Drinking in that good nutrition!

Well this post is days over due….oops busy week last week! Sorry to those I told this would be up sooner.

Today I want to take some time to highlight the liquid part of my daily nutrition including elderberry syrup, tart cherry elixir, and of course smoothies!

I will start with the elderberry syrup. I had read about elderberries and the nutritional benefit of them; but had never eaten them or the syrups made with them. That was until a few months ago when I got mono. Being that there is no treatment for mono besides prednisone to reduce inflammation; I decided to research homeopathic remedies. Again and again I found people giving testimonies of how much elderberry syrup helped with mono an other viruses and fatigue disorders. I went to buy some elderberry syrup and was horrified by the price for just a small bottle in the health food store. So long story short I researched how to make my own. I found an article about dosage and recipe for how to make the syrup here: www.examiner.com/article/natural-recipes-elderberry-honey-syrup. I order my dried berries from Mountain Rose Herbs and most of the time make the syrup with honey from a local beekeeper; but this time made it with store bought organic honey because the local guy is out of stock for the next couple of weeks. I take 3 tbsp of the syrup every morning and I feel it is one of the primary reasons I was able to recover from mono so quickly. Given it’s strong immune-boosting capabilities it is definitely a staple item I will keep in my fridge all the time.

Next up in my daily liquid nutrition is tart cherry juice with chia seeds. I first heard about the benefits of tart cherry juice in an article in reader’s digest given to me by my mother-in-law. That began months of internet research; where I came across lots of great articles and studies. Tart cherries have anti-inflammatory components as well as many other vitamins our bodies need to be self-healing machines. They contain vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium, iron, and more. But it’s the high levels of cyanidin and power dose of antioxidants that pulled me into trying it. Consuming antioxidant rich foods help fight off those inflammatory cells, heart disease, and overall help keep us young and lively. And a lot of the research I came across showed cyanidin to one of the most powerful natural treatments for arthritis and inflammation.

I started by drinking an 8oz glass of tart cherry juice everyday. I was buying Organic Just Tart Cherry™ by R.W. Knudsen Family®. I did this for several months and found it to be incredibly helpful in reducing the pain and inflammation associated with my arthritis. My only complaint was cost. I was buying the juice which comes in 32oz bottles. The cheapest I found is $6 per bottle. And with the amount I was drinking each day; one bottle only lasted 4 days. So I decided to see if I could find a cheaper source. That’s when I found Michelle's Miracle® Original Tart Montmorency Dietary Supplement. With this I still could take in my 8oz a day of juice; only for $14 I got a 16 day supply. A 16 day supply doing it the other way would have cost me $24. I also mix 2 tbsp of chia seeds in with my 8oz glass of juice. I use Nutiva Organic Chia Seeds. Here’s a great article about the benefits of chia seeds: www.chiaseedshealth.org/chia-seeds-health-benefits/.
　
And last but not least….smoothies!! I love them! I have a smoothie everyday at around 10am. I consider this my mid-morning meal. Being that I start my day with a bowl of fruit at 5:30am, and my tart cherry elixir at 7am; by 10am I am ready for a nutritional boost to carry me through till lunch. Thus why I started my mid-morning smoothie routine. I started out with just fruit smoothies and now mix it up depending on what I feel my body needs that day. Today’s Smoothie is a regular for me. It is a basic vegan protein smoothie.

Here is the recipe I came up with when I created this protein packed combo a few months ago:

Basic Vegan Protein Smoothie
3oz coconut milk yogurt
3 tbsp Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein Powder
3 tbsp Organic Golden Flaxseed Meal
¼ cup frozen organic pineapple or mango chunks
½ of an organic banana
8oz Coconut Water (I prefer O.N.E. Organic Coconut Water)

Just layer all these goodies in your blender and drink.

I chose these ingredients for the following reasons:

Coconut Milk Yogurt : Great vegan source of protein, vitamins A and C, and calcium.

