Blog, Recipes, Snacks

Granola

January 10, 2014
Granola has been one of my favorite snacks since I was little and we always had it around the house when I was growing up. The base for the granola is really simple; you can change it up and add any of your favorite dried fruits, chocolate, nuts, and seeds that you like. Granola is such a great on-the-go snack and its absolutely delicious. I made this granola a few days ago for a hike in the North Georgia mountains!

Here are a few pictures from our  hike:

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Vegan Granola:

  • 2 cups of oats
  • 1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
  • 1/3 cup chopped almonds
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup flax seeds
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup (you can use equal part honey instead of maple syrup if you’d like)
  • 3 TB melted coconut oil

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Mix ingredients and bake in oven on 300 for 10-15 minutes. Let the granola cool then add chopped dark chocolate.

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Uncategorized

Southern Caviar

December 30, 2013

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Growing up in the South, my grandmother always makes black eyed peas, collard greens and corn bread for our New Years day meal.  Southerners have a ton of traditions and one of them is that you always have to eat enough peas and collards for good luck and prosperity for the upcoming year.

Like a lot of Southerners, we eat collards throughout the year and have them as a side with a lot of our meals.  My grandmother’s recipe is the best! Her secret ingredient in her collards is a little honey and vinegar mixed with enough seasoning so that the broth is good enough on its own! My grandmother calls the broth left in a pot of collards, “Pot Liquor,” and it is absolutely delicious with cornbread.

Another Southern recipe centered on the New Years tradition of black eyed peas is a healthy and delicious dip called Southern Caviar.  It’s a great dip to bring to your New Years party to share with family and friends.  My family has made this for years.  It’s one of my favorites and is a yummy vegan recipe.

*I used organic canned black eyed peas but you could use dried black eyed peas soaked overnight and then prepared the way you like. There is an easy way to prepare the Italian Dressing instead of using the store bought kind full of preservatives and additives (recipe below).  This time around I used Whole Food’s organic Italian Dressing.

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Southern Caviar

  • 1 (10 oz) can organic diced tomatoes and green chiles
  • 2 (15 oz) cans organic black-eyed peas, drained or approx. 2 cups of freshly prepared black eyed peas
  • 1 (15 oz) can organic whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 2 cups chopped red bell pepper
  • ½ cup chopped fresh jalapeno peppers
  • 8 oz bottle organic Italian Dressing
  • 4 oz jar chopped pimentos, drained

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and let sit overnight to combine flavors.  Serve with your favorite veggies or chips.  It’s great by itself too! 🙂

Recipe for Italian Dressing: 

  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp dried mustard
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 minced garlic clove.

Combine in jar and shake.  Let sit for at least 2 hours in frig.  Shake before using.

Happy New Years everyone!

Blog, Dessert, Recipes

Dark Chocolate, Coconut, Macadamia Nut Tart

December 9, 2013

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This is one of my new favorite desserts and I’m definitely going to be making this again for Christmas.

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Here is the recipe

For the crust:

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 2 TB coconut oil, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups almond flour (you can make your own by grinding almonds in a food processor until its the consistency of flour)
  • 2 TB maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp salt
For the ganache:
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk
  • 12 oz. of dark chocolate (min 70% cocao)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the top:

  • 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • A sprinkle of pink Himalayan sea salt

How to make the crust:

Turn oven to 350 degrees.  Blend almond flour, salt and shredded coconut in food processor until ground. Melt the coconut oil, and then add along with the maple syrup to almond flour and coconut mixture.  Blend until it turns into dough.

Spread the dough in a greased tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the dough is even in the pan (you can use your fingers or something like a measuring cup to flatten it)

Bake in the center of the oven for about 12-16 minutes then let it cool for at least an hour.

How to make the ganache:

Finely chop the dark chocolate and place in a bowl. Bring coconut milk to a boil in a saucepan then pour hot coconut milk in the bowl with the chocolate and let stand for one minute without stirring. Then stir until smooth and creamy and add vanilla.

How to make the toppings:

You can either roast the macadamia nuts and coconut in the oven on a baking sheet for 3-5 min or roast on top of the stove until golden brown (be careful because they burn very easily)

Pour chocolate mixture in the cooled crust. Then sprinkle toasted macadamia nuts and toasted coconut on top  with a little Himalayan sea salt. Chill for at least one hour in the refrigerator to let it set before eating.

