Not only is my gorgeous friend, Annie Oliverio, an incredible food blogger and photographer over at An Unrefined Vegan, but she’s also the amazing talent behind the brand new cookbook: Crave Eat Heal – Plant-Based, Whole-Food Recipes to Satisfy Every Craving.

This book is sublime. I love how it’s divided into ‘craving categories’ like Sweet, Spicy, Creamy, Crunchy and Comfort. And that it’s packed with over 300 pages (!) of delicious, healthy, vegan recipes.

With tantalising recipes like Creamy Thai Carrot Coconut Soup, ‘Parmesan’ Pita Chips, and Chocolate-coated Key Lime Coconut Cream Pie, Annie provides a smorgasbord of healthy options, while satisfying our most demanding of cravings.

For those new to plant-powered whole foods, there’s also a ton of info about tools and ingredients to see you rocking it out in the kitchen.

Plus, Annie invited her favourite Food Blogger friends (including Yours Truly!) to contribute to the collection. Inside, you’ll find recipes from the likes of Keepin’ It Kind, Veggie Nook, Bunny Kitchen, Vegan Richa, Vedged Out, Me! and a whole lot more.

Aaahhh, a delectable collaboration.

One thing’s for sure, this project was truly a labour of love.

So you better believe that when I had the chance to get Annie alone for half an hour, I asked her a heap of questions about the process behind creating a beautiful book like this, including:

:: What was your inspiration?
:: What’s involved in the creative process?
:: What happens when the cooking’s done and the kitchen’s clean – what sort of marketing/promo events come next?
:: What were your biggest lessons – what advice would you give to a new Food Blogger or Health Coach thinking, ‘how to create a cookbook’?

If you’ve ever dreamed of releasing your own cookbook, this is one interview you won’t want to miss!  Click Play:

The post How to Create a Cookbook appeared first on Vegan Sparkles with Rebecca Weller.

Denise helps women release their fear of money, set premium prices for their services, and take back control of their finances. She’s an award-winning speaker, author and entrepreneur who helps women transform their Economy-Class money mindset into a First-Class life.

So you better believe that when I had the chance to get her alone for half an hour, I asked her a ton of questions specific to Health Coaches and those in the wellness and healing industries, including:

:: How do we get more comfortable around money conversations with clients?

:: What to do when a potential client exclaims: “Oh, you’re so expensive!”?

:: How do we know if we’re charging enough for our services?

:: How can we propose price increases to our clients gracefully?

:: What if people ask to ‘pick our brains’ or coach them for free?

Money blocks are SO common for women in the coaching industry. But with the right mindset, we can create a business that is not only sustainable over the long term – but that actually thrives, and supports us in helping even more people.

This is one interview you won’t want to miss!  Click Play:

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Desiree Taylor is one such light beam.

Certified Holistic Health & Lifestyle Coach, and Founder of Free Yourself Holistic Health, Desiree has an infectious personality and a smile that lights up the room. Endlessly passionate about wellness, Desiree not only embarked on a personal journey to heal herself through natural medicine, but she now works with her coaching clients to help them make lifestyle changes that produce real and lasting results.

Please welcome Desiree. xx

What inspired your journey to wellness?

My journey to true health and happiness has been long, sometimes hard, always evolving, but the best thing that has ever happened to me! A gift from the universe I like to call it… my personal awakening!

4 years ago I was living what I thought was a great, “healthy” life….I was playing elite level hockey, partying like a rock star and working ridiculously hard, all whilst ignoring the constant colds, flus, allergies and stomach problems I had and I masked my underlying symptoms of anxiety and depression, with food and alcohol addiction.

My life was fuelled by processed foods, caffeine, sugar, very little sleep, no self-love and I raced through life at one hundred miles an hour! Living this ‘burn and churn lifestyle’ with no-regard for what I was putting into my body and no self-worth brought my world crashing down to a complete stop… literally a stop! I could not get out of bed for months, I could not wash my own hair or walk to the toilet without my heart racing like I had run a marathon… I had developed chronic fatigue syndrome accompanied with underlying adrenal fatigue, gut and hormone disorders. Despite multiple doctors and hospital visits, no-one could help me so I decided to take things into my own hands and embarked on a journey to help heal myself!

