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Beverages Gluten Free Low Calorie Low Carb Recipes

This Tea is NOT For Tea Totolars

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lemonade

There are two ways you can frame these beverages – a cup of tea that got kicked up a notch, or a healthy(er) cocktail. Some recipes are for single servings – hey, sometimes a girl’s just gotta take a break, and some are for a crowd. Either way, I hope you’ll enjoy this collection of low cal, low carb, gluten free, low sugar hot toddies as much as we have.

Apple Hot Toddy

Ingredients

1 chai or cinnamon-apple tea bag

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar (or a packet of Stevia or monk fruit)

3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup apple brandy

Instructions

Pour 3/4 cup water into a mug. Add tea bag. Microwave for two minutes, then remove from microwave.

While the tea is steeping add remaining ingredients. Remove tea bag after 2 to 5 minutes.

 

Lemon Vanilla Brandy

Basically all you need to do is heat up your lemonade and add brandy. I’ve included the recipe below in case you want to start from scratch or you want the extra flavor dimension of the honey and vanilla extract.

I almost forgot to mention that you can use whiskey or dark rum in place of the brandy. A flavored liquor would be a nice twist.

Ingredients

½ cup xylitol or honey

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (somewhere near 6 lemons)

5 cups water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup brandy (you can add more if you like, but taste it first)

 Instructions

Mix all ingredients and heat until hot, but don’t bring it to a boil. If you’re having a party you can put it in a slow cooker with a ladle for serving or in a thermos.

 

 

Chai Toddy

Ingredients

1 cup chai tea

1/4 cup heavy cream or nondairy milk

1/4 cup Kahlua, dark rum, or brandy

1 to 2 packets monk fruit, Stevia, or Splenda

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a mug. Heat in microwave for one minute.

 

Now sit back, relax, and sip your “tea” 🙂

 

$$$avers Beverages Gluten Free Living Food Paleo Recipes Vegan Vegetarian

I Made Cashew Milk Today!

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silk-cashew-milkI tried this cashew milk by Silk and loved it. Did you see on the package that it’s only 25 calories per cup! And it tastes way better than skim milk (which has more calories anyway). Only problem – it’s not organic. So I found some organic cashew milk and bought it. Not a sustainable plan though since this cashew milk, while DELICIOUS, cost $9 for a two cup bottle. Waa-waaaa!

Plan B – make my own cashew milk. However raw organic cashews cost $9 per bag, if I’m lucky and find them on sale. So homemade cashew milk was still going to be expensive, or so I thought. Take a look at the cost breakdown at the end of this post. Long story, shortened, I went ahead and made it anyway. The long story was basically me stalking a bag of cashews at Mothers Market until one day it went on sale and I bought it. After the disaster with the rice milk (which tasted like watered down water) I felt like I owed myself an indulgence – in the nondairy milk area of my life.

The whole process was pretty simple. I soaked the cashews in warm filtered water overnight. I didn’t add salt to it which all soaking recipes tell you to do, mostly, well completely, because I didn’t read any directions before soaking them. I just did it and then the next morning Googled “how to soak cashews” so that I would know if I needed to soak them longer. That’s when I saw that I was supposed to have added a tablespoon of sea salt to the soaking water. Oh well. So I drained off the water and rinsed the nuts until the water was clear. Soaking part done.

One of the other things that had put me off from making cashew milk is that I didn’t want to have to deal with the whole straining the ground nuts out of the milk issue. Besides having to buy a nut bag and adding more work to the process, me being me, I would then have to figure out a way to use those soaked, ground nuts in another recipe. Cashew Nut Brownies anyone? I decided that I just wouldn’t strain the nuts out. If you can make cashew butter from cashews then I figured that they would probably just blend into the milk as if I’d stirred cashew butter into water.

So I got out my Oster blender. Love that blender. I dumped 3 cups of cashews and 2 cups filtered water into the blender and buzzed them until the cashews were completely pureed into the water. Then I added  a large pinch of sea salt, 2 tablespoons vanilla extract, 2 packets of Truvia*, and 4 more cups water, buzzing until blended. I poured 2 cups of this very rich cashew milk into a water bottle to use for coffee. I added 2 more cups of water to the blender, buzzing until blended. This produced a more milk-like consistency.

