Posts Tagged ‘Randi Ragan’

posted by | on parenting, tv | No comments

My client, Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert Randi Ragan, was a guest on KABC to share 5 Tips to Teach Kids About Going Green. Randi is the founder/Owner of GreenBliss EcoSpa, LA’s ONLY Award-winning eco-friendly mobile spa.

Here is the clip and transcript.

As you prepare your children for the new school year, maybe it’s time to try something new, like “going green.”

We met up with green living expert Randi Ragan, who gave us five tips to get you started. First, try to create “zero trash” lunches, which means using a lot of reusable or re-washable containers.

“Zero waste lunch is about figuring out how to pack your kids lunch to school without creating trash at the end of it,” said Ragan.

Stackable tins are a great “green-friendly” choice. But those thin, plastic sandwich bags are hard to replace. Instead, try washable sandwich bags kids can use every day. Also, lose the plastic silverware, choose metal or branch out with bamboo chopsticks.

Next up, lose the batteries. Ragan said 14 billion batteries are thrown away into landfills every year in America.

“So anytime you can help them find a way to play and be creative without a battery, it’s a win,” said Regan.

Powering off those games might be tough, but arts and crafts will send their imagination soaring. Or try to create a fun project, like documenting the ecosystem in their backyard.

Ragan also stresses the importance of getting your children involved in the ecosystem around them. By observing the plants, animals and insects, they can get an appreciation of the environment.

5 eco-friendly tips for kids

Start an organic garden. You’ll end up with great homegrown food and the opportunity to teach your children about how plants grow.

Finally, pay attention to ingredients and read the labels on food and beauty products.

“It gets you thinking about what is going on your skin, and what is going in your body,” said Ragan. “It’s mostly about teaching them to just engage and not pushing it so much, but just actively nurturing their curiosity.”

 

 

 

posted by | on health | No comments

My client, Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert, Randi Ragan recently posted these great vegan recipes for football season on her blog.  Randi is the owner/founder of GreenBliss EcoSpa, LA’s award-winning and ONLY eco-friendly mobile spa.

Never thought you’d see those “vegan” and “football” side by side, did ya? Well, neither did I until I wrote them. But I’ve been thinking alot lately about autumn rituals (see previous posts). I grew up in Texas, where football is the ultimate fall ritual, and tv – watching parties are abundant and plentiful excuses for socializing and eating. Something about the cool crisp air of an autumn afternoon sliding into evening brings up these memories for me. Even though I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 20 years now and haven’t watched a football game in almost as long, the urge to snack and hang with friends has never left me. Only now I seek out healthier food, and look for things to make from scratch that are easy, tasty, and will fly in a room full of picky eaters (re: children, adults with suspicions of anything “vegan” in the title). Here are a few delicious recipes to fulfill your own snacking urges and make bountiful use of fall fruits and veggies in the markets now. Go team!

Cheezy Kale Chips
I’d fallen in love with the commercial varieties of these unfortunately expensive grocery store snacks. My motivation in creating this recipe was to see if I could replicate them easily and save, like, $8 a pop.  Done.

Ingredients:
1 cup of raw cashews
½ large red bell pepper, seeded
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp. salt
1/2  – 3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (or to taste)
¼ c. water
1 large bunch of curly kale

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Blend/puree everything except the kale in a food processor.   Drizzle water after the initial ¼ cup, as needed, to make the mixture have a consistency like a creamy tomato soup.
Wash the kale and tear the leaves into half dollar sized pieces. Place in a large bowl.
Pour cashew/red pepper mixture over the kale and toss with your hands until the kale is well coated on both sides.

Cover two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease lightly with olive or other oil, such as grapeseed or canola.

Arrange the kale on the cookie sheets so that none of the leaves are overlapping.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes, then use a spatula to flip over and re-arrange the bigger pieces that are still wet.
The idea is to slowly dry out the kale without burning it. This might take 30 minutes. Be patient!
Keep flipping the bigger pieces with the spatula until all of them are dried out and crispy to the touch.
Store in an airtight container.

Cheezy Cashew Dip
When I first started seeking out and experimenting with raw and vegan recipes, I was stunned by the ability of cashews to mimic cheese.  I soon discovered they are ubiquitous in this world. They can stand in for cream cheese in a cheesecake, for ricotta in a lasagna, for parmesan in a pesto. Genius!

