Sweet & Savory Life: Simple Flavor-Filled, Plant-Based Recipes to Nourish Mind, Body, & Spirit

By Yecenia Currie

Live in the balance of the sweet and the savory with 40 mouth-watering, plant-based recipes for everyday life... to feed your temple the nourishment it craves!

Sweet & Savory Life is an enlightening, plant-based cookbook filled with incredibly delicious recipes to nourish your body, mind, and spirit!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890412232

Yecenia Currie

YECENIA CURRIE has followed a plant-based diet for over 13 years. Her heart for healthy living is modeled by her commitment to honoring her temple and treating it with the utmost care and reverence in order to live a full, vibrant, Sweet & Savory Life!Yecenia successfully completed a holistic nutrition and culinary training to further her knowledge and incorporate the healing benefits of conscious cooking. In 2014 she became a certified yoga instructor to deepen her daily practice and help support others on their mind-body wellness journey.She and her husband, Roger, have traveled to over 45 countries to date, and she notes that her travels have inspired many of her creations in the kitchen.Yecenia is from Upstate New York and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Sweet & Savory Life is her first cookbook.

Book preview

9798890412225_FrontCover.jpg

Sweet &

Savory Life

Simple, Flavor-Filled, Plant-Based Recipes

to Nourish Mind, Body, & Spirit

YECENIA CURRIE

Trilogy Christian Publishing logo

Sweet & Savory Life

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2024 by Yecenia Currie

All photos by Yecenia Currie

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 979-8-89041-222-5

ISBN 979-8-89041-223-2 (ebook)

Dedication

To my husband, Roger, for always being my greatest champion and support. For always believing in me even when I doubt myself. And for carrying out the very difficult task of being the official taste tester for all my recipes!

I love you deeply… Here’s to our continued growth and evolution in all areas of life!

To our children, Sean and Jadeyn, for being such brave and adventurous eaters and always noticing the more subtle, nuanced flavors in my creations over the years. I hope you’ll cherish and continue this legacy of healthy living with your own families in the future!

Lord, let me be a vessel for healthy & delicious living!

— Yecenia

Preface

I wanted to write a cookbook I’d actually want to read. After disappointedly reading through many vegan cookbooks over the years, my mission was to create one that focused on nourishing the whole self—body, mind, and spirit—with delicious recipes full of nutrition and flavor.

I wanted this cookbook to feel more like you have your own culinary spirit guide, intuitively ushering you through each page with care—an unconventional, engaging read with an enlightening twist… and yummy recipes, of course!

It’s a collection of self-curated recipes straight from my kitchen, paired with vibrant, mouth-watering pictures of recipes you’ll be excited to make.

This book will not bore you with complicated cooking methods or confusing recipes with endless ingredient lists and hours of meticulous kitchen prep.

My intention is to share a simple, accessible, and yummy compilation of recipes that ignite passion, encourage spontaneity, engage the senses, and inspire creativity in the kitchen!

You’re pumped now, aren’t you? You should be!

That’s how you should feel every time you step into your kitchen… unless, of course, you’re washing a sink full of dishes!

I chose recipes that I feel embody everything I believe a good meal should be:

Healthy

Nourishing

Unfussy

Satiating

Colorful

Flavorful

Visually Appealing

Real. Whole. Food

And, in some cases, make you do a little dance!

Who This Book Is For:

This book is for all the foodies out there who are looking to shake things up in their kitchens and their lives!

Whether you’re bored and uninspired, whether your cooking style is elaborate or non-existent (where are my professional water boilers!), this book is for you and all of us in between!

May this book inspire you to create nourishing, delicious alchemical magic in your kitchen!

But First…

A little about me and how my wellness journey began.

Introduction

I started on this plant-based journey in March of 2010—back when soy and almond milk were still relatively new to grocery store shelves, and the only vegan-friendly part of the store was the produce section.

We were a family of four and parents of a 7 and 9-year-old.

During this particular season in my life, I had come to a bit of a crossroads. I was in the middle of watching an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show about this whole vegan diet thing, and I had a come-to-Jesus moment! I instinctively knew in that moment—this was for me.

I was tired of feeling sluggish and just crappy in my body as a whole. I was ready for radical change. I knew I needed to do something different, and I knew that changing my diet was at the center of it all.

The reasons behind why people decide to go vegan or vegetarian vary from person to person. My decision was based on my desire to improve my health and overall well-being. I wasn’t interested in being the nutritionally void, highly processed, junk-food-eating type of vegan. I was after that real whole food, grown-from-the-ground, fruit and veggie-eating inner glow.

I started pursuing alternative ways to stay active that didn’t involve going to the gym (ellipticals and treadmills just weren’t my thing), and I stumbled upon and fell in love with practicing hot yoga. It was the only form of exercise I felt complemented my recent lifestyle shift and really served and benefited my entire self. And almost 14 years later, it’s been a regular part of my daily routine ever since!

Ultimately, I wanted to be an example to my kids.

I wanted healthy eating and living to be one of the legacies I left to my children.

In the beginning, there was a lot of trial and error when it came down to How do we do this? What do we eat? What do I make for dinner or the kids’ school lunches?!

Being vegan then wasn’t as popular or trendy as it is nowadays, especially in the small Southwest Florida city we were living in. And don’t even get me started on trying to navigate and troubleshoot restaurants, holidays, and family gatherings!

But we learned to take it one day at a time and not bite off more than we could chew (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun).

My husband was such an incredible support in this transition. He took on this whole monumental dietary shift thing like it was no big deal.

When I offered to make separate meals so I wasn’t imposing this abrupt change on him and the kids, he quickly declined, reminding me that we’re "all in this together."

When I said we could take it slow and gradually ease ourselves into this, he declined again, saying, We go hard or go home… It’s all or nothing! (he’d just come home from the gym and was still on that after-workout high).

Words can’t describe how grateful I am to always have his steadfast, unwavering support—in this and