Forager’s Pie is said to be the “hot cousin” of Shepard’s pie. I like that, in the spirt of ‘out with the old, in with the new.’ This recipe then is, yet again, a fresh spin on another classic, with a lighter, cleaner line-up of ingredients!

The idea of foraging conjures up hunting and gathering — I love this idea of spending hours hunting for the perfect mushrooms in the ‘wild,’ but that I don’t know much about which ones are safe, and which ones aren’t, I went to Whole Foods and filled a bag with shiitakes and baby portobellos!

The mushrooms, with the marsala wine and fresh thyme and rosemary, add a rich savoriness that says Fall through and through.

You’ll love this recipe! It’s so good, that a crust would only get in the way!

Ingredients

• 1 large Vidalia onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 pounds shiitake mushrooms (or personal favorite), cleaned and sliced
• 2 pounds sweet potato (2 medium sized, 1 extra large), pureed
• 3/4 cup marsala wine
• 1 1/2 cup Kite Hill, ricotta cheese
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 cup, fresh parsley, minced
• 1 cup almond milk
• sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Preparation

Puree sweet potatoes in food processor, with 3/4 cup of ricotta, sea salt and black pepper until creamy and well-combined. Set aside.

Saute onion, garlic, carrots, coconut oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper on medium-low, until translucent. Add marsala wine and simmer for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, fresh thyme and rosemary, and simmer until tender. Add almond milk and 3/4 cup ricotta — Stir until well-combined.

Scoop vegetable/mushroom sauté into a glass baking dish. Layer half the fresh parsley. Top with pureed sweet potato. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Top with remaining parsley and serve!

Buono Appetito! 

If you make this recipe, I’d LOVE to hear how you like it in the comments section below!

Most everyone loves pumpkin pie around the holidays… and like everything I make, I say fresh is best!

While I have used fresh pumpkin, I LOVE the ease of substituting sweet potatoes too, because they’re easier to handle. So in this recipe, Fresh Pumpkin Pie I offer you the choice to use either pumpkin, or sweet potatoes. Whatever you choose, they taste very similar. Heck, even Betty Crocker said to feel free to use them interchangeably back in the 1950s!

This gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free and paleo-friendly recipe is the best I’ve come up with to date for a fresh pumpkin pie! The almond milk ricotta beautifully takes the place of cornstarch and cream, to hold the filling together and add to the pie’s overall custard-like creaminess — think pumpkin cheesecake! The stevia can be used liberally, without fear of slipping into a a sugar-coma after dinner, and all the ingredients come together for a delicious and healthy dessert for you and your family!

I challenge you to find a REAL pumpkin pie (you will have to spend hours on that alone) that is as fresh and delicious as this recipe!

Crust: 

• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup dates, or dried apricots
• Vanilla powder or extract
• Pinch sea salt

Place the nuts, dates (and/or apricots), vanilla and sea salt in a food processor and process until a fine crumble forms and sticks together. Press the mixture into a glass pie dish using fingertips lightly dampened with water to prevent sticking. Feel for highs and lows in the mixture, and press it evenly into the baking dish. Refrigerate until ready.

Filling: 

• 3 cups mashed pumpkin or sweet potatoes (process in food processor until smooth)
• 1 cup Kite Hill almond-milk ricotta
• 1/2+ cup almond milk (add accordingly, to maintain a thick texture)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Stevia to taste

Instructions: 

In Vitamix, process all ingredients, until well-combined (add the almond milk slowly, to maintain thick creamy blend of ingredients).

Preheat oven to 350°.

Pour sweet potatoes mixture into pie-shell and bake for 30 minutes (watch carefully, to not burn crust).

Let cool for 30 minutes or more.

* For a dairy-free whipped topping, beat with hand-held beaters, full-fat coconut milk, vanilla and stevia to taste!

Serve and enjoy!

Buono Appetito! 

 

For a gorgeous blend of seasonal color and flavor, this hearty roasted root vegetable side dish is sure to be a healthy star at your seasonal celebrations!

Ingredients: 

• 3 medium red beets, washed and sliced thickly in 1 inch rounds
• 3 medium sweet potatoes or yams, washed and sliced thickly in 1 inch rounds
• 3 carrots, washed and cut in 3 inch pieces
• 3 parsnips, washed and cut in 3 inch pieces
• 1 -2 sweet onion, sliced thickly
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and separated cloves
• Fine sea salt to taste
• Cracked black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil

*  If you want to spin this recipe to be sweeter and still healthy, as an alternative to the overly-sweet version of holiday sweet potatoes, toss the cut vegetables in a stevia infused olive oil, before you place them in the baking dish. Drizzle the remaining sweetened oil over top, per the directions below.

