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- About Lauren
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A very solid first day in London 🇬🇧

A very solid first day in London 🇬🇧

I’m in one of my happiest places, Maine, where I

I’m in one of my happiest places, Maine, where I always manage to take a step back from the general busy-ness of life, pare down and simplify, be present with myself and my family, and enjoy the rugged beauty all around. To be honest, if I didn’t love my home/NYC so much, I’d move here in a heartbeat. I am always my best, truest self in Maine. Grateful to be here, every time. 💙 🦞 🌲

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce 🍎 🍂 Hi 👋

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce 🍎 🍂
Hi 👋 Long time, no feed post. If you’re not catching my stories, make sure you subscribe to my Substack newsletter, Plant Magic, where I’m in your inbox, weekly, oftentimes with a yummy recipe or other fun wellness-y things (and personal updates!). Today’s (free!) newsletter included a recipe for this Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce, which you don’t want to miss because it’s dead easy and tastes like apple pie (it actually does, as verified by my 8 year old). No added sweetener, super simple ingredients, and makes use of some of those apples you just lugged home from the orchard 🍎 🍁 https://laurenkretzer.substack.com

It’s been a while since I’ve re-introduced mys

It’s been a while since I’ve re-introduced myself around here, and wanted to say hi to those of you who have been here for a bit, and welcome to the fresh faces! I’m Lauren and I’m a professionally trained vegan chef, recipe developer and holistic nutritionist.

My career started through an immense love for food and the culinary arts, and became even more meaningful as my passion for health and our planet grew stronger. I faced a cancer diagnosis in 2020 and leaned heavily on whole plant foods and holistic healing to get better (as of today, I’m cancer free).

I have a love/hate relationship with social media, which is why my posting can be a little erratic on here. My life and energy is fully devoted to my family - two little girls, my husband and two rescue dogs - and our home in Northern New Jersey. I am my best and happiest self when I’m with my family, but also require longer periods of quiet and solitude than the average person. I love to read, drink hot coffee and tea, meditate, walk in the woods, make lists and meal plans, plan vacations (most of which I’ll never take), journal, cook and tinker around my house/garden.

I believe in being healthy 90% of the time, with a little room for being human (never met a French fry I didn’t like). Weird/dark humor is my favorite. Unaccountability is my biggest pet peeve in other people (slow walkers in big cities, too). Mountains and lakes over oceans and beaches, always. Secretly wish I lived in Maine or Italy. I struggle with mental health, and suffer through long periods of depression, but always turn to gratitude to pull me out.

So glad you are here, really - welcome to my corner! 📷: @fineandfleurie 🩷

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: my f

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: my family doesn’t always like my cooking.

Everyone’s got different preferences, and I mostly try to honor any strong likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, this limits our dinner rotation to about 5 meals (over and over and over), and/or is not the type of food that I necessarily feel like cooking or eating.

If you’re trying your best to put a healthy meal on the table most nights and, for whatever reason, your family isn’t having it, there’s a solution that I swear by:

Assembly line meals!

Assembly line meals are when you break down the different components of a meal and serve each one individually, so everyone in your family can customize their dinner to their individual preferences. They leave out what they don’t like, and help themselves to more of what they do. No one is forced to eat anything they don’t want!

Some of my favorite assembly line meals are:
Tacos (beans, tortillas, rice, salsa, guac, sautéed peppers and onions)
Pasta (cooked pasta lightly tossed with olive oil, marinara sauce, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed spinach, cooked lentils)
Asian Style Noodle Bowls (pictured above!) (cooked rice noodles, peanut sauce, sautéed veggies, baked tofu/tempeh, chili crisp, tamari)
Mini Pizzas (divide a store-bought ball of dough into quarters and form 4 mini pizzas - let everyone top theirs with an assortment of toppings: tomato sauce, vegan cheese, caramelized onions, vegan pesto, roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers, sautéed mushrooms, etc.)
You get the idea! What are your fav assembly line meals?

Our RASPBERRIES are here! We have a bunch of berr

Our RASPBERRIES are here!

We have a bunch of berry brambles growing in our yard, and it feels like the biggest luxury to have an abundance of fresh, organic berries at my fingertips for the summer.

I’ve talked a lot about the incredible health benefits of dark berries, both on Instagram and in interviews. They are a key food in my anti-cancer diet that I still follow to this day.

Make sure you’re getting at least 1/2 cup a day of fresh or frozen berries to receive their health benefits. Not only do they have potent anti-cancer properties, they’re great for your immune system, liver, brain and cardiovascular system.

Berries are so healthy partly due to their sky high antioxidant content. Raspberries contain 350 antioxidant units per cup, compared to 60 for apples and 40 for bananas. They’re also low in sugar and in calories, so adding them daily to your oatmeal, smoothie, coconut yogurt or just by the handful is a no-brainer!

Eat those greens! Most of us aren’t eating enou

Eat those greens!

Most of us aren’t eating enough greens (a minimum of 2 cups a day for raw greens, 1 cup cooked) - we need to change this because they’re one of the best foods on the planet for our overall health, with the most nutrition per calorie of any food. No matter what diet you subscribe to, we can all agree that green leafies are a big check in the plus column for our nutrition.
Some of the (many) benefits of eating lots of greens:
💚Fiber to keep us full and our microbiome thriving
💚Calcium - the kind found in dark leafies is more effectively absorbed by the body than the kind in cow’s milk
💚Potassium, which is anti inflammatory and may prevent strokes and heart disease (up to a 20% reduction in risk per additional serving of greens).
💚Iron, zinc, antioxidants and magnesium, which can help lower our risk for many health concerns, including diabetes, heart disease and cardiac death.
💚Folate, an essential B vitamin that is especially important during periods of rapid growth, including pregnancy, childhood and adolescence.
💚Carotenoids, which are essential for human health and growth and have protective effects against cancer through their antioxidant capacity.
The bottom line - eat more greens 🥬 and your body will thank you!

Perfection is the enemy of good. My doctor said t

Perfection is the enemy of good.

My doctor said this to me a few months ago, when I was beating myself up over a dietary change that I was struggling to make. I‘ve struggled with perfection my entire adult life, and it has hurt me more than it’s helped me.

I mention perfectionism because it almost prevented me from posting this photo, because a) it’s not perfectly styled/edited etc b) I used a frozen buffalo cauliflower product, which sort of goes against my “minimal processed food” ethos. 🙄

I posted anyway because this is what real food and real eating looks like. Not always perfect. It’s more important for me to engage with my audience here than it is for me to stay quiet because my picture isn’t as pretty as someone else’s, or because the ingredients aren’t perfectly “clean”. That won’t help me help anyone, or get my message across.
Plus, this meal was delicious and fast and mostly really nutritious, and far better than so many other dinner options out there. I want to share because good food doesn’t have to take long or be 100% from scratch. Here’s the gist:
-Corn tortillas
-Canned organic refried beans
-Sautéed frozen organic corn
-Fresh cilantro
-Homemade red cabbage & scallion slaw (literally just tossed with minced garlic, salt and apple cider vinegar and let sit for 10 min)
- @whollyveggie air fried buffalo cauli (not sponsored - SO good)
-Smashed avocado w/salt

They came together in 20 min after a long day of fun with my kids. More than good enough, I’d say 😉. Let me know if you make these! 🌮

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