Life, Gluten Free

Amy and Brian's Coconut Juice Review

 

We have been drinking coconut water for several years now and Sophie loves it. Our brand of choice is Amy and Brian's coconut water, because 1) we like the taste and most importantly 2) we have spoken to them on the phone to verify that it is produced in a gluten-free and nut-free facility (they only produce coconut juice).

So, what benefits do you get from drinking coconut water?

Coconut water is very hydrating to the body because it is high in electrolytes, especially potassium. It even can take the edge off of hunger, making it a great snack if you are waiting for lunch or dinner.

Amy and Brian's coconut water won us over by its great taste, and of course, that it's allergy-safe for us. We often buy it by the case because it's more affordable that way. Of course, some of you may be thinking: it's in an aluminum can, is that safe?

There is evidence that shows that there can be harmful side effects of long-term exposure to aluminum. I believe in always being cautious, and it does make me wonder about the correlation between the consumption of canned food items and alzheimer's disease. (If anyone has more knowledge of this, please feel free to leave a comment!)

There are many coconut water brands out there (some are not safe for us, O.N.E brand coconut water produces a cashew flavor) and some are in tetra paks. While tetra paks are thought to be safe, they cannot be recycled.

Do you drink coconut water? What's your favorite brand?

*this review is not sponsored by Amy and Brian's. It is purely my opinion and I did not receive any free samples nor was I asked to post about it.

No Frills Banana Coconut Milkshake

Sophie liked this milkshake so much that she started drinking it before I had a chance to snap a photo. We love bananas around here, and we especially like that if you blend frozen bananas (in the vitamix or food processor) it comes out just like soft serve ice cream. But this time, I added coconut milk to make a milkshake because sometimes you just need to drink out of a straw. Am I right? 

No Frills Banana Coconut Milkshake

NO: dairy, gluten, soy, processed sugar 

Ingredients:

3 frozen bananas

1/2 cup organic thai kitchen coconut milk (full fat)

dash of cinnamon

1 tablespoon raw honey 

a cool straw

Directions:

Blend in vitamix or similar high-powered blender

Pour into a cup and serve with a straw! Good for one person or two to share.

How to make a good smoothie 101

We really love smoothies in our house, especially green smoothies.

To make a great smoothie, you really just need a few ingredients. For added nutrition, we like to add some type of green vegetable to our smoothies. Spinach is an excellent choice for smoothies, but often times we also use kale. The smoothie pictured in this post had kale in it from our CSA.

The key is to have a good balance of green vegetable and sweet fruit so that you end up with a smoothie that will satisfy even the most picky palate. Our smoothies have been kid tested and parent approved. We've even shared our smoothies with those that aren't used to eating anything green (basically!), and gotten a thumbs up.

So once you have your greens in hand with a sense of power and excitemet to be making your family a nutrition-packed drink that will no doubt make them jump up from the kitchen table and do every chore in the house with lightning speed, you must remember the crucial greens-to-fruit ratio. Basically, you want a bit more fruit than greens. 

It helps to have a basic smoothie recipe. You can check out our green smoothie recipe to get a better idea of what makes a good smoothie. After you make it a time or two, then you can start tweaking the recipe to make a variety of smoothies. We often add mango, peaches, frozen grapes, plums, etc. You can double the ingredients to make more. We usually make a smoothie for the day in our largest vitamix container. And we don't always use coconut water, the majority of the time we simply just use water.

My daughter Sophie loves green smoothies so much that if I forget to make one, she reminds me!

The other day I made one for myself with our small tribest "personal blender" that doesn't make very much,. Sophie had already had one earlier, so I thought she probably wouldn't want more.

Boy was I ever wrong.

Sophie: "Is that a green smoothie?"

Me: "Yes....." (I just knew where this was going!)

Me: "Do you want some?"

Sophie: "Yes!"

So, I devy it up and give her about half.

Sophie: "Is that all?"

Me: "Well...yes...but I can make more."

Sophie: "like, a lot?"

I made another. :)

Perfectly Green Smoothie

My friend Debbie, over at The Gluten-Free Dish, recently posted a recipe for her Energizing Spring Smoothie. It got me thinking about one of our favorite - and simple - green smoothies.

And green it is, perfectly so. Green happens to be my favorite color, but that's not the real reason we like this smoothie so much. It tastes good, with just the right amount of spinach for a good helping of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Folate.

Green Smoothie

a generous heaping handful of organic spinach

1 organic banana

1/2 - 1 cup of coconut juice

Add to a blender and process until it's completely liquified.

Serves 1 adult and 1 kid, double for a larger crowd!

**We also like to add fresh orange juice to this smoothie recipe!

Warning: side effects may include, but are not limited to, a green moustache

Sunflower Seed Milk

Sunflower Seed Milk

NO: gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs

Ingredients:

1 cup soaked sunflower seeds

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

water

Preparation:

Soak 1 cup of raw sunflower seeds overnight.

Rinse sunflower seeds and add to Vitamix or other high-powered blender.

Fill blender container with water approximately 1/2 full.

Add raw honey and vanilla extract.

Blend until contents are liquified.

Since I didn't measure the water and every blender is different, you may have to add more depending on your blender.

The Vitamix does a very good job of liquifying the ingredients, so there is hardly any pulp.

You can strain the pulp if you wish, but I don't.

Sunflower seeds contain linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid. The seeds are also good sources of dietary fiber, protein, vitamin E, B Vitamins, and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc. If that isn't enough, they are also rich in cholesterol-lowering phyotosterols (phytochemicals naturally occuring in plants).

The best way to eat sunflower seeds is raw, not roasted. Raw sunflower seeds have not been heated or treated with salt. You can find raw hulled sunflower seeds at your local natural foods market.

