Beef Fat for Better Health: Part 4

August 29, 2020October 13, 2021 / Primal Influence / Leave a comment

The final post in our special 4-part series!

What’s one of our favourite ways to utilise beef fat?

Rendering it to become tallow and using the tallow to make MOISTURISER!

As mentioned in the previous blog, tallow is incredibly good for human skin. But in it’s pure form it doesn’t make for a practical moisturiser because it’s so firm and hard to spread.

If you ever get tallow on your hands while making it from suet/other fat, or while cooking with it, and you rub it into your skin you’ll realise how nice it feels and you’ll probably notice it doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy afterwards. Compared to how coconut oil feels on the skin, there’s a big – and welcome – difference!

To make it more use-able it’s recommended to add 1-2 other ingredients in, and whipping it up with some air in there also makes it easier to achieve good coverage with.

It’s actually really easy to make a soft, silky, whipped tallow cream for the body. It’s also incredibly economical because it goes a long way and lasts a surprisingly long time. Especially if it’s applied while skin is still slightly damp after having a shower or bath. Applying it to warm damp-ish skin helps it spread further, so you can really use the ‘less is more’ principle with it which is a bonus!

Keen to try making your own whipped tallow body cream?

Here’s a quick video tutorial!

But what about the smell? Won’t it be too ‘beefy’?

To change the aroma you can add a good quality pure essential oil in during the hand-mixing, toward the end. Quantity will depend on the scent in particular and your preference as to how strong you’d like it to smell.

We usually add a subtle variety such as sweet orange, lemon, or lime. The essential oil can help reduce the ‘tallow-y’ smell the cream gives off initially. But we find that smell goes away pretty quickly anyway, once the cream has been rubbed into the skin.

So it’s up to you if you want to include essential oils in your cream or not.

Are you going to give making tallow moisturiser a go? We’d love to hear how you go with it!

Clint + Aimee

Primal Fitness + Health Coaches

Primal Influence

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Beef Fat for Better Health: Part 3

August 6, 2020October 13, 2021 / Primal Influence / 1 Comment

From making tallow to cook with to moisturisers… let’s look at the best ways to utilise this healthy wholefood.

How we utilise beef fat as food

There are 2 ways we like to use beef fat:

Raw mince suet sprinkled on some of our meat meals – usually on our mince and eggs or mince/liver/kidney and eggs for brekkie, with some pink salt. Or topped on a piece of rump steak.

Suet sitting between a juicy rump and fried pastured eggs

The fat melts on the just-off-the-fry-pan food and has quite a nice taste and texture.

If eaten totally raw and still a bit firm it can be quite chewy and stick to your teeth. Some carnivore-diet followers enjoy this texture but we don’t. You might, so give it a go!

As mentioned in previous posts (Part 1, and Part 2), beef fat in it’s raw state is said to be more nutrient-dense and bio-available than cooked fat (tallow) so it’s a good idea to add it to meals when possible to boost good calories, create satiety and increase energy levels.

2. Tallow to consume as is and to cook with.

We always have a jar of homemade tallow beside the stove to use on our two permanently-placed cast iron pans and to use on food we’re roasting or to dollop on our cooked meals.

Photo source: http://www.Instructables.com

Cast iron is a super healthy cooking surface and requires almost no cleaning (less washing up, always a nice thing when you don’t own a dishwasher and cook all meals from scratch!) and tallow with it’s high smoke point and high nutrients / low anti-nutrients makes a great seasoning and cooking fat.

You only need to add a very thin layer of tallow to cast iron pans to keep them seasoned and for cooking, so tallow goes a really long way and lasts a really long time.

How we utilise beef fat on our skin

By making and using tallow moisturiser!

Why is grass-fed tallow good for our skin?

Tallow closely mimics the fats and oils we have naturally in our skin.

This includes the fatty acids and cholesterol in the cell membranes of all our skin cells as well as those that sit in between skin cells, forming the protective barrier function of our skin.

Strong, healthy cell membranes help keep skin cells plump and well hydrated. It helps protect skin from moisture loss and leaves skin looking soft and hydrated. It will also help replenish any missing components in our skin’s barrier function.

Grass-fed tallow also contains fatty acids that closely copy the oils that we produce naturally as sebum.

As we get older, our skin slows down on the production of these oils that keep our skin soft, supple and youthful looking.

So, grass-fed tallow helps put back what time takes away.
Rejuvenating the appearance of skin, as well as smoothing out the look of fine lines and wrinkles.

Good quality tallow also contain essential vitamins such as fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which are all really important for healthy glowing skin.

The other bonus is it’s high in essential Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, with a ratio of 1:1, to help protect the skin and boost immune function.

Tallow moisturiser is super easy to make and an affordable natural skincare product, or you can simply lather on some pure tallow if you like, it feels so nice on the skin!

How else do we use tallow on our skin?

By making tallow soap (or a combination of coconut oil and tallow)!

Making natural soap is so good for our health and the environment, and is a great way to utilise healthy tallow. Especially with any tallow that went a little too far in the rendering process and ended up slightly over ‘done’. We like to label these containers “for soap” and keep in the fridge until it’s time to make a batch of about 24 bars.

Have you made natural soap before? It’s so rewarding and so so so cheap!

To get started with these you’ll need to buy yourself some grass-fed tallow or make it from scratch. Making tallow is definitely the less expensive option and the one we always choose.

Here’s a video on how to do just that!

Let us know how you go making your own tallow then stay tuned for the next post…

The next blog will include:

How to make tallow moisturiser

Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Clint + Aimee

Primal Fitness + Health Coaches

Primal Influence

Disclaimer:

NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.

Beef Fat for Better Health: Part 2

July 23, 2020October 13, 2021 / Primal Influence / 1 Comment

A deeper look into this hugely underrated nourishing wholefood + comparing it to plant fat products

Why animal fats are better than plant fats

Plant oils are a staple in most pantries. Olive oil, canola, sunflower. Plus a lot of fridges these days have a tub of plant oil margarine on the shelf. Many of these products are touted as “good for lowering cholesterol”, being “heart-healthy” and healthy because they’re low in saturated fat.

If you asked everyone you know “Hey do you think olive oil is healthier than beef fat?” most likely at least 99% of them would say yes. That’s the sad reality of sneaky marketing and BS health advice… it teaches the majority of the population the wrong thing!