Assemble:

Preheat oven to 375.

Cover the bottom of a large glass baking dish with coconut oil. Place red beet slices and sweet potato slices flat in the baking dish. Add carrots and parsnips. Cover with onion slices and whole garlic cloves. Sprinkle with sea salt, cracked black pepper and fresh rosemary. Roast for about 1 hour, or until tender.

Arrange all roasted vegetables on a serving platter. Serve and enjoy!

Buono Appetito! 

Fresh cranberries are available for only a short season each year, so I say put the traditional canned, or overly processed cranberry sauce aside this year and try my Fresh Cranberry & Fruit Relish for your holiday festivities.

Every ingredient is fresh, healthy and distinct to the season, with their bright, tart and sweet flavors blending in perfect balance.  Since this recipe is not cooked, I recommend you make it the day before, so all the flavors marinated and meld together.

Ingredients: 

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and deseeded
• 1 large orange, peeled and deseeded 
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice (only to achieve desired texture)
• Stevia to taste
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• Reserve a few whole cranberries and thin orange skin curls for garnish

Optional:

• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Pulse each ingredient separately in a food processor. Add to bowl on the side. When done pulsing, add orange juice (to achieve desired texture), stevia and sea salt. Pulse fresh ginger if desired, and add with cinnamon. Mix to thoroughly combine.  

Garnish with whole cranberries and/or orange skin curls.*

* To Make the Orange Curls: Make a slice through one side of the peel and the pulp, all the way up to the rind on the other side. Cut the pulp off of the peel so that you have one long thin strip of peel. Twist the peel into a curly-q shape. The peel will naturally hold its shape.

Buono Apetito! 

After you make this recipe, I’d love to hear how you and your family liked it in the comments below! Happy Holidays!

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I love to spin healthy recipes from classic, , unhealthy favorites! With the holidays’s approaching, I couldn’t resist creating an uber healthy and delicious spin on “Green Bean Casserole.”

Whole foods. Nothing processed. Vegan. Paleo. Nut-free. Clean. Fresh and delicious. This is a total crowd-pleaser!

Indeed, everyone around your holiday table this year will be saying, “OMG, WHO made the Green Bean Casserole this year? This recipe is to-die-for!”

Healthy Green Bean Casserole is super delicious, super healthy and with every flavor that you’re used to tasting in this classic holiday dish, sans the processed, nutrient-devoid and inflammatory ingredients of the of days gone by recipe!

Ingredients: 

• 1 – 1/2 pounds green beans, clipped and cleaned
• 1 pound parsnips, diced
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Vidalia onion, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 small onion, diced and sautéed
• 1 clove garlic, minced and sautéed
• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• Water
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Crispy Caramelized Onions:

• 1 large Vidalia onion, sliced thin
• Sauté slowly over medium low heat until caramelized and crispy, a tablespoon of coconut oil, sliced Vidalia onion, sea salt and cracked black pepper. Set aside.

Sautéed Onion & Garlic:

• 1/2 small onion
• garlic
• Saute until clear and translucent over medium-low heat

Mushrooms:

• Saute until tender, mushrooms, sea salt and cracked black pepper. Set Aside.

Parsnips:

• Steam al dente — firm but slightly tender

Green Beans:

• Steam lightly to a firm texture

Sauce:

In a Vitamix or high-speed blender, puree parsnips, 1/4 of sautéed mushrooms, sautéed 1/2 small onion and garlic, sea salt and cracked black pepper. Add water slowly to achieve a smooth, creamy texture.

Combine & Cook: 

In a large bowl, toss green beans, remaining mushrooms and sauce until well combined. Pour into a glass baking dish and bake at 375° until browning and bubbly. Top with caramelized onions and serve!

Buono Appetito!

The other day, Courtney, my client, said, “Carol, you should make a list of your favorite healthy on-the-go treats, or things you eat in a pinch. Sometimes, when I’m on the run, I don’t know what to get.”

This list of my top six favorite healthy on-the-go snacks was created for Courtney and you! I hope these ideas help you choose your healthiest choices when you’re on the run, but want keep it all clean!

Please note, my first recommendation is and always will be water-rich, fresh, raw, organic fruits and vegetables! Always. And in the spirit of ‘treat,’ try biting into an organic red pepper with a side of olives, or split an avocado and fill it with fermented sauerkraut, or a container of Mini-Kiwis or figs! Each offers a different flavor and texture to satisfy your craving. And I totally get that there might be days that you just want something more indulgent, while keeping it healthy!