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Blog, Dessert, Recipes

Pumpkin Trifle

December 1, 2013

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My family always goes all out on holidays. We always end up making enough food to feed an army and our leftovers usually last us at least a few days. This year I made a pumpkin pie from Chocolate Covered Katie (http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/) and it was delicious! For almost every special occasion, my grandmother makes chocolate trifle which is a family favorite. She layers brownies, whipped cream, chocolate pudding or custard, and either crumbled heath bars or nuts in a beautiful dish. This year, we had a lot of leftovers, so I thought why not make a trifle with the pumpkin pie we had left! This recipe is delicious and so easy to make 🙂

Here is the recipe

I didn’t use the crust in the pumpkin pie just the pie filling 🙂

For the pie filling:

  • 1 can organic pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup rolled oats
  • 1 can full-fat coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp ground flax
  • ½ cup coconut sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Turn on oven to 400 degrees.  Blend all ingredients together (I used my blender) then pour into greased pie pan and bake 25-30 minute then let cool. Put in refrigerator for several hours to let the pie set.

For the whipped coconut cream:

1 cup of coconut cream or full fat coconut milk

3 TB of coconut sugar

Put the can of coconut cream in the refrigerator overnight until it hardens, then put the solid coconut cream in a bowl.Don’t use the liquids at the bottom of the can, but would be great to drink (coconut water). Add coconut sugar to creamed coconut and blend together with an electric mixer until its whipped like whipped cream. Keep in refrigerator. You can use the leftover whipped cream in smoothies or eat with fruit 🙂

For the candied pecans:

Toss 1 cup of pecans with 1 TB melted coconut oil and 3 TB coconut sugar. Put in a pan and cook on low-medium heat stirring for around 5 minutes (these can burn very easily).

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Layer the pumpkin pie and whipped coconut cream in a dish then top with the candied pecans and sprinkle coconut sugar on top.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving 🙂

Blog, Lunch/Dinner, Recipes

Roasted Sweet Potato and Kale Salad with Almond Butter Dressing

November 20, 2013
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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
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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.
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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?”

Blog, Lunch/Dinner, Recipes

Vegetarian Chili

November 15, 2013

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What’s better on a cold night than a hot bowl of chili?

Ingredients: 

  • 2 Tb olive oil
  • 1 medium onion
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 3 TB chili powder (add more if needed)
  • 1 TB cumin
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 TB cayenne pepper
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 2 yellow squash
  • a red and green pepper
  • Two 10 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
  • 1 can of tomatoes with chili peppers
  • 2 TB tomato paste
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 cup spicy vegetarian refried beans
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • hot sauce to taste

Chop veggies then heat oil in a large pot. Cook onions and garlic until caramelized in the oil. Add peppers, zucchini, and squash and cook until tender. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, spices, and beans and stir. Cook over medium heat until it boils, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir in refried beans to thicken as needed and heat through. Add hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. You could also cook it in a crock pot on low for 4-6 hours.

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Blog, Dessert, Recipes

Autumn Apple Recipes

October 31, 2013

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Apple Crisp

Filling:

  • 6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and diced (mix sweet & tart)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup gluten-free whole oats
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 to 1  teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil

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Preheat oven to 375 F
In bowl, mix chopped apples, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons honey, and lemon juice. Stir until apples are coated.
In another bowl, whisk together the almond flour (I just ground raw almonds in food processor to make into flour), oats, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pecans, coconut palm sugar and coconut oil until crumbles.

Place the apples into a baking dish rubbed with a little coconut oil. Top apples with the crumble mixture.
Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or when the top is a little brown.  Let sit and cool for 5 to 10 minutes.  It will be very hot.
*you could also bake in individual little ramekin dishes for separate portions.

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Caramel Apple Nachos:

For The Caramel:

  • 5 dates (with pits removed)
  • 1/3 cup and 1 1/2 Tbsp water
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla

Blend dates in food processor then slowly add water and vanilla and blend until smooth

For The Chocolate:

  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coco powder

Pour all ingredients in a pot and stir on low heat until everything is mixed together.

