This recipe is adapted from the cookbook Raw Food, Real World. The original recipe uses too much salt and (is yucky with the stevia packets that are recommended in the original). It became the family favourite after I changed up the proportions. This recipe tastes great with Hemp Milk and is great snacking food for the kids too!
Maple Cinnamon Buckwheat Crispies
What you will need:
2 cups buckwheat groats soaked overnight
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp unrefined sea salt
parchment paper
How to do it:
Step 1: Drain the soaking buckwheat and rinse to remove extra starchiness.
Step 2: Pulse buckwheat with the other ingredients (should look like a soupy oatmeal).
Step 3: Divide batter on two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
Step 4: Dehydrate in your oven at the lowest temp (until the top is dry to the touch).
Step 5: Flip over (it is ok if it comes apart) and continue dehydrating until completely dry and crunchy (a few more hours).
Step 6: Break into pieces and store in an airtight container at room temp.
Variation: Replace cinnamon with 2 heaping Tbsp of cocoa or carob powder.
This instant breakfast is rocking my world (I even feel a little guilty for taking soooo long to publish it- I feel like I`ve been holding out-but really I was waiting for the perfect photo!).
I have never really enjoyed cold cereal and I can take or leave oatmeal, BUT this hot cereal is so good, I could eat it every day and in between meals for snacks (and I do!).
I got the idea from Ruth’s Cereal which I thoroughly enjoyed (but the kids’ didn’t). I started wondering if I could make a grain free version (Ruth`s has buckwheat and while I know it isn`t a grain per say, I work with people with digestive issues for whom even the seed grains are not tolerable).
What I love about this is that it is pleasantly sweet with the greenleaf stevia, dried fruit and fresh fruit on top, but has no need at all for honey or unrefined sugar. I really don`t enjoy any kind of concentrated sweet flavour at breakfast so this recipe is just perfect being that it is naturally sweet, yet not in that yucky way that leaves you hungry an hour later!
This cereal is raw but way easier to digest because it is soaked in hot water for just a few minutes.
I have to say that this recipe is my absolute favourite of all the recipes that I have ever developed! It is totally kid tested and approved!
I am super excited to share this with you not only because it is nutritious and delicious, but because of the difference it could make in your mornings when you are in a hurry and need a quick healthy breakfast that is as easy as `just add boiling water`! Hooray!
Cranberry Zinger Instant Breakfast Porridge
What you will need:
1 cup unsweetened cocononut or shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 cup cranberries (unsulphured)
1 cup chia seeds
1 cup raw walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp greenleaf stevia (optional)
How to do it:
Pulse ingredients for 10-20 seconds in a food processor or coffee grinder and store in a glass jar in the fridge.
How to use it for 1 adult serving:
4 Tbsp cereal
½ cup very hot water
Let sit for a few minutes to thicken.
(Child-size serving: 2 Tbsp cereal and 3 Tbsp hot water)
Then add (all optional-the recipe is great on its own too!):
hemp milk or cream to your taste
1/2 cup fresh fruit chopped into bite sized pieces
I also want to share with you how one of my lovely clients (who is also our lovely designer) came up with a fun recipe developing activity with her kids based on this recipe (hopefully it will inspire you to do this with your kids too)!!
She took this base recipe and let the kids decide what kind of fruit and nuts they wanted to add to theirs!
Here is a shot of some of their creations:
When you are making your own versions, the most important thing to do is include chia seeds (I also recommend keeping the proportions for the best texture).
Please share your favorite versions with us so that we can all have the benefit of a variety of nutrient dense fast food breakfasts!!
This recipe was inspired because I ran out of curry powder and had to make up my own!
Sweet Yam Curry
(makes 4 small servings)
What you will need:
1 small yellow onion
3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 cloves pressed garlic
1 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp each of dill, fennel, fenugreek and smoked paprika
3/4 tsp unrefined salt
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of hing
1/2 large pepper
2 small yams
1 large beet or turnip
1/3 cup of raisins
1 cup water
1/3 cup of nutritional yeast
How to do it:
Step 1: Saute spices in the coconut oil.
