Recipe: Orange Carrot Smoothie

Brighten up your day with this delicious orange carrot smoothie.

Ingredients:

• 4 whole organic carrots
• 1 organic orange
• 1 organic banana
• A few slices of fresh organic pineapple
• 1/2 cup of water

Instructions:

1. Slice up the carrots, orange, banana and pineapple and place into your blender or NutriBullet
2. Add 1/2 cup of water and blend for a minute until the texture is smooth
3. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Recipe: Matcha Green Tea Latte

Matcha green tea latte is the perfect alternative to your morning cup of joe. Matcha green tea is high in antioxidants and provides an energy boost due to its natural caffeine content. It also helps to detoxify your body by naturally removing heavy metals and chemical toxins. Last but not least, it has an amazing flavor when combined with almond milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1 cup of organic almond milk
• Organic honey to taste
• 1 teaspoon organic matcha green tea powder

The matcha green tea powder can be purchased at your local tea shop, health food store or on Amazon.com. I purchased mine from Amazon.com and have included a photo of it below. The brand is Ryu Mei.

Instructions:

1. Warm up 1 cup of almond milk
2. Mix 1 teaspoon of matcha green tea powder in a mug with 1 tablespoon of warm water
3. Mix until the powder is dissolved and creates a thick paste
4. Pour in half of the warm almond milk into the mug with the matcha green tea and stir
5. Add in the rest of the almond milk and stir
6. Stir in honey to taste

Enjoy!

Recipe: Baked Sriracha Kale Chips

Found this delicious baked kale recipe at SarahHearts.com. It’s super easy to make with only 4 ingredients, including the kale and total bake and prep time of 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch organic kale
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Sea salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300º F
2. Remove the center stems from the kale and cut kale leaves into large bite size pieces (they will shrink once you bake them)
3. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil and Sriracha
4. Place the kale into the bowl and mix so that it gets coated as evenly as possible
5. Spread out the kale on a large baking sheet and bake for about 30-35 minutes. Season with sea salt and place in the oven.
6. May need to be flipped once or twice throughout the baking process
7. Once it’s crispy, remove from the oven and enjoy!

Recipe: Tropical Acai Bowl

This recipe is very easy and great for a quick, healthy vegan snack.

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• Sliced pineapple
• 2 sliced kiwis
• 1/2 cup of organic granola
• 1 pack of organic acai juice (can be found at Whole Foods in a pack of 4 for $6.99 – see photo below)

Instructions:

1. Take 1 pack of frozen acai juice, 2 bananas and 1/8 cup of water and blend  together for a minute or so
2. Pour into a bowl and top with granola and sliced fruit of your choice. I’ve included kiwi and pineapple in this one but also great with blueberries, strawberries, mango.
3. Enjoy!

Recipe: Vegan French Toast

I was craving french toast for lunch the other day so I went online in search of vegan french toast recipes. Many of the recipes required ingredients that I had never heard of or I didn’t have on hand (such as nutritional yeast and chickpea flour) but I found one that is not only easy but delicious! It only requires bananas, soy milk and some other basic ingredients that I had in my kitchen.

Below is the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup organic soy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Gluten free bread – about 6 slices (I used Uudi’s from Trader Joe’s but any kind of thick sliced bread will do)
• Organic maple syrup
• Fresh organic berries of any kind (I prefer blueberries)

Instructions:

1. Blend together bananas, soy milk, cinnamon and vanilla in a blender or food processor.
2. Pour the mixture into a shallow container such as a pie plate.
3. Place the bread into the mixture and let it soak for a minute or so and spoon the mixture to coat the other side.
4. Fry the bread in a medium hot skillet until the slices are golden brown, then flip to cook the other side.
5. Serve with sliced bananas, fresh blueberries and maple syrup.

🙂

Recipe: My Favorite Kale Salad

One of my favorite healthy salads to make is a kale salad with vegan parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon and hot pepper flakes. So easy to make and delicious! 

Below is the recipe. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes (you can leave this out if you don’t like your salad spicy)
• 2 bunches organic kale
• 1/2 cup finely grated vegan parmesan cheese (you can find this at your local Whole Foods or health food store)
• Handful of pine nuts or sunflower seeds

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl mix together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper flakes. Add kale and toss to coat.

2. Top with grated vegan parmesan and serve!

Enjoy! 🙂

Brown Rice vs. Quinoa

Here’s a great infographic that compares the nutritional value of brown rice and quinoa.

Although quinoa has slightly more calories than brown rice, quinoa provides more protein, fewer carbs, more fiber, calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium than brown rice.

🙂

Friday Fitspiration

Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. “Diet” is a huge factor in losing those extra pounds, so put down the processed food and reach for raw fruits and veggies.

🙂

Rule #1

There’s no such thing as eating too many vegetables.

Eat your veggies.

🙂

Breakfast: Green Smoothie vs. Cheerios

Which do you prefer?

Link to green smoothie recipe: https://raworganicvegetarian.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/variation-on-the-glowing-green-detox-smoothie-recipe/