Nutiva Organic Hemp Protein Powder: Here is a link that will give you more info on that product: www.store.nutiva.com/hemp-protein/. And for those who are skeptics of hemp her is great article about it and it’s many nutritional benefits. http://www.3fatchicks.com/7-health-benefits-of-hemp/

Organic Golden Flaxseed Meal: www.livestrong.com/article/208313-what-are-the-benefits-of-flax-seed-meal/

Organic pineapple chunks: www.expertscolumn.com/content/benefits-pineapple" title="Health Benefits of Pineapple Fruit"><h1>Health Benefits of Pineapple Fruit</h1></a

Organic banana: great source of potassium!

Coconut Water: www.onedrinks.com/one-coconut-water-benefits/

Well there you have it, my daily liquid nutritional outline. Hope the information and the links I have provided are helpful. Have blessed evening everyone! Off to make my family dinner….tonight's dinner is Basil & Garlic Polenta Toasties with Sautéed Veggies (recipe coming soon)

Elderberry Syrup Ingredients

Elderberry Syrup all made

Tart Cherry Juice with Chia Seeds

Basic Vegan Smoothie

Let the journey begin! Tonight's Venture: Vegan Coconut Dragon Bowl Salad!

Well here it is my first official post to “Vegan Ventures”…….tonight’s venture: Coconut Dragon Bowl Salad! I found this recipe on the Earth’s Balance website. The recipe was submitted to them by Nikki, The Tolerant Vegan. I made a couple modifications of my own which I have noted in the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice, cooked (I used Lundberg Organic Brown Basmati Rice. When cooking the rice I substituted Nutiva Coconut oil instead of using butter)
1 medium zucchini (I used organic zucchini and actually used 2 instead of 1)
1 cup chopped carrots (I used organic baby carrots)
1 cup chopped broccoli (Fresh from our friend’s garden, Thanks Carl & Joy!)
1/2 tsp. sea salt (I substituted this with herbamare by A.Vogel)
1/2 tsp. black pepper (I substituted this with herbamare by A.Vogel)
4 cups romaine lettuce (I used a mix of romaine, frisee, & boston red leaf lettuce all organic and fresh from our CSA Garden at Hillside Springs Farm)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I used Newman’s Organic California Raisins)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato (I omitted these because my kids doesn’t care for them)
1/4 cup chopped scallions (also fresh from CSA garden)
3 tbsp. of Earth Balance® Organic Coconut Spread (I used Soy-free Earth Balance)
Pan-seared chicken (we buy Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast by Organic Prairie) (Optional add-on for serving non-vegans/vegetarians)
Fresh Organic Feta Crumbles (again optional add-on for non-vegans)

Directions:

1. If using the rice I used it takes 50-60 to prepare so be sure and allow enough time for cooking and cooling it.

2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Chop the zucchini, carrots, and broccoli into bite-size pieces. Toss mixture in 1 tablespoon of melted Soy-Free Earth Balance. Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet and sprinkle with herb mare; then roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. When finished set aside to cool.

4. While the vegetables are roasting, heat the remaining two tablespoons of Earth Balance® in a skillet and add the brown rice. Sprinkle with herbamare, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.

5. Remove the rice from the heat and stir in raisins and scallions. When finished set aside to cool slightly before adding to salad.

6. Layer lettuce mixture in large salad bowl. Then top with (cooled) roasted vegetable mixture. Next spoon rice mixture in center of salad bowl.

7. When I plated the salad I topped it with pan seared chicken strips for the meat eaters in my family; and fresh organic feta cheese for the non-vegans. I set a few different dressing for people if they wanted it; but the majority of my family opted to eat it with out dressing because it had a lot of flavor as is.


Lettuce Mixture



Roasted veggies set asde to cool.

Salad all done and ready to be served.

My vegan plate :)

My husband's plate; salad with the add-on's of pan seared chicken and fresh organic feta cheese :)