Tag: healthy

Health ~ Bedtime Fat Burning Juice

Nā Hālau ʻĀha Hūi Lanakila2 Comments

How incredible would it be if you could lose weight fast with one simple drink and of course few exercises?  It may sound hard to believe, but there is a way that you can actually burn fat and shed pounds really fast and easy!

How? This simple drink is the secret to losing weight.

bedtime-fat-burning-juice

Ingredients for Sleeping Weight Loss Drink

With these simple ingredients, which you can pick up at your local grocery store, you can whip up this weight loss drink (which is also super tasty) in no time:

  • 1 lemon
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 tablespoon of grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of aloe vera juice
  • A bunch of either cilantro or parsley
  • ½ glass of water

Simply add the ingredients together, blend them and drink a glass of the juice before bedtime.

How it Works

By drinking just one glass of this juice before bed, you will greatly reduce your fat levels – especially your belly fat. If you drink it nightly, and after waking up you do some cardio workouts for about 30 minutes you will notice results in just a few days.

It’s not uncommon to develop fat while you sleep. Why? Because when you go to sleep, your metabolism significantly slows down. The ingredients in this drink will give your metabolism a jump start so that it will continue burning fat while you sleep.

How is this possible? – Because the ingredients in the drink are all proven to speed up the metabolism, so when you consume them you before you go to bed, your metabolism keeps running on high.

Cucumbers are very powerful for fighting fat. They are a key element in any weight loss program. One full cucumber contains just 45 calories and they are high in fiber and water content, two things that are keys to cutting fat; plus, they are very refreshing and give this drink a wonderful taste.

Parsley and cilantro are very low in calories and they are both loaded with antioxidants, as well as vitamins and minerals that are extremely powerful for easing water retention, thus, they help to deflate an inflated tummy.

Ginger steps up the metabolism and also prevents constipation, two things that are very powerful for fighting off that unwanted belly fat. This ingredient will help to burn off that stubborn belly fat while you sleep.

Lemon juice is very effective for flushing out toxins that accumulate in the body. As such, when you drink lemon juice, you will be able to blast off that belly fat. You’ll also feel a whole lot better because the impurities that have built up in your system will be cleaned out.

Aloe vera juice is exceptionally powerful for weight loss. It is full of antioxidants and helps to delay the development of free radicals in the body that cause inflammation and bloat. This juice also helps to stimulate your metabolic rate, which can help to greatly reduce your body mass index.

Sip this healthy drink before bed and you’ll wake up feeling lighter and more energetic.

Recipe ~ DIY Healthy Nutella!

Nā Hālau ʻĀha Hūi Lanakila1 Comment

binnyNutellaNutella is so yummy and addictive, but have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on the jar?

Sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts (13%), skim milk powder, reduced fat cocoa powder, emulsifier and flavoring.

Not exactly the healthiest, however you can easily make your own using just a few wholesome ingredients!

The secret to making any nut butter is to keep blending.

Don’t be disheartened if your butter still isn’t smooth within the first few minutes, it can take up to 10 minutes of constant processing before it reaches desired consistency.

Ingredients

2 cups roasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup cashew milk
1/4 cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1/4 tsp. celtic sea salt

Directions

Put the hazelnuts into a food processor or blender and blend on medium speed for a few minutes. You might have to scrape down the sides as you go.

Add all the other ingredients and keep blending with the speed on medium, again scraping down the sides if need be. It should take up to 10 minutes before it turns into a smooth, delicious butter.

 

Healthy Recipe ~ Crunchy Coconut Crumble Ice Cream

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Crunchy Coconut Crumble Ice Cream contains no white sugar, and uses raw and plant-based ingredients. If you like this recipe, you'll love our upcoming 7-Day Snacks & Dessert Challenge!
Crunchy Coconut Crumble Ice Cream contains no white sugar, and uses raw and plant-based ingredients. If you like this recipe, you’ll love our upcoming 7-Day Snacks & Dessert Challenge!
This recipe will knock your socks off, and I am confident that it will convince any one – plant based eater or not – that raw and plant based desserts can be just as satisfying as their ‘junk’ food counter parts. This recipe is really simple to prepare, and you can have the components on hand in your freezer, ready to be mixed up whenever your sweet tooth calls you. I do recommend that you keep the two components separate until you are ready to munch to maintain maximum crunchability :)