Here are 6 of my go-to’s, when I want something more than just salad and green juice:

 

Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt might be one of the best processed healthy foods ever made! Master vegan-chef Tal Ronnen, founder of Kite Hill, offers the freshest tasting almond milk yogurt I’ve ever had. It’s smooth, creamy, slightly tart and serves up 11g of almond protein, live active cultures and ZERO added sugar in every cup (you know I LOVE this!).

When I’m in the need of a sweet and satiating fix, I grab a container of Kite Hill plain, unsweetened yogurt, and pair it with a container of organic berries… It’s a perfect and lightly sweet treat!  (Do note, Kite Hill offers many amazing dairy-free products!) 

 

Health-Ade Kombucha = Healthy Soda, though it’s NOTHING like soda at all!

Kombucha is an effervescent, fermented tea that offers many health benefits — it supports healthy gut flora and improves digestion, it destroys bad bacteria and provides B Vitamins.

Though, I’ve been a loyal devotee to another brand of kombucha for years, Health-Ade Kombucha came to market and quickly replaced my other favorite.

Health-Ade Kombucha is the only commercial kombucha fermented 100% in glass to prevent plastic and metal leaching. It’s hand-crafted in super-small 2.5 gallon batches for premium quality, and it’s the BEST TASTING and HIGHEST QUALITY kombucha you can buy! 

 

But on this particular day, for gosh-knows what reason, you say “I. MUST. HAVE. CHIPS!” NO fear. I’ve got you covered. Salty. Crunchy. And still FAR more healthy than “chips,”… Hello Sprouted Watermelon Seeds!

Easy to pack in your car, handbag or briefcase, Watermelon seeds offer a whopping TEN grams of protein in a ONE ounce serving, plus they’re high in Magnesium and Zinc! (Do note, Go Raw offers many amazing products!) 

 

 

Some days I want something meaty, so I’ll buy a package of Monterey Grilled Artichokes. I LOVE them! They are grown on a small farm in California, with a proprietary process that retains the health benefits of fresh artichokes that far exceeds any canned or jarred product!

They come in 4 flavors, Natural, Herb, Grilled and Buffalo, but my favorite is the Grilled. That I don’t eat meat any longer, these artichokes satisfy my need for something a little more dense and ‘meaty.’ I eat them alone, with a green juice, or with a salad, but one thing is sure, once you open them, you’ll want to eat them all. They are that good!

 

 

BudhiBars are wheat free, certified kosher, baked fresh without preservatives and kept frozen until they ship! The Almond Dark, the only one I buy (on rare occasion) is certified vegan, dairy free, low in sugar, high in fiber and a mixture of Swiss Cacao and Vegan Callebaut Chocolate! One bar (of this flavor — they have others) is ONLY 4 grams of sugar, which makes this an appealing choice, when nothing less than chocolate will do!

 

 

In the spirit of “saving the best for last,” New York Natural Cheese Kale Krackers are as good as any raw cracker I’ve ever made, which of course would be the only reason I would buy them — in a pinch, when I don’t have time to make them myself! They are the only cracker with kale as the main ingredient, with other ingredients like golden flax seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, and a perfect touch of seasoning! They maintain the life-force energy of the ingredients because they’re dehydrated, so they’re a great option on the day you want something a little more satiating with your salad… or just as a snack with your kombucha!

If you try any of my on-the-go favorites, or you have one you’d love to recommend to me, tell me in the comments below! I’d love to here from you!

Want even more delicious substitution suggestions? Click below to download my FREE “Close Enough Seconds” guide to provide you with additional ideas for your toughest cravings!

Download Your Free Substitutions Guide!

I worked two years for free.

My business was failing.

Then I drove 20 hours a day for Uber.

And slept in my car.

I had two degrees from two prestigious schools, three certifications from highly-accredited programs, and a lifetime seeped in studying health, healing and human potential.

I thought about the corporate route.

Instead, I chose work that I know makes a difference, 20-hour days, and the entrepreneurial life.

I had to give up my home, move in with my Mom and miss out on every social event for 3 years.

It didn’t matter.

Health matters.

I put myself behind the wheel.

Three years later, clients started lining up.

The hardest part is Faith.

And tenacity.

My first client knew I could make a difference for her.

She said that my “glowing skin” and “upbeat energy” reflected how she wanted to look and feel.

