Creamy Dairy-Free Mango Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 Heaping cup of frozen mango chunks

• 1/3 cup Pure Maple Syrup (no added sugars) 

• ½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

• 1 can (400ml) Thai Kitchen full fat Coconut Milk (Refrigerated over night). 

• ¼ tsp salt 

Directions: 

1. Blend the frozen mango with a hand blender until its smooth and creamy. 

2. Add Maple Syrup, vanilla extract, and mix. 

3. Remove the water content from the can of coconut milk and use the solid thickened portion for the ice cream. 

4. Mix into the mango with a hand blender until smooth.

5. Add the mixture to the ice cream maker and follow instructions for your ice cream maker.

6. When the ice cream is ready, freeze for 3-4 hours or until it forms a creamy ice cream texture. 

Note: this recipe can be modified easily by adding a different sweetener, or by adding in more mango. 

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients

·  2 Medium sized EggPlants

·  12 thinly sliced medium to large sized garlic cloves fried until golden in 5 tbsps. of Olive oil or 2 -3 large raw garlic cloves (depending on preference)

·  ¼  or 1/3 cup tahini (not too bitter, but a good quality tahini) depending on your preference. 

·  1 juice of a whole medium sized lemon

·  ¼ tsp cumin

·  ¼ tsp smoked paprika

·½ tsp salt or salt to taste

You can add more salt or spices depending on your preferences.

Topping options:

·  Smoked Paprika

·  Pine nuts

·  Cayenne

·  Pomegranate

·  Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 F and prepare the eggplants on a roasting tray.

2.  Cut slits into the eggplant (for better cooking)

3.  Place the eggplants in the oven for 45-50 minutes and make sure to flip them over at midway roasting time.

4.  While the eggplants are roasting, chop your garlic cloves and add it to the olive oil to fry on medium heat. Once seeing a golden color, remove the pan from the stove. Separate the oil from the garlic and reserve the flavorful oil as a cooking oil for later use.

5.  When the eggplants are done roasting, split them in the middle, let them cool and remove the flesh (inside) of the eggplant and place it in a blender. You may remove some of the water if there is too much. Add the garlic and blend until smooth.

6.  Add the tahini, lemon juice, spices and salt and continue blending until creamy.

7.  Set the mixture in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving to allow the flavors to come through.

8.  When the eggplant is ready to serve, top with olive oil and smoked paprika and other preferred toppings.

9.  Serve and enjoy!

Margherita Pizza

Pizza can get some negative press in the health industry, however, with the right whole grain crust, (non processed or vegan ) fresh cheese and home-made tomato sauce, you can create one of the worlds healthiest pizzas. My favorite part of a Margherita pizza is the way the sauce is cooked. The complimenting flavors of thinly sliced garlic and basil create lasting memories and a thirst for more! Lets not forget that both basil and garlic are functional foods!

Recipe

Crust

• Premade moderate crust (not too thin) 2x 210 grams

Home Made Tomato Sauce

• 4 Large Garlic Cloves Sliced thinly and julienned
• 2 Large fresh Basil Leaves chopped
• 796 ml of canned whole tomatoes.

Toppings:

• 200 grams Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Ball or Vegan Cheese.
• Fresh Basil leaves to top the entire pizza
• Cold pressed Olive Oil for Drizzling.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and place the crust on a non-stick baking tray.
2. While waiting for the oven to preheat, add the julienned garlic with drizzled olive oil into a cooking pot.
3. Turn on the stove to medium heat and fry the garlic until fragrant and golden.
4. Add in the Tomatoes, basil and salt; cover the pot and turn down the stove temperature to medium/low. Allow the sauce to cook for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are reduced.
5. While waiting for the tomato sauce to cook, slice the mozzarella or vegan cheese in thin circular shapes.
6. When the sauce is ready, spread it over the pizza crust. Lay the cheese evenly across the pizza and drizzle the pizza with some olive oil.
7. Place the pizza in the oven for 17 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tomato sauce has becomes less liquid.
8. When the pizza is ready and removed from the oven, top the pizza with a generous amount of fresh basil leaves.
9. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Creamy and Authentic Home-Made Hummus