One of the main reasons these oils and products are classed as “heart-healthy” is because they contain Phytosterols.

Science shows they can lower cholesterol but there’s a couple main problems with this…

We actually NEED cholesterol for basic cell function, to prevent depression and more.
We’re consuming Phytosterols in larger then recommended quantities due to the inclusion of grains and legumes in the diet.

High ‘bad’ cholesterol is often misdiagnosed as most conventional practitioners don’t fully understand it or the levels we need to have to be ‘healthy’. Dr Chris Kresser has some great info on this and busts a few common myths around cholesterol. Read more here.

Another issue with Phytosterols is they may actually contribute to heart disease, not prevent it. Read more here.

Also, plants contain toxins. How they function in the human body is not how they function when tested in a lab. They contain more anti-nutrients than nutrients. Animal meat and fats don’t.

And how often have you picked an olive from a tree and squeezed out oil to use on your meal or in cooking? Never! Because to extract oil from olives the olives have to go through rigorous processing including high-temp heating. That’s never healthy!

Meat and fat from animals contain almost no anti-nutrients and lots of essential nutrients that are bio-available for the human body. Meaning we can process and use them efficiently without negative effects. This is ideal when eating food. Traditionally, plants were used more for survival situations, to get humans by between animal kills. Dr Paul Saladino talks a lot about this in his podcast interviews and on his website. We highly recommend his book The Carnivore Code too!

And… saturated fat is healthy, in particular, long-chain saturated fats from ruminant animals. Vegetable oils are higher in poly-unsaturated fats which cause insulin resistance. Dr Paul Saladino talks about this in this Facebook video.

The environment impacts

Mono-cropping is a major problem to the environment and it’s the method used for the production of most plant oils. Unless regenerative agriculture practices are used, farming large-scale crops extracts nutrients from the soil. Regenerative agriculture does exactly what the name suggests… it regenerates the land and improves the eco-system!

Sure, factory farming of cattle is bad. And this goes back to the point in the last blog post of why choosing grass-fed animal products from quality producers using healthy farming techniques is so important.

Diana Rogers – Sustainable Dish uses the message “it’s not the cow, it’s the how” and has some amazing information on the environmental impacts of unhealthy animal farming vs healthy methods, and also the problems with mono-crop production. Her book and doco Sacred Cow are out soon and we’re so excited!

Healthy pasture and environment = healthy cattle

We’ve experienced first hand the benefits of regen ag for both the health of the environment and ourselves. We work part-time on a biodynamic beef and egg farm run by a former bio-chemist (aka scientist!), have hosted educational farm tours there, and have learnt all about the farming practices used and eaten the food produced there. When you understand the full cycle from how an animal is raised to how it can nourish the planet and us, you appreciate the importance of consuming good quality animal products!

Another environmental factor to consider, particularly with consuming the fat, is how much waste is reduced. Apart from eating note-to-tail being a natural and traditional thing for humans to do, from a modern-day viewpoint with how much waste, landfill and pollution we’re tackling we need to incorporate ways to reduce these. If a butcher is including the suet and other fat from an animal in his product range that means less food he’s throwing out. It means we’re making the most of the animal that died for our benefit, and we’re putting less waste into landfill.

Beef is one of the most highly produced and consumed foods in Australia and the supermarkets stock mostly lean cuts or the cuts with minimal fat included, you never see tubs of the fat for sale, so imagine how much goes to waste that isn’t being used in products. Beef fat is actually quite hard to get a hold of, when it should be easy to access because it’s so easy to utilise and so healthy! This has to change!

So there are some good reasons there to do some more research on the benefits of animal fat vs plant fat and make the switch.

Do we consume any plant fats?

Yes, but very rarely now and only good quality. We buy organic olive oil and organic macadamia oil that we really only use for raw purposes and not even on a weekly basis. We used to make paleo ‘mayo’ regularly with olive oil but since going mostly carnivore created an animal-fat alternative… ghee-daise! Using grass-fed ghee to make a sort of hollandaise! Find the recipe here

The next post will include:

How we utilise beef fat (as food and on our skin)
How to make tallow

Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Clint + Aimee

Primal Fitness + Health Coaches

Primal Influence

Disclaimer:

NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.

Beef Fat for Better Health: Part 1

July 13, 2020October 13, 2021 / Primal Influence / 1 Comment

An intro to beef fat + why it’s important to consume

We’ve really upped our beef fat intake since we went mostly carnivore in 2019 and enjoying continually learning about why it’s such a smart move. It’s an incredibly health fat to consume (and use topically which we’ll get into in later posts) but so feared because of the stigma still attached to it in regards to ‘fat being bad’ and ‘saturated fat is harmful’.

Us humans need to be rid of that old outdated and just plain WRONG way of thinking once and for all, do our health a favour and get on the good fat train!

We’re creating a 4-part blog series covering the benefits of beef fat for our health inside and out, how to consume and use it including how to make natural skin products!

This first post is all about why beef fat is so healthy.

The health benefits of good quality beef fat

Beef fat from good quality sources (i.e. grass-fed, organic, bio-dynamic farms) contains essential nutrients the human body needs to functional optimally and it’s thought that raw beef fat in particular contains more ‘bioavailable’ forms of nutrients, then say cooked/rendered fat (e.g. tallow).

What does “bioavailable” mean?

The term “bioavailability” means biological availability and it describes the proportion of a mineral or vitamin in a food, which is available for absorption and utilization in the body. In nutritional science, the bioavailability of vitamins and minerals depends on your nutritional and physiological status. This means that a high nutritional status of a specific vitamin or mineral limits the absorption in the gut and vice versa. The bioavailability of vitamins and minerals is defined as the part of the substance that is absorbed and ready to use. (Sourced from NJORD Nutrition)

Beef fat, raw or rendered, has been proven to contain bioavailable nutrients but we’ve heard a few carnivore diet experts (including doctors) theorise that bioavailability is better in its raw state.

We’ll go into more detail in later posts but there are basically three types of beef fat:

Raw suet – the fat from around the organs such as the kidneys
Raw fat – the fat from other areas of the body
Tallow – any fat that has been rendered

Tip: tallow should be yellow in colour. That’s a sign it’s from grass-fed cattle.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the types of beef fat let’s talk about specific nutrients their benefits to our health.

