Our Christmas decorations are up early this year, and now I want all the sweet Christmas things: the Trader Joe's peppermint Joe Joe's, the peppermint bark, the fudge, the snickerdoodles.
I'm limbic system retraining with all these foods now (THREE CHEERS HURRAY!), and the Great British Bake Off makes me want to eat them with every meal, amen. I'm still trying to care for my body with food, though, which means I limit my refined sugar intake, which means WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH MY AROUND-THE-CLOCK SWEET TOOTH?
These maple candied nuts are exactly what.
They're 2-ingredient simple, and they're Paleo!
Here's what you need:
2 1/2 cups of roasted nuts (I use pecans, and I roast them myself for extra yummy flavor)
3/4 cup of pure maple syrup
Optional: sea salt
Here's what you do:
1. Pour the maple syrup into a sauce pan or skillet. I use my 10-inch skilletfrom this set. Heat it to a boil over medium heat, stirring regularly.
2. When the syrup reaches 235 degrees F (110 degrees C), turn off the heat. Add 2 1/2 cups of nuts and stir until they are coated.
If you don't have a candy thermometer, put a droplet of the mixture in a glass of cold water. If it hardens into a semi-firm ball of candy after a couple of seconds, then it's ready!
3. Spread the nuts across a silicon pad with a spatula or spoon and, if you like salty sweet snacks, sprinkle sea salt over the top.
That's it! Easy as 1-2-3!
The maple syrup crystallizes into maple sugar on these nuts, and they're divine. Your non-Paleo friends and family will love them as much as you do!
But wait! There's more! Here are five more Paleo dessert recipes that'll send your sweet tooth soaring through happy skies this holiday season:
The recipe titles are live links; so if you click 'em they'll take you to the recipe! 1. Paleo Fudge
I
posted videos of these hearty breakfast cookies on Instagram this week and got
requests for the recipe, so here goes!
These make great lunch and dinner substitutes (or add-ons!),
but we look for any excuse to eat dessert for breakfast (plus they're not super
sweet), so they're breakfast cookies in the Panther household!
If you eat gluten-free, you can adapt these by replacing the wheat flour with
your favorite gluten-free flour mixture. I haven't tried substituting coconut
oil for the butter, but it might be a tasty option for those who want vegan
cookies.
DIRECTIONS:
Mix together the wet ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 chia seed egg*
1/2 cup coconut, date, or maple sugar (I
use coconut)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons water
*To make a chia seed egg add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds to 3
tablespoons of water and let the mixture sit for 15 minutes until it is
gelatinous. You can use a real egg instead, if you prefer.
Add
the dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 cups sprouted oats (regular oats
work, too)
1/2 cup -1 cup chocolate chips or
raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans or almonds (I use pecans)
Drop
cookie balls on cookie sheet and flatten balls with a fork (the cookies won't
spread in the oven).
Optional: sprinkle sea salt on the cookies. I love that bit of salt but keep forgetting to experiment by putting it in the actual dough. A sprinkling on top seems to be working for us!
I've put together a new video answering your frequently asked questions about the program. I hope it can help those of you who are just getting started, or who are several months in and feeling discouraged.
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For many years now, I have resisted making ice cream out of bananas, because it seemed to me it would take nothing short of MAGIC to make ice cream out of bananas, and I am fresh out of magic.
But then my husband bought me some banana ice cream from a food stand in Laguna Beach, and it was smooth, creamy, and sweet, just like real ice cream, and I was converted right then and there. I decided to make my own banana ice cream, with a twist: I added salty nut butter. And you guys, that salt is the ticket to pleasure town.
This stuff is so easy, and it's the perfect dessert for all you folks adhering to Paleo, vegan, and anti-inflammatory diets.
Here's what you need:
Except, I was spacey when I took this photo, and I included the wrong salt. I used sea salt instead of Morton's iodized salt. I love putting sea salt in dessert!
You'll notice my nut butter (on the far left) is homemade. I made it by first roasting the nuts, and then
blending them, with sea salt, in the food processor. Homemade
nut butter is a game-changer. INGREDIENTS:
4 very ripe bananas (with speckles!)
1/4 c. of nut butter, smooth or chunky (I used pecan, but peanut, almond, and cashew butter would be yummy, too!)*
1 TB of coconut oil
A pinch of salt
Optional mix-ins:
Chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Nut butter (to create a ripple effect with stripes of nut butter throughout, in addition to the nut butter mixed in)
Chocolate chips (you can make your own if you follow a Paleo diet!)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Slice the bananas into 1/4-inch thick rounds, put them in a Ziploc bag in a single layer, and pop them in the freezer. Let them freeze overnight. These slices will make it much easier to blend your frozen bananas and will ensure a nice, consistently creamy texture.
2. Put the frozen banana medallions, nut butter, and coconut oil in your food processor or high-powered blender. Blend. Add the salt, to taste, and blend.
3. If you want to mix in nuts, chocolate chips, or extra nut butter, mix 'em in by hand.
4. I like eating the ice cream at this point, because I think its texture is ideal; but if you want to save it all for later, scoop it into a container and put it in the freezer.
And there you have it! Easy as 1-2-3! Enjooooy!!!!!
A a very happy Sunday, Home Skillets!
-Sarah
Are we Instagram and Facebook friends yet?! Let's be!
I
have so many people reach out to me daily about DNRS that I'm unable
to respond to everyone's questions. I wanted to take a minute to tell you that if I don't respond to you, I'm so
very sorry! I wish I could respond to each one of you.
I will continue to post content on Instagram (username @SarahJacksonPanther), Youtube, and
my blog about DNRS with the hope that it will answer your questions.
I'm so glad so many of you are looking into the Dynamic Neural Retraining System! It is life-changing. Happy Tuesday, friendlies. I'm cheering for you. -Sarah
Subscribe toThe Scoop, a monthly newsletter filled with information and activities to help you
care for your body, mind, and heart. I'll share the supplements, tests,
recipes, and types of doctors I love best, as well as tips for managing
depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
Enter your email address and the first issue of the The Scoop will be in your inbox within a few minutes! (Don't forget to check social, promotions, and spam folders).
Chronic illness is the Great Censor. It is such a demanding, consuming, grueling battle that the chronically ill person rarely has the bandwidth to debunk common, painful misconceptions about her and her illness.
And oh my, there are so many misconceptions about chronic invisible illness. People think chronic invisible illness is fake — a ruse to get attention or spend "quality" time in bed; they think it's mental; they think Health Warriors are lazy; they think they're prone to exaggerating their challenges, and on and on and on.
It's stunning and crazy-making how often Health Warriors have to navigate these hurtful misconceptions. You guys, there were days when I was in such a dark place that the frequent, painful accusations and pervasive lack of understanding made me want to die. And gosh — I'm hesitant to write that because of the times people have chastised me for claiming my illness could actually be serious enough to make me want to give up. These wounds run so deep.
And here is the other thing: because Health Warriors and their illnesses are so misunderstood — and because they do not have widely familiar labels like "cancer" — they are not getting the help and support they need from their churches and other communities.
Now that I am healing — now that illness is not acting as a Great Censor — I am beginning to share, on behalf of all the Health Warriors, what it is like to lose your life to chronic invisible illness, with the hope that increased understanding will mitigate the suffering of Health Warriors just a bit.
In today's video, I share 13 things people with chronic invisible illness want you to know.
If you are a Health Warrior, I hope this video makes you feel less alone and can be a resource for your communities. I know so many of you hesitate to ask your communities to try to understand your battle because you don't want to rock the boat — to cause any interpersonal tensions. Debunking stubborn misconceptions can be a real boat-rocker, I know. I rarely challenged misconceptions about my illness for this very reason.
And yet, I wish I had. I wish I had posted resources on social media, helping people understand. I wish I had emailed resources to my inner circle. I wish I had asserted myself when others imposed their misconceptions on me. I wish had been my own best advocate.
If this video captures a bit of your experience as a Health Warrior, or if you have other resources that do, I encourage you to share them, to be your own best advocate. If we are going to change painful misconceptions, then we have to be intentional about educating our communities.
If you are not sure how to share helpful resources with your community, perhaps you could share from a place of vulnerability (vulnerability can be so disarming), like this (feel free to copy and paste this):
Here is the thing about chronic invisible illness: it can cause so much
shame, so much isolation, so much misunderstanding. I have often wanted
to share my experience of chronic illness, but my sense of shame and
anxiety about what others might think has prevented me from doing so.
However, being understood mitigates some of the suffering of chronic
invisible illness, so today I am trying to be courageous, and I am
sharing this resource that will give you a peek into chronic invisible
illness. Thank you for walking this journey with me!
And now, my friends who do not have health challenges (but who are most certainly fighting other battles): would you watch this? And then, would you be advocates for all the Health Warriors you know — and the ones you don't know? Would you share this video, or other similar resources, in your communities? Trying to understand Health Warriors and their illnesses — and helping others understand — is one of the best ways you can love them. It is salve on their many oozing wounds.
And finally, I want to thank so many of you who have been exactly what I needed in my darkest moments. I had an extraordinary number of people interact with me out of their misconceptions, but I had even more people (YOU!) extend grace, understanding, encouragement, and faithfulness in prayer. You buoyed me under the weight of all the hard stuff, and I love you dearly for it.
Here is the video (clickHERE to be rerouted to YouTube):
Fight on, all you Warriors, those fighting health battles, and those fighting other hard battles.
Somehow, I forgot to tell you that I posted another video blog for you DNRS warriors. I continue to have so many of you reach out to me with questions that I decided to show you what a day in my life looks like, including how I integrate the Dynamic Neural Retraining System, exercise, and eat.
Click HERE to be redirected to the video on YouTube, or watch below.
I hope it's helpful to you!
I also post a DNRS training tip on my Instagram every Thursday. I'd love to see you over there -- those of you who are training, and those of you who aren't! It's such a fun way to connect. My username is @SarahJacksonPanther
Hopeful, light-filled Tuesday, my friends.
-Sarah
Subscribe toThe Scoop, a monthly newsletter filled with information and activities to help you
care for your body, mind, and heart. I'll share the supplements, tests,
recipes, and types of doctors I love best, as well as tips for managing
depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
Enter your email address and the first issue of the The Scoop will be in your inbox within a few minutes! (Don't forget to check social, promotions, and spam folders).
In honor of my darling niece, Aria, I give you a poem, originally written for my littlest brother when I was six years old, and revised for Aria:
Aria my niece is a sweet little girl,
I like to play with her just like a toy [it turns out, this poem's rhyming scheme works better with boy babies, although we wouldn't trade our Aria for a million boys!]
She has brown hair [or, in some cases, blond];
She is so sweet;
And she really, really likes to EAT!
Have you ever seen anyone sport a wig with so much fabulous charm?!!!
I have had so many people reach with questions about implementing the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS), that I have started posting a training tip, every Thursday, on my Instagram account. I've been doing it for a month, so there are four tips. They should be easy to find!
Oh my, I've made my first cooking video, and it was so fun! It turned into a bit of a vlog of our life, which made it even funner.
On today's show: how to make Paleo fudge.
You should
make this fudge this week if 1) you like chocolate, 2) you like fast,
easy treats; 3) you follow a Paleo diet; 4) you don't follow a Paleo
diet; 5) you're trying to reduce inflammation but still want to have
gastronomic fun; and 6) you will be with family this weekend and you
want to make them good eats.
I've got a new thing in the works! As I heal, I'm able to collect and compile so much of what I've learned on this gnarly, glorious journey. At first, I planned to put everything in a chronic illness survival handbook as a resource for my sick friends. But as I've prayed, I've decided that the best way to put this information into the world is via Youtube.
And so, today I've linked the first of many videos in this series.
Today, I share some of my journey with depression, and I share some practical steps you can take to confront and manage your depression.
Although this series was born out of my desire to help my friends with systemic illness, this video is for anyone who is dealing with depression — for those who have other illnesses and those who don't.
In the latter half of the video, I describe three activities that can help you confront and manage your depression, including writing your own Psalm of Lament to help you process your depression and its accompanying grief with God. I've created a template to guide you through writing your own Psalm of Lament. To get the Psalm of Lament Activity Guide, enter your email below.
As I have blogged about the healing I've experienced using the Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) throughout the last 14 months, I have had many people reach out to me with questions about the program. There has been so much interest that I have been unable to engage everyone's questions.
And so, I have made a video series answering the questions I get asked the most.
My hope is that you can share these videos with your friends and family who may benefit from DNRS.
The series contains four videos.
The first describes my health history; the second explains what DNRS is; the third describes my progress using DNRS; and the fourth answers frequently asked questions.
I hope these will be helpful to you and your loved ones with Lyme, POTS, ME, fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivities, food sensitivities, mold-related illness and more!
I also hope you can ignore my tendency to make up words in these videos. It turns out making up words is one of my special gifts. Talking is still difficult for me — my brain still has trouble with word recall and word scrambling — so dear friends, please overlook words such as "coinsisting" (consist + coincide = coinsist!). Or, if you are feeling spicy, begin implementing them in your daily life.
Come to think of it, conisist could be a helpful addition to your vocabulary!
Click HERE to watch part 1, "My Health History," or watch it below:
Click HERE to watch part 2, "What is DNRS?" or watch it below:
Click HERE to watch part 3, "My Progress," or watch it below:
Click HERE to watch part 4, "FAQs," or watch it below:
A very hopeful, light-filled Tuesday to you all, my friends!
I'm cheering for ya, Home Skillets.
-Sarah
UPDATE: For DNRS training tips, Health Warrior Encouragement, and Q&A livestreams, follow me on Instagram @SarahJacksonPanther
Subscribe toThe Scoop, a monthly newsletter filled with information and activities to help you
care for your body, mind, and heart. I'll share the supplements, tests,
recipes, and types of doctors I love best, as well as tips for managing
depression, PTSD, and anxiety.
Enter your email address and the first issue of the The Scoop will be in your inbox within a few minutes! (Don't forget to check social, promotions, and spam folders).