Ingredients

Cooking Pot Ingredients:

• 3 cups uncooked/dry chickpeas soaked overnight for up to two days (resoak and rinse when necessary).
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Blender Ingredients

• Cooked chickpeas
• ½ cup good quality tahini
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3-4 Tbsps. of iced water (start with 3 and gradually add more as needed.)
• 4-5 large (jumbo) and wide garlic cloves
• 1 tsp salt

Equipment

• Large blender
• Large cooking pot

Directions

1. Soak the uncooked chickpea in cool water for 2 days. Drain and re-soak between each day to keep the soaking water fresh. You may store the soaked chickpeas (with the water) in the fridge on the second night of soaking.
2. On the second day of soaking, cook the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas to a large cooking pot and turn the stove to high heat.  Add baking soda and bring to a boil. Once boiled, bring down the stove temperature to medium heat. Grab a spoon and remove the white foam that has formed at the top (watch the demonstration here).
3. When all the foam is removed, cover the pot, turn down the stove temperature to low/ medium heat and allow the chickpeas to cook for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes has passed, remove the pot cover, and add the salt. Cover the pot again and allow the chickpeas to cook for 15 minutes.
5. When the chickpeas are done cooking, they should be softer than expected (almost mushy).
6. Add them to the blender and blend the chickpeas lightly first (click here to watch how it should look).
7. Add the tahini next and blend again. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until super creamy and smooth.
8. If serving the hummus immediately, add toppings such as cold pressed olive oil, spices, and parsley or cilantro. To enhance the hummus flavor, store the hummus in the fridge for a few hours before serving.  Always warm the hummus before serving for optimal flavor. Store the remaining hummus in the fridge and enjoy for the rest of the week!

Home-Made Falafel

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried chickpeas soaked in water
• 1 small onion julienned
• 2 large & wide Spain garlic cloves
• ½ a large red bell pepper chopped
• ½ cup cilantro leave
• 1 cup parsley leaves
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander powder
• ½ tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp sumac
• 1 tsp salt or salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• ½ tsp baking soda  

Directions:

1. Soak the chickpeas in water for 24hr or overnight until the chickpeas have softened and doubled in size. You may need to drain the water during the soaking time and refill.
2. When the chickpeas are ready, drain the water and rinse the chickpeas. Dry the excess water off the chickpeas with paper towel.
3. Add the chickpeas to a blender or food processor and lightly blend the chickpeas to form a pre mixture that comes together but is also crumbly.
4. Add in all the other ingredients except the baking soda and blend until the mixture forms into a firm puree that comes together and holds it’s shape.
5. Store the falafel mixture in the fridge for 6 hour or overnight.
6. When removing the falafel from the fridge, measure 1/3 cup of the falafel mixture and form them into patties.
7. Fill a pan with enough cold pressed extra virgin olive oil or grape seed oil that would cover the bottom half of the falafel patties while in the pot. Turn on the stove to high-medium heat.
8. When the oil has heated, turn down the stove temperature to medium-high and fry the falafel for 2-3 minutes on each side. You may need to reform the patties with your hands before transferring to the pan. The falafel is ready to be flipped when the edges are a light golden brown.
9. When the falafel is done frying, set them away to cool and serve with tahini sauce and salad or enjoy as a burger sandwich.
10. Serve and Enjoy!

Ground Coffee with Lion’s Mane & a Latte Recipe

^{Discoveries of Edible Medicinal Mushrooms.}

As a Holistic Nutritionist, one of my favorite topics to study are the therapeutic properties of whole foods. I love exploring the different aspects of nature and what it can provide to enhance the function of the human body.

