To brine or not to brine...that is the question. I have found that brining a turkey produces very flavorful, juicy, and tender meat. In this post, I'm going to show you how to brine a whole turkey. Brining is the process of soaking the bird in a salt solution. Water from the brine is absorbed into the meat thereby increasing juiciness of the final roasted bird. I like to add flavoring agents as well such as sliced onions, garlic, oranges, and fresh herbs. A flavorful brined turkey will certainly impress your Thanksgiving guests!

It's autumn. The harvest is in. The fires are lit. The chill in the air invites simmering soups and stews in the kitchen. This nourishing, harvest vegetable soup recipe uses some common fall vegetables and some that you might not use that often like celeriac and rutabagas. I've created a detailed photo below to help you identify some of these vegetables when shopping. I've used both beef stew meat and cooked beans in this recipe so use whatever works best for your body!

If you have a baby or toddler and are ready to introduce them to the lovely world of green smoothies then keep reading. If you are an adult who's curious about green smoothies or have a child who has never tasted one before, then keep reading. This post is for you too!

I've got a delicious grain-free and gluten-free pie crust recipe to share with you today....just in time for holiday baking! Use it to make your favorite pumpkin pie, apple pie, berry pie, or chicken pot pie (pictured above). I've tested it with many different filling recipes and it works beautifully every time.

If you are looking for more ways to use up the last of the lovely basil growing in your garden this season, then try making a pesto sauce! It can be frozen and then thawed in the wintertime for a taste of summer. We've been using this sauce tossed with raw cucumber noodles, gluten-free noodles, or to top baked wild salmon!

I love the thick and creamy richness of mayonnaise, especially tossed with steamed potatoes and chopped pickles, or thinly sliced cabbage for a summer picnic salad. Although we eat eggs, I prefer the flavor of egg-free mayo better. This recipe uses soaked cashews along with a few other ingredients. It has such an amazing consistency and flavor. I think it will remind you of traditional mayonnaise! I've been making a lot of cabbage and veggie slaws with it lately.

If you have children and are in need of some inspiration on getting them to love their veggies, then this kid-friendly recipe is for you. I'm visiting my family in Wisconsin now. My children love to play with my brother's four children who are all in a similar age range as my children. My children love their vegetables, but my brother's children are a little more hesitant to have a gigantic pile of raw vegetables on their plates. My oldest niece is the most adventuresome when it comes to new vegetables; she always asks what I'm eating and wants to try it.

It's summer! Time to break out the ice cream maker and whip up some dairy-free ice cream—plus, it's cherry season right now. This coconut-milk-based ice cream is a perfect way to indulge in both antioxidant-rich cherries and dark chocolate. Serve it as a sweet treat after dinner, or a healthy mid-afternoon snack for your kids. This cherry chocolate chunk ice cream comes from my first book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook.

This recipe is great for those of you who are on an Elimination Diet as it is very easy to make, and when paired with plenty of vegetables, it becomes a very nourishing, anti-inflammatory meal. We like to use lettuce leaves or napa cabbage leaves as our "buns" for burgers, though sometimes my children like the extra carbohydrates of a gluten-free bun (they are so active and hungry all the time)!

Frittatas are just about one of the easiest, nutrient-dense meals you can make....and they can be whipped up in minutes! Serve a frittata for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I frequently make frittatas to use up the odd bits of leftovers or random veggies in the fridge. I love using leftover salmon and roasted potatoes in a frittata. Green onions, chives, sausages, red bell peppers, yellow or red onions, olives, zucchini, basil, and broccoli are also wonderful ingredients to add to your frittata!

Yay for gluten-free carrot cake muffins! I call these healthy little treats muffins, but once frosted they sure seem like cupcakes to me. They are packed full of carrot-goodness, as well as being very moist and light, even without the eggs. What a perfect treat for Mother's day or a Springtime gathering!