Beta-carotene: a natural form of Vitamin A – an essential nutrient – which the body can convert to Vitamin A as needed. Beta-carotene is also an antioxidant, important for protecting the body against free-radicals. Grass contains beta-carotene, grain does not. So grass-fed beef fat is where it’s at!
Vitamin A: the human body converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A as it requires and is the safest form of this Vitamin because supplements can actually cause more harm than good.
Vitamin D: helps the intestine absorb nutrients, prevents osteomalacia and rickets, regulates blood pressure, and assists in the absorption of calcium in the body, that prevents osteoporosis or arthritis. The best form of this is from direct sunlight daily, but foods can help boost our levels safely, as opposed to supplements.
Vitamin E: a group of eight compounds called tocopherols and tocotrienols which reduces cholesterol and the risk of developing diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer
Vitamin K: good for the heart, immune-boosting, bone density, cognitive function, dental health, quicker healing, reducing PMS symptoms and more.
Selenium: a powerful antioxidant, may help prevent some cancers, can help prevent heart disease, important for mental health, thyroid health, immune-boosting, and can help reduce the severity of Asthma.
CLA: Tallow is rich in conjugated linoleic acid, a fatty acid which, according to some studies, can help burn fat.
Omega-3: helps fight depression and anxiety, improves eye health, promotes brain health during pregnancy and in early life, can improve risk factors for heart disease, can reduce symptoms of ADHD in children, reduces inflammation, may help prevent cancer and many more diseases and symptoms. Beef fat does also contain Omega-6 which is often suggested as something to avoid. It’s all about getting a good ratio of both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which is easier to do when the beef and fat is from grass-fed cattle, as grain-fed meat and fat is extremely high in Omega-6.

The nutrients in beef fat help improve the immune system.

Beef fat is also an excellent form of energy for the human body to use, as opposed to sugar, caffeine and empty carbohydrates

Lean vs fatty cuts of meat

With the importance of balancing out Omega-3’s and 6’s it’s ideal to consume fatty cuts of meat only from good quality sources (farmers using organic and grass-fed/finished methods) but when you can’t access grass-fed beef then that’s when you should opt for the leaner cuts and try to add good quality grass-fed FAT to your meal to make up the fat content.

Keep some grass-fed tallow or suet handy to cook in and top your cooked meats with. We always have minced raw organic suet in the freezer and a jar of rendered grass-fed tallow beside the stove.

The other element to consider when choosing which cuts of meat to buy is the gelatin-factor. This could easily be a post on it’s own as there’s quite a lot of detail with this but basically, we need gelatin with our meat when we consume it and we need to include offal because over a long time if we’re only consuming muscle meat (lean or fatty) such as chicken breasts, thighs off the bone, rump, backstrap etc we can easily get high homasistine levels in the blood which contributes to making us more susceptible to the big diseases such as Diabetes, Heart Disease etc.

This is due to the lack of glycine – a crucial amino acid needed when consuming protein.

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It’s found in the collagen and cartilage which is not available with muscle meat alone. The liver produces a small amount but not enough to sustain us, we need it mostly from our food.

An easy way to add it in is to use pure collagen and gelatin powders from grass-fed beef. Collagen powders dissolve without needing to be mixed with hot liquids, you can place a spoonful in cold water and it’ll dissolve perfectly. Gelatin that gels is for making other foods such as fruit gummies or even egg-noodles.

Watch our gelatin video series for all the info you need about gelatin and collagen.

We have a few gelatin recipes on our website you’re welcome to use.

Bone broth contains all the nutrients required to break down meat properly to it’s a good idea to drink some with a muscle meat meal. It contains collagen, gelatin and a stack of essential vitamins and minerals that all work together.

Make your own (ideal) or buy organic bone broth from health food stores, online, local markets etc.

So the bottom line here is we can become pretty darn healthy from eating good quality meat, fat, and collagen daily. But not on their own – they work best in the body when consumed all together.

The next post will include:

Animal vs plant protein/fat
How to source good quality animal fats
Environmental benefits of using animal fats

Until then, please let us know if you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you!

Clint + Aimee

Primal Fitness + Health Coaches

Primal Influence

Disclaimer:

NO information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition.

Recipe: Immune Booster Lollies

August 7, 2017August 10, 2017 / Primal Influence / Leave a comment

I have experienced some crazy unusual sickness and injury over the last few months. I’m baffled as to why this is so I’m going to try to work it out, and definitely boost my immunity back up so it ends and so I feel well again.

Clint and I eat 90% Paleo, get lots of nature time and I get “nakey bakey” most days (a new name for naked sun time my friend recently came up with. Love it!), so maybe some stress is the underlying cause? Well, whatever it is I know my eating could be improved a little, especially while my immune system is obviously weak.

One of the most popular natural health tonics today is raw juice. We, though, are not fans of regular juicing. Ooh, controversial…! The reason? There are two main ones: 1. Humans need to chew their food most of the time; our stomach enzymes that digest our food need to wake up to be ready for the food to arrive and that happens in the mouth when we salivate and CHEW! 2. Juicing removes a large portion of the essential fiber in the foods blended up. That’s wasteful and not healthy.

But some of the foods that go into making up ‘health tonic’ or ‘superfood’ juices can be pretty darn healing, so why not utilise them in a way the body can better use?

That’s why I decided to make some Immune Booster Lollies! Or “Gummies” if you wanna get technical 😉

These are really easy to make (as are most pure gelatin recipes), can easily be changed to suit tastes and allergies, and are easy to grab from the fridge during the day to get some goodness into the body.

Want to know how to make them yourself? Well alrighty, here you go!

IMMUNE BOOSTER LOLLIES

What you’ll need:

1 cup filtered/spring water

1 cup mixture of diced raw beetroot, carrot, green apple (peeled or not), fresh ginger (the beetroot taste can be overpowering so use less of this if you prefer)

6 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (grab some from Gelatin Australia here).

Tips: Use half as much gelatin if you’re wanting to make jelly cups instead of lollies.

Tips: Add another tbsp gelatin for really firm lollies, especially if using molds. Use half as much if you’re wanting to make jelly cups instead of lollies.

Optional: Stevia powder or raw honey to your liking, to sweeten if needed.

