Welcome to Recipes to Nourish! I’m happy you’re here.
My name is Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri and I’m the founder of Recipes to Nourish and 4x author of the cookbooks, The Art of Great Cooking with Your Instant Pot {which ranked #4 in Amazon’s Top 10 New Releases in Gluten Free Recipes}, Amazing Mexican Favorites with Your Instant Pot {which ranked as a #1 New Release BEST SELLER!}, Low Carb Cooking with Your Instant Pot and The Big Book of Instant Pot Recipes.
Natural living and eating healthy, real food doesn’t have to be complicated. I’m here to help support your wellness!
I’m a chocolate- and sweet treat-loving, holistic minded wife and homeschooling mom of 2 girls and twin boys – three of my babies were born at home and tragically, my fourth twin baby had an emergency birth and is in heaven.
I’m a real foodie, super passionate about nourishing home cooking, lover of seasonal food and advocate of “green” living and essential oils.
I’ve spent over 15 years on my real food and natural living journey. Along the way I’ve hit some bumps in the curvy road … frustrations with how to make changes, health challenges {both for me and my kids}, food sensitivities and allergies, toxic mold problems, extremely tight budget pressures, and figuring out how to balance it all – so I get it. I really do.
I’m still on this real food and natural living journey and learning as I go. I’m here to share what I’ve learned with you, because it doesn’t have to be hard or complicated … it can be fun, enjoyable and empowering!
There is no judgement here. I don’t believe in “perfect” or “best” diets for everyone. We are all so different. It’s so important to trust your intuition and trust your body. It’s all about being mindful. If you thrive with gluten free food, great! If you do best with traditional foods or Paleo/Primal foods, then great too!
I think that everyone can benefit from eating REAL food – fresh, whole, nutrient-dense, non-GMO, unprocessed food.
I feel that it’s important to know where our food comes from, who grew it and how it was grown. But honestly, what it all comes down to is just doing the best we can. No one is perfect, but we can do our best to listen to our body and eat the best we can.
A little bit about me …
- I have a master’s degree in counseling, I’ve always had a heart for serving, but my true passion is wellness – natural living, real food, self-care and helping otmailerhers on their wellness journey.
- I have two amazing, beautiful daughters … one who loves eating all things real food and one who has struggled with eating real food since she was 5 years old – so I get what it’s like to work hard to get your child to eat well and healthy with years of challenges.
- I have twin boys, my third and fourth babies. Both perfectly healthy 8 pound babies, one was born at home and my sweet angel baby Ronan had an emergency hospital birth, an emergency cesarean. He fought so hard and stayed with us earthside for 7 days in the NICU before we had to let him go to heaven.
- I have 13+ years of experience cooking and baking gluten free meals that are grownup and kid-approved.
- I have 15+ years of experience and thousands of meals in real food family cooking under my belt. But I’ve been cooking since I was a young girl. My mom always had me in the kitchen with her teaching me the basics. By the time I hit middle school, I was making full meals and usually in charge of dinner. My sweet southern grandma who lived to 101 also taught me a lot about baking. She got me in the kitchen making lemon meringue pies, chocolate meringue pies and chocolate pudding at a very young age.
- I am lucky to have a husband who is an amazing self-taught and formally trained cook and former chef. He is often behind the scenes with me helping me come up with and share real food recipes with you. He’s also the co-author of our cookbooks, Amazing Mexican Favorites with Your Instant Pot {which ranked as a #1 New Release BEST SELLER!} and our third cookbook, Low Carb Cooking with Your Instant Pot.
- I’m an ex-vegan and vegetarian of over 17 years turned conscientious omnivore – not because I wanted to, but because that way of eating drastically took a toll on my health as well as my oldest daughter’s health. To hear a respected holistic doctor say, “your daughter is not thriving because of this diet” was all I needed to hear. That day I went and bought my first organic and pasture-raised chicken to roast and sautéed some apples in grass-fed butter for the first time.
- I’m a huge supporter of local farmers, farmers markets, seasonal food, organic produce or “organic” practices, non-GMO foods and animals that are raised sustainably, humanely and fed a species appropriate diet {grass-fed + pastured}.
- After traditional medicine failed to get to the root cause and help me with migraines, autoimmune disease, fertility struggles and more health challenges, I turned to whole foods, mindfulness, gratitude practice, natural remedies, self-care, acupuncture and Chinese medicine for healing and overall wellness.
ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR REAL FOOD & NATURAL LIVING JOURNEY
- Are you ready to embrace natural, organic, seasonal, whole foods that support your wellness?
