Hi, I’m Serena, and I’m a health coach and recipe creator, based in Austin, Texas.

My goal is to create healthy, easy, fun recipes that anyone can make! If you love cooking, have a taste for the adventurous side in food and want to fuel your body with optimal nutrition, you’ve come to the right place!

The creation of Serene Earth was born from the idea that living a healthy lifestyle should be fun, easy, and accessible to all. Food is not your enemy and eating healthy should neither be boring or fill you with dread. Most of us are blessed to live in areas with access to all sorts of food, but it’s up to us to choose what we want to put into our body.

As far back as I can remember, I have always loved cooking and experimenting with foods. I truly enjoy creating recipes and serving it to my friends and family for them to try. When a recipe turns out great and everyone enjoys it, that is the ultimate feeling of enjoyment for me!

Growing up in Brazil, I was lucky to be surrounded by fresh, healthy food. We would pick fruit off the trees, and get meat from the nearby farm. Of course, this is not typical for everyone. When I moved to the USA I realized that food is very different and you have to be careful where you get it from and how you prepare it. Buying the cheapest meat from Walmart may be economical for your wallet, but close to poison for your body. It took me years, but I learned how to make smart choices with food, and not be afraid to spend extra money on something that I use to fuel my body.

As with most women in their 20s, I lived a life of yo-yo dieting, fad diets and extreme “cleanses”. As I got older, I realized I needed to stop the endless dieting cycles, and find a more sustainable way to eat.

I went fully raw vegan for 2 years, starting in 2013. While this did not last, it helped to detox my body, reset my shot digestive system and gut. I then introduced cooked foods back into my diet and now eat small portions of organic, grass-fed meat on a weekly. I eat a primarily plant-based diet, with portions of wild-caught fish and organic, grass-fed beef. At the moment, I’m loving my diet and feel stronger and better than over.

The best part about eating healthy is that there is no reason for calorie counting or restriction, no need to treat carbs like the enemy, and no reason to be afraid of healthy fats! I eat avocados daily, snack on nuts, drink coffee with MCT oil, eat meat and veggies until I’m full, and I’ve never felt better.

The recipes on this blog are a reflection of what I eat on a day to day basis. These recipes are realistic and easy, all created after a busy day working a full-time office job. Best of all, these recipes are interchangeable. There is no rule on when you should eat any of these foods, nor how much. I eat till I’m full, not until I’ve reached my calorie count for the day. If I want, I will eat my homemade banana or coconut-based ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I want spaghetti all day, I’ll pack it full of vegetables and make it healthy, gluten-free and delicious.

Even better is that I feel GREAT after every meal. I don’t need a nap because my body is exhausted from trying to digest heavy, fattening, processed sugar and dairy products. In the morning I can get up and go, at night I can lay down and fall right to sleep without the addition of sleep aids. The food I’m putting in my body is plant-based whole foods with the right type of fat, high in vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that keep me fueled and feeling great all day. That’s it! It really is that simple!

While most of my recipes are plant-based, I also specialize in gluten-free and sugar-free recipes, with an entire section dedicated to easy meat recipes as well.

A couple of things to know for this blog:

1)      I rarely follow exact recipes. The things I create are done simply by throwing ingredients together, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. And…it usually comes out great! Obviously, this comes from years of trial and error. After 20+ years of cooking, you tend to figure out how much a tablespoon is or 1/3 of a cup is without actually using a measuring cup. This is also why some of my recipes will say “about 1 cup” or, “a handful” or “2-3 tbsp”. The amounts I have are the recommended amounts, you can always revise to your liking.

2)      If you want little or no cooking, check out my Raw Vegan section. The one thing that always had me procrastinating about whether to cook meals for myself or not, is that I know my apartment will smell like onion, fish, or garlic for hours or days after. This has always been a large deterrent for me in the cooking department. The good thing about eating a raw vegan meal is that there is no cooking involved. I highly suggest you try some recipes and see what you think!

3)      I have a few recipes on here that I’ve altered from other websites, but I still give credit to those recipes. I also post original recipes from others that I tried, loved, and wanted to share with you all, linked to the original creators. If you intend to use any recipes on this blog for your own websites, remember to give credit to the author! This is very important for all aspects of life. No one likes to be a victim of plagiarism.

So, now that you know a little about the blog, read on and enjoy! Comment, share, and let me know your thoughts!

Enjoy!