Here in Ontario the weather has been heating up and this weekend is about to be no exception! I don’t know about you, but when the warm weather rolls in my craving for yummy, cold treats seems to roll in with it. Unfortunately, most ice creams and frozen treats are full of processed sugar, among other not-so-nutritious additives, which of course gives them their classic yummy taste. However, these tasty treats are also accompanied by the many downfalls of processed sugar consumption, such as “sugar crashes” and increased inflammation.
Fortunately, I have some great news: It’s absolutely possible to have a delicious, sweet, and nutritious frozen treat without all of that processed sugar! As some of you may know I do love my sweets, but I am particularly sensitive to sugar and especially it’s effects on emotional and mental health. As such I put considerable effort into exploring alternative options for treats that will be both nutritious and tasty!
Strawberry Ginger Mint Lassi
One such creation is based on the “Lassi”, which is not dissimilar to a milkshake. Lassi’s are easy to make and adaptable based on the ingredients you have. The one I’ll be sharing with you here features strawberries, ginger, and fresh mint, but you could easily substitute in a different type of fruit, or leave out the ginger and/or mint if they’re not your cup of tea.
What really helps improve the nutritional value of this particular recipe is that rather than using ice cream, I used plain non-fat Greek yogurt, which gives the Lassi a creamy texture plus lots of protein, without all of the fat and sugar found in ice cream.It’s important to use plain Greek yogurt, as flavoured ones are again full of added sugar.
To sweeten my Lassi, I’ve used local raw unpasteurized honey. Why is using unpasteurized honey important? When honey is pasteurized the process removes the nutritional benefits of the honey, such as antioxidants and vitamins. Thus it’s best to use unpasteurized honey in order to gain the most nutritional benefit from it.
Strawberry Ginger Mint Lassi
Ready to make this tasty and nutritious dessert? It only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. For 1 serving you will need…
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen strawberries
2/3 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
1 cup milk of choice (I prefer cashew or coconut)
5 or 6 fresh mint leaves
1″ ginger, peeled and diced
1/2 Tbsp raw, unpasteurized honey (or real maple syrup)
Method:
Place all ingredients into the blender and combine until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with mint if desired.
Close your eyes, inhale, think of one thing for which you’re grateful, and ENJOY! 🙂
Calvy enjoying some lounge time + my nutritious, yummy, Strawberry Ginger Mint Lassi!
I hope you’ll enjoy this sweet treat as much as I have!
Until next time, wishing you much health and happiness 🙂
I hope you’ve been having a marvelous week thus far. As some of you might know, earlier this week I celebrated my pup Oscar’s 9th Birthday! We celebrate every year and it’s so much fun. I think I get more excited about the dog birthday parties than I do about my own birthday haha. It was a wonderful occasion and this year I made a healthy veggie stirfry for my mom and I, while the dogs enjoyed some all natural “duck stew” for Oscy’s birthday dinner, followed by Timbits for dessert.
Blowing out the candle on Oscy’s Birthday Timbit!
Oscy is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and one of the sweetest pups out there. His interests include sleeping (and snoring excessively loudly haha), eating, and walking around the back yard sniffing stuff. Oh, he also likes to eat dead birds that he comes across which mighty hunter Calvy has left behind (gross, I know), watching TV (not even kidding he actually watches it especially if it’s an animal show) and enjoys playing with plush toys.
All in all he’s a wonderful dog and one of the kindest souls out there! It’s tough to believe he’s already 9 years old! Where has the time gone? We came into each others lives when he was just a pup and I can’t imagine my life without that big fluff ball.
From visiting Santa at Christmas…
Oscy and Calvin Visit Santa (2015)
To dressing up at Halloween…
In the Halloween spirit – Oscy the Pumpkin (2015)
And of course celebrating Birthdays…
Eve helping Oscy open his Birthday gifts (2016)
Oscy loves to join in on the fun and have a great time. I think it’s safe to say that he thoroughly enjoyed his birthday celebration, as did we!
As I mentioned, I’d prepared a healthy veggie stirfry for my mom and I to enjoy for Oscy’s “Birthday Dinner”. It was loaded with fresh veggies, ginger, and I prepared a simple and slightly sweet soy based sauce to accompany it.
This recipe is a quick and easy one that only takes about 30 to 35 minutes to make (including veggie prep, which takes the most time), so it’s perfect for a busy week night dinner. To make things easier try cutting up the veggies in advance so they’re ready to go and you’ll have a healthy and nutritious dinner ready in 15 minutes!
