken our idea of traditional creamy, cheesy and fat filled pesto and turned it into a gluten free and vegan friendly version.

My mom has been growing that beautiful potted basil plant on the porch all summer and it was time to use it.  So, I picked about two cups of basil and dusted off the old cuisine art.

The ingredients and "how to" are posted under the recipes tab!  Warning: you will be eating this with a spoon and licking it off the blade of the food processor.  It's okay, we won't judge.

Ps.  Yes I did tie this adorable storage jar with ripped up denim.  What a cute gift, right?  Denim makes everything cuter.  The 90s are back, baby.

xoxo

Sunday Dinner- Gluten Free Cornbread & Gluten Free/Vegan Chili

Don't you just love Sundays?  If you've ever met my mother, you know she likes to shop until everyone with her drops.  So, I knew it would be wise to fill up on breakfast since it was likely that I would be dragged around for hours of post-church-shopping.  (which I was, but totally NOT against my will...like mother like daughter.)  I started the morning out with fresh papaya and a big bowl of gluten free oatmeal topped with a 1/4 a cup of blueberries and a tablespoon of flax seed.  After church we went to Target, Banana Republic (they are having a 30% off of everything including sale, just FYI) and Earth Fare for a big ol' sunday grocery shop.  

I picked up all of the ingredients I needed for our Sunday dinner of gluten free cornbread and gluten free/vegan chili at Earth Fare.  When I got home I prepped the cornbread mix and put in the in fridge while I took an hour walk with my mom, step dad and my mom's best friend.  I've found that if I prep things around 5:00 pm, then I am more likely to get dinner on the table by 7:30 pm as opposed to 9:00 pm.  

Dinner was FABULOUS to say the least.  Tummy warming and satisfying without the worry of post Sunday dinner bloat.  Thank goodness for gluten free cooking, eh?  If you want the recipe for the cornbread, it is under the recipes tab!  I ended up using "Amys Organic Medium Hot Chili" instead of cooking it from scratch because I really wanted to go on that afternoon walk.  But, I would totally recommend Amy's for a substitute--organic, low in sodium, vegan and gluten free with no sugar or salt added!  Yippee!

Good luck to everyone starting school tomorrow! xo

Davidson Farmers Market

Saturday morning, summit coffee, fresh produce, fun treats, community, flowers and my darling hometown...I mean come on, what more could a girl ask for?

This morning, I had a treat from "Queen of Oats".  After a sweaty and freeing "kardio dance" class at Kadi Fit, I deserved it man.  My treat was the oat, nut, and love filled breakfast cookie pictured above.  Noticed it was half eaten before my camera could capture it......so yes, it was a snack worthy of royalty.  It was gluten-free, vegan friendly and sweetened with dates!  Yum!  That little babe must have sparked my sweet tooth because I then proceeded to snack on that cute, little carton of figs.  I love guilt-free treats.  For those of you baking this weekend, I challenge you to sweeten your treats with natural sugar sources like dates and figs.  The secret is to make it taste like you're cheating and fill your weekend craving without suffering world war I of calorie counting because you just ate like 18 tablespoons of processed sugar in that Chick Fil A chocolate chip cookie.

Tomorrow I am making "Happy Herbivore's" vegan chili and finally using the "Bob Mills" gluten free cornbread mix I have had in my pantry since Thanksgiving.  I will post the recipes and photos tomorrow!  Every other weekend my town hosts "Concert on the Green" and my family is counting on some chili and cornbread Sarah style.  It's all about eating the foods that you love without compromising your health.

Speaking of, go check out my gluten free salmon and veggie wrap under the recipes tab!  It is a great way to incorporate that leftover salmon into a yummy and satisfying lunch!

Have a lovely and blessed saturday dolls!

Vitamins Essential for Clear, Healthy & Glowing Skin

Nutrients play quite the important role in skin health.  In order to achieve a complexion that is clear, healthy and glowing you need to be feeding your skin foods rich in vitamin A, E, C and B complex vitamins.

Vitamin A:

What does it does: Without enough vitamin A you could be suffering from dry, itchy, scaly skin with acne.  A helps rebuild skin tissue.  It is wonderful for healing scrapes, wounds and damages to your skin.  Aka- if you popped a white head and you are now left with a repulsive looking cut on your face.  Pop open a vitamin A capsule with a push pin (making sure it is clean, of course) and dab a little bit on the open wound.  This will speed up the healing process dramatically and reduce the chance of scaring!  Talk about killing two birds with one stone.  Or should I say capsule.... ;)  Retinoids are a form of vitamin A that regulate cellular growth.  You can apply this topically to your skin as well.  You will find that retinoids are present in a lot of anti-aging products because vitamin A can reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles and dull skin.  So before instead of 120$ on that night cream and rehydrating serum, you could just be filling your diet with Vitamin A and applying a retinoid cream to those wrinkles.  Bam.

Food Sources:  Eggs, leafy greens, milk, carrots, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe and dried apricot.

Vitamin C:

What does it does: This antioxidant can battle skin aging as well because it stimulates the production of collagen in your skin.  Collagen is the protein responsible for making your skin supple, smooth and youthful.

Food sources: Broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, brussel sprouts, cucumber, guava, red pepper, kiwi, orange, green pepper, grapefruit and strawberries.

Vitamin E: 

What it does:  Vitamin E is an antioxidant as well.  It fights free radicals in your body (smoking, pollution and sun exposure) which are major components of pre-mature skin again.  Spots, wrinkles, stretch marks and lines can be reduced by upping vitamin E intake.

Food sources: Olives, sun-flower seeds, peanuts, almonds, wheat germ, leafy greens, kiwi, mango and tomato.

Vitamin B-Complex:

What it does: This water soluble vitamin is made up of multiple b vitamins.  Vitamin B1, B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pyridoxine), B6 (Biotin), Folic Acid and B12.  B1 boosts circulation in the body and gives your skin that "healthy glow" that the Loreal commercials are always taking about.  Well, until Loreal starts selling products rich in B1, I am not getting on that train.  Foods specifically rich in B1 are egg yolks, nuts and raisins.  Vitamin B3 (Niacin) helps your skin receive oxygen AKA prevents the development of Acne.  Say goodbye to pimples when you up your intake of tomato, broccoli and carrots.

Food sources: Chicken, tuna, turkey, halibut, lamb, beef, spelt, salmon, peanuts, bran, paprika, eggs, leafy greens, carrots and tomatos.

As you can see, healthy skin comes from feeding your body HEALTHY foods.  Hmmm...is it all starting to make sense?  What you put in your body will literally show in your skin.  So reduce your intake processed and refined foods which have the vitamins extracted out of them, and up your intake of vitamin A, C, E and B-complex rich foods.

If you are in search of organic products that are gluten-free, vegan friendly and benneficial in the journey towards healthier skin try out my favorites!

Aubrey Organics: go to the website

I fell in love with Aubrey Organics products when a representative gave an employes lecture to the health food store that I work at in Savannah.  I started using the Calming Skin Therapy line in the spring and absolutely adore it!  I have dry skin the in the winter and combination skin in the summer.   For my toner, moisturizer and facewash I pay about $45.00 every two months.  That is so much cheaper than any product you will find in department stores or even some lines at CVS that are full of chemicals and fillers.  Why would you pay money for products that are actually damaging your face and speeding up the aging process?  Do yourself a favor and try Aubrey Organics.  You can order on their website or find the products in Whole Foods or Earth Fare.  Sometimes they do not carry all 6 of the lines in those stores, but I know that we carry all of them in Brighter Day if you ever happen to be in Savannah, GA.

Alima Pure Cosmetics: go to the website

My love affair with Alima Pure was founded after I broke up with Bare Minerals.  For the first time in my 20 and 1/2 years of living, I was breaking out consistently OUT OF NOWHERE.  My skin is not acne prone, and the only thing that I had changed was my makeup.  I switched from a local, organic brand, manufactured out of greensboro to Bare Minerals---and trust me, my skin payed for it.  After my battle with the pore-clogging, lines-on-your-face-enhancing, Bare Minerals, my search for a new makeup brand began...and thus...I found Alima Pure!  Their makeup is mineral based using the purest-cosmetic-grade mineral pigments.  You wont' find any fillers, additives or fragrances in this makeup so there is no need to worry about irritation or break-outs.  And in conjunction with a great skin care line- Aubrey Organics-  I hope that you will find that you wake up with clear, glowing and healthy skin!  My favorite part of this company is that you can try samples of their foundations for $1.50!  This way you can order multiple colors and find which one is the best for you before you spend $20.00 on a full size.  I am on month 3 of using my full size container, to Europe, New York and back and I still have yet to finish it.  Think about it though--the better you take care of your skin, the less makeup you'll need.  Win-win situation all around.  Side note- I am Neutral 3 in the mineral foundation powder and I have fair-medium skin that burns easily.  I would probably be Neutral 2 in the winter.

So, there you have it dolls.  Vitamins to feed your skin essential nutrients and a skin care routine that supports natural beauty.

Feel free to email me with questions.

xoxo

Sarah

My Personal Health Journey & How I Find Balance

Calorie counting, to paleo, to gluten-free, to gluten-free vegan, to Europe and back.  I have been around the block when it comes to dieting and lifestyle changes.  I have tried all of these on like a pair of Louie Vuittons.  And now, I am telling my story--not to convert you to any of the above or to challenge your views, but to inform and inspire those searching for their own, personal, health journey.  It's all about finding balance.

