Soul-Food Plant-Medicine!!!
To Make: Combine all ingredients except apple cider vinegar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once a simmer is reached, lower heat and continue to simmer for an additional 10 mins. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour mixture into a quart-sized glass jar and add 1 C of cider vinegar. Shake and let sit at room temperature for 2 days. To use, simply strain the mixture and enjoy!
Ingredients:
Spicy-Cranberry-Sparkler Mocktails!
COLORFUL LUNCH: Teriyaki Roasted Butternut Squash!
It's no surprise that foods rich in color are the healthiest foods on earth, after all, eating is one of the most intimate ways of using the senses to interact with our environment. This past Thursday's Company 'Jam Sesh' lunch was a feast to the eyes while also hearty, satisfying, delicious and deeply nourishing to our bodies!
Ideas were generated and exchanged and conversation and creativity flowed freely as the six of us Not Your Sugar Mama Babes enjoyed piles of crisp baby kale greens topped with a beet/parsley/ginger slaw alongside the star of the show- tender cubes of heavenly teriyaki roasted butternut squash... (recipe below!).
Cooking and eating from nature's color wheel is a fun and simple way to gain inspiration in the kitchen and a useful tool in the pursuit of whole health and nutrition. You can just follow your instincts or, a light investigation on the interwebs can yield a lot of useful information. For example, red foods contain lycopene, a compound that helps prevent heart disease; dark blue and purple fruits are rich in antioxidants; dark, leafy greens are rich in folic acid and are a great source of calcium and iron; and orange foods, like the butternut squash in this dish are rich in vitamin C with a one cup serving providing almost half of the recommended daily dose!
Every time I peel back the tough skin of a butternut squash my heart sings at the sight of its tangerine flesh with the warmth of stored energy from the sun glistening forth. Boasting many health benefits, butternut squash is part of the gourd family which also includes pumpkin, melon, and cucumber. Although I've always thought of them as a "starchy vegetable" these graceful, hourglass miracles are technically a fruit because they contain seeds. They also contain fiber (making them heart-healthy), potassium (important for bone health), vitamin B6 (necessary for proper functioning of the nervous and immune systems), folate, and phytonutrients! Their gorgeous color signals an abundance of carotenoids which protect against heart disease and very high beta carotene content (which the body automatically converts to vitamin A) which has been said to ward off breast cancer and protect against age-related macular degeneration!
Teriyaki Roasted Butternut Squash
You will need:
- one medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/4 C organic maple syrup
-1/4 C bragg's liquid aminos or namah shoyu
-2 T extra virgin olive oil (or oil of choice)
-fresh garlic, minced (I used A LOT: 6 to 8 cloves)
-fresh ginger, minced (again, I used A LOT about 3 to 4 inches!)
-sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl combine all the above ingredients and let sit for at least 20 mins. Cover a baking dish with parchment paper. Pour contents of bowl evenly over the parchment paper and roast in the over for about 45 mins. until the squash is fork tender. Enjoy!
Thanks so much for reading! Let me know how it turned out, if you modified or tweaked anything, or if you have any input! Stay tuned for more hearty, healthy, vegan and gluten free meal ideas! What satisfies you when it's cold out? What are you favorite winter time vegetarian dishes!?
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Mexican Chocolate Cashew Milk
Hey all! Emma here. This cashew milk is one of my favorite things to make in the winter time when it is cold and wet out. It is just the right thing to warm me up. I also love to spread the holiday cheer and make this as a gift for friends and family. I hope you all enjoy it and don't forget to spread the love!
- 2/3 cup organic cashews
- 2 cups filtered water
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract or scrap the insides of a whole vanilla bean
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp. (about 3 pinches) Himalayan Pink Salt
approx. 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon (I usually just turn the spice jar over and pat the bottom 6 times)
- A dash each of ground cayenne, nutmeg, cardamom, and clove
Combine 1 Not Your Sugar Mamas Pure & Simple raw chocolate bar in a sauce pan with 2 tbsp. water and melt on medium to low heat, stirring often, until a smooth sauce is made (make sure not to boil)
Combine all of the above ingredients (including the sauce) in a Vitamix or high speed blender and blend on highest setting for a total of 2 minutes. I say total because if your blender requires a break to cool down or too much foam is produced you can turn the blender down, let the mixture settle/blender cool down, and whip it back up to high again! I like to drink this nut milk fresh out of the vitamin when it is slightly warm but you can store in the fridge for about 2-3 days in an air tight glass container, like a mason jar!