Ginger Veggie Stirfry with Vermicelli Rice Noodles
Here’s what I did (makes about 4 serving) for my Ginger Veggie Stirfry:
Ingredients:
2 bell pepper, cut into 1″ chunks
1 medium onion, cut into 1″ pieces
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
3 – 4 garlic cloves, diced
2″ pieced ginger, peeled and diced
1/4 cup cashews or peanuts, unsalted
2 Tbsp olive or coconut oil
3 cups cooked rice noodles (I use vermicelli), whole wheat spaghettini, or brown rice
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup green onion, diced (to garnish, optional)
Sauce:
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
6 Tbsp warm water
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tsp turbinado (raw) sugar or honey
1/2 tsp fresh grated (or dry powdered) ginger
Method:
For sauce: in a glass bowl, melt coconut oil. Then add in soy sauce, water, sugar or honey, and ginger. Whisk gently to combine. Set aside.
For stirfry: Heat oil over medium-high heat; add in peppers, onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. Saute for about 5 to 8 minutes or until beginning to soften.
Meanwhile, cook noodles or rice according to package directions, then set aside.
Reduce heat to medium and add in garlic and ginger. Saute about 5 minutes more, then add in nuts. Stir to combine, saute about more minutes.
Reduce heat to low, add in sauce stirring to coat and combine, then add noodles or rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
Garnish with fresh green onion (if desired), serve hot and enjoy!
Healthy Ginger Veggie Stirfry with Vermicelli Rice Noodles
And here you have it folks: a tasty, nutritious veggie packed stirfry dinner ready to go. It tastes great as “left-overs” as well, though I do recommend reheating in a pan if possible rather than a microwave to maintain the delicious flavours. This meal can easily be made gluten-free by using a GF soy sauce and rice noodles. As always, when possible do try to use local, fresh, organic ingredients.
If you give this a try I’d love to know your thoughts and see photos! (#genuinelyjulie) Please like and share if you’re a fan of this recipe 🙂
ps. I will soon have the Pinterest “Pin It” function available on here for sharing my recipes too!
I’m going to keep this post short and sweet as I have a very special birthday party to prepare for and attend tonight. Who’s birthday party you may be wondering? Why it’s my lovely little pup Oscar’s 9th birthday! And yes, we celebrate with dinner, “cake”, and gifts each and every year hehe.
Oscy sporting the latest fashions hehe
Not to worry, I will be documenting the occasion in a later blog post complete with photos! Oscy gets SO excited about his birthday and I honestly think that I look more forward to his birthday than my own. He’s just so adorable when he gets all excited about the festivities and you can’t help but laugh and feel happy watching his enjoyment.
Anyhow, back to this wonderful Beet Apple n’ Ginger Soup I want to tell you about. I had some beets and a few other ingredients kicking around in my fridge that I wanted to make use of before they went bad, so I decided to make one of my favorite items: soup.
I think one of the things I love about making soup is that I can throw a bunch of items into a pot, add some spices as I go, and see what happens. I feel it really give me the opportunity to experiment and be creative in the kitchen, which I love! Sometimes I’m not so fortunate and my cooking experiments turn out not-so-tasty. Fortunately on this particular occasion though this one turned out great!
This delicious soup is packed with nutritious vegetables, plus a bit of heat from the ginger, which has terrific and scientifically validated health benefits, and apple to complement the earthy flavour of the root veggies with a bit of sweetness. I finished the soup off with coconut milk to give it a creamy texture. Boy, doesn’t that look tasty?! I just love the bright colour of it!
Nutrient packed Beet Apple n’ Ginger Soup
Want the scoop on how I made this one? As always, use fresh, local, organic ingredients when possible to ensure the best and most nutritious food. Now, here’s what I did:
Ingredients:
2 large beets, peeled and chopped (approx. 1″ cubes)
8 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, diced
3″ ginger, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 apples, peeled and diced
1 L carton vegetable broth
2 cups coconut milk
2 – 4 Tbsp. raw, unpasteurized honey (or real maple syrup)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. turmeric
2 – 3 Tbsp. coconut or olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add in onion and saute for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until beginning to soften and brown slightly. Reduce heat to medium, add in garlic and ginger; saute about 3 to 5 minutes more, stirring frequently.
Add in carrots, beets, and apple, then cinnamon and turmeric (note: I like a lot of cinnamon so if you’re not a huge fan of the flavour start with 1 tsp. then add to taste). Stir to coat and combine. Pour in veggie broth.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 to 50 minutes. The beets can take a while to soften so be patient. Once the veggies are soft, remove pot from heat. Using an immersion blender, puree soup.
Slowly add in coconut milk (2 cups was an approximation; use more for a thinner consistency and less if you’d like your soup more thick), then honey, salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently to combine
Serve hot and enjoy! 🙂
Creamy Beet Apple n’ Ginger Soup
This soup makes for a delicious and healthy pick-me-up on chilly days. Plus, if you’re having tummy issues the ginger in this one will help to soothe the ache and get you back to feeling well again. Alrighty folks, I’m off to celebrate a special little pups birthday!