Okay, so the cashew milk was just as delicious as the store-bought versions, but how did it come out expense-wise? The bag of raw organic cashews cost $9 on sale. That bag gave me 2 cups of cream and 9 cups of milk at a cost of .82 per cup. Comparing that to the cost of store-bought soy, almond, rice, or coconut milk at .63 to $1.13 per cup, homemade cashew milk is actually quite affordable. And if I hadn’t poured off the cashew cream then my cost would have gone down to .60 per cup. (12 cups of water to 3 cups of cashews, made in 2 batches.)

* You don’t need to add sweetener, but if you do you can use stevia, maple syrup, honey, Truvia, monk fruit, Splenda, basically any sweetener that isn’t as bad for you as white cane sugar, because what would be the point of making homemade organic cashew milk and then dumping white sugar into it?

Beverages Gluten Free Kid Friendly Living Food Low Calorie Neutral Paleo Recipes Vegan Vegetarian

Delicious Easy Nutritious Coconut Milk

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freshly made coconut milk

freshly made coconut milk

Recently I discovered that the “organic” nondairy milk that I’d been buying wasn’t so organic. It’s right there on the ingredients label, I was just blinded by the “organic” in big letters on the front of the package. I’ll add more to this post next week detailing what I learned, but for today I wanted to give you all who saw my post on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter this super simple recipe for coconut milk.

Once I figured out that the only way I was going to get nondairy milk without all the junk added to it was to make it myself I started looking around for the easiest and least expensive way to do this. Almond and cashew milk are fine, but pretty expensive when you’re buying organic nuts AND it’s a little more work than I want to invest.

I’ve yet to try making brown rice milk, which I will and will post about later, but today I had a bunch of coconut flour and shredded coconut and decided to give coconut milk a try.

For my first batch I went with the coconut flour method mostly because I could skip the blender step.

Coconut Flour Milk

Ingredients

4 cups filtered hot water
1 cup organic coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Ingredients

Mix the water, coconut flour and sea salt in a large measuring cup. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. Pour through a very fine sieve, cheesecloth lined colander or nut milk bag. You could also pour through a coffee filter set on top of your coffee pot. Once no more milk is coming through the sieve, press down on the flour to express as much milk as possible. Most people discard the coconut flour that’s left over but I used mine to make a nondairy cream cheese. You could also use it to thicken sauces, stew, soup, or gravy.

My Review: the milk tastes flat and watery, not a lot of flavor. I’ll use it to make a smoothie but won’t make it this way again.

 

Shredded Coconut Milk

Ingredients

4 cups filtered hot water
2 cups organic shredded coconut

Instructions

Pour the water over the shredded coconut in a blender. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or until the water has cooled enough to safely blend. Blend for a few seconds. It doesn’t take much. Pour through a very fine sieve, cheesecloth lined colander or nut milk bag. You could also pour through a coffee filter set on top of your coffee pot. Once no more milk is coming through the sieve, press down on the flour to express as much milk as possible.

The left over shredded coconut can be used in any recipe calling for shredded coconut, however it won’t have as much flavor or fat since these were expressed into the milk, but you will get the bulk and the fiber. You could also just add to your smoothies, pancake batter, home made bread, or yogurt.

My Review: the milk tastes fabulous! I don’t drink milk, even nondairy milk but I had to stop myself from drinking the whole batch and calling it breakfast. I thought I would have to add some sea salt at least, if not vanilla and sweetener, but this milk doesn’t need a thing.

The milk will separate as it sits, just shake it up before you use it. I don’t worry about skimming the fattier cream off the top because I try to add coconut oil to my diet every day anyway.

Beverages Fruit Gluten Free High Protein Kid Friendly Low Calorie Low Carb Recipes Vegetarian

Protein Smoothies – Kick ‘Em Up a Notch

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protein smoothie recipe

Breakfast and lunch – ready to hit the road.

Sometimes I get tired of protein powder shakes, add ice cubes and some water, blend, yawn. So I start playing around with the basic recipe and suddenly my mornings are a lot more interesting. I’m using stevia as a sweetener but you can use monk fruit, Splenda, or any other healthy sweetener.

Strawberry Flaxtini

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1/2 cup frozen or fresh strawberries and 1 tablespoon ground flax seed. If all you have is whole flax seed add them by themselves in the blender and process until ground, then add the remaining ingredients.