- Do you want some new, flavorful, wholesome recipes to add to your routine?
- Do you have loved ones with special dietary needs {like gluten free} and want to help support them with delicious food they can get excited about?
- Would you like to learn some easy DIY tips and techniques to bring natural living into your home?
- Are you interested in how to clean your home naturally or what to use on your body that is safe? Or what about natural beauty products like safe make-up, deodorant, lotions, hand soaps, face moisturizers and more?
- Would you like to support your body and immune system with homemade, easy-to-make natural remedies?
- Are you interested in learning more about natural supplements, superfoods and remedies to support your wellness?
You’re in the right place!
MY FAMILY’S JOURNEY TO WELLNESS
I live with my family in Northern California. Our daily life is mixed with typical chaos, lots of play, work work work {for me and my husband}, never-ending dishes and laundry, homeschool and a kitchen that almost always has dishes, cutting boards and kitchen tools out all over the counters because we make real food from scratch.
I’m just a mom, sharing my love, knowledge and passion with you!
When I’m not in the kitchen cooking up a new recipe, doing a photo shoot or on the computer doing all the things it takes to run a blog as a business, you can find me playing Candy Land or UNO with my girls, reading to my Tiny Love, watching {and singing} The Phantom of the Opera or Love Never Dies {our favorites} with Little Love, or cuddled up with my husband watching old re-runs of Miami Vice. Plus I homeschool my kids! We have a busy household just like most families.
At home we eat organic, we cook 95% of our meals from scratch, we support our bodies with natural remedies, we soak up sunshine and spend time outside getting fresh air when we can, we use natural and homemade body products, we clean without using toxic chemicals and we’re mindful about everything we bring into our home.
But it hasn’t always been like this.
For me, it all started when I decided to have my first baby. I was determined to provide the best things for my daughter, whether it was quality prenatal and post-partum care, starting her off with healthy foods, full-term breastfeeding, eco-friendly toys, wearing my baby in carrier that was safe for her hips, etc.
I became passionate about nutrition and what really is nourishing for our bodies. I tossed all of my beauty products for safer alternatives. I got rid of every single mainstream cleaner and laundry product in my home, including all gardening fertilizers and bug sprays too.
After my sweet Little Love was born, I went through some huge health issues, not knowing they were there all along, but only made more visible after her birth {which is very common for women, often our health issues really flare after pregnancy}.
It turns out that my gut was a wreck and probably had been my whole life. My vegetarian and vegan years of grain-heavy, soy-dependent, nut-heavy, non-organic, packaged products and processed food took a massive toll on my body.
Top that with lots of prescribed antibiotics {that kill off beneficial gut bacteria} for ear infections and strep throat, vaccines, prescribed medications for migraines, birth control {that was encouraged by an MD at WAY too young of an age} and over-the-counter medicine that I took at different times throughout my life for headaches, colds and more … my gut was a mess.
These health issues {and my daughter’s health issues} lead me to change my diet and that’s where our real food journey started … and we’re still on it!
Thanks to my dear friend Twyla, I immediately started cooking organic, seasonal, whole foods. She introduced me to a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions and several other Paleo and Primal-inspired cookbooks. I was blown away by how much I learned from these books – I took the pieces that fit for me and figured out the rest along the way.
But maybe most important for me was the book Twyla gave to me to borrow – Full Moon Feast, and in particular the chapter called Blood Moon. I was struggling to wrap my head around eating animal products and meat. That chapter BLEW MY MIND and really helped me be okay with this decision that I had to make for my declining health.
I love animals and that’s why I was a vegan and vegetarian for a huge part of my life. But that chapter helped me realize everything that we don’t take into account.
If you have been bullied and told you are “wrong” or “bad” or “can’t love animals” if you eat meat and animal products, let me tell you … that’s not true.
There is too much judgement around diets.
WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT and cannot slap a blanket diet on each and every one of us. It just doesn’t work that way. Plain and simple. Those bullying comments are not kind, loving or mindful.
YOU BE YOU. That’s what is most important. You can listen to your body and hear what it needs. No one else can feel what you feel. Just you, so trust in yourself.
For me, I know I can’t have gluten and cane sugar at all. I also choose not to eat potatoes and sweet potatoes because I react to them in a big way. I also can’t have nuts or seeds for the same reason. On top of those, I don’t do well with coconut, most grains, beans and legumes. So that makes my personal diet a bit challenging, but I have learned to figure out how to make it work for me so I can still enjoy the foods or food concepts I love.
