Our new favourite dessert

We absolutely love this new smoothie recipe. It's your new cleansing bestie as of 1st September 2012 – yep, this little beautie will be replacing our current Number 6. It's bigger (in flavour not calories) and badder than ever.

Please welcome the ABC Dessert Smoothie.

7 simple ingredients:

1. Almond milk
2. Coconut water
3. Filtered water
4. ABC nut butter*
5. Four dates
6. Raw cacao
7. Cinnamon

*ABC = Almonds, Brazil Nuts and Cashews

In terms of quantities, we recommend playing around with them to suit your individual tastes. That and the exact measurements are a trade secret!

The health lowdown:

It's packed full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, with a healthy dose of protein and good fats. The ABC Dessert Smoothie is soothing, with a pinch of cinnamon to help combat dysbiosis/candida, and a hit of super-nutrients to boost energy, skin health and immunity. We've been careful to monitor the carb content as usual – using only four dates to sweeten. What we absolutely didn't skimp on, taste. The nut butter adds a touch of healthy but indulgent yumminess.

It's official, we're in love. And you can be too from 1st September 2012.

Beating the winter blues!

The cold season means hitting the slopes, donning your ice skates, enjoying hearty meals and hot chocolates, wrapping up in beanies, scarves and cosy mittens, and curling up in front of a log fire (OK, for most of us a log fire may be out of the question but you get the picture!). That said, all of this winter goodness aside, it’s worth remembering the ‘not so fabulous’ side to the colder months – yep, we’re talking about their renowned capacity to bring us down.  We’ve all heard of SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder – but you don’t need to be diagnosed with it to suffer from the winter blues. Many of us hit a slump come winter without even realizing it.

If you feel like you could be perkier in winter, we’ve got 5 handy tips to help you go from Moping Mildred to Happy Harriet in no time:

1. Get up 15 mins before you normally do and take the time to do something for you, just you.

Make yourself a cup of tea, watch some terrible morning television, read a chapter of your book, catch up on the news, meditate,  do some stretches, or just enjoy having that extra time to get ready – a nice long shower, better applied make-up, a closer shave…  You can achieve a lot in 15 mins (yes, we know). Whatever you choose to do, it’s your time. Enjoy it!

2. Get outside in spite of the cold. 

Go for a brisk walk, get out for a coffee or warming chai, take a proper lunch break… Just a few minutes of exercise and fresh air will help get your circulation going, clear your mind and change your perspective.

3. Stick to your social engagements!

Invest in some warm clothes and a sturdy umbrella and get yourself to that dinner date, art exhibition or exercise class. Rain or shine. Winter doesn’t have to mean putting your social life on hold in favour of couch-bound hibernating.

4. Avoid the tendency to fill up on stodgy, fatty and sweet foods.

If you like stodgy, go for hearty stews, soups and curries instead. If you crave fat, get your fix with raw nuts, nut and seed butters, and healthy oils (olive and coconut). If you have a sweet tooth, make yourself a healthy hot chocolate with almond or organic milk, raw cacao, a pinch of cinnamon and a drop or two of stevia.

5. Last but definitely not least, book a holiday!

Winter is the perfect time to get away. Even if it’s just for a weekend, a change of scenery is often exactly what the doctor ordered. If you can’t afford to go far, keep it local and book a hotel somewhere an hour from home. Even a simple day trip or night away can break things up a little.

In the words of Albert Camus:

“In the midst of winter, I found there was within me, 

an invincible summer.” 

Hopefully these tips will help you to find your summer and keep smiling!

Dairy alternatives made simple!

Last week we looked at the controversial topic of dairy and the choices we have when it comes to consuming it – ‘normal’ or organic, homogenised or unhomogenised, pasteurised or raw, skim or full fat! But what if you voluntarily choose to skip the dairy or if your body rejects the stuff?

Lactose intolerance

If you have a lactose intolerance, you may find you are OK with butter, hard cheeses and even full fat milk in some cases. The higher the fat content, the more likely you are to be able to digest it. It really is a case of trial and error though – some people can only do butter, others butter and hard cheese, and some can tolerate dairy in moderate quantities but start to have symptoms past a certain threshold. 

Other types of dairy

If you have an intolerance or allergy to cow’s dairy, it could be to do with the fat-protein structure. Without getting too technical, the chemical composition of goat’s and sheep’s milk is different to that of cow’s and they are often easier to digest. Buffalo milk is another popular but slightly less readily available alternative.

Skipping the dairy altogether

If you can’t do cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s dairy, or you simply want to steer clear of it for reasons of your own, there is a whole range of dairy-free alternatives at your disposal.

Here are the most popular dairy alternatives:
• Soy milk
• Rice milk
• Oat milk
• Almond milk
• Coconut milk

Soy is a controversial topic in itself, and one that requires a separate blog altogether! In a nutshell, some people do OK on it, others not so much. In large quantities it can have effects on the thyroid and on oestrogen receptors.

If you go for rice milk, make sure you choose one that uses brown rice. Oat milk is a bit of a divider when it comes to taste – some love it, some hate it (personally we are not fans). Almond milk is delicious but can be pricey and often contains added sugar. We recommend making your own (in fact, we have a nice easy peasy recipe coming your way next week!). As for coconut milk, it’s a great substitute in cooking and in smoothies.

The one thing you absolutely must remember, whichever non-dairy alternative you opt for, is to read the ingredients label carefully and avoid added sugars, malt, processed oils, refined salt (rock salt OK in small quantities), preservatives and any other unnecessary additives.

Stay tuned for our yummy almond milk recipe next week…

A ridiculously yummy (and super healthy) treat!

This week, we have a fabulous recipe for Dairy-Free Ice Cream from the lovely Lee Holmes at Supercharged Food. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cold almond milk
• 2 teaspoons gelatin
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk
• 1 cup cashew nuts
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/3 teaspoon liquid stevia
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Pour the almond milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface.
2. Leave for a few minutes while the gelatin softens.
3. Put the saucepan over a low heat and stir the mixture until the milk has heated and the gelatin dissolved.
4. Remove from the heat and place the saucepan in a sink of iced water so that the milk can cool to room temperature.
5. Put the egg yolks in a blender and process until light and frothy.
6. Add the coconut milk, coconut flakes, stevia, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt and process until well combined.
7. Add the gelatin milk and blend for a few more seconds.
8. Pour mixture into an ice cream container and put in the freezer.
9. After an hour mix it up with a stick blender or fork and then return it to the freezer for another hour. Do this one more time, as it breaks up the ice crystals which cause the ice cream to be more icy than creamy.
10. The ice cream will be quite hard when it comes out of the freezer so place it onto the counter for 10 minutes before serving.

Comments

Not only is this recipe dairy-free (heaven for a dairy intolerant like me), it’s also sweetened with stevia – a natural sweetener that has a positive impact on blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity. On top of this, no sugar means no feeding the nasty bacteria in your gut (which in turn means no bloating)! Yes please.

For more gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast and sugar-free recipes visit www.superchargedfood.com