black bean brownies
Author avisha Categories Blog, Food & Nutrition, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

It’s Holiday Baking Time! Black Bean Brownies Anyone?

Like many, Christmas time for our family is rich with tradition.  Family get togethers, tree cutting and decorating and our annual family skate at Nathan Phillips Square to name a few.  But perhaps most anticipated each year is my Christmas baking.  The same festive treats have been attached to our family Christmas since our kids began experiencing the wonders of the season.  Perhaps the allure lies in the fact that I only bake these squares, cookies and tarts once a year.

When I made my turn on to the nutritionist highway my family adapted well to the changes that I started to implement in to our diets.  There were many successful changes, a few flops and some compromises.  And one ultimatum, Christmas baking was off limits to change.  Fair enough.  Our old faithfuls remain unchanged.  But there was a loophole.  Anything new I wanted to try was fair game.

Soooo this year I made brownies.  Black bean brownies.  And they are dandy.  Gluten free.  Full of fibre and protein.  And they are spanking easy to make.

I didn’t share the ingredient list with the kids because, well you know.  I wanted a fair shot. And I got it and these brownies passed the taste test.

Here is the recipe.  Feel free to improvise.  You can add chocolate chips and/or nuts and even a splash of peppermint or orange to bring them in to the Christmas season.

 

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Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can Eden Black Beans (rinse them well)
  • 3 eggs
  • 3  TBSP coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup cane sugar
  • 1 TBSP Flax Seed

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
  2. Grease bottom of an 8 x 8 cooking pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
  3. Throw everything in to a food processor and blend until smooth.
  4. Transfer to you pan and bake 25-30 minutes being careful not to over bake them.
  5. When done let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
  6. Cut the brownies when they are completely cooled.

Enjoy!

 

 

Author avisha Categories Blog, Food & Nutrition, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

You Don’t Always Need a Protein Shake After Working Out

Absolutely consuming protein is important after a workout.  But don’t limit your sites to protein shakes alone.  Don’t get me wrong,  I love protein shakes but sometimes I just want to chew something.

There are lots of great protein sources you can tap in to.  Eggs and hemp heart are 2 of them.

As for the rest of the ingredients they all a have purpose beyond great taste.

Pea shoots are loaded with vitamins A & C as well as their own kick of protein.

And I always try to add a fermented food when possible.  Sourdough and apple cider vinegar are today’s fair.

Here are my sandwich ingredients recapped:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 TBSP Hemp Hearts
  • 2 pieces of sourdough bread
  • A handful of pea sprouts
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Salt and Pepper

 

oatmeal bowl
Author avisha Categories Food & Nutrition, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

Fibre Blast Overnight Oatmeal

I’ve got breakfast covered for you!  And it’s so easy!!  Sit down or on the go, this Fibre Blast Over Night Oatmeal will satisfy the hungriest of morning folks.

Fibre is an important piece of a healthy diet.  It is important for aiding us in eliminating waste from our system, balancing blood sugar, cholesterol management and it is a key nutrient source for our beloved microbiome.

And keeping our microbiome happy is vital for our overall good health.

Our microbiome functions in many important ways.  It aids with our digestion.  It is involved in the production of vitamins such as B and K.  And it plays a major role in our immune system.

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Gut Health is key to good health. Download your free Gut Healing Meal Plan complete with recipes and shopping list by clicking right here!

With all of this in mind, my general recommendation for fibre intake is 35-40 grams a day.  It’s a lot but absolutely doable if your diet is a plant based one.

This recipe as a whole contains about 23 grams of fibre.  So it’s fairly easy for you to calculate how much your serving size is getting you.  I’ve indicated that the recipe is between 2-4 servings because some can eat a bowl full while others are satiated by far less.

Fibre Blast Overnight Oatmeal

(2-4 servings)

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Rolled Oats

1/2 Cup Steel Cut Oats

1 TBSP Hemp Hearts

1 TBSP Chia Seeds

Zest of 1 Lime

1 Apple, Grated

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

100 g Vanilla Greek Yogurt

1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 Organic Raisins

How to do this:

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate over night.

That’s it!

