New favorite cookbook - Oh She Glows

Photo Credit: Angela Liddon

My new favorite cookbook - The Oh She Glows Cookbook - is definitely helping me have 100 happy days.  I'll count it today as my Day 14 of #100happydays - but truly, I could count it for just about everyday.

The cookbook only came out this month and I had pre-ordered.  Its just a lovely book.  It is vegan but I think it has an appeal to everyone. The dishes are delish and will suit all palates.

First off though, it looks like a "proper" cookbook.  So often vegan or  plant based cookbooks aren't so appealing in their layout and design but this one is beautiful with gorgeous photos of every dish.





I started flipping through the pages and adding stickers to the recipes I wanted to try - but quickly ran out of stickers! It would have been easier to mark the couple that didn't appeal to me!

There are more than 100 recipes, 90 of which are gluten free. They are higher in sweeteners and oil than I typically use, but easily adaptable to reducing those levels if you so wish.  There are considerations for other food allergies too, with soy free, grain free, and nut free recipes as well.

I've really enjoyed cooking from the book. We had friends stay the weekend so I made the ultimate nutty granola clusters and they were a huge hit.

Other dishes I have tried include:

• raw buckwheat breakfast porridge
• taco fiesta potato crisps - with walnut taco meat
• chakra caesar salad with nutty herb croutons
• perfect kale chips
• lightened-up crispy baked fries

and today I'm giving the "present glo bars" a try.  I'll let you know how they turn out.

Photo credit: Angela Liddon
Walnut, avocado and pear salad with marinated portobello caps and red onion

I highly recommend this book - for vegans, vegetarians, omnivores or whatever.  It'll make you happy.

Here's the link to it on Amazon

#100happydays - Berr-i-licious delight

Day 7 of my 100 happy days - and this berr-i-licious delight smoothie made me happy.

No veggies in this one, just crammed with berries. We should try and eat berries everyday as they are highly nutritious fruits, lower in sugar and packed full of anti-oxidants and phytonutrients and plenty of fiber too.

Here's the recipe: Serves 2
2 cups almond milk
4 tablespoon flax seed ( use ground flax seed if you don't have a powerful blender)
2 scoops of probiotic powder
1 tablespoon organic rose hip powder
3/4 cup organic raspberries
1/4 cup dried wild lingonberries.

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

#100happydays - Creamy Dreamy Greeny Smoothie

Today is day 3 of my #100happydays.  And the day started out happy with a creamy dreamy greeny smoothie!  Packed with lots of nutrients, it set my day off to a good start.

Here is the recipe:
1 cup almond milk
1 cup baby spinach or kale
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon walnut butter
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Scoop of probiotic powder
1/2 lemon

Just put it all in the blender and blended until smooth and creamy dreamy!

The lemon is all the lemon - rind, juice, pulp. Just cut the lemon in half and add it.

There are more scientific studies on the healing powers of Turmeric than any other food.  It's good to start off smoothies with 1/2 teaspoon, but as you get used to the taste, you can increase the level of turmeric.  Studies show powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

The leafy greens provide good phytonutrients and if you use kale, you get the benefits of cruciferous vegetables which help in detoxifying the body every day.

The flax and walnut butter provide a good source of omega 3 fatty acids - essential fats that we need in our diet for reducing inflammation and improving brain function.  This smoothie gives you more than 3g omega 3 fatty acids. In addition,  the flax is a good source of fiber and lignans.  The smoothie gives you 9g of fiber.

And the probiotic supports our gut health which is so key to our whole health.  I use Custom probiotics powder.

So start your day off green and maybe that will color your whole day :-D

100 days of happiness - or how to feel tickety-boo

Today marks the start of Lent.   Traditionally in my family, Lent marked the time when we decided to  give up something "bad" for 40 days (until Easter), like chocolate or alcohol or cakes or…..  Some of the things I gave up for lent in the past I've never started again - like milk in my coffee.  Others, it just lasted (barely) for those 40 days -  like chocolate - which always seems to want to come back.

Occasionally, instead of giving up something "bad" for lent, we would take up something good instead.  And that's what I'm doing this year - along with my sister.  Maybe we can persuade our parents to join us too this year?????

My sister, Mary gave me the idea.  We are starting "100 days of happiness".  The first 40 days will be our lent "take up something good" commitment.

100happydays

The idea is that every day for 100 days you take a photo of something that made you happy that day. It can be anything - big or small. … from a photo of a person that you had lunch with, to a photo of a comfy cushion that you relaxed on when you got home after a busy day…... Just something that made you happy.  You can chose to share your photos however you want or not at all. Mary and I are going to post ours on Facebook so I may include them here, as my blog posts on Facebook.

The philosophy behind 100 days of happiness is one that I live by:   - you get more of what you focus on.  By focussing on good things in the day, you notice more good things.  Its one of the key ideas behind feeling tickety-boo!  Not everything needs to be perfect but by focussing on the good things, you can feel happy and tickety-boo.

So will you join me?  Can you spare a couple of minutes a day to focus on something that made you happy?  It doesn't matter if Lent means nothing to you, why not start 100 days of happiness with us now.  You can sign up at the link and lets share some joy. Lets be happy together for 100 days…and more.

Be Happy!