You may have noticed I haven’t posted anything new during this last week. This is because I was away on vacation for my beautiful friends wedding in the Dominican Republic.
Beautiful White Beaches in the Dominican Republic
I had a wonderful time, but I’m glad to be home (minus the cold temperatures haha) and reunited with my sweet kitty Calvin! Boy did I miss that little fur ball!
Anyhow, I learned a thing or two about keeping healthy while traveling on this trip, and unfortunately I did so the hard way. Normally I eat pretty healthy, limiting my intake of processed items, sugar, dairy, gluten, meat, etc. and apparently my body has become accustomed to this and quite enjoys this sort of diet.
How do I know this? Well, because I made the mistake of eating and drinking all the things I’ve cut out over the past year or so my tummy was NOT impressed! I spent most of the time with a stomach ache, which really I knew better and should have been smarter about my dietary choices. But hey, I learned some valuable lessons about keeping healthy while away traveling. Here are some of the things I learned:
Try, as much as possible, to maintain your usual diet to avoid running the risk of experiencing gastrointestinal issues. This can be tricky with so many tasty looking treats around (not to mention all those sugar loaded tropical drinks!), but in my experience it’s worth the extra trouble.
Try to maintain your typical activity routine at least to some degree. Normally I do yoga about 3 to 4 times a week, plus workouts with light weights about 4 times a week. I did none of this while I was away and I can certainly feel my body is more lethargic, lacking energy and strength, and my GI system is out of balance.
Attempt to get a reasonable amount of sleep (between 7 to 8 hours) each night. I know it’s tempting to skip this and the thought goes something like “I didn’t go on vacation to sleep”. Well yes, this might be true but you’re body doesn’t really care and requires adequate amounts of sleep to function properly. Mess with this and you run the risk of disrupting your internal balance and ending up not feeling very well.
Continue taking any supplements you regularly take. I was smart enough to bring with me my amazing Pro-15 probiotics from Hyperbiotics that I take daily (I’ll be writing a whole bunch about these in the next few months so stay tuned!). I think this is why I didn’t have more severe GI issues due to my poor dietary choices while on this trip.
Take a break from work! Most of the time I enjoy my work, which makes it not really feel like “work” at all and gives me incentive to keep at it. While not exactly a bad thing, it’s important to take time away from the usual routine to find some stillness and reflect. Enjoy nature! Fortunately, this is one thing I DID manage to do right while away and it was wonderful!
A crane hunting for some lunchTurtle watching from the poolside – I adore turtles!
Now back home in Canada my tummy is still a bit sore and I expect it’ll take a few days for it to recover. Fortunately, I was able to get right back into my regular eating habits and I can already feel the difference it’s made. My energy levels are improving, along with my mood, and my stomach is slowly but surely feeling less bloated and back to normal.
Sunset as seen from my window on the plane ride home
This morning I woke up feeling much better than I have the past few days, but noticing my guts still feel a little off I thought I’d make use of a fantastic natural remedy for stomach issues – GINGER! Considerable research has accumulated suggesting that ginger is effective for treatment of GI issues, nausea, and a great many other health issues. If you’re interested, this article from Authority Nutrition discusses some of these implications in greater detail.
As I was saying, I love ginger and use it whenever I can; in everything from soups to smoothies, stirfrys, and especially when I’m having tummy trouble, it really does the trick! So this morning I enjoyed a cup of one of my favorite teas from David’s Tea – their Organic Ginger Pear tea. Almost instantly I could feel my stomach being soothed.
I then decided to make a yummy smoothie bowl for breakfast featuring some serious “superfoods” including ginger, acai berry powder, and strawberries. I was pleasantly surprised with just how delectable this recipe turned out to be, especially considering it helped my tummy ache to feel better too, boosted my energy, and kept me feeling full for several hours after.
Yummy Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl
I like making smoothie bowls because I can put fun toppings on afterwards and feel like I’m getting a real treat haha. However, they do take more time to prepare and eat, so if you’re pressed for time and on the go, please remember you can simply leave this in a travel cup and take it with you. Don’t forget your straw! 🙂
Anyhow, here’s what I did for 1 serving of my Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl. As always, try to use fresh, organic whole foods when possible:
Combine ginger, banana, strawberries, and acai berry powder in blender. Add enough milk to just about cover the contents. Then add honey. Blend until smooth, then pour into a bowl and top with some of your favorite, healthy items
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think of one thing for which you are grateful
Smile and enjoy! 🙂
Strawberry Ginger Acai Smoothie Bowl
I hope you’ll find this as delicious and nourishing as I did. It’s a great tasting, nutritious recipe for kids too, particularly if the little ones are having tummy troubles.
If you give this tasty recipe a try I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Don’t forget to share photos of your version of this yummy, wholesome creation with #genuinelyjulie
Genuinely Julie 