Strawberry Ice Cream

Anyone have a sweet tooth besides me?  If so, then you probably worry about the minute of indulgence on the lips, but later regret the lasting impact on the hips.  That's because cookies, cakes, and other desserts are usually full of sugar, fat, and preservatives that pack on the pounds.  Not to worry though, because I've found a healthier way to still enjoy one dessert that we all love like ice cream. Using frozen bananas as your base, there are a plethora of different flavor creations to make your favorite flavor like strawberries, or pecans and vanilla flavor, or cacao powder, or blueberries to name a few.  Experiment with making your own healthy ice cream and enjoy it guilt free.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients
2 frozen bananas
6-8 frozen strawberries
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 1/2 c water or almond milk

Directions
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Makes about 3 - 4 small cups

Pea, Beans and Quinoa Salad

So happy to have found this recipe from simpledailyrecipes.com.  I have come to love quinoa and I'm finding so many different ways to enjoy this supergrain!  There are recipes using quinoa for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  How cool is that?  This salad is scrumptious.  I believe its the dressing that really makes this dish come together, especially the lime.  You can enjoy it as a side dish or the main course as a salad by itself or you could toss a couple spoonful's in a tortilla wrap.  Either way, you will be fully satisfied.  Trust me!




From www.simpledailyrecipes.com

Pea, Beans and Quinoa Salad

•1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
•1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed
•1 cup cooked black eye peas, rinsed
•1 cup cooked corn off the cob
•2 green onions, chopped
•1 Serrano pepper, minced
•1/2 small red bell pepper, chopped
•1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
 
Dressing:
•4 tablespoons salad oil
•2 tablespoons lime juice
•1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
•1/2 teaspoon sugar
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
 
Toss the quinoa, beans, peas, corn, onions, peppers and cilantro together in a large bowl.
Whisk the ingredients for the dressing together in a small bowl and pour over vegetables.  Taste  test the salad for the salt and pepper to meet your liking.  Serve right away or chill and serve later cold.
 
Serves 2 for dinner or 6 as a side

Raw Superfood Balls

This recipe was shared with me from my colleague Jenni at wellnessbyjenni.com.  The recipe is pretty simple.  I used my Ninja Master prep to chop and mix the ingredients.  What makes the dessert a super-food is the use of maca and cacao powder, cacao nibs and goji berries.

The photo below is what it looks like after you've mixed all of the ingredients together in a food processor.  It's important to not over blend, but to chop and mix the ingredients using a pulse technique of mixing and stopping several times.

 



 

 

After mixing all of the ingredients, scoop a couple of tablespoons in your hand and start shaping them into golf ball sizes or a bit smaller if you prefer.  The raw super-food balls make a great finger food dessert at parties or at any gathering.  The natural sweeteners are the Medjool dates, raisins, and goji berries but this is not a super sweet dessert perhaps due to the cacao powder and cacao nibs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAW SUPERFOOD BALLS

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups raw cashews

1/2 cup raw almonds

1 1/2 cups pitted Medjool dates, packed

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup goji berries

1/4 cup raw cacao powder

1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

2 teaspoons maca powder

Preparation:

In a food processor fitted with the S-blade, place the cashews and almonds. Process until they reach a rough, powdery consistency. Don’t make nut butter out of them!

Add the dates, raisins, and goji berries. You might have to use a long spoon to mix them up with the nuts and allow them to reach the blade. Process until everything is well-combined.

Add the cacao powder, cacao nibs, and maca powder. Process again. Like before, you might have to pause a few times and use a spoon to incorporate everything evenly. Process until all ingredients are well-combined.

Roll the dough into about golfball size balls, and place them in an airtight container. Put the container in the freezer to allow the balls to firm up, about twenty minutes to an hour.

Makes around 20 balls, give or take. You should store them in the freezer, though I guarantee you won’t be storing them for long! They’re addicting little things.



Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat

Making a conscious effort to include more whole foods in your daily regimen can be quite an adventure!  I've never eaten Buckwheat in a meal before so I decided to try it.  Of course this required a bit of research first to learn about its nutritional value and to see whether it was a gluten free product or not.  Turns out that Buckwheat is not wheat at all, neither is it related to wheat although the name is slightly deceptive. Buckwheat is derived from the seeds of a flowering plant and offers phytonutrients such as flavonoids that protect against disease by extending the actions of vitamin C in the body.  It also acts as an antioxidant against free-radicals. This is good news especially during the cold and flu season.

There is something about adding fennel seeds to this soup that gave it a flavor I had not quite come across before.  You'll love the mixture of flavors. Overall, this soup is really good!  I had to stop myself after the second bowl.

Vegetable Soup with Buckwheat

Ingredients
4 - 6 cups of chicken stock (or chicken broth)
3 celery stalks (diced)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup bell pepper (green, red, or yellow)
1 cup carrots (diced)
1 cup buckwheat
2 cups Kale (chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp kosher sea salt
Fresh oregano

Directions
Add the chicken stock to a large stock pot and heat until it begins to boil. Turn heat to medium and add the remaining ingredients. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend together.

Strawberry Citrus Drink

Decided to sit on my front porch and enjoy the nice weather on Veterans Day while I reminisce over how wonderful it is to live in America.  I appreciate our armed forces - past, present, and future - who allow us to enjoy the freedoms that we all enjoy.  For me, just a peaceful day of listening to the birds chirping and the bees buzzing, feeling the wind blowing, while viewing all the beauty that God created.  Happy Veterans Day!

Strawberry Citrus Drink

Ingredients

1 whole lemon - peeled and seeded

1/2 sweet red grapefruit - peeled and seeded

1 whole Satsuma or tangerine - peeled and seeded

1 cup Strawberries (frozen or fresh)

1 1/2 c cold water

2 tbsp of agave nectar

Directions

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Note:  Could easily turn this into a margarita!

 

Embracing Life - Come what May!



The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, and to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.~ Eleanor Roosevelt

​Who doesn't like an outdoor celebration such as a dinner party or wedding reception?  Careful attention is taken to select the guest list, color scheme, table setting, music, and food to pull the whole event together.  I especially like the uniqueness of style filled with personality - a little whimsical even and people reconnecting with old friends and relatives.  Laughter, good conversation, and good food set the tone for creating memories that we enjoy as past times.

 

It's moments like these that remind us to take time to enjoy life and stop sweating the small stuff!  Enjoy the beauty of flowers blooming, the smell of rain, the laughter of children, and the love and affection of aged couples holding hands. Breathe! Take it all in and settle in your mind that Life is about experiences.  Whether we encounter difficult moments or pleasant ones, both are needed to shape the person we are becoming.

 

I'm reminded of a story of a little girl who was given a life lesson by her father.  Her father placed 3 pots filled with water on the stove.  In the first pot he placed a carrot.  In the second pot an egg, and the third ground coffee beans.  He let them sit and boil without saying a word.  In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.  Turning to his daughter, he asked, "Tell me what do you see?"  "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. 

Photo from Ainul Farina

Her father asked her to take a closer look. after which she asked what it all meant.  Her father explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity—boiling water—but each reacted differently.

 

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened as well. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. By being in the boiling water they changed the water making a good cup of coffee. "Which are you?" he asked his daughter. 

 

Encouragement: Never Give Up!  Dream big, Work smart, Love hard, and Forgive often.  Remember . . . Life is 20% what happens to you and 80% how you respond to it. 

Hummus Veggie Sandwich

Today is my eighteenth day tryout of the Vegan Diet.  So far it agrees with me!  I have more energy, my sinuses are clearer, and my joints do not hurt as much.  Not to say that I will never eat meat again, but for now I'm loving it!  Here's a delicious sandwich that is sure to satisfy your taste buds.  I love the simplicity of eating healthy.  Don't you?

Ingredients:

Wheat bread, Hummus, Cilantro paste, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Romaine lettuce, parsley, & yellow bell pepper.

Which is the Healthier Cracker?

Choosing a nutritious healthy cracker can be difficult these days.  Grocery stores carry many different brands and types of crackers and all of them claim to be healthy.  However, they carry preservatives and other chemicals that do not contribute to good nutrition.  I chose these three types of crackers because they appealed to my eye as nutritious.  And although I read the label for calories and ingredients I didn't have knowledge about the ingredient "TBHQ for freshness" and simply passed over it and made the purchase.

Nutrition wise, all three are around 70 calories, 2.5g fat, 11 total carbohydrates, and 1g protein.  The sodium level of the Multi-grain Crisps is a bit less at 110mg compared to 140mg for the other two and TBHQ free.   

Let's talk about the ingredient Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ as it is more commonly referred to as.  TBHQ is a synthetic antioxidant that is used to extend the shelf life of oily and fatty foods such as crackers and fast foods (e.g. fish fillet, hash browns and chicken nuggets.) It is also found in certain brands of pet foods, as well as in cosmetic and baby skincare products, varnish, lacquers and resins. Some of the concerns about TBHQ is its relationship to butane, a component of lighter fluid, and its link to other health problems such as cancerous precursors in the stomach, as well as causing DNA damage. 

When reading the label of foods, avoid ingredients such as: Propyl gallate, Octyl gallate, Dodecyl gallate,  tert-Butylhydroquinone-tBHQ,  Butylated hydroxyanisole-BHA, and  Butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT which are considered as harmful antioxidants. 

Safer alternatives are perhaps those including Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), Sodium ascorbate, Calcium ascorbate, Potassium ascorbate, Ascorbyl palmitate, and Mixed tocopherols (vitamin E) like  dl-a-Tocopherol, g-Tocopherol, d-Tocopherol.

So which is perhaps the safer cracker, I believe its the Multi-grain Crisps.  It includes more beneficial ingredients like quinoa, flax seeds, and brown rice and is gluten, wheat and milk free.  The Omega-3 in the flax seeds also gives it that added punch of nutrition!

Green Smoothie

Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

 

2 celery stalks
1/2 cucumber (peeled)
1 c Kale leaves
1 small green apple
1/2 lime (peeled)
1 tbsp. Coconut oil
1 c pineapples
1 1/2 c almond milk

 

 

Directions:

 

Puree in a blender until smooth.