As a side note:

  • you can top with things like slivered almonds, flaked coconut, fresh fruit, maple syrup or honey.
  • you can use hemp milk, cashew milk or whatever you choose in place of almond milk.
  • you can substitute dried cranberries or goji berries for the raisins.
  • For a grab and go meal, pack in a mason jar.  So handy!!

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spleen support
Author avisha Categories Blog, Food & Nutrition, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

Butternut Squash Soup: A Gesture of Love for your Spleen

Our spleen is the unsung hero of our immune system. Situated on the left side of our body and above our stomach, our spleen acts as both a storage reservoir and a filtration system for our blood stream, helping to remove harmful bacteria and viruses before they can do us damage.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) a key mechanism of supporting our spleen is avoiding cooling foods and beverages and consuming warming ones.  Added to this is the belief that sweetness from whole foods is also supportive.  Sugary processed foods absolutely do not benefit us in any way!

The 2 key ingredients in this Butternut Squash soup support our spleen with warmth and sweetness.  Warmth comes not only from the temperature of the soup but also by the addition of ginger.  Ginger is a warming spice.  Butternut squash is a complex carbohydrate on the sweeter spectrum of taste as you will experience with this soup.

Fall is the perfect time to enjoy this recipe and give a little love to your spleen!

(A side note for this recipe.  I love the taste of ginger and it comes shining through with the added amount of 1 Tablespoon.  If you are more towards the shy end of your ginger flavouring reduce the amount by half.)

 

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Butternut Squash Soup

6 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 Butternut Squash cut lengthwise and seeds removed
  • 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3 leeks (Diced)
  • 3 garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 1 tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 Tbsp fresh ginger (about  3/4 of an inch)
  • 4 cups organic vegetable broth
  • 1 pinch of Chili flakes

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
  2. Bake squash until tender, approximately 40 minutes.  Let cool and remove skin.
  3. Put olive oil in to your pot and add leeks, garlic and salt.  Sautee until tender.
  4. Add squash, ginger and chili flakes to pot along with vegetable broth.  Simmer for 5 minutes
  5. Puree soup with hand held blender or in a stand up blender.  Return to heat and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
  6. Serve when done.

Gut Health is key to good health. Download your free Healthy Gut Meal Plan complete with recipes and shopping list by clicking right here!

 

Gut Health is key to good health. Download your free Healthy Gut Meal Plan complete with recipes and shopping list by clicking right here!

 

 

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Author avisha Categories Blog, Cancer Coaching, Recipes Posted on 0 Comments

Gazpacho

I had a few people ask me for my gazpacho recipe so I thought that I would post it for you.

The weather has been so hot that simple recipes like this one requiring no cooking and little prep are a blessing.

For me it actually wasn’t the heat that I got the inspiration from rather it came from the extra tomatoes I had in the garden. I don’t have a lot of space to grow veggies but the few plants that I do have are doing well.

As mentioned gazpacho is not cooked. I veered a bit from the traditional Spanish inspired recipe and substituted the vinegar with my homemade Kombucha. I never pass up a chance to add gut friendly fermented food to meals that I am preparing. And the fact that it is a small amount ensured that the flavour would not be over whelming.

Now down to the serious business. The ingredients in the soup contain phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that aid in cancer prevention.

To highlight a few:

Lycopene from the tomatoes is a carotenoid and gives tomatoes their red colour. Studies have shown that it may be beneficial as a chemo protective agent.

Bell peppers also contain carotenoids such as lutein, cryptoxanthin and zeaxanthin and are high in vitamin C and folate.   As with the garlic and onions in the recipe, bell peppers have sulfur containing compounds used for detoxification.

Kombucha is a fermented drink containing B vitamins, enzymes and probiotics promoting gut health and cancer prevention.

Gazpacho soup
Gazpacho

Gazpacho

(This recipe yields about 1 litre or 4 cup)

4-5 large ripe tomatoes

1 Green Bell Pepper, seeded and cut into small chunks

1 English Cucumber, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 red onion, diced

1-2 cloves garlic

1 Jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive oil

1-2 tsp unflavoured Kombucha

Directions

In a blender or with a hand held blender combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, red onion, garlic and jalapeno until smooth. With blender running slowly add olive oil. (Depending upon your blender, you may need to strain liquid to remove any solids. Do this before adding olive oil.)

Stir in salt and kombucha.

Chill and serve.

Enjoy!

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