**This makes a lot of chocolate. You can dip fruit in it, blend it with nut butter, or put in the freezer for later**

Core and slice apples (I used 2) and drizzle the caramel and chocolate on the apples, then sprinkle shredded coconut and raw pecans on top.

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I hope you enjoy these delicious apple treats! Happy Halloween everyone!

Blog, Health & Recovery

The Yellow Brick Road to Recovery

October 16, 2013

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When I was recently modeling in LA, I met the most encouraging and amazing person. Her name is Jodi and we met through a mutual friend.  I had an instant connection with her, not just because she was from the South and living in LA , but I could tell she was the type of person that I could talk to about anything.  When I met her, ED was slowly sneaking back into my life as I was getting back into the swing of modeling again.   It was so good to have someone there that I could share these storms of emotions with.

Just a few short weeks before getting to LA, it seemed I had everything under control with my eating disorder.  But the perfect storm hit as soon as I got there and I was letting ED take over again.   I had been struggling with the decision of whether to come home or stick it out through my storm and hope that ED would eventually leave me alone.  Every day, it was harder to ignore the anxiety and stress building as I tried to model and pretend that ED wasn’t with me again.  I was having severe panic attacks and my skin was literally crawling as I fought not to slip back into my old habits.

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*Thank you Jodi for being such a great friend to me! – Urth Caffe

The night that I decided to put myself first instead of ED and come home to continue my recovery, Jodi and I had met for dinner at our favorite restaurant.  Jodi was very supportive of my decision to come home and wanted us to see the Wizard of Oz at the IMAX Theater in Beverly Hills that night. I’ve seen Wizard of Oz who knows how many times, but this time the movie had a whole new meaning to me. I never saw how much it related to my eating disorder until I saw it this time.

I was definitely not in Kansas anymore. I left behind my comfortable life of therapy, recovery, the support of my family, and normal eating habits to landing in my own Technicolor Land of Oz full of measurements, diets, and the constant struggle to be perfect.  I was always responsible for most of the pressure I felt throughout my modeling career.   This trip was no different, except this time I was in my own OZ searching for a way to model without relying on ED to achieve perfection.

With an eating disorder, you’re always looking for the road that leads to a full recovery. Just like Dorothy, the Lion, Scarecrow, and the Tin-Man, you’re searching for…

COURAGE:

  • To be able to eat a meal without feeling guilty or obsessing over calories.
  • To be okay with exercising a normal amount each day.
  • To not be constantly trying to reach for perfection.
  • To not let your eating disorder take over your existence.

KNOWLEDGE:

  • To recognize when ED is lying to you.
  • To realize that the road to recovery is worth it.
  • To know when you are reaching your limit and need help.
  • To put your health first before anything.

HEART:

  • To see that you don’t have to be fully recovered to make a difference and help someone else.
  • To be happy with yourself regardless of your size.
  • To see how special and unique you are outside of your eating disorder.
  • To put yourself first before ED.

Honestly, at first I had no idea why Jodi wanted to take me to see the Wizard of Oz, but towards the end of the movie, it became very clear to me. Dorothy, the Lion, Scarecrow, and the Tin-Man all went on a journey to search for different things, but they found out they held the power to everything they were looking for all along.  It took them traveling across Oz and defeating a wicked witch to figure that out. The same goes with defeating an eating disorder. It may seem like the yellow brick road is never-ending and you will never be fully recovered, but you have the power inside yourself to get rid of ED for good.

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Blog, Health & Recovery

Identity Thief

October 8, 2013

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“The Girl With No Face” 

Art By: Ashton Powers

Picture this. You’re home alone when you hear a knock at the door. You go to see who it is, to find someone on your front porch. They push past you, but you don’t do anything to stop them, you just let them in. You don’t call the police and you don’t fight back; you willingly let a thief into your home. The thief takes your valuable belongings then leaves. Each day they come back to your house and each day you let them back in. They start taking more and more until you finally have nothing left for them to steal.  Why would you let someone come into your home time after time and walk away with everything you own?

That’s basically what happens when you have an eating disorder (ED). You let ED, the thief, manipulate your thoughts and replace them with lies about your size, intake, and how much you should exercise. Eventually, this can feel like it is taking over your existence. Your eating disorder keeps stealing little pieces of you, of your identity, until you have nothing left. You become your eating disorder and lose who you are in the process.  Eating disorders consume you; every minute of the day can be filled with these life-draining worries and thoughts.

