Valentine's Day Recipe - Chocolate Love Bites

Cooking has never really been my "thing" but lately I've been having a blast creating healthy, delicious, EASY, recipes to share with you! While you won't catch me slaving over a hot stove all day, it's so much fun to whip up delicious food, FAST, and share it with you.

I won't slack on using quality, nutrient dense ingredients though, even when it came to making a sweet, chocolate Valentine's Day treat!

Instead of buying chocolates for yourself or your sweetie this year, make these Love Bites instead.
They're rich, delicious, sweet, and satisfying, AND TOTALLY HEALTHY! So treat yourself, love your body, and (if you're pregnant or breastfeeding) love your baby, too, by giving them nutrients they need through you, instead of sugar they don't.

CHOCOLATE LOVE BITES

• 1 cup organic medjool dates, soaked overnight and pitted (Get the best price with Thrive Market's brand HERE)
• 1/2 cup organic cacao powder (Get Thrive Market's brand HERE)
• 1/2 cup chocolate plant protein powder (Get it from my nutrition partner HERE)
• 1 cup organic virgin coconut oil (Get Thrive Market's HERE)
   
• 2 scoops berry flavor greens blend (Get it from my nutrition partner HERE) *optional for a subtle raspberry taste and a superfood boost*

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth and completely combined.

Line a 8x8 brownie pan with parchment paper.

Spread brownie batter evenly into lined pan with a rubber spatula

Place pan in the fridge for an hour to set.

Cut brownies with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
SERVE!

If you want to give these Love Bites as a gift for Valentine's Day, keep them chilled or they will melt.

*** Store covered in the fridge or freezer ***

The ingredients matter!
If you want to make sure your chocolate treats are truly healthy and taste good, that is.
I have linked the exact brands I used above.
If you can't use these brands, use what's available to you but seek out the highest quality and cleanest sources you can!

Love your body, love yourself, love your baby. 

XOXO,
Maggie

"Instant" Bone Broth

I made real, honest to goodness bone broth for the very first time!

I've had incredible bone broth from Pasture Bird but I had never made it myself. I was too intimidated, and I felt like it would be a big hassle that I didn't have time for as a new mom. I had visions of a messy kitchen and a fussy toddler, so I just didn't even seriously consider making it myself... until now.

Since I got my amazing Instant Pot (click for Amazon listing) , I feel so much more confident cooking delicious meals with some of my tougher cuts of meat (when you buy a full 1/4 beef once a year like we do, you get cuts you aren't too sure how to cook). 

I was able to throw everything for a great bone broth into the pot, turn it on, go for a walk with my son, and come back to fully cooked, nutrient dense and delicious broth ready to be strained and stored in jars.

Did you know bone broth is full of collagen, minerals like calcium and magnesium, can help reduce inflammation and joint pain, helps you grow gorgeous, strong hair, nails and skin, can help you look and feel younger, and can help boost your immune system?! It's so easy to make is it will save me a boatload of money compared to buying it pre-made.

There was no complicated prep, no standing over the stove, no entire days in the slow cooker. All I had to do was push buttons and leave it alone.  SO EASY! If you don't own an Instant Pot yet, it's one of the few appliances I can wholeheartedly recommend to help make your life easier, and more nutritious.

Easy Whole Healthy Bone Broth:
• Bones of 2 chicken carcasses (3-5 lb chickens)
• 2 leeks
• 2 large carrots
• 2 medium/large stalks of celery
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1-2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• fresh herbs as desired (optional)
• fresh, filtered water

Put the chicken bones into the stainless steel pot. Add chopped carrots, celery, leeks (see how to chop leeks here), and remaining ingredients.

Fill the pot with water to about 2/3 full. Close the lid.

Using the manual setting, set time for 120 minutes on high pressure.

When the Instant Pot time is finished, wait for it to fully depressurize before trying to open the lid. This may take close to an hour. Just wait, it will be worth it.

LOOK AT THAT BROTH!

When the pot is cool enough to handle, strain the broth into a big glass or stainless steel bowl, straining out all the chicken bones and other chunky ingredients. Throw this stuff away.
When the broth is cool enough, pour from the bowl into clean glass mason jars and freeze or refrigerate for later use.

