I love our Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins! The time we have together and the memories we have built are priceless! And, as my husband will attest, I love all things pumpkin! Pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin soup, pumpkin plain, pumpkin fancy! I looked around at a bunch of pumpkin recipes, and as I looked at the many variations, I decided to experiment and make my own creation.
Here is the result! Mmm! My sixteen year old said after eating her taco, "I hate pumpkin, so thank you! You finally found a pumpkin recipe I like!"
Pumpkin tacos
small head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces
2-3 cups of pumpkin, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup olive oil (just to barely coat)
1 lime juiced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
toss together to coat
bake at 400 for 30 minutes
(For a variation, cannellini beans can be tossed in with the pumpkin after baking)
Toppings
shredded cabbage (I like purple best)
tomato, chopped
red onion, sliced
guacamole (see below)
Jalapeno cilantro sauce
1/2 cup cilantro
1 lime, juiced
1 jalapeno
1 cup coconut milk
blend until smooth
Guacamole
1 avocado
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 roma tomato, diced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 drops lime vitality essential oil
mash avocado, add the rest, mix, and enjoy!
Serve with whole wheat or
To assemble
Pile cabbage first, then pumpkin/cauliflower mixture, then the other toppings and sauce!
Enjoy! I know I did, as the kids had to tell me to stop making noises! lol!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! Adding variety to our diet is the best way to get all the nutrients we need for optimal health!
Join our Veggie Up!! Challenge to up your veggie game and feel the difference as your body thanks you!
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Is it a fight at your house?
Or do your kids eat spinach like Popeye?
Spinach: the super food!
Spinach is one of those super foods we all know is good for us, but getting most kids (and adults - let's be honest!) to eat it can be difficult!
One piece of advice for moms-to-be: eat a lot while you are pregnant** and breastfeeding and when you start your little one on solid foods, start with vegetables! This will help the taste be familiar and your child will accept it much more readily.
**Bonus - spinach contains folate, which you need for the optimum development of your sweet baby!
We need to eat greens both raw and cooked every day for the nutrients they contain. When served on a regular basis, kids and adults will get used to them and learn to enjoy them.
Pro parenting tip: serve vegetables first - this has helped our kids learn to eat just about everything - although it can be a process. Set the healthy expectation that everyone eats the same thing and vegetables are required!
One of my favorite ways to get spinach in our diet is to put it in smoothies! These are total kid pleasers! One of our "rules" is that a handful of spinach goes into every recipe. I use a Vitamix blender - it will blend just about anything super smooth!
Have Picky Eaters? Grab this guide: 7 Strategies to Help Picky Eaters Eat!
Here are a few of our morning pleasers.
Mango
1 handful of spinach
2 cups frozen mango
2 bananas (freckled)
1 peach
1/2 lemon - juiced
2-3 cups water/non dairy milk
3 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
Mixed berry
1 handful of spinach
2 cups frozen mixed berries
2 bananas (freckled)
1/2 carrot
1/2 lemon - juiced
2-3 cups water/non dairy milk
3 drops tangerine essential oil
Strawberry
1 handful of spinach
2 cups frozen strawberries
2 bananas (freckled)
1/2 lemon - juiced
1 apple
2-3 cups water/non dairy milk
3 drops lemon essential oil
This one is not sweet
Spinach/Kale
1-2 handfuls of spinach
1-2 handfuls of kale (spines taken out)
1 cucumber - skin scrubbed, but not peeled
1 thumbnail sized piece of fresh ginger
1 lime- juiced
1-2 drops ginger essential oil
1-2 drops lime essential oil
(This can also be juiced - if you prefer - add the essential oils at the end)
Use leftovers to fill popsicle molds for later - my kids go through these so fast! (I would recommend the Spinach/Kale smoothie to be consumed as a liquid.)
You may have noticed I use freckled bananas to sweeten them. Hard green bananas will not have the same effect.
If you are looking to transition gradually - sweeten the smoothies at first or add yogurt. Little by little lessen the amounts of those ingredients as your taste adjusts (and it will!).
Looking for additional reading material?
Super Foods Rx, By Steven Pratt, M.D., and Kathy Matthews is fantastic!
Eat to Live-audio / Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is excellent!
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Any purchase made is a blessing to my family at no extra cost to you!
Thank you for supporting us!
My blogs contain some affiliate links.
Any purchase made is a blessing to my family at no extra cost to you!
Thank you for supporting us!
Have any of you had the same experience? Back in March, when everything shut down, I treated the first week or so as a vacation - we chilled, no big deal. Then distance learning started, and with 5 kids in public education, and homeschooling 1, I got super stressed, overwhelmed, depressed. I'm not going to lie, there were tears, lots of them. I stopped exercising, stopped some of the self care I normally did - wore the same clothes more than one day. I missed everyone I normally hung out with, but didn't do much reaching out. Not such a pretty picture. I was pretty low.
Once school was done, I started gradually doing some of my normal stuff - gradually. Then I picked up this book, the Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod. It spoke to me! I started exercising again, I started getting up at 6 am to do the Miracle Morning. If you know me and my struggle with CFS, you know that is huge! I am drinking my Ningxia like it's going out of style, and doing a few other things to support my health, and I am feeling amazing! I am in such a better place emotionally!
So . . . I've always loved reading (my degree is in Comparative Literature), and I have almost always been a part of an in person book club. Next month, I am starting an online book club - and we will start with this book! I am sure there are others who can benefit from the Miracle Morning. If you have felt any of what I felt during the last 6 months, you will find help with this! If you would like to participate, email me at holisticsupermom@gmail.com for details! I will run it via zoom, and would love to have a bunch of moms join in! With school starting soon, we need all the help we can get!! Start date TBD.