When I was at my worst, I felt like I had no identity outside of my eating disorder. I wasn’t sure of who I was anymore.  I believed all of the lies ED told me.  Fear and shame left me purposefully isolating myself from my friends and family. No one seemed to understand what I was going through. My eating disorder had stolen my identity.

Stopping ED from coming in and stealing from you is not going to be an easy task; I still struggle with this thief on a daily basis. These are my steps to ED-proof your mind and prevent the thief from messing with your head.

  • Lock your door and don’t let him in – It might be hard at first, but get up enough courage and stop letting the thoughts control you and try to see them for what they really are.
  • Don’t be home – Go out and do something fun and completely not eating- disorder- related. Go spend a night out with friends, go for a relaxing walk in the park, or take up a new hobby. Do whatever you can to get yourself out there and get away from ED.
  • Call for help – Reach out to someone you trust. When you notice that you’re isolating yourself, ask a friend to MAKE you get away from ED.

No one deserves to have their identity stolen. You are not your eating disorder.   Stop letting the thief break in and take what is yours.  You are valuable, unique, beautiful and wonderfully made. There is so much more to you than ED wants you to believe.

Blog, Health & Recovery

From the Inside Out

October 1, 2013

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Art by Ashton Powers (me)

Eating disorders can be very deceiving. On the outside it can look like you finally have it all together and your emotions in check, but on the inside it’s a completely different story.  It’s very easy to hide your feelings and trick yourself (and others) into believing that you are better. This is what happened to me.  After a year and a half of recovery, I felt like I was ready to get back into modeling. I’m sure to everyone else it seemed like I had it all together, but that was all a mask.

Throughout my recovery, I didn’t want people to know how I felt and what I was going through, but I decided this time to be more open about my struggles. When I got back into modeling this past month, I made sure that I was upfront with my roommates in the model’s apartment and told them about my eating disorder.  I was hoping to come across as someone that had it all together.  It didn’t take long for me to see that I wasn’t as put together as I thought.  I began to realize that even though my outside might be right for modeling, it’s what was going on inside my head that matters the most.  This has probably been one of the biggest lessons I have learned and it took me flying across the country to figure it out.   Even though my body was cooperating and I looked the part, emotionally I had to be ready too. So I decided to take a break from modeling and I feel like this is one of the best decisions I could have ever made for me.

I’m not saying that everyone with an eating disorder should hide out for the rest of their lives; that’s the complete opposite of what I’m saying. It took me getting back into the modeling industry, facing my fears, going through the measurements in the agency, castings with clients looking me up and down and judging me by my appearance, being around other models that were not very sensitive to what I was going through, and living with the pressures that I put on myself to admit that I still wasn’t ready.  Modeling is a very intense and pressure-filled job…and two years ago I stuck it out and tried to work through all the pressures at the worse of my eating disorder.  I’m so glad that this time, I was able to see that it wasn’t right for me right now.   I was taking giant steps backward in my recovery. I started going backward in my eating, all of the things I never wanted to relive.  My eating disorder had surfaced again and I wasn’t ready.

A few years ago, I put my outside before my insides and I didn’t care what was happening to me emotionally.  Thankfully now, I saw it for what it was. These are lies from my eating disorder that were controlling me again and I knew that I had to get out of that environment so I could take care of me.  This time, instead of just worrying about my outside, I for once, thought about my inside…I cared about me.

I went back into modeling not just to prove to myself that I could succeed in the industry despite my ED, but also to help other girls that might be experiencing the same things I have. But in my mind, I thought I had to have everything together in order to help people, but that is the farthest from the truth. One of the main things I’ve learned is that I can help others in my brokenness. I don’t have to be perfect and have it all together to make a difference.  I thought this blog would be showing girls how I finally “have it all figured out” or how I completely overcame my eating disorder in just little over a year. The truth is that I am not anywhere close to being fully recovered in my eating disorder and I might not ever be. That doesn’t mean that I can’t try to help others while I’m still recovering myself. I know that I will always worry about my outside, but in order to start feeling free from ED, you have to first focus on the inside-out.