Organic Granny

  We enjoyed this glorious salad on Christmas Eve.   It started out as a "bowl" in that the roasted butternut squash and quinoa were still hot when we added them in.  The next day we ate it as a more traditional salad cold from the fridge. Either way, the textures and flavours come together very nicely-- it is flavourful, yummy and filling while low-fat with no added refined sugar.  It is also vegan and gluten-free. Another winner from Candace Feldman's * Lean Into Plants *.

This yummy easy-on-me plant-based chocolate-cherry cobbler is a recipe of the fabulous *Forks Over Knives* team.  Link below. Chocolate-Cherry Cobbler, an incredible Christmas Confection!  So delicious, and low sugar, vegan, no added oils  and gluten-free if you opt to use GF quick oats. Also, quick to put together with most ingredients already in most of our cupboards.  Two kinds of cherries are suggested for this decadent dessert: frozen unsweetened dark sweet cherries (4 cups) and frozen unsweetened tart cherries (1 cup).  It might be tough to find either one or the other in your local market. You could consider other berries in a pinch  sweetening as needed. You could also use just one of the two berry types.   Find the full recipe HERE . If you have extra cherries, you might want to try the following great fudgy chocolate smoothie (approved by NutritionFacts.org's Dr. Michael Greger) Fudgy Chocolate- Cherry Smoothie      ...

We have come to the end of our 10-day junket through the joys of combined crafting and cooking-baking until next Christmas!  We have one more craft and one more batch of cookies to bake... are you ready? We are going to look at some fairly simple but artfully placed center pieces as our last craft. If you have stashed away your Christmas  pine cones of all sizes  and greenery from years past-- maybe even inherited some along the way-- you will be well on your way to being able to design and put together a centerpiece that you can take pride in. Relax with a cup of tea and your favourite seasonal background music.  Now, with no judgements on how hard this is, or how skilled you are, etc. etc. etc., watch the video and catch the vision!  If you want to send me a photo of your creation, I would be very happy to post it here!  Just let me know in the comments and we will arrange something. 7 Christmas Ornaments with Pine Cones DIY  The video: And now to c...

We are Celebrating Day 9 of 10 Days of a Gluten-Free Christmas with a recipe for GF plant-based Snickerdoodle cookies and a beautiful tissue paper paper craft that may grace your window, or perhaps become a gift in someone else's window! One of my all-time favourite Christmas crafts involves tissue paper.  If you are someone who 'saves' your wrapping paper from year to year, you likely have a number of tissue paper caches.  Get them out and make beautiful window "stained glass" using clear contact paper and pieces of tissue.  Below is a design for you to copy from, or you can find many other "coloring pages" to download and use as templates for what you want to display. Make a frame from black poster board, or just black construction paper.  After you have put the design on the one sheet of contact paper, cover with a second sheet of contact paper.  Be sure to provide a small hanger as is shown here.  Tape it to a window.  The idea is to relax and cre...

A traditional Christmas craft that is the epitome of recycling is making decorative gifts and crafty items using last year's Christmas cards. YoyoMax shows how to do some beautiful bookmarks. I am definitely going to take some of my glut of old cards and fold some of these.   (Video is below the following image) These are particularly handy if you are giving books away as gifts-- putting a beautiful bookmark into the book makes the gift just that extra little bit special.  You can even use these lovely bookmarks as fancy gift tags!  YoyoMax also has other Christmas card crafts that she tells about at the end of the video. Everybody's fave: Gluten-Free Crispy Rice Treats!  To be a truly gluten-free treat at this time it is necessary to purchase 'brown rice treats' because, for some reason, the white crispy rice products must all contain malt, which is made from gluten-containing barley!  Perhaps this will change at some point (check the labels) but not in 20...

Hope you are warm and cozy and enjoying the Christmas season! Today's craft is something I am quite sure we have all done before: paper snowflakes! Now, before you feel indignant about the simplicity (I can almost hear some of what some of you are thinking !!!!!!) I would like to point out that I have selected 3 videos that give exquisite tutorials in how to make a notch-up on the snowflakes we cut out in second grade! Take a look.  There is no voice in these particular videos which might be a good thing, since sometimes differences in pronunciation can distract and throw off auditory learners.  In these videos it is highly possible that the women do NOT speak English.  They very ably show how the snowflake is done using only their hands and visual cues. So, get your paper and scissors and give it a try! (Don't forget to come back for the cookie recipe!) https://youtu.be/6TIRmsln8F4 https://youtu.be/59dOIF3PMjY https://youtu.be/CdndXaH2VSs There you go! Kind of a nice me...

Lean Into Plants  (Find at Amazon.com )   by Candace Feldman Lean Into Plants is for those seeking an anti-inflammatory, primarily plant-based, nutrient-dense lifestyle with over 100+ recipes that heal and restore you to a healthy weight and vibrant health. The author's Smoothie Bowls taste and look like bowls of ice cream with all the toppings, except they are made with protein, healthy fats and carbs. -- Victoria Feldman Crisis Therapist & Author Victoriafeldman.com International Coach Federation Certified Life Coach Coaches Training Institute (CTI)  AFF(IL) Harvard Medical School.  #01055289  Phone: 831-236-8698 Facebook: Life Coaching LinkedIn Instagram.com/Victoriabfeldman/ New Bounty Program: Holiday Gift List https://amzn.to/3q3K2a7