Grab the book here!
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I know I am not the only gardener to be plagued by pests! Those tiny green or brown aphids that suck the life out of the leaves and stems, the teeny white flies that love to munch, but stay hidden on the underside of leaves, the microscopic mites that produce icky webbing, and leave the plants barren of the nutrients they need to produce good fruit.
I live in the central valley of California and it is hot and dry in the summer. This weather is perfect for those pests, but not ideal for many plants. One way to help prevent pests in the first place is to have the soil well balanced with nutrients so the plants are healthy and strong. Another way is to have consistent watering and enough water! I water early in the morning. There is not much humidity, so when it is in the 100s, I often water any drooping plants again in the evening just a little to help them perk up.
But that is not always enough. Pests invade anyway! They creep in quietly and before you are aware - you have a full-on infestation! Checking every day can help you spot trouble before it gets too bad.
Commercial sprays are full of chemicals that I choose not to use in my organic garden. Even if I didn't get the commercial sprays on the fruits and vegetables themselves, they would still have trace amounts inside. One reason I grow a garden is to stay away from the pesticide covered fruits and veggies in the stores! I have experimented with some things and found a combination of ingredients that works well as a DIY spray. It is critical to spray the underside of the leaves, as that is where they like to be. Spraying weekly can help trouble areas recover.
Recipe 1:
One squirt Thieves Dish Soap (about 1 teaspoon) You can also use Dr. Bronner's Castille soap
about 1 teaspoon fractionated coconut oil
5-10 drops Citronella essential oil
5-10 drops Peppermint essential oil
5-10 drops Tea Tree essential oil (This is especially helpful for powdery mildew, too)
Recipe 2:
One squirt Thieves Dish Soap (about 1 teaspoon) You can also use Dr. Bronner's Castille soap
about 1 teaspoon fractionated coconut oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops orange essential oil
Fill bottle with water or a filtered infusion of citronella or peppermint leaves
Attach a spray top and enjoy.
Spray in the evening, as sunburn can occur when spraying during daylight hours.
You may get some on your skin - this will not harm you, but you may want to rinse the soap off afterwards as it is a little sticky.
Find Essential Oils and THieves dish soap here.
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Not long ago, I experienced emotional pain that was so great I had a really hard time dealing with it. My younger brother died suddenly in an accident.
For those who have experienced a sudden loss in their lives, you may remember the actual physical pain that engulfed specific parts of your body. At that time it was my heart that hurt the worst. It physically hurt - like I thought I was having a heart attack.
I had never experienced emotional pain of this magnitude before. I felt as though there were cement blocks attached to my feet and a cloud of fog over my brain as I experienced the initial emotions of shock, disbelief, anger, and grief in those first weeks. And I hurt both physically and emotionally. Look below for the recipe I used to help with the emotional pain I was feeling.
Even now, as I write this, I feel tightness and pain in my chest. It is still pretty raw.
So, why does emotional pain physically hurt? Did you know that both physical pain and emotional pain activate the same areas in the brain? The anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex, to be specific (parts of the limbic region).
Pain felt from emotions is just as real as pain felt from bodily injury. It can also be located in a specific area of the body. We all know that when we are sad, we move slower, our bodies just don’t have the same energy that they have when we are feeling excited, our legs and arms drag.
We all feel strong emotions - both positive and negative - hundreds of times in our life and we feel those emotions in different areas of our body. All emotions are a part of life’s experience and there is no good or bad in feeling emotion.
Take a moment and think of a strong emotion you felt recently and pay attention to where in your body you feel it. Most people feel specific emotions in the same general areas of the body.
When we feel emotion, we have a choice to either express it or hold it in. We can express it positively or negatively. Or we can hold it and channel it for good, or stuff it which blocks energy and causes chronic pain. Sometimes the emotion itself is so great, it causes immediate pain.
In the example of grief, crying or weeping is actually a positive expression. It is actually good to cry. Emotional tears release stress hormones such as adenocorticotropic hormone and prolactin, also painkiller leucine enkephalin, as well as manganese. Releasing these from your body leaves you feeling better.
Getting support and love from family and friends helps us feel safe to express our emotions and helps us release them in a positive way. I am so grateful for those who were supportive when I needed them. Prayer helps us express to God those things that we don’t feel comfortable expressing to others. His unconditional love is such a comfort.
I have also found relief through this Emotional Pain Blend of pure essential oils. We know that essential oils have a great effect on the emotional parts of the brain (limbic region). I used this recipe quite a lot for a few months.
I mixed up a big bottle with the ratios below and applied it to my forehead and neck and rubbed it between my hands to inhale. This helped me calm down when I couldn’t do it on my own. It also helped reduce the physical pain I was feeling because of the emotional pain.
Emotional Pain Blend:
10 drops Idaho Blue Spruce
5 drops Idaho Grand Fir
5 drops Sacred Frankincense
Add dilution 50:50
To those suffering emotional pain, I feel you. I know how much it hurts. Turn to God, turn to your family and friends. It’s not only ok, it’s beneficial to cry and release the emotions through tears. I hope and pray you find relief as you go through the hard times in life that we all have. May God bless you with comfort.
Please note, these links are affiliate links, which means that if you purchase from one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the blog and allows me to continue to make free content. I only recommend products that I use and love. Thank you for your support!
Essential oil links:
Need assistance with releasing emotions?
Resources:
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