Good morning and happy Memorial Day weekend from South Carolina! I hope the weather is beautiful wherever you may be spending your holiday weekend.

Today’s post is a sure-fire foodie post. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with my brother and sister-in-law, cooking up some good food and sharing great company.

After a long walk through their cute little town, nothing hit home better than a delicious wine spritzer to cool us off.

In went white wine (savagnin blanc), lime sparkling water and a squeeze of lemon. Light and refreshing.

I absolutely love cooking with others in the kitchen, sharing tips, trading recipes, and learning new tasty creations. That’s exactly how the evening went! It’s always more fun when everyone’s involved.

And even more fun when a mid-cooking workout breaks out. Pull-ups, push-ups, planks, and even downward dogs.

The menu was a smorgasbord of all of our favorite things: Garlic Balsamic Brussels & Onions , Sweet Potato Fries, Grilled Cilantro Corn, Quinoa and Grilled Chicken Tenderloins for the fellas. The sweet potato fries would be a great addition to any Memorial Day BBQ Menu. I’ve shared the recipe below in case you’re looking for something to please all crowds.

While we were making messes in the kitchen, the brother spent the afternoon ensuring that their boat was holiday ready, as we plan on spending tomorrow out on the water, soaking up some rays. I am so excited summer is officially here!

Looks like we’re good to go!

A fun and delicious dinner for all.

Memorial Day Sweet Potato Fries

• 3 Sweet Potatoes
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash salt
• pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges. Place all ingredients into a ziplock bag. Toss until evenly coated. Place on a baking sheet and cook for ~30 minutes or until crispy.

I hope you  have a great holiday weekend! Do you have any plans? We’re off to the gym, possibly an afternoon hike with my sis-in-law and then dinner once the guys can join in!

Good health!

The post Kicking Off Memorial Day Weekend + A Memorial Day Recipe appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

Good morning! Happy Earth Day! Isn’t our earth beautiful? The picture above was taken on one of my runs last week. In honor of Earth Day, today’s post involves one of our earth’s greatest gifts: coconut oil.

A few years ago when Dustin and I lived in Orlando and even when we lived in Statesboro, I was the green queen. I recycled like someone was paying me for it, I rid my house of all harsh chemicals and cleaners, you would NEVER find me without my reusable grocery bags, I switched over to “natural” beauty products and started using aluminum free, mineral deodorant. I’ll never forget the look on my friend’s face when I busted out my mineral rock deodorant in Vegas after not seeing each other for a few months.

“Ashley, what is that?”

I’m sure the day I went vegan, a few months after that trip, was no surprise to her after that experience.

For some of you, all of the practices that I just mentioned are included in your daily lives and completely normal; for others, I just confirmed my craziness. I truly have a hippie soul and I realize that.

Not that I don’t think that the above practices are important or that I don’t try my best to still feed my green soul and “Save our earth!”, but I find that the busier I get, the more to the way side these practices get pushed. It’s pretty unfortunate.

Introducing recycling to a non-recycling family/person can have its challenges. Right when Dustin finally realized for himself that, “I married Ashley. She is a crazy recycler. She is not going anywhere so neither is recycling,” my recycling habits went by the way side – along with my ban of harsh chemicals in the house. Slowly, I noticed myself grabbing whatever was convenient and cheap instead of searching for the greener, safer products. What happened to me? Lucky for Dustin, unfortunate for our earth and world.

But what do you know? Right now, I’m not overly slammed with work/school anymore and actually have time to think straight again, and I can already feel my blood reverting back to green.

For the past few years, my makeup of choice has been very consistent. I prefer Tart over any other line and love not only the practices behind the vegan line, but also the quality of the makeup.  Lately, however, I find myself searching for even more. I’ve been Googling and researching natural beauty products and when drugstores pop up, my searching continues. I’m not looking for another company that makes a more “natural” product, but instead, beauty recipes straight from the kitchen.

Let me introduce you to my favorite beauty ingredient right now: coconut oil. (As if I needed another reason to love it.) A great moisturizer, lotion, makeup remover and hair softener/smoother… sans harsh chemicals!  I literally lather my entire body in it every night and wake up the next morning feeling smooth… greasy, yes, but soft as well! Say no to wrinkles!

I’ve also been using coconut oil a lot lately to hydrate my hair.

About twice weekly, I cover my entire ponytail in coconut oil, let sit for about 30 minutes or overnight and then wash out. A few weeks ago, I did this on an afternoon before I was going to a wedding shower that night. After washing, blow drying and straightening my hair, let’s just say, it looked liked I hadn’t washed my hair in days. Lesson learned: don’t do this hours before you have to somewhere to be, clean. That night, after embarrassingly explaining myself to a friend, she told me that she loves coconut oil for the same purposes but washes her hair twice after each treatment. Coulda’, woulda’, shoulda’.