4 years later and I now know what true health and happiness is. I finally feel ‘AWAKE’ for once in my life, everything I view and experience is with a clear mind, I have more energy than I have ever had, more passion for life, more purpose in my days, I never struggle with controlling my weight, I never need to diet and I am a better person who is thriving, not merely surviving!

My journey of healing through good food, lifestyle choices and learning to change my thoughts and mindset, inspired me to become a Certified Holistic Health Coach. I now strive to help women overcome their personal struggles so they can live fulfilled, happy, healthy lives with purpose, passion and more energy and vitality!
 

What’s the best thing about being a Health Coach?

There are so many rewards with being a health coach, I get to immerse myself in what I love to do every day so I am constantly learning and evolving myself, but most importantly I feel privileged and grateful to be a part of someone’s journey back to their true state of health and happiness. The best thing is when I see the changes take place in my clients not only physically, but emotionally as well which creates a ripple effect into other areas of their life. Just playing a part in making someone feel better about themselves is a gift.

What’s your favourite way to keep fit?

I LOVE yoga! I try to do a small yoga practice of at least 10 minutes a day just to move my body through breath if I do not have time to do a full session. I have also just started playing hockey again after 4 years, which I never thought I would be able to do, but with perseverance and a dream…anything is possible!

How do you practice self-love and care?

I am a BIG believer in self-love and care… I had to learn this the hard way through previously pushing myself and putting others first until I was forced to stop. Every day I check in with myself and listen to my body! If I need to rest, I will… even if it means missing a party or taking a day off work. I give myself the time and space I need to heal when I am feeling run down and make sure the foods I eat are full of nourishment! I have learnt to self-love by accepting myself unconditionally in all my glorious weirdness and embracing my imperfections! I also speak my authentic truth unapologetically no matter how confronting or different my views are to those of society.
 

What’s your favourite way to relax and unwind?

Meditation is one of my favourite things to do daily to relax, ground myself, unwind and remind me of what life is all about… success comes from stillness and I always gain perspective, answers and creative flares when I meditate. I reconnect with my true self, the infinite… I also love watching space movies or sci-fi, I am a bit of a nerd!
 

What’s got your toes tingling with excitement right now?

I am super excited to be launching ‘The Busy Woman’s Eat for Energy Diet’ App in January, as well as a 4 week online e-course later in 2016. The sky’s the limit and I cannot wait to see what the universe has in store for me…
 

What’s your favourite healthy recipe?

This Vegetable Fried Rice!

Print

Vegetable Fried Rice

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Author Desiree Taylor

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of tamari sauce
• 1/2 sweet potato cut into small pieces
• ½ eggplant cut into small pieces
• 1 to mato diced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 bunch Bok choy
• 1 capsicum diced
• 1 cup peas
• 3 cups of pre-cooked brown rice
• 2 chilies
• Chopped ginger & garlic to taste or approx. 1 tablespoon each
• Salt + pepper

Instructions

• In a wok or large pan, sauté onion and tomato is some good quality oil until soft.
• Add in chili, garlic, ginger & simmer for a few more minutes.
• Add in sweet potato, eggplant and capsicum pieces and cook through until sweet potato is soft. (Keep mixing so the vegetables do not stick to the bottom and if this happens you can add a tiny bit of water.)
• Add in Bok choy, peas and tamari sauce and cook through until bok choy has wilted
• Add in the pre-cooked brown rice.
• Mix vegetables through the brown rice and leave on low for 5mins to heat through.

Yum, that looks amazing! Thank you so much for sharing with us, Desiree. xx

Get to know this inspiring health babe better:

Via her Website + Facebook + Twitter + Instagram + YouTube.

Plus, check out my interview with Desiree in Sexy Sobriety.
 

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One year ago today, in a cosy nearby café, I sat opposite my love. Hands shaking, head spinning with a thousand different thoughts, spine tingling with excitement…

Could we really do this?

“Yes”, he said confidently, taking my hands in his.

The next morning we both handed in our resignations.

We said goodbye to the corporate world – to ‘stable’ jobs, long-term careers, and ‘guaranteed’ incomes.

And said hello to a life of uncertainty – to a scary but oh-so exciting new beginning, a chance to follow our dreams and find out what we’re really made of.

