Chicken, Tomato, Mushroom Pasta #Recipe

A quick dinner recipe using tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and chicken. I think you'll enjoy it! 

Ingredients: 
Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat Pasta Blend, Rotini

Grass-fed, Hormone and Antibiotic Free Chicken Tenders

Organic Diced Tomatoes (Canned or make your own) 
Panko plain bread crumbs seasoned with various Italian spices

Parmesan Cheese

Mushrooms

Medium Yellow Onion

Rosemary

EVOO

Egg

Directions: 
Combine bread crumbs, your choice of seasonings and parmesan cheese. Dip chicken in egg lightly beaten and then into heated frying pan with EVOO. Cook 5 minutes on each side or until no longer pink. Boil water for pasta (or use rice, quinoa, etc in place of pasta). In separate frying pan, add EVOO, onion, mushrooms and tomatoes. Sprinkle dried rosemary and heat until thickened.

Drain pasta, add chicken and cover with sauce.

Buon Appetito!!

I do receive a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase anything through their site using one of the links above (read my full advertising disclosure here). 


Thank you very much for your generosity in helping to offset the costs of website upkeep, so that I can keep sharing wellness resources with my community and beyond.

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Extended #Breastfeeding

This is late but I while I was on the East Coast I received comments and looks while I nursed my toddler son in public. Nothing was rude just curious. Some asked why I still do it after 12 months. One said her pediatrician told her she could stop at the year mark. I'm guessing most think there is no more benefit to the mother or the child after twelve months. I'm thankful that I live in California (being that there are many attachment parents here, holistic families, natural ways of living) and there are plenty of resources and people who say shoot for 12 months minimum and stop when you and the child want after that. 

My recommendation: Link arms with like minded families so that you don't feel alone in your decision to nurse past a certain time. 

I'm enjoying the ability to nurse my son because I understand the health benefits for both of us. Breast cancer runs in my family and I know extended nursing helps decrease the risk that I will develop it. I also know that my son will have less ear infections, will get sick less, will fight many infections, will reduce childhood obesity because of the antibodies found in the milk - yes... even now. My son will be 23 months old in a week or so. We are happy. He is "easy like Sunday morning" most of the time. His cool, calm and collected personality I trace back primarily to his dad but also to the amount of bonding we have done because of the breast feeding relationship. I have no idea when we'll stop. I've always said that I'll let him decide. I'm sticking with that for now. 

Breastfeeding comes in handy on the days he doesn't want to eat much other than drink cow's milk. At least I know that he's getting more nutrients through my milk because I eat healthy. I hope that this post will offer you some encouragement as you make the decision to breast feed or not and how long you will nurse. I applaud you for trying. I am happy for your little one if all you decided to do was offer your baby the colostrum that comes right after you deliver your bundle of joy. That's liquid gold. Lastly, don't let someone else help you make the decision to no longer nurse. There are many families that aren't supportive... I can say that I didn't have 100% support from many people around me but I knew in my heart it was the best thing for my son. 

Edit: After I posted this I logged into Facebook and saw a dear friend post a thread about World Breastfeeding Week - Virtual Celebration. Belly Laughs Doula & Baby Services owner, Maggie Jennings, wrote the following: "Breastfeeding gives babies all the nutrients for the best physical & mental development. The AAP recommends babies be exclusively breastfed for 6 months, then continue (w/food) for 12 months minimum whereas the WHO recommends babies 2 years minimum! Both organizations say breastfeeding should continue for as long as mom & baby want."

If you want to see what else Maggie is talking about visit her Facebook fan page or her personal website.

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Celebrating 40 Years - #EarthDay, Part II

This post is dedicated to a new friend and partner in a like-minded business: cherishing and preserving one's health - Leslie Kirchmeier with Hallelujah Acres in Fallbrook, CA. I found her while reading the newspaper, "Good News, etc". She has a health column. Eight months ago I asked to be added to her email distribution list for her culinary classes. She offers evening and morning classes, weekend and 5 and 10 day retreats. She is a Certified Raw Food Chef.  I've been wanting to attend one of her evening classes since last October and just this week I attended one. We made Rawvioli, Ceasar Salad and Coconut Cream Pie. All vegan foods! Wow! My palette was amazed - taste buds were soaring heights they've never soared before. 

I am relatively new to the Vegan approach. I went to my first Raw Foods Meetup in February and was hooked ever since. I'm not a Vegan. I am actually considering the Flexitarian Lifestyle - a term coined by Michael Pollan, where I eat meat dishes from time to time and I'm considering only fish. 