Do this:

Pour water into a small-medium saucepan, stove turned off, and gently sprinkle the gelatin powder evenly over the surface of the water.
Once all the gelatin is on and appears translucent (this is called “blooming”) you can turn the stove to a medium heat to gently warm the liquid up. Use a whisk to stir as it heats up.
Once all gelatin granules have dissolved pour half the liquid into a blender jug along with the diced fruit, veg and ginger. Blend on high until you have a fine mixture with as few chunks and lumps as possible. If using a sweetener, add it to the blender to combine.
Pour the remaining gelatin liquid in and stir to combine. The more gelatin you blend with food the frothier the mixture becomes and ends up setting with a thick layer of froth. I prefer the texture of a bit of froth, not too much. For almost no froth blend the foods with just enough pure water needed then gently stir the gelatin liquid in. Possibly add a smidge more gelatin to the saucepan if you go with this method.
Once the mixture is blended to your liking you can pour straight into silicon molds or into a square/rectangle container to create a gummy ‘block’ to slice up once set. Tip: if you’d prefer less texture from the food ‘bits’ then simply strain some of the liquid through a fine sieve but keep in mind that’s where a lot of the nutrients and fiber are.
Place in the fridge for a few hours to set firm. Remove from molds and store in an airtight bag or container in the fridge, or slice up the block into small squares.

Grab some to munch on during the day and enjoy the pure whole food healing goodness! Include some in the kids or your own lunchbox (as long as it stays cool), take on road trips, include them at parties.

Remember, these are versatile. Add or remove ingredients listed for others you’d prefer. Pretty much all of my recipes are versatile so you can adapt to your own tastes and needs!

If ALL of my gelatin recipes and all the techniques you’ll ever need to become a gelatin pro, grab my e-book here.

Let me know how you go with this recipe and happy healing 🙂

Aimee x

Recipe: Paleo Turkish Delight

August 15, 2016August 17, 2016 / Primal Influence / 2 Comments

Have you switched over to Paleo or generally cleaner eating and are missing certain ‘junk’ foods you used to eat regularly? Say, some particular chocolate bars? I sometimes do.

One of my old favourites was the Fry’s Turkish Delight! Or really good, authentic Turkish Delight pieces I’d find occasionally at cafe’s and foodie festivals/markets coated in sugar powder. <drool>

And would you agree a lot of Paleo/healthy swaps just don’t taste as good as the original version? I find it a lot; with breads and cakes, candy, all types of foods – often the taste or texture is off slightly, or even no where near. It’s not the end of the world of course, but it would be nice to get closer to the original version of some fave foods and memories.

Well.. I’m happy to announce my healthier version of Turkish Delight certainly comes very close to the Fry’s version I used to enjoy so much! Yay!

I’m giving you my recipe so you too can enjoy this yumminess, with both the way of coating it in chocolate (Paleo, or close to it, depending on what chocolate you use) like the Fry’s product, or in arrowroot (definitely Paleo) to replace the powdered sugar. Let me know what you think!

TURKISH DELIGHT

For the actual lolly you’ll need:

2 cups pomegranite juice (try to find one that’s organic or at least pure with nothing added)

2 tsbp rose water (check Asian stores and health food stores for this)

Raw honey to sweeten (quantity is up to you, with there being pomegranite juice in this recipe you may find you don’t wish to include honey at all)

4 tbsp pure grass-fed beef gelatin powder (grab some here)

The method:

Pour pomegranite juice into a saucepan on the stove withOUT turning the heat on
Gently sprinkle the gelatin powder over the surface of the juice, evenly
Let it sit for a couple of minutes so the gelatin granules absorb the liquid and soften, or “bloom”
Once softened turn the stove on to medium-high heat and use a whisk to stir until granules of gelatin have completely dissolved
Turn the heat off but while the liquid is still hot add honey if you’re using it, and rose water then stir to combine
Pour into a square or rectangle container, oven tray etc, something that’s flat and doesn’t have grooves or funny edges, so you can later on cut the set slice into squares or cubes. Or transfer liquid to a jug then pour into moulds. I used a long oven bread tin for mine which is non-stick and has flat sides and bottom, making it perfect for this type of recipe
Set in the fridge for a few hours until the mixture feels firm to touch
Gently remove from the mould/tray/container by pressing around the entire edge with your finger to seperate from the side of the container then turn upside down, hold close to your kitchen bench or chopping board then you should see the ‘jelly slice’ start to come out of the container. Watch it closely and guide it out as needed so it doesn’t break
Use a flat blade knife to cut to size (even-sized squares for example)

Now you have a basic Paleo Turkish Delight! Have a taste, do you get that nice, familar hit of rose water? It’s so good!

Here’s how you can create either a choc coated or powder coated version…

Chocolate Coated

You’ll need:

1 block plain paleo/primal/healthy-as-possible chocolate (I used the new Coles brand 70% dark chocolate because it’s dairy and soy-free) melted

Make your own chocolate using cacao butter, organic cocoa powder, raw honey to sweeten, pure vanilla and melted coconut oil

Method:

Let the chocolate mixture cool in a large container (large enough to get your hand into easily with some room to move around) but not to the point it’s becoming lumpy or re-setting then gently place Turkish Delight piece into the container to coat thinly with chocolate
Place each piece onto a sheet of baking paper that’s on a chilled board or flat plate of some kind that’s been in the fridge or freezer. This will help the underside of each piece set quicker and prevent you losing more chocolate coating than necessary on the baking paper!
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge (if it lasts that long!!)

This version may not be technically “Paleo” depending on the chocolate you use. Cane sugar isn’t classed as Paleo but I personally don’t mind consuming it occassionally. I’d rather use a chocolate that had coconut sugar though.

Powder Coated

You’ll need:

1/2 – 3/4 cup arrowroot powder

Optional: 1 tsp pure vanilla powder

Method:

Sprinkle half the arrowoot on a board or late plate
Gently place each piece of Turkish Delight on the board/plate then turn over. Use your fingers held out together and flat to pat each side to remove excess arrowroot leaving you with an even coating on each side. I find if you don’t try to pat the excess away and you coat each surface the taste overpowers the actual gummy; a thin layer on the top and bottom seems to be plenty
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge but keep in mind the moisture may absorb into the arrowroot, reducing it’s powdery-ness.

Now you have a version of Turkish Delight similar to that found in cafes and at markets with that classic and famililar powder coating!

