A Few Links I Love this Week (Feb 8 - Feb 14)

Have you ever sat back and thought about how much information we are bombarded with during the course of a day?  It is truly insane when you stop and think about it.  I check my Facebook newsfeed multiple times a day to see everything my friends are sharing, which is a heck of a lot.  Then there is Twitter.  Twitter can really be exhausting.   I am guaranteed to have hundreds of tweets to scroll through whenever I log on, only to have hundreds more pour in on top of those.  It's darn right never-ending.  There is physically no way you could see everything.  And Pinterest....don't even get me started on that! Whoever said that the internet is the Information Highway was not kidding.  Since I couldn't possible share all of the many links I enjoyed in a given week, I'm narrowing them all down to a handful of my favorites. 

1.  Hot Chocolate and wintertime go hand in hand.  These 14 recipes I found on PopSugar will take that plain old cup of cocoa and kick it up a notch.  I have got to try all of them, asap! 

2.  I drink a lot of water everyday, a lot of water.  I thought this infographic on the benefits of drinking water everyday is really interesting. 

3. You absolutely have to watch this achingly beautiful dance to the song"Take Me to Church" by Hozier.  The dancer, Sergei Polunin is amazing.  I was absolutely stunned by his performance.

~Chrissy

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Mexican Casserole

In my household, my husband is currently steering clear of meat and dairy products for health reasons so I have been making more meatless dishes that we can both enjoy.  Over the holidays, I had to bring a dish to both of our families Christmas parties.  I wanted something hearty and filling and most importantly full of flavor.  This dish I came up with, which is inspired by a dish I saw on Homegrown & Healthy, satisfied all three of these things!

 Sweet Potato & Black Bean Mexican Casserole

by Herban Adventures

Ingredients:

1 cup -  Red Quinoa

2 cups -  Broth (vegetable or chicken, depending on dietary preference) or Water

4 cups - peeled, diced Sweet Potatoes (about 2 medium sized sweet potatoes)

1 (8oz) can - Strained Tomatoes or Tomato Sauce

1 1/2 cup - Water

4 Tbsp - Taco Seasoning (I used one packet of Simply Organic Southwest Taco Seasoning) 

2 (15oz) - Black Beans (drained & rinsed)

1 - small Onion (diced)

1 - Red Bell Pepper (diced)

1 container - Grape Tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup - Nutritional Yeast
Salt & Pepper
Cornstarch or Arrowroot powder (optional)

Garnish:  Sliced Avocado (optional)

Directions:

1.  Allow red quinoa and broth to come to a boil in a small sauce pan.  Reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  Take off heat, stir and cover, allowing the quinoa to absorb all the broth. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

2.  In a small sauce pan, add strained tomatoes, water and taco seasoning.  Stir and let come to boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer on low for 10 minutes to allow it to thicken a bit. (If you want your sauce thicker, add a little bit of cornstarch or arrowroot powder until reach desired consistency. I made it with both a thick sauce and a thinner sauce and they were equally delicious!) Take off heat and allow to cool a little.  Add the nutritional yeast and stir.

3. Fill a large pan with water, let come to boil and add sweet potato.  Cook until the sweet potato is tender.  Drain.

4.  In large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, black beans, onions, bell pepper, tomatoes, sauce and quinoa. 

5.  Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

6.  Cool and serve.  Top with avocado slices as a garnish, if desired.

~Chrissy

Pumpkin Smoothie Recipe

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Last year, I made a pretty simple change to my diet.  I began drinking smoothies twice a day.  I have to tell you this is one easy way to add fruits and veggies into your diet on a daily basis, and your body will love you for it.  I feel a noticeable difference in my overall health!   

With Fall quickly approaching, this gives me the perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite smoothie recipes, a Pumpkin Smoothie.  I don't know about you but there is just something about the cool, crispness of the Fall air that starts my taste buds craving pumpkin.

Ingredients:
1/3 can, canned pumpkin (15oz) or 5 oz homemade puree
1 Tbsp raw honey or agave nectar
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Ginger
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I recommend homemade)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 frozen banana


Directions:
Add all the ingredients into a high powered blender.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  Enjoy! (makes 2 servings)



*Note:  Be sure to tweak this recipe to your own taste buds.  Add more of less of the spices or sweetener and be sure to experiment with additional spices. I think adding some nutmeg would be fantastic, too!

Homemade Almond Milk

My husband recently sent me an email titled "Almond Breeze is Crap".  For those of you who don't know, Almond Breeze is a widely stocked brand of Almond Milk in most grocery stores.  It's the brand I have been drinking for years now.  The reason for my husbands harsh words were due a blog he had read about an ingredient called carrageenan.  Now to be fair, Almond Breeze is not the only company who uses this ingredient.  There are in fact a lot of "crappy" almond milks out there.  It is found in all of the brands available at my local grocery stores.  You'll find it in the coconut and soy milks too.  Interesting side note:  This morning while brushing my teeth, I decided to check out the ingredients on my Tom's of Maine Fluoride-free toothpaste and guess what I found?  Yes, carrageenan is in that as well.  I suppose my next project is to find a new toothpaste or make my own.

Carrageenan is extracted from a red seaweed, Chondrus crispus, or Irish moss. The carrageenan found in your processed foods is in an un-degraded form and is chemically processed.  It has no nutritional value and is primarily used as a binder and thickening agent to improve texture in foods like ice cream, yogurt, almond milks, coconut milks, etc...   When researching carrageenan on the internet, you'll find both the pro and cons as to whether or not this ingredient is thought to be "good" for us to consume.  The key arguments for the cons were what spoke to me, and in particular the research studies on laboratory mice which have shown this type of carrageenan to be linked to malignancies, inflammation of the GI tract, glucose intolerance and impaired insulin action among other things.  Since a properly working digestive system is my primary health goal, the inflammation of the GI tract findings really worries me, enough to immediately make a dietary change.  There is a lot of nasty stuff out there in our foods and beauty products.  It is sure hard to avoid them all, but I am always happy when I become more aware of them.  Knowing more about carrageenan can only help me make better informed choices for myself.  Since I drink almond milk every morning, I know making my own is a surefire way to help me avoid this nasty ingredient in my daily morning drink!   

PLEASE NOTE:  This is only a very short synopsis of my own internet research findings, but the blog post my husband sent me which inspired me to dig a bit deeper and then make a change can be found on the blog Higher Purpose Living.  Please read it, as it has really great and detailed information about Carrageenan. 

Homemade Almond Milk:

Making my own almond milk has always intrigued me, but after learning about carrageenan and not liking what I was learning, I was immediately spurred into action.  Thankfully, I already had all the necessary ingredients on hand or I would have been making a late night run to the store!

The best thing about making almond milk is it's not hard to do.  The most time consuming part is soaking your almonds.  You'll want to make sure and soak them overnight for optimal results.  The worst thing about making almond milk is there are a few pieces of essential equipment you'll also need:
1. a high powered blender, and
2. a nut milk strainer bag.  I tend to do a lot of my on-line shopping at Amazon, where there are a variety of options for $6-8. 

Once your almonds are sufficiently soaked and rinsed off well, toss them in a blender.  Add 3-4 cups water, sweetener (i.e. dates) and anything else you may want, like vanilla or cinnamon.  Blend at high speed.  Transfer to your nut milk bag and strain into a large bowl.  That's it, you're all done.  It is so easy to make and tastes so much more fresh and delicious then the store bought variety that you won't want to go back to store bought anymore, carrageenan or not, anyway, which is kind of the point.  Right?  :)

You can find the full recipe with step by step directions at Oh She Glows.  Enjoy!!!

~Chrissy