Mango Blackberry Salsa

This salsa have an amazing flavor! I enjoy this most served with grilled Alaskan Salmon. So Good!


2 ripe mangoes, peeled and diced
2 small avocados, peeled and diced
1-2 cups blackberries sliced in half
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
real salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and chill for at least 30 mins. This would be great served atop most fish and grilled turkey breast or tenderloin.

Enjoy!

Close Second, Cafe Rio House Dressing

For all you western Cafe Rio lovers, this one's for you! This is a wonderful healthy option for their house dressing they use on their salads. We love to make cilantro lime rice, black beans, pico de gallo, and gaucomole with romaine lettuce and fresh cilantro for our salads. You could also roast or grill up some veggies to top it off. Enjoy this for Cinco de Mayo!

1 cup Vegenaise (I like the kind made with grape seed oil)
1/2 bunch Cilantro, washed
1/3 cup Goats Milk, or favorite milk option
1 half fresh Jalapeno or Tomatillo, sliced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Cayenne

1/4 tsp dried Dill Weed

1/2 tsp Onion powder

1/2 tsp Parsley Flakes

1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 tsp Real Salt or Himalayan Salt

Combine all ingredients into a Vita Mix blender or food processor. Start blending on low until cilantro is fully chopped and then gradually turn up the speed until you have a fine creamy consistency. Store dressing in a container and chill for at least 30 minutes or over night. Enjoy on a salad, in burritos, or any other Mexican dish you like.

The Feel Good Cookbook Giveaway

I am very excited to announce this giveaway of The Feel Good Cookbook. We all want to feel good right? Well this cookbook can help you with your journey to a feel good healthful diet.


Here's what Jonell Francis has to say about the foods we eat, feeling good and her cookbook...

"There is a strong connection between food and feeling good, between diet and disease. Read on and be amazed at how directly the foods we eat can affect the way we feel - in energy level, in mental clarity and mood, even in the degree of pain, inflammation and stress our bodies experience.
When I learned of the link between food and feeling good, I began looking for ways to feed my family healthier fuel -- free of refined sugars, flours and allergenic dairy products. Also, wheat and gluten sensitivity for some family members invited me to explore the strange new world of gluten free dining. Discovering the goodness of whole foods has rendered some wonderful new meals that my family actually prefers to the canned soup casseroles of the past.
Whether you want to eat more whole foods, build your immunity, or heal a specific health problem... this book is for you!"

Read this great testimonial of her book...

This is a long-time-coming creation of my friend, Jonell Francis, who has completely healed from what doctors were calling chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. At age 32, she was told she'd just have to be tired and in pain the rest of her life -- nothing could be done. Enter several life changes, and at age 43, Jonell is the picture of perfect health, jogs regularly and has just had her ninth child! Changing her family's diet to whole foods (and at the beginning, excluding allergy and gluten foods) has changed their lives! And she has mentored countless others, including me, to break free of their health struggles too, or to simply improve their family's daily eating. Everyone, including me kept asking, "when are you going to publish a cookbook?" Well, here it finally is. Jonell can take good ol' comfort food, Betty Crocker, PF Chang, Café Rio, and Magleby's, healthy-ize it, and WOW, this food is GOOD !!!! Every single thing she has cooked for me has been five star. And I've tasted a lot of her recipes over the nine years I've known her. --Becky, Syracuse, UT

Jonell Francis has been so kind to donate one of her amazing cookbooks to one of you lucky readers. Thanks Jonell!

Also if you would like to order or learn more about The Feel Good Cookbook go here.

To enter this giveaway please-
~ Leave a comment on this post by Thursday, April 30th @ 12am PST
~ The winner will be announced Friday, May 1st

National TV - Turnoff Week

Did you know that this next week, April 20th - 26th, is National TV - Turnoff Week. That right, it is and it happens twice a year. I think it's a great idea! My family will be participating and I'm getting all geared up with fun activities to do with my kids, maybe even a NO TV Party!

Here is a great resource on why to go TV free for the week and some great ideas for alternative activities.

Here are a few websites that also have some fun activities...

Makes and Takes
Family Fun
Unplug Your Kids
Enchanted Learning


Also Amy over at Super Healthy Kids will give one of her Healthy Habits Plates to anyone who successfully goes TV free for the week and shares their story with her.