You can probably store either in a container in the pantry, but keep in mind there is BEEF in there, it may not last long outside of the fridge before going ‘off’.

I hope you enjoy whichever version you make! Let me know how you go and what you think!

Oh and before I go, my message is never “you should eat strict Paleo all the time” because I certainly don’t! I believe we each need to find a happy balance with what we eat and how we live. So if you feel like having the ‘junk’ version of Turkish Delight.. then do it! Own it and enjoy it.

However, for those times you feel like a healthy option then now you have one 🙂

That’s all the wisdom I have for you for today..!

Aimee x

5 Things I’m Grateful for Today:

gelatin and how it helps me heal
getting sun today for over 30mins
a good catchup with Chris this morning
Eric Church songs
Spotting whales yesterday

Recipe: a Paleo dairy-free and nut-free cheese alternative

February 11, 2016 / Primal Influence / Leave a comment

There are stacks of dairy-free ‘cheese’ recipes online and in books now. Some taste good and some taste nothing like cheese of course. Some are easy to make, some are really hard work. Plus, most are made using nuts and not everyone can tolerate nuts well. Like me!

Most of my recipes are derived from a desire to create Paleo-friendly nut-free dishes for those who are allergic, don’t feel good eating many nuts, or just want nut-free alternatives. Especially important for school lunchboxes!

Last year I was introduced to an amazing dairy-free nut-free melting cheese recipe thanks to the legendary Aussie Paleo Chef (as known on Facebook, but just ‘Dan’ to us!) which goes brilliantly in Paleo burgers, in lasagne and on my chicken parmie recipe (in my soon-to-come Banana Flour e-book!!) and one of my fave recipes to teach people at private cooking workshops, always crediting back to the man himself of course!

If you’d like to grab his melting cheese recipe just download the Paleo Kitchen Creations e-book and enjoy the deliciousness!

So since learning that recipe, using it a lot and loving it.. I wanted to create a cheese that didn’t work only melted and could be spread onto crackers like regular animal milk-based cheese. One day I got creative in the kitchen and came up with a winner, using similar ingredients to Dan’s recipe, but slightly different. Of course though, me being me and not always organised in the kitchen, I didn’t write down the recipe as I went and couldn’t then remember the ingredients or method afterwards therefore I couldn’t replicate it so I could give it to you guys! Oh believe me, I tried! And failed… many times.

I’d almost given up but decided recently to have another crack.. and whad’ya know.. success!

I’ve finally created a spreadable cheese alternative recipe! I’ll be honest though, it doesn’t taste like real cheese, no cheese substitutes do. But, it’s a really healthy alternative and something interesting to include at dinner parties, as a snack, whenever you’d usually use cheese really.

Since it isn’t cheese and doesn’t taste exactly like cheese, let’s not call it “cheese”. Because that’s a fib after all! Instead, how ’bout we call it.. Cheezy Paleo Spread as it does have a likeness to cheese but it’s not the same as it, and that’s kinda cheezy I think! 😉

Ingredients you’ll need:

1/2 cup organic desiccated coconut

1/2 cup arrowroot flour

1 tbsp grass-fed pure beef gelatin powder (grab some via our affiliate link here)

2 tbsp spring/filtered water

1/2-1 tsp turmeric powder – depending on how yellow you want your cheez

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Niulife creamed coconut (not coconut cream/milk, but dried coconut processed to become ‘creamy’)

Himalayan salt to taste

Kitchen bits you’ll need:

Good blender (high speed, bullet, or glass with decent power)

Whisk

Measuring spoons and cups

Round or square/rectangle container lined with baking paper or plastic wrap. Plastic wrap will probably allow for creases to appear around the edges of the cheez but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

Steps to follow:

In a small saucepan add 1 tbsp water and gently sprinkle gelatin powder evenly over the surface. Do not turn the stove on until the gelatin powder has absorbed some of the water and has ‘bloomed’.
Turn heat to medium and whisk the liquid so all gelatin granules have dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside
Add to the blender add all remaining ingredients then drizzle the gelatin water on top
Place the lid on the blender and blitz on high to break down the desiccated coconut and combine everything well. You can blitz until you reach a very smooth consistency or stop before it reaches that if you prefer the texture of some of the coconut remaining
As you’re blending feel free to add a smidge more water (as in 1 tsp at a time) in case the mixture is too thick and isn’t combining properly. This can depend on your blender. Basically, you’re after a well combined and thick mixture with no lumps of creamed coconut or arrowroot remaining
Once it’s to your liking use a silicon spatula or food processor scraper (food processor scrapers seem to work perfectly for getting around all the grooves in blenders!) to remove the mixture and transfer to the lined container
Gently tap the base of the container on a steady surface like a chopping board to help the mixture spread to the corners and settle evenly
Place in the fridge for a couple of hours to set
When it’s time to serve, take it out of the fridge, grab the plastic or paper to remove it all from the container then remove the paper/plastic so you’re left with a big chunk of yellow cheez
Serve on a platter with crackers spread out around, or cut to smaller sizes if you wish. Keep in mind on a really hot day outside the cheez may melt because of the coconut oil and gelatin but it will take a while to melt completely. Use a butter knife to spread onto crackers or slide carrot sticks into it. Easy!
Store in the fridge in an air-tight container or wrapped in plastic. It contains gelatin which is an animal product so it will spoil after a few days as with any animal product. The apple cider vinegar will help preserve it to an extent but if the smell or colour changes please discard it.

Enjoy!

The recipe for the Rosemary Crackers (in the image) will be in my Banana Flour e-book, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.. launching in February 2016, yay!

I hope you enjoy creating and eating this recipe, please do let me know what you think!

Here are some answers to some questions I may get after sharing this recipe:

Why not use nutritional yeast? I have experimented with it many times and every time it leaves my stomach very bloated and gassy the next day. From what I’ve read about it, it’s so processed and unnatural in its useable state that it easily messes with digestion. And don’t we mostly go Paleo to improve gut health?! Feel free to use it if you can tolerate it well but remember it could have inflammatory effects. It would replace turmeric for the yellow effect but turmeric is so healthy!
Why use gelatin? Pure gelatin is so healing (so it’s actually good for digestion!) and helps create the texture of this cheez
Could I use other types of dried coconut? Yes but the larger the pieces the longer they’ll take to break down enough in the blender.