Mocha Monkey

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk, 1/2 banana, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1/4 cup cold coffee, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Green Energy

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk, 1 cup spinach leaves, 1/2 pear or apple, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Ginger Kick

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk, 1/2 pear or apple, 1/2 banana (optional), 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Mocha Magic

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cup unsweetened nondair milk, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1/4 cup cold coffee, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Pineapple Smile

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk, 1 cup chopped pineapple, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Cinnamon Roll Smoothie

To your chosen protein powder recipe add 1 & 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon stevia.

Beverages Dessert Fruit Kid Friendly Living Food Neutral Recipes Vegetarian

More Fruit Smoothie Recipes

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Basic Fruit Smoothie Instructions:

Place ingredients in a blender – a food processor won’t give you a smooth puree, an immersion blender will work, but not as easy as a counter top blender.

 

Mixed Fruit

1 frozen banana
2 cups mixed fruit
1 cup fresh fruit juice

 

Papaya – Nectarine

1 papaya, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks
1 medium nectarine, pitted, cut into chunks
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup nondairy milk

 

Creamy Pineapple

I prefer this shake made with dates, almond extract and orange juice, and no rum extract. But that’s me, you may love it without dates and with rum extract. When I make this drink for guests I make it how I like it, and pour it into glasses for some of my guests. Then I add the rum extract for the rest of my guests, and viola! everybody’s happy.

1/2 pineapple, cut into chunks
1 banana
1/4 can coconut milk(there is a light version that most supermarkets carry in the Asian foods section which I think tastes watery, but you can boost the flavor with coconut extract)
3 dates, chopped (or 2-3 tablespoons honey, date or maple sugar)
(almond extract )
(rum extract)
(juice from 1-3 oranges)
 

Creamy Pineapple Berry

This is a variation of our Creamy Pineapple Smoothie

1/2 pineapple, cut into chunks
1 banana
4 large strawberries, tops removed
1/4 can coconut milk(there is a light version that most supermarkets carry in the Asian foods section which I think tastes watery, but you can boost the flavor with coconut extract)
3 dates, chopped (or 2-3 tablespoons honey, date or maple sugar)
almond extract, optional
rum extract, optional
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

 

Raspberry – Watermelon

2 cups seeded watermelon, cut into chunks
1 cup raspberries(fresh or frozen)
1 cup ice cubes or 1/2 cup fresh apple or pear juice
2 tablespoons date or maple sugar

 

Creamy Almond

2 bananas
1 apple, cored & peeled
1/4 cup almond butter
dash of sea salt
glug of vanilla

 

Coconut Orange Cream

4 oranges, peeled, sectioned, membrane and seeds discarded
1 banana
2 cups coconut milk (if you use light coconut milk, bolster the flavor with coconut extract)

 

Tropical Cream

Grind to a fine crumb in blender:

1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/2 cup date pieces

Add and blend until pureed:

1 tablespoon vanilla
(1/4 cup honey)
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 bananas
2 cups sliced peaches, peeled, fresh or frozen

 

Beverages Living Food Neutral Recipes Vegetarian

Juicing Smuiching – We’re Having Smoothies!

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I promised you some of my veggie smoothie recipes, which if you think about it is really a drinkable soup. Still you can’t just pour soup in a cup and go, well you can, but it won’t be a smoothie, it will be a cup of broth. It’s best to have a smoothie that tastes good cold and is, well smooth (chunk free).

I’m really enjoying taking a veggie smoothie with me when I’m out running errands. Eliminates the need to stop for nourishment, keeps me hydrated and I like having something delicious to sip on as a change from drinking plain water.

If you want a perfectly smooth smoothie then you’ll want to peel and de-seed all vegetables. I don’t always (as in never) have the time and I like to get the nutrition contained in the peels and seeds, so I leave them in.

When pureeing vegetables, roughly chop the veggies, place a little liquid in the blender, then the veggies and buzz until smooth, adding more liquid if needed. Once the veggies are pureed, then you can add the rest of the ingredients and buzz until well mixed.

Depending on the broth or tomato juice that you use you may or may not need to add salt or pepper to your smoothie. So my suggestion is to make the smoothie without adding any salt or pepper, taste and add if needed.