One of the top whole foods studied today are medicinal mushrooms . Increasing evidence suggests that medicinal mushrooms have beneficial properties for brain, nerves and depression. Scientists are considering whether these edible mushrooms could help tackle health concerns of the aging population estimated to be 80-90 million people meeting the age of 65 and above in 2050 and who may be impacted by neurogenerative disorders.

_{Are Medicinal Mushrooms New?}

Mushrooms have been used by humans for thousands of years as food and medicine. Culinary mushrooms are an excellent functional foods to consume in a daily diet. Mushrooms contain proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals and are low in cholesterol . They also have bioactive and antioxidant activities.

Today’s article features an innovative product that includes a ground coffee that incorporates Lion’s Mane Mushroom. This product is from M&R Superfoods and is a fair-trade Dark Roast certified organic ground coffee with a specially made mix of Lion’s Mane extract. The product is guaranteed to have more than 25% beta glucans which is a type of fibre used for heart health and cholesterol management. The product has the following features:

– All ingredients are Certified Organic

– Guaranteed greater than 25% Beta Glucans 

– No mycelium, starch, grain, or any other fillers and only the purest ingredients.

– Gluten-Free, Non-GMO, Vegan

– Thoroughly tested ingredients for quality and content by 3rd party labs.

M&R Ground Coffee Maca and Cordyceps Mushroom Blend

M&R Superfoods also offers a Medium Roast Blend with Cordycept Mushrooms and Maca root. Cordyceps Mushrooms have demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and antioxidant activities.

Maca has demonstrated to boost energy, fertility enhancing properties, and enhance skin health. Maca also has neuro-protective properties and benefits for brain health in terms of memory and learning.

Below is a Latte recipe using the Dark Roast Lions Mane M&R superfoods blend.

^RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiled water
• 3-4 tbsp. M&R Superfoods Dark Roast Lions Mane Ground Coffee
• 1/2 cup Silk Vanilla flavored Almond Milk coffee creamer Or a vanilla flavored sugar free option.
• A bottle of coconut whipped cream ( use desired amounts)
• optional : dark chocolate shavings and cinnamon for toppings.

Tools needs:

• Coffee Filters
• Coffee maker
• Frothing tool (optional)

Directions :

1. Heat and boil the water and prepare the coffee filter and maker.
2. Add the desired amount of ground coffee and brew the coffee.
3. Add the coffee to your preferable cup and add in the almond creamer. If desired, froth the almond creamer before adding to the coffee cup (for the latte effect).
4. Top with a generous amount of coconut whipped cream..
5. Top with chocolate shavings, cinnamon or desired toppings.

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Fatoosh Salad Recipe

Fatoosh Salad is not only tasty but super hydrating and full of a variety of phytonutrients. This salad contains an excellent amount of vitamin C & fibre due to the bell peppers, greens and tomatoes Fatoosh Salad is the perfect side dish that elevates any meal experience. Take advantage of this amazing and nourishing recipe that makes healthy eating the preferred way.

_Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup medium to small sized chopped green bell peppers
• 1 cup medium to small sized chopped cucumbers
• 1 cup medium to small sized chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 to 1 cup (as preferred ) red onions julienned
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh italian Parsley
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
• Teared Romaine lettuce ( use preferred amounts)
• Crunchy whole wheat Pita bread.
• salt to taste

Note: If you practice a gluten free diet use tortilla chips.

Salad Dressing:

• The juice of 1 & 1/2 medium sized lemon
• 2 tbsp. cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp. sumac

Directions:

1. Chop all the ingredients for the salad and mix them together except for the crunchy pita bread.
2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients .
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and salt.
4. Top the salad with the crunchy pita bread.

Note : If you are storing the salad in the refrigerator , do not add all the crunchy pita bread to the salad. Reserve some pita bread to be used when you are ready to consume the salad again. The pita bread will become softened if stored together with the salad over night.

