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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Healthy pina colada

I've been adding coconut oil and heavy cream to my smoothies for the extra nutritional fat. Today I had fresh pineapple so I changed up my usual pineapple smoothie (pineapple, water, and aloe vera) and ended up with a delicious pina colada.
For two servings.
1 medium pineapple, skinned, cored, and chopped.
1 1/2 tbsp of coconut oil
1/2 cup of milk (can use coconut milk)
3 tbsp of cream (can use the cream from canned coconut milk)
1 to 2 tsp of honey if your pineapple is on the tart side.
Optional 1 aloe vera stem de-skinned
If you use coconut milk and coconut cream then you may want to cut down on the coconut oil.
Blend and serve.

Monday, December 9, 2013

The easiest sauerkraut recipe


This sauerkraut recipe is so simple and takes very little time. You can make this recipe with just cabbage, or with other vegetables and greens or even fruit. Also, you can make it with or without salt. The salt does give it an extra bit of crispiness. No water, culture, or whey is needed. 
Fermenting your vegetables makes them more nutritious, unlocking nutrients and culturing beneficial bacteria to help your body thrive!

For one batch
Prep time: 10 min Fermentation time: 5-10 days

Equipment:
Make sure all equipment is sterile, you do not want to introduce bad bacteria. 
1 bowl
1 mason jar
a knife
a cutting board
something to press your kraut into the jar with (optional, if your hand fits in the jar you can just use your fist/knuckles)

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage
1 tsp of sea salt (optional)

I like to make mine with cabbage, carrots, beats, and swiss chard, you can also add in apples, dried berries, spices such as caraway, ginger, garlic, celery zucchini, basically whatever you feel like. 
Adding more veggies, herbs such as parsley, and garlic and ginger make for an awesome immune booster. Not only are their going to be more nutrients from the food by fermenting them, the beneficial bacteria are going to make you have a better immune system also. The probiotics, or beneficial bacteria, in our guts protect us from parasites, harmful bacteria,  and toxic substances including mercury! 

Directions:
  • Wash your cabbage. 
  • Take of the first 1 to 2 layers of leaves off your cabbage and discard.
  •  Take off another layer and save it for later.
  •  Take out the core of your cabbage and shred it by slicing it thinly with a knife (I do for one batch) or with some sort of cheese grater. If you are adding any thing else you will want to shred it as well, except for greens like swiss chard just chop those finely. 
  • Place all ingredients in a bowl with the salt if you are using it.
  • Using your hand, squish and kneed the mixture until the juices are getting released. 
  • Press the mixture into some sort of jar with a lid that will seal, such as a mason jar. You want this to be packed tight!
  • Using your reserved leaves, cover the top to take up any extra space.
  • Cover and keep in a pantry or some place similar. You want the area to have little to no light, be dry, and not to warm or cold. 
  • Let it sit from 5-10 days. A week usually works perfect for me but if it is unusually warm or cold it may take less or more time. You may want to keep a tray underneath because it has a tendency to bubble and leak. 



Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Middle eastern type tomato chicken stuff... or something like that

This was something that I made the other day trying to use up the chicken and couscous that I had, and it turned out really well for such a simple recipe.
Chicken in a tomato and turmeric sauce with vegetables and couscous.


Prep time: 3-5 min Cook time 8-15 min Serves 2
Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces.
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp curry seasoning or 1 tbsp each of coriander and turmeric (you can fiddle around with the spices)
2 tsp to 1 tbsp of garlic powder
1 pound of fresh or frozen veggies, cooked (I used broccoli) 
1 cup of couscous 
1 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (water will work if need be)
salt and pepper if you used tomatoes and broth without salt

Directions:
Bring the broth to a boil. Add in the couscous, cover and turn to low cooking for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, fluff the couscous, cover and let sit for another 10 minutes.
Cook the chicken breast in a bit of oil in a pan. Add in the tomatoes (with the juice) and the seasoning. Let that heat up. You can cover it and let it cook on low for a bit to let the spices integrate more if you would like. Put down the couscous first, then the veggies, and then the chicken and tomatoes layered on your plate. Now you have dinner for two. 

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