You’ll find antique treasures, hidden surprises… and maybe even your childhood spirit at an artist’s whimsical home

Photos by Laura Beth Davidson

For fans of the I Spy children’s books—their pages packed full of colorful displays for young eyes to study and discover—Terry Foster’s historic Bedford home is a shrine to the popular ’90s series. “I love the idea of making your house so visually interesting,” Foster says. “It’s like a collage. You get to play around in every room.”

By combining her love for those paperback treasure hunts with her love of all things ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, Foster has created her own unique style that she loves sharing on social media as “Whimsybopper”: “I had a friend tell me… ‘It looks like Dr. Seuss and Willy Wonka decorated your house.’ That was the biggest compliment!”

It’s silly, yet meaningful—with whimsical details that are always rooted by nostalgic treasures.

The Foster family hasn’t always had roots, themselves. Since marrying her Marine husband 30 years ago, they have moved 12 times. After he retired from service about 10 years ago, they were excited to look for a place they could buy… and stay put. But where?

Terry and her husband had lived in Northern Virginia at one point and agreed it was the most beautiful state they had called home. So, naturally, she did what any 21st-century person does to figure something out—she Googled it. “With Virginia, I also typed in ‘college towns, destination places, main streets, antiquing.’ Bedford was the top result,” she explains.

They made an appointment with a realtor, explaining the rest of their wish list: “an old house on land.” It only took a month before they were the proud owners of a 5,000-square-foot home, built sometime in the 1870s.

After settling in, Terry immediately focused on transforming the traditional kitchen from a dark space with cherry cabinets into a bright, quirky diner. “The kitchen is my most colorful room. And the most-used room, too,” she says.

She painted the walls celery green—a color she had used before because “it’s not too minty”—and the cabinets white, leaving the doors removed to show off her large collection of cheerful glass bowls. “[That collection] started because I wanted to find a yellow one. I have a memory of my grandmother cooking using a bowl like that and the smell of dough rising. It’s just a warm fuzzy feeling for me,” Terry says.

If you don’t feel the ’50s vibe from the pops of yellow, red, and blue in her other numerous kitchen collections (ice crushers, canisters, clocks… to name a few) just look down and the black and white checkered tile floor ties it all in. While Terry and her husband added this to the kitchen, it was already in place in other parts of the home including the downstairs hallway and foyer.

Just off the kitchen is an area of the home that’s gone by the wayside over time—the butler’s pantry. Terry painted those cabinets white as well, and uses the shelving to display her vintage thermos and picnic basket collections—they are among her favorites. “This location is perfect for these because it doesn’t get much sunlight. Anything you really treasure that’s old can’t be exposed to direct sunlight or it will fade,” she explains.

Another fun collection of antique toy irons hangs next to an old-fashioned utility sink.

Just when you think you’ve figured out Terry’s style, you enter the dining room. Here, a completely different type of “silly” takes center stage. “I didn’t want [this room] to be stuffy and formal. I love the Mad Hatter… I love the goofiness of that [story],” she says.

You can imagine yourself sitting down to a quirky tea party at the long dining table—it’s the first dining table the Fosters have ever owned. Terry collected the chairs over time and painted them pink to contrast against the light blue walls (Vintage Map by Martha Stewart). The gorgeous crystal chandelier was already hanging overhead—but of course Terry added her “whimsy” with some pink accents.

With no previous collection in mind for the dining room, Terry decided to start slowly gathering antique plates to display on the walls and over the fireplace. Other various dishes, cups, bowls and platters fill the built-in shelves. “I sort of have this obsession… I feel like I’m rescuing dishes if I see them at the thrift store. ‘Oh, a punch bowl! Can you imagine all of the weddings and parties this punch bowl saw and now it’s at a thrift store for $2.99.?’,” Terry jokes.

In the living room (also referred to as “the library” due to its four built-in shelves) you leave the pastel paradise behind and return to the yellow, red and blue found in the kitchen—but the overall tone is more calming. Crocheted afghans lure you into the seating area.

Terry’s eccentric spirit is just as strong in this room, in more subtle ways. A collection of vintage suitcases is stacked up to the ceiling against one wall. By the fireplace, a basket of hands (glove forms) makes you do a double take.