Super Food Mint Double Chocolate Cookies

Makes 12 medium sized cookies

Dry

• 1 ½ cups Gluten-free All-Purpose Baking Flour

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder

• 1 tbs Detox Organics chocolate super food powder

• 1 tsp baking soda• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet

• ½ cup butter or (plant based )slightly warmer that room temperature

• ½ cup granulated monk fruit sweetener

• ½ cup coconut sugar

• 1 large egg (room temperature)

• 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)

• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

• 1/4 cup chocolate chunks set aside for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients

3. In a large mixing bowl cream, your butter until creamy and smooth.

4. Add the monk fruit and cream well with an electric mixture. It is important to cream the sugar with the butter well to give structure to the cookie.

5. Add in the coconut sugar and cream into the butter, until smooth and creamy.

6. Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix.

7. Add in the vanilla extract and peppermint and mix.

8. Sift in and fold the dry ingredients slowly, about half of the mixture at a time until all the flour is incorporated.

9. Fold in the chocolate chips

10. With an ice cream scooper, scoop out the dough and place them in cookie shapes over the baking tray.

11. Place them on the middle rack of the oven and bake for roughly 18-20 minutes depending on your oven.

12. When read, remove the cookies from the oven and place on a cooling rack. 13. Optional : crush mint candy and top with some sea salt.

Meal Garden: a Health Practitioners Digital Tool to Fast & Easy Customized Meal Plans.

Meal Garden Recipe: Spiced Carrot Soup

As a holistic nutritionist I have a passion to help people live healthier lives through optimizing their nutritional status. Nutritionists are tasked with creating custom meal plans, assessing client needs, goals and struggles, creating recipes and calculating nutrients. My belief as a holistic nutritionist is that there is not a one size fits all solution to optimizing health; every client will have their unique plan and guide to health.

With all these tasks, it becomes difficult for a nutritionist to increase her clientele due to the increased amount of work time.  A nutritionist needs an organized system that can assist in making customized solutions just a “click away” from helping their clients achieve their goals.

This is where I welcome Meal Garden; a meal planning digital platform that assists health practitioners and their clients easily access healthy recipes tailored to their specific needs. Meal Garden has the following features:

⁃ Prepared Meal Plans for specific goals and needs.
⁃ Key word search to locate such Meal Plans (ie. search Hormone) for hormone supporting plans.
⁃ Custom Meal Planning.
⁃ 2,500 recipes ready for use including the nutritional break down.
⁃ Clients can access their meal plans and information through the platform.

Meal Garden Recipes also display the grocery list needed for the recipe, as well as the prep and cook time. Meal Garden has offered me the organized digital platform I was searching for and has allowed me to achieve the following goals;

⁃ increase the number of clients I’m currently helping
⁃ assists me to provide resources for my clients at a faster rate.
⁃ Saving time by offering nutrition calculating tools.
⁃ Supporting the concept of each condition requires different nutrients and offering recipes to support these conditions.

As a holistic nutritionist I would highly recommend Meal Garden to fellow practitioners who are looking to reduce the everyday tedious work and focus on achieving client results.

Below is a Spiced Carrot Soup available via Meal Garden.

Download

Pumpkin Spiced Latte Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 can evaporated coconut milk 360 ml.
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 7 tbsp.LIVA date sugar
• 3 tbsp. Pure Maple syrup (no added sugar)
• ½ tbsp. corn starch with 1 tbsp. cold water
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Suggested Toppings

• Dark chocolate shavings
• Coconut flakes

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together into a non-stick cooking pot, except the corn starch and water. Make sure to whisk until all the date sugar dissolves.
2. Turn on the stove to high heat.
3. Bring the mixture to a light boil, and immediately turn down the heat to medium to high heat and allow the mixture to simmer lightly.
4. Add in the corn starch and water mixture.
5. When the mixture begins to thicken, turn off the stove and set the pudding aside to cool.
6. Transfer the pudding to a container and transfer it to the fridge.
7. Allow the pudding to chill over night.
8. After the pudding is fully chilled, serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy.