Recipe Test: Coconutty Cookies

These cookies took multiple steps, more than I normally take to make cookies.  But I had some special requests to recreate the girl scouts famous cookies, the samoa.  The requirements; they are to be organic as well as gluten, lactose, casein FREE, whose taste embodies the flavor profile of the chocolate coconut samoas.  I was not sorry I took the time to make these tasty treats.

Shortbread Cookies

(using all organic ingredients)

1 cup coconut oil ghee, room temperature

1/2 cup organic raw cane sugar

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup arrowroot powder

1/2 cup tapioca powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

2 tablespoons almond milk (unsweetened)

Cream together your coconut oil ghee and sugar with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, vanilla powder and salt.  

Slowly add this to the ghee/sugar mixture.

Lastly add in the almond milk.
Place your dough ball in glass container with lid and refrigerate until the dough is as firm as a stick of butter (about 30 or 40 minutes, time may vary).

After dough is firm from the fridge. 

Preheat your oven to 350F  and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Using plenty of flour press out dough to about 1/4 - 1/8" thick, can do this in segments and use cookie cutters for shapes or freestyle your own. 

Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes.

Let cool on wire rack for at least 5 minutes before next step.

Caramel Coconut Topping

(using all organic ingredients)

1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened 

1/4 cup homemade caramel sauce (recipe below)

Take the coconut and toast in the oven or toaster oven at 300 degrees for a total of 15 minutes, stirring up every 5 minutes.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup canned coconut milk

2 tablespoons coconut oil ghee

pinch of real sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Melt coconut oil ghee in saucepan, then add in remaining ingredients.  Cook on medium heat while whisking the mixture for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until it thickens. 

Remove from heat and let cool. 

When the toasted coconut is done, mix 1/4 cup of the caramel sauce with the coconut in a small bowl. 

Melting Chocolate & Assembly of 

Coconutty Cookies

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks, organic & fair trade best

Double boil the chocolate to melt it down.

(Double Boil: Take a small pot and fill it with about a inch or two of water, place a heat safe bowl on top of pot of water.  Be sure not to let the water touch the bottom of bowl.  Place the pot on medium heat and fill your bowl with chocolate chips.  When you hear water boiling and chocolate begins to melt, remove from heat, but keep bowl on pot and stir chocolate until smooth).

Assembly of Coconutties

Have a parchment lined baking sheet ready.

Take a cookie and dip the bottom into chocolate to coat.  Place cookie on parchment lined sheet, and repeat for all cookies.

Take your coconut caramel mixture and place about a teaspoon of mixture on top of each cookie, pressing flat.

Take remaining chocolate and drizzle on top.

Place in refrigerator to set for 10 minutes.  

Take out and enjoy, or store in airtight glass container in refrigerator.

Happy Baking, Melting & Assembling Everyone!!

Recipe Test: Easy Peasy Organic Mango Coconut Milk Ice Cream

With the warming weather arriving I can't help but submit to my cravings for more fruits and colder treats.  If you think that there are no solutions for a quick delicious dairy free, gluten free & good for you frozen treat, think again!  

All you need is an immersion blender (or regular blender should work too) and a few ingredients and 5 minutes to make this scrumptious frozen treat. I just know all of you with your fancy Vitamix machines are going to try your version of this quick dairy free/gluten free ice cream treat!

Organic Mango Coconut Milk Ice Cream

2 Cups Frozen Organic Mango

1/2 Cup Organic Coconut Milk (canned full fat version)

1/4 Cup Organic Almond Milk (unsweetened)

1/4 Cup Santa Cruz Organics Mango Lemonade

1/4 Cup Raw Organic Almonds

1/3 Cup Raw Organic Pecans

3 TB Pure Organic Maple Syrup

Place all ingredients in 1 quart wide mouth mason jar and blend together with immersion blender. 
Or use regular blender or Vitamix. 

Blend until smooth, serve & enjoy! 

(Can also store in freezer for later right in mason jar)

Hope you enjoy this change of season in your lives and through your foods.

Happy Spring & Happy Blending!

Sustainable Spotlight: Live. Breathe. Grow.

Little Black Sustainable Dress by LBG

I can be quiet picky about the companies I choose to support.  

They must follow a few criteria.  