Absolutely great as a drink by itself, added to cereal or smoothies, or simply topped with spices (cinammon, cardamom and nutmeg) and devoured along with some pumpkin spice bread. 

How much protein? 

Sunflower seeds contain 8grams of protein per 1/4 cup.

A great addition to anyone's diet!

How else can I use it? 

Sunflower seed milk can also be used in recipes that otherwise call for dairy or soy milk. We even used it to make potatoes au gratin!

-heather

Carrot Mango Juice

1 organic mango
2 small organic carrots
1 stick of organic celery
7 ice cubes

Add water to get blending started then adjust to desired consistency

Add lime for zing! This is a nice refreshing drink for the summer time. It was hot today, but deceivingly overcast. It looked like a nice day outside, but it was a hot one. Thankfully, the hot temperatures don't last long here.

-heather

Honey Rooibos Iced Tea

The contest has ended!

Today, movers will be here in about an hour and I shouldn't even be on the computer because we still have stuff to do. We were faced with having to move with a less than two week notice. To make a long story short, we found out that our daughter is allergic to dust mites. We found a place that only has hardwood floors and jumped on it.

For that reason, I will be announcing the winners by Monday. I had originally planned to announce them today, Thursday. I apologize for the inconvenience. I hope everyone will understand.



How to make the tea:

• Heat 7 cups of water in a sauce pan
• Add 2 Rooibos tea bags
• Add 2 tablespoons of raw honey [or to taste]
• Add to pitcher

My glass pitcher happens to hold 57.25 ounces, which I think is kind of odd. That comes to about 7 cups of water. You can adjust the recipe to fit your needs.

Health benefits of Rooibos tea:
• Rooibos tea contains no colors, additives or preservatives, making it a natural beverage. It contains no caffeine.

• According to studies conducted in South Africa and Japan Rooibos has been shown to aid in health problems such as insomnia, irritability, headaches, nervous tension, and hypertension.

• Studies also show that this tea contains anti - spasmodic agents, which can relieve stomach cramping and colic in infants.

• In South Africa Rooibos has been used to treat allergies such as hay fever, asthma and eczema very effectively .

• It is also used to treat irritated skin. Rooibos is brewed and placed directly on infected areas. Rooibos contains anti - oxidants which can help slow the aging process and boost the immune system.

• This tea contains almost no oxalic acid, making it a good beverage for people prone to kidney stones.

• Rooibos naturally contains the following minerals: copper, iron and potassium, calcium, fluoride, zinc, manganese, alpha- hydroxy ( for healthy skin ) and magnesium (for the nervous system) are also components of this tea.

**Facts from AfricanTea.com

Happiness Cookies

I call these happiness cookies for two reasons. One, after making the first batch and letting them cool, I was choosing one to give my husband to try. Somehow, I dropped it on the floor. As I went to pick it up, I noticed that the chocolate chips were arranged in a perfect -- but quite unintentional smiley face. There were two eyes, a nose, and then several chocolate chips in a curved mouth form.

How about that! Too bad I didn't think to take a picture :)

Second reason was I enjoyed this thoroughly. It was so much fun to make something for my husband to take to a work meeting. With all the challenges we have been having -- with our daughters allergies and so forth -- I took a moment to really savor the small things. I am so thankful.

I used Cherrybrook Kitchen Sugar Cookie Mix

It calls for:
1/4 cup of milk substitute (I usedRice Milk)
1/2 cup of margarine or oil
2 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract, Gluten Free
** I added 1 organic egg

After dolloping the cookie dough onto the sheet, I sprinkled each cookie with chocolate chips from Enjoy Life

** I have made this mix before. It is kind of dry and although the cookies come out moist from the oven, they hardened quickly. My solution to that problem was to add 1 organic egg. Now, I know that my blogger address is "glutenfreeveganbaby," but my husband has lately been adding organic eggs to his diet. I have as well. The reason is because my daughter has so many allergies, and so we did some allergy testing. She reacted to basically everything on the vegetarian panel: flaxseeds, millet, quinoa, brown rice, hemp seeds, etc. So, as you can imagine, our choices are quite limited!

-heather

Orange Blueberry Cream Smoothie

This was so good. Actually, I put more coconut milk than I would have liked. Or, maybe just not enough orange. After taking the picture, I squeezed my orange piece into the glass and it was just right! So, you might want to add less coconut milk... or put about 1/2 an orange extra.

» Recipe:

• 1 organic valencia orange, peeled • 1 cup organic blueberries [frozen]

• 1/4 cup rice milk

• 1/2 cup coconut milk

• 3 drops vanilla creme stevia

Blend. Serve and enjoy!

-heather

Labels: recipes

Dairy-free Mango Lassi

To me, there is something very comforting and soothing about mango lassi's. Perhaps because it invokes memories of eating indian food with my parents, the aroma of cardamom and cumin wafting through the air. The choices of different masalas and curries all piled on top of fluffy rice. Then scooping a delectable bite with a piece of papadum and onion chutney.

Ahhhh. I can almost taste it and smell it.

After giving up dairy many many moons ago, I knew that I could still have a mango lassi with soy yogurt. However, now that I am not eating soy, I was left puzzled. But not for long, a thought dawned on me as quickly as flicking a switch: coconut milk. And good it is.

Quite simply, we blended in our vitamix:

2 fresh mango's
Squeeze of lemon
Coconut milk
Raw honey
Ice cubes

We didn't measure, my guess is approximately 1 cup of coconut milk, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a 1/2 tablespoon of raw honey.

Serve. We sprinkled a bit of our own chia spice mix on top.

Enjoy!! It is perfect on this nice sunny day. We have to indulge and bask in the warm weather, for tomorrow and the following day we have snow predicted :)

-heather

Labels: raw food, recipes