So will you be TV free this week? If so let us know how it goes and how it made you feel. Hopefully your family can have a chance to spend more time together and feel a little bit more healthy!

And most importantly HAVE FUN!!!

Nut Cereal

Pour raw almonds a little over halfway full into a quart jar, fill with water and let swell for several hours or over night. When ready, chop into small pieces along with any of the hard nuts and seeds. Many of the following ingredients are optional and the recipe is limited only to your imagination! Store in the refrigerator for a week +. We like our nut cereal topped with soy milk or rice milk, we've had it with yogurt and like it as a topping on other dishes.

Nuts: almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, etc.
Sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds (ground)
Coconut flakes

Carrot Cake Bliss

This is a healthier variation to a Wilton recipe I love. Very rich in taste, I feel like there only needs to be a dollop of frosting to go with. Enjoy sparingly, although that may be hard!

1 Banana, mashed
4 cups Carrots, shredded
2/3 cup Pecans, chopped
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1/2 cup fresh Pineapple, crushed and drained
2 1/2 cups Agave
1 tsp Vanilla flavoring or extract
3 cups Flax Meal
2 cups unbleached Wheat Flour or Cake Flour, sifted
2 tsp Baking Soda, non-aluminum
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp each of Nutmeg, Cloves, Allspice, and Real Salt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together first seven ingredients through vanilla. In a separate medium sized bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and thoroughly incorporate. Next, pour the dry ingredients into the wet gradually, folding together until wet. Pour cake mixture into 2, 8 inch cake pans, lightly sprayed with olive oil and floured.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool cakes in pans for at least 10 minutes on cooling grid or rack. Then cool completely out of the pans on cooling grid or rack.

These cakes do well being frozen especially when frosting perfection is desired as well as a moister cake. For frosting I just used an organic frosting mix out of convenience. One day I will have a perfected recipe to share. Til then, enjoy!

Simple Berry Salad

This is a family favorite and a refreshing way of adding Fiber and Omega - 3 oils into your family's diet.

Sliced Strawberries
Blackberries
Blueberries
Ground Flax Seed
Honey

I really don't use measurements for this berry salad. Just mix together in a bowl all the berries you want, a generous amount of ground flax seed and enough honey to make it as sweet as you would like.

That's it! That's why it's called Simple Berry Salad. Enjoy!

Herbs...Where do I begin?

Many times, people ask me, "How can I learn more about herbs?" Of course there are many answers to that question, but I always love to start with a good book. There are hundreds and hundreds of herbal books on the shelves, but I thought I would recommend a few of my tried and true favorites; the ones I turn to most often. I thought I would start with my top 3 choices, in no particular order. These are all, in my opinion, worth having on a shelf in your home.

Herbal Reference Books:

#1: Rosemary Gladstar's Family Herbal
I love this book! Rosemary Gladstar is considered the "mother of modern herbalism," and has been a driving force in herbal education. Here is a quote from the book description of this book, as found on her website (www.sagemountain.com):

"Her herbal recipes address everyday ailments, ease stress and anxiety, and promote radiant beauty within and without while nurturing longevity and well-being throughout the life cycle. An herbal apothecary at the end of the book provides an A-to-Z guide to herbs and their healing uses, along with safety precautions, dosage information, and guidelines for when to seek traditional medical help."

What I really love about htis book is that it is a collection of many books that the author has written over the past 30 years. It is broken into easy-to-read sections such as: Home Remedies for Everyday Ailments, For Children, For Women, For Men, For Elders, etc. There are many recipes and formulas included, as well as great insights, tips and inspirational quotes. This book is beautifully put together and I find myself returning to it time and time again for the valuable information, formulas and insight it contains.

The new paperback edition is now available here.

#2: The Little Herb Encyclopedia, by Jack Ritchason
This book is probably the one most often pulled from my shelf. I often use it to look up an unfamiliar herb, reference a favorite one, or just to read and enjoy interesting facts, info or uses and history of herbs and health conditions. This 400 page reference contains an alphabetical listing of individual herbs, their bodily influence, and describes their history and uses. It is a fabulous resource for wanting more information on individual herbs and their actions for the body. It is a great place to start for those just beginning to use herbs, as well as a fabulous reference for even the most seasoned herbalist. It is one I would not do without on my shelf.

