Essential Recipes for a Healthy Lifestyle

It's finally here!! I stopped posting recipes even though they were really popular because I wanted to put them all into one place. After several months of work, the compilation of all of my recipes are all in one place!! This October I am traveling with the New Life Church of Gahanna, Ohio to Uganda, Africa. I decided for a fundraiser I would finally get my cookbook written. If you ever came on a short term trip to Los Anonos, Costa Rica, you were the beneficiary of many of these recipes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!! You can buy the cookbook here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/julie-herrmann/essential-recipes-for-a-healthy-lifestyle/paperback/product-21791208.html

 

 

Essential Oil Recipes

I LOVE using my dōTERRA essential oils. Not only have I stayed healthy while working at a pediatric clinic, but I have more energy to do what I want outside of work.

Here are some new recipes I wanted to pass along.

You can get these oils any time at:

www.mydoterra.com/julieaherrmann

Or if you want a personal wellness consultation via phone, email, or Skype,

feel free to shoot me a message at:

julieaherrmann@hotmail.com

 

The King of the Oils

This is an amazing video describing the powerful benefits of Frankincense. The first 26 minutes describe the historical uses of the essential oil, the various types of Frankincense, and how it is harvested. Starting at minute 27, Dr. Hill describes the medicinal uses of the oil. This oil has powerful healing properties for cleaning the body, repairing cells throughout the body, and destroying cancer cells. It is worth the watch!

You can order these oils at any time at www.mydoterra.com/julieaherrmann

dōTERRA Video de Introducción. Títulos en Español

Feel free to contact me for more information about the health and nutritional benefits of pure, therapeutic grade essential oils!! mydoterra.com/julieaherrmann or email me at pianojulie107@gmail.com

Zumba: Some one's gotta lead

I love Zumba. When I was in the middle of my big weight loss, I started doing Zumba at the local gym. Over the years, I have taken Zumba from all kinds of instructors. From the 60-year-old hippie who patiently instructed tentative dancers to just keep moving to the hoochie-cutter-yoga-body-dancer Brazilian model in California who flaunts as much as teaches. But regardless of teaching style, there is always a teacher. How else could you get 20 random women from all walks of life and ranges of stages of fitness to move to the rhythm of the heart and not run into each other? PS The following is pretty much how reality works:

 

 

Anyway, back to my thought. So the other night I was in a Zumba class at my local gym when said Brazilian-those-boobs-could-not-be-real-in-a-sports-bra instructor suddenly leapt off the stage and yelled for someone to take over, shouting something about too much café and not enough food. Stunned, as the thunderous pulse of a salsa blared out of the speakers, the whole class just started at each other, the swirling disco lights making even more confusion in the room. Take over? Who would take over? Some women started making up their own moves, others trying to copy but failing miserably. Other women just completely stopped moving and stared at the door, as if they couldn't move at all without a step-by-step. A few others looked as if they were trying to remember the routine, but after a minute or two just kept repeating the same 3 moves. It was not pretty.

 

And then it hit me. This is exactly how my life feels right now.  For me, the instructor represents a goal or focus in my life. There were the college years when the goal was a degree and the steps were classes, study groups, tests, and homework. There were the work years where the goal was learning my field, growing in my clinical skills, and learning how to live the life of a responsible adult. Next came the goal of living a mission-minded lifestyle, with steps of growing a community and a church, and discovering who I am and what I bring to the world. There was a brief water break before I moved out to LA where the goal became reintegrating into the North American dance. But I found I no longer knew the steps as well as I did before. They seemed foreign. I had changed. My muscles changed. My taste in music and rhythm and movement had changed. It was like the "goal" instructor of my life took a break and left me to figure it out for myself. And I think I have discovered I like not following the goals of others; I don't need to follow the steps of everyone else around me.