Step 2: Add onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.
Step 3: Add chopped red pepper, beet (turnip) and yams and then saute for a few minutes.
Step 4: Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer until the vegetables are soft.
Serve with a dallop of creme fraiche or yogurt on top!
This recipe gets it’s name from The Naam Restaurant– a 24 hour vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver, BC that is famous for it’s miso gravy served with potatoe wedges.
While I haven’t been there for a few years, this homemade version tastes just like it if my taste buds remember correctly!
Homemade Naam Sauce
What you will need:
2 cups water
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp unrefined sweetener
2 large cloves garlic pressed
1 Tbsp shredded ginger
1/2 cup spelt flour
4 Tbsp barley miso paste (add at the end to preserve the beneficial bacteria)
How to do it:
Step 1: Bring all ingredient except for the miso to a boil.
Step 2: Take off the stove.
Step 3: Add miso and process in a food processor or blender.
Serve over roasted veggies, grains or homemade fries!
* will update with almond flour and coconut flour alternatives to spelt ASAP so watch for that if you are gluten free
I distinctly remember thinking when I was a child, that “if my parents would treat me with the same kindness and respect that that they treated the people outside of our family, there would be little to no conflict between us”. This I suspected would have spared me from the pain and shame they unconsciously used, to get me to comply with their preferences and expectations……I also remember vowing to myself that I would remember what it was like to be a child, and therefore would be able to communicate to my own children, in a way that was respectful to their feelings.
Yet, like all parents, I too on more occasions than I care to admit, succumb to the old ways of parenting through power struggles with my children.
The problem is not that we need to learn new parenting skills to raise our children, but rather, that we need to unlearn the “parenting program” that our parents passed down to us.
The secret of parenting is simple, and it applies as much to parenting, as it does all relationships. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. That is simply it.
If you wouldn’t say what you say to your children, in the way that you say it, to a friend, then you shouldn’t be saying it, or at the very least be saying it in the way you said it to your child!!
This is common sense! Yet we try to get around it, in our impatience, hidden agendas and fear of losing control.
Consensus Between Parent and Child
Realize that it is possible to meet both your own needs and your child’s needs without compromise. Consensus is not compromise. Consensus is looking at the big picture and coming up with a higher way or solution to meet the needs of everyone involved. Our children need us to uphold what is best for them.
Can you imagine what it must be like to live around adults?
How would you like to be “ordered around”, have your decisions made for you and physically forced against your will to eat, go to bed and stop what you are doing, at a moments notice due to the conveniences of someone else’s agenda?
This is not even to speak of the physical and emotional abuse that many children must tragically endure.
Embracing Our Children’s Innocence
Let us recognize and embrace our children’s innocence…..I am so disheartened when I hear such statements such as “children are manipulative”, “bad”, “defiant” or “destructive”.
NO! THAT IS NOT WHO THE CHILD IS!!! Those behaviors come out of unmet needs! Needs that are our responsibility as the parents.
We must embrace our children’s innocence, and recognize that the problem is not with the child, never was and never will be!
If we can assume our child is innocent, we can stop and ask what is the right response in this moment? As we interact with our children, do we react to them with our unconscious “parenting programs” or are we responding to a sentient, innocent and vulnerable human being worthy of our love, respect and care?
How can we expect respect from our children if we do not treat them with respect?
Connection fosters respect. Your children want to please you from a place of desiring to feel your joy, rather than out of fear of your disapproval or your withholding of love. This also applies to the other side of the coin.
Children act defiant, because we humans have evolved to have what Gordon Neufeld refers to as “counter will”, it is a protective instinct! So called defiant children are not bad!!! This instinct and impulse to do the opposite of what we are told, arises out of a place of protection. Protection that is, from those who would have us do something that is not in our best interests! It only arises within us when the person telling us what to do, has hidden agendas or when that person has not established a connection with us.