Let me know if you have any questions to add!

Thanks,

Aimee xx

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

Our long weekend away in NSW going to a family wedding, seeing new places and staying with amazing friends
The sun out today so I can get some Vitamin D!
Healthy recipe creating
All Dan’s wonderful advice and inspiration
You guys reading our blogs!

Recipes: Jelly + Jaffa Panna Cotta

September 14, 2015September 15, 2015 / Primal Influence / Leave a comment

The Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival on the weekend was fantastic! We were thrilled to be a stallholder and even more so that I was invited to do a Gelatin Cooking Demo as well. What an opportunity!

Yesterday I showed a group of about 40 people how to make Orange Juice Jelly, and Jaffa Panna Cotta – 2 of my favourite gelatin dishes.

Not only are they healing and nourishing for the body, but also easy and affordable to make and delicious! What could be better?!

I promised the attendees I’d provide the recipes for these, so here they are…

JUICE JELLY

You’ll Need:

2 cups organic juice (pulp-free, or not if you want fruit/seed texture)

1-2 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (depending on how wobbly or firm you want it)

Optional: raw honey or other healthy liquid sweetener (I love Hello Honey Australia honey, it’s beautiful!)

Do this:

1. Pour juice into a medium-large saucepan sitting on the stove, but without turning the stove on

2. GENTLY and SLOWLY sprinkle gelatin powder, from the tablespoon, evenly over the surface of the juice

3. Let it soften for a couple of minutes until gelatin becomes translucent from absorbing the liquid. This process is called ‘blooming’. The thicker the liquid being used, the more of a ‘brainy’ effect will occur!

4. Once all the gelatin seems to have softened turn the stove to a medium-high heat and grab a whisk or fork ready to stir and finish dissolving the gelatin granules as the liquid heats up

5. The gelatin won’t take long at all to finish dissolving. Once it has, remove saucepan from the heat and either pour through a strainer if you think you ended up with some clumps of gelatin, or straight into a container. If making jelly cups for a party, pour into those. If just making a batch of jelly to take serving sizes from later, pour into a large container (glass is best)

6. Place in the fridge to set over a few hours. The smaller the container/s, the quicker the setting process will take, and it’ll depend on how cold your fridge is also.

7. If making jelly cups, pretty-them-up a bit by adding grated or diced fresh fruit and/or a dollop of pure Ayam coconut cream to the top as a garnish and for added flavour and texture

Jelly cups are perfect for school and work lunchboxes and jelly in general is a terrific snack or with part of a main meal. I actually have banana jelly for brekkie every morning along with an egg yolk and some grass-fed lamb or beef mince.

To make fruit jelly simply bloom the 1-2 tbsp to 2 tbsp water (instead of the juice as per recipe above) in a saucepan. Follow blooming and dissolving process then pour into a blender with fruit (banana works great) and set in the fridge as you normally would. Easy! Banana jelly does go brown in the fridge but the soft fluffy texture and taste are not compromised.

To make lollies: simply use 2 cups of liquid to 4 tbsp gelatin powder!

JAFFA PANNA COTTA

You’ll Need:

1 tsp – 1 tbsp pure beef gelatin powder (depending on how wobbly or firm you like your panna cotta)

400ml 100% pure coconut milk (or cream if you want a thicker, richer result. I use the Ayam brand)

2 tbsp pure organic cocoa powder

2-4 tbsp raw honey (depending on how sweet you want it) (I love Hello Honey Australia honey, it’s beautiful!)

Rind of 1 orange, keep some aside for garnish

½ tsp pure vanilla essence

Do this:

1. In a small or medium saucepan add 1 cup of coconut milk, orange rind, cocoa, honey and vanilla

2. Whisk to combine

3. Turn the heat off JUST BEFORE the mixture bubbles then leave there for the flavours to infuse

4. In a shallow container add the remaining coconut milk

5. Using a spoon to gently sprinkle the gelatin powder on top of the coconut milk, aim for an even layer completely covering the surface of the milk. This method is called ‘blooming’

6. Let the gelatin mixture rest for about 10 minutes. In this time the mixture on the stove would have infused

7. After 5-10 minutes, heat the mixture on the stove again being careful to not let it bubble, as with before

8. Remove it from the heat and whisk the gelatin mixture into the warmed mixture

9. Once it’s completely combined, pour through a strainer into a large container or individual serving containers then place in the fridge to set

10. It will take 2-3 hours to set depending on how cold your fridge is and size of panna cotta. Cups will take less time than one big container full.

11. Once it’s set, use a knife or spatula to scrape around the edges to make it easier to remove then turn the container/s upside down onto a serving plate until set panna cotta comes out. It has a jelly/pudding-like consistency so it should come out with no breakage if it’s set properly

Alternative you could serve it still in the containers

12. Garnish with remaining orange rind then serve!

There you go, 2 really healthy and easy sweet dishes for you to make and enjoy!

If you live on the Sunshine Coast feel free to grab some of the ingredients from our Primal Pantry catalogue – pretty much all are less than RRP and absolutely all are quality.

If you’d like to grab ALL of my gelatin recipes you can purchase the Sweet Goodness with Gelatin e-book, which contains everything I know about gelatin and all the sweet recipes you’ll ever need so you can make any recipe you come across online, and be creative with flavour combinations for the techniques you’ll learn.

The Paleo Kitchen Creations e-book Dan the Aussie Paleo Chef and I created together also has an amazing melting cheese recipe using gelatin and doesn’t contain any dairy or nuts. It’s incredible!

To learn to make loads of other healthy, easy and affordable paleo-friendly dishes book in for a private cooking workshop with me! They are always a lot of fun 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions about gelatin or paleo living in general feel free to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!

If you were at the demo yesterday.. thank you for coming and I hope you enjoyed it!

Aimee x

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1.A fabulous weekend at the Real Food Festival

2.Educating people on the health benefits of gelatin

3.Primal Fitness Class on today, because I can’t wait to play!

4.Roast veggies because they’re just so easy and delicious

5.Forest play time

Hanging with some happy cattle, and a recipe for paleo slow cooked brisket

July 29, 2015 / Primal Influence / Leave a comment

Healthy happy cattle make for happy healthy eaters of cattle!

