healthy – Plum Joyful

Creamy Kale Salad: Dairy free and Paleo

PlumJoyful — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 07:35:05 +0000

In keeping with the clean and green theme of the month I wanted to share a very simple salad recipe. If you did the green smoothie challenge last week then your probably feeling a little lighter and brighter. Let’s keep up the green goodness and continue our Spring cleanse. Kale is a great choice because it is such a powerful green for cleansing, and it can be used in place of the usual salad greens. Creamy Kale Salad Salad Ingredients 1 bunch Kale (the regular curly variety) 3 purple carrots (orange are fine too, I just love the look of the purple ones) 1 cup dried cranberries Dressing Ingredients 1/2 cup mayonnaise Juice of 1 lemon 1/4 tsp garlic powder Salt and pepper to taste Rinse the kale and cut the leaves from the stem by slicing lengthwise along the edge of the stem on both sides. Chop into small pieces and place in a large bowl, slice carrots in thin discs and add to Kale along with the cranberries. Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. Add to salad and massage dressing into the leaves with your hands to soften it a bit. That’s it! […]

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Meditation: Easy ways to incorporate it into your life

PlumJoyful — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:02:13 +0000

Meditation is one of the best things we can do for our health and wellbeing, it’s easy and it’s free! And it will improve you life on EVERY level. So why don’t we do it on the regular? It’s a bit like exercise in that way. I know it will make me feel SO much better once I do it, but getting myself to actually do it seems to be the challenge. It’s so curious to me that the things that we know will have exponentially positive effects on our life, like meditation, exercise, and eating well, are sometimes the most challenging things to do on a regular basis. Why? I think part of the challenge are all the “ideas” we have of what meditation is. That you have to sage your space or burn some cleansing incense, chant a mantra given to you by some guru who is so enlightened their body no longer requires sleep or food for that matter, and sit for a minimum of twenty minutes in perfect stillness with a blank mind. Oy. That kind of pressure is enough to make anyone not want to do it. If you are a perfectionist like me, chances are […]

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Simple spring salad

PlumJoyful — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 08:07:34 +0000

I love Spring. I know I’m a bit early, but the weather here in Los Angeles has been unseasonably warm, and Spring has been on my mind. I also love Farmer’s Markets, and my favorite one seems to be bursting at the seems with lush, sexy, colorful produce as Spring gets closer. It made me want to make something that tastes like spring while still using some of the winter produce like mandarins and beetroot while it’s still seasonal and available. Something bright, light, tart and sweet. I saw a big bag of amazing baby spring lettuces, and this very Spring-y salad was born. It is simple and fresh and perfect for a warm spring afternoon. If your on the east coast, maybe just pump up your heat, throw on a tank top and flip flops and get in the spirit with all us west coasters. simple spring salad ingredients 1 large bowl of mixed lettuces. Whatever you like. I love baby romaine, particularly an heirloom variety with red and green mottled leaves. 3-5 baby striped beets 3-5 mandarin oranges (clementines and tangerines work great to) 1 cup micro cilantro – Micro cilantro are baby cilantro sprouts that have that cilantro flavor […]

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Paleo “That’s my Jam” Olive Oil Muffins

PlumJoyful — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 16:39:18 +0000

In honor of Valentine’s day, I wanted a simple yummy easy to make sweet paleo friendly treat you can bake for your significant other, or yourself! This muffin is the perfect way to start your day. Healthy, gluten, refined sugar and dairy free, SCD and GAPS friendly, it’s moist and sweet with a little tart kick from the raspberry jam on top. Ingredients 3 eggs 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon coconut flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking powder (if you are paleo use Featherweight baking powder, or one that uses tapioca or potato starch in place of cornstarch. If your hardcore paleo, baking soda can be substituted) 2 Tablespoons cooked sweet potato (hardcore Paleo peeps can omit) All fruit (no sugar added) Rasberry jam, or any jam you like Combine the eggs, olive oil, sweet potato and honey and blend well. Combine sifted coconut flour, salt and baking powder and add to the wet mixture until well blended. Pour batter into cupcake or muffin cups. Add a small dollop of jam to the top of each one. Makes 6-8. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes. *Baking times may vary oven to […]

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Creating a non-toxic nursery Part One

PlumJoyful — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 00:00:31 +0000

When I got pregnant I set about learning all the ways I could create a non-toxic environment in order to best protect my little one from the allergies and autoimmune issues that I have struggled with most of my life. This led me down a veritable rabbit hole of toxins, pollutants and potential dangers lurking in the most innocent of places, our babies nursery! A study done by the Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies. These included pesticides, and brominated flame retardants. More specifically, according to the study, of the 287 chemicals found, 180 are known to cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz but instead of “Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!” I was chanting “Flame retardants, Phthalates, and BPA Oh shit!”. The good news is that in the end it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I was worried it would be an impossible task and that I would have to […]

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