 

Ingredients:

Crunchy Coconut Crumble:

(makes at least 20 servings, depending on how much crumble you want in your ice cream)

  • 1 cup oat groats – ground into a flour
  • 2 cups toasted coconut flakes – you can purchase pre-toasted coconut or toast your own at home.
  • 1 cup almonds, chopped
  • 3 cups fresh dates, pitted
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder or vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Ice Cream:

(This is for one serving of ice cream)

  • 2-3 frozen, peeled bananas
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder or extract
  • 1/4 cup coconut or almond milk
  • 1/2 cup crumble balls

Directions:   To make your crumble, place your oat groats, coconut sugar, chopped pitted dates, cinnamon powder, vanilla and salt in a blender or food processor and pulse until a sticky cookie dough like consistency is reached. Remove from your blender or food processor and stir coconut flakes and chopped almonds in by hand to maintain their shape and crunch. Form into 1/4 inch balls and place in the freezer. When you are ready to make your ice cream, place your frozen bananas, vanilla and coconut or almond milk in a high speed blender or food processor and process until smooth. Remove from your machine and stir in your crumble mixture. Enjoy!

 

Recipe ~ Sweet Pepper Panzanella

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sweet pepper panzanellaPanzanella: it’s your excuse to eat bread and call it salad!

Ingredients

2-3 sweet peppers (red and/or yellow)
olive oil
sherry vinegar (or balsamic or white wine vinegar)
pinch of sweet or smoked paprika
toasted stale bread, rubbed w/ olive oil & garlic
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1-2 leaves of kale, torn
1/2 cup little mozzarella balls
1/4 cup chunky pickled onions (see below)
handful of torn basil
salt & pepper
pickled onions:
1 small red onion, sliced into thick strips
white wine vinegar (enough to fill the jar of onions)
a few pinches of cane sugar and salt

Instructions

For the pickled onions: (make in advance) pickle your onions by shaking all ingredients together in a jar. Chill until for at least an hour, or up to days (or weeks, really) in advance.


Slice cherry tomatoes and toss them with a splash of olive oil, a splash of sherry vinegar, salt, pepper.


Drizzle olive oil on your stale bread and toast (or grill) it until golden. While it’s still warm, rub it with a sliced clove of garlic, then slice it into bite sized pieces.


De-seed and slice your peppers into thick strips. Sautée them in a pan with olive oil until soft and lightly blistered. (you could also do this on a grill). Remove from heat, drizzle with a little sherry vinegar and a pinch of paprika.


Toss all salad ingredients together so that the juices from the tomatoes and the peppers create a light dressing. Drizzle with a little more olive oil. Taste, and add more salt and pepper to your liking. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes or so for the bread to soak up the juices. Serve at room temp.

Notes

Instead of pickled onions, you can also cook onions with your peppers. Use a yellow onion instead of a red one.

Vegan option:  skip the cheese

Yield: serves 3-4 as a side

Recipe ~ Healthy Pizza with a Cauliflower Crust

Nā Hālau ʻĀha Hūi Lanakila2 Comments

cauliflower-crust-pizza_Pizza CAN BE healthy! If you cut this crust into 8 slices, each piece of crust (without toppings) has only 50 calories, 2 carbs and 5 grams of protein! There’s no need to feel guilty about eating a few slices, several times a week!!

Prep time   :   15 mins
Cook time  :   35 mins
Total time  :   50 mins
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients
  • ½ head cauliflower (about 2 cups riced)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese (or Vegan alternative)
  • 1 egg, beaten (or Vegan egg-substitute — flaxseed, chia or powdered egg substitute)
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
  2. Prep a cookie sheet or pizza stone by grease it with oil. You can grease the cookie sheet or use greased aluminum foil. It will stick if you don’t grease it properly!! (I used a Pampered Chef baking stone, and made sure to spray it before putting on the crust.
  3. Remove the stems and leaves from your cauliflower and chop the florets into chunks. Add to a food processor (I used my Vitamix) and pulse just until the texture is similar to rice. If you don’t have a food processor or Vitamix, you can grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater or chop it.
  4. Sauté cauliflower “rice” in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook until translucent, approximately 6-8 minutes. (You can use the microwave for this as well.  Just place cauliflower in an uncovered microwave-safe bowl and cook for 8 minutes.)
  5. In a bowl, combine the cooked cauliflower with all remaining ingredients.
  6. Spread dough out evenly over foil (or stone) – about ¼ to ⅓ of an inch thick. The pizza should be about 9-10 inches in diameter.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden, crispy on the edges and cooked through the middle.
  8. Remove the crust from the oven.
  9. Top with pizza sauce and toppings. Be careful not to add too many heavy toppings as you don’t want to weigh down the crust.
  10. Broil the pizza for 5 minutes, or until the toppings are hot and the cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to cool for 2-3 minutes then cut and serve immediately.
Author:   Eating Bird Food