Cheers!
Pure & Simple Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies
Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! In spirit of Thanksgiving and the rainy weather she is having in Boston, our brand ambassador, Emma made these delicious Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies made with Pure & Simple to warm up and get inspired for the festive week ahead. Emma loves using a chopped up Pure & Simple bar, sweetened by only maple syrup, for all of her recipes that call for chocolate chunks, keeping her treats as low on the glycemic index and as organic as possible.
This is a gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free recipe. A guilt free pumpkin treat for the sensitive tummy!
Ingredients:
2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten free oat flour
2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats
3/4 cup organic coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup organic maple syrup
1/2 cup organic pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup ghee (or other dairy free butter alternative softened at room temperature)
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp himalayan pink salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 Not Your Sugar Mamas Pure & Simple raw chocolate bars (cut into chunks)!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the wet ingredients (maple syrup, pumpkin, ghee, almond butter, vanilla) and coconut sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until incorporated. Combine all the remaining dry ingredients in a seperate bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, beating well until all ingredients are combined.
Finally, add NYSM raw chocolate chunks. Spoon cookie dough onto greased cookie sheet. Flatten them by tapping on the top with the edge of the spoon. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy curled up on the couch with a cup of tea or warm nut milk!
For more of Emma's recipes, visit her blog at mindbodyayurveda.com
Fresh Mint-Citrus-Chip Smoothie
I absolutely love this smoothie for Spring time. The mint gives it such a fresh test and the citrus livens it up, while at the same time the avocado and hemp milk give it a creamy deliciousness. Its also got so much green in it that just looking at it makes me happy. I've been drinking it lately thinking how awesome it would be with chocolate. So I added some cacao and dates but it didn't have that beautiful vibrant green color anymore. So luckily, this morning, I had the brilliant idea to shave our BE COOL chocolate bar into the smoothie. And viola the mint-citrus-chip deliciousness was born. Enjoy!
For Green Smoothie:
1 cup homemade hemp milk
1 green apple (cut without the pit)
Half cucumber
handful spinach
1/4 avocado
Juice of 1 lime
4-5 fresh mint leaves
For chocolate topping:
To Make: Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender until creamy and delicious. Pour into a beautiful cup. Shave BE COOL bar on top. Drink up minty freshness!
Dinner & Dessert: Almond Pad Thai & Cranberry Chocolate Truffles
I began my adventures with gluten free by chance. I had a roommate who had celiac disease and I LOVED her creations. She always cooked with a lot of veggies, different grains and beans, and a what I loved most, her collection of nuts - almond, macadamia, peanut, and seeds - chia, flax, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, etc. She kept it simple, went to the "feria" or farmers market once a week, got her veggies and then prepared them with her wild array of grains, beans, nuts and seeds. This was not only super healthy but was smart budgeting! Quickly, my other roommate and I caught on and started our own adventures in this type of cooking without really even the intention of cooking gluten free.
When I met Bennett, I was introduced me to the world of integrative nutrition where I learned simple things like how to make a superfood smoothie, how to cook kale & collard greens, and how delicious coconut oil is with...everything.
Tonight's dish is an inspiration from them both. I hope you enjoy!
Almond Pad Thai with rice noodles and Macadamia nuts
Ingredients:
- Rice noodles
- carrots
- spinach (or any type of green you want)
- Chopped fennel
- garlic
- ginger
- shallots
- garbanzo beans
- assortment of seeds: flax, sesame, chia
- two tablespoons Almond butter
- Roasted salted macadamia nuts
- coconut oil
- two tablespoons tamari soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon coconut palm sugar
Saute garlic and ginger in coconut oil. Add shallots. Cook until transparent, add fennel. Add garbanzo beans and carrots. Add spinach last.
Boil water, add rice noodles. Cook and drain. Rinse with cool water.
In a small bowl or cup mix almond butter, soy sauce, miso, brown rice vinegar and a dash of water together.
Add cooked rice noodles to veggie saute. Add sauce. Mix together over medium heat. Add seeds and top with shaved macadamia nuts. Mix, stir and serve!
Cranberry Chocolate Truffles
These chocolate bars are rich and creamy and filled with a tart and chewy center. Raw & vegan.
- 1 cup NYSM RAW CACAO POWDER
- 1 ½ cups cashews
- ¼ cup COCONUT PALM SUGAR
- 2 tbsp NYSM CACAO BUTTER, melted
- 3 tsp BE COZY chocolate mix
- ½ cup dried cranberries