1. Only Eco-friendly products & practices 

2. Kindness towards all living beings, including fantastic customer service 

3. Support of local services and business

The women of Live. Breathe. Grow. most certainly follow these guidelines.  They are committed in every way to not only loving the earth, but also by loving each other and empowering the human spirit through clothing, yoga & education.

  

They share messages of truth, hope and inspiration right on their shirts.  

These inspirational tees say things like, 

"I am life. I am breath. I am growth. I am me."

Who couldn't use this daily reminder that we are wonderful, simply by being ourselves.

  Live. Breathe. Grow. works with yoga studios and events to custom create unique and beautiful eco-friendly tees.

 They also do special runs of unique shirts like the 

Pink Warrior Women Tee for breast cancer awareness.

  

Every shirt that was purchased had a portion of the funds go to YogaBear, a national not-for-profit organization connecting cancer patients and survivors with free yoga & support groups.  Not only that, but for every shirt they also donated a free Pink Warrior Tee to a women battling breast cancer right now.

The fabulous ladies of Live. Breathe. Grow. don't just talk about holistic health and healing, they live it everyday!


Located at 99 Wood Ave South on the 8th Floor in Iselin, NJ Yoga by Live. Breathe. Grow. at Metro Park is the corporate and commuters yoga studio! Yoga by Live. Breathe. Grow. at Metro park provides a collective of holistic health services including Yoga, Massage, Health Coaching and Workshops for the Metro Park Corporate Complex.
*This center is open to the public!

Some of the wonderful 

Upcoming workshops include:

April 5th 

The Mantra, Yoga & Dharma of Ganesh 

April 22 

LBG Method Anatomy Workshop

So whether you are able to attend a yoga class, get a massage, purchase a tee, or attend a workshop, you wont be sorry.  The love and passion are there in all that they do, and you will feel it. 

Support conscience companies like

Live. Breathe. Grow.

and make a difference in yourself and for our planet. 

Closing with a wonderful LBG affirmation.
I will live each day from the INside Out by honoring my authentic self. I will LIVE life filled with compassion, peace and gratitude. I will BREATHE compassion, peace and gratitude into everything I do. I will GROW in my community. 

I will INspire a movement to Live. Breathe. Grow.  

Live. Breathe. Grow.

Ahimsa: Practicing Kindness & Non-Violence

I am officially on my way to becoming a Certified Yoga Teacher!  This has been a long time coming to add to my healing bag of tricks. Already being a massage therapist & nutrition counselor, teaching yoga seems to fit in oh so nicely to help and heal others.

One of our (many) first assignments in teacher training was to define ahimsa and show how we use it in our daily lives and in our yoga practice.  As I was writing about this, I thought is was a great topic to discuss here with you.  Since I have spoken about the practice of mindfulness, ahimsa most certainly falls under a mindfulness practice, being mindful of your actions and thoughts and how they affect you and those around you. 

A perfect example of someone who lived their life though the practice of ahimsa was 

Mahatma Gandhi.

Ahimsa
(a - him - sa)

Meaning to do no harm or the avoidance of violence.
The practice of kindness and non-violence towards all living beings.

From a very young age my goal was always to do no harm in all aspects of life.  I was one of those kids who got upset at the ones who kicked the ant hills down, worried that the ants worked so hard for the other kids to just destroy all their efforts.  My love for animals and nature certainly helped fuel this desire to instill kindness and love in all that I do.  As an adult I continue to love our earth and all living things on her as much as possible.  

“In Gandhi’s thought, ahimsa precludes not only the act of inflicting a physical injury, but also mental states like evil thoughts and hatred, unkind behavior such as harsh words, dishonesty and lying, all of which he saw as manifestations of violence incompatible with ahimsa.”

Many daily acts are a practice of ahimsa, from caring for your children, animals and gardens, to smiling at a rude stranger instead of getting bothered by their behavior, to carefully saving spiders from the indoors and placing them back in nature.  In a way, if you have love for our planet and all earth friendly things, that can be considered to be full of ahimsa.  Striving to be non-violent towards our mother earth in all that we do.

In yoga one would hope to only find compassion and kindness towards your fellow yogis in class. But sometimes on the inside even a yogi can let their emotions and judgment get the better of them.  Even if one of your fellow yogis arrives late, or one has ‘too much stuff’ by their yoga mat, or someone that stays in child’s pose for half of the class.  Instead of possibly getting annoyed at the seemingly ‘taboo’ yogi behavior, sending them love, compassion and a smile that radiates from your heart is the right choice.

