All posts by Lauren Bolanos

Salads

Watermelon Salad

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watermelon salad by healing and eating

This watermelon salad has all my favorite summer produce, mixed together in one delicious sweet, salty, and sour dish. The watermelon is obviously the sweet part, although I do consider summer cucumbers to be sweet as well. The salty part is from the pistachios, that I sprinkle on top to preserve their crunchiness. Finally, the sour is from some fresh lime juice that I squeezed over the salad when it’s ready to be served. The colors make this a show stopper if you are entertaining, and the flavors go great with Mexican, Barbecue, and even Indian food. In fact, my husband said it reminded him of his grandma’s kachumber without the spicy kick.

I recommend getting Pistachio Nutmeats that are already shelled from Trader Joes. The pistachios are unsalted so I recommend being generous with the sea salt. Both cucumbers and watermelon taste really amazing with a decent amount of sea salt on top, so don’t be afraid to be a little heavy handed and salt to taste. I recommend waiting until serving to add the sea salt though, otherwise it will make your vegetables sweat. Yes, that’s a real thing.

Watermelon Salad
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ¼ watermelon chopped
  • ½ cup of fresh cilantro chopped
  • 4 persian cucumbers chopped (3/4 lb)
  • ½ red onion sliced
  • ¼ cup pistachios pieces
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
  • (optional) garnish with lime wedges
Instructions
  1. Chop watermelon, cucumbers, cilantro, and red onion. Then add to a large bowl, and mix ingredients together with sea salt and lime juice.
  2. Scoop into individual portions, then sprinkle pistachios pieces over each salad, when ready to serve to maintain crunchy texture.
  3. (Optional) Garnish with lime wedges

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Snacks

Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles

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Fermented Pickles - Healing and Eating

These fermented garlic and dill pickles were surprisingly easy to make, and are full of vitamins, enzymes, and rich probiotic cultures. I love pickles, so this post is kind of a big deal for me. They are one of my favorite sugar free snack options. Plus, the sour flavor helps me control sugar cravings.

However, fermenting food kind of freaks me out, even though I have done it before. I mean you are basically letting food spoil in a way that’s healthy and grows beneficial bacteria. Although I eat a lot of fermented food, it’s usually bought already made from the grocery store, which can get pricey. So, I used the Perfect Pickler Kit, to help me out, which comes with very clear and detailed directions. This kit also comes with a lid and air-lock which attaches to your one quart wide mouth mason jar. Since microbes require an airless environment, the air-lock allows gasses to escape and seals out airborne microbes. It also seals in the odors for a delicious tasting pickle.

Here is what it looks like with my dill pickles:

perfect-pickler

Helpful Tip: Keep in mind these are not shelf stable pickles and will need to be stored in the refrigerator. They remain fresh for months. If cucumbers soften, they can be turned into relish.

Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles
 
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Serves: 1 quart
Ingredients
  • 3-4 pickling cucumber chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp pickling spices (penzys)
  • 2 tbsp of fresh dill or 4-5 sprigs
  • 1 tbsp sea salt
  • 2 cups of water
  • Perfect Pickler Kit
  • wide mouth mason jar (1 quart)
Instructions
  1. Wash perfect pickler components in warm soapy water.
  2. Chop pickling cucumbers into thick slices and add to mason jar.
  3. Then add garlic, pickling spices, and fresh dill.
  4. Using filtered water, create salt water brine and fill to 2 inches from top.
  5. Then add overflow cup from kit on top of pickles.
  6. Then add mason jar lid and attach air lock to lid.
  7. Let it sit for 4 days at room temperature, best results work at 70 F (21C).
  8. After 4 days, taste test to see if right taste and firmness.
  9. If tastes good, store in the refrigerator. If it needs more time, let it stay at room temperature longer.

Disclaimer: Perfect Pickler has not paid me for this review, or sent this product to review. This is my honest opinion and this product was given as a gift from my amazing mom. (See Mom I’m using it!)

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Desserts

Watermelon Popsicles

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Watermelon Popsicles - Healing and Eating

When summer gives you too much watermelon, make watermelon popsicles! With no sugar added, and just one ingredient, these beauties are super healthy and refreshing treat on a hot summer day. I used seedless watermelons and removed the small white seeds even though a few ending up in the popsicles wouldn’t be a disaster. If you want to get fancy, you can add some lime or mint to them but I honestly don’t think it’s necessary. In season watermelons are delicious on their own, and when frozen taste even better.

You could easily make a bunch of these ahead of time if you are entertaining and store them in the fridge until its time to serve dessert. Or eat them all day long yourself, which is what I end up doing.

