The Gelatin Secret ebook Review

July 25, 2014 Lauren Bolanos Leave a comment

So, I finally finished this ebook. Hooray!!! For a long time now, I’ve been a big fan of gelatin and bone broth. I’ve written a couple of posts about bone broth including, The Top Ten Reasons to Drink Bone Broth, and What I Put in my Bone Broth, so I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about the subject. Well, I’m happy to say that I learned some new information about bone bone in this ebook, and I thought it was definitely worth my time.

I was worried it would be overly long, since I’ve read a lot of lengthy health books and this ebook doesn’t feel that way at all. It was beautifully designed, which as a former graphic designer is important to me, and although it had lot of technical information, it didn’t come across as dry reading. In fact, her writing style felt honest and genuine, and the author, Syvie McCracken, conveyed her research in a clear and concise way, that’s accessible to people even with the busiest of schedules.

Some of the topics she covers in depth are gelatin for:

Bone healing
Joint health
Gut health including leaky gut syndrome
Autoimmune diseases
Allergies and food sensitivity
Weight loss
Chronic Inflammation
Muscle Formation
Brain health and mood disorders
Skin health including acne, wrinkles, and cellulite
Healthy hair and nails
Dental health

Sylvie also provides in her ebook directions for making bone broth and gives advice for making it regular part of your diet. If you’re interested in learning more about the health benefits of bone broth click here to visit Hollywood Homestead, to purchase your own copy.

Disclaimer: Since I’m such a huge fan of this ebook, I decided to become an affiliate for this product. Purchasing this ebook book will support both this blog, and Sylvie’s blog, The Hollywood Homestead.

Sides

Asian Carrot Slaw

July 23, 2014 Lauren Bolanos Leave a comment

I was looking for a way to use my bag pomegranate seeds in the freezer, and thought I would mix it into a salad. Well … the salad ended up the consistency of coleslaw, which I happen to love, so I decided to roll with it. I’m also loving my food processor since I finally figured out how to work the shredding blade. The best thing about this coleslaw, is that it’s like a salad, except much more filing from all the carrot fiber. As long as you don’t mind the crunch from the pomegranate seeds, which I don’t, this salad would be perfect for a picnic or a potluck.

Asian Carrot Slaw

Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

30 mins

Ingredients

2 cups of shredded carrots
¾ red onion thinly sliced
1 cup of pomegranate seeds (I used frozen)
1 tsp of sea salt (or more to taste)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
(optional) garnish with sesame seeds

Instructions

Defrost pomegranate seeds and soak up extra juices and/or water.
Shred carrots in the food processor and thinly slice red onions.
Mix in sea salt and rice wine vinegar
Sprinkle with sesame seeds (Optional)

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 2

Health & Wellness

Honeymoon Part 2: Big Basin

July 22, 2014 Lauren Bolanos Leave a comment

I wanted to share with you guys more of the awesome, and healthy activities we did on our honeymoon. When we left Monterey Bay to go to Sonoma Valley, we stopped at Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

When we were there, we hiked two easy trails. First, we did the Sequoia Trail Route A to Sempervirens Falls and Slippery Rock, which was considered easy to moderate at 3.5 miles. Then we did the Redwood Loop Trail, which is considered easy and contains the biggest redwoods at the State Park. This trail was only a half a mile. The trails took longer than you would expect since I was busy snapping photos. The two trails were the perfect length, so we got in a good workout, and still had time to drive to Sonoma Valley before it got dark. This was definitely worth the stop, even if it made for a crazy long travel day.

If you missed it check out my first honeymoon post on Monterey.

Breakfast

Carrot Pulp and Ginger Muffins

July 21, 2014 Lauren Bolanos Leave a comment

I’ve been trying to come up with different recipes for using juice pulp. I recently made a cucumber, carrot, and beet juice. Since I juiced the carrot first, I had a ton of beautiful organic carrot pulp that pains me to throw away. Although I still have a ton of pulp in my fridge, I was at least able to use one cup of it to make these muffins. I also used some fresh ginger and just enough honey to make them a little bit sweet. If you have a sweet tooth, you might want to consider eating them with some fresh summer jam. Personally, I prefer my baked goods to have as little sugar as I can tolerate.

Carrot Pulp and Ginger Muffins

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

55 mins

Serves: 12 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup of carrot pulp
2 cups of almond flour
4 eggs
3 tbsp honey
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp of vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt

Instructions

Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl, carrot pulp, almond flour, baking powder, and sea salt.
In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients, eggs, honey, apple cider vinegar, ginger, vanilla extract.
Then mix the wet ingredients with the dry ones with a hand mixer.
Fill a muffin tray with parchment muffin baking cups, then soup mixture ¾ of the way to the top.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Soups

Easy Egg Drop Soup

July 20, 2014 Lauren Bolanos 2 Comments

This is a great quick meal to make with leftover bone broth. It literally takes only about a couple minutes to make, assuming you already have broth made. If you only have a few minutes in the morning, consider making this for breakfast. You’re probably thinking, soup for breakfast? Is she serious? In my opinion, if you add eggs to any dish, it automatically makes it worthy of breakfast. Plus, soup is usually healthy, hydrating, and filing, so why shouldn’t you start your day with a nice bowl of soup. It’s way better for your health and waistline then a muffin or a granola bar, even if you made them paleo.

Easy Egg Drop Soup

Prep time

3 mins

Cook time

3 mins

Total time

6 mins

Ingredients

2 cups of bone broth (I've used chicken and beef)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp coconut aminos
¼ cup of scallions
2 eggs
¼ tsp of sea salt (or to taste)
¼ tsp of black pepper (or to taste)

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, simmer bone broth with ginger, black pepper, sea salt, coconut aminos, and most of the scallions. Save some scallions for a garnish, when done.
In a separate bowl, scramble eggs. Then slowly pour eggs into the soup, while whisking soup.
Let eggs cook a couple minutes.
Garnish with some scallions, and serve.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1-2

Salads

Easy Asian Salad

July 14, 2014 Lauren Bolanos Leave a comment

I made this salad vegan, but you can easily add some chicken or shrimp to it. I used my Ginger Scallion Dressing, which is also vegan and gluten free. Since there is onion in the salad as well as the dressing, you might want to reduce the amount of red onions you use. I love onions, as you guys know by now. But if you don’t love them like I do, I would reduce the amount by half. I also used romaine hearts, but napa cabbage would be great for this salad as well.

I think this is a really great base salad to get creative with, depending on what produce you find. I can see myself adding avocados, radishes, and even broccoli sprouts to it. Actually that sounds good on it’s own. Maybe I’ll make that soon.

Easy Asian Salad

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Ingredients

3 romaine hearts
1 red onion finely sliced
1.5 cups of finely shredded carrots (2 large carrots)
¼ sliced almonds
garnish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds

Instructions

Chop the romaine hearts, and shred carrots in food processor. Add to large bowl.
With a mandolin, finely shred red onion, and add to bowl.
Mix in sliced almonds, then add desired amount of ginger scallion dressing
Mix ingredients before garnishing with additional sliced almonds and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 2