Making the Move to WordPress

I can't even tell you how excited I am to show you my new blog design.

My sweet husband has been hard at work (in between the other 18 projects he generally has going at one time) to create a beautiful masterpiece for Laurel of Leaves.

And it will be live on Monday! Here is a preview to whet your whistle:

If you follow me on Blogger right now, I'd love for you to subscribe again, since I'll be making the move to WordPress.

In the meantime, check out five of my most popular articles since Laurel of Leaves began a year and a half ago:

Ultimate Carrot Cake

Today is my husband's birthday.

{Happy Birthday love!}

It's been a week long celebration with family, friends, and cake.

Good cake.

No, I mean really good cake.

What I like to call the Ultimate (at least Semi-Healthy) Carrot Cake.

Apple Crisp: Quintessential Autumn

What could possibly be better than a warm apple crisp, fragrant and steaming, fresh out of the oven?

I would vote a raw apple crisp pulled straight out of the fridge!

Ok, so maybe we are comparing apples and oranges here (or at least hot apples to cold ones...). You really can't compare much to a warm apple crisp right out of the oven, but there is plenty to love about this twist on a classic.

Local Restaurant Review: Burger Up

This was one of those restaurants I kept hearing people rave about.

And it sounded great! Grass-fed burgers in a trendy neighborhood south of Nashville. A restaurant owned and operated by the owners of the Frothy Monkey coffee house down the street. (Popular with the college crowd. Food from local farms on their menu. Good stuff.)

An upscale burger joint seemed the perfect place to meet up with my cousin and his fiance when they stopped into town.

Sunny Side Up Brunch Salad

As much as I love muffins (and boy do I love muffins), I find that a breakfast without some greens just isn't complete.

Green veggies (whether it's spinach blended into my smoothie or my Sunny Side Up Salad below) give me a boost of energy for the day, alkalize my body, boost my nutrient intake, and help protect my skin.

I brought this dish to a brunch with our 'dinner and a doc' friends, Thomas & Jeanette. This time it was brunch and a doc (not quite the same effect when lacking the alliteration, but you get the idea). I brought Sunny Side Up Salad and Thomas made Venison & Shitake meatballs served with a trio of mashes (carrot ginger, sweet potato garlic, and radish turnip). He is insanely creative in the kitchen. I love it.

We ate while we bemoaned the current state of our national debt by watching I.O.U.S.A.

The Sunny Side Up Salad is a warm spinach and potato salad with a red wine & mustard vinaigrette, topped with a fried egg. Sunny side up of course.

Cooking Dried Beans in 3 Easy Steps

This information has changed my life. 

Not even kidding. 

I had always shied away from buying dried beans in the past. All the soaking and hours of cooking on the stove just wasn't something I had the time or patience for. 

But then I came across a wonderful blog post by the Cheapskate Cook on the Convenience of Canned Beans--Without the Can or Additives.

And there it was. My life would never be the same again. 

I'll share with you the simplified version...

Cooking Dried Beans in 3 Easy Steps:

The Cancer Controversy

I sparked quite the controversy the other day on Facebook.

People came out of the woodwork to get across their point of view.

But I see it all being positive. Because these things need to be talked about. Issues that are otherwise generally accepted as truth need to be brought to the surface. Lies need to be exposed.

The issue? Cancer. 

Here was my original post:

You don't get cancer which MAKES you UNHEALTHY. You get cancer BECAUSE you are UNHEALTHY. (via Matthew McAlees) So true!

Dinner on an Empty Fridge

We've been on a tighter budget these days since we are (drum roll please....) saving up to spend a year traveling New Zealand!

(You can follow our journey on our travel  blog: There & Back Again)

At any rate, I had yet to get to the grocery store the other night and was faced with an empty refrigerator.

Ok, maybe it wasn't completely empty. We had chicken sausages--but we had eaten those the past 2 nights in a row. We had sweet potatoes--but we had eaten those the past 2 nights in a row.

And there were a handful of containers of leftovers. But nothing really substantial.

So I was forced to get creative! But I think the final product turned out rather nicely:

Carrot Raisin Muffins on a Rainy Afternoon

Usually muffins are a weekend breakfast treat. Like cake for breakfast.

But the other afternoon I had a craving for a baked good.

I needed something warm and moist and comforting.