If this is something you find you need to work on yourself, practicing this same kindness towards others off the yoga mat, with family, friends, strangers and all living creatures is the path for you.  Physically the asanas (postures or poses) that open the heart (backbends) would be appropriate to focus on, or incorporate with this practice of ahimsa.

Another way to practice ahimsa through yoga, is to dedicate your practice to someone who you don’t necessarily see eye to eye with. Sending them kindness and love as we open our hearts through the  asanas (poses).  In our daily lives we can choose a path practicing ahimsa through our interactions with all living beings.  If someone steals your parking spot, be kind to them still, if you encounter a mother with a screaming child in the store, without getting irritated send love to them both, strive to speak to others in a kind and honest way in all situations in life.

Seems simple and straight forward right?  Instilling this practice in your daily life can be challenging if we are not feeling well, or just got some bad news, or when it comes to someone who we don't get along with.  But, the more we practice the easier it will get.  Identifying where you need the most practice will help you on your path.  Many sages say that the best place to start is within your family & immediate community.   Many will agree, this can be the most difficult place to really work on this practice of non-harming thoughts and actions.  But in the end, even if it is tough, practicing ahimsa with those closest to us will only help those relationships to be better and more fulfilling.

Where are you going to begin your practice of ahimsa?  What do you find most challenging?  

What do you find most gratifying?  How can you do even better?

These are questions to ask yourself, and check in every once and a while with, just to see how you are doing with this practice. 

With love, gratitude and compassion in my heart.

Namaste

Multiple illnesses broke me down, Yoga built me back UP!

Many of you are obviously aware that I have Celiac Disease which lead me to write my GF Cookbook, "Organic, Gluten-Free & Delicious".  During the time when we discovered I had Celiac, I was also suffering from Chronic Lyme Disease and Chronic Pancreatitis, and was extremely debilitated by this trifecta of diseases.  So much so that I was 25 years old and had to use a cane to walk and be pushed in a wheelchair for longer distances.

Now on the other side of the years of daily pain and isolation, I find it amazing that I even got through it all.  Meditation and yoga were a huge part of how I did not let the diseases get the best of me.  I have always had a naturally positive attitude in life, but when I was so sick some days it was supremely difficult to see the bright side of being hooked up to IVs and hiding from the sun.  

Before I got sick I loved to do yoga & tai chi and take classes whenever I could.  But when I was in the depths of illness, my yoga practice looked much different than it did before and even still looks much different today.  That is one of the many beauties of yoga, it doesn't matter where you were, but only where you are today.  And even with a more gentle practice you can still achieve the many great benefits of yoga.  You don't have to practice for hours a day to achieve great results.

I spent many of my mornings warming up with mild spinal movements on all fours (cat & cow poses) and relaxing down into child's pose.  Most mornings that was all I could handle, then it was onto my supported seated meditation, where multiple plush pillows where my best tools. 

I will never forget the day I was strong enough to get to a class on the beach near my house with the lovely and talented, Kristen, of Kristen Trieger Yoga here in Long Beach, NY. 

Sure, I still was not yet able to participate in 100% of the class that day, but holy moly did it feel amazing just to be out among other yogis who were around me with love and compassion in their hearts.  Since the Lyme Disease was still attacking my joints pretty badly at that time, my hips barely moved, and forget about pigeon pose! Now every time I do pigeon I can get deeper into it, and always remember that first class back when I could not even do it at all.

Even still, after all I went through, and all that my yoga practice has changed, I still use those same beginning gentle yoga postures (asanas) in my daily practice today.

Not only has yoga has built up my physical strength through asanas, but it helps to calm my mind on the more difficult days when things are not going quite right, or my arthritis from the Lyme Disease acts up.   It has helped me in so many ways that I decided to add it to my repertoire of healing modalities.  Already being a massage therapist and nutrition counselor, I know what the body needs to preform at optimal levels.  Adding in yoga and all that that entails is just the natural next step for me.  I live to not only better myself, but to help others live natural, balanced and happy lives.

I hope you enjoy hearing about my yogic journey, and that it can inspire you to make choices in your life that will better yourself and the world around you.

Namaste

the divine within me, honors the the divine within you