All posts by Lauren Bolanos

Dinner

Pesto Zucchini Pasta

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Pesto Zucchini Pasta - Healing and Eating

I recently got a new kitchen gadget that makes zucchini noodles! I have a spiralizer that doesn’t work very well, and have been meaning to get a more expensive one that hopefully will work. In the mean time, I got this awesome Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler, which was less than $20, and I thought it worked great. The reviews on amazon said it was really sharp, so you should hold your vegetable with a fork. Overall, I’m happy with my purchase.

As you can see, I put a ton of pesto on my zucchini. I love pesto, and I don’t love the taste of raw zucchini, so I thought, what the hell, and put all the pesto I made into the “noodles”. I’ve been known to eat pesto outside my fridge with a spoon, you know, like normal people do with ice cream. So I figured why not? It’s healthy, and I haven’t had Italian for awhile, so I’m going to eat every last bit…immediately. I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Pesto Zucchini Pasta
 
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Author:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 2 zucchinis made into noodles
  • 1 cup of raw pine nuts
  • ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 3 cups of fresh basil
Instructions
  1. Make zucchini noodles with julienne peeler. Hold down zucchini with a fork for safety.
  2. In food processor, combine, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, fresh basil and lemon juice.
  3. Blend until smooth, then toss with zucchini and plate dish.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1-2

Reviews

The Gelatin Secret ebook Review

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Gelatin Secret Review - Healing and Eating

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:

  1. Bone healing
  2. Joint health
  3. Gut health including leaky gut syndrome
  4. Autoimmune diseases
  5. Allergies and food sensitivity
  6. Weight loss
  7. Chronic Inflammation
  8. Muscle Formation
  9. Brain health and mood disorders
  10. Skin health including acne, wrinkles, and cellulite
  11. Healthy hair and nails
  12. 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

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Asian Carrot Slaw - Healing and Eating

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
 
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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
  1. Defrost pomegranate seeds and soak up extra juices and/or water.
  2. Shred carrots in the food processor and thinly slice red onions.
  3. Mix in sea salt and rice wine vinegar
  4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (Optional)
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2

Health & Wellness

Honeymoon Part 2: Big Basin

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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.

Honeymoon Part 2: Big Basin - Healing and Eating

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

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Carrot Pulp and Ginger Muffins - Healing and Eating

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

Soups

Easy Egg Drop Soup

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Easy Egg Drop Soup - Healing and Eating

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
 
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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
  1. 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.
  2. In a separate bowl, scramble eggs. Then slowly pour eggs into the soup, while whisking soup.
  3. Let eggs cook a couple minutes.
  4. Garnish with some scallions, and serve.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1-2