Earlier the day was sunny and the sky was blue (lending itself nicely to a picnic lunch). But the afternoon turned gray and rainy. And cold.

Cakes & breads take too long to cook. I wasn't in the mood for cookies.

But Carrot Raisin Muffins did the trick nicely!

Street Food: Moroccan Harira

Welcome to another installment of ethnic recipes from my Street Food cookbook.

This is a Moroccan Harira. A bean soup. It's also considered Morocco's national soup.

(Does the US have a national soup? Who knew that sort of thing even existed...)

But I do know that hearty soups are perfect for fall weather!

5 Ways to Multi-task with Coconut Oil

Could anything in this world be more wonderful than coconut oil?

(Ok, besides goat cheese, the Silly Goose, & Jesus?)

In all seriousness though, coconut oil definitely tops the list of must-have products on my list.

Coconut oil (and all coconut products, really) have gotten a terrible, though incredibly undeserved, reputation over the last 50 years or so. People freak out over the caloric intake of coconut products, bemoaning and lamenting the saturated fat found in coconut milk and coconut oil.

Truthfully, eating a low-fat diet is one of the worst things you could possibly do for your body (50% of your cell membranes are made up of saturated fatty acids. No healthy fats=a terrible hormone imbalance=all kinds of problems with weight gain, hair loss, or painful or irregular menstrual cycles). Eating healthy saturated fats can actually help you lose weight!

Easy Stromboli

I grew up eating strombolis (strombolii?) and calzones from this New York style pizza place in Memphis--Milano's.

And I do still love a good, greasy pizza these days too. I can pack it away with the best of them.

So when I found Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough for a dollar (scratch that--99 CENTS!), I went to town making homemade pizzas piled high with veggies and goat cheese.

The pizza dough isn't the healthiest thing on the face of the planet. It still has gluten and canola oil (which is a rancid oil after it's been processed). And even 'whole wheat' is super processed and turns to sugar quickly in your body. But keeping a big picture perspective, it's not the worst thing you could possibly eat either.

And so inspiration hit me recently and produced this lovely dish:

Pomegranate Pear & Gouda Quesadillas

I feel like I've referenced this recipe about 14 times without actually sharing it.

(Ok, so 14 is an overstatement. But it was at least twice.)

This recipe is so enigmatic. It's simple (6 ingredients), but complicated at the same time (as you'll see below). It's fried food, yet it's healthy.

When Allergies Go Awry

Most people take it for granted that a change in seasons means their allergies will flare up.

Noses run. Eyes itch. Throats become sore.

But our bodies wouldn't require an immune response to a change in the weather (or to certain plants, etc.), if we didn't have so much immuno-compromising toxicity and/or deficiency in the first place.

(This is true of all diseases by the way.)

But, alas, through the course of my quarter century on the earth so far I have been exposed to a host of toxins (pollutants, chemicals, vaccines....) and have not always eaten so well (Yes, it's true, I ate cake for breakfast in college. On a regular basis. Warmed in the microwave no less.)

So when the fall made its debut this past week, my nose knew it.

I attacked the head congestion and drainage not with medications (which only cover over the symptoms and deposit more toxicity into my body), but by skipping straight to the root of the problem and boosting my immune system! My body fought it off naturally and became stronger for it.

Here's a rundown of what I did when my allergies went awry:

Book Review: Doctor of the Future

This isn't necessarily a book I would have picked from the bookstore shelf myself. Admittedly the cover is incredibly cheesy.

This came as required reading for staff meetings at work.

And I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much new information I learned from it!

The first page describes the book as a 'guidebook for how you and your family can transform American health care. It shows you what you need to know today to take better care of your health, and your family's tomorrow. It also illustrates how to use the body's own power of self-healing to produce greater health and vitality.'

It is obvious that the author was using the book as a promotional tool for his clinic (based on the number of times he references it by name and offers the phone number, website and mailing address ad nauseum). But if you can look past that, the book really does skip over the fluff and offers information you can really sink your teeth into.

Grilled Cheese for Grown-ups

You know those days when you open the refrigerator and just stand there staring into it?

You're hungry. But you don't feel like taking the time to cook anything fancy.

You're not in the mood to throw together a salad. Or to snack on veggies & hummus. But that's all you see in the fridge.

This has (obviously) happened to me more than once. And I can almost guarantee you know what I'm talking about.