Voila! You just made your own bone broth! *Does a happy dance for you*

When you make this, make sure you come back and tell me how it went! I can't wait to celebrate with you. 

XO Maggie

This post contains affiliate links which means I make money on purchases made via these links, which helps support this blog. I never recommend anything I don't use and love myself. All opinions are my own.

Holiday Pumpkin Spice Scones, Gluten Free

When fall arrives and it gets colder outside, it triggers something in me that wants the coziness of scarves, boots, mittens, a fireplace, and the warm scent of cinnamon and cloves. And I get extremely excited for all things pumpkin.

Roasted pumpkin seeds at Halloween, pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, and now... pumpkin scones at Christmas!

These little treats have the perfect blend of pumpkin spices, no refined sugar, and are completely gluten free.

I LOVE Christmas cookies but I don't love how all that sugar zaps my energy, or how it makes my body feel inflamed, gain weight, and make my skin break out.

These scones totally satisfy my sweet tooth and when you makes them, you can feel good because they're actually good for you! They even have a little protein and fiber so you'll feel satisfied and won't want to scarf down the whole batch in one sitting.

Bake, and enjoy!!

350º F --- 20 minutes --- Makes 9 mini scones

1 cup gluten free all purpose flour
*** My flour blend: 200 g Arrowhead Mills organic millet flour, 150 g Authentic Foods sweet rice flour, 150g Anthony's organic potato starch ***

1 scoop your favorite sugar free, vanilla, plant protein powder
*** see and purchase what I use by clicking here ***

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp each ginger, cardamom

pinch of ground cloves

2/3 cup canned organic pumpkin

1 TBSP melted coconut oil

1 egg

2 TBSP maple syrup

*****************************

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl with a fork until even distributed.

Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl until evenly combined.

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix gently with a rubber spatula until fully incorporated.
Drop golf ball or large tablespoon sized spoonfuls of scone "dough" onto a baking sheet.
Shape with wet fingers into triangle or desired shapes.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until scones are slightly springy to the touch and brown on the bottom.
Allow to cool completely before eating.

This blog post contains affiliate links

The New PACT Lightweight Hoodie - Review and Giveaway

I open my package from PACT and pull out my hoodie, immediately noticing the deliciously soft fabric.

I put it on as fast as I can because I want to wrap myself up in that soft, organic cotton and never take it off. I pull the sleeves down over my hands and stretch my arms out to check the sleeve length.

It's perfect.

I start to walk up the stairs to check the fit in the bathroom mirror, and I notice one of my favorite things ever.

THUMB HOLES. The cuffs have thumb holes!

I literally squeak, quite loudly, and I'm grinning now.

Not long after I started My Whole Healthy, I actively sought to partner with PACT because of how they choose to make their clothes. And I loved wearing them.
Organic cotton.
No sweatshops.
No child labor.
Ever.

Did you know conventional cotton uses about 16% of the world’s insecticides? And that the World Bank estimates around 20% of industrial water pollution in the world comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles?! 

Ick.

PACT does things differently, and they make the cutest, most comfortable, and well fitting basics I've ever worn.

I think you can see that my Whole Healthy encompasses more than just diet and exercise. More than yoga and meditation. My Whole Healthy requires mindfulness about what I put in and on my body, and my impact on the world. It's a big picture perspective on wellness because I know first-hand how seemingly tiny things can affect big things. I am a journalist, a survivor, and a wellness expert. I'm always looking to see how the dots connect. Aligning myself with a company meant that company had to stack up and have a positive impact on the planet and its people, with no concessions

PACT is that kind of company. Their mission is to change the apparel industry for good and you can read more about the company and their standards HERE. Getting to try this new hoodie in the PACT ORGANIC lineup was a joy, but I was looking hard for something to criticize. 

I make it to the mirror in the bathroom and I look at my reflection. I analyze the fit, turn this way and that, put the hood up, zip it, unzip it. It's a size up from my regular size because I'm 6'1" and too-short-sleeves are the story of my life, so I wanted to be sure about the length. And because I like my hoodies roomy, not fitted and tight. Nothing ever fits me perfectly... there had to be something I could point out in my review.

