How Smoothies Rock Your Health (and a yummy recipe)

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Remember when Donkey in the animated movie “Shrek” says: “You know what ELSE everybody likes? Parfaits! Have you ever met a person, you say, let's get some parfait, they say, Hell no, I don't like no parfait. Parfaits are delicious!” This is how I feel about smoothies. In addition to being just plain delicious, smoothies are pretty much the best-tasting and most nutritious on-the-go meal known to man. 

Here are the main reasons why smoothies are so amazing for your health. 

Smoothies:

• Are chock full of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals
• Are easier for your body to digest, which means optimal nutrient assimilation (they get where they need to go in your body quickly)
• Stabilize blood sugar (especially smoothies with a healthy fat in them, as fat is key for blood sugar stabilization)
• Are a fabulous way to consume a variety of different fruits or vegetables at one time
• Are terrific for cleansing the body of toxicity
• Are an easy way to add more fiber to your diet for optimal bowel function

In addition, blending your food provides even more benefits.

• The health of your body depends on your digestion. When you blend your foods, you are supporting the digestion process by doing much of the work. Your body does not have to work so hard to break down the nutrients.
• Did you know that 80% of your energy is spent digesting and assimilating your nutrients? Less work for your body means more energy for you.
• Instead of having to prepare and eat cup after cup of healthy greens or fruits, they are packed into one nutrient-dense smoothie. 
• Smoothies can also be a good way to get picky kids to “eat” their fruit and veggies without even knowing it.
• By adding greens such as spinach, kale, collards, etc. to your smoothie, you can take all these benefits to the next level.  Need to try it yourself to believe me?  Here is a great recipe to get you started.

Here’s a great recipe from my Fall Detox Program:

Make this and other smoothies in advance, drink them anytime of day or take them on the-go. 

Healthy Vegan Granola

This is my go to recipe for super easy granola. I love me some granola but the store bought ones can be VERY high in refined sugar. What I love about this recipe is that it is sweetened with dates and banana! It's easy to customize as well.  You can add any nuts, cacao nibs, dried fruit, coconut flakes etc

Healthy Vegan Granola

Ingredients:
2 cups oats (gluten free if you prefer)

1 cup chopped up dates

1/2 cup water

1 banana

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mix ins (I used unsweetened coconut and sunflower seeds in this batch)

Preheat oven to 275F.

Add the oats and mix ins to a bowl and set aside. In a small pot, add the dates and water and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for 10min then pour it into a blender along with the banana and vanilla extract. Blend it until smooth. Add this mixture to your bowl of oats and stir. Pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet, spreading it out. 

Cook for 40 min, stirring it half way. 

Let it cool on the sheet completely before transferring it to a storage container.

Recipe: Strawberry Watermelon "Nice Cream" Two Ways

Have you heard of "nice cream"? It's basically ice cream made from frozen bananas. It's a serious life changer! I discovered it a few years ago and as a major ice cream lover, I was thrilled to have a healthy alternative! Not to say I don't still enjoy (vegan) ice cream now and then but this is a nice way to find a healthy balance.  

So really all you need is a high powered blender or food processor and frozen bananas. Then you can add whatever you want! I try to always have some cut up frozen bananas in the freezer.  Today's recipe also calls for frozen strawberries and frozen watermelon. Bananas give it the creamy texture you're looking for and of course are naturally sweet! Try to use bananas that have brown spots because that it when they are most nutritious (and taste sweeter).

Strawberry Watermelon "Nice Cream"(2 servings)

Ingredients:
2 frozen sliced bananas

1 cup frozen watermelon

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (or any liquid of choice)

Combine all ingredients in your blender or food processor. It helps to add the bananas and liquid first and then pile the other stuff on top! I use my Vitamix and simply keep pushing the mixture down so that it all gets blended. 

Two serving options! 

1. Smoothie bowl:  Immediately scoop the mixture into a bowl and top with whatever you like! It's like soft serve ice cream. I like to top it with lots of superfoods and eat it for breakast!

2. Sorbet/Ice cream:  Pour the mixture into a container and stick it in your freezer for 3-4 hours. It will harden enough that you can use an ice cream scoop with it! 

More "nice cream" recipes:

Raspberry Cashew

Peanut Butter

Chocolate Hazelnut

Cookies n Cream

Pecan

Pumpkin Pie

and many more on Pinterest!

In My Belly

These pics are actually all from this week (since Saturday, I think). Obviously it's not everything I ate but y'know, some of it!

I'm officially obsessed with cacao. I'm a huge dark chocolate fan but hadn't given cacao a real try until recently. Today I got some cacao powder as well so I'm eager to try that! The health benefits are obviously better since cocoa is a processed (which strips nutrients) version of cacao. Have you guys tried it?? It's more bitter but when paired with something sweet, it's so perfect!

Toast with almond butter and homemade fig plum jam. To make the jam I just heated up some plums, figs, water and chia seeds and mashed it all together. haha

Lots of oatmeal this week. To get it thick like this, put it in a food processor/blender and give it a few pulses. Topped with nuts, almond butter, coconut cream, cacao nibs and mulberries.

Orange/ginger/carrot juice and kale chips. My husband is not a fan of kale chips but my dog loves them. haha

Raspberry banana smoothie topped with cacao nibs.

Fresh green juice.

Buddha bowl with quinoa, wild rice lentil mix, sauerkraut, seitan, bell peppers, squash, kale, seaweed, zucchini and homemade ranch. Mmm.

Healthy goji cacao cookies! Of course, I can't remember what recipe I used. Grr. 

Oatmeal with chai seeds, mulberries, figs and raspberries. Coffee with coconut cream (canned coconut milk + Stevia) and cinnamon.  So good.

I gave these veggie burger a try after reading the ingredients list and being impressed! They do have a very "earthy" taste and I preferred them in a salad but they are good! There are lots of other flavours to try. 

Frozen mangoes and frozen bananas topped with unsweetened coconut.

Kale salad with the green hemp veggie patty.

I've been sampling the Aloha packs and really loving them! I will have a review up eventually. You can buy them here.

I actually made this two days in a row. hehe The hummus is just chickpeas, garlic, tahini, hot sauce and a splash of water. Oh and I was watching Ted Talks Chew on Netflix!

In My Belly

I cooked with jackfruit for the first time this week! Oh boy! It makes for some great meat substitutes like pulled pork and tuna salad. Have you tried it? I got mine from Vegan Essentials. It's so fun trying new foods. I'd had jackfruit as a tuna melt sandwich when I was in Sacramento a few months ago and kept hearing about it as a meat alternative so I was happy to finally try it! I already went through my two cans!

Summer weather is definitely here. It hasn't been crazy hot lately, only around 80f but humid! Humid for us anyway. At dinner I don't mind having a hot meal but the rest of the time I've definitely been leaning towards cooling foods. Most of the pics below are dinner or breakfast haha Lunch is often a smoothie and later I'll have leftovers, a salad or a snack like veggies and hummus.

Jackfruit tuna sandwich. Similar to this recipe.

Have you tried these? Husband and I tried these ones as well as the sweet potato ones and really enjoyed both. You can find them at Target!

Husband and I got together with some family for a BBQ. I brought watermelon and veggie burgers. His aunt made the salad and put the cheese on the side for us. I so appreciate when people make that effort!

Pulled "pork" jackfruit! I totally cheated and bought a pulled pork sauce from Target haha I cooked up some onions and garlic then added the jackfruit and sauce. I baked it all to get it a little crispier.

So, the other day we were low on groceries and I was feeling pretty uninspired by my breakfast options so I decided to pull out a very old box of Cream of Wheat haha It's not a particularly healthy dish but it sure brought me back to my childhood.

Homemade granola. A really simple way to make it is just to combine dates, banana and spices in your blender or food mixer. Then add that to your oats and other dry ingredients. It sweetens it and helps it stick together! It helps to cook the dates in a bit of water first. You can add the date water to the mix as well.

Bowls like these are a common ocurrance in this house hold. They're just so easy and you can add a lot of nutrients. I do a grain, protein, seaweed, sauerkraut, veggies and sauce.

CSA delivery! I added on the oranges.

TVP chili. Recipe here. Next time I'll do less TVP and more meat. It was good though! I topped it with unsweetened plain coconut yogurt which is a great replacement for sour cream. I know there are vegan sour creams but this is just healthier. I grew up using yogurt instead of sour cream so it feels normal to me :P

Tofu scramble (the only way I really cook tofu these days, I've noticed), toast with hummus and homemade hashbrowns.

I'm still  loving smoothie bowls for breakfast. I think this was frozen banana and pineapple, maca powder and matcha green tea powder.

Another bowl! This one has some seitan in it. I'm loving seitan and tempeh lately.

A very green smoothie bowl! I probably added spinach to it.

CSA last week. I added on the blueberries. I should have gotten more! 

In My Belly

Cashew butter ice cream with carob chips. Adapted from this recipe.

BLTA and gingerale at Veggie Grill. SO good.

Tasters at Iron Fist Brewery 

Party food. I made the guac, pico and burritos (which are filled with yams, vegan sausage and yams)

Fresh juice and school work

Salad with a homemade cashew dressing

Berry nana ice cream. Just frozen berries blended with frozen banana!

Pool side. Bottoms are Victoria's Secret.

Green smoothie bowls are a favourite of mine

Buckwheat pancakes

Acai bowl

Simple Greek salad topped with hemp seeds

Oatmeal bowl with goji berries

Banana shortbread cookies. Like these but without the nuts.

Coconut crusted tofu and sriracha sauce.

Mango nana ice cream

Hummus salad

Spelt pancakes

4 oranges, 3 carrots, 1" ginger

Almond milk oatmeal bowl