Are you working to eliminate dairy from your diet and in need of a creamy "milk" to add to your morning coffee or tea? I've been making this dairy-free cashew creamer for over a decade and never get tired of it! I don't drink coffee but like to add it to turmeric-ginger spice tea, Dandelion Root Chai, roasted dandelion root tea, matcha lattes, and sometimes a maca hot chocolate drink I make.

Spring is finally here! I just want to soak up each and every moment of sunshine we have, as it's been a particularly dark and rainy last couple of months. This healthy gluten-free lemon poppy seed cake will surely brighten any day! Serve it for Easter brunch or as part of a Mother's day breakfast. It's not particularly sweet, but definitely bursting with lemony flavors. It's quite easy to make and free of many of the common allergens, except eggs.

I really love being able to toss ingredients into my slow cooker in the morning in order to have a meal ready to go later in the day, don't you? There's just so much less stress, and I feel so organized, with a clean kitchen going into dinnertime! This recipe for tomato-free, paleo slow cooked beef can be used in a multitude of ways.

I have a very fun recipe for you today—one that your children will love to help make......gluten-free bagels! I've been making these ever since my oldest daughter asked me to create a gluten-free bagel recipe, about four years ago. I had just published the first edition of the Nourishing Meals Cookbook (2012), which contained plenty of amazing gluten-free and vegan bread recipes, but no bagel recipe! She encouraged me to test out my breadstick and bread recipes in bagel form and they worked great.

Learn how to make the most delicious, anti-inflammatory turmeric-ginger broth! I love adding chopped fresh turmeric to chicken soup, but this recipe takes the turmeric content and bioavailability to a whole new level. I've created a broth that uses both fresh turmeric and dried, powdered turmeric in combination with other ingredients to get the maximum amount of nutrients into the broth.

This flavorful green soup uses simple ingredients to create a nourishing meal that can help support natural detoxification. It is designed for Phase 1 of our Elimination Diet, but of course is a wonderful addition to your weekly meal planning even if you are not on the elimination diet!

I've got an easy, nourishing main dish recipe for you today! These Nightshade-Free Chicken Tacos are super easy to prepare and perfect if you are following our Elimination Diet or another special diet such as an autoimmune diet or a diet specific for arthritis. My children also love this recipe! The chicken taco filling is cooked in a Crockpot making the prep time less than 10 minutes. I like to serve the taco filling with my Plantain Tortillas (pictured here) or my gluten-free brown rice flour tortillas.

If you are looking for an extremely easy and super nutritious cranberry sauce recipe, then I have just the thing! I've been making this raw cranberry sauce recipe for a few years and I've shared it on Instagram and Facebook, but never seem to get around to getting it up on my blog....until now!

Sometimes when the weather cools it is easy to get into the habit of eating more dense, cooked foods. For some people this is just what they need. But for others, a balance between raw and cooked is best. We each are unique, and so should be our diets. This colorful and nutrient-dense salad provides some key ingredients to support healthy detoxification. The dressing is delicious and can be used as a dip for raw veggies or used to top your favorite salads! I've even used it to top steamed vegetables! 

Happy fall! I have a delicious gluten-free shortbread cookie recipe for you today! I recently became friends with a new family that came to our school. I began to talk this beautiful mama a few weeks ago at a birthday party and we could not stop talking about food! As it turns out she cooks just like I do, and creates many of her own recipes....all gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free! She gave me a loose recipe for these shortbread cookies. I then tested it to create a recipe someone else could follow. I'm so grateful for this recipe as it can be used in so many ways!

It's not easy coming up with a whole food-based frosting that is as nutritious as it is tasty, but way back in 2010 I came up a sweet potato icing recipe based off of the ingredients I was using in the liquids for this Buckwheat Cinnamon Roll Recipe. I've made a number of different variations on this theme and included some in my cookbooks. I have even made this into a chocolate sweet potato frosting!