 

Cucumber Salsa Smoothie

1 medium cucumber
1 large tomato
1/4 cup fresh salsa
1/4 fresh cilantro
1/2 cup salsa juice, tomato juice, vegetable broth or water

 

Virgin Bloody Mary

This recipe didn’t take much imagination on my part but it sure is delicious!

3 stalks celery from the heart, including leaves
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon chopped shallot
dash Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 dashes hot sauce, or to taste
2 limes, juiced
1 (48-ounce) bottle tomato juice

Chop the celery, including the leaves, and puree in a food processor or blender. Once the celery is pureed add the remaining ingredients and buzz until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher, add the tomato juice, and stir.

 

Cucumber Dill Smoothie

1 large cucumber
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup silken tofu or yogurt
1/4 cup fresh dill or 1 to 2 tablespoons dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
Add more broth if needed.

 

Mediterranean Smoothie

This recipe is based on one of my favorite soups. I substituted cucumber for the eggplant in the original recipe as eggplant does not taste good raw – trust me, it does not.

3 medium tomatoes, chopped (about 3 cups)
1 large cucumber, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
3 cups canned tomato juice
2 tablespoons fresh herbs (such as tarragon, thyme, or parsley), chopped
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt
cayenne pepper

If too thick thin with additional broth or tomato juice.

 

Creamy Tomato Smoothie

I love creamy tomato soup so I came up with this recipe for a creamy tomato smoothie. You can change it up by using 1 cucumber in place of 2 of the tomatoes.

1/2 cup plain yogurt or silken tofu
1/2 cup tomato juice or vegetable broth
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
If smoothie is thick thin with broth or tomato juice.

 

Smoothie de Tortilla

Since Sopa de Tortilla is one of my favorite soups, I was looking forward to developing a smoothie recipe that incorporated the same flavors.

If you can’t find a Sopa de Tortilla broth you can use a canned Sopa de Tortilla as long as it doesn’t contain pieces of chicken.

2 cups Sopa de Tortilla broth
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked corn
salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Thin with additional broth or water if needed.

Beverages Recipes

Eating More Greens to Improve Your Health

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We’re working hard on getting our new book “The UnDiet – 2 Weeks of Extremely Low Carb Menus & Recipes” out on Kindle and so we are very pleased that this guest poster has offered to share these delicious fruit smoothie recipes packed with “green power”.

 

 

Getting more vegetables and green foods specifically into your diet has a wide host of health benefits. These plants can improve all aspects of your life, including cardiovascular and weight loss advantages. Whatever challenges you face in your life, there is no doubt that more greens can help you meet those obstacles.

First off, any kind of green you eat is beneficial because of the chlorophyll present. As you probably know, chlorophyll is the substance in plants that makes them look green, and it is responsible for carrying out the process of photosynthesis, which creates energy for plants in the form of glucose. Interestingly enough, chlorophyll is extremely similar to hemoglobin, which carries oxygen through the human body. The two molecules are virtually identical, except that there is a magnesium atom in the center of the chlorophyll, and an iron in the center of the hemoglobin. It is extremely incredible how they are so similar, and the phenomenon is evidence of the intimate relationship between man and plant.

The point of that little science lesson was to demonstrate the importance of consuming green foods. They flood the system with chlorophyll, the constituents of which can be used to improve the quality of the blood. Since the blood is such a critical aspect of our bodies, having healthy blood usually leads to health in other areas. Chlorophyll has also been shown to have potent antibacterial and energy producing properties, and is a superfood in its own right. Yet this molecule is just one of the many reasons to consume green foods.

All green foods contain many other phytonutrients which act as antioxidants, eliminating free radicals and decreasing the rate of aging. Antioxidants also help prevent cancer, which is why foods like spinach and broccoli are recommended as anticancer foods. There are also many of the common vitamins found in foods like these. For example, spinach is very high in both Vitamin A and Vitamin C, as well as a vegetarian source of iron. Of course, there is also magnesium in all green foods, as it is present in the chlorophyll.