Why? Think about it.. if animals are eating what they’re meant to be eating and are living a happy natural existence, people who eat them are receiving that health and happiness in some way because we’re eating what WE’RE meant to be eating!

Make sense?!

Clint and I are really passionate about connecting people to quality, ethical, sustainable, professional and genuine producers. This includes farmers who raise animals the way they’re meant to be raised.

In the time we’ve been hosting the Sunshine Coast Paleo/Primal/Real Food Meetup Group we’ve met some awesome paleo-friendly food and product producers. We’re probably not meant to have a favourite but we can’t help it, we do! lol

One of the nicest, most generous, educational and respectable producers we’ve come across is Farmer Susan of Eumundi Beef. She’s actually become a good friend of ours and we enjoy hanging out with her on the farm when we go there to collect our meat orders, often being treated to saying hello to new members of the clan such as brand new calves, new chickens and even a goose with a crooked neck who’s now part of their family! It’s a menagerie and we love it!

Farmer Susan raises a small herd of 100% grass-fed Murray / Angus cross cattle on her small sustainable property in Belli Park near Kenilworth. With a background in Biochemistry and having gone through major health challenges, she’s really passionate about raising healthy happy cattle to benefit her, her customers and the environment. She does it well too, her meat is delicious and her farm is a beautiful country oasis!

Like us, Susan wants to help provide education to consumers. So she’s only too happy to host farm tours on her property, showing people around and teaching them all things healthy grass, soil and cattle.

As with other grass-fed beef farmers we’ve met, Susan likes to think of herself more as a grass farmer than a cattle farmer! Isn’t that cool?!

In the hopes of connecting as many people as possible to as many good quality local food sources as possible we enjoy organising farm tour meetups. So a few weeks ago we held our second at the Eumundi Beef farm; a tour with Susan then a picnic afterwards. It was sensational!

We started by viewing the washing-machine-like biodynamic fertiliser producing machine, learning about what it does and seeing the healthy soil-textured final result.

Next we walked to one particular paddock that contains incredibly healthy soil and learning about the different layers and how long it took Susan to dig through the top soil when she first started her grass-fed farming adventure 5 years earlier. She said it took all day to dig through just that top layer! With her continual hard work and persistence it’s now the right depth and is working well for the sake of the pasture and the animals.

Then we were treated to feeding and patting the famous Eumundi Beef cattle themselves! The kids and adults alike always enjoy this part because it’s terrific to witness cattle looking so healthy and nourishing, munching away on the healthiest pasture possible, and to get up close with them, there’s really no better way to ‘meet your meat’.

And this time… there were a few cute fluffy little calves to see! Bonus!

Susan showed us around the different paddocks all at different stages of growth. She told us about the various plant species growing, which of those are pests and even explained to us the different lengths of grass which matters because cattle need to be put on pasture growing at a specific height. It was so fascinating!

On the way back to the homestead we met the local chickens and guinea fowl, including a breed of heritage chooks being raised for meat.

.. which, while we were all away, may have gotten into some of the biscuits left on the picnic table…! Sneaky little things! We suspect these few were the culprits…

Susan also had a group from Slow Food Noosa visiting for the tour, which was great to see. They had their own gathering after on the homestead deck, while our group picnicked under the gazebo enjoying lots of paleo tucker brought by our members, and stunning views of the property.

All of our meetup members brought delicious paleo-friendly foods to share around and we provided honeycomb and gelatin lollies, plus a slow cooked cut of Eumundi Beef brisket which was loved by all! I’d only ever slow cooked brisket once before and not with the flavouring I wanted to use for the meetup, so it was a total experiment and I’m stoked it was hugely successful! (see recipe below)

After the food was all gobbled up, Clint helped the kids burn off any excess energy left after the walk around the farm by playing some games on the open grassed area near the house. What prettier playground could they have asked for?!

There’s not a whole lot to be unhappy about when you’re out in the country, on a beautiful farm, surrounded by lovely people, eating great food, and watching the sun setting behind the gum trees. Bliss!

What a way to end a fantastic day!

Oh and we can’t forget the produce! Before we headed home a few of us grabbed some meat and bones. There’s not always a lot of stock available because it’s a small sustainable farm, but we grabbed what we could!

On certain packs, too, Susan includes a tag containing the heritage details on the beast you’re buying which is exceptionally cool. We love this and it’s just another aspect of such a respectable and ethical small local business.. the kind of business that should be promoted and supported.

farm2

So another successful farm tour meetup is done and dusted. We’re looking forward to organising another Bone Broth cooking workshop at the farm in the coming months, and to the next farm tour meetup next year sometime. Until then, be sure to get on Facebook and show your support to Susan and what she does by Liking her page, inviting your friends to Like it and maybe even check out her products sometime, either at the Farm Gate on Friday afternoons or at the Peregian Beach Markets. You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks to all our members who came along, we appreciate the support you show for our group and what we’re trying to do for the community. We love catching up with familiar faces and making new friends and we love hearing how much everyone enjoyed the event!

A big thanks also to friend and member Ross McNeil of Ross McNeil Photography who captured some of the above images on the day. And for bringing the yummiest cupcakes ever!!

And last but not least.. thanks to Farmer Susan for having us, for all of your amazing knowledge and passion, and for donating that sensational piece of grass-fed brisket!

Now for the recipe…

Aimee’s Paleo Slow Cooked Brisket

1.5-2 kg grass-fed brisket

1/2 cup coconut amino sauce or coconut or ‘not soy’ sauce (I use Matakana because they don’t contain nightshades. Available here)

3 tbsp organic All Spice powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Ghee, coconut oil, or fat to fry in

1. Cut the brisket into chunks small enough to place in the slow cooker but not too small. They should just fit width and length ways

2. Heat a large fry pan and add cooking fat

3. Place a chunk of brisket at a time on the pan and brown the edges. This seals in the juices and helps add flavour later

4. Once all brisket is browned, place in the slow cooker and pour over the All Spice and sauce. Ensure all surfaces of the meat are coated with the sauce mixture then place the lid on

5. Cook on low for around 12-15 hours so the meat becomes as tender as possible before eventually turning to mush

6. Remove from the slow cooker and allow to rest on a plate or board for 15-20 mins. Slice as desired and serve

7. Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge. But really, there’s not likely to be leftovers! 😉

ENJOY!!