I did everything I could to show her she made the right decision.

That she too could look and feel her best.

Since then, I’ve served 100s of clients.

They’ve established my reputation.

Auto-immune disease in remission.

Ulcerative colitis in healing.

Insulin reduced by 70%.

Weight down 50 pounds.

I’m no longer a one-woman business, but a team who helps me serve my clients.

It takes time.

This year, I added more clients than the first three combined.

We all start somewhere.

And I never started at the finish line.

I failed more times than I succeeded in growing my business.

The only way I’ve grown is by solving one problem at a time.

I succeed because I fail.

The night sky is filled with millions of stars.

Every snowflake looks different from another.

The sun rises in the east every morning.

Life is but an endless series of experiences, with many extraordinary, seemingly disconnected, little details.

And the sum is breathtaking.

Your Turn

Would you work for free?

Would you leave a steady income and take any work to bring your dream to life?

Do you succeed now, because you failed?

Or, do you still fail, to succeed?

Post your comments below. I’d love to hear your story.

What are your health goals? Do you want to simply lose weight to slip into that favorite little black dress, or do you want to look and feel gorgeous and confident, emotionally balanced, mentally clear and in control of healthy habits everyday?

Do you want to simply burn excess fat so you look leaner, or do you want to turn back the hands of time in ways that the notch in your belt, the texture of your skin, the clarity of your mind and the contours of your muscles bespeak the seemingly elusive Fountain of Youth’s secrets?

Along the historical path to optimizing health and vitality, counting calories was introduced as “the” method to look and feel your best, even more than vital nutrition.

If you follow this protocol, yes, oh yes, you will lose weight, simply because the counting-calorie philosophy recommends you reduce the amount of food you eat everyday.

But the downside is, calorie-reduction programs across-the-board allow you to eat whatever you want, as long as you stay within the caloric-range recommended for your weight… even if it is not necessarily a healthy choice. This is a huge appeal for many.

You can eat chocolate cake. You can eat pizza. You can eat doughnuts, as long you don’t exceed your caloric-intake for the day.

Now add in the fitness-trainers who tell you you can eat whatever you want, if you “burn more calories” in their classes, and you’re going to end up at the bottom of the rabbit-hole in unhealthy-land chasing calories, while consuming foods that keep you in a state of cravings, imbalance and poor health.

The most important thing that the calorie-restriction diet companies, like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Nutri-Systems is missing is, calories have NOTHING to do with the state of your health.

Think about it, HOW can nutrient-devoid foods that the body can’t eliminate, like chocolate cake, pizza and doughnuts, promote the vitality and energy you need to look and feel your best when your body is incapable of healthfully eliminating them, and all the problems that causes?

Counting calories is a joke, if your goal is more than just weight loss, if your goal is to look and feel radiant, inside and out! 

Want to slip into that little black dress, buy a new wardrobe full of clothes you love, or simply look and feel as gloriously healthy as you are successful?

Stop counting calories. Stop listening to those who tell you to count calories as a viable approach to looking and feeling your best, and start counting the ways you bring oxygen into your body.

Start by eating foods high in oxygen.

Oxygen is the primary nutrition you need, it’s your lifeline.

Foods highest in oxygen were just picked, so they carry the highest amount of “life force energy,” because they were just picked.

Plus, foods like raw fruits and vegetables are low in calories, so there’s the release-excess-weight appeal, and they’ll deliver the maximum levels of oxygen and electricity your body needs for more energy, more vitality, more mental strength and clarity, more focus and feelings of creativity, more glowing skin… and less stress, less accumulated waste and less chronic symptoms.

Do you know that diseases like cancer, autoimmunity and heart-disease thrive in a low-oxygenated environment?

Yes, a body deprived of oxygen becomes dirty, obstructed and toxic. And the crux of this matter, that is politely not talked about nearly enough is, yeast, mold, fungus and bacteria thrive and grow on the stagnant waste, inside the body. Hello common, acute and chronic symptoms.

So how on earth can a calorie-reduction program, that includes, chocolate cake, pizza and doughnuts, all that process like sugar in the body, choices that offer zero nutritional value, not be considered a joke?

Sugar causes imbalance in the body, which leads to chronic disease, because it feeds the growth of unfriendly pathogen (on stagnant waste matter in the body), which is hardly the foundation for optimal health and vitality.

Stop counting calories. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Instead, count all the ways you can bring oxygen into your body, to look and feel every bit as healthy as you are successful!

Your Turn

Have you tried calorie-reduction programs? Had success, but fell back off?