It simultaneously feels like an eternity and no time at all. It’s been one wild ride, baby! Since that fateful day, it feels like we’ve achieved so much…
 

Held our first Live Events

Talk about throwing ourselves in the deep end!  We were so incredibly nervous to hold our very first Perth ‘Spring into Wellness’ Yoga Event on the very first day after we finished at our old careers, but it was so much fun getting to meet so many beautiful souls in person.

A month later when we headed to visit friends in Sydney, we quickly organised a (sold-out) Sydney Raw Chocolate Workshop that had me on a high for days (and not just from the cacao!).
 

Moved into our new On-Line Homes

Vegan Sparkles received a beautiful redesign thanks to Dom’s graphic design and IT talents. And Dom’s graphic design biz and portfolio got a stylish home of its very own.

Mod by Dom continues to grow and thrive more than we ever could have imagined, thanks to referral after referral, and for that we’re so incredibly grateful.
 

Co-Created eBooks

With my love of writing and Dom’s talent for graphic design, it was a joy to co-create and launch three new eBooks into the world, including two free gifts for you (The Sparkle Experiment and How to Create a Biz You Love) and a labour of love (Eating for Energy).
 

Fell More in Love with IIN

In December I graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and 6 months later, from their follow-up Immersion course. I’m not shy about sharing that IIN changed my life and I’m so honoured to now be a proud Ambassador for the school (click here to email me if you’re interested in learning more about the Ambassador tuition savings offers, gorgeous).

Even more exciting was being hired by IIN to provide biz coaching & mentoring to more than 80 of their Australian & NZ students. Every single week it lights my heart on fire to hear the enthusiasm and passion from these guys for their studies and their unfolding adventures. So blessed.
 

Launched a YouTube Channel

Dom mastered his video editing skills, I overcame my fear of appearing on video (ha! any day now…), and we began a Vegan Sparkles TV YouTube Channel.

We’re super excited to create a heap of new videos for you over the coming year. If you have any topics that you’d like me to cover, just shoot me an email, gorgeous. I’d love to help.
 

Launched The Sparkle Project

By now I’m sure you’re well aware that I’m super passionate about helping women get their sparkle back and create a life they love. In addition to my beautiful one-on-one coaching clients, seeing dozens of incredible women do just that in The Sparkle Project fills my heart to overflowing.

In June we moved The Sparkle Project to a shiny new Membership Site so that our gorgeous members could have 24/7, lifetime access to the materials. We’re constantly updating the oodles of resources to ensure they deliver maximum results for our Sparklers.
 

Shared the Love

Over the past year, I’m so incredibly grateful and honoured to have been featured on over 50 online and print publications, most recently as one of Perth’s leading health experts in The Sunday Times Magazine article: Perth Health-Preneurs Leading the Charge.

I guest posted on (my girl-crush) Kris Carr’s site, partnered with Animal Place Sanctuary to provide vegan recipes for their subscribers, filmed a cooking show for The Body Love Revolution, participated in a Body-Love Blog Tour, wrote my first freelance (paid) writing piece (5 of Perth’s Best Healthy Date Spots for eHarmony – so cute! ), and my guest article recipes on MindBodyGreen have been shared more than 20,000 times. Incredible.

We also formed beautiful new friendships with other bloggers and creatives. Friendships that have enriched our lives so much.

Best of all, we grew an incredible community of more than 12,000 beautiful subscribers and social media fans. Mind blowing.  

The emails, love and support we receive from you guys spurs us ever-forward, inspiring all-new ideas and resources we hope will help you to reach your dreams.
 

Lessons We’ve Learnt

The biggest lesson we’ve learnt over the past year? Find your passion, follow your heart, and show up every single day to do the work. It’s not always glamorous or exciting (most days it’s far from it), it might involve more work than you’ve ever done in your life, but it will also be the most rewarding, humbling and fulfilling endeavour you ever undertake.

A leap of faith like this pushes you to grow in ways you could never have imagined. We’re constantly striving to be, learn and give more. We’ve discovered more about ourselves and relationships in this past year than ever before (in addition to the internal growth required to live and work with your partner 24/7, ha!).

There have been tears of frustration and tears of overflowing joy. It’s been all-at-once insanely confronting, maddening, thrilling and awe-inspiring.

From our hearts to yours, THANK YOU for joining us on this crazy life journey. We wish you all the health and happiness in the world, beautiful. We love you and can’t wait to see where this adventure takes us all next. xx
 

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