raw milk

I first heard about oat milk at a coffee shop near my house. “It’s the most environmentally friendly milk.” I was eavesdropping on the barista’s conversation with another patron. I wanted to interrupt and set the record straight, but then my toddler took off running and my chance to interject myself into a conversation I wasn’t invited to passed. Then last month, as I was picking up my Califia Farms coconut milk, a woman stopped to ask me if I’d tried oat milk. She admitted she was recently diagnosed as lactose intolerant. I’m going to tell you what I told her: I don’t recommend oat milk, from a health or environmental perspective. Here’s why. From a health perspective: Oatly, the most popular brand of oat milk, doesn’t just contain good ol’ oats and milk. It also contains canola oil, preservatives and synthetic vitamins. Canola oil, or rapeseed oil, is not…

It’s April, it’s sunny, and here in Charleston it’s HOT. It’s basically the best. And also the perfect time to make a gluten-free spring charcuterie board. Here’s how! Hi. I’m not sure if you’re new to my blog or if this is your 100th visit here. Either way, my name is Dani and I love a good goddamn charcuterie board. I make them at snack time for my kids (okay and for me). I make them for happy hour, before dinner, at every holiday and birthday and sometimes in lieu of an actual lunch. I like the versatility, the color, the indulgent feeling you get from a charcuterie board. Like you’re at a fancy restaurant, even if you’re in sweatpants watching Gilmore Girls for the two hundred and thiry third time. No, just me? Now I’m onto Ginny and Georgia so whatever. How to make a Gluten-Free Spring Charcuterie Board:…

For one of Scott’s Christmas gifts, I got us a weekend away in Easton, MD for New Years Eve weekend. It’s a cute little Chesapeake Bay town with lots of seafood, antiques and quaint everything. Our hotel was gorgeous. (I promise, Side Dish goodness is a part of this!) And they had an awesome restaurant with a heated outdoor patio. Which was great because I got to drink champagne outside in December without freezing to death. We walked around, hung out and checked out some great restaurants. One of which was Mason’s, a local farm to table restaurant with an emphasis on local seafood as well. I got a white fish (forget which kind exactly) on top of the creamy artichoke, leek, and tomato side dish that was amazing. I’ve been fantasizing about it inappropriately for almost a month now like a weirdo. So I recreated it for you guys.…

There are certain things that truly annoy me in life. Laziness. Apathy. The FDA. Adults that like Justin Bieber. >And complete and utter nutritional misinformation.< The latter of which I run into a lot. Scott and I are planning on getting knocked up sometime in 2015, so lately I’m typing “pregnancy” into Pinterest and seeing what comes up. What comes up time and time again are graphics of what women should avoid during pregnancy. They often include: excess caffeine (yup) booze (duh) fish (wtf?) raw oysters (for the most part, wtf?) sushi (not necessarily) raw milk (again, wtf?) raw egg yolks (seriously, I can’t take it) These are some of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. Of course, you want to eat pastured egg yolks, wild fish, sustainably sourced and preferably local oysters, grass-fed & organic milk, etc. To read more about what you should eat during pregnancy, read…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard that Subway previously used azodicarbonamide (azo for short) in their bread. Azo is a dangerous, unhealthy chemical that is used to make yoga mats. It has been linked to respiratory issues, allergies and asthma. After a huge internet outcry and a petition that was signed almost 100,000 times, Subway agreed to remove azo and promptly began manufacturing (notice I did not saying cooking) their products without it. But here’s why that doesn’t matter: Subway is still junk food. Subway still uses dangerous, toxic ingredients. 9-GRAIN WHEAT Whole wheat flour, enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yeast, sugar, wheat gluten, contains 2% or less of: calcium carbonate, soybean oil, salt, wheat, rye, yellow corn, oats, triticale, brown rice, barley, flax seed, millet, sorghum, caramel color, refinery syrup, vitamin D2, sunflower lecithin, natural flavor, honey, ascorbic acid, yeast…