Watermelon Popsicles
 
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Serves: 12 popsicles
Ingredients
  • 1 seedless watermelon
Instructions
  1. Chop ¾ watermelon into small pieces so you can pick out the seeds.
  2. Puree chopped watermelon in a blender until smooth and pour mixture into popsicle molds.
  3. Add craft sticks to mold, and let it freeze overnight.

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Dinner

Baked Salmon with Lemon Herb Aioli

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baked-salmon-lemon-herb-aioli

Omg this lemon herb aioli tastes amazing on everything, but especially good on baked salmon. I think the fresh lemon juice and the dijon mustard in the aioli go really well with the salmon flavor. My husband, who is my official taste tester loved it, and he’s more of a meat, than a fish, kind of guy. The aioli is made with paleo friendly coconut and avocado oil so it’s really healthy, although it would be just as delicious on sweet potato fries or a burger. It’s a good thing I made a lot of it (I doubled my normal aioli recipe)!

I made this salmon dish with baked green beans, and I sliced some radishes on the side, for a fresh palette cleanser. There is a lot of healthy oil in this dish, but you definitely need something cooked (or uncooked) without any oil on the plate. My husband and I happen to love raw radishes, and they are crazy good for you. Plus, I love their color on the plate.

Baked Salmon with Lemon Herb Aioli
 
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Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 4 tsp fresh chives
  • 1 tbsp dill
  • 1 tbsp parsley
  • 1 tsp ground garlic
  • 1 pressed garlic clove
  • 1 cup of coconut oil
  • 1 cup of avocado oil
  • juice from 2 lemons
  • 4 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 4 egg yolks
  • ½ lbs of salmon
Instructions
  1. Melt coconut oil in a pan. Then add to measuring cup with avocado oil.
  2. Separate yolks from whites and add yolks to food processor. Add lemon juice, sea salt, and dijon mustard.
  3. Then slowly drizzle in oil, while food processor is on until ingredients emulsify.
  4. Then chop and add to food processor fresh herbs, ground garlic, and 1 clove of minced garlic.
  5. Transfer aioli to a container and store in fridge until the rest of your food is cooked.
  6. Bake salmon at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
  7. (optional) garnish salmon and lemon herb aioli with fresh chives.

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Dinner

Slow Cooked Bratwurst with Cabbage and Onions

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Bratwurst - Healing and Eating

This slow cooked bratwurst might be one of my new favorite recipes, it’s seriously that delicious. Plus, it’s easy to make and paleo friendly, and you can never have enough slow cooker recipes, at least that’s my opinion. The cabbage makes this recipe really filling and healthy, but it tastes just like comfort food. Instead of slow cooking it with ale, I used Crispin’s Original Hard Apple Cider, which gives it plenty of sweetness, and I also added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to balance out the sweetness with a little bit of sour. The end result is a nice tangy cabbage and onions that I couldn’t be happier with.

Slow Cooked Bratwurst with Cabbage and Onions
 
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 3 links of pork bratwurst
  • 1 bottle of hard apple cider (12 fl oz) (Crispin)
  • 1 half chopped green cabbage
  • 2 medium sweet white onions
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper (5 twists)
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • ¼ tsp fresh thyme
  • ¼ tsp fresh rosemary
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
  1. Chop green cabbage and sweet white onions and add them to the slow cooker.
  2. In a large saute pan, on medium high, heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil. Then brown pork bratwurst a few minutes on each side.
  3. Transfer oil and bratwurst to slow cooker.
  4. Add bay leaf, sea salt, ground pepper, thyme and rosemary to slow cooker. Then pour hard cider over everything and let it cook on high for 4 hours.
  5. Remove bratwurst from slow cooker and slice. Then return bratwurst to slow cooker, and mix everything together.

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Health & Wellness

Holistically Hot Book Review

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Holistically Hot Book Reveiw - Healing and Eating

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Marissa Vicario’s new book, Your Holistically Hot Transformation. In her book, she gives us heartfelt advice on how to take care of yourself, so you look and feel fantastic. I liked how this was more of a lifestyle book, and less of another diet book. In fact, she has a chapter dedicated exclusively to why diets don’t work and how calorie counting is unnecessary especially when you are eating whole foods.

She advocates for people to find what works for them, because we all have different health needs and nutrition is not a one-size-fits-all model. This may be jarring to some readers, who have no idea where to start, and like direction that restrictive diets provide, or if a doctor has put you on a elimination diet. Instead of “dieting,”  she recommends viewing your nutrition as a journey rather than a destination ending in a number on the scale. And that’s something I can seriously get behind! Buy your copy of Holistically Hot Transformation by Marissa Vicario and get started on your journey to wellness.

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