Does removing foods like chocolate cake, pizza and doughnuts make sense to you?

Post your take on this blog in the comments below. I’d love to hear your take on this post.

Do you struggle with staying in the get-healthy game? Download Eliminate Excuses today. It will help. It’s an awesome mini-program that will help you deal with the endless reasons and excuses that typically get in the way!

Do you strive to cultivate a work culture that is happy and productive, focused and results-driven? Do you strive to both challenge and nurture your team? Do you, with your team, set out to solve some of the world’s biggest problems?

One of the things I consistently hear from leaders is they feel burned-out and unsure of how to balance what matters most, with everything else in their life.

Tom said to me, “I’d love to be more spiritual. I used to be, but I’m not anymore. I don’t know why. I think work took over my life”

Susan said, “I’ve accomplished everything I set out to achieve in my life. I’ve got a beautiful home. A wonderful family. A very full life, but I don’t know who I am anymore. I got lost along the way.”

One of the things I consistently say is, “You can’t successfully do anything over the long-haul, if you do not successfully take care of you.”

You can hire the very best consultants to help you learn how to be the best leader. You can learn cutting-edge business strategies to learn how to bring out the best in yourself and your team. But to consistently cultivate a high-performing work culture, make no mistake, it all begins with you.

Everything in your life circles back to how you care for you.

You know how the saying goes, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” 

Your health and your energy impact everything, your attitude, your outlook on life, your focus, your productivity, your ability to be a high-performer… your happiness.

Without acknowledging and attending to this, everything else is like icing on a mud pie — it’s like chasing a tail that you can never quite reach.

When you go out to dinner, never underestimate the power of consistent healthy food choices.

When you plan your week ahead, never underestimate the importance of scheduling in exercise.

When you’re co-workers invite you out to Happy Hour, and the night gets late and the festivities grow strong, never underestimate the value of saying no, leaving early to get to bed early, choosing healthy lifestyle habits across the board, to choose you, and what matters most to you.

You are the most important lynchpin to your team’s success. It all comes back to you. Not in a burdensome way, but in your health and wellbeing matters kind of way.

If you are responsible for leading your team to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, you’d be sorely remiss if you stepped over the ways your heath and wellbeing impact the results you all achieve. Statistics say it’s high-time you attend to your health and wellbeing.

Take your first step: Download Five-To-Thrive: 5 Daily Habits Top-Achievers Use to Increase Energy by 30% to learn the primary reasons why you’re experiencing low energy and falling behind.

Golden Milk is a creamy, hot drink that is soothing and oh-so healing.

I’m hot on Golden Milk lately. Why? Because I recently started indulging a lot in Matcha green tea lattes, and while they’re delicious, Matcha is caffeinated. Caffeine is false fire, not real fire. And I’m about building real energy, real fire in the body, not false energy. False energy bottoms out. Real energy builds and grows. 

Plus, caffeine overloads your kidneys and liver, acidifies your body and ages your tissues, think premature aging inside and out!

But… like you, I want to enjoy yummy, warm drinks too, but I want them to be healthy and nourishing, not depleting or hard on my adrenals (or yours!).

Hello Golden Milk.

Every ingredient in Golden Milk is oh-so healing, and comes together oh-so deliciously. Turmeric, a root native to Indian cuisine,  is touted as being even more effective than some pharmaceutical mediations for inflammation and depression. Ginger, an anti-inflammatory too, helps with digestion, absorption and is anti-bacterial!

Add a few more ingredients, like black pepper, to enhance the benefits of curcumin, the healing compound in turmeric, a little cinnamon and stevia to sweeten it, and voila, you’ve got a delicious healing drink without any side-effects.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 inch fresh ginger
• 1 inch fresh turmeric
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch or two of cinnamon
• Stevia to taste

Put all the ingredients in a high speed blender and puree. Strain and heat on your stove, until hot and foamy. Sprinkle with a little added cinnamon and enjoy!

Yes, you can find recipes that use powdered ingredients. Not me. I include fresh, live ingredients, to get the fresh, live benefits of these healing ingredients when they are in their whole-food state. Nothing processed can ever provide you with the same electricity that a fresh, live ingredients provide.

And since you’re after energy, try the recipe my way. You will love it!  Let me know how you like it in the comments section below.

BONUS: But you say, I like the energy I get from coffee. I say add Maca to build real energy by nourishing your endocrine system, rather than depleting it. Maca is an adaptogenic root from Peru, which will help balance your hormones and build your energy naturally!