But inspiration hit me recently. I saw Ezekiel bread. I saw goat cheese.

And what more could a girl want, really? It's no secret that I love goat cheese. It tops the list of my all-time favorite foods (right up there alongside pineapple and lima beans).

And so I ended up with a Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwich!

Sunny with a High of 75

Yep, not only is it the title of a Relient K song that defined my sophomore year of college, sunny with a high of 75 was the actual forecast for the day here in Nash-vegas.

And what a glorious day it is!

I love being able to curl up in the blankets at night, then wear my fuzzy robe while I drink hot tea in the morning. But best of all, I like picnic lunches and being able to lay in the sun on a blanket in shorts to soak up some vitamin D!

Street Food: Ethiopian Lentil Wat

Let it be known this was the first time I've ever cooked with lentils.

I know, I know.....what kind of health nut are you?

Just goes to show that I'm not as crazy as people might think. (Or, maybe I am. It's definitely debatable.)

At any rate, when my sweet husband bought me this Street Food cookbook for my birthday, this was one of the first recipes I tried.

How to Open a Pomegranate

Pomegranates are lovely. Packed full of antioxidants and exploding with flavor.

But if you've never cooked with a pomegranate before (or, let's face it, seen one in person), they can be awfully intimidating. What do you do it? How to extract those little rubies enclosed inside?

Flavor of the Week: Orange Pomegranate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have a weakness for muffins.

You might have noticed, what with my posts on Banana Chocolate Chip muffins & Carrot Blueberry Muffins.

These Orange Pomegranate Chocolate Chip muffins were definitely a blog-worthy success!

Book Review: Made by Hand

Made by Hand
Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World
by Mark Frauenfelder

Why I Don't Wear Sunscreen

In a nutshell, sunscreen does more to cause cancer than it ever will to prevent it.

Yes, it goes against everything you’ve ever heard about the sun and skin cancer.

But does it surprise you that I would blog about topics that are counter to the profit-driven culture and seem a bit ‘conspiracy-theory’ in nature?

I’m just looking for the Truth.

I lived in fear of developing skin cancer my entire life. Sunscreens slathered on liberally, just like the doctors and tv commercials told me.

The Simplest Dessert Ever

I love simplicity.

And simple, easy recipes that taste amazing at the same time? Watch out.

I also love variety. And this recipe brings together so many of the things I love.

Restaurant Review: Baja Burrito

This is not your typical chain burrito joint. It's a local, independently owned burrito joint that features local meats and healthy options.

And whoa, is it good.

In the Raw: Not-Tuna Pate with Pesto

There are some incredibly creative raw recipes out there.

You can make pasta from zucchini, cheesecake from nuts and dates, & taco meat from walnuts (for real!)

And it's not just for show. This stuff actually tastes amazing.

Take, for instance, my dinner last night: Not-Tuna Pate with homegrown tomato slices topped with fresh pesto.

Flavor of the Week: Mango Chicken Salad

Summer is so good to me. I love the sun. I love the fruit that is in season. And I love having a big bowl of chicken salad in the refrigerator when I come home for lunch.

This a very summer-y chicken salad. I don't exactly have a recipe for this one because I just started chopping things up and throwing them in a bowl.

Beginner's Guide to Drying Herbs

You should know on the front end that drying herbs is super easy. If I can do it, so can you.

This is the first year I have actually had any kind of success growing herbs on my balcony. We don't get much sun on our side of the apartment complex, so last year's cilantro grew from seed to an impressive 1 1/2 inches tall before wilting and turning brown. It was a sad day.

That's why I call this post a Beginner's Guide. I am definitely a beginner myself.

This year though, Old Man Mike who lives around the corner gave us a big stash of full grown herb plants. We love Mike. He sits outside his house every day with his guitar and his tomato plants. He knows every single person that lives on his block. And he's been kind enough to give us plenty of invaluable advice about growing things.

I recently harvested some mint, spicy basil, and bee balm from my containers.

Pain, Pleasure, and Barre Class

Everyone knows exercising is part of a healthy life.

(Everyone DOES know that, right? Silly me.....)

Our bodies adapt to the level of activity we subject them to each day. That's why walking is not necessarily exercise. We walk all day every day. Our bodies are used to it. So nothing ever changes.

