November 2013

My family and I moved to the Atlanta area a little over a year ago.  Some of the first people we met were our neighbors across the street, the Churchills.  They were so nice and welcoming and they have become some of our really good friends. Ms. Amy is a personal chef and has an amazing job creating and cooking delicious food for her clients. She has had my family over several times to show us new healthy recipes and has taught us a lot. I love when the doorbell rings and I know it’s one of her girls or her bringing over something yummy for us to try. Her company’s website is http://www.alachef.com/ and you can find her on facebook where she posts a lot of healthy and tasty recipes.

The other night she brought over a salad along with a homemade chocolate cake that her daughter made! It was amazing! (I love living across the street from a personal chef! 🙂  She said the salad was a favorite of a lot of her clients and now I know why! It’s soooo good and I probably could drink the dressing by itself.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Kale Salad with Almond butter Dressing:

2 pounds sweet potatoes cut into 1” pieces

2 TB coconut oil or 1/4 cup olive oil

4 md garlic cloves minced

1/4 cup raw almond nut butter

1/3 cup coconut milk unsweet

zest and juice of 2 large lemons

1 pound organic kale stems removed and chopped

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Toss chopped sweet potatoes and garlic with oil of choice, salt and pepper and spread on baking sheet.  Roast at 425 F for 15-20 minutes.

Puree almond butter, lemon juice and zest, and coconut milk in blender.  Toss kale with hot sweet potatoes and garlic and almond butter dressing.  Toast slivered almonds in a little olive oil or coconut oil on top of the stove for just a few minutes.  Watch carefully, they can burn easily.  Top salad with roasted almonds and season as needed.   *she said she adds in romano cheese to the dressing for some of her clients but you can leave it out for a vegan option

The beautiful wooden spoons were one of our Christmas gifts from the Churchills last Christmas that they brought us back from their trip to Kenya Africa.  They are the co-founders of an amazing organization, Just One:  Africa.

Here is more about their organization from their website http://justonehope.org/

 “The heart of Just One: Africa is to help orphans and widows lead self-sustaining lives by helping provide them with the basic necessities of life: food, water, clothing, shelter and education. These are things that are easily accessible to most of us, but not to many orphans and widows in some parts of the world.

Mission Statement: Just One empowers local leaders to operate sustainable and effective orphanages.

Just One: Africa is a non-profit organization that seeks to help change lives for the better, especially in poverty-stricken areas of Kenya.

Our goal is to provide these necessities by helping widows and orphans improve farming and livestock-raising and providing them with clean water for drinking and washing, proper housing and educations for the children. We want to cultivate a stable foundation of provision for women and children who are in desperate need. The orphans and widows of Africa have lost so much, and we want to provide them with hope in the midst of what often appear to be hopeless situations.

Just One: Africa was birthed out of a visit by the founders to Kisumu, Kenya in 2012. Our hearts became burdened with a love for this country and a compassion for these people. We couldn’t just return to our comfortable lives, knowing that the people we had met and grown to love were struggling simply to survive. So we thought, “What if?”

We decided that we could at least make a difference in Just One life. So that’s what we’re doing? Won’t you help?”