Sweet Potato Heaven!

Just made this Sweet Potato Stew... SOOO Yummy!

Click HERE for Recipe

That's a lot of soda!!!

Soda Consumption.
The average American drinks 44.7 gallons of soda a year.

That much soda weighs about 375 pounds!
AdAge, Dec 2011

More Benefits of Building Muscle....

Wellness/Prevention: Cancer Prevention In Your 30s.
One begins to lose muscle mass after age 30. Strength training can prevent muscle loss, build bone density and help the body burn calories faster to keep you at a healthy weight. Maintaining a healthy weight can help decrease the risk of cancer.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Nov 2011

An Apple a Day?

Studies are constantly proving that what you eat can be as powerful and more potent than a prescribed drug. Recently, it was proven that the presence of fresh apples in your diet could improve your memory and sustain brain health. Apples are becoming increasingly associated with brain health after more recent studies have proven the effect of antioxidants and flavonoids present in apples on reducing brain-cell inflammation and oxidation that naturally occurs due to the presence of free radicals.

The consumption of as much as two apples a day heightens levels of acetylcholine, a specific neurotransmitter that greatly influences brain signals responsible for movement and sensory perception.

Not only that, but regular consumption as such was discovered to diminish accumulations of toxins in the brain, particularly one type of toxin called beta-amyloid, which is thought to be one of the main culprits that cause Alzheimer's disease.

While apples are now being proven to aid, halt, and reverse Alzheimer's disease, enhance cognitive functions, prevent memory loss and help in other brain-related matters, there are still a multitude of studies being vigorously conducted to prove that apples are the perfect food for diabetics, patients with heart disease, cholesterol, obesity, and constipation.

While the old proverb said one apple a day was enough, studies suggest increasing that dosage to two apples is a good idea for optimum health benefits.

Recipes for the Semi-Vegan

Learn to use more plants in your cooking. YUMMY. Click HERE for Recipes

Plant-Based Eating

Great article! Click HERE

Girls Love the Cookies!

The girls love the gingerbread! Recipe in post below.

Gluten Free Gingerbread Recipe

This recipe is Gluten Free as well as Refined Sugar Free.

This study cookie dough makes great gingerbread cut-out cookies and gingerbread houses.

To make the recipe dairy-free, replace the butter with a solid, dairy-free shortening.

Ingredients

yield: makes about one dozen 4-inch cookies, active time 1 hour 30 minutes, total time 8 hours

• 8.5 ounces (2 cups) brown rice flour
• 2 3/4 ounces (1/2 cup) sweet rice flour
• 2 ounces (1/2 cup) tapioca starch
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 5 ounces (10 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 6.3 ounces (3/4 cup packed) dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons molasses

Procedures

1. 1

   In medium mixing bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, tapioca starch, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, baking powder, salt, ground clove, and xanthan gum. Set aside. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and dark brown sugar until a thick paste forms, about 30 seconds. Add egg. Blend until combined. Stop mixer and scrape down bottom and sides of the bowl. Add dry ingredients. Blend until a thick dough forms. Add molasses. Blend until thoroughly combined.

2. 2

   Lightly flour your countertop with brown rice flour. Turn dough out onto counter and pat into a round. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for several hours or overnight.

3. 3

   Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove dough from the refrigerator and allow to stand for five minutes. Divide dough round in half and roll out to 1/4-inch thickness on a generously rice floured countertop. Cut into shapes. Place cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until edges are golden brown and aromatic. Repeat with remaining dough.

4. 4

   Cool cookies on a wire rack. Decorate as desired. Store cookies in a covered container for up to one week.

Homemade Tomato Soup - from my friend, Trina

Homemade Tomato Soup

Recipe courtesy Michael Chiarello, The Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• ¾* cup extra virgin olive oil (*I use closer to ¼ cup even for a bigger batch)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, to taste, drizzle with about 1/4 cup of the olive oil and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the celery, carrot, onion and garlic, cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted chopped canned tomatoes, reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream, if using. Puree with a hand held immersion blender until smooth.*

NOTES:

*I don’t have an immersion blender so I use a normal blender or my food processor to blend everything. I leave out the heavy cream and it still tastes very rich. The recipe does not make a lot of soup so I usually triple or quadruple the amounts so that we have plenty left over for another meal.

NEW Recipes!

Just below you will see 3 new recipes posted. These recipes are from our Arbonne Healthy Cooking Class that takes place at Williams-Sonoma. My friend and Arbonne VP tests these recipes at home and then the chef at WS recreates them "live" and we all get to taste them.

What makes these recipes more healthy is that they are all gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free.

We also enjoyed pumpkin bars (recipe posted on this site), a roasted turkey and pumpkin pie!

For more information regarding Arbonne's approach to health, wellness & nutrition please contact me at jennidragon@gmail.com. The holidays are a perfect time to learn how to eat healthier but also to enjoy what you eat while being more healthy!