I love super easy meals on busy weekday evenings, don't you? This recipe (including the variations below) is one of my go-to weeknight meals. I wanted to share it with you because we all could use more ideas on how to create doable, nourishing family dinners. 

Today I wanted to share a recipe from my Nourishing Meals cookbook with you—another kneadable gluten-free bread! Creating a recipe for kneadable gluten-free (and xanthan gum-free) bread took me years and years to develop.

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What do you have to be thankful for? Family, friends, a warm house, a cozy fire, delicious food? There is so much to be grateful for; just stop and think about it for a minute.

This morning I slept in until 10am! Now that is something to be grateful for. The babies woke up quite a bit last night leaving me quite sleep deprived early this morning. Tom took all the kids downstairs, and, with the shades wide open and the sun shining in, I slept for an extra 2 1/2 hours!

This recipe will be a delicious addition to your next holiday feast. If you do not have a sensitivity to dairy, then try replacing the olive oil with organic butter. 

This dairy-free and refined sugar-free vegan buttercream frosting is not overly sweet and perfect for frosting a layered cake or a dozen cupcakes! To make it pink, add in one tablespoon of organic beet juice powder. I also like to add 5 to 6 drops of lemon essential oil to brighten the flavors. 

I created this recipe very late the night before one Thanksgiving. It was perfect for our large gathering of 20 plus gluten-free friends. They all enjoyed it and I am sure you will too. You can vary the ingredients in the filling. Try replacing the cranberries with dried cherries and the almonds with hazelnuts or cashews. The filling is dark and rich and not very sweet. If you would like a sweeter filling, then add a few more tablespoons of maple syrup.

Today I am going to share a favorite recipe for the holidays. It is a rich chocolaty tart meant to be shared among many.

Phase 1 is the most restricted and difficult phase of the diet so it is helpful to have more ideas. The green apple salad dressing recipe below is a creation of mine but some of the other ideas and recipes here come from a good friend who recently did the diet.

The other night Tom began preparing dinner by making his favorite Quinoa Black Bean Salad. I usually like to serve it along side some steamed winter squash for a light meal. However, it was quite chilly out and I was craving something a little denser, with more salt, spice, and fat! I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted. I always try to keep ingredients stocked in my pantry so I can create a recipe on a whim, and luckily I had everything I needed for my new, inspired recipe!

When it comes time for dessert how about celebrating the day with what's perfectly in season....pumpkins! I have a relatively new recipe to share with you that is super easy to prepare and always a crowd pleaser. A Pumpkin Spice Cake, cooked to perfection in a bundt pan.

The past few years I have made a delicious, savory, gluten-free wild rice stuffing for the big Thanksgiving Day turkey. We always use half of it to stuff the turkey, while the other half gets baked in a casserole dish. I have not had a recipe for this until today; I usually just toss it all together until it tastes just right. While preparing this at our holiday cooking class last week, I had a number of people ask me for exact measurements, which I just could not give. So today, I dutifully measured every ingredient before I put them into the skillet. The end result was perfection.

This morning we awoke to a hearty layer of frost on the ground. It was a beautiful sun-lit morning that beckoned me to go for a walk. As soon as Tom left to take the girls to school, I bundled the boys up in their fleece buntings and put them in the baby jogger. They fell asleep five minutes into the walk which left me time to daydream as I huffed and puffed that heavy jogger up and down the hills.

Today was a house-cleaning day. Lily (6-years old) decided to make a chore chart and put our names next to what needed to get done. She put all of our names (including the babies) on clothespins to attach next to each chore. She decided that Ben (10 months old) would be her helper for the family room and toy clean-up. She soon realized that having him in the room was a bit more work than she had intended. Well, you can only imagine what happened.

It's Friday night and Tom is dutifully doing all the dishes so I can write. Yes it's late, but our twins, now nearly 11 months old, have awoken twice already this evening. They are great at not sleeping, but somehow we survive on what little sleep we manage to get. I am hoping that by the time they turn one we will have them sleeping at least a five hour stretch at night.