Half Day Cleanse -Blueberry Oats and Green Pineapple smoothie

The summer is made to have fun, unfortunately this summer my face has been stuck in the books. I’m realizing more and more each day that the life of a grad student is not so fun.  With the added stress of school along with work i really haven’t been eating the way I’ve like to. Fries, Pizzas, Cake, Lasagna  and anything fried has been on the menu for the past few weeks. So i decided i need to change things up and do a half day cleanse, where the first half of the day its smoothies and a light snack if need be with a  late lunch and dinner as usual. With plans in mind of doing this cleanse, i went to whole foods looking to find a new source of protein , and found hemp seeds. I usually buy hemp protein powder but i hate the chalky texture protein powder in general leaves so i was hoping that this would work.

So in replace of ordinary protein powder,I milled handfuls of  Raw Rolled Oats, Flax-seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds in my Nutri-Bullet and use it as protein powder.  I used it in my Blueberries Oats smoothies and Green Pineapple smoothie that’s picture below. I also  tried a new addition to my smoothies for a sweeter taste this time: 2 medjool  dates and one dried fig in each batch. They didn’t blend thoroughly but i didn’t mind the the sweet bits that they brought. Down below are the recipe for both smoothies.

Blueberry Oats

• Blueberries (Frozen)
• Protein Mixture
• Coconut water
• Water
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 dried fig
• extra cup of oatmeal (for heartiness)

Green Pineapple

• Spinach(Frozen)
• Pineapple (Frozen)
• Protein mixture
• Coconut water
• water
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 dried fig

I made three for the day, underestimating the power of my protein mixture and only drank one and a half  that morning. If you’re looking to do a full day cleanse, you can do six jars a day with water in between each. I for one prefer smoothies than juicing cleanse for the mere fact that they are more filling  to me. But what’s great about these recipes is that they are so  tasty that they can be made for cleanses or anytime of the day.

Cheers to the Pancake!

There are two types of people in this world, Pancake lovers and waffle lovers. I personally like both myself but some people are really particular when it comes to their breakfast. Everyone in my house prefer waffles over pancakes, but are willing to eat pancakes if its a “good gourmet pancake”. Well let me tell you my friends, I got the recipe to a good gourmet pancake. My pancake recipe is so good, my waffle loving family request me to make these pancakes just about weekly. They are so yummy, satiating and full of good fiber, fats and nutrients. Its practically everything but the kitchen sink in these pancakes but i just call them my banana almond oat pancakes.

So what’s in the pancakes you ask?  Well the most important yet so basic ingredient needed for the pancakes is pancake mix. It can be organic  if you like but for mines i used a generic store brand buttermilk pancake mix. I than sliced some bananas and mashed them to small pieces.

But i didn’t stop there, i added just about everything i had on hand in my pantry.

First I milled a handful of dry ingredients in my Nutribullet  until it became a fine powder and mix it in with the pancake mix such as :

• Flaxseeds
• Chia seeds
• Raw rolled oats
• Raw unsalted almonds

Than for taste, i than added a few spices such as:

• Powdered ginger
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Vanilla extract

Mix everything with a few cups of water, and followed the direction on the pancake batter box. The end result being a gourmet pancake that is out of this world filled with fiber and nutrients.   Cheers to the pancake! lol

FYI: If you have a waffle maker, You can still have a good gourmet waffle with this recipe too.

 

Mix it up!

Since  incorporating  green smoothies to my daily food intake, I feel healthier than ever. I went from one smoothie a day to two,  to sometimes even three. But just like shampoo once you start using it, it doesn’t feel that effective any more. So I switch up my smoothies every week or so,so my body doesn’t get use to drinking the same thing. So one week I’ll have  collard greens instead of kale and other times I’ll put spinach. I’ll also incorporated anything green, because green foods especially super-foods  are good for your body. I like to put in Wheat grass tablets as well as spirulina tablets or green super food packets to my morning smoothies, these give me  such a boost that coffee isn’t really needed. I also like to add Matcha Green tea sometimes to my smoothies for added  antioxidants. I’ve also tried incorporating hemp protein, but i can never get passed the chalky taste of protein powders. My recent mix-in that i think I’ll be incorporating  more often in my green smoothie is raw rolled oats. The raw oats give a hearty taste to the smoothies and has a great amount of fiber. I also love to mix in chia seeds and flaxseed to my smoothie for the omega -3 and the extra fiber that they provide.  Avocados are great mix-ins as well since they give a creamy texture to your smoothie but is also filling because of the good fats found in them. The best part about making these smoothie is you can put anything in there to your liking. With a little bit of research you can be on your way to a healthier you. Mix-in my friends! 🙂

 

 

 

Hearty Muffins

The other day while at home, i flipped the channel on the cooking channel and saw the hungry girl making chocolate muffins with canned pumpkin. Which according to Hungry girl cuts down on the saturated fat from the oil and egg. I was so intrigued by this i told myself  i got to get my hands on some canned pumpkin, pronto! So when i went to do my weekly shopping i picked up a canned pumpkin and a generic brand of  banana muffin mix. I knew before hand i wanted to do this as a hearty breakfast muffin so i tweak the recipe a little bit and it came out great. My mother had a box of Pillsbury Nut bread mix so i decided to mix it with two boxes of Jiffy banana mix cause i really wanted a banana taste. I was scared that it was too much flour for the pumpkin , but with a little bit of elbow grease the small can of pumpkin was actually enough. To make it hearty, i than milled raw rolled oats, flax-seeds,  almonds and walnuts in my Nutri-Bullet and mixed it in the batter. I then scooped them in my muffin tin and also in an 8 inch cake pan, I than sprinkled more flax-seeds and dried cherries and raisin on top and baked for about 30 minutes. My family raved about these muffins, they were so  moist and had a sweet banana taste with a rich pumpkin aroma to them . They actually ended up being a great on the go breakfast muffin/ snack, it went great with my morning green smoothie but it was also great with coffee as well. They were such a great hit  that i now decided to make these muffins as one of my go to staples for breakfast. Thanks for the awesome tip Hungry Girl!