Posts filed under 'recipes'
Healthy Hot Chocolate!
Love Hot chocolate? Me too! What I didn’t like was all the junk that is added to instant hot chocolate.
For example here are the list of ingredients for Nestle’ Instant Hot Cocoa Mix -
- 1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder with 70% or more cacao.
- 1 packet of Stevia powder (or 1/4 tsp. liquid)
- 1 cup of raw milk (Click here to learn more about the benefits of raw milk)
- For special times – add a dollop of whip cream (Natural by Nature uses organic cream and only 1 gram of sugar from cane sugar with no hydrogenated oils)
Add comment November 30, 2008
Don’t Give Up Your Chocolate! Try this Healthy Version…
Dark Chocolate Goji Berries!
I found these in my local co-op from a company called Extreme Health USA.
A couple of days a week I get an urge for chocolate. So instead of giving it up, I’ve changed what kind of chocolate I’ll eat.
For the most part, I will only eat organic dark chocolate because of the increased antioxidant properties with less of the unhealthy part – namely sugar. These use organic evaporated cane juice instead of the refined white sugar found in most chocolate.
I love these bite size chocolate covered berries because of their taste – but check out the health benefits:
|
COMPARE
Antioxidant Levels |
|
|
FOOD
|
ORAC Units*
|
|
Goji Berry
|
25,100
|
|
Prunes
|
5,700
|
|
Raisins
|
2,830
|
|
Spinach
|
1,260
|
|
Brussel Sprouts
|
980
|
|
Broccoli
|
890
|
|
Oranges
|
750
|
|
Cherries
|
670
|
|
* ORAC units (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity Scale) is a measure of the ability of antioxidants to absorb oxygen “free radicals”; 3000 units is considered an industry standard for health.
Extreme Health’s Goji Berry is 25,100 units. |
|
So if you get that chocolate craving- give these a try! They also come in other flavors like Cappuccino, milk chocolate, and pomegranate yogurt.
To Your Health!
2 comments October 13, 2008
Chunky Black Bean Vegetable Dip
A friend shared a version of this recipe with me years ago.
Along with some organic blue corn chips, my daughter and I love it! And it is a great way to get more raw veggies into our diet!
I don’t measure – just eye what looks good while chopping.
The ingredients are in the order what we use from most to the least. The flavors and textures of fresh veggies is enough for my taste buds, but if you like spice add something else you enjoy- such as chilies.
Using organic produce is best – especially with the red pepper.
Combine:
*Tomato
*Red Pepper
*Yellow Pepper
*Cucumber
*Avocado
*Green Pepper
*Red Onion
Chop and combine in a bowl.
Squeeze a lime over it and stir to coat.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in the desired amount of black beans (1/2 a can for a smaller batch, whole can for a larger batch)
(It is best when served fresh or after being refrigerated for about 4 hours. After 24 hrs, the avocado begins to turn and the vegetables become very soft.)
Because of the mildness – children will love it too!
Enjoy!
Add comment March 9, 2008
How Did I Get My 11-yr-old Daughter to Eat Raw Cabbage and Like it?
By using a recipe I just learned from my to-be-mother-in-law, called ’salad.’ Luisa was visiting from Ecuador and made her infamous ’salad’ that my other half grew up on. Always trying to find new ways to get different vegetable in, I watched her and gave it a whirl myself.
My 11-yr-old daughter not only ate it but she loved it and wanted more. She prefers it over traditional salad. It is pretty quick and relatively easy…
All you need is:
- head of cabbage
- a tomato or two
- olive oil
- lemons or lemon juice
- garlic
- salt & pepper
- fresh cilantro
Of course, I used all Organic Ingredients.
I did not measure anything, just what looked good.
1/2 of the cabbage shredded is more than enough for a family of four. A diced tomato.
Then toss it with the desired amount of (olive oil approx. 1/4 cup, juice from a couple of lemons, a pressed clove of garlic, salt & pepper to taste and the ingredient I believe makes it – fresh cilantro chopped.)
Viola! Raw cabbage that my 11 yr old loved!
Cabbage is high in Vitamin K & C and is known for detoxifying the body. You can get all the details about cabbage at a great new site I just found called “World’s Healthiest Foods.”
Enjoy!
Add comment February 11, 2008
Miss Soda? You Don’t Have To!
Eating a healthy diet can be challenging with all the junk available out there- especially when you love something.
For my better half giving up his numerous diet sodas a day was difficult. But he did, now preferring water with lemon even when we eat out! I’m very proud.(I think he might have done it just so he didn’t have to hear for one more day about the chemicals, and what they were doing to his body and so on:)But sometimes there’s nothing like a soda – whether it be with an Amy’s whole-wheat pizza or a little popcorn on a Friday night.
Well, there’s no reason to wish anymore – make a homemade version of many flavors – grape, root beer, vanilla etc.
Simply combine some SweetLeaf Liquid Stevia Flavors with seltzer – and VIOLA! – soda with NO sugar, NO chemicals, NO caffeine, and NO reason to feel guilty!
I bought some at my local co-op, where I buy most of my food. I’ve also seen it in the organic section of my local Giant. If you don’t see it, shopping.com carries it.
It is light and refreshing! Enjoy!
Having used trial and error to find ‘healthy’ versions of food – I’ll try and share regularly what I’ve found!
To Your Health!
2 comments January 12, 2008