There are also a few guys that I know that are digging coconut oil right now too!

Boss and Gunner! After washing the pups, I warm the coconut oil for a few seconds to liquify it and then rub them down from head to toe with it. Their coats shine, they smell delicious and they even try to lick it off my hands in the process. A win win for all.

What about you? Do you ever use coconut oil outside of the kitchen? Any other natural beauty remedies you love? Please share!

Happy Earth Day and Good Health!

The post Natural Beauty: Coconut Oil appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.

“You’ll like it, it’s coconut!” has been an ongoing phrase used in my family’s household for years.  Although my brother (not sure of his status now) once claimed that he didn’t like coconut, my mom still always wanted him to try all things coconut, insisting that he would like it (joking obviously).

Coconut too, is a food that yet again causes controversy in the nutrition world.  I’ve always been a coconut fan, with its saturated fat (more on that in a minute) and all.  The research is very confusing and inconclusive.

Coconut is now recognized as ” the healthiest oil on earth,” according to many doctors, including Bruce Fife, N.D.

Some research shows that coconut oil may even help fight Alzheimer’s Disease. Check out this video for more on that (thanks to my soon-to-be sister-in-law for sending that my way); it’s quite fascinating.

After watching the above video and again doing a little of my own research, I decided I needed to add this oil into my daily regimen.  Days after ordering it (order yours here, using my referral link), I even had someone comment on the blog that the use of coconut oil helped clear up her face… which was just what I wanted to hear (after the troubles that I have been having):-)

So why does coconut get a bad wrap anyways? Because it contains saturated fat: usually, the white fat found only in animal protein (that clogs the arteries, raising our cholesterol, leading to heart disease).  According to some research, the saturated fat found in coconut differs greatly from the saturated fat found in animal protein. While the fat found in animal protein is usually long-chain, the fat that is found in coconut is medium-chain, causing our bodies to metabolize them differently. Medium-chain fatty acids do not negatively affect our cholesterol.  Interesting, huh?

Last night for dinner, I was able to use my coconut oil to make a delicious meal that even Dustin said, this is a “Deb Meal,” referring to the amazing cook that my mom is. That’s a huge compliment, considering he went on to say, “She is pretty much a professional chef.” While my cooking is no where close to hers, if one out of every one of my fifty meals is compared to hers, I’ll take it.

For my birthday this past May, as I mentioned, Dustin and I went to a Thai restaurant in Savannah and had a delicious meal…

…that means one thing, Dustin wants me to replicate that meal at home. So last night, we did.

I found a similar recipe at About.com but then tweaked it according to the goals of our meal. Here is what we ended up doing. You should try it too!

Thai Stir-fried Vegetables with Garlic, Ginger, and Lime

(I also sautéed Dustin some chicken to go along with this dish.)

Ingredients

Stir-fry ingredients

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 c finely chopped purple onion
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 finely chopped jalapeno
• 1 thumb-size piece ginger
• 1 medium-sized carrot, sliced
• 1 cup white mushrooms, chopped (the recipe called for Shitake, probably would have been better but I didn’t have any on hand)
• 1 head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 red pepper, sliced into strips
• 2 tbsp dried basil or 1 handful fresh basil
• 1/2 c raw cashews
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Stir-fry sauce ingredients

• 2/3 c coconut milk (I used unsweetened, original Almond milk because I didn’t have any coconut milk on hand, although I think the coconut milk would make it even better)
• 2 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (recipe called for fish sauce, obvi, not going there; soy sauce or Tamari would work too)
• 3.5 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 whole lime)
• 1/8 tsp stevia powder (1 tbsp agave would work too)

Rice

• 1/2 c jasmine rice
• 1.5 c water
• dash salt

• 1/2 c black rice
• 1.5 c water
• dash salt

Directions

1. Heat two different pots of 1.5 c of water + salt for the two different types of rice.  Once boiling, add rice. Turn heat to low. Cooking the jasmine for 15 minutes and the black rice for 30 minutes.
2. Combine all ‘stir-fry sauce’ ingredients together in a bowl.  Stir well.
3. Heat wok or large pan over medium-high heat. Add coconut oil, swirl around. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno.  Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Add carrot and mushrooms.  Add 1/4 of the stir-fry sauce. Continue stir-frying for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the broccoli and red pepper plus the remaining stir-fry sauce (the extra liquid will soak into the rice when combined).
5. Simmer for about 5 more minutes, until broccoli is at desired texture.
6. Remove from heat. Add basil, cashews, and sesame seeds.
7. Serve over half jasmine rice + half black rice.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did! Have a great Wednesday!

Good health!

The post Crazy for Coconuts: Thai Stir-fried Vegetables with Garlic, Ginger, Lime appeared first on The Gypsy Dietitian.