I’ve come a long way …
- I grew up during the “fat-free and low-fat” movement and had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese {at least once a week as a kid}, meatloaf loaded with Heinz ketchup and cornbread from a container. Now I make my own healthier mac n’ cheese, veggie-packed nourishing meatloaf and gluten free cornbread from scratch!
- I used to have a freezer stocked with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream but now I make own super easy, simple homemade ice cream plus loaded, decadent ice cream flavors too!
- I used to eat boxed cereal as dinner all the time. Now I make smoothies, smoothie bowls {I have a smoothie bowl featured in Beautiful Smoothie Bowls cookbook} if I need a quick meal.
- I got rid of all of my conventional beauty and body products over 12 years ago and started making my own or buying safer options.
- I grew up spraying plants with Miracle-Grow® and cleaning counters with Windex®, but now I make my own DIY cleaners and buy safer, natural options for the home and garden.
So why do I choose real food?
Because my body can recognize it! Real food is so much healthier for your body than packaged, processed foods. Real food isn’t packed with “flavors” + gums + MSG … it’s just simple and pure. Yes, some real food does take time to cook or prepare, but it’s worth it and your body will thank you.
Because I was so amazed by how much healthier my family became, I decided to share my passion and experiences with you … and Recipes to Nourish was born.
I’d love to connect with you and hear about your journey and help you along the way! Please feel free to reach out, I love hearing from you! Let’s transform your lifestyle … together!
To fully experience everything that I share with my readers, join me for gluten free, real food recipes, DIY natural living tips and more plus join my natural living Facebook group.
With gratitude, LOVE and a passion for serving YOU, my dear readers.
NOURISH THE MIND, BODY AND SOUL + ENJOY Recipes to Nourish!
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ABOUT REAL FOOD
What is REAL food?
Real food can have many definitions, but to me it means … fresh, whole, nutrient-dense, non-GMO, unprocessed, free of antibiotics, free of pesticides and from scratch/homemade.
What do I mean by organic, grass-fed + pastured?
ORGANIC: Food free of pesticides, chemicals, irradiation, antibiotics, non-GMO. Some farmers do use organic practices but don’t pay for the expensive certification … another reason why it’s so important to ask farmers what practices they use {like do they spray anywhere on their property}. Many farmers at local farmers markets happen to be “organic” farmers, so make sure to ask.
GRASS-FED + PASTURED: Meat, eggs + dairy from animals that are raised with a species appropriate diet {GRASS}. This means cows are allowed to graze on lush green pastures {grass-fed beef, pasture butter, grass-fed dairy – milk, cheese, ice cream}. Pigs, bison, sheep {and more} that are allowed to roam and graze. Pastured chickens that are allowed to search for their natural diet and find, bugs, leaves, weeds, flowers, etc.
Where can I find organic, grass-fed, pastured + raw dairy resources?
There are tons of great local resources available today. If you have local farmers markets in your town, start there. Talk to the farmers and ask them if they have any recommendations for other local, organic or grass-fed and pastured resources. Look for natural foods co-ops too, there are more and more popping up these days.
Another great resource is finding a local Weston A. Price Foundation chapter. They can help you find local, organic, produce and grass-fed and pastured dairy, butter, eggs and meat. Many chapters have online groups, Facebook groups and may meet in person from time to time for different activities like potlucks, cooking classes, group buys, etc.
Sites to Check Out:
Eat Wild for a direct link to local grass-fed and pastured farmers in your area.
Local Harvest for local farmers markets, CSA boxes, organic food, u-picks and family farms.
Real Milk for a direct source to find Real Milk {raw, full-fat, pasture-fed} near you.
Tendergrass Farms online source for grass-fed beef, pastured pork, pastured chicken and soup bones.
Vital Choice online source for wild seafood, organic foods and grass-fed beef.
Tropical Traditions online source for organic foods, grass-fed and pastured meats, dairy and soy-free organic pastured eggs.
U.S. Wellness Meats online source for grass-fed and pastured meats, dairy, soup bones and organic foods.
Google is a great tool too … try entering “Farmers Markets in …” or “Local Grass-fed Farms in …” or “Organic Food in …” {enter your city where the … are} in the search box.
Where can I find real food like organic sprouted flours, sprouted grains, starter cultures for yogurt, kefir, cheese and more?
To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. online source for organic, sprouted flours and sprouted grains.
Cultures for Health online source for starter cultures and supplies.
