It’s pretty awesome that there are foods you can eat to elevate your mood. It’s true that food really IS medicine! The next time you need a little mood boost or emotional pick-me-up, pull out this list of 17 Foods To Boost Your Mood… Read more
Are you having problems with memory loss? Try some cauliflower!
Cauliflower in a smoothie? Yes! You can stop rolling your eyes and scrunching up your nose. This is delicious. And creamy. And healthy. And easy. It’s true, and this strawberry cauliflower smoothie is now my new favorite. But, don’t just take my word for it — after I posted a video for this smoothie on Facebook, many people felt the same need I did (to make it NOW) and the result was unanimous — it’s awesome!
The idea for this recipe came from Laney at Life Is But A Dish. As soon as I saw her post, I knew I had to try cauliflower in a smoothie. I mean I had to… I went immediately to the store and bought a bag of frozen cauliflower. I don’t think I’ve ever bought frozen cauliflower. But I bought a big bag and it’s amazing in this strawberry cauliflower smoothie.
What does it taste like? I know you are wondering… it tastes like strawberry ice cream. Yup. It does. Okay — slight disclaimer — I haven’t had real ice cream in probably about 15 years… but to me it tastes like that.
I used some of my favorite superfoods and healing ingredients in this recipe, so feel free to customize yours however you like.
I know you are going to love this one!
And, if you are looking for another great smoothie recipe, try my Pineapple Turmeric Smoothie.
Here’s what makes this strawberry cauliflower smoothie so healing:
Strawberries help get rid of excess alcohol in your body and they are good for your heart. They even help reduce plaque in your mouth and can make you feel better if you have an annoying dry cough or if you feel bloated from eating too much. So, if you’ve overindulged, strawberries are great for you.
I use cauliflower for breads, crusts, rice… everything. It can be used in so many forms… and, it’s really good for you. In Chinese medicine we use it to aid in digestion and help with constipation. One of the things I find most amazing about this cruciferous vegetable is it’s ability to help with age-related memory loss (My menopausal friends will appreciate this benefit!). It contains a healthy amount of Vitamin B, Vitamin K and Omega-3 fatty acids and can help fight cancer and cardiovascular disease. Cauliflower also helps the body with detoxification and with reducing inflammation.
Collagen strengthens bones and muscles, keeps your joints healthy, improves flexibility and concentration, and helps heal your digestive system. It also keeps you looking youthful.
In eastern medicine, we use coconut to strengthen the body, reduce swelling, and stop bleeding. Coconut kills viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It’s good for all types of infections and viruses in the body, including the flu, bronchitis, tapeworms, urinary tract infections, and herpes. And perhaps most importantly, it helps you keep your mind sharp and it makes it easier for you to focus. This smoothie contains coconut oil.
Cashews are really a multi-tasking nut. I use them all the time so I say it all the time: Cashews have a lower fat content than most other nuts. Most of the fat in cashews is unsaturated and is made up of oleic acid; this is the same acid that is found in olive oil, making these nuts a heart-healty choice. For this smoothie I used store-bought cashew milk, but sometimes I make it myself… but I lazed out a bit here.
Bee pollen is considered one of the most nutritious substances you can put in your body. It is higher in protein than anything animal-based and it contains an amazing amount of amino acids. It’s good for your energy, your skin, your breathing and your allergies. Add a spoonful to whatever you can. I know there are differing opinions as to whether bee pollen is vegan; so if you would prefer to leave it out, that’s just fine.
I love to add bananas to smoothies; they give it a great natural sweetness and a nice creamy texture. Bananas are good for your intestines (an old Asian remedy was to eat a banana every day to relieve hemorrhoids) and your lungs, and they even help relieve the effects of overindulging in alcohol.
| Strawberry Cauliflower Smoothie | Print |
This sweet potato strawberry arugula salad has everything your body needs to feel awesome!
We are in the process of trying to sell our house so there are strangers walking through at all times. It’s hard to keep the house perfectly clean for all of the potential buyers stopping by! Especially the kitchen! Now, when I cook I try to be mindful of the cleanup, which is a real challenge for me because I use a lot of equipment and ingredients when I create recipes.
I went to the market the other day with absolutely no idea of what i was going to prepare when I got home. So many things looked so good… this might have been because I was hungry when I got there, which is probably not the best time to food shop…
It’s much more of a challenge to put my food together into a cohesive meal if I’ve shopped before breakfast. If I shop hungry, everything looks great. I feel like I get one of those cartoon bubbles above my head with experimental recipe ideas written out. Sometimes when I unload the bags at home, I can’t imagine what I was thinking. But sometimes, it just works.
So, I bought a bag of produce filled with beautiful colors. I bought beautifully orange sweet potatoes, huge firm strawberries, perfectly ripe avocados, fresh arugula and spinach, and oranges the size of your head.
When I got home I was starving! And, I still hadn’t eaten breakfast. And, let me tell you, this NEVER happens — I always eat breakfast. But, the fridge was bare… even my smoothie ingredients were severely lacking.
I heated the oven and put the sweet potatoes in to roast. Then I layed out all of my other ingredients on the counter. The colors were beautiful, but they didn’t seem to be conducive of a cohesive meal.
Salad to the rescue! Sometimes beautiful fresh ingredients come together in the most unexpected ways, like in this colorful, sweet potato strawberry arugula salad. I don’t want to call this a breakfast salad, because I’m well aware that a lot of people don’t like salad for breakfast, but if you’re game, you should try it because this is an awesome breakfast!
If you like salads with out-of-the-ordinary ingredients, try my Tomato And Herb Salad With Roasted Lemons too.