Recipe ~ Quinoa Cakes with Eggplant-Tomato Ragu and Mozzarella

Nā Hālau ʻĀha Hūi Lanakila1 Comment

quinoa cakes

Ingredients

For quinoa cakes

  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

For topping

  • 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 cup drained bottled roasted red peppers, rinsed and chopped
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/4 pound smoked mozzarella, diced (1 cup)

Preparation

Make quinoa cakes:
Bring water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan.

Meanwhile, wash quinoa in 3 changes of water in a bowl, then drain well in a fine-mesh sieve.

Stir quinoa into boiling water and return to a boil, then simmer, covered, until quinoa is dry and water is absorbed, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, then stir in egg.

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and lightly brush with oil. Lightly oil a 1-cup dry-ingredient measure. Pack enough quinoa into measure with a rubber spatula to fill it two-thirds full. (If spatula becomes sticky, dip in water.) Unmold onto baking sheet and gently pat quinoa into a 4-inch-wide patty with spatula. Make 3 more quinoa cakes, brushing measure with oil each time. Chill cakes, uncovered, at least 15 minutes.

Make topping while quinoa cooks and chills:
Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt in a colander and drain 30 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of eggplant to extract liquid, then pat dry.

Cook eggplant, onion, garlic, oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, roasted peppers, and water and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is very tender and mixture is thick (if dry, thin with a little water), about 10 minutes.

Cook quinoa cakes:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Carefully add quinoa cakes and cook, turning once carefully and adding remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons oil, until crisp and golden, 8 to 10 minutes total (pat cakes to reshape with cleaned rubber spatula while cooking if necessary). Transfer to plates.

To serve:
Return eggplant ragù to a simmer and stir in parsley and half of mozzarella, then simmer, stirring, until cheese just begins to soften, about 30 seconds. Spoon over quinoa cakes, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.

 

Cooks’ notes:

·Quinoa cakes can be formed 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
·Eggplant-tomato ragù, without parsley and mozzarella, can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

 

Recipe ~ Vegan Yakisoba

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veggie yakisoba

Lana made this dish for her parents and housemates, and it was a HIT!

Do you know what we really like?  Soba noodles. And Japanese food. And putting cabbage in things.

Cabbage is so underrated.

We are also not very fast at julienning carrots, and they’re most certainly not the most evenly-cut thing we’ve ever produced, but we really like how everything is long and skinny in this dish. Normally we would be carrot coins all the way!

We like to keep this pretty simple, but it can be doctored to your liking.  Lana has added Fry’s chicken-style strips to the one in the picture here, but we didn’t like them and picked them out.  We bet it would be better with tofu, and we can’t believe we just said that.  The Vegan chickin strips work great; so does the Vegan “beef” strips, so try it and enjoy.  Anyway, here’s a basic recipe to get you started:

Serves 4

Ingredients:
soba noodles
2 carrots, julienned
1/2 head cabbage, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions/scallions
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbs sambal oelek or other chili
1 tbs sugar
toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Saute the carrots, cabbage, garlic and light-green part of green onion/scallion over medium heat 5 minutes or until soft and beginning to brown.


2. Meanwhile, cook your soba noodles in boiling water 2 minutes, then drain and refresh.


3. Add noodles to veggies, turn heat down and add combined soy, chili and sugar.


4. Turn up to re-heat without boiling the crap out of your sauce, and serve topped with toasted sesame seeds.
If using tofu or other chicken substitute, cook them before the veg, set aside and add to the pan again when you add the noodles.


YUM!