Hello and Welcome to Living the Kai Life.

In this Blog I will be covering many aspects of living a life of Total Wellness. I will be incorporating things like some of my favorite vegetarian meal recipes, decadent smoothies, and refreshing juices. In addition, I want to share with you some of my favorite natural supplements and how I use them on a daily basis. But we won’t stop there! I want to offer a platform of support and community! I don’t just want to be a part of your physical wellness journey, I also want to give you tools for mental wellness too!

Lets be totally transparent here, I am NOT a doctor or phychiatrist, I am simply on my own journey and want to share with you the things I find to be useful as well as offer support from someone who probably has or is walking in your shoes.

About ME (Shelley Gilleon): I am 38 years old and I am determined to be in the best shape of my life by the time I’m 40. Wow, tall order right? I was an athlete all my life until I ran into some emotional issues in my late 20’s. In my early 30’s I was diagnosed with clinical depression and immediately was put on medication. To make a long story short, for almost a decade I was literally put through the “mill” (big pharma mill). I bounced from Dr. to Dr., therapist to therapist, and 1 pill lead to 2 and 2 lead to 3 and the more Dr’s I saw and drugs I took, the worse I got. The meds had awesome side affects (insert sarcasm) such as massive weight gain and total numbness. The only thing that seemed to keep me going was the bottle of vodka I kept in the freezer. Rapidly approaching the decade mark of this battle I decided enough was enough and I was gonna take my life back. And here we are today! I am happy to say, I have been off meds for almost a year now and while I still battle with the self-esteem issues due to the weight I carry physically, I feel better than I EVER have. So why am I telling you all this?? Because I want you to know that the other person on the end of this is not someone who’s got it all together but is seeking a better and healthier way of life too.

So lets dive right in and lighten the mood!

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, and I absolutely LOVE this time of year. So I wanted to bring you a couple of my new favorite recipes for Fall to start us off.

Smoked Apple & Sage Vegetarian Sausage stuffed Acorn Squash:

Prep time : 20 mins ~ Cook time: 1 hour ~ Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Ingredients

3 Acorn Squash, halved
Olive Oil
Salt , Pepper, Garlic powder
2 links vegetarian sausage ( I use Field Roast smoked apple and sage ), cut into quarters
2 small shallots
2 large celery stalks finely chopped
2 small apples, peeled and diced ( I use green for a more crisp flavor)
1 tsp fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 cup couscous (dry)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup parmesan cheese split in half

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cut ends off acorn squash so they sit flat, remove as little as possible, and then cut squash in half.
Scoop out the seeds.
Brush the top and inside of Acorn Squash with olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake the Squash in the oven for 40 minutes to and hour depending on size until tender enough to pierce with a fork while maintaining its shape.
Cook couscous and set aside.
While the squash bakes, sauté shallots and celery in olive oil until tender 3-5 minutes.
Add mushrooms, apples, sausage, add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and sauté another 3-5 minutes.
Remove sausage mixture from heat and add sage, couscous, and 1/2 of the parmesan cheese, mix and set aside.
Once the squash is done baking, spoon the mixture until the squash is filled.
Put stuffed squash back in the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Indulge in your new favorite fall meal!

I hope you fall in love with this recipe as much as I did! Up next I'm giving you a great fall smoothie recipe, have it as your dessert or a mid day pick-me-up, honestly its great any time.

Caramel Apple Smoothie

Smoothie:

1/2 cup mylk of choice ( I use coconut)
2/3 cup apple juice ( I juice my own apples here, but if you don’t have a juicer, any organic can substitute)
1 1/2 frozen bananas (use more ripe bananas for a sweeter taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2- inch ginger sliver, peeled
handful of ice

Date Caramel:

1 tbsp soaked dates or date paste (see below for date paste recipe)
1 tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of Himalayan salt

* for date paste, take several dates and put in jar with lid, fill with filtered H2O enough to cover dates and refrigerate for 8-12 hrs, over night is best. Blend dates and water until smooth consistency to make a paste.

*Blend all smoothie ingredients together until smooth. Whisk date caramel ingredients together until combined into a smooth caramel consistency and drizzle on top of smoothie.

Thank you for checking out our 1st blog!! I hope you’ll comment and share and continue to follow us each week for new recipes and more!