When parenting becomes a struggle, we must ask ourselves what is wrong with our approach to the child, not what is wrong with the child?
We must trust the innocence of our children, and trust our selves to know how to parent in the way that we would want to be parented ourselves.
Let us come back to relating to our children as a path of conscious parenting. This is our greatest practice as conscious parents, and it is the only way to transcend painful so-called misbehavior. If we focus on the behavior instead of the child, we will continue to see more of the behavior, that is a fact. While if we focus on the relationship, we will see the true essence of our child as the behavior slips away.
Relationship is everything.
It seems appropriate to leave you with the profound insights of Kahil De Brahn.
“Your children are not your children, they are sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you, and though they are with you, they belong not to you. You may give them your love, but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may strive to be like them, but do not seek to make them like you. For life goes not backwards nor terry’s with yesterday.”
Let us bestow not only instinctual love upon our children, but also respect for who they are. Let us also stand with reverence for who they are to become, for we are very likely giving birth to souls who are much more evolved than we are! Children are our teachers. Let us embrace not only their innocence, but also their inherent wisdom. We can trust our child’s natural unfolding, as deeply as we can trust ourselves to know the difference between whether or not our actions, words and deeds as parents demonstrate love, respect and kindness. We do not have to question that. We can always feel it, within our soul’s wisdom.
Resources for Conscious Parenting:
www.alfiekohn.org
www.gordonneufeld.com
www.naomialdort.com
Many people complain that children should come with a manual, but few realize that they actually do!
The issue is not that we are not well equipped to know how to raise our children, rather the problem is that we have forgotten how to trust the “parenting manual” that resides within our soul.
This blueprint for parenting is not hidden, and we do not have to be spiritual to discover or decipher it. The knowledge of how to raise this child is inherent and it is given to us the moment we conceive our baby. If this is true, we ask, then why do so few parents claim their inner parenting wisdom?
The truth is that the voice of our soul’s wisdom, has been drowned out by much louder and stronger voices. While the soul whispers truth, the collective ego shouts fear. We have been hypnotized by a culture that asks us to trust the experts, to fear losing our individual autonomy as women and to maintain control over our children. It takes a powerful woman to stand up and claim her power in the midst of many who shout “no” to all that her inner voice is asking of her.
Birth is The Blueprint
From the moment of conception, we are being downloaded with the blueprint of how to raise the child that is forming in our womb. We are intimately connected with the child’s soul.
It is at this time that we can choose to either “tune in” and turn up the volume on our intuition or to “switch stations” altogether and enter the trance of society’s agenda for how we will raise our child.The choices we make prenatally and the self responsibility we choose to assume for our baby’s birth, sets the tone for how we will mother.
Even while our baby is in the womb, we are potentially creating lifelong patterns with him or her; and we all know how hard it is to break the patterns in our relationships.
If we need experts to manage our birth experience, we will naturally go on to make those same experts responsible for our child’s health and well-being.
If you feel the inner calling to claim your power as the wise woman healer of your family, know that you are well equipped to.
Surround yourself with other women who also feel this calling so that you can support and uphold one another.For those times when you feel that you need to consult with someone, allow your inspiration to guide you to toward experts or teachers who empower you to assume your own power and responsibility, rather than tell you what to do.
In time, the doubt within you that asks you to second guess your intuition (a.k.a. the tribal voices such as family, tradition, religion and culture) will start to quiet down. The less power and authority you give others over your choices, the less they will feel compelled to voice their criticism (and this includes your own inner critic!).
So then, will you rise up as wise woman healer and claim your baby’s manual?
Resources for Embracing Your Power Inner Parenting Blueprint and yourself as the Wise Woman Healer in your Family:
Birth: Birth and Breastfeeding by Michel Odent Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering by Dr. Sarah Buckley www.sarahjbuckley.com
Freebirth: Unassisted Childbirth-Laura Shanley www.unassistedchildbirth.com Primal Mothering in Modern World by Hygeia Halfmoon
Health: Healing Wise-Susun Weed www.susunweed.com Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child by Janet Zand, Robert Rountree, and Rachel Walton
Have a chocolate craving, but want to do without the dairy, wax and white sugar?