Let's start at the beginning.  Three years ago, I did my first cleanse.  I was raised in a house with a fridge packed with organic food and weeks full of 19 hour dance rehearsals.  In the midst of this, I would cover my salad in parmesan cheese and constantly reach for the "honey-wheat" bread-- all the while thinking I was the healthiest gal on the planet.  I was not in denial, I was not lazy, I was just misread and in the dark about my health.

When I went off to college, the mentality switch began.  Not only did I meet my super healthy, well-read roommate Hannah, but I also was also immediately cast in a dance show produced by SCAD.  I hate the "f" word....."f" word as in-fat.  I was not "fat", but I was unhappy with the state of my body and my depleted energy levels.  This is when the search began.  The search for health, weight loss and happiness.  I'll let you in on the biggest secret I've learned through all of this- you cannot search for weight loss or happiness.  Those things are a by-product of health.  If you merely search for weight loss you will get stuck in a perpetual cycle of money spending and mood swings---trust me.

I started out by getting the app "my fitness pal" which is used for tracking calories and exercise.  Never will I ever count a damn calorie again.  That was the most miserable food experience I have ever encountered.  I limited myself for 1,200 calories a day from September-December.  And you know what?  I did lose a couple of pounds and felt OK, but I still was not giving my body the nutrients it craved, therefore, I was not able to keep it up. The truth of any "diet".  My body adapted to surviving on 1,200 calories a day which then made me hit a weight-loss plateau.  I was not a happy camper.  If you are eating the right foods with the nutrients your body needs, counting calories will be pointless because you will naturally crave less food.  Feeding your body is the secret to weight-loss, not the opposite.

When I returned to school in January I began to research the paleo diet.  I had heard about "the caveman diet" back in high school when it was used as a quick fix before spring break, but I had never actually tried the lifestyle.  So, I became paleo from January-August of 2012.  If you have not ever read it, I recommend Dr. D'Adamo's book "The Bloodtype Diet".  I am not an advocate of the full fledged diet, but I do believe that it holds truth.  It goes back to the origins of our bloodtype, where we emerged in history and how we adapted to our environments.  The proof that I have of this theory holding ground is my weight and iron levels.  I am blood type "A" which flourishes on a high carbohydrate, gluten-free, vegetarian diet.  When I went to the doctor in August and had been following the paleo diet, I had actually gained a few pounds and had low iron levels.  After converting to gluten-free veganism in the fall and filling my diet with millet, oats, veggies, fruits and non-gmo soy here and there, at my check-up in December my hormone and iron levels were normal for the first time in years, and I had actually lost weight. 

So how did I get from paleo to vegan you ask?  Well, it took a lot of reading, a lot of talking and a health documentary called "Forks over Knifes".  I have seen a lot of netflix health documentaries in my days, but that one is by far still my favorite.  What worked the best for me in the conversion was cutting everything cold turkey (no pun intended).  I did Dr. Oz's 48 hour detox and turned my back to animal products and all-things-gluten.

When I found out I was going to Europe, I wanted to be able to indulge in the culture and food.  So, in the spring, I slowly began to introduce animal products and a little bit of wheat here and there back into my diet.  My body did not feel like my body anymore.  Granted, I did backpack through Europe for a month, but I did not feel electricity running through my bones.  And it has taken me about a month to get back on track and detox my system.

So now, there are some days that I eat 100% vegan and some days where I wake up and decide I want scrambled eggs.  Whatever I put in my body, I just make sure that it is organic, clean and unrefined.  I want all of the vitamin and health benefits from my food.  Because guess what ya'll....We should EAT TO LIVE not live to eat...

Here are the facts-- when you introduce more kale less cesar salad, more fruit less welches fruit snacks and more millet bread less processed wheat bread into your diet, I guarantee you will improve your health.  Be a label whore.  READ The ingredients and understand what you are putting into your body.  Be educated.

It is baby-steps people.  There was a time I was eating pasta until 12:00 am and three years later my fridge is found absent of animal products, dairy products and gluten products and my body full of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts, raw seeds and naturally gluten-free whole grains.  I am still constantly reading, learning, searching and digging for new information.

So here are my parting words of advice- eat more vegetables and fruit, get the gluten out of your cabinet (if you don't believe me read Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis) and if you are going to eat animal products, and YES I sometimes do- know where they are coming from, making sure they are organic and free of GMOS (genetically modified organisms).  Be responsible and take over your health. 

xoxo

Sarah

Clean Eating & Moderation

My individual health journey is simple. I listen to my body. 