Aimee

5 Things I’m Grateful For:

1. Farm tours and picnics at Eumundi Beef!

2. Delicious grass-fed beef from Susan’s farm

3. Pretty sunsets

4. All the lovely people I meet at these gatherings

5. Paleo chocolate cupcakes… <drool>

I’ve been at the DIY again! I’ve perfected my natural shampoo and conditioner recipe

September 5, 2014 / Primal Influence / 5 Comments

A while ago I attempted a new ‘no poo’ recipe in the hopes of finding the right combination of ingredients to make my hair feel healthy, minus any nasty chemicals. Also I wanted something easy to make, easy to use and easy to keep. Who wouldn’t want that with DIY right?!

So I concocted an aloe/gelatin mixture (check out the blog post here) which I was semi happy with… that was until it went off and stunk out the fridge in just a few short days. Fail!

Turns out aloe vera doesn’t last too long in the fridge! So I had to re-think things…

I decided to have another go and, after having been using it to clean and condition my hair with over the last couple of months, I can honestly say I’ve found the recipe I’m totally happy with!

Introducing… my Hair Cleansing Tablets!

Actually I’ve just realised.. this is my 3rd attempt at a natural hair cleaner! I first tried a recipe I found online using coconut milk and aloe vera gel blended and frozen into ice cubes. It claimed to ‘balance pH’ and even though I gave it a good whack of time to see if it’d work, my hair just felt oily all the time. Not cool.

This is what that mixture looked like…

Too dry. Too oily. I want just right! And I think I’ve stumbled upon just that!!

<fist bump> !

What’s in them you ask? Not much really! Just a few simple and natural ingredients, with a just-as-simple method of creating them. Here’s the recipe, and yes there appears to be a lot of steps but really it’s a very simple method, I just wanted to explain it properly to you, so it looks like a lot of steps but it’s not really.

Bits and pieces to have handy:

Slow cooker or large cooking pot/saucepan

Whisk

Tablespoon

Knife

Small saucepan

Large measuring jug

Blender

Ice cube trays

Grab these:

A few large sprigs of fresh rosemary

Enough filtered/spring water to fill the slow cooker or cooking pot

Apple cider vinegar (qty will depend on how much water you end up with)

4 tbsp pure grass-fed gelatin powder

1/2 cup pure aloe vera gel scraped out of leaves, discard the green skin. If you can find pure bottled aloe gel, great, otherwise grow some or steal some out of someone’s garden..! 😉

Do this:

1. Place rosemary and water in the slow cooker, or into a cooking pot

2. If it’s a slow cooker keep on Low temp all day or overnight. If using a pot simmer on Low temp on the stove for a few hours. This ultimately makes rosemary tea!

3. Once made, allow to cool then strain the liquid or just remove and discard of the rosemary leaves. Pour liquid into a large jug with measurements on the side

4. Pour 1 cup of the liquid into a small saucepan

5. Gently and slowly sprinkle the gelatin powder evenly over the whole surface of the water. DO NOT place on heat on stove yet!

6. Let the gelatin mix sit for 10 minutes. You’ll notice it contorts and looks really strange.. this is a gelatin softening method called ‘blooming’. It’s bloomin’ weird I think…! That’s my version of a ‘dad joke’, I do apologise 🙂

blooming gelatin

7. Once the gelatin has all softened place the saucepan on medium heat on stove top and allow to heat up

8. Whisk until all the gelatin is dissolved. This won’t take long at all

9. Remove from the heat and allow to cool then add to the measuring jug with the rosemary liquid and whisk to combine it all together

10. In the blender add the aloe vera gel and about a cup or so of the rosemary/gelatin liquid. Blend well so there are no chunks of aloe gel remaining. Pour back into the measuring jug

11. Grab the apple cider vinegar and pour in ONE part of that to TEN parts of the rosemary gelatin liquid. That’s the general ratio when adding ACV to water to use for hair, 1 : 10

12. Pour the liquid into ice cube trays and place in the freezer. Once frozen you can pop them out and store in a container in the freezer… and you’re done!

Now you have rosemary, apple cider vinegar, aloe, gelatin cleansing hair tablets! A shampoo and conditioner in one! Woo!

jelly 2

Why this combination of ingredients?

Rosemary and ACV are great for conditioning, while the aloe is a fantastic and gentle cleaner, and the gelatin adds collagen for hair growth and strength. What a combo!!!

To use ’em:

Simply take 1-3 cubes out of the freezer in the morning if you’re washing your hair at night, or at night if you’re washing your hair the next morning, place in a small container of some kind. How many you use will depend on how much hair you have. Short hair and not much of it, use one. Medium hair and lots of it might need two. Long hair 2-3 should be fine

Let them thaw out, they’ll become jelly instead of ice so will hold their shape

In the shower, wet your hair, then carefully rub one jelly at a time through your hair, ensuring you massage into the scalp

Leave it in for a few minutes (if you prefer you can put it in your hair before you get into the shower, particularly if you have water restrictions where you live)

Rinse it all out with warm-hot water so all of the jelly comes out. You don’t want to find dried hard gelatin clumps in your hair later on in the day!!

Use these once or twice a week or as needed. Easy!

** If you have allergies to any of the ingredients please do not use them. If you notice any adverse reactions at any time of using this recipe please stop using it and seek medical advice. You could always try a test of a small amount of the ingredients on your skin before making this mixture, especially if you’ve never used some of them topically before. Some people have allergic reactions to aloe and herbs in particular so always be cautious trying new natural mixtures on your skin **

I find this mixture cleans my hair really well (and I use oil as my ‘curly hair de-frizzer’ and it completely removes all traces of oil when I wash!) and leaves it feeling soft and shiny. I use 2 tablets each time because I have medium-length hair and LOTS of it! I’d clean my hair about twice a week and that works for me. You might find you can clean your hair less often, or may need to more often in a week, everyone’s different.

So if you give this recipe a go, let me know what you think! Hope it works for you as well as it works for me 🙂

And YAY for no chemicals!

Enjoy guys!

Aimee

Today I’m grateful for:

1. Spring!

2. Fruit jelly for brekkie

3. Natural skincare and beauty recipes

4. Clint being in this month’s edition of Holistic Bliss magazine (check it out here on page 12)! So exciting!

5. Camping next weekend