Exercising for weight loss has never been something I've felt the need to do. I've been blessed with problems in the opposite direction. But it's not like I've ever really thought exercising was fun either.

Pillow Case Skirt

This is something I've been meaning to do for the longest time.

I took a sewing class from a fabric/crafts store and then proceeded to NOT sew anything for a solid 6 months.

But I finally got down to business last weekend and made a skirt from pillowcases!

Taking Recycling to a New Level

We all learned in the first grade that recycling was good for the planet.

Recycle, reduce, reuse....and close the loop!

And I do take my plastics, glass, cardboard and junk mail to the recycling center.  I wash out glass containers and reuse them. I even have plans to build an entire house from recycled materials (I love what Dan Phillips is doing).

Flavor of the Week: Carrot Blueberry Muffins

I managed to save just enough freshly picked blueberries for a batch of Carrot Blueberry Muffins this weekend. Not an easy task might I add (the saving of the blueberries, not the making of the muffins....those were some dang delicious blueberries!)

Picking Blueberries!

Add this to my list of favorite things!

I have been wanting to pick my own blueberries for quite a while now and finally decided to just pick a place and DO IT.

Opting not to drive almost 2 hours to a farm recommended by a friend, I searched pickyourown.org for a closer farm that still had reasonable prices. (Be forewarned, this site belongs in the graphic/web design Hall of Shame. I'm sure one of those exists somewhere.)

I think we did pretty well.....

These beautiful blue orbs came from Golden Bell Blueberry Farm just east of Cool Springs at the corner of Oxford Glen Dr. & Clovercroft Rd.

Fish Tacos

After eating at one of the best Mexican joints in Memphis, I was inspired to create my own summertime fish tacos.

Fish is a great light entree in the sweltering summer heat.

I mean, who really wants steak and potatoes when they're sitting by the pool?

I bought frozen, wild-caught mahi-mahi from Costco. I don't buy fish that's not wild-caught because of the mercury toxicity, antibiotics, hormones and chemicals from pollution found in farmed fish.

Zucchini in Abundance

Summer squash grows like a weed (read: very well) in most people's gardens.

And while I don't have a garden of my own yet, everyone else I know who does grow veggies in their yard shares their excess with me!

So with bags of zucchini (and yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, etc.....), what do I do with it all??

For starters, we have been eating lots of straight up sauteed squash and zucchini.

The Beautiful Truth....About Cancer?

I love documentaries.

And good food.

And I love that I have like-minded friends with whom I can share them!

Last week I was treated to a gourmet meal at Thomas & Jeanette's house.

Summer Pasta Salad

Apparently I have yet to outgrow Highlights magazine.

I know what you're thinking.....

"Yeah, I used to read that too!!

"Then I turned 5."

The magazine showed up in the mail at my office one day (why? still not sure....)

I let nostalgia take over as I thumbed through it, harking back to my second grade days when I would search for the differences between two similar pictures (I mean, come on, those things were tricky!)

Then my eye caught the very last page. A creamy pasta salad. Complete with instructional pictures of a Dad and his sweet son (using a plastic knife to cut tomatoes, mind you. Safety first.)

So with a few modifications (and a grown-up knife), I created a tasty Highlights pasta salad.

Attack of the Fruit Flies

Last weekend's canoeing trip on the Buffalo River meant that our friends took us to the Amish farms right down the road. We came home laden with fresh, local honey, cantaloupes, bell peppers, blackberries, green beans and potatoes (!)

Unfortunately, the fruit flies decided to stow away and make a new home in our kitchen.

Were they not happy on the farm?

There are a few words that come to mind when I think about the swarms of those little creatures flying around in my apartment......

Local Restaurant Review: Las Tortugas

Even though this local restaurant isn't local to me anymore (being located in Memphis, not Nashville), I couldn't resist reviewing it. It has fast become a place I HAVE to visit whenever I'm in Memphis.

This is not your typical cheese-laden, fajita-sizzling, monster margarita Mexican joint (though there's nothing wrong with monster margaritas...). The owner's son (who was a part of the Navy Parachute Team--impressive parachuting and skydiving pictures don the walls of the restaurant) tells me that Las Tortugas is exactly the kind of upscale 'torteria' or 'taqueria' you would find in Mexico City.

