Hi friends, this digest shows a recap of this week's Wake Up With the Walkers, some Memorial Day inspiration, a look at what loss and healing can feel like, and some sweet family moments.
Wake up with the Walkers – 3 Ingredient Margaritas
Well, the kids joined me on last week's Wednesday live show (even though I hoped they wouldn't!), because I showed you the most popular drink recipe from my blog – 3 ingredient Paleo margaritas! My brother Joel first taught us how to make these 6 years ago, and they've become a staple for Taco Tuesday or for when we have company over. With just 3 simple, real ingredients, these margaritas are pure and free from sugary syrups and liqueurs! We even made mock-tails for the kids so they could enjoy with us.
I wasn’t going to post this. I had this post drafted for the last couple of months, but everything I’ve tried to write about it feels trivial. Especially with everything else that’s going on in the world right now.
But I shared it on my stories over at @daniellewalker, and the flood of DMs from you guys shows me it resonates with so many of you too.
I’ve realized that it’s important to recognize that Autoimmune Disease doesn’t stop for the Coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases, an overwhelming percentage of those are women. And those with a chronic illness are still dealing with their disease, on top of worrying about being more at risk for COVID, staying home trying to take care of themselves and their family, working from home, being an essential worker & going out at risk, or stressing about the loss of a job or income.
Autoimmune disease-related hair loss. It’s unavoidable for me after an intense flare, and it always feels like a kick in the gut when I’m already down. It’s also another painful reminder of the trauma of my hospitalization when I’m trying to move forward. It is 3-4x more than postpartum hair loss for me, which is a ton.
The good news is: it usually signifies that remission is close for me. It’s like my body grasps on to the hair until it knows my spirit and heart may be able to handle the loss a little better when I’m not fighting for my life or worrying about more serious symptoms. It just starts falling out in clumps all of a sudden one day. It started this time back in Feb & hasn’t let up. In fact, I think all of this added stress has worsened it. So far I’ve lost about 3/4 of it thickness wise.
We don’t know exactly why it happens, but our guess is the severe malnutrition & anemia I experience during a flare, and the high levels of inflammation. I know some women feel vain or guilty for worrying about hair loss, whether it’s AI disease-related, stress-related, or hormonal/postpartum, but I get you.
I’m grateful that I know from my past experiences that it will grow back. And in the meantime, I’m thankful for collagen, Oribe Thickening Spray, and hair extensions.😜
I'm all in for a make-ahead, meal prep, sheet pan recipe. And my new Roasted Veggie Bowls check all of those boxes! ✅
Since January, we've been really trying to up our vegetable and seafood consumption. Lunches were proving to be a little more difficult because we didn't always have the time to make something and salads were getting boring.
So I started roasting whatever veggies we had in the fridge with a good dose of my Burnt Broccoli seasoning (if you don't know, you need to know!), and dividing them up into containers that we could easily reheat.
Keeping a couple of zesty dressings, fresh avocado, and sauerkraut in the fridge helped to dress them up day-to-day. These are filling and satisfying without the seafood too for a Meatless Monday.
My biggest tip for roasting veggies – other than dousing them in my seasoning – is to keep the vegetables sparse on the roasting pans. Don't overcrowd them, or they'll steam and won't get crispy.
My friend, Ayesha Curry sent me a gift from Eat Learn Play that’s super cute and has an incredible cause!
My heart is broken thinking about the mamas and families in despair right now, and how their Mother’s Day would feel different.
100% of the proceeds from this jacket will go towards helping mamas in need of basic necessities.
Click here to grab one, or donate whatever you can.
I hope you all had a great Mother's Day, friends!
Thankful to be their Mama
Wake up with the Walkers – Collagen Fudge Pops
These dairy-free and egg-free chocolate Fudge Pops have been a favorite with my kids for almost a decade! I have a couple of different versions on my blog, but the one that we made for Wake Up with the Walkers on FaceBook is from my Eat What You Love book (p.299). I decided to throw in a couple of scoops of collagen peptides for some added protein.
With only six ingredients, they come together quickly; and are perfect for the hot days we are starting to have!
That quarantine life.
Find us on tour with Cirque du Soleil 2021. 😆
I have seen so many people working on their gardens during this Stay Home order. I have been loving all of the fresh herbs lately, and I’m so eager to harvest our garden too!
One of my favorite summer salads is the Heirloom Tomato, Watermelon, and Basil Salad from Celebrations cookbook. It’s so refreshing and different from the salads we eat all year long. I love making my Blackened Salmon with Stone-Fruit Salsa to pair with this salad. I always double the salsa recipe so that we can also enjoy it with grilled chicken or shrimp later in the week. To accompany this meal, I suggest making the Gingerale that can also be found in Celebrations. There is a strong ginger kick, and it’s only lightly sweetened with honey!
Memorial Day is going to look different this year, but I still plan to make some of our favorite recipes. I will be filling our table with recipes from the summer chapters of Celebrations if you want to cook along with me! These 3 recipes come from the 4th of July chapter, but the Birthday Party, Father’s Day and Spring Shower chapters hold some of my all-time favorite summer recipes as well. I’m giving you the ingredients for the salad below if you don’t have a copy of the book yet.
Heirloom Tomato, Watermelon, and Basil Salad
Celebrations – Pg 168
1 small (3- to 4-pound) seedless watermelon
2 pounds heirloom tomatoes
2 kirby or other-pickling-cucumber
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil
fine sea salt
Click here to grab the book, or you can also find a similar salmon recipe by searching on my blog if you don’t have a copy yet!
Early morning smiles with Kezia ☀️
Cuddles with my littlest 💖
🥰🥰🥰
Making Lemon Bars 🍋🍋🍋