There are also items that bring tears to Terry’s eyes. Fishing lures in a jar and a restored toy truck were her father’s. He passed away seven years ago from a heart attack. “It hit all of us really hard. Just two months prior he had been given a good bill of health,” Terry recalls. “Around then I started thinking, ‘What am I holding back that I might regret?’ I had always wanted to be an artist, so I started drawing.”

When her kids were little, Terry would doodle designs or Bible verses for them to color. She took that idea and started designing and selling Christian coloring book downloads through her Doodle All Day online shop (abbreviated D.A.D.—for her dad).

She gets all of that work done in her studio—which is also a play room of sorts: “This is usually everyone’s favorite room. Maybe because it reminds them of being a kid.”

Dozens of board games—many of them antiques—fill one corner of the room; a Chinese checkers collection is displayed along the top of one wall. Her floor to ceiling “I Spy” shelves are a kid’s dream come true. In every nook and cranny, there are fun characters that will take you back to your favorite childhood memories.

With plenty of natural light, this is the perfect place to create. Terry usually spends time at her drawing desk “in the heat of summer and a lot more during the winter.” That’s because during the warm weather months, she is outside doing yard work or tending to her “I Spy” garden. This shady path leads visitors on a scavenger hunt. She loves having children of all ages visit and even creates checklists of items for them to find.

“I pinch myself sometimes, do I really get to live here?” Terry says. “This is so fun!”

Life at the Foster house is fun—and Terry’s playful spirit makes it that way. Of course, she knows the bright colors and silly collections aren’t everyone’s cup of tea: “I know it will be a hard sell some day.”

But after spending three decades house hopping, she isn’t worried about that just yet.

“I don’t want to neutralize my style for the next person. Because I am living here now,” Terry says. “This home truly brings me joy.”

While spending time in the hospital after the birth of my son last summer, I remember lying there trying to sleep—but I couldn’t. I had been up for almost 48 hours straight. Yet for some weird, adrenaline-fueled reason, it was impossible to nod off.

I told a couple of nurses about it… they told me to try to relax. When my overnight nurse introduced herself, I talked to her about my problem—she listened to me, heard the angst in my voice: “Why don’t I take him to the nursery for a couple hours?”

Her suggestion went against the preferred “baby in room” protocol at Virginia Baptist Hospital—intended to encourage bonding and breastfeeding between mom and child. It’s a policy I support. But I was desperate—and this nurse saw it.

After she took my son to the nursery, I was finally able to fall asleep for a couple of hours. Even better than that, the nurse ended up keeping him out of the room for a little longer than she initially said. Instead of waking him up for a feeding, my boy was sound asleep—so she let him, and me, do just that… sleep.

This nurse knew there were feeding times to follow, protocols to uphold. But above all of that, she knew I couldn’t physically or mentally continue on my journey as a mom without some rest. She saw me as a person… not a patient. This woman in scrubs was wearing a cape for me that day.

You likely have your own story of being “saved” by a Healthcare Hero, a committed medical professional (EMT, nurse, etc.) who went above and beyond for you. For the first time in Lynchburg Living, we are recognizing some of these hardworking men and women. After asking for nominations from the community, we selected 10 heroes to showcase in a feature that starts on page 71. Some were nominated by co-workers, others by patients. Some of their stories are fast-paced, others are more subtle. But I learned in working with this group of heroes that they all have one thing in common: a passion to provide the best and most personal care they can.

To all of the medical professionals in this area who are working hard every day without much fanfare, I thank you. We are all better, healthier—and in my case, more rested— people because you are going the extra mile.

All my best,

Shelley Basinger, Managing Editor
Shelley@lynchburgmag.com

A personal look at Lynchburg’s renowned architect

Until Carolyn Gills Frazier started researching Stanhope, Chronologically, published by Blackwell Press in 2018, even those who were closest to the late-architect Stanhope Johnson didn’t know the extent to which he had, almost literally, designed Lynchburg.

“He never said anything about his projects,” Johnson’s niece, Anne Bond-Gentry, said. “We knew a few things he’d done in the city, but I had no idea of the volume of the stuff he’d done here until Carolyn started working on the book. I was blown away.”