Ingredients:
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 4 oz pimentos
• 3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unflavored non-dairy beverage ”milk”  (rice, soy, almond are best choices)
• 1 tsp mild miso soybean paste
• 1 tsp dry mustard

Directions:
Grind your cashews in a coffee grinder first into a nice powder. Then dump them and every else into a food processor and blend into a creamy bright orange. Serve with your favorite dip chip, apple slice, or veggie stick. This cheeze dip will fool even the most die-hard dairy-lover.

Muhamarra Spread
This is a quick and easy version of the traditional Middle-Eastern classic. Sometimes it’s made with pomegranate seeds and or syrup, but I like this version which is less rich and more spicy. You can roast your red peppers yourself, but that adds a time factor that not many of us want to incur. We’d rather spend it chowing down, wouldn’t we?

Ingredients:
1 7-8 oz. jar fire roasted red peppers
½ cup walnuts, toasted
½ cup hulled hemp seeds
2/3 cup cracker/bread crumbs (I pulsed some almond crackers in the food processor so this recipe would be gluten-free, but use whatever kind of cracker you prefer)
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp sriracha or other hot sauce (optional)
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
2 tbsp oil (I used grapeseed, but extra virgin olive oil would be fab)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Toast walnuts in a dry skillet on low heat on the stove. This should take about 5 minutes. Take care not to burn!
Place all ingredients, except the peppers, into a food processor. Pulse just a few times to break up the nuts a bit.
Drain the peppers, saving the juice or brine in the jar. Add the peppers to the nut and seed mixture in the food processor. Flip it to high until the mixture starts to form a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides once or twice with a spatula. Add the 2 tbsp oil, or 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp of the leftover pepper juice, and season with salt and pepper to your liking.
Pulse a few times to combine.   The texture should be like a thick, but spreadable peanut butter;  add pepper juice or oil to get to this consistency.
Serve with flatbreads, veggie sticks, crackers, on as a spread on sandwiches.

posted by | on beauty, print media | No comments

The Oatmeal RX is the title of a feature story in the October issue of Breathe magazine by Colleen Oakley.

Here’s the story which features my client Randi Ragan, the founder/owner of GreenBliss EcoSpa and a Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert.

It isn’t just the perfect fall morning treat – oatmeal is the latest skincare ingredient to boost your beauty factor.

There’s nothing like a warm bowl of oatmeal on a chilly autumn morning to fill you up and keep you going all day long. But it’s not just for breakfast anymore-applied topically, it can be the perfect treat for your skin too.

“Oats have long been used for enhancing the quality of skin” says Randi Ragan, holistic lifestyle expert and owner of the GreenBliss EcoSpa in L.A. “They are chock-full of phytonutirents and antioxidants, which help keep you glowing and youthful.”

Oatmeal is also high in zinc, she says, which helps the healing process of the body and skin, so oatmeal is a great ingredient for treating acne, as well as itchy skin rashes like poison ivy.”

And ground up, the texture of oatmeal becomes a great exfoliator.

DO IT YOURSELF APPLE EXFOLIATING MASK

Skip the beauty counter and make your own oatmeal skin treatment with this recipe from Randi Ragan. This dual-action scrub rids the skin of dead cells and the apple juice tightens and tones. Honey has natural anti-micobial properties and works with the oatmeal to calm inflamed skin.

How to: Mash Oats, cornmeal and honey into a thick paste with fork. Combine with apple  pieces in a food processor or blender until smooth. Apply in a circular motion on face and then let sit for 20 minutes. rinse with warm water.

2 tbsp. Rolled Oats
1 1/2 tsp. Cornmeal
1 tbsp. Honey (any sticky syrup will work)
1/2 Apple peeled and cut into chunks

posted by | on beauty, fitness, health, print media | No comments

Go pick up a copy of September’s Organic Spa Magazine and turn to page 48 for Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert Randi Ragan’s 5 Fit Ways To Lean Green.  Or just click here.

posted by | on beauty, health, print media | No comments

Pick up a copy of September’s Whole Living and turn to page 38 for some great DIY beauty tips from Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert Randi Ragan (www.greenblissecospa.com). Whole Living features her honeydew melon facial scrub filled with vitamin C – a vital antioxidant for skin-tissue repair.