This salad is delicious and so good for you:
Sweet potatoes are good for your digestive system. They can be good for both constipation and diarrhea. These orange gems also help rid your body of excess water, are good for breast health, help people with diabetes and actually can help ease night blindness. In olden times, it was common in China to rub mashed sweet potatoes on poison insect bites to remove the toxins. I haven’t tried this, but if you see me looking a tad orange, this will be why…
Strawberries help get rid of excess alcohol in your body and they are good for your heart. They even help reduce plaque in your mouth and can make you feel better if you have an annoying dry cough or if you feel bloated from eating too much. So, if you’ve overindulged, strawberries are great for you.
Avocados are one of my favorite foods, both for their health benefits and because they taste great. In Chinese medicine, some practitioners recommend avocados to raise the sperm count. I like them because they are good for anemia, dry skin, palpitations and hot flashes due to menopause.
Oranges will help boost your levels of vitamins A, B and C. In Chinese medicine oranges have been used for many years to help coughs, colds and anorexia. Lately, oranges have been widely touted for their ability to help heal colon cancer. I peel my oranges and lay the rinds in the sun to dry, and save them for tea or for cooking because the rinds are an actual Chinese herb. I dry out the peels of oranges, tangerines, clementines… whatever I have. Dried tangerine peel, or “chen pi” as it’s known in Chinese medicine, is one of the greatest and most easily accessible herbs around. It’s especially good for digestive issues like abdominal discomfort, distention, fullness, bloating, belching, and nausea. It’s also great if you have a cough with a heavy or stuffy chest.
Arugula has a good amount of calcium and it also contains vitamins A, C and K. It is rich in potassium and it’s extra beneficial in the summer because it actually cools the body down. This delicious peppery green is also believed to be a libido booster. One of the first things I learned when I started really taking care of my health through proper nutrition, was to substitute dark greens for lighter greens whenever possible. One of the easiest, tastiest, and healthiest switches you can make is to swap out some of your lighter salad greens for peppery, dark arugula.
It is true that spinach contains iron, but it’s this vegetable’s lesser-known qualities that really hold my admiration. Spinach contains a substance that helps eliminate prostate cancer. It’s also great for your bones and also for memory loss. Diabetic patients may find that eating spinach helps combat excessive thirst and can even be good for night blindness. Spinach can inhibit the body’s ability to absorb calcium, so calcium-rich foods should be avoided when eating this leafy green.
Basil has anti-viral and anti-bacterial capabilities. It also is good for settling your stomach, and it’s good at lessening the symptoms of the common cold and its accompanying cough. Basil is a spiritual herb — the scent actually calms you; you can boil some in a pot and let the aroma fill the air, you can just leave some around the house, you can toss a bunch in your bath water (yes, really), or you can use an essential oil with basil to get some great calming effects.
| Sweet Potato Strawberry Arugula Salad | Print |
Yup, this healing grapefruit margarita has ingredients to help with your hangover… but, hey, it’s still an awesome cocktail!
This is a first for me. This is the first time I have ever posted a cocktail recipe!
My goal with this cocktail creation was to come up with a drink recipe that would actually help “heal” a hangover. A little “hair-of-the-dog” with healing powers.
I absolutely love to go out to a bar or restaurant with a great cocktail menu. I love all of those retro drinks that are showing up now. And the descriptions of them always blow me away… they suck me right in and make me want to order many more than I need.
My problem has always been that alcohol gives me bad headaches.
I started to think about how to fix this issue. I mean, I help people with elimination diets all of the time. By eliminating certain foods for a month or so I can figure out what’s causing problems. Hmmmm….. if this works with food, why not with alcohol….
So, I’ve been experimenting with myself. I now know that wine (both red and white) are the worst offenders for me. I also learned that if I eat bread or sugar with my meal, that the effects of alcohol on my headaches are magnified. Also, I’m starting to think that clear alcohol is better for me (if there is such a thing as an alcohol that’s better…). This is too bad, because I love a good Manhattan! But, all is not lost, because I do love tequila.
And, yay for me… tequila seems to work just fine for me… in moderation.
By the way, if you love grapefruit as much as I do, buy an extra one and make these quick easy grapefruit wedges to munch on!
So, I created this cocktail with ingredients that will both reduce the effects of a hangover the night before, and “heal” your sorry state in the morning at brunch. Welcome to my Healing Grapefruit Margarita. If you are looking for more ways to help your hangover, look at this blog post.
Here’s why this is good for your hangover:
Grapefruit helps detoxify the body — which is exactly what you need to do to get the excess alcohol out of your system. It is high in vitamin C and lycopene. Vitamin C will help keep away a cold and lycopene is one of the things that helps keep your body from producing tumors. Eating grapefruit really does cool your body off, so if you are feeling overheated, grab this fruit. It’s also good for the digestion, can lower cholesterol, and helps boost your immune system.
Strawberries help get rid of excess alcohol in your body and they are good for your heart and they even help reduce plaque in your mouth. They will make you feel better if you have an annoying dry cough or if you feel bloated from eating too much. So, if you’ve overindulged, strawberries are great for you.
Limes help to regenerate fluids, so they are great to combat any dehydration symptoms that sometimes can accompany alcohol consumption. They also contain a lot of vitamin C and they can actually help energize you.
In Asian medicine, we use coconut to strengthen the body, reduce swelling, and stop bleeding. Coconut kills viruses, bacteria, and parasites. It’s good for all types of infections and viruses in the body, including the flu, bronchitis, tapeworms, urinary tract infections, and herpes. This margarita has some coconut water to help with hydration and to give you all of the amazing benefits of coconut.
| Healing Grapefruit Margarita (Or... A Little Hangover Help) | Print |