These are soooo easy that you can make them faster than you can run to the corner store and buy commercial chocolate chips!
I have to laugh because I have been meaning to make my own chocolate chips for literally about 5 years since I saw the recipe for carob chips in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook! For some reason, I kept putting it off thinking that it would be way to time consuming than it was worth. Isn’t it funny how we sometimes assume that cooking from scratch will just be too hard?
I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised by the simplicity of making your own chocolate chips at home.
Homemade Chocolate Chunks
(makes 2-3 cups)
What you will need:
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 cup honey, maple syrup or unrefined cane sugar
How to do it:
Step 1: Put everything in a small saucepan and melt.
Step 2: Line a baking tray with wax or parchment paper.
Step 3: Pour chocolate in tray and freeze for about 10 min.
Step 4: Cut or break into chocolate chunks.
Step 5: Store in the fridge in an air tight container.
Note: If you use unrefined sugar I have to warn you that it doesn’t melt easily. Once your ingredients are all melted and you taste the chocolate it will taste like there is no sweetener at all and that is because the sugar has sunk to the bottom. You will want to blend in a vitamix or prepare for crunchy choc (which I actually adore)!
Ever wonder what to do with the egg whites when a recipe calls for just egg yolks. Here is a yummy way to use those leftover egg whites. Your kids will thank you!
Coconut Macaroon Mounds (makes 22 cookies)
What you will need:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup unrefined sugar or honey
1/2 tsp unrefined salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond flour
3 cups shredded coconut
How to do it:
Step 1: Beat egg whites until stiff.
Step 2: Stir in all remaining ingredients.
Step 3: Line a baking tray with parchment paper or grease generously.
Step 4: Form batter into little cookie balls and place on tray.
Step 5: Bake at 325 degrees F for 25 minutes (or until lightly browned).
Let cool completely before serving (otherwise they will seem a bit mushy inside when still warm). Enjoy!
1) Sugar makes you fat.
2) Sugar wreaks havoc on your hormones.
3) Sugar makes you moody.
4) Sugar ages you.
5) Sugar increases inflammation
6) Sugar elevates your risk for developing cancer, diabetes and heart disease
While we know that all of this is true, it doesn’t make a bit of difference does it, when you feel the urge to reach for a candy bar or bag of chips (I know, you thought you were a salt person- but the truth is, potato chips metabolize just like sugar anyways. Busted!).
You see, the thing is that most of us are motivated by instant gratification.
The pleasure of sugar in the moment, outweighs the future health risks, right? And that’s why sheer willpower, diet plans and the very best intentions don’t work when it comes to sugar.
The truth is, when you eat sugar, it stimulates the release of dopamine, which makes you feel pleasure- essentially making your brain crave more.
Did you know that heroine, morphine and sugar all stimulate the same receptors in your brain?
That gives it some perspective, huh? Makes it a whole lot easier to see why it is so hard to get off sugar and why so many people are in denial.
If you are willing to admit that you are addicted to sugar, there is a part of you that WANTS TO get off sugar, and there is a part of you that DOESN’T WANT TO.
You feel conflicted, right?
You probably don’t trust yourself to even try, but there is also a part of you that is gently whispering ‘you can do it’, no?
I hear that and that is why we’ve developed a sugar detox that doesn’t force you to rely on your willpower (details below).
“Yeah but”, I bet you are wondering, “Will this just be another one of those things that I’ll try ‘half ass’ but never really get into”?
If you are nodding your head, you’ve hit the point of futility.
But, here is the Truth. In every decision you make, you are either moving toward better health or away from it. Don’t ever give up on you!!
Believe in yourself and that you are worth taking a chance on!
The thing is, even if you only implement 1/4 of what we share with you, you will still make significant gains toward your best health.
I don’t know any mom who wouldn’t welcome more energy and an increased sense of well-being. That’s a priceless commodity!