Let me put it this way- I strive to be conscious of what I am putting in and on my body every single day, but I am not perfect...who is?  Here is the raw and honest truth...are you ready?  I've done it all baby.  Low-carb, low-fat, paleo and vegan.  Do not get stuck in labels.  It is all about moderation.  So far on my journey, I have found that vegetables, fruits and (gluten-free) whole grains give me the energy and protein that my body needs, while being courteous to my digestive system.  When I chose to consume animal products, I always buy organic and hormone free.  I do not want my chicken being shot up with antibiotics at a slaughter house before it is on my dinner place.  Um, ew?  As you discover new recipes with me, use them to fit your lifestyle.  

Clean Eating

Alrighty folks, let's tackle clean eating.  This may sound posh, but it really is a VERY basic concept.  Clean eating consists of eating whole, unrefined foods.  This is not a diet...let me repeat THIS IS NOT A DIET.  This, my friends, is a lifestyle.  Welcome!  Think of this lifestyle as eating delicious, whole and unprocessed foods that serve as fuel for your beautiful body, making you a stronger, happier, brighter you!  Sounds awesome, right?  AND it's totally achievable.  So, what's the catch, Sarah?  (I know that is what you're thinking)  But, here is the thing...there is no "catch".  Clean eating requires commitment, planning and desire.  Commitment to your health, planning your meals and desire to live your life as a healthy and thriving individual!

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Feed that body

Do you ever feel like your tummy is saying "feed me, feed me!"  A lot of people make the mistake of "dieting" and limiting themselves to less than 1,000 or doing the opposite and stuffing themselves full with empty calories.  This, my darlings, is the worst possible way to lose fat permanently because if you are eating less than your body needs to survive, your body recognizes this and goes into starvation mode and it beings to store food as fat rather than burning it off as fuel....AH!  That sounds like your worst nightmare, right?  Yeah, mine too.  I do not believe in counting your calories.  Been there, done that.  It becomes an obsession.  I believe that if you are taking in all of the nutrients that your body needs and eliminating all of the junk that our world TELLS you that you need, you will achieve your hikin', bikin', rock climbin', yogi, dancer body.  Did you know that diet is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise?  Mind blowing, right?  That is why I have never understood why people chose a sugar fest cliff bar to recharge over some raw almond butter (heaven) and a banana.  Here is a good guide- find foods that are closest to their natural states.  The less packaging and ingredients, the better!

Avoid these lil' devils

Let me break it down for ya

​Avoid all processed and/or refined foods

ie: White flour (bread and crackers), white rice, canned fruits, breakfast cereals,  sugar, candies, cake mixes, fruit sacues, energy bars, cheese, milk, refined oils

Avoid saturated and trans fats

Avoid sodas and fruit juices

Sugar and Spice and everything NICE!​ ​

I know what you're thinking!  "Okay Sarah, well what CAN I eat?"  Thank goodness I have a recipes tab at the top, eh?  All joking aside, once you discover that your kitchen is your pharmacy and should be making you healthier and not sicker, you discover all of the natural foods you were ignoring while your face was inside the tostitos bag.  So, here are some tips and tricks that I use in my cooking:​
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-When I am baking, I use a certified gluten-free brand.  It will always have the certification stamp on the box.  ​

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-As far as bread goes, I use whole grain and gluten-free options.  Millet bread is my absolute favorite!  If your tummy is a warrior and can handle a little wheat, Ezekiel bread is your best option!  Ezekial is an ancient grain and it is sprouted wheat, which is not highly sprayed and processed like other wheat breads.  Besides Ezekiel bread, always look for WHOLE GRAIN and certified gluten free.  Stay away from WHOLE WHEAT.  Tip:  Keep your whole grain, gluten free bread in the freezer!  It will increase it's lifespan and save you a little moo-la $$$

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-When choosing pasta/rice always go for brown rice options.  Brown rice is a complex carbohydrates packed with vitamins and protein. 

Buy in bulk ya'll! 

It will save you so much money!  Plus, you can store your bulk rice and pasta in mason jars.  Cute, and thrifty.  Ah, yes.

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-Stevia is my best friend.  You think i'm kidding?  This wonderful sweetener, derived from a stevia plant, rocks my world.  Get it.  If you are using sugar in a baking recipe, always opt for "sugar in the raw".

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-Instead of buying expensive juice at the store every week, invest in a juicer!  Amazon sells them for great prices.  I got mine for under 100$ and I use it every single day.  This way, YOU control what you are putting in your juice...without the added sugar, syrups and not-so-nice price tag.

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-Get to know your spices.  My personal favorites are lemon-pepper, rosemary, thyme, onion powder and garlic powder.  As far as salt goes, I always go for the Celtic sea salt.  Pure, simple, clean, tasty, goodness for your body!  Added plus- it will "spice" up your food.  Get it?  Ha...ha...