Local Restaurant Review: The Silly Goose

Goose [goos]:

1) A web-footed swimming bird

2) What I often call my husband

3) Quite possibly the BEST restaurant in all of Nashville

The thought crossed my mind to come back the next day.

And next week too.

After checking out their website, I was quite impressed with their credo:

We make delicious, nourishing, wholesome food with love and care from the purest and highest quality ingredients available to us. We search for and buy local, organic, sustainably produced, minimally manipulated food.

A Perfect Omelet

I just had to share a picture of this omelet.

Never before (and possibly never again) have I made an omelet this pretty.

No oozing, no lost vegetables, no misshapen egg blobs.....

Hopefully you're not expecting me to tell you how you can make a perfect omelet as well, because, like I said, it may not be possible to replicate this more than once every hundred years or so.

But I can tell you how I usually make my omelets, which are not only tasty, but economical.

Nashville Urban Harvest

If you have been wondering what ever became of my CSA Debate about a month back, here is the final decision.....

Even though we really wanted to, we opted not to join a CSA this summer. The main reason being the necessity of putting up the money on the front end (darn those student loans taking all our disposable income....)

Instead, we decided to volunteer at the Nashville Urban Harvest on Saturday mornings in exchange for some veggies!

A Raccoon Stole my Cell Phone

No. That is not a metaphor.

No symbolism or hidden meaning.

For real, a raccoon stole my cell phone.

How, you might ask? Well, one beautiful spring day Drew and Lori packed up their camping gear and hit the road to the Savage Gulf State Natural Area. I found a great little article online about the Collins West campground.

You leave your car in the lot, register for a free campsite (or sign your name on the clipboard if you are only hiking for the day), then hike about a half mile to the campground area. There are about 5 sites (spread apart very well). A gorgeous overlook is not even a tenth of a mile further, or you can visit Suter Falls (1/3 mile) and Horsepound Falls (2.5 miles).

Whole Foods is Tax Free on Tax Day

This, my friends, is good news.

Very good news.

This news from the Nashville Business Journal online really made a buzz on my bargain hunting radar.

Whole Foods Market is offering a 9.5% discount on everyone's total order on Thursday, April 15, 2010. This applies to both Nashville locations (in Cool Springs and Green Hills) as well as other stores in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina & South Carolina.

Granted, it's only 9.5%. But still. It's 9.5%.

On your whole order.

I consider it a pretty sweet deal. This means I can stock up on coconut milk (which is already the best deal I've found at any store on organic coconut milk at $1.29 a can).

Eating Out with a Conscience

Since I've joined the crusade for getting back to our roots and living naturally, I've been impressed with how "green" Nashville is/is becoming. The organic, natural, local, free-range, grass-fed, recycle-able, compost-able, sustainable stuff is really catching on here in Music City.

Granted, "going green" can sometimes just be the trendy thing to do.

But I've seriously been amazed at the number of restaurants in particular that base their entire business model on these concepts.

So my goal is to find and try each restaurant that fits the bill in Nashville and review them here for you! If you've eaten at a particular restaurant before (or your sister's uncle's mother-in-law has and she talked to you about it), let me know.

Flavor of the Week: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hot dang! These muffins are tasty, if I do say so myself!

Breakfast on the weekends is when I break out the baked goods. These are gluten free and oh-so-moist!

A Colorful Faux-Dinner

Just wanted to share a recent, rather colorful, dinner. This was a super quick and easy meal that ended up looking very nice once it was plated. So my dinner guests weren't allowed to eat until I photographed their plates!

I made turkey burger patties by mixing all kinds of yummy spices with the meat--sea salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, curry powder.....Then I sauteed some veggies--peppers, red onions, zucchini--in grapeseed oil and served it over a bed of organic greens.

Produce All Summer Long: The CSA Debate

I've been thinking about joining a CSA for a while now. CSA being Community Supported Agriculture. I love the concept of supporting local, organic farming and at the same time saving money on groceries (the bargain hunter in me will never die).

The idea is that farmers deliver fresh produce all summer long to the people who supported them financially up front--meaning they don't have to take out loans to run their farm (Dave Ramsey would be proud....)

I've found quite a few great options with pick-up locations in the Nashville area. Based on all the pros and cons, I think I may have made my decision, but I thought I would get your opinion, my dear readers.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all CSAs in Nashville, but just includes the ones I have considered for myself.