Here’s the solution we provide:
1) Move toward your goal of getting off sugar as fast or as slow as you want (yes, slow is good too -remember, slow and steady wins the race).
2) Follow our 3-step method that shows you how to replace, reduce and relax about sugar (this is not about becoming a militant sugar ‘avoider’).
3) Learn to feed your body, brain and spirit to ‘purge the urge’ for sugar-we will show you how!
4) Listen to what your body is trying to tell you (we will help you discover your unique craving complex so that you can eat your way to normalizing your desire for sugar).
6) What you will learn in this program will not only get you off the sugar roller coaster, but you will learn extremely important distinctions about food that medical/educational institutions and the media are NOT telling you (crucial stuff you’ll want to know).
7) Plus, everything we share (and the order in which we deliver it) is designed to get you off sugar without trying (you see, there is no reason to feel futility in this program- you can’t fail because you won’t be trying!)
Finally, this isn’t just about getting off of sugar, it is about a paradigm shift. Let us elevate you to a new and exciting way of relating to yourself and the world.
Alright – are you ready? Click here. Registration ends soon.
I tend to be a bit of a gypsy. The truth is, since my son was born 10 years ago, our family of four has moved 10 times from Manitoba to the west coast and back again.
I have had this ‘thing’ that happens in November when the snow starts to fall, and I suddenly feel ‘possessed’ to move (don’t judge me, we live in Winterpeg)!
This year the weather has been pretty mild, so I didn’t bother much with that thought.
Instead of moving, I decided to move the furniture (and it just happened naturally as I followed my desire to clear space and honestly assess what is working and isn’t working in my life).
Really, a simple shift in furniture can turn out to be pretty life transforming.
One specific thing that made moving the furniture so profound for us this time, is that I looked at the rooms in my home and the furniture and choose to see them outside of their ‘normal’ context.
There were two things about the way that my home was set up that just wasn’t working for me:
We have this one of a kind, made by a real person beautiful dining room table (in the photo), but there are two problems that it caused in the flow of my everyday life.
1) I used it as my desk. Imagine this, it is time for dinner and there I am pushing my work to one side of the table with barely enough room for my family to sit down comfortably. So everyday, I would have this sinking thought about having no space for my work and it taking up the space that I intended to be sacred with my family.
2) I originally purchased the table as an investment in intentional community. We used to live in a home with other families and we needed a table that we could all enjoy sitting at comfortably together. While we still have a vision of that table being used in a common space in an intentional community, it is not serving our family of four. This is on account of it’s rectangular shape. When 4 people sit on the end of it, it doesn’t feel balanced. Energetically, it makes one want to eat and get up as soon as possible. So we got a lovely round table and made the big table my desk! That’s right, save for when I have clients coming to my house, I can simply leave everything that I am working on spread out, so I can see it all at once!
Another simple shift that made a profound difference is that we not only switched the use of furniture, but we also rearranged our house unconventionally. We put the living room in the kitchen, the office in the living room and the main eating area in the dining room.
In the process, we also moved my daughter’s play space into the main floor bedroom (it used to take up most of our living room). Oh my word, the toys mostly even stay in there now!
I have to tell you that when our house was set up conventionally, it was really important to me that the children’s play space was in the middle of the living room because I wanted my kids to be close to me while I was in the kitchen.
BUT this new way that we set up means that while the playroom isn’t close to the kitchen, it is close to my work space -meaning that the children are playing close by where I spend most of my time anyway!
So not only does it feel like we are living in a new house, but something about the way we rearranged things, makes our home feel more spacious (and it is way easier to keep clean)!
The one thing that I want to share about why I think these shifts have so profoundly impacted the flow of our life and our home, is that we looked at our lives and our space ‘outside of the box’. We rearranged our home to suit us, rather than simply putting furniture in rooms the way that someone else decided makes sense.
And really, when you think about it, how could one design concept fit all people?
So if your home is making you feel like it was made for someone else, maybe it is time for some unconventional moving of the furniture so that your home reflects you (not the other way around)!
