by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Sep 30, 2018 | Recipes
This smoothie has superpowers! Not just because it’s totally healthy but yet still tastes like a milkshake, but because it has a sneaky serving of veggies hidden inside!
Frozen cauliflower is an amazing addition to your smoothies. It leaves no taste behind, helps make the smoothie a creamier consistency, and seriously boosts its nutrition factor! Some people overlook cauliflower’s healthy status because we tend to associate white foods with being unhealthy. But it gives just as much benefit to it’s green cousins like broccoli!
Cauliflower is especially high in vitamin C, and also contains vitamin K, many of the B vitamins, and minerals such as manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. Plus blending it into your smoothie gives you a hit of extra fibre! Cauliflower is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family (along with veggies like broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and dark leafy greens to name a few), a family which provides abundant health benefits. They provide antioxidants, support our immune, digestive, and cardiovascular systems, and help our natural detoxification process.
How to use it in smoothies
It’s pretty simple to incorporate cauliflower in your smoothies! Steam the veggie until soft, using a fork to test. Be sure to not overcook it where it starts to fall apart or become mushy. Spread the cooked cauliflower out on a baking tray or plate to cool. Put the baking tray / plate into the freezer for at least an hour before transferring the cauliflower into a freezer safe container. Then whenever you’re making a smoothie just toss in a handful!
Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie
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¾ cup (185mL) frozen or fresh strawberries
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½ cup (125mL) frozen cauliflower
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1 cup (250mL) coconut milk
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¼ cup (60mL) full fat greek yogurt or coconut yogurt
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2 tbsp (30mL) almond butter
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1 scoop whey protein powder (optional)
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!
Serves 1
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Sep 26, 2018 | Recipes
I am so proud of these apple oatmeal squares! I don’t really bake for the blog; as baking often needs to be so much more precise than other recipes I find the idea of developing recipes a bit too daunting. But I went out on a limb and tried putting some ingredients together and these squares turned out so good!
I would categorize these as a not-sweet treat, although I’ve actually been enjoying two of them for breakfast the past couple mornings with a dollop of full-fat greek yogurt and a drizzle of almond butter! Whether as a snack or as breakfast, these bars are pretty filling and are a great addition to your meal prep routine!
Apple Oatmeal Bars
Preheat oven to 360F/180C. Line a 9” (23cm) square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing the ends to hang over the edge of the pan slightly.
In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients until well combined.
Add the apple sauce, eggs, and vanilla, and continue mixing until fully combined and a dough has formed. Fold in the diced apple.
Using a spatula, spread the mixture evenly into the baking pan.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. The cake should be slightly browned, firm and spring back in the centre when pressed. Using the ends of the parchment paper, remove the cake from the pan and allow to cool.
Cut into 9 squares (3×3) and enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Makes 9 squares
* As said, this is a not-sweet treat with no added sugar. If you prefer something sweeter, add up to ¼ cup (60mL) of honey or maple syrup
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Sep 19, 2018 | Recipes
Let’s continue the trend of adding veggies to our smoothies, shall we?
A pumpkin spice smoothie is really what autumn is all about. With all the warming spices in this smoothie, it’s essentially like drinking a pumpkin pie. And to all my non-North American readers out there, you may not have had pumpkin pie before, but I promise you it is absolutely delicious!
I like to use real pumpkin that I’ve roughly chopped up and steamed until soft. But you could definitely also use pumpkin puree – just make sure to read your ingredients list on the can to be sure nothing sneaky has been added in!
Cooking the pumpkin
For cooking the pumpkin, fill a deep baking tray with around 2cm of water. Then cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the centre with the seeds, and place cut-side down in the baking tray.
Cook in a 200C / 390F oven for about 40-45 minutes. The meat should be soft when pricked with a fork and come easily away from the skin. Then slice off the skin, roughly chop the pumpkin, and refrigerate for up to a week until needed.
Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
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¾ cup (180mL) pumpkin
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½ cup (125ml) steamed then frozen cauliflower
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1 medium banana*
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1 cup (250mL) milk of your choice (I use almond or coconut)
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2 tbsp (30mL) almond butter
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1 tbsp (15mL) flaxseed
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1 tsp (5mL) vanilla
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1 tsp (5mL) cinnamon
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½ tsp (2mL) cardamom
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½ tsp (2mL) ginger
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¼ tsp (1mL) nutmeg
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1 scoop protein powder
Place all ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth!
Serves 1
* The banana adds some sweetness to the smoothie, you could start with ½ banana and add more as needed.
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Sep 9, 2018 | Recipes
I love adding veggies into my smoothies to get an extra dose of them into my diet. Especially at breakfast I think we tend to forget to include these nutrient dense friends! And I by far prefer smoothies over juicing as you will get all the fibre from the whole vegetable which is lost during the juicing process.
In this recipe the sweetness of the pear balances out the added veggies, while the avocado and yogurt give it such a creamy texture! And it’s not just for Goddesses (but it’s a catchy name!); both my boyfriend and myself love this smoothie, and he is less on the veggie-smoothie train than I am!
Now you could easily leave the spirulina out, but it’s what gives this smoothie its superpowers! Spirulina is an algae which is incredibly rich in vitamins and minerals. It contains vitamins A (as beta-carotene), B1, B2, B3, B6, and K, as well as minerals like phosphorus, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, manganese, calcium, copper, and selenium. Whew! That’s a mouthful! It’s also packed with antioxidants and is a source of protein (albeit small one since you won’t be consuming this in sufficient quantities).
I probably make this smoothie at least once a week for myself, especially the morning after a busy day, perhaps where I may not have made the best nutrition choices. It honestly makes you feel good from the inside out, and I find myself craving it on these mornings!
Green Goddess Smoothie
- 1 ½ cups spinach
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 pear
- ¼ cucumber
- ¼ avocado
- ¼ cup full-fat greek or coconut yogurt
- 1-2 tsp spirulina
- 2 tbsp collagen powder (optional)
- 1 scoop protein powder (optional)
Start by combining together in a blender the spinach and coconut milk. This step helps ensure no little pieces of spinach ending up in your teeth! Then add in the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth!
Serves 1
by hello@healthfullyheather.com | Aug 9, 2018 | Recipes
I can already hear you wondering, “but what exactly are z’oats”? Well, they’re…
Zucchini oats!
Hopefully I haven’t completely lost you with that, but I swear that adding zucchini into your oatmeal is barely detectable. Grating the zucchini makes it blend in with the oats, and it add bulk and some great vitamins and minerals into the mix while cutting down on the heavy, starchy carb load that a bowl of porridge can weigh you down with. It’s also a sneaky way to get some extra veggies in for those picky eaters!
You can choose yourself whether to leave the skin on the zucchini or not. The skin of vegetables do often provide some additional nutrients, but of course in this recipe the green skin makes it a bit more obvious that you have something hiding in your bowl of porridge.
The addition of cacao makes whole bowl feel extremely decadent, but it’s totally guilt-free! Plus cacao offers a whole host of nutritional benefits, for example studies have shown a positive effect on cardiovascular health and blood pressure, and it is chock full of nutrients like magnesium, calcium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, sodium, and phosphorus.
Ready to try out this unconventional pairing? You can find the recipe and many more in my free Breakfast eBook – just click below to download!