This book can be purchased here, as well as many other online sources. A simple search will pull up many options for purchase.

#3: The ABC Herbal, by Steven H. Horne
This small book packs a big punch. It is a great resource for parents concerned with the health and well being of their children. The author shares many of his "tried and true" remedies and approaches to health he used with his own children. He also has many years experience as an herbalist. I gained so much insight as to the functions of our bodies as well as how illness affeects them, by reading this little book. This book also shares simple methods and preparations for herbal remedies, and how to use them with children. The book is broken into several valuable sectiins with an emphasis on three major areas that are as easy as "A-B-C: Activate, Build-up, and Cleansing."

I have turned to this book often as a reference for my children, but also for the amazing insights offered into how using herbs helps the body to heal. Don't be fooled by this books small size, the information inside is huge!

This book can be purchased here, here, and many other online sources.


I am a book-lover, and I also love herbs! Over the past several years I have purchased many herbal books and references, so at first to narrow the selection to three seemed difficult. But as I thought about which I turned to the most often, as well as which have given me the greatest insights, the choice became simple. These three books are a great addition to any herbal collection, as well as a perfect place to begin one. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Natural Colors for Easter Eggs

By Guest Blogger: Amy Nelson



All natural dyes for your Easter Eggs: Go "green" this Easter and color your eggs with foods and spices from the grocery store!

For all dyes, bring dye mixture to a boil, remove from heat and cool and strain liquid into a medium bowl. Submerge 4 to 6 hard-boiled eggs in dye for up to 30 minutes, depending on how deep you want the color to be. Remove from dye and place on a cooling rack to dry. Store in fridge until ready to use.

ORANGE: 2 cups water
2 tablespoon white vinegar
2 tablespoon paprika

BLUE: 2 cups water
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1-1/2 cups blueberries

PINK: 2 cups water
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup chopped fresh beets

GREEN: 2 cups water
2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoon turmeric

When Marleen and I tried this we found the pink worked great. The blue works best on white eggs, not the best if you dip it in a different color first. The green and orange were a bit iffy. In fact I think the orange made a wonderful yellow. These colors came out to be muted and pastel-like. However, we did not leave the egg immersed the entire time. I'm thinking if you used white eggs in one color, they turn out with a truer color.

Both Marleen and I commented that even if the egg cracked during the dying process, we felt more at ease at eating it and not worrying about the weird chemical dye that we'd be digesting.

(Marleen, how did we have yellow? you might want to explain that; I just remembered that yellow worked well too).

*Editor's note: Answer to Amy, I thought we needed yellow more than green since we had the primary colors to make green so we made yellow coloring with using only turmeric. It turned out to be a beautiful pastel yellow.

Guest Blogger: Amy Nelson

A quick note. We will be having another wonderful guest blogger either today or tomorrow! Amy Nelson, is a wonderful church friend that I am so privileged to know. She knows that I have been running this blog and from time to time she will send me wonderful health tidbits. I love it! Make a mental note of that. I love to hear from all of you too as well as the other contributors.

Amy has a very cool post in celebration of Easter coming up. Try not to miss it!

Natural and Safe Hand Sanitizer

If your looking for a cheap and safe hand sanitizer try this. This formula is also less harsh on your skin. It works great and the essential oils give it a wonderful antibacterial boost. And it smells lovely!


1/4 cup Pure Aloe Vera Gel (note: the aloe vera gel pictured is not pure, I usually use this brand)
1/4 scant cup Witch Hazel
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
15 drops Tea Tree Oil

Essential Oils:
Grapefruit
Lemon
Sweet Orange
Coconut
Lavender
Rosemary

Mix and match what oils you would like to customize your scent. About 10 drops of what ever you choose should do it. If you want a stronger scent add more. The list above is just suggestions you can use any essential oils that you would like.


I think this works best if you use a lidded jar to mix the ingredients. Just place all of the above ingredients into the jar and shake in till mixed. Then pour into a small squeeze or spray bottles. Check the travel section at your local store. That's it. Carry it in your purse or send it in your child's backpack for a quick cleaning when water and soap are not available.





To read what Mothering Magazine has to say about using essential oils for its antibacterial benefits and hand sanitizing go here.