 

SOOOOOOOO, here's the big update. I have decided to put the 9-5 job on hold. Again.  (Although I am staying on-call at the hospital). And do what I've always known I should do: missions and ministry and a bunch of other dabblings. I am going back to Costa Rica for a few weeks in June. Not permanently, but for a much needed trip. I am going to stay in LA for now. It feels the most comfortable. I am going to write my long-awaited cook book. I will continue making and selling art. I would love to teach art and sewing and woman skills-type classes. And finally, I am educating the masses on natural health and nutrition, both through my 100 pound weight loss story and through the benefits of essential oils. I have discovered the health and wellness benefits of DoTerra essential oils and am THRILLED to share them with anyone who is willing to listen :)

 

So if you would like any of my art (featured below). Or if you would like to have me come host a class for you (you pick the topic! Art, sewing, essential oils, weight loss), let me know :) My woman skills are now available for rent.

 

 

 

THE Essential Lemon Cornmeal Cookie

I love baking. Period. There really needs to be not other introduction. I started experimenting with gluten-free cakes and cookies to take to church. There is always a table set up afterwards for coffee hour and one day it was announced that there were treats each week after service. One of my friends, who is on a strict diet for severe health reasons, snarked under her breath that she would have to wait for the day they offered gluten-free and sugar-free in the schmear. Darn it, everyone should be able to eat at our table, especially at church!! So, here began my experimentation. Here is my following creation, which I feel is the best one yet!!

Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Lemon Cornmeal Cookies!!!!  AKA Pure Awesomeness

1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
scant 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup Truvia
1 tsp Agave nectar
6 Tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
5-6 drops DoTerra Lemon essential oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line making sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine the first 5 ingredients and wisk together with a wire wisk.  Combine sugar and butter and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy (yes, it gets fluffy), scraping the sides of the bowl as you go along, approx. 5 minutes. Or whenever you get tired of standing there mixing sugar and butter. Add the egg to the sugar mixture and beat well, scraping to make sure you beat it all. Sing the Michael Jackson song "Beat It" to pass the time. Great song. Add in the lemon oil and continue beating. Add the flour mixture at this point and beat just until blended. Drop in cookie sized balls onto the parchment paper, using appropriate spacing between cookies so they don't bicker in the oven. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12 minutes. When you start to smell the lemon they're almost done!!! YUM!!!

Essential Kale Chips

I LOVE kale chips. Not only do they have that satisfying crunch without any guilt, but they're so easy to make! I've been totally having a blast trying out my new essential oils in creative ways. So I decided to experiment with my favorite snack-y recipe. Enjoy!!

Krispy Kale Chips
2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp white distilled vinegar
2 drops of DoTerra oregano oil
Seasons to taste (I like paprika and chili pepper on mine, plus organic pink salt).
Lots of Kale (1 cup or so)

Preheat oven to 385 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix ingredients in a shallow bowl. You can add more or less of any ingredient, it is really all to taste. You can also add the salt after they've cooked. Totally your call. Once the ingredients have been mixed, coat the kale in the mixture until well coated. Spread out on the parchment paper on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crispy. Cool and enjoy!!

To order your own oregano oil, check out this link: Essential Oils

The Basics of Essential Oils

Oil. We hear about it on the news. Prices of oil per barrel. As those prices go up, the price of our gas goes up. Supply and demand. The amount of crude oil in the world. That's not the kind of oil I'm talking about. Although it is an essential oil in the other sense of the word.

Vegetable oil comes from soy beans. Olive oil comes from olives. Coconut oil comes from coconuts. baby oil comes from babies? No, it's actually mineral oil. Have you ever thought about why you can buy gallons of vegetable oil for cheaps while good quality extra virgin olive oil can be exorbitantly expensive? Supply and demand. It is really easy to plant and grow soy beans. And corn, while we're at it. And lots of it. It's easy and cheap to get oil from these plants, too. Hence it's price. As a plant becomes harder to grow, the price of it's oil increases. That's called the basics of economics. But the is the basics of essential oils. 

Some other oils you've probably heard of include peanut oil, canola oil, safflower oil, sesame seed oil, grape seed oil, and tea tree oil. When we talk about their consumption, they are in the same classification as the common fats of butter, margarine, and lard. These are just a few of the healthy and unhealthy oils and fats that we commonly use. They add flavor to our foods, keep our ingredients from sticking to the pan, and, depending on the type of oil, add nutrition to our diets. 

