Happy Hour!

Sometimes I just don't want my bar to scream, BAR!  So in the theme of discreetness I placed two vintage silver overlay decanters on a large brass tray with a lantern and a couple of candles. One decanter is filled with our favorite bourbon and the other with scotch.

Light the candles and you have Happy Hour!

Cheers!

Not my Grand's British fish & chips

My heritage is British and one of my favorite things in the world was my Grand making me traditional British fish & chips. I was lucky enough for her to share her recipe with me before she passed. This is one of my most treasured possessions.

But of course with my new way of eating I had to try and make her recipe fit my new lifestyle and this is the results. Made with oven baked sweet potato fries that have been specially seasoned. Pan fried Triple Tail in canola oil, cornbread and whole wheat breading. The tartar sauce is made without dairy and has a spicy kick to it. I also must serve this with British malt vinegar. All wrapped in collard leafs and tied with raffia, a nod to the traditional newspaper wrapping.

Because the fish is fried I only prepare this dish once in a great while as a huge treat. I hope my Grandmother would approve and enjoy that her recipe inspired me.

I will be sharing all the details to create this for your family in my upcoming EBook cookbook, FOOD ~ just As Nature Intended interiors. All recipes will be "no dairy, no sugar, less meat and lots more greens".  Please "Like" our Facebook fan page to hear the announcement of the book release first.

Cheers!

Cranberry Apple Ice Green Tea

In my new found quest to eat and drink healthier just As Nature Intended interiors I created a healthy ice tea for my hubby. He likes to drink ice tea all day long and his favorite is a store bought brand that is loaded with unhealthy sugars and God knows what else. I have tried everything to get him to switch to water and lemon but every time I look around he is back to his unhealthy ice tea.

So I made it my mission today to create something healthier that I thought he would drink...and whalla! Cranberry Apple Ice Green Tea was created. The ingredients are; organic green tea, organic cranberry juice (unsweetened), organic maple agave nectar, garnished with sliced apples & cranberries.

Success, he loves it!

Cheers!

Natural Chocolate Goodness, Just As Nature Intended

Roxanne Brillante-Justice, décor consultant and chocolate maker ;). If you are a follower of As Nature Intended interiors blogs then you are aware from my last posting that I have had a recent life changing diet experience. If not please read my previous posting.

As I am in this process of removing dairy products and adding more greens to my diet I am also learning to prepare my foods more raw and truer to their natural and more nutritious form. Of course the interior designer in me must also create a eye pleasing plate with color and balance. It is always interesting to me that while creating a more decorated plate usually means adding more colorful natural nutrition, just as nature intended. As I discover my most favorite healthy creations I will share them with you so we can together not only create healthy natural surroundings with décor but also for our body and soul.


In removing dairy from my diet I was missing one of my most favorite foods, chocolate. So I of course went on a quest to create a healthy delicious chocolate. So I began researching chocolate and found that in its purest form it is the single most healthy food. Chocolate is made from the Cocoa bean and the Cocoa bean in its raw form has the highest form of anti oxidants of any other food. Most chocolate as we know it does not have the same nutritional value because it has been either heated or other non health value ingredients have been added to it or both. My "Natural Chocolate Goodness" does not contain sugar or dairy and has not had the nutritional value cooked out. It is still in its raw form. I have used organic ingredients; cocoa powder, cocoa butter, vanilla bean, agave nectar, sea salt, almond butter and lot's of love.


"Natural Chocolate Goodness" taste like one of my favorite foods, dark chocolate and peanut butter. So good tasting and with all this nutritional value I believe you should have at least one piece daily. Imagine a chocolate that you must eat everyday because it is that good for you. "Natural Chocolate Goodness", chocolate just as nature intended.


Off to make another batch,

Organic Greens

I have had a change of life experience lately and just like everything I find exciting and inspiring I want to share with my As Nature Intended interiors fans. I recently learned from Kate Gurecki, owner of Blue Morpho Organic Skinspa all about how eating more organic raw greens is not only good for you but also great for your skin. The more she talked the more I listened and began to read about this subject of eating more raw based green foods and less dairy. So I decided to try adding more organic greens and remove most dairy products from my diet. In this processes I learned that I was not only addicted to cheese but probably allergic to dairy products. As I have removed dairy products from my diet, I have felt better. Adding the greens was a challenge in the beginning, until Kate introduced me to Jason Santini, owner of the Happy Healthy Human. Jason showed me how to make raw greens taste great and fun. So now I am a mean green eating machine, I have green smoothies for breakfast, green salads for lunch and creating green dinners and deserts with greens. I hope I don't turn green while eating all these greens? LOL
To quote my friend Kate "when you eat bright and pretty you are bright and pretty".

So this organic green eating leads me to my new project, raised planter organic green gardening. So I asked my hubby to build me a raised planter. So this very smart and handsome man I am married to used an old picnic table as the base of the planter. Next, a trip to Sun Harbor Nursery located in Indian Harbour Beach to select my veggie plants, organic soil and organic fertilizer in just one weekend, Walla, I have a organic green garden. In true As Nature Intended fashion my green veggie garden must have some flowers so I can sprinkle them in my salad for pretty, "As Nature Intended" of course.

In the theme of being more organic and healthy I will also be cleaning my earthy hands after a day of gardening with Yummy Suds organic soap of course ;).

I can hardly wait for my new plants to be harvested and used in my healthy cooking creations. My challenge now is to create some healthy green based meals that not only taste great but also will look fabulous just "As Nature Intended".


Happy gardening,

Tropical Casa Bella Christmas Tree

Every holiday season I try to do something a little different with my décor from the previous year. That must be the designer in me. So this does not become an expensive habit to get into, I am also looking to make it frugal especially in these challenging economic times. To quote a good friend "frugal is the new black"...I love that!

This year I decided to not do my traditional indoor Christmas tree. I put a fresh cut 6' Frasier Fur tree in my "Casa Bella Courtyard". I used natural ornaments such as my favorite blooming bromeliad plants (which I can use after the holidays) and petals that had fallen from my existing living courtyard wall of bright fuchsia colored Bouganvilla. I also made sure I could enjoy my tree from indoors by placing it in front of my glass double french doors. This has turned out to be a great idea since my family spends most of our time in our courtyard this time of year here in Florida. I added some outdoor little white lights and now I have a "Tropical Casa Bella Christmas Tree".

Hopefully I have inspired you to put on your favorite Holiday music and decorate your Christmas tree a little different this year.

Happy Holiday Décor,

Happy Thanksgiving From Florida!

Many of my clients ask me what my Florida Thanksgiving table looks like so I thought I would share. Of course I always use our native natural surroundings as a center piece. My favorite is the bromeliad plant and of course since I live in a beautiful beach community I included a piece of driftwood, seashells and starfish. I always like to include fruit, vegetables and mini pumpkins for that feeling of abundance. It is fun to look for something unexpected for a place card holder so I used an artichoke.

So when you are setting your table this week be sure to look outside in your own garden and your local grocery for inspiration to dress your table. You do not have to buy an expensive decorative centerpiece just see what nature can lend you for free, just "As Nature Intended".

This photo of a Thanksgiving table setting designed by me was featured on the cover of Spacecoast Living magazine's November 2004 issue and is still stylish today because using nature in any décor is timeless. My table on Thursday will look very similar.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all,