Back to Leslie though. So I asked her in March if she would want to serve as one of my guest speakers for an Earth Day inspired wellness talk. I asked her if she could demonstrate a Vegan dish and she chose Spaghetti with Marinara. At the talk, she addressed the importance of eating whole, living foods. 

I asked her to return for my wellness talk this month focusing on Pregnancy Health. I asked her if she could share some baby food preparation recipes and give the new moms some viable options of what nutritious foods to eat that are easy to prepare, serve and eat. 

Leslie's personal testimony:

Ten years ago I was diagnosed with cancer, and after enduring traditional medical treatments I was given 1-5 years to live.  It was at that time I changed my diet and lifestyle to a plant based diet and healed my body from cancer.  I have been passionate about teaching the good news of health for the past eight years and was the owner of a Lifestyle Center in Fallbrook where we taught people hands-on how to heal themselves.  I am very concerned for the upcoming generations being raised on processed, chemical laden food and look forward to sharing my knowledge with others.  ~ Leslie Kirchmeier, Health Minister 

Items used in the demonstration:

Vitamix 5200

Spiral Slicer

I do receive a small commission from Amazon.com if you purchase anything through their site using one of the links above (read my full advertising disclosure here). 


Thank you very much for your generosity in helping to offset the costs of website upkeep, so that I can keep sharing wellness resources with my community and beyond.

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Choose, eat, and live well! =)

Celebrating 40 Years - #EarthDay, Part I

For my health and wellness home business, I held an Earth Day inspired talk on April 22nd titled: "Taking It Back to Nature" - ('It' was for "Health & Wellness"). 

The event was sponsored by my business and I discussed the importance of eating whole foods. I also provided a sample of a whole food supplement that I wholeheartedly endorse and am proud to represent. 

I prepared tri-fold flyers for all the guests addressing 40 years of celebrating Earth Day and how we can reduce our carbon footprint along with other helpful links on avoiding plastics,"green" toys, where to find a CSA, 'eating right', among many others. 

For Part I of this posting series, I am going to share with you some verbiage (borrowed, permission granted) from my first guest speaker, Jan Tucker, owner and president of White Lotus Living:

"Yes, I am looking to educate people, but also to offer safe products (not containing harmful chemicals) to get more people in the habit of using only the safe ones. If people stop buying from companies that use harmful chemicals, manufacturers will be forced to get on board and produce only safe products (another major theme of a presentation I give).

Before I started White Lotus Living, I noticed there were many places I could go to get info about the topic of harmful chemicals. However, when I went to do something about it ... namely to replace the products in my home with safer ones, there was a real lack of info to help me do that practically. I started White Lotus as a one-stop-shop where people could come and feel safe about what they buy from my shelves. It's a practical solution for busy people who can't take the time to scour the landscape for safe products themselves.

There are a number of manufacturers whose policies won't let them produce products that rank higher than 2 or 3 out of 10 on the Cosmetics Safety Database (lower ratings are better) ... it may be strict, but those are the only ones available at [my online store]. I'd prefer not to contribute to a company that isn't being conscientious toward this important cause. Again, it emphasizes the fact that manufacturers will go where the money is ... if we buy only safe, they'll make only safe!"

She put on a nice presentation that discussed how many chemicals (ingredients) the FDA has banned in the U.S. --- 10, and that our philosophy here is "we must prove that the ingredient is Harmful, before we can remove it". Whereas in the EU, over 1800 ingredients have been banned because their philosophy is the direct opposite of ours: "we must first prove that the ingredient is Safe". Ridiculous isn't it?

Above, Jan said something that has stuck with me and that is she will not purchase any product that scores higher than a 2 on the Cosmetic Database. She said some product brands like Burt's Bees (just an example of the many out there) where many of their products are a 2 or less but they also manufacture other products that score a lot higher. She said she will not "support" businesses who aren't consistent across the board. Why create a few products that are "natural" but yet offer different ones that are harmful to the skin? She has strict protocols in place to pick the "cream of the crop" and real, natural skin / personal care products for her business with White Lotus Living. There are some personal items that she's researching to replace what she is using currently, like shaving gel.

Her website was unveiled at this wellness talk. Support a female-owned business and help teach these "natural" manufacturers a lesson by spending dollars with businesses that are truly organic, or natural, or in her words, beyond green!

In my part II of celebrating Earth Day - 40 years, I will cover my second guest speaker, Leslie Kirchmeier. 

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Choose, eat, and live well! =)