The latest craze in oils comes in the realm of essential oils. What exactly are essential oils? Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. They can be both beautifully and powerfully fragrant. If you have ever stopped to smell the roses, walked through an apple orchard, or smelled fresh cut cilantro, you have experienced the aromatic qualities of essential oils. In addition to giving plants their distinctive smells, essential oils provide plants with protection against predators and disease and play a role in plant pollination. 

Not only do these oils intrinsically benefit their plants, they have been used throughout history in many cultures for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits. Even the Bible has over 600 references to essential oils. Remember Jesus' birthday gifts from the wise men? Frankincense and myrrh are essential oils. Some other plants that make wonderful essential oils are lavender, oregano, peppermint, lemon, orange, and even black pepper.

For more historical uses of essential oils, check out this article: History of Essential Oils

So why are these oils so essential? Essential oils are used for their very wide assortment of emotional and physical health properties. A single oil can be used at one time for a specific purpose, like helping you sleep, to give a boost of energy, or even to naturally freshen your breath. Or they can be used in complex blends to help rid toxins from the body, balance and regulate blood sugar and metabolism, or even to heal cancer. Essential oils are usually administered by one of three methods: diffused aromatically, applied topically, or taken internally as dietary supplements. 

For more uses, check out this link: Essential Oil Uses 

Interested in learning more about essential oils? Feel free to contact me. I would love to chat. Want to try them? Click this link and begin an adventure into the world of essential oils:
DoTerra Essential Oils 

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Essential Oil Banana Muffins

Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Essential Oil Banana Muffins

1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup Bob'd Red Mill Gluten-free All-Purpose Baking Flour
2 Tbsp Truvia
1 tsp agave nectar
1 and 1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses* (optional)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp organic pink salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup coconut, almond, or soy milk (coconut milk in this recipe is very yummy!!)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 drops DoTerra lemon oil
1-2 drops DoTerra orange oil
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup almond pulp from a recipe of home made almond milk

Grease 12-16 muffin cups, set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, truvia, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and set aside. In another mixing bowl combine egg, milk, and oils. Add in the mashed banana and the nut pulp. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. It should be lumpy. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or till golden. Cool in the muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups, serve warm. Makes 12-16 muffins.



*The third boiling of the sugar syrup yields blackstrap molasses, known for its robust flavour. The majority of sucrose from the original juice has been crystallised and removed. The food energy content of blackstrap molasses is still mostly from the small remaining sugar content. However, unlike refined sugars, it contains trace amounts of vitamins and significant amounts of several minerals. Blackstrap molasses is a source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron; one tablespoon provides up to 20% of the daily value of each of those nutrients.

DoTerra Essential Oil Smoothies

I have recently endeavored into the essential oil world. I have to say, I was skeptical at the beginning, but after using them for 3 weeks, I'm a believer! I have more energy, my headaches are gone, and I've lost 5 pounds just by drinking water with oils in it!! So, here are my favorite drink recipes so far. To order the oils for yourself and give it a try, check out the link to my DoTerra website!! More recipes to come!!!

Link: DoTerra Essential Oils
 

Refreshing Mango-Lemon Smoothie

1 cup of spinach
1 cup of sugar-free vanilla coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen chunk mangoes
1&1/2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
3 drops DoTerra lemon oil

Throw all ingredients in a Magic Bullet or blender and blender until smooth!!
If it's too thick, add extra milk as you blend.

Harvest Blueberry-Lemon Smoothie

1 cup of spinach

1/2 cup of sugar-free vanilla coconut or soy milk
1/2 cup blueberry greek yogurt

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
3 drops DoTerra lemon oil

Throw all ingredients in a Magic Bullet or blender and blender until smooth!!

If it's too thick, add extra milk as you blend.

Immune-boosting Ginger Zinger

1 bag Ginger tea of your favorite tea brand
1 Tbsp agave nectar
2-3 drops DoTerra OnGuard oil

Boil water. Pour over tea bag and steep for 5 minutes. Add agave and oil. Sip and enjoy!! 


I have also been experimenting with using the oils while I cook. I've found 2-3 drops of lemon +  2-3 drops of oregano oil added to my jasmine rice while it cooks in my rice cooker makes the BEST aromatic rice. And it gives it a nice flavor, too!!