But oh, the fit is beautiful. The perfect body length, cuffs that easily touched my hands, enough room for my strong shoulders without being baggy, and a flattering fit in the body even though I was wearing one size up. The fabric is lighter than traditional fleece hoodies, and it feels like a great layering piece, perfect to throw on when the weather cools down but not too heavy or hot.

The bathroom mirror doesn't let me see as well as I want to, so I duck into my guest bedroom to check the full length mirror and snap a photo. My son toddles in behind me and as I start to frame my shot, my little guy decides it's time to be silly. He puts his head on the floor and does a baby downward dog. Then he cackles with laughter. I can't stop laughing at his antics and every pic I'm taking is blurry.

Finally, I get my shot. So here it is. I'm also wearing a PACT camisole, and the stretch-fit flare pants in charcoal heather. Sooooo comfy, and just as soft as the hoodie but with more stretch and structure to hold the fit.

The hoodie is my new favorite piece of clothing and I wear it all the time. I'm always sad when the house warms up and I have to take it off.

I took it camping, too, and it was the PERFECT layer for the chilly Eastern Sierra mountains. Another feature I loved was the hood... it's roomy and it easily fit over my long, wild hair, keeping my head and ears toasty on the chilly fall mornings.

Check out the photos below that my husband shot for me while we were there.

On this trip, I brought my camisole, and the new PACT organic cotton MEN'S sweat pants (I LOVE them), plus my PACT undies!!! They are the best underwear I've ever had and I couldn't leave home without them, so all together, this made for the the perfect weekend outfit to wear around the campfire and hiking in the John Muir Wilderness up towards Kearsarge Pass.

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I took some close-up photos of my hoodie so you could see the details that make this hoodie really special. That bright blue piping is so pretty! And the slight funnel style neck adds something really special. Click the images below to enlarge.

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I love this hoodie and this company so much. The holidays are approaching fast, and I'm super excited to share the PACT love with you! If you follow me on Instagram you see me wearing PACT all the time, so without further ado, enter below to win a $100 PACT gift card, just in time for the holidays!

You can enter up until Sunday Nov. 13, 2016 at 11:59 PST. Giveaway open to residents of the U.S.A. only.

The winner will be emailed directly so make sure you use your best email to enter!

If you want to shop PACT right now, subscribe to my Whole Healthy Notes right here to get my EXCLUSIVE discount code, and SO much more wellness love, instantly and totally free!

GOOD LUCK and remember to SHARE THIS POST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored post and I received compensation in return for posting this review and giveaway. All opinions are my own. I do not accept payment of any kind in return for a positive review. This blog post may contain affiliate links.

Eating is Hard

I have been working on this blog post for months. I started 6 months ago and then it sat here. I would open it periodically and stare at my screen, type some things, delete them, type some more, delete those. This is a very personal piece of my story that i haven't shared publically, but I want you to know the real and raw parts of my story. Not just the polished bits that can take over when you share yourself online. So I never gave up on this post even though I was tempted to trash it completely. Finally the right words came, but it got really long, so I broke it up into two parts.
Look for Part 2 on Monday.

In late 2007, I couldn't eat.

Seriously, literally, I was UNABLE to perform the act of eating food. Such a basic thing I never knew I took for granted, but there it was. I was in the hospital, unable to chew or swallow and my food was delivered through a tube in my nose, directly into my stomach. Forget room service! I had gastric service that would feed me while I lay in a coma.

On Nov. 24, 2007 I was hit head-on by a drunk driver while driving from the airport to visit my dad in Nova Scotia.

The feeding tube delivered calories (because I can't really call it "nutrition") while I was in a coma and continued to feed me even after I woke up. The tube came out after a few weeks but my body had forgotten how to eat. I remembered what do in theory, but my muscles and reflexes didn't do what they were supposed to. And the empty space where my front teeth had been made it even harder.

In the hospital with a feeding tube, 2007.

My toddler who is learning how to eat for the very first time in his life right now, chews, swallows and drinks better than me at that time. I was severely brain injured, my swallowing reflex was gone, and I had to relearn this most basic skill.

It all began with thickened water.