Getting more green foods into your life is not as hard as it seems. Besides simply making a conscious choice to purchase more at the grocery store, there are also shortcuts of sorts. You can get green drink mixes that integrate many different plants into the formula, and these products enable you to get many servings of vegetables in a single drink. Enzymes and probiotics are also featured in green drinks, so there is no shortage of benefits to drinking them. You can also purchase a juicer and make your own green drinks in your home, and both routes are equally acceptable for getting more plant nutrients on a daily basis.

For a quick start on upping your greens intake, here are two great and simple recipes to try out.

Hemp Power Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup spinach

1/2 cup kale

1/4 cup almonds

3 tablespoons hemp seed

1 tablespoon hemp seed oil

Mix all ingredients together for a raw salad that is jam-packed with vitamins, minerals, protein, Omega-3, and fiber. You cannot get better than a salad like this. And if you want your greens meals to taste even sweeter, then the next recipe will be even better.

Ultimate Antioxidant Shake

Ingredients:

1 cup spinach

1 cup blueberries

1 cup almond milk

3 tablespoons

Chocolate Hemp Shake powder (or any good quality chocolate protein  powder)

4 ice cubes

Mix all ingredients in a blender, pushing down the spinach as necessary to make sure it is properly pulverized. Both spinach and blueberries are respective superfoods in their vegetable/fruit categories, and the cocao in the HempShake powder compliments the protein with even more powerful antioxidants. Fitting both of these recipes into your day will ensure complete nutrition.

Beverages High Protein Starches Vegetarian

More Recipes for Losing Weight – Creamy Rice Soup

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Here’s another one of our UnDiet recipes for losing weight that also works for a vegetarian losing weight and adheres to the principles of food combining. Call it a three-fer!

I love Trader Joes! They are my go-to source for quick and easy meals. A few choice purchases and I have the makings for several entirely different meals. I recently picked up a small tub of their Parmesan Artichoke Dip which has a cream cheese base. I spread it on top of a toasted piece of their whole wheat naan bread, then added some thinly sliced fresh tomatoes. Delicious! Then I had some dental work and couldn’t chew for a few days. I didn’t want the artichoke dip to go to waste so I mixed up this Creamy Rice Soup and I was in heaven!

Remember that I put amounts in my recipes to make it easier to give my readers an idea of what I’m doing, but there is no need to use exact measurements. A large spoonful can serve as a 1/4 cup measure, a coffee mug (which is usually what I use to serve soup in) holds about 1 & 1/2 cups, etc.

This is not a chicken and rice soup recipe though because that would be a bad food combination. See the notes at the end of the post.

Stir together and heat until very hot:
2 cups broth (I used french onion broth but any vegetable broth will do)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice or brown rice pilaf

Alternatively you could use 2 cups of leftover whole grain pasta or shirataki noodles.

Remove rice from heat and stir in 1/4 cup each of Trader Joes Artichoke Parmesan Dip and diced soy cheese. Grab a spoon and I guarantee you’ll be in heaven too!

You can also add more rice so that you have a stew rather than a soup.

If you are not a vegetarian losing weight you might be tempted to stir in some cooked chicken or turkey for a very hearty soup but it’s not a good idea when practicing food combining to mix a grain (the rice) with a protein (chicken or turkey).

I hope you’ll enjoy these recipes for losing weight for dinner tonight! And if you want to be prepared for those nights when you’re not up to cooking, pick up one or more of the delish brown rice mixes below.

 

 

Beverages Kid Friendly Recipes

Cocoa Milk

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Use a blender to mix nondairy milk with cocoa or carob powder. I’ve tried both stirring with a spoon and using a wire whip but a blender or battery operated whisk works best to eliminate lumps and give the milk a nice froth. I sometimes blend up a big batch and pour it into a pitcher that I keep in the fridge. This way it’s ready for a quick drink, or to heat up for a nice hot cocoa in the morning.

Taste and if needed sweeten with one of the following sweeteners:

  • agave nectar
  • honey
  • Stevia
Beverages Kid Friendly Recipes

Parisian Hot Chocolate

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Stir together with a wire whip in a medium-size heavy pan over low heat:

4 ounces grain-sweetened chocolate or carob chips
2 1/2 cups nondairy milk
1 tablespoon unrefined sugar or sugar substitute
2 sticks cinnamon

Continue stirring occasionally. When the mixture begins to bubble around the edges, remove from heat. Remove the cinnamon sticks and stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.