My friend Rachel Bolden-Kramer is many things: kickass yoga instructor, amazing single mother, full spectrum doula and now, author! Rachel's daughter Issa is a bit younger than Mia, and the first time we met we instantly bonded over breastfeeding and hand-me-downs. One of the vibes I immediately got from her was a really strong desire work in communities helping mothers of all backgrounds get the support they need to raise happy and healthy kids.
Rachel has taken that committment to the next level with the upcoming release of her first project, "My Food Stamps Cookbook," and I am super excited to spread the word about it! No matter what your income, most people want to feed their families well, but it can be hard know what to buy, how much it should cost, and what you can do with it when you get home! So Rachel's book is out to demystify healthy eating, with a focus on communities that use food stamps and other assistance to meet their needs.
Rachel's journey to creating this resource came out of necessity—she's a Harvard grad who found herself unable to make ends meet during a rough period, and turned to food stamps to close the gap.
"I needed energy to try to push through the challenging financial time while recovering from a traumatic experience so the greasy cheap meals that get marketed to folk in the hood was NOT gonna work," she said. "I decided to learn everything I could about eating to heal and have maximum energy so I can do what looked impossible."
The result is this cookbook and a Kickstarter campaign running through May 26, 2016. Her $25,000 goal will allow her to print the book AND host a series of workshops to teach the recipes and methods in the book. The entire project is family focused (check out her daughter Issa with the veggie peeler! She's a pro! :) I'm excited to support this effort and hope you will too! The book will be available in October 2017, just in time for holiday gift giving! You can follow Rachel around the web at @babymommarachel on Instagram and Twitter