This gelatinous liquid was supposed to help train my swallowing muscles while minimizing the risk of choking, but my god, it was vile. Solid food wasn't any better. My meat, veggies, and potatoes were delivered in pureed stripes of pink, green, and white, which in my unwitting state, I happily spooned into my mouth. And coughed. A lot. Nothing seemed to go down the right way.

Then came the cups full of paste-colored Ensure, or fluorescent-but-somehow-chalky pink Boost.

Then the day came that I successfully chewed and swallowed a bite of banana.

Oh, hooray! That was such a good day. It meant I could stop eating purées and I was allowed to eat soft foods! REAL food. My missing teeth and broken jaw made anything crunchy a no-no, but oh, BLISS, I could have FOOD!!!!

But it was still hospital food.

My doctors and nurses said I could eat whatever I wanted though, as long as it didn't require work to chew. After being fed through a feeding tube for weeks, and lying motionless in a hospital bed, my healthy, athletic, 6-foot-one-inch, 170 pound frame had dropped to a very skinny and unhealthy 140 pounds. I was officially given the green light to chow down as much as possible because I needed to regain that weight, and I was burning insane amounts of calories to heal.

My first request was for fast food.

There's no way I could bite into a burger, but my seriously loving fiancé would go out and pick up whatever I asked for (often in the freezing Canadian winter weather), come back to my room, and take bites for me, chew it, and feed me like a baby bird. I'm not kidding. Talk about love, and that greasy, salty food tasted so, so good. 

My doctors, of all people, should have known the impact my nutrition could have on my healing, and especially the healing of my injured brain. But all they cared about at that time was the quantity of calories I was consuming. The quality didn't seem to matter and it certainly made my taste buds happy.

Now I know those fast food meals are engineered to excite our taste buds without providing the nutrition we really need, but back then, all I knew was that it tasted good, and made me feel  more "normal."

In the hospital with 8 missing teeth

My Partial Dentures

When I left the hospital, I was still missing eight of my front teeth. 

The ninth was so damaged it was just waiting to be pulled out. I finally had a partial denture made that made my smile appear normal at first glance, but it was anything but functional. I just wanted to feel like myself again so changing my diet was not at the top of my priority list.

Wearing my new partial

I ate mostly home cooked meals, but I still reached for processed comfort foods almost every day. Eating wasn't fun. My partial didn't stay put. One afternoon when I was out with a visiting friend, we went to a popular sandwich shop for lunch and I ordered the roast beef and cheese. When we brought our orders outside and I took my first bite, I found I couldn't bite through the meat and the pressure on my front false teeth would flip them off my molars where the partial clipped on. I ended up picking the sandwich apart and eating it with my fingers. Eating an apple? Forget it. 

I wore the partial denture for 4 years and it limited my food choices in a big way because everything that went into my mouth had to be super soft, or cut up into small pieces. My diet gradually improved, but I didn't know how to eat for wellness and healing. I was wooed by health claims on food packaging and their loud, colorful promises. And my brain injury made me especially susceptible.  And although I was injured when I was 23, I couldn't get dental implants until I was 27 years old.

I just wanted to stay home where I could take my partial out and eat comfortably with a fork or spoon, missing teeth and all. I couldn't think clearly or do much more than get through each day, so I just ate what was easiest. Almost everything had to be cut up like I was a small child. I handled it well enough and I laughed about it a lot. But eating was hard. I was miserable.

When it was finally time to get oral surgery and install my dental implants, I was so happy that I didn't care that I was having invasive, reconstructive surgery. My surgeon removed metal plates, rebuilt my jaw, removed my wisdom teeth, and installed titanium posts that would eventually hold my new teeth. I was given some serious drugs for conscious sedation that made me so loopy and relaxed, I remember seeing chunks of bone leave my mouth and thinking, "oh, there it goes."

I. DID. NOT. CARE.

It was pretty amazing stuff but the elation I felt was completely real and independent of any drug. Throughout my recovery period, I remember being amazed as I ran my tongue over my implants, feeling the new posts that would give me my smile back. My whole face was in agony but I was smiling already.

TEETH. I would finally have teeth again.

READ PART 2: How Eating Became Easy...

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