Over a career that spanned seven decades, from 1898 to 1966, Johnson lent his talents to somewhere between 700 and 800 building projects, more than half in Lynchburg.

He designed department stores and supermarkets, factories and hospitals, schools and churches, hotels and vacation cabins, and apartment buildings and houses in nearly every architectural style. He even designed tombstones, including his own.

Frazier’s “Lynchburg Directory” of Johnson’s work includes about 100 projects on Rivermont Avenue alone. “I [knew] that he worked on the hospital and Randolph-Macon [Woman’s College] but all of Rivermont Avenue?” Bond-Gentry’s sister, Nancy Brothers, said.

Growing up in Lynchburg, Bond-Gentry and Brothers, along with their sister Helen Reveley and brother Everett Bond Jr., spent a lot of time at Brookside, the Link Road home of Stanhope and Elizabeth Johnson. Elizabeth was the older sister of their dad, Everett Bond Sr.

“We would go there for ‘Camp Brookside’ every summer for a week or two weeks, and on weekends, and do all kinds of things,” Brothers said.

The Johnsons didn’t have children of their own, so the Bonds were surrogates. “They were like grandparents to us,” Brothers said. “She was older than my dad, about 15 years, and he was older than she.”

Their uncle, they called “Stan.” Elizabeth was “Bibber.” Brothers said she and her siblings were the “only ones in the world” who called the renowned architect “Stan.” As for how “Bibber” came about, it was a family thing.

“Bibber and Stan were our names for them, but they were Elizabeth and Stanhope to the world,” Brothers said. “He called her Elizabeth; we called her Bibber. It was just our kids’ name and it stuck.”

Johnson and his wife moved into Brookside in 1926. He had purchased the circa-1823 cottage in 1913, eight years before he married the former Annie Elizabeth Bond, a Randolph-Macon Woman’s College graduate from Brownsville, Tennessee.

At Brookside, there was a creek for fishing and a barn for farm animals—cows, a horse and a donkey. Elizabeth raised fox terriers, so there were often puppies to play with. “It was always a happy place,” Brothers said.

In the basement creamery, the Bond children helped Elizabeth make butter balls, a staple on well-appointed tables. Elizabeth also sold her butter balls locally. “We all participated,” Brothers said. “That was the way they served butter. Everything was butter balls.”

The Johnsons shared an interest in horticulture. Elizabeth, the more outgoing of the two, entered flower shows and spoke at garden clubs across Central Virginia. At Christmastime, she made her own boxwood wreaths and flower arrangements.

“[They had] wonderful gardens, vegetable and flower,” Reveley said. “It was really like a working farm.”

A photo, taken in the 1950s and published in Frazier’s book, shows Johnson and his wife in the rose garden, she in a pale gray suit and he in riding breeches, boots, shirt and tie and a straw fedora. According to his nieces, it was Johnson’s usual practice to go ride his horse, Commander, in the evenings after work. “He was a great horseman,” Reveley said.

Dinners at Brookside were formal. Meals, prepared by a cook who lived with her family on the property, were served on English Royal Crown Derby china.

Local architect Robert H. Garbee dined at Brookside once, in 1956. At the time, he was 26 years old and working for the firm of Pendleton S. Clark. The invitation came after a slide presentation he did for the Lynchburg and Hill City garden clubs about the gardens of Europe.

Afterward, Garbee was approached by Mrs. Stanhope Johnson. “[She] came over to me and said, ‘Mr. Garbee, if I had any idea this would be such an excellent program, I would have insisted Stanhope come with me.’”

Flattered, Garbee said he’d be happy to show Johnson the slides. A dinner invitation followed. “It was an extraordinary dinner,” Garbee said. “The first course was a slice of Crenshaw melon the color of which matched exactly the colors in the plate. … It was a very elegant dinner.”

Johnson’s public persona, like his dinner table, was formal. Brothers went so far as to say, “I think he was so formal that people were probably afraid of him,” but the Bond sisters saw another side of the architect at Brookside.

Brothers recalled his sense of humor. “He would tease me unmercifully,” she said. “I got a Christmas doll and he named her Sarah Kate. I thought that was the worst name. He hid Sarah Kate from me Christmas morning and my mother had to call him because I was just in tears. …

“He would kind of push our buttons a lot, but we always knew it was in good fun. And he was eager for us to learn new things and he was just very special.”

Reveley said her uncle would pay her as much as a quarter at the dinner table to eat with her right hand. “I was left-handed and it drove him crazy,” she said.

Bond-Gentry recalled sitting bareback atop Commander as a young child. “I thought it was amazing,” she said.

And then there was the time Johnson came home with a Shetland pony in the back seat of his car. “I was about six years old and they brought it home in Stanhope’s car,” Bond-Gentry said, referring to her father and Johnson. “In the old days, in the 50s, cars were big. They put it in the back seat.”

At the holidays, Johnson took his nieces and nephew to the Christmas party the Rotary Club threw for the children of its members. “He was gentle in that way, but again he had a very formal side to him,” Brothers said. “You wouldn’t say that he was cold, but he was formal. He was very particular about things and had his regular routine.”

One of these things was bed time—his own if no one else’s. “He had this thing where he would say, at about nine o’clock, [that] it was unbuttoning time, time to go to bed,” Bond-Gentry said. “He’d go into a room and say that and then he was going to bed. If everyone was still there, he’d say, ‘It’s unbuttoning time’ and he was gone.”

Reveley described her uncle as “fun to be around” and “always pleasant.” She also said he was humble, especially considering the architectural legacy he left Lynchburg. “[People] don’t realize how incredibly modest he was about all of it,” she said.

“He had an incredible practice, but never boasted or talked about anything in particular. He was just this kind of incredible Renaissance person: a great horticulturalist, horseman, architect. He was just really fascinating to be around.”

Read All About It

Stanhope, Chronologically—written by Carolyn Gills Frazier—is available at Givens Books, the Farm Basket and Blackwell Press (new studio space is located on the lower level of 311 Rivermont Ave.) The book has a directory of Lynchburg commissions by address.

Carolyn would love to hear from readers on her website: stanhopejohnsonarchitect.com.

Mark Your Calendars September/October

Lynchburg Art Festival
September 14, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
More than 150 fine artists will show off their masterpieces in oil, acrylic, watercolor, sculpture and more. This event, now in its 47th year, is held on the grounds of E.C. Glass High School. Rain date is September 15.

Stanhope Johnson Historic Homes Tour
September 22, 1 – 6 p.m.
From homes to churches and beyond, the late-architect Stanhope Johnson designed between 700 and 800 buildings, half of those in our city. The Lynchburg Historical Foundation will lead the community on a walking/driving tour that highlights his work. Find tickets at the Lynchburg Visitor Center,
hillcitytix.com, and the foundation office: 434-528-5353.

Turn to page 63 to learn more about Stanhope Johnson’s personal life in Lynchburg.

Oktoberfest
October 5, 4 – 10:30 p.m.
Beer lovers… grab your lederhosen! The Water Dog and the Academy Center of the Arts are hosting this German-inspired celebration, held for the first time at Riverfront Park. Find more details at www.thewaterdog.com/Oktoberfest-2019.

Lynchburg Zombie Walk
October 19, 5:30 p.m.
Help transform Downtown Lynchburg into a scene from “The Walking Dead”! This bizarre gathering, now in its 9th year, serves as a fundraiser for Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and the Lynchburg Dog Park. The walk starts and ends at the Lynchburg Community Market.

Mamma Mia!
October 4-19, various showtimes
Channel your inner “Dancing Queen” at Lynchburg’s Renaissance Theatre. This musical sensation, based on the music of ABBA, has been loved by audiences for two decades. Find ticket information at renaissancetheatrelynchburg.org.

Local Openings & Closings

Hello! to Board and Brush, a custom wood décor studio in Forest.

Hello! to Aji Ramen and Sushi on Main Street.

Hello! to Outside the Cone, an ice cream shop in Wyndhurst.

Hello! to Waffle Mania, a food truck located in the parking lot of Carol’s Place.

Goodbye to Sluggo’s Sundae Drive in Madison Heights (but you’ll still find their ice cream around town!)

Hello! to a second location of Mission House Coffee on Commerce Street.

Hello! to Scrub Connections in River Ridge Mall.

Goodbye to BurritOh! in the Forest Square Shopping Center.

Hello! to Petz Boarding and Doggie Daycare on Lakeside Drive.

Hello! to The Way Home Church Supplies on Fifth Street.

Local family takes an adventurous leap & truly starts living

Photos by Lauren Grijalva

Ever wondered what it’s like to trade in a routine life—filled with hectic daily schedules—for a life on the road having grand adventures with the ones you love? This is something many families only dream about—but for The Wanderpreneurs, that dream is now a reality.

Aaron and Lauren Grijalva—who met in Lynchburg while he attended Liberty University—along with their two kids, Casen and Calista, hit the road in November 2018 after realizing they were being pulled away from each other due to their incredibly busy lives.

“The kids would come home from school, have to do homework, be rushed off to sports practices, we would all shovel down a quick dinner at some point, I would often leave for an evening photoshoot, Aaron would have meetings,” Lauren says. “We were seeing each other and doing things as a family less and less. We loved our sports, jobs, clubs…but it just became too much.”

Originally, their plan was to “hit the reset button” and travel full-time for one year, exploring the country. But now, at this point in time, they’ve decided not to put an end date on their adventure and instead take their journey day by day.

“We love adventure. Being outdoors is what brings us joy, and doing things together as a family is important to us,” Lauren says. “We don’t want to get to the end of our lives and regret working too much, not spending enough time with each other or with our kids, and not making the most of each day. We feel like this world has so much to offer, and we want to see as much of it as we can, meeting new people as we learn and growing along the way.”

It took research and planning, but thanks to Aaron and Lauren’s flexible jobs, as well as the right doors opening up, they were able to get on the road just three months after the idea sparked during a casual conversation the summer of 2018.

“We researched different types of RVs to find the best fit for our family. We had lengthy conversations with our good friends, the Brewers, who we met in Lynchburg, that had been full-time RVers for several years,” Lauren says. “They were instrumental in giving us great advice and answering all our questions, giving us the confidence to continue moving forward.”

The Grijalvas then put their house up for rent, which received a ton of interest, and talked to their kids’ schools about withdrawing them in order to homeschool and travel. They read articles and watched YouTube videos on everything RV-related and grew more motivated with each step.

“The biggest inspiration was finding other full-time RV families and seeing how many amazing places they were visiting and how happy they seemed as they bounced from adventure to adventure,” Lauren says.

The family sold and donated 90 percent of their belongings, including both cars so they could buy a large truck to pull their new, 400-square-foot home. Piece by piece, their plan continued to fall into place until it was time to hit the road.

They started their journey in Georgia, traveled through all southern border states, crossed over into Mexico, and visited the entire western side of the U.S. So far, they have been to more than 15 national parks.

“We realized early on in our journey that we loved the lifestyle so much, we couldn’t imagine stopping after a year,” Lauren says. “We wanted to slow down our travels, spend more time in each place we visited, and look at it as our new lifestyle, not as a trip.”

Plans are in the works to travel down the northeast coast this fall to see the foliage in Maine and Vermont. They also want to take their kids to New York City, plan to spend this winter in Florida and next summer in the Lake Michigan area. They say they would also love to spend an entire summer exploring Canada and an entire winter in Mexico at some point in the future.

“We like to dream big, and have had many discussions about future plans,” Lauren says. “We’d love to explore beyond North America one day and do some international travel. We have a running family bucket list of places we all want to see.”

The family of four has been fortunate to see some of the most beautiful landscapes our country has to offer including the majestic Grand Canyon, White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, Big Bend National Park in south Texas with its vast jaw-dropping night skies, and Alabama Hills, Calif., with its huge boulders. But, while the views have been magnificent, Aaron and Lauren say the sweetest moments of their journey have been the ones you can’t capture in a photo.

“Seeing our kids reconnect in a way we didn’t know was possible, meeting tons of amazing, unique people on the road and hearing their stories, sitting around hundreds of campfires, getting to know other travelers and learn from them, realizing how much stronger and closer our family unit is as a result of the time and experiences we’ve had together—those are the best discoveries,” Lauren says.

The biggest challenge they have faced so far is figuring out how to properly balance work and play. Aaron builds websites, while Lauren blogs and creates content for an RV website, so while their schedules are flexible, they still have to be disciplined.

“The whole first year of travel, we moved on average once a week,” Lauren says. “Our plan moving forward is to at least double that and average two weeks per destination. We usually work in the mornings, explore/hike/spend time outdoors in the afternoon, and when needed, do more work in the evenings, after the kids are in bed.”

While they say sometimes they do feel the need to slow down before they get burned out, they also say they can’t imagine doing anything else right now.

“It would be really hard [to go back to the routine life we used to have] but I know to never say never,” Lauren says. “We are always open for anything God has in store for us, whatever that may be. By having an open mind and heart, we make our plans tentatively, praying for guidance and blessing as we continue on. All we know is that right now we are having an absolute blast and living each day to the fullest.”

Aaron and Lauren cannot stress enough how much it has paid off to take the risk they did, and they want to encourage others to do the same.

“I can’t even put into words how amazing the experience has been for us,” Lauren says. “It’s challenged us to re-evaluate our entire mindset in many aspects of life. Seeing how so many other families are living unconventional lives is inspiring. We have made numerous lifelong friends on the road—friends we’ve spent weeks at a time with, caravanning to new destinations together, exploring and hiking together and spending hours and hours around campfires with, getting to know each other on a real, raw, personal level.”

Read more about The Grijalvas’ journey and RV life on their website, www.thewanderpreneurs.com, and follow them on Instagram (@the.wanderpreneurs) and Facebook (@thewanderpreneurs) to see what they’re up to each day.

Best Of Lynchburg Frenzy

Our annual Best Of Lynchburg contest returned with gusto! Over the past two months, our website was in overdrive as the community voted for their local favorites—in categories from restaurants to healthcare providers to destinations and much more. As of Aug. 15, 74,448 votes had been cast at lynchburgliving.com.

Look for the winners in the January/February issue of Lynchburg Living!

Daily Bread Donation

We were thrilled to partner with Lynchburg Daily Bread for our 1st Annual Idea House events in July. After tallying event donations and furniture proceeds, Lynchburg Living donated $500 to the nonprofit, so they can continue their mission to help those in need, one hot meal at a time.

Turn the page to find a recap of our Idea House open house events!

Be Well Lynchburg Makes a Splash

Have you heard about our newest publication, Be Well Lynchburg? This magazine is full of fitness, nutrition, and wellness advice to help you live your best life. We received this note from Vickie Spencer after she picked up a copy: “LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your new magazine, Be Well. Taking it home with me tonight and reading it cover to cover. Congratulations.”

Look for Be Well Lynchburg on local stands next to Lynchburg Living!

BEHIND THE SCENES

When considering cover options for this issue, the Lynchburg Living team had an idea to try out a drone shoot at Lynchburg General Hospital’s helipad, which is located right in front of the emergency department.

After getting the “okay” from Centra, photographer Woody Watts, editor Shelley Basinger and three of the magazine’s Healthcare Heroes met at the helipad to give it a try. Woody fired up his drone (one of two that he owns) and worked with Shelley on finding the perfect angle.

The hard part? Woody was hoping for a partly cloudy day (a photographer’s dream!) but unfortunately there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Woody instructed the Healthcare Heroes to close their eyes in between photographs to reduce squinting… and save their eyesight.

A huge thanks to Centra, Woody and those sun-blinded Healthcare Heroes for making this shoot a reality!

Read about all 10 of this year’s Healthcare Heroes on pages 71-77.

This basic stir fry is not only delicious and quick to make, it’s also an example of a dish where the ingredients can be replaced based on preferences and what’s available. There’s no gluten or dairy—and you can substitute corn starch for another thickener (see sidebar on page 111).

The Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce (low-sodium, gluten-free)
1 cup chicken stock (easy to make from scratch)
2 tablespoons honey or sugar (or give monk fruit a try)
1 tablespoon corn starch (see more about alternative thickeners on page 111)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

The Stir Fry
2 tablespoons avocado oil (handles heat better than olive oil)
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
2 carrots, sliced
4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
1 batch of your homemade stir fry sauce Rice, spring onions and lime wedges for serving

Essential tools

Wok: A wok pan is relatively inexpensive ($15-$20) and can be found in most supermarkets or in your neighborhood Asian grocery store. The rounded shape is ideal for cooking large amounts of food quickly and the thin carbon steel gets hot fast. A regular stainless steel pan will do an acceptable job, but avoid non-stick coated pans since the high heat may result in toxic gases from the coating releasing.

Wooden spatula: Your regular plastic spatula may get damaged from the heat so look for a bamboo spatula or spoon that can tolerate some heat.

Instructions

Start by placing all the ingredients for the sauce into a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until the sauce starts to thicken and set aside. (Note: If you are using egg yolks as thickener instead of corn starch, add 3 large egg yolks to the sauce and heat slowly over medium-low heat while whisking constantly. Remove from heat and let cool.)

Prepare all the ingredients for the stir fry before turning on the burner. (Note: Since this dish cooks fairly quickly you may not have time to step away.)

Turn on your exhaust fan and start heating up your wok dry over high heat for 2-3 minutes then add the avocado oil. You will be cooking the ingredients in batches.
Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook until done, about 4 minutes depending on how hot you managed to get the pan. Set aside.

Follow the same process with the carrots, broccoli and bell pepper, separately. Once all ingredients have been cooked, mix them into the wok pan over medium heat and add the sauce.

Heat through and serve over rice with sliced spring onions and lime wedges for decoration!

Whole Food Super Smoothie

This is the perfect breakfast! It’s packed full of macro- and micro-nutrients you may have a hard time getting without taking supplements. Everything is either frozen or dry from the pantry. And just like with the stir fry, the exact ingredients can be altered based on what you have available and your personal preference. It’s gluten- and corn-free and the milk can be substituted with Kombucha, coconut water or regular tap water.

Essential Equipment

High-speed blender: Any Vitamix will do the job flawlessly. A NutriBullet or Ninja blender may struggle with whole seeds but if you buy ground seeds, those will do fine.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 banana (buy in bulk and freeze, peeled and halved)
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup frozen, wild blueberries
1 tablespoon peanut butter (or your nut butter of choice)
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt (full fat, like Fage 5%)
1/4 cup frozen spinach
1/2 cup frozen kale
1 1/2 cup whole milk (or coconut water, Kombucha and/or tap water)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Blend on half speed for 30 seconds and then on max for 90 seconds. Serve in pretty glasses—or pour into a protein shaker for an amazing on-the-go breakfast.

Seed Cracker

If you are sensitive to gluten AND corn, you probably have a hard time finding things that provide some crunch in your life. These seed crackers are delicious and are great with toppings such as cream cheese, peanut butter, fruit preserves—or just some good spreadable butter.

INGREDIENTS

7 ounces sunflower seeds, raw
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
2 tablespoons almond flour
2 tablespoons psyllium husk (thickener, available in health food stores)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, raw
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup poppy seeds, for sprinkling on top

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except the poppy seeds in a bowl and mix until combined. Let sit for 8-10 minutes to allow the psyllium husk to absorb the water. Spread out the mixture into a square shape on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle the top with poppy seeds (and some flake salt if you like). Bake for 30 minutes or until the top starts becoming golden. Break or cut into pieces and serve with a cheese tray or simply with your favorite topping.

About Thickeners

Thickeners are food products intended to help thicken up sauces, gravy, pudding, pie fillings, soup, stews and more. As the name indicates these ingredients are only included for their ability to thicken and rarely affect the taste, which means that if you are sensitive to one, there are options for substitutions. Or, in some cases, you can forego a thickener altogether.

Corn starch and white flour (wheat) are the most common thickeners and both tend to make trouble for tender tummies. The most commonly available alternatives include potato starch, tapioca starch or arrowroot starch. They all thicken in different ways, so you may want to test more than one.

However, if starch itself is something you are trying to avoid there are still options, even if they are more limited:

Psyllium husk is a plant-based, gluten-free product that is a good replacement in certain recipes and is worth experimenting with. It is especially useful in baking and sauces.

Gelatin is a protein typically derived from animals and is wonderful when making desserts that will be served chilled. It has virtually no expiration date when stored air-tight.

Egg yolks are often used as emulsifiers (binding an oil and a liquid) in French sauces, like Béarnaise, Hollandaise, or their condiment cousin, mayonnaise. But it can also work as a thickener, like when you make custard for homemade ice cream.