Not many things better than curling up with a bowl of classic chili and Netflixing, IMHO. I’ve never made chili so many times in my life as I have this past winter season, because not only is it just an amazingly easy thing to batch cook to have delicious leftovers around all week (and leftover chili is often even better!), but also there’s something just so comforting and cozy about these flavors! This easy and flexible recipe is a major household favorite over here.

Elderberry has become one of the cool kids on the block for its immunity-boosting benefits— but like many of the homeopathic health remedies that have become so popular in recent years, the European Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) has been used in syrups and juices for centuries for its powerful properties. Nowadays, you find them as syrups, in lozenges, gummies, and in foods.

I’m no stranger to health problems. 10 years of being a competitive athlete with countless sprains, concussions, broken things, and stitches, followed by facing a decade-long struggle with an eating disorder, a hip surgery, and an autoimmune disease diagnosis of Hashimoto’s and hormonal imbalances is a colorful collection, I’d say. As of last week, I’ve got a new, unexpected chapter to add to the list and one more pending epilogue— I found out I have adenomyosis, and as the cherry on top? I’m scheduled for a biopsy on Thursday for a lump found in my breast.

Right around this time at the beginning of December, I start craving those warming spices of nutmeg and cinnamon, and get an itch to bake all the things— so this pumpkin spice muffin recipe is the perfect combination of everything! It’s also gluten-free, vegan-optional, and nut-free, so it’s an easy worry-free crowd-pleaser for the holidays.

Alright, we’re getting down and dirty real quick with these— I’ll update these the best I can as the weekend goes on, but hopefully this will be an easy roadmap for your shopping. There are also a bunch of retailers that I linked to in my gift guide that are participating in these holiday deals, so now is the time to get your holiday shopping over with to save you some $$$!

I asked you guys over on my IG Stories who you needed most help shopping for— I got a variety of answers for definitely had some high requests for certain people, so I tailored these gift guides to that. There are a LOT of gift ideas in here, so make sure you don’t miss any in each section and check out other section’s recommendations, as there are definitely gifts that will work for multiple people!

Over the last few years, SAD, otherwise known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, has gained recognition and been the butt of many a meme joke on social media— but one of those jokes that everyone painfully relates to… it me. While nothing will completely take away those feelings magically, there ARE a lot of factors we can manage in order to support our brains and bodies during this (literally) dark time in our lives when feeling seasonal depression.

Every time I share a pourover video or WFH snap on my Instagram (which is indeed, often), I usually get a few DM’s asking where my ceramic mugs are from or what ceramic makers I like— so I’m gathering my current favorites here to share with you!

Unsure there is anything more basic and wonderfully fall than grabbing a classic apple cider donut from a farmer’s market stand or if you’re lucky enough to have ventured out to an apple orchard, fresh from the farm itself. Ironically, I am allergic to apples, unless they are pasteurized and processed in some form— so while apple cider makes my mouth itchy on it’s own, my potato self seems to have no issues imbibing apple cider in the form of donuts…

This non-recipe recipe came from a particularly lazy night at home, when I didn’t feel cooking a whole shishkebab of a meal from scratch. Ironically, this meal is entirely from scratch but it doesn’t feel like it and is the easiest plant-based weeknight dinner that is definitely a crowd-pleaser. Takes 5 ingredients, 15 min to throw together, 20 min if you have my crappy knife skills! Gluten-free, vegan, and nut-free, yet high in protein for a simple pasta dish, thanks to the chickpea pasta!

I know there is so much confusion around what fertility even means, the cost of egg-freezing, who is eligible, when is best to freeze your eggs, what the process entails, etc. It can all be overwhelming enough to be like, “I’ll deal with this later.”

BUT! I hope this post + video shines some new light on the topic and makes you feel empowered to WANT to seek out your options sooner rather than later. Because this part is actually WAY more simple to do and far less confusing than you might expect— and timing is indeed a very important factor.

For a product that is now commonplace in the aisle of grocery stores and all over social media, there is an extreme lack of in-depth knowledge or education about what CBD is and its uses. After a lot of personal research, I’ve been using CBD in my life for about 4 years now for reasons spanning from my inflammation from my autoimmune disease, menstrual cramps, to anxiety and sleep. I wanted to answer all the questions I’ve been asked about CBD, why I use CBD, and what the best CBD is, for once and for all.

Whether you are an entrepreneur like me with an unpredictable schedule, a freelancer hustling at home, or someone at an office job, eating healthy meals during the weekday can be challenging. Nothing is worse than also buying a ton of fresh produce in good faith, not use them because of a particularly busy week, and then feel like you’re repeating the same cycle over and over again, right?

…But the other day as I walked out of my therapist’s office onto a sunshine-doused sidewalk with spring blossoms scattered about, I closed my eyes and stood there for a moment; overwhelmed, not only by my gratitude to my situation that allows me to see a therapist regularly again, but also the fact that I started on this journey some 5 years ago. I was then reminded that May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it finally felt like the right time to talk more in depth about my process with therapy over the past few years and why I think there is not a single person on this earth that can’t benefit from it in spades.

I’ve been asked many times from followers, media outlets, and friends about what my thoughts are on certain diets of the moment (paleo, keto, IF, etc.) and trends (bulletproof coffee, adaptogens, and now the infamous celery juice). I decided to put this blog post together to hopefully clarify my perspective that really applies to ALL trends, no matter the year— a perspective of understanding based on my education and experience over the past nearly 7 years in this industry. I am always a proponent of providing tools to people for them to make the right decision for themselves, rather than encouraging them to do or not do something….

One of my most requested blog post topics, hormonal acne has also been one of the harder things for me to talk about. Not only because I’ve had quite the ups and downs with it and that it has been an emotionally difficult issue for me over the years, but also because it’s still an ongoing journey for me.

So for me, I struggled with the insecurity and discomfort of sharing my past and current photos of my skin, but also a bit of “imposter syndrome;” as in, how could I talk about healing my hormonal acne when I still have skin that is far from flawless? Then I realized that mentality is exactly what I fight against when it comes to speaking about body image issues, so why should this be any different? If anything, those of us who have dealt with problematic skin are usually far more well-versed in skincare than those with not many skin issues because we’ve had to figure things out!

I threw this risotto together the other night, freehand-style, because I just happened to have some arborio rice leftover from making my seafood paella, and canned pumpkin in the pantry— but a bunch of you guys asked for the recipe, so I went to work at refining it to nail down a super easy recipe! This pumpkin sage risotto is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and vegan, so it